Every day is a new adventure. I am never not doing something. This fact can make this experience exhausting, but it is also what makes it so fulfilling. I am always doing something new, seeing something new, and experiecing something to talk about. Two weekends have now passed with me writing nothing, so I am just now going to write about all of it. Two weekends of seeing new things that I might never see again.
Another week began, and everyone was planning their following weekend. Some people already had plans to go to a Full Moon Party, and others were planning a trip to Laos. Knowing that I wanted to have more then a quick weekend in Laos, and more time to plan, I got Carissa, Maggie, and Kristy to come with me to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a "book it & go" situation like almost everything is! Knowing that we have mid-terms to study for the first weekend in October (this coming weekend), we decided we had to do something. KL seemed like a good place to go for a weekend, and easy enough to get to by a quick two hour flight.
The week passed with a Thai student meet up on Wednesday and an environmental conference on Thursday. All of us got to talk to students who are in English classes at ABAC. They got to practice their English (which was really good) and we got to practice our Thai (which was really bad). It was fun to talk to Thai students outside of a classroom setting, and we are meeting with them again this Wednesday. Thursday all of us were excused from our classes, and we attended a conference about environment and the issues surrounding the environment form nuclear power plants to how cities affect the environment. It was fairly boring, and lots of us were hungover from the night before, but we all got really good food for lunch that was free!!! Free food is always worth it!!!
The following day, we all woke up early to fly to KL. My friend Prianka is studying in Singapore for the semester and had gone to KL about three weekends earlier. We all talked to her and she gave us some good advice and told us some things to see and do. Deciding to do something different, we booked our room through airbnb. Airbnb is a website that has postings from people who are "renting" their homes or apartments for people on vacation or backpacking. We found a man who had an apartment in the city center that was cheap. Though we were still sleeping on bunkbeds, it wasn't a hostel which was nice.
We arrived in KL and took a train from the airport to downtown KL. We arrived at the apartment, met the owner, a really nice Indian man named Abdul, and decided to go out and find food and explore our neighborhood, KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center). KLCC is the busiest section of KL and has tons to do. We were able to see KL Tower from our apartment and the Petronas Twin Towers were a 15 minute walk from our building.
We spent Friday walking all around KLCC. We stopped and took lots of pictures of the Petronas Towers, the biggest attraction in KL, and walked around Suria KLCC, an upscale mall (Asia loves shopping malls with expensive stores, and lots of A/C). Right next to the Petronas Towers is KLCC Park, the Central Park of KL. It isn't nearly as big as Central Park, but it is a nice park with a pool in the middle where lots of families were hanging out and cooling off from the heat. We decided to walk to the Petronas Towers and see whether we could get tickets to go to the skybridge and observatory. Sure enough we were able to get tickets for the last ride up in the day, 8:30PM.
To kill time and to see something fun, we went to the Aquarium. It was filled with screaming kids and baby strollers, but it was still fun, and it was fun to compare it to the Baltimore Aquarium. I got to see sharks, turtles, countless fish, and some of the cutest otters I have ever seen. It made me feel like I was 8 years old again.
We then showered and got ready to go to the Petronas Towers. It was an awesome experience. The Petronas Twin Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world and are breathtakingly beautiful. The construction of them started in 1992 and they were completed in 1996. The towers were the tallest building in the world until 2004.
The journey to the top starts at the skybridge that connects the two towers at level 41 and 42. The elevator was one of the fastest elevators I have ever been in. We took tons of pictures and then headed to the 86th floor. The views were unreal and seeing it at night was a unique experience. What felt like 15 minutes turned out to be about an hour inside the towers. The towers are offices and a tourist attraction. No one lives in the towers.
Malaysia is a country that is made up of lots of ethnicities. Most of Malaysia is influenced by Chinese and Indian culture. Hearing that Chinatown was cool, we decided to take an adventure and find dinner in Chinatown on Petaling Street after seeing the Petronas Towers. Petaling Street felt a lot like Khao San. There were stalls lining the street and restaurants all over the place. We ended up getting noodles for dinner and then wanting a street burger that we saw walking in Chinatown.
The next day, we woke up and ventured by public transport 30 minutes outside KLCC to the Batu Caves. Prianka had told us that the Batu Caves were a ton of fun and something interesting to check out. The biggest and most recognizable cave is called "Cathedral Cave". To get there you have to climb up 272 steps. Once at the entrance, the view is unreal. The cave is one of the largest Hindu shrines outside of India. There are lots of Westerners there, but there are tons of Hindus who are there to pray. All over the caves are monkeys climbing and stealing food from the visitors. Some of the tourists seemed more mesmerized by the monkeys roaming everywhere then the vastness of the cave.
I have been wanting a henna tattoo and since we were at the Batu Caves where tons of Indians come to visit, I was able to get a gorgeous henna from an Indian lady below the cave. Leaving the caves, we noticed that the air was covered in a fog. The entire city skyline was covered by a hazy fog. We later learned that the fog comes from Indonesia. Indonesians burn their forests and the smoke travels to Malaysia and Singapore and causes a smog to cover the air. On the train ride back to KLCC, we met a Mormon who was on his mission in Malaysia. Random encounters you never would expect traveling Southeast Asia. The missionary goes back to the states in two weeks though he said he didn't want to leave (so classic).
After sweating and climbing tons of stairs at the caves, we decided to go check out the KL Tower. The KL Tower is the 7th tallest freestanding tower in the world. However, the fog in the air was going to block our view of the city skyline. Deciding it probably wasn't worth it to pay to go up to the observatory level, we went back to our apartment to relax and get ready for dinner and a night out.
For dinner we walked to a strip of cool restaurants and bars down the street from the Petronas Towers. Wanting a burger, we went to an Irish Bar called Healy Mac's. The people who owned the restaurant were awesome and the place was filled with Westerners. The owners gave us two free desserts after learning we were college students studying in Bangkok.
We then ventured to Sky Bar. Thinking that we weren't going to get in with our flips flops on, we played it cool and got in. The place looked amazing. The center of the bar was a swimming pool that was surrounded by couches, tables, and a big bar with a DJ and a small dance floor. We all sat down and talked before the dancing started. The vibe wasn't anything like Bangkok clubs. The clientele was older and more couples then groups of friends wanting to party. Randomly, we got two free beers delivered to our table. Being American in Malaysia, the Malays are immediately fascinated by you so getting two free drinks wasn't too surprising. We danced and watched older drunk couples tear it up on the dance floor. It was a good time, but nothing compared to the fun we have in Bangkok.
The next morning we were awoken at 8:30 by Abdul who wanted to take us all out to breakfast in Little India. We all got ready quickly and went out to have a traditional Indian breakfast with all the Indians who live in KL. The breakfast was delicious, and free. We then got some Indian sweets and got to see the National Monument in KL. The monument is a memorial to the Malays who have fought and lost their lives in war. It was beautiful, and all the fellow tourists wanted to take pictures with us....
As Americans, we are celebrities. Everyone wants to take a photo with us, and simply just smiling and waving at people you get a reaction of excitement. It is slightly weird, but we have learned to just got with it.
We then went to visit the National Mosque. Malaysia is 60% Muslim. The National Mosque, built from 1963-1965, is gorgeous. On Fridays, the mosque is usually filled with close to 15,000 Islams. The architecture and shapes in the the mosque are influenced by umbrellas both open and closed. In order to enter the mosque you have to be covered. We all were given a robe and an hijab to cover our heads. It was an interesting cultural experience, and something that I knew I wanted to do when I went to KL.
When we left the Mosque, we went to pick up our shoes (you have to be barefoot), and Carissa's shoes were gone. Yes, that is right, we go to the National Mosque, and our shoes are stolen. We go to temples all over Thailand and take off our shoes and they aren't stolen, but at the National Mosque, they are. Welcome to traveling the world.
We then walked even more, and went to see the Perdana Botanical Garden. It was beautiful and we saw an orchid garden and an hibiscus garden that were both stunning. The Botanical Garden is huge and a popular place for Malays to go run and families to walk around.
After walking a ton, we went back to the apartment to get our stuff and relax before our flight. In the pouring rain, we left KL to fly back to Bangkok. All in all, an amazing weekend, and the chance to see and experience things many Americans don't.
KL is a very different city then Bangkok. Bangkok seems huge compared to KL, but maybe it is because I have been in Bangkok for 2 months. KL is a very culturally diverse city. There is new construction everywhere and the city center is one skyscraper after another. It is extremely modern and up and coming. The culture that I saw in KL is unlike anything I have seen or experienced and it was an awesome experience just for that reason.
Midterms are quickly approaching!! The study part of "study" abroad is about to hit and I am not sure I am ready...
Love from two months in SE Asia
Kate
Monday, September 28, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Pictures. Pics. Photos.
This is one of the main look out/view points in Khao Yai. The air there was so unbelievably clean compared to the city of Bangkok, and the air itself was cooler. So nice.
We made it, and we were tourists.
The family for the weekend. Also, our good old tent that we pitched that somewhat kept us dry through the rainy nights.
This was one of the waterfalls we saw, Heo Suwat. It was really cool, but you can't swim at any of the waterfalls in the park.
We took a 7 km hike through the park that lead us out to this viewpoint. It was absolutely gorgeous. The hike was grueling, but so fulfilling. We walked through the middle of the forest.
On our way to see Heo Narok, the biggest waterfall in Khao Yai, we were stopped short on our motorbike and we weren't sure why. Sure enough, there was an elephant walking in the road. All the cars had to turn around and the bikers had to stop. It was absolutely amazing. Also, knowing that it is a wild elephant is the best part. Eventually it walked back into the woods and disappeared.
This is Heo Narok, the largest waterfall in Khao Yai. Getting down to see it was crazy, and the drive on the motorbike was about 30 km. I think we climbed down 500 stairs to eventually reach this viewpoint. The waterfall was so gorgeous and so powerful. We could all feel the mist from the waterfall on our faces.
This was our group!!! All of us went together on motorbikes to see the waterfall. A Thai man took our picture. We were all pretty excited. Also, getting to ride a motorbike around Khao Yai was an experience I won't forget. The clean air hitting my face was an amazing feeling.
Enjoying mother nature and such. This was taken on the 7km hike we took through the forest.
The following weekend, we went to ArtBox. It was basically a food truck, jewelry, and clothing festival/gathering. It was a lot of fun, and very hipster.
KRABIIIIIII. This is taken from Ao Nang beach where we stayed.
Railay Beach is not even real. Those are the long tail boats you take from Ao Nang to get to Railay.
Heaven. You see the Thailand flag all over the place.
Perfect. This is Railay Beach taken from the boat tour.
These rocks are all over Railay. When you swim, these rocks are all around you.
It was unreal.
Chicken Island!!! Can you tell??
Just because.
I needed some pics of me...This is Tup Island
More Tup gorgeousness. Also, the sun was setting while we were there.
We walked all over Tup.
The gang. Me, Carissa, Kristy, and Maggie
These rocks are gorgeous. The epitome of Thailand.
Poda is where we ate dinner!!!
Sunsetsssss
This is the other side of Railay Beach on our way to rock climb.
This is the view from the view point that we climbed to.
More view. The entire Railay Beach.
So worth it
Too much back lighting for a good pic, but we tried.
Look at the sweat. This is me 10 meters from the lagoon. The blue color in the distance in the lagoon.
Check us outttttt and the sweat.
The top of that rock is where we climbed to the view point.
Trusty friends. They didn't make it.
Don't make me leave.
One of the most beautiful places ever.
There are so many more where these all came from. Just some of the best and most beautiful.
Love
-K-
Google Thailand Beaches, the Photos Aren't a Lie.
Krabi is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I constantly was looking around and thinking, how is this real life? How do places like this exist in the world? Yes, I will be posting pictures.
At 3:45AM on Friday, my alarm was ringing indicating it was Krabi time. A group of us all had a flight at 6:45AM to go to Krabi, a town in the southwestern part of Thailand on the Indian Ocean. The flight was quick, easy, and a big luxury compared to all the long bus rides we have been taking everywhere we go. We landed and went to our hostel to find out we couldn't check in until the afternoon. We all quickly changed and went Railay Beach. Railay is a beach close to Krabi that you take a long tail boat to. A long tail boat are those boats that you see in all the Googled photos of Thailand. Railay is a nicer beach then the beach in Krabi, and is also known to have some of the best rock climbing in Thailand. We arrived to Railay, and immediately relaxed on the beach and swam in the clear water. Later on in the day, two girls and I went sea kayaking. It was absolutely beautiful. We were able to kayak into caves and go to sand bars. The water that we kayaked in had the big rocks that are in all of the photos of Thailand beaches. Those photos with the crystal clear water and the rocks floating aren't a lie, it is real, and looks Railay looks just like that.
Later on we went back to our hostel, and checked it. We found out that our hostel was hosting a beer pong tournament that night so all of us went to check it out and have some fun. We all hung out and talked to all the other people staying at the hostel. I was exhausted from traveling and I wanted to get up the next day to do things. I didn't participate in the beer pong tournament (Mom and Dad!), but I did have an awesome drink that the hostel was making. It was called a Mango Chang. Chang (the Thai word for elephant) is one of the most popular beers in Thailand. It is cheap and not that good, but the bartender had a friend who made her a drink that was a Chang with mango juice and lime. It was absolutely delicious and a fun, new way to drink beer. Yes, Thailand is known or beer so I have learned to like it a little more.
The next day we all slept in a little and went to see about finding an island tour for the afternoon. We explored the area and found a 7 island sunset tour. Most of the group did a 4 island tour through our hostel, but a group of us wanted to see bioluminescent plankton that you could only see on the 7 island tour and we were able to haggle the price down so we ended up paying less then the hostel tour! It ended up being an awesome deal.
The group of us, myself, Carissa, Kristy, Maggie, and Gary were picked up and brought to a boat where we were basically the only Americans. Almost everyone was Thai. Our first stop was Railay Beach. We had all gone there, and we never got off the boat, but we were able to get really pretty pictures from the boat. We then went on to Tang Ming Island where we got to snorkel. All I wanted to do in Krabi was snorkel and see fish and coral. It was a ton of fun, and of course all of us jumped off the side of the boat into the water while the other Thai people looked at us like we were crazy.
We then made our way to an area where we got to rock climb and cliff jump. Shortly after we pulled up to the cliff, we all realized that the hostel tour that everyone else did was pulling up also. A lot of the people on our boat didn't want to climb, but the 5 of us did. We were the designated crazy Americans on the boat. We were excited and all about doing everything. There was a couple that sat near us on the boat who we talked a little with who thought we were so funny and wanted to take pictures with us (very typical).
Once we could, we all jumped off the boat and swam to the ladder hanging off the rocks to climb up and jump off. It was amazing and such an adrenaline rush. After some cliff jumping, we then went to Chicken Island. Chicken Island is named after one of the rocks on the island that looks like the head of a chicken. We got off the boat again and got to go snorkeling.
We then headed to Tup Island, an island right near Chicken Island. Tup Island was absolutely beautiful. It was calm and we were able to walk all over the whole island and take pictures. It was dusk at that point so the lighting was stunning. We then headed to Poda Island where we ate dinner and saw a fire show. Dinner was absoltuely delicious, and the fire show was funny because it was our crew from the boat doing the show. Though it was a little amatuer and not very professional, we all had a good time watching and laughing. Also, the crew loved the 5 of us because we were doing everything, and getting into all the adventurous things we were able to do.
At that point, it was dark out and we got back on to go see the bioluminescient plankton. Again, the 5 of us were all about it while lots of the Thai people looked at us like we were crazy. We all dove into the water and put our head down and were bombarded with little sparkles of plankton all around us. They looked like little crystals all around us. It was an awesome experience, and something that added to the whole eventful day. Also, diving into the pitch black water was an experience that I won't forget.
After 7 hours on the boat, we were exhausted and ready to get back. We got back to the hostel to then go to a bar crawl that was organized by the hostel. I started talking to a girl who was in Krabi with her friend and they were from Hong Kong. We told them that we were going to Hong Kong in December and both of them were so nice and told us all about Hong Kong and where to go. Hostels are fun because you get to meet a ton of different people from all over who are also traveling cheap.
The bar crawl started at Slumber Party, we then got in a taxi that took us to a lady boy bar. This lady boy bar was interesting....there wasn't too much dancing, but there were lots of lady boys standing outside and serving us at the bar. Our next stop was a dance club down the street. Eventually I got tired, and I knew I wanted to get up early to go rock climbing in the morning.
The next morning, I was only able to convince Kristy to go with me back to Railay Beach to go rock climb, see a view point, and potentially see the lagoon that some of the other people had gone to and loved, but said physically was really hard to get to. After arriving to Railay we weren't sure where the hike started. After asking lots of different people, we found a sign and a rope. The sign said CAUTION and the rope was to help you free climb up the side of a cliff. The rocks were covered in clay and it was daunting at first, but together we were able to make it to the view point. The view point alone was perfectly amazing. We could see all of Railay Beach. We knew that we wanted to try to get to the lagoon though we knew that it was really hard. We slowly made our way to the lagoon. The clay started to mix with a ton of mud making everything really slippery and we both had on sneakers that weren't creating any grip on the rocks. We made it to the sign that said "10 Meters to the Lagoon", and looked down to see the water of the lagoon. However, in front of us was a 90 degree drop and rocks. Worried about how much time we needed to get down and get back up and seeing how slippery the rocks looked as well as our sneakers, we decided to not go all the way to the lagoon. The two of us free climbed a cliff which was still pretty amazing. By the time we made it back to the road, we were completely covered in mud and clay and knowing we had already checked out of the hostel, we jumped into the ocean to clean off and "take a shower" before boarding our flight back to Bangkok.
The weekend was amazing and we got to do so many fun and cool things. It wasn't a "lay on the beach" and "read a book" vacation, but an explore and see cool things that you can't see everywhere in the world. I got back to Bangkok with a ruined pair of sneaker, lots of dirty wet clothes and towels that I immediately washed, and a sun burnt back and scalp.
Love
xoxo
Kate
At 3:45AM on Friday, my alarm was ringing indicating it was Krabi time. A group of us all had a flight at 6:45AM to go to Krabi, a town in the southwestern part of Thailand on the Indian Ocean. The flight was quick, easy, and a big luxury compared to all the long bus rides we have been taking everywhere we go. We landed and went to our hostel to find out we couldn't check in until the afternoon. We all quickly changed and went Railay Beach. Railay is a beach close to Krabi that you take a long tail boat to. A long tail boat are those boats that you see in all the Googled photos of Thailand. Railay is a nicer beach then the beach in Krabi, and is also known to have some of the best rock climbing in Thailand. We arrived to Railay, and immediately relaxed on the beach and swam in the clear water. Later on in the day, two girls and I went sea kayaking. It was absolutely beautiful. We were able to kayak into caves and go to sand bars. The water that we kayaked in had the big rocks that are in all of the photos of Thailand beaches. Those photos with the crystal clear water and the rocks floating aren't a lie, it is real, and looks Railay looks just like that.
Later on we went back to our hostel, and checked it. We found out that our hostel was hosting a beer pong tournament that night so all of us went to check it out and have some fun. We all hung out and talked to all the other people staying at the hostel. I was exhausted from traveling and I wanted to get up the next day to do things. I didn't participate in the beer pong tournament (Mom and Dad!), but I did have an awesome drink that the hostel was making. It was called a Mango Chang. Chang (the Thai word for elephant) is one of the most popular beers in Thailand. It is cheap and not that good, but the bartender had a friend who made her a drink that was a Chang with mango juice and lime. It was absolutely delicious and a fun, new way to drink beer. Yes, Thailand is known or beer so I have learned to like it a little more.
The next day we all slept in a little and went to see about finding an island tour for the afternoon. We explored the area and found a 7 island sunset tour. Most of the group did a 4 island tour through our hostel, but a group of us wanted to see bioluminescent plankton that you could only see on the 7 island tour and we were able to haggle the price down so we ended up paying less then the hostel tour! It ended up being an awesome deal.
The group of us, myself, Carissa, Kristy, Maggie, and Gary were picked up and brought to a boat where we were basically the only Americans. Almost everyone was Thai. Our first stop was Railay Beach. We had all gone there, and we never got off the boat, but we were able to get really pretty pictures from the boat. We then went on to Tang Ming Island where we got to snorkel. All I wanted to do in Krabi was snorkel and see fish and coral. It was a ton of fun, and of course all of us jumped off the side of the boat into the water while the other Thai people looked at us like we were crazy.
We then made our way to an area where we got to rock climb and cliff jump. Shortly after we pulled up to the cliff, we all realized that the hostel tour that everyone else did was pulling up also. A lot of the people on our boat didn't want to climb, but the 5 of us did. We were the designated crazy Americans on the boat. We were excited and all about doing everything. There was a couple that sat near us on the boat who we talked a little with who thought we were so funny and wanted to take pictures with us (very typical).
Once we could, we all jumped off the boat and swam to the ladder hanging off the rocks to climb up and jump off. It was amazing and such an adrenaline rush. After some cliff jumping, we then went to Chicken Island. Chicken Island is named after one of the rocks on the island that looks like the head of a chicken. We got off the boat again and got to go snorkeling.
We then headed to Tup Island, an island right near Chicken Island. Tup Island was absolutely beautiful. It was calm and we were able to walk all over the whole island and take pictures. It was dusk at that point so the lighting was stunning. We then headed to Poda Island where we ate dinner and saw a fire show. Dinner was absoltuely delicious, and the fire show was funny because it was our crew from the boat doing the show. Though it was a little amatuer and not very professional, we all had a good time watching and laughing. Also, the crew loved the 5 of us because we were doing everything, and getting into all the adventurous things we were able to do.
At that point, it was dark out and we got back on to go see the bioluminescient plankton. Again, the 5 of us were all about it while lots of the Thai people looked at us like we were crazy. We all dove into the water and put our head down and were bombarded with little sparkles of plankton all around us. They looked like little crystals all around us. It was an awesome experience, and something that added to the whole eventful day. Also, diving into the pitch black water was an experience that I won't forget.
After 7 hours on the boat, we were exhausted and ready to get back. We got back to the hostel to then go to a bar crawl that was organized by the hostel. I started talking to a girl who was in Krabi with her friend and they were from Hong Kong. We told them that we were going to Hong Kong in December and both of them were so nice and told us all about Hong Kong and where to go. Hostels are fun because you get to meet a ton of different people from all over who are also traveling cheap.
The bar crawl started at Slumber Party, we then got in a taxi that took us to a lady boy bar. This lady boy bar was interesting....there wasn't too much dancing, but there were lots of lady boys standing outside and serving us at the bar. Our next stop was a dance club down the street. Eventually I got tired, and I knew I wanted to get up early to go rock climbing in the morning.
The next morning, I was only able to convince Kristy to go with me back to Railay Beach to go rock climb, see a view point, and potentially see the lagoon that some of the other people had gone to and loved, but said physically was really hard to get to. After arriving to Railay we weren't sure where the hike started. After asking lots of different people, we found a sign and a rope. The sign said CAUTION and the rope was to help you free climb up the side of a cliff. The rocks were covered in clay and it was daunting at first, but together we were able to make it to the view point. The view point alone was perfectly amazing. We could see all of Railay Beach. We knew that we wanted to try to get to the lagoon though we knew that it was really hard. We slowly made our way to the lagoon. The clay started to mix with a ton of mud making everything really slippery and we both had on sneakers that weren't creating any grip on the rocks. We made it to the sign that said "10 Meters to the Lagoon", and looked down to see the water of the lagoon. However, in front of us was a 90 degree drop and rocks. Worried about how much time we needed to get down and get back up and seeing how slippery the rocks looked as well as our sneakers, we decided to not go all the way to the lagoon. The two of us free climbed a cliff which was still pretty amazing. By the time we made it back to the road, we were completely covered in mud and clay and knowing we had already checked out of the hostel, we jumped into the ocean to clean off and "take a shower" before boarding our flight back to Bangkok.
The weekend was amazing and we got to do so many fun and cool things. It wasn't a "lay on the beach" and "read a book" vacation, but an explore and see cool things that you can't see everywhere in the world. I got back to Bangkok with a ruined pair of sneaker, lots of dirty wet clothes and towels that I immediately washed, and a sun burnt back and scalp.
Love
xoxo
Kate
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Bangkok Belly, Burgers, and Beers
So much has been going on and I haven't had any time to update. It is pouring rain and I just ate dinner so I decided now was a good time. So here we go.....
We returned from Khao Yai and settled back into school and reality. The Wednesday we got back from Khao Yai was the start of my accounting class online through Loyola a.k.a reality was about to hit. For all of you that don't know about this, about 5 years ago, if you were an accounting major at Loyola, you couldn't study abroad because of the strict course requirements for Junior Year. However, about 5 years ago, Loyola started to offer Intermediate Accounting I and II online to students who wanted to go abroad. Intermediate Accounting I and II are known to be the two hardest classes accounting majors have to take, and taking them online makes it even more difficult, but it was something I knew I needed to do to in order to go abroad. On top of the difficulty of learning online is the extreme time difference between the professor at Loyola and me in Bangkok. The class was sorted out, and is technically twice a week at 7AM on Wednesday and Friday (or for the professor in Baltimore, Tuesday and Thursday night). Preparing for the worst, myself and the two other accounting majors here in Bangkok got up early, signed onto the spotty wifi and hoped to see our professor. Sure enough we were able to see her and hear her as she got us all situated to the class and started lecturing over the internet. As you could imagine, staying focused is very difficult, but being able to have the information explained more fully and to hear someone read the concepts to us is helpful. We are just in the early stages, and haven't gotten to any of the substantial material, but I'll keep you updated with how it is going.
We returned from Khao Yai and settled back into school and reality. The Wednesday we got back from Khao Yai was the start of my accounting class online through Loyola a.k.a reality was about to hit. For all of you that don't know about this, about 5 years ago, if you were an accounting major at Loyola, you couldn't study abroad because of the strict course requirements for Junior Year. However, about 5 years ago, Loyola started to offer Intermediate Accounting I and II online to students who wanted to go abroad. Intermediate Accounting I and II are known to be the two hardest classes accounting majors have to take, and taking them online makes it even more difficult, but it was something I knew I needed to do to in order to go abroad. On top of the difficulty of learning online is the extreme time difference between the professor at Loyola and me in Bangkok. The class was sorted out, and is technically twice a week at 7AM on Wednesday and Friday (or for the professor in Baltimore, Tuesday and Thursday night). Preparing for the worst, myself and the two other accounting majors here in Bangkok got up early, signed onto the spotty wifi and hoped to see our professor. Sure enough we were able to see her and hear her as she got us all situated to the class and started lecturing over the internet. As you could imagine, staying focused is very difficult, but being able to have the information explained more fully and to hear someone read the concepts to us is helpful. We are just in the early stages, and haven't gotten to any of the substantial material, but I'll keep you updated with how it is going.
Wednesday was also the start of our volunteering while we are here. Almost all of us are volunteering down the street from ABAC at Khlong Ka Ja, an elementary school in Hua Mak. I was so excited to get to see the kids who I was going to be teaching especially since when we went for our orientation, the students went crazy and were so excited to see us. Going in, I thought the group of us(myself and two other girls) were going to be with a 1st grade class. Well, when we showed up, the principle showed us to the classroom and told us we were going to be with "English Club" that was made up of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders and that we didn't need to teach them, but simply play games. On top of that, the whole school exercises at 3:00 and we showed up at 2:30 meaning we really only had 20 minutes to hang out with the students. Today, was the second week. We arrived earlier to hopefully get to spend more time with the students. We walked up to the classroom, and were told that the class was cancelled today. In general, the experience isn't what I was thinking it was going to be, but it is still early and the details are still being worked out. I'll keep you posted about next weeks experience.
One of the girls on the trip read about a "Ladies Night" on Wednesdays at a nightclub called Ku Dé Ta. From 9-11PM ladies get free champagne. To have some fun, and see what it was like, a group of 5 girls and one guy all went and checked it out. Ku Dé Ta is a club on the 39th floor of this office building in downtown Bangkok. The place was gorgeous, and the views were amazing. All of the people there were nicely dressed and looked like well to do people. In general it was mostly Thais however, there was a good portion of Europeans and foreigners there also. The place reminded me of a NYC nightclub, it was a good time, and best of all, we got lots of free champagne because it was ladies night.
After returning home early, knowing that I had class early the next morning, I got into bed feeling a tad weird. Well about 2 hours later, I was throwing up everything in my stomach. I had finally been hit with the BKK Belly. All night, every 45 minutes I was throwing up. It was an awful experience, and worst of all, I didn't have my mom to take care of me. I was dehydrated, and thought I had a fever at one point in the night. I have concluded now, a week later, that I must have had food poisoning from steamed dumplings I had for dinner on Wednesday night. To say the least, I missed class on Thursday and stayed in bed all day to finally take a shower at 4:30PM. Being sick throws you off, and I wanted to have a fun and productive weekend exploring Bangkok, so I knew that I needed to lay low Thursday night while everyone went out.
The next day, I woke up feeling better and decided to make something of my Friday. A girl had heard about an art and food festival happening in Bangkok called Art Box. A small group of us decided to go and see what it was all about, and I decided to find some food that my stomach could handle. Art Box turned out to be this hipster, clothing, jewelry, and food truck gathering. The area and the people reminded me of Brooklyn. We walked all around, and I ended up getting a wallet, a necklace, a burger, and a mojito. The neighborhood was cool, and best of all, we were the only foreigners there making me feel very immersed in the culture. That night everyone went out, but I knew my stomach was going to die if I did.
Saturday was another day to go explore. There are so many things I want to do in Bangkok with what seems like so little time. Myself and two other girls decided to go to a mall that we had heard about in a neighborhood not too far from us called Phrom Phong. The Emporium is a huge, beautiful, and upscale mall with shops and a 3 floor helix of restaurants with a gourmet food market on another floor. We walked all around the mall and went into some stores, the few that we could afford. We ended the trip at the gourmet market that made me feel like I walked into a New York City food market. There was fresh fruit everywhere, a huge cheese counter, a rice bar, a salad bar, and a huge food section that sold American food as well as Thai food. We got Au Bon Pain for lunch and ice cream for an afternoon snack before we went back to school.
Sunday was a quiet day of rest and relaxing before school started back up on Monday. This past Monday, myself and two other girls decided to go to Ekkamai, a nearby neighborhood to walk around and find some good food to eat. We all knew about a restaurant called the Ekkamai Beer House that we wanted to try. I got a delicious salad for dinner which is such a luxury in Bangkok though it really wasn't as good as any salad in America.
There is a street in downtown Bangkok that is filled with bars and clubs. One of the clubs, Levels, has a deal on Tuesday nights that before 11PM a group of 5 people get a free bottle of vodka. After class, a group of us decided that we wanted to go to dance. A lot of the clubs in Bangkok have a fairly expensive cover charge, and Levels doesn't have a cover and you get a free bottle...it is an awesome deal!!!
This morning was my second accounting class and after going out, it was pretty rough. We were all able to log in and listen in. I am now drowning in accounting homework that I need to get done before Friday morning since we are all going to Krabi on Friday morning for a beach weekend. Compared to my other classes, this accounting class is a lot of work. In my ABAC classes, there really isn't any homework. The biggest part of the class is going to the class and participating. So having homework,due dates, and deadlines is stressful but in the end it will be worth it.
I'll write soon all about my trip to Krabi, Railay, and hopefully Ko Phi Phi.
Love from a "struggling" student
xoxo
Kate
Sunday was a quiet day of rest and relaxing before school started back up on Monday. This past Monday, myself and two other girls decided to go to Ekkamai, a nearby neighborhood to walk around and find some good food to eat. We all knew about a restaurant called the Ekkamai Beer House that we wanted to try. I got a delicious salad for dinner which is such a luxury in Bangkok though it really wasn't as good as any salad in America.
There is a street in downtown Bangkok that is filled with bars and clubs. One of the clubs, Levels, has a deal on Tuesday nights that before 11PM a group of 5 people get a free bottle of vodka. After class, a group of us decided that we wanted to go to dance. A lot of the clubs in Bangkok have a fairly expensive cover charge, and Levels doesn't have a cover and you get a free bottle...it is an awesome deal!!!
This morning was my second accounting class and after going out, it was pretty rough. We were all able to log in and listen in. I am now drowning in accounting homework that I need to get done before Friday morning since we are all going to Krabi on Friday morning for a beach weekend. Compared to my other classes, this accounting class is a lot of work. In my ABAC classes, there really isn't any homework. The biggest part of the class is going to the class and participating. So having homework,due dates, and deadlines is stressful but in the end it will be worth it.
I'll write soon all about my trip to Krabi, Railay, and hopefully Ko Phi Phi.
Love from a "struggling" student
xoxo
Kate
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