Wats are pretty

This past weekend or so we all went with some friends to Wat Arun, Wat Pho, and the alternative wat Khao San (not really a temple you just have to go to understand :)

Wat Arun, which translates in English to Temple of the Dawn, is arguably the most beautiful temple in all of BKK (in the background of the picture above)... It's made of old ceramic tiles that basically cover the entire temple or wat.

The King directed this construction, and it is absolutely stunning! The stairs are Angkor Wat style aka so steep you have to walk side ways to climb up!

At the top, after the crazy stairs, are amazing views of the beautiful but crazy city of Bangkok in the midst of a river view. Basically if you ever come to BKK you must come here. It’s a stunning Buddhist temple with an incredible view of this city!

Across the river on the same side of town is Wat Pho another awesome, probably in our opinion the 2nd most beautiful temple in BKK. Inside this huge wat complex (where our friend Harry and I were filmed for an interview by some Thai students doing a project for a film class, very funny experience) is the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand nonetheless made of gold! Woah!

Along the backside of Buddha are about 50-100 small tin/copper basins where you purchase of bunch if 1 Baht coins and put one in each basin successively for good luck whilst making a wish... It's very challenging to make 50 wishes in a row!

Needless to say we found the wats stunning as well as enlightening and we left so inspired that we ended our day at Khao San road (a different type of worship place) with a couple of buckets!

All in all another amazing day as Bangkok invaders!

Xoxo,

Jenny, Nichole, and Christy

Pad Thai Anyone?

During Christy's first weekend in BKK we took a cooking class at Silom Cooking School. First thing Saturday morning, after Christy's late arrival the night before, we headed to the class so she could not only eat her first Thai meal, but also cook it herself.

The class began at the market where our instructor took us around showing and buying all the different ingredients we needed for our meal. Among other things he taught us about the different types of chilies, did you know the smaller the more spice? (Only kidding of course we knew that before…maybe)

Once we arrived at the cooking school we spent the morning cleaning and preparing the different vegetables and meats. We must have cleaned 3 or 4 different types chilies, baby eggplant, lemon grass, lots of leaves (mint, kaffir lime, coriander, etc), about 3 or 4 different types of of ginger (who knew there were even so many? I thought there was one kind and it’s the kind they serve with sushi), and tons of other stuff.

After all the cleaning was done we sat down at our individual cutting boards to get started chopping. We each prepared our own portions, and we even had our own woks to actually cook the food ourselves. (This is surprising to me because all of the classes I have taken in America the cooking seemed to be more of a group effort than individual.)

We learned how to make some of our favorite Thai dishes Pad Thai (fried noodles), Tom Yum Gung (spicy shrimp soup), Green Curry, sticky rice, and some of our not so favorite dishes rubies in coconut milk. This is a dessert that is basically water chestnuts covered in tapioco flour, soaked in red Fanta, boiled in water, and then served with coconut milk and ice.

Pad Thai

Christy with the Rubies in Coconut Milk

The rubies and coconut milk aren't something I think any of us will be making again in our own kitchen, but they were fun to try.

I did learn one thing from this class and that is how much I want a wok! We had a great time, and hopefully we can recreate these dishes back in America to share with our friends and families.

Xoxo,

Nichole, Jenny, and Christy

What Christy needs to know about Thailand!

Jenny and I have some great news!! Another one of our friends and sorority sisters from UCF, Christy, is moving to BANGKOK!!! We are so excited to welcome her to our amazing vibrant City of Angels. Pretty soon we are going to be able to start our own Kappa Delta EO alumni group in Bangkok :) So in her honor we decided to put together a list of the top 10 things you should know about Thailand and its culture. Here it goes....

1. Long Live the King: NEVER EVER talk bad about the King. Everyone in Thailand loves the King very much. He is actually the longest reigning current monarch and the world’s longest serving head of state. All over Thailand you will find huge posters and billboards of the King and Queen similar to the one in the picture below.

2. The Wai is how Thai people normally greet each other. The Wai is done by putting the hands together at the palms, raising them somewhere between the chest and forehead (depending on who you are greeting), and nodding. The higher the level of the hands the more respectful the Wai is for example when Wai-ing Buddha images the hands would be brought all the way up to the forehead, but if you are wai-ing a friend then you would keep your hands at your chest since you are equals. All of the students at my school Wai the Thai teacher, but they don’t normally Wai the foreign ones unless they are in trouble then they might Wai to emphasize their apology.

3. The difference between Ka and Kap. The Thai language is extremely difficult. They use tones so one word could mean like 5 different things depending on the tone, but one part of the language that is very easy to figure out are the words “Ka” and “Kap.” If you are a female you say “Ka” and if you are male you say “Kap.” These words are used to end just about every sentence or word you say in Thai. As Pom say’s “it softens the sentence” and makes it more polite.

4. Shoes and feet are evil. Ok not really, but for some reason Thai’s hate feet. They believe that since they are the lowest part of the body its rude to raise or prop your feet up on anything. Shoes indoors are also considered a no no. We have shoe racks outside the classrooms at my school for the students. I prefer to keep my shoes on while I teach, but at Jenn’s school they require her to take them off.

5. Spirit Houses and Trees. The spirit houses are found on properties all over Thailand. They are built to house the spirits that could cause problems for the people that currently occupy the land. People leave offerings of food and drinks to appease these spirits in front of the spirit houses.

6. Street food: all over Bangkok and Thailand high so low so any society class of people eats street food EVERYWHERE in front of the nicest mall in Thailand (which mind you is easily comparable to any nice mall on 5th ave in NYC and this mall even has a live coral reef in it's massive aquirium) there are vendors selling everything from hot noodle soup to fish balls & fish cakes to fried bananas on a stick. All over Thailand street food is a way of life, and it's notoriously cheap and also claimed as where you'll find the best Thai food. Outside the vendor stalls are little tables and chairs or even teeny short stools with taller stools as tabels. We both really enjoy the fried chicken & sticky rice stands which rivals taco bell and slices of pizza for late night food.

7. Monks, in this city of angels there are monks everywhere & as women it is disrespectful to look at them in the eye. Also on the skytrain (above ground metro) mrt (subway) and even on the boat taxis, there are signs stating that if theres a monk you need to give up your seat. My favorite monk sightings are when I see them in 7-11 buying ciggarettes or using their black berries outside the temple... On a side note, in most grocerery stores there is an entire isle dedicated to Monks, mostly filled with monk baskets full of all the things a monk might need (umm lots of orange robes, extra vitamins, soap, lots of incense, and a buddah statue?)

8. Red pens are bad. Never write anyone’s name in a red pen apparently they believe its bad luck. One time at school I filled out a copy request form with a red pen and they wouldn’t even accept it. I had to get a new one and start over with a blue pen.

9. The pinky nail…a symbol of status? Thai’s tend to grow out their pinky nails to show that they are above the working class. They figure you can’t have long nails and do the work of the working class. I think this is, believe it or not, more common among males.

10. Transportation (This is such a big one we are just going to give it a blog of its own. Keep an eye out for it coming soon!)

xoxo,

Nichole and Jenny

Carnival Thai Style

Jenn and I used to live near two really amazing markets, but when we came home from Indonesia one of the markets had been completely torn down. We have no idea why and the really frustrating part is we can't ask anyone because of course...we don't speak Thai, but, before our trip we went to a Carnival in-between the two markets.

The Carnival had lots of food...

Corn dog anyone???

Nope its not a taco... some kind of Thai dessert....

And of course it wouldn't be a carnival with out games....

Gambling for beer or pepsi...

Sling shot games for whiskey...

shotgun game for stuffed bears...

and of course BINGO in Thai :) It was a fun way to try and brush up on our Thai numbers. In truth, we ended up having one of the ladies that worked the game stand over us and point out the numbers... what can I say, we tried.

Xoxo,

Nichole and Jenny