My international travels

I have been in Thailand for a week now. I'm used to it now, but coming here was such culture shock after being in India for so long. Here, life is very different. I flew into the northern city of Chiang Mai. My boyfriend and his sister picked us up from the airport. The taxis are red trucks with a big shell on the bed, the back is complety open and there are two benches for many passengers. As a city, Chiang Mai was so much cleaner and didn't smell consistnyl of burning trash, as it did in many places in India. Also, less people speak english than I encountered the rest of traveling. I've learned to rely more on other typs of comunication, like pointing on maps, pointing at food, and using body lanuguage. It was a shock to see how people dressed, partifucalry women. I was so used to covering my shoulders and wearing longer pants and skirts. I forgot what it is like to be in a place where women constantly show their knees, backs and shoulders. It was obvious that peolpe put so much time into their appearance.. their hair, outifit, makup etc.. For the first time since I left the US I was so consious of how I looked. My consumer nature came back to me full force, because all of the clothing stores along the streets near our hotel seemed to draw me in so much. That was weird considering that I spent so much time in India deatching myself from the need and wants of so many "things." I took a Thai massage class in Chiang Mai for a week with Sarah and Chuck-which was great! Having Chucks sister in Chiang Mai was helpful (She has been sutyding abroad there this semester and can speak Thai.)

I'm so happy that I left India before what happened in Mumbai. It has been very intense to watch the news. I was in Mumbai three weeks ago, in many of the places where things happened. What happened is so tragic and upsetting. I also feel fortunate that I was able to leave India and arrive in Bangkok before the aiport was shut down. There was some stroke of luck with my travel planning, where everything for me has just worked out.

Currently I am in Pai, Thailand. Pai is in the northern part of the country. Pai is up in the mountains. We took a nauseating three hour ride up a winding, switch back filled mountian to get here. This town is so cute! Definitely a tourist town. I'm staying in a small bamboo bungalow. Something that is made to look "authentic" but really was built for people like us traveling here to see "real" thailand. The hut is cozy and basic-reminicsent of camping. Chuck Sarah and I are sharing one big, rock hard bed. It is so cold at night. I'm wearing two pairs of pants and a scarf. I've seen so many westerners and nearly all of the menus are in english.  I rented motorbikes today and went exploring. It was wonderful to feel the independence and just go. We all stumbled upon a beautiful lake with bamboo fishing huts floating all around it.

I'll write more soon, and hopefullly get a chance to upload photos.