ICU

For the Thai Studies final project Evie and I have chosen to do a presentation on the role of food carving in Thai culture. We were able to include a lot of interesting information of the background of the art and how it evolved into the modern food carvings we see today. We came across (and included in our power point) a multitude of photos made for royal dinners and whatnot that were totally mind-blowing. Thais manage to make incredible ornate and complicated carvings. As an art student I find things like this inspiring and I hope to incorporate what I’ve learned into my work back home.

The best part of our project has turned out to be each (Thai Studies) student’s attempt to make a cucumber rose. We handed out knives and half of a cucumber to each Thai Studies student. We showed them a picture of the final product (a rose) and gave them one hour to complete. At the end of the hour we had each student pose with their carving. Some cucumbers came back in pieces some came back with tape others came back in a form somewhat resembling a rose. They’re all pretty humorous.

These attempts highlight the finesse and skill required to make many of the traditional food carvings associated with Thai culture. The tradition of food carving has definitely developed into an art form and is a staple Thailand’s culture and cuisine. Food carving is taught in schools and classes are offered for Thais and tourists alike. I’m glad that I have learned at least a little about this cultural art and that I will be able to take some of the carving techniques home. I hope to use food carving in someway in future sculpture projects so I can utilize my new skill.

ICU Elephants

I have always claimed that one day I would run way and become a mahout. I have always had a deep and serious love for elephants, and when it was confirmed that I would be coming to Thailand I immediately began to fantasize about personal encounters with my favorite animal.

Since my arrival I had done research on the various elephant camps and reserves in the area in hopes of finding one that would provide me with my ideal experience. I decided upon the ‘Thai Elephant Home’ and made a reservation. They did a wonderful job and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. They picked us up, we met with a couple other farang, and spent the entire day riding, feeding, swimming, and playing with the elephants. The elephants were treated well and it was a generally great day.

When I first arrived in Thailand I became acquainted with the reality of elephants within the country. While elephants are highly revered they are also utilized and exploited for money and tourism. I vividly remember seeing my first elephant in Thailand and while it was an impressive and memorable experience it opened my eyes to the role of elephants within Thailand, particularly within urban environments like Chiang Mai and Bangkok. I believe that every ‘urban elephant’ I have encountered has been under the authority of a Burmese refugee. It has been explained to me that a large number of these elephants were illegally taken from the jungle and used as a financial resource for refugees within Thailand. When I first arrived it was magical to see an elephant walking down the street and now it’s just disheartening.

ICU Bennett Response

The Bennett article which goes over the various stages of cultural interaction and adjustment classifies reactions to new cultures into a variety of stages and phases. I personally don’t believe these stages are as prevalent or inevitable as Bennett portrays them. However, I did identify with the ‘reversal’ stage and can think of a range of emotions and sentiments I’ve held told fellow farang and ultimately my own culture which reflect Bennett’s reversal phase of cultural interface.

Thailand’s rich tourism industry has created a large influx of western visitors and sojourners. I have personally encountered a large number of college age students who seem to be here just to party and not to learn or embrace anything about Thai culture. This has created a staunch contrast in my mind between the cultures and social values of Thailand and western countries. I unfortunately now find myself bothered by the presence of other farang an often mutter the phrase ‘oh man, look at all these farang dudes’. I recognize that I should be embracing my fellow travelers but I cannot shed my newfound sight of western tourist. I now completely understand the regrettable stereotype of the loud obnoxious American.

I find this to be an amazing difference in my sentiments from last semester during my time abroad in Turkey. Although Istanbul has a consistent influx of tourists, it is not anything comparable to that of Chiang Mai. Last semester when I met another American I was beyond glad to be talking to them, and instantly engaged in conversation, interested in where they were from and what they were doing in Turkey. It felt good to speak English and to be comfortably conversing with someone who has a similar cultural background. In Chiang Mai, Americans are easy to come by. I have virtually no interest in hearing (for the millionth time) about someone’s travels in Laos or the crazy nights they had in Bangkok.

Overall my cross-cultural understanding has certainly evolved. I’ve learned to identify cultural differences and to embrace them for being cultural differences. I am now less frustrated by them and more interested in the little social differences that shape our cultures. I have also learned to identify what are distinctly American idiosyncrasies and I always wonder how I would react to them as a foreigner in the States.

ICU Koh Chang

I spent the latter half of my Songkran holiday in Koh Chang. We spent a night’s journey flying into Bangkok, taking an overnight bus to Traht and greeting the next morning on the ferry to Koh Chang. Upon arrival I immediately realized that the exhausting trip to the island was well worth it. As the sun rose, the water became bluer and bluer and I began to plot dropping my bags into the bungalow and running straight for the beach.

By the time we arrived at our hostel the day’s heat was well underway and we opted to find the beach as soon as we were done with breakfast. We quickly found the beach, dropped our things and dove into the warm water. I swam for upwards of three hours, in utter bliss, and even attracted the comment of an older British woman, “you crazy kids have been in here for hours!” By the time I emerged from the ocean I was so tired I hastily passed out in the sun for an hour or two.

And woke up with the worst sun burn of my life.

The consistently painful burn across my back and shoulders didn’t slow me down, and I enjoyed my vacation to the fullest extent. I swam, ate delicious food, met cool people, and even went snorkeling which was, in my opinion, the highlight of the trip.

We arranged a snorkeling tour which took us to four different islands and diving sights around Koh Chang. Our first sight they took us to a rock formation off of a small island. They handed out the gear and we eagerly jumped off the side of the boat and into the water. The sight was filled with amazing coral, colorful fish, and other ocean life. The excitement of our first sight was unfortunately dampened when Eva emerged with a series of sea urchin spikes stuck in her foot. We pulled out the large ones, but Eva, in an immense amount of pain from the points still logged in her foot, spent the rest of the day on the boat.

I spent the rest of the afternoon jumping off the side of the boat, gazing at fish, and being generally terrified of sea urchins.

Despite the sunburn and digestive issues we all suffered, Koh Chang was an amazing trip. At times I forgot I was even in Thailand, the signs were mostly in English, farang food was prevalent, and the population of the island seemed to consist of European tourist and dark Thai men with dreadlocks. It was definitely a vacation spot, and needless to say, I was sad to return home to my little dorm room and huge pile of homework.

ICU Songkran

Songkran in Chiang Mai was totally and completely ridiculous. I had an amazing time. I think the entire city had an amazing time. We woke up Monday morning, squirt guns ready and not quite sure what to expect. We got into the sungtow and it was no more that 10 minutes into our drive when we were completely soaked. Stepping out of the car and into the traffic packed streets by Tophae Gate was like stepping into an alternative universe. The entire city was out, soaking wet, drunk, and smiling. Walking up the street we were immediately met with playful buckets of water and eager farang with huge water guns that made me remember summers in my backyard as a kid.

There was zero evidence of the religious meaning to the holiday and was very apparent that the entire city of Chiang Mai had all but forgotten the reason behind the festivities. Songkran, the Thai New Year, is supposed to be a time of renewal and cleansing of the spirit (hence the inescapable city-wide soak). A traditional instance is the parading of the city’s Buddha images so that people make sprinkle water onto them and hence clean the Buddha, receiving merit. Water was originally used as a way to symbolically cleanse and respect elders and family members by dripping water onto them. This practice evolved into the all out water wars of modern Songkran.

A celebration of this magnitude and chaos could never happen in America. There are too many restrictions and the general population is too nervous and uptight to ever let go and have that much fun. When we arrived at the airport to depart for Thailand, I remember Evie’s father explaining that ‘in Thailand, everyone just seems to do whatever they want…’ and I feel that Songkran was the epitome of this statement.

I ended the festival exhausted, drenched, and down one cell phone. I thoroughly enjoyed the festivities and hope to participate again one day.

ICU Chiang Rai Lisu Village

Our home stay in the Lisu village for Dr.Otome’s class was my favorite trip of the semester. It was good to be in a small group, and to have Dr. Otome as a guide in a place she knew so well. When we arrived you could see how happy the villagers were to have her back and they all smiled and ran up to talk to her. When all of our hosts arrived, Dr. Otome casual placed us where she saw fit. She waved me over and introduced me to a large, smiling woman name Allema and said, “She picked you so you will stay with her,” then waved over and introduced Kelly and sent us off.

Kelly and I shared Allema’s daughter’s room which was decorated in anime drawings and a large landscape poster. There was a man sitting on the floor watching TV in the living room who I assume was her husband. This man generally ignored us our entire stay and seemed to have no interest in us. I think he just left it as Allema business and didn’t want to be involved with the farang. Allema cooked us a delicious dinner, she was by far the best cook of all my home stays, but Kelly and I couldn’t help but speculate the amount of MSG she used which was the obvious reason for the scrumptiously salty taste of her meals.

The next morning Allema woke us up early walked us to Otome’s house for our tour of the village. We spent the day walking around and seeing what there was to see. We walked up to the village wat, which sat on tope of the tallest hill overlooking the surrounding area. We also saw a church and spent a few hours talking and playing with children on the playground. The day ended with a trip to a Lisu burial mound, prepping us for our visit to a funeral ceremony the last day.

The second day we all piled into a couple pick up trucks and drove to a neighboring Akha village. We ate guai tiao and visited a couple of the houses. We drove a little farther and saw a coffee factory that used the local coffee crops. They explained to us that the company was a collaborative effort, owned and run by a group of people. They also mentioned a disease in the coffee plants that was causing issues for the farmers, but the young man seemed hopeful and very optimistic of the company. On the way home we stopped in a peach orchard and ate some of the unripe fruits while we walked around.

That night we had a community dinner. It was an incredible amount of fun. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, dancing, drinking, eating, and talking. Some young girls put on a traditional dance for us, and we taught the villagers the hokey pokey- I’m not sure if they quite understood but they seemed to be enjoying it. We all danced together in a circle around two musicians playing traditional Lisu instruments, and I tried to figure out the dance steps, but couldn’t get the hang of it. Allema had dressed both Kelly and I in Lisu costume, which was a little uncomfortable, but all the other villagers kept complimenting us and telling us how beautiful we looked. I think it pleased both them and Allema to see us dressed like the rest of the villagers.

We departed the next day, saying goodbye to Allema and the other villagers. We stopped on the way home in another Akha village where we saw a spirit gate, created to keep the bad spirits out of the village. There were little helicopter figurines made out of sticks and folic symbols which Otome said there were many speculations over.

The trip was overall a great experience. It was very relaxed but fun and I feel like I learned a lot. Visiting the village put Dr. Otome’s class into perspective and it was a valuable opportunity to experience and observe the very things we ha been talking about in the classroom.

ICU Nan

Our home stay in Nan was absolutely amazing. The excruciatingly long (and nauseating) van ride was completely worth it when we finally made it to the village and I met my ‘host family’, a sweet old woman who was introduced to me as Bawh, grandmother in Hmong. I was a little alarmed when I realized that she didn’t speak either English or Thai, but was comforted by her warmth and hospitality.

I stayed in a compound with Dao, Bintou, and Rachel, we all stayed in small, one room, hut-like homes. Everyone’s families were really close with one another and it seemed like a really close community. Every ones children freely came in and out of ever ones homes and I’m still unsure which family members lived in which households, or who was directly related to who. All of the families where very friendly and made me feel at home in the community. Every night I was invited to dinner at every household and invited to come in and sit whenever I walked by.

After dinner on the first night Dao came over and I was able to get to know a little bit more about Bawh. She came to Thailand from Laos with her husband about thirty years ago; she lost two sons there before they left. She said that they had wanted to go to America but had stayed because her husband’s parents wanted them to stay closer to their way of life.

Even though we could not communicate, I had a wonderful time with Bawh. Every night we stayed up late, while she sewed I read, and we would sit outside with the other women in the afternoons. I think we were both really upset when I left. She had someone write down her address for me and I’m going to print out pictures from my trip for her and mail them the second I can. She was a really wonderful host to me and she truly made Nan a memorable trip.

Our day trip to the waterfall and former refugee camp were also great experiences. Seeing where the refugee camp was, where many of the people from the village had stayed, put into perspective the impact of the Laos-Hmong problem. It opened up a lot of interesting dialogue and on the way to the waterfall I got to hear Sheasia’s parent’s story which was really stirring.

The waterfall was the highlight of my trip. There were numerous pools of water on different levels, and the water was the perfect temperature. We all had a great time climbing, swimming, laughing, and relaxing. It was picturesquely Thailand, and the perfect end to a hot day.