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Less than twenty-four hours after returning from the trekking tour, it was time for my good pal, Katie, and me to hop on a plane to Cambodia where we had planned to spend the rest of our fall break. After weeks of deliberating over routes that would take us all over Southeast Asia in our week-long vacation, we finally decided to stay in just one country and split our time between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. With the relatively cheap price of bus, train, and plane tickets here, it is tempting to spend every weekend in a different country. The carbon footprint of jetting around begins to add up, however, which I am trying to keep in mind.
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After a week of midterm exams marking the culmination of eight weeks of classes, we were set free on a week-long fall break. To kick off the vacation, we embarked on a three-day trekking tour in the mountains of southern Chiang Mai. The students who had signed up for the trip were divided into two groups that would follow the same route starting from opposite ends of the path. After leaving the city early on Saturday morning in silver pickup trucks (the off-road version of red trucks), we drove through the hills and left the highway behind as we headed to our first stop along the way: the Tong Bai Elephant Sanctuary.
This past weekend, as part of my Hill Tribe Field Study course, I had the opportunity to visit Mae Sa Mai with my classmates for an overnight homestay. This Hmong community is located roughly one hour north of Chiang Mai. The winding road up to the village was beautiful; as we rounded each corner, we saw a new terraced hillside or lush green forest.We made our first stop at the Royal Project Mae Sa Mai where we toured the grounds, passing greenhouses lined with strawberry plants and grape vines, bushes of coffee beans, and macadamia trees.
“Have you noticed the changing of the seasons? How the weather is going from hot to… slightly less hot?” These were the words that Jum, our program director, imparted to us during this past week’s follow-up orientation. While at first we just laughed, I have realized that on some days, the heat is less oppressive and that daily downpours are becoming more of an every-other-day or every-few-days occurrence. Even though I have adjusted quickly to the tropical climate here, I can’t say I’ll miss getting drenched at least once a week by a surprise rainstorm on my way home from class.
Three weeks ago, I stepped off of Korean Air flight #651 and stepped on to Thai soil (or at least the shiny floor tiles of the Bangkok International Airport). After approximately 25 hours of waiting in security lines, sprinting from one terminal to another, and sitting on three different planes, I had arrived in the country where I will be spending the next five months.In a haze of excitement, anticipation, and jet lag, I made my way through customs and successfully met up with Steve and Wanida, my gracious hosts for my first few days in Bangkok.
When I mention that I will be studying abroad this coming fall, the immediate questions I’m asked are “where?” and “why?!” The answer to the former (“Chiang Mai, Thailand”) is easy, but my response to the latter is different nearly every time. Fortunately, being asked this question over and over has forced me to articulate my motivation for wanting to travel halfway around the world to live in a place with an unfamiliar language, culture, and landscape.
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about the authorPhoebe is a writer, spatial data enthusiast, and fan of bikes, bagels, and type II fun. Archives
November 2018
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