Koh Chang A.K.A Elephant Island

After traveling around Cambodia for a couple of days on our way back to Bangkok we decided to stop at one of Thailand's eastern islands. Koh Chang is Thailand's second largest island just after Phuket, and the ferry dock to reach this island is only 2 hours from the Cambodian border. It is a beautiful island full of lush jungles and beautiful mountains.

Crossing the Cambodia - Thailand Border

We stayed almost at the tip of the island at a beach called Lonely Beach. This beach is well known in the backpackers world and is full of beach bars and cheap bungalows.

Our first day in Koh Chang we went to an Elephant camp where we got to swim and "wash" the elephants. Washing the elephants really consisted of just be able to pose with them in water. Mark was lucky enough to go second and one of the elephants took a huge dump in the water while he was on it. On his way out of the water he had to swim out through it...haha

After the elephant's baths we took them for about an hour long trek in the jungle where we all had the opportunity to ride the elephants mahout style. A mahout is the person who drives the elephant and usually rides on the neck of the elephant.

The entire trek was absolutely beautiful. As if it wasn't enough we were riding on elephants, but we were surrounded by mountains and even went through a rubber tree forest.

After the trek we were able to take photos with our elephants and feed them bananas.

On day two in Koh Chang we rented kayaks and explored some of the near by deserted islands, went kayak surfing, and relaxed at the beach.

After a fun day at the beach we headed to this mountain side restaurant to catch the last little bit of the sunset before eating dinner.

Overall I think Mark and Cameron had a great time in Thailand and Cambodia. I am so happy I was able to share my love for Thailand with them, and that we were all able to experience a new country together.

xoxo,

The Explores Club

Transportation in Thailand

There are many different ways to get around Bangkok. In fact enough ways that we felt the need to do a blog on them. Some are very modern like the...

BTS Skytrain only 10 years old

Subway system even newer than the Skytrain

Pink Taxis for the King

Some are a little less modern....

The bus: this type of bus has actually been banned from the streets of BKK due to the massive amount of pollution they were releasing into the air

Song Taow: This translate to two benches because it is literally a truck with two benches in the bed. Its used all over Thailand as a form of public transportation. Its as common if not more common than buses in some areas.

Motorbikes: There are motorbike taxi stands on almost every street corner of BKK. This is by far our favorite way to travel in the city. Traffic in Bangkok can be insane and these little motorbikes weave around cars with ease making them one of the fastest ways to get where you need to go. Obviously they aren't ideal for long distances, but they sure are fun for the short ones :)

And well some are strictly for tourist...

Tuk Tuk: You can find these anywhere the tourist go. The drivers are normally lined up outside any tourist attraction waiting to over charge to go a couple of blocks. Even though they are primarily for the tourist they can still be a lot of fun to ride in and a great way to enjoy the fresh air of the city (haha...if only BKK had "fresh air").

Canal Boats: These little boats are used to give tours of the canals in Bangkok

Elephants: This is actually what we both used to take to and from work until it got too expensive... only kidding, I've actually never seen them in the streets of BKK, but I've been told you can find them in certain areas for the tourist.

Xoxo,

Nichole, Jenny, and Christy

A*M*P*H*A*W*A

About an hour outside of Bangkok there is a town called Amphawa that has the most fantastic floating market. This market is a bit off the beaten path for western tourist, but it is very popular with Thais and is well worth the trip. The other weekend about six of us piled into our friend Pom's SUV and decided to make the journey. We were not only in search of the floating market, but also in search of the sea monkeys we heard resided in the area.

At the market we were among very few other foreigners, but lots of other Thai tourist. The market itself was like a huge boardwalk on both sides of the canal. It had shops on the main land lining the water and floating food vendors selling everything from pad Thai, bamboo shoots, thai icetea, soups, scallops, squid, fish, and the largest river prawns I think I've ever seen.

After about an hour or two of wondering around the shops and eating ourselves sick we finally found a boat/tour guide that would take us to see these imfamous sea monkeys.

It was actually rather difficult to find a driver to take us because it was so far which made us a bit nervous we weren't going to see the monkeys! Well thank goodness for Pom and her persistance (not to mention her ability to speak Thai). The driver as we suspected brought us somewhere and basically said "oh guess there are no monkeys today". Pom, not willing to take no for answer, started flagging down other boaters/locals and asking them where we could find the monkeys and sure enough she found us the monkeys. We didn't exactly get to see any of them swim, but we did see them walk into the water to grab the food we threw. They really are such interesting little creatures. We would throw a piece of food on the sand and they would pick it up and go rinse it off in water before they ate it. Who knew monkeys cared so much about a little sand on their food?

Once we arrived back at the market we did a bit more shopping and eating...icecream with sticky rice, stuffed crab, rose apples, little shrimp cakes, fried chicken, and the list goes on. We topped the day off with Leos all around at a canal side bar.

Overall it was a fantastic day with great friends!

Xoxo,
Nichole, Jenny, 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