Yesterday Brad, Breta and I went to the CM Zoo, which is right next to the CMU campus.. Most American zoos are quite straight forward and tend not to be too spread out.. Well, the zoo in CM is quite a maze. I have also noticed that maps in CM either arent very helpful or dont make any sense at all.. Case in point, we spent a good three hours just wandering around stumbling onto whatever animals we could find. We also got a pretty good work out because as we are farong (white folks) and are new to CM we had no idea that this was more of a driving zoo than a walking one and that a lot of the animals are slightly up a mountain. But we fun none the less and it was quite an adventure. On our way back we got caught in this torrential rain storm, it was pretty spectacular.
So my sister Emma expressed some interest in the food I have eaten so far, so I'll give you all a little taste. I think the weird things I have eaten so far are fried maggots (which are actually quite nummy and I think they are pretty much the equivalent of a Thai french fry) and last night we ate this dish of I dont know what... all I do know is that one of the things inside this brown colored yummy smelling thingy was water buffalo lung (its quite yummy until about half way through chewing when the organ taste starts to come out, at that point I would advise to swallow because personally, I'm not too much of a fan of organ taste)... There was probably also water buffalo liver, kidney, intestine etc.. in the dish... other than those two things I have been eating amazing stir fries with veges and LOTS of pork, tons of delicious wonderful fruit, this barbecued pork which will blow your mind, rice porridge, tons do yummy noodles with different things, yummy stick rice (sometimes with mango, sometimes with coconut and sugar), cups of extremely, teeth rottingly sweet thai iced tea(chaa thay yen Emma) and coffee, noodle soups with pork balls, fresh fried cat fish, pork with chilies and basil, the list just continues and continues..... I have been cooking most of my dinners with my home stay family and have learned a lot of basic rules about thai cooking (at least from my home stay families eyes):
1. Frying is always a good idea
2. fish sauce+soy sauce+sugar+salt+chilies+garlic+garlic salt = will always make food taste good
3. not having rice with a meal makes no sense
I have learned a very important fact, soy sauce in Thailand is not made with wheat!!! This has been a real life saver and allows me to eat a lot of really tasty things.. I also havent not gotten thoong duun (direct translation: walking stomach) yet, which makes me very happy. except I have learned one thing, spicy food in the morning is not a good idea...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Wednesday August 29th, 2007
Because most of you have not been to Thailand and I believe none of you have ever been to the CMU campus I will try to paint a picture, of sorts, of where I am. As we speak, I'm sitting in the CYIT office which is located on the outskirts of the CMU campus. Looking out the window , is much like looking out into a tropical jungle. Everything is extremely green and lush. We are currently towards the end of the rainy season which means its hot and humid all the time, I don't believe my hair has ever fully dried since we have come here. The CMU campus is huge, I know this because last Saturday I got very lost inside the campus and managed to walk from one of the entrances all the way to the other entrance (on the complete opposite side of campus) and still not find what I was looking for. CMU has 21 faculties and each faculty has a building or a set of buildings, but the campus has a surprising amount of green space . Personally, I think the campus is gorgeous. Chiang mai also has an enormous population of stray dogs and many of them live in CMU, its a little scary because they are a bit rabid but hey what are you going to do?
Right now, we have not started our classes or our research projects, so we have a lot of free time... Mostly I have be wandering around the city but I am definantly ready to begin my work here. I'm also having to adjust to what is called Thai time, more or less everything just moves a lot slower than you would like it to... But again, what are you going to do?
On Sunday I will be moving into Chiang Mai for a different home stay, I'm exited to be living in Chiang Mai and not be so dependent on my home stay family for transportation and entertainment. It's exciting to be in this city and know that this will be my home for the coming months but that feeling also warrants feelings of wanting to settle down, to establish myself here and to make myself at home and living in Chiang Mai, I think, will assist in that.
For those of you who don't know what my research project is, I'm planning on studying rice farming, hopefully Khiaw Niaw (sticky rice). I want to understand what rice is, how to farm it, different kinds of farming practices and then I want to look at some of the unsustainable or sustainable practices used by farmers and what their incentives are for using those practices. I also want to look at the organic/sustainable agriculture movement in Thailand as well.. I will hopefully be spending some time in a rural village, using them as my point of reference for this project. The details of this are obviously pretty scattered but I will be meeting with my adviser hopefully next week and he should be able to help me focus.
Okay it's time for a Thai ice tea or chaa thay yen break . I love you all.
Right now, we have not started our classes or our research projects, so we have a lot of free time... Mostly I have be wandering around the city but I am definantly ready to begin my work here. I'm also having to adjust to what is called Thai time, more or less everything just moves a lot slower than you would like it to... But again, what are you going to do?
On Sunday I will be moving into Chiang Mai for a different home stay, I'm exited to be living in Chiang Mai and not be so dependent on my home stay family for transportation and entertainment. It's exciting to be in this city and know that this will be my home for the coming months but that feeling also warrants feelings of wanting to settle down, to establish myself here and to make myself at home and living in Chiang Mai, I think, will assist in that.
For those of you who don't know what my research project is, I'm planning on studying rice farming, hopefully Khiaw Niaw (sticky rice). I want to understand what rice is, how to farm it, different kinds of farming practices and then I want to look at some of the unsustainable or sustainable practices used by farmers and what their incentives are for using those practices. I also want to look at the organic/sustainable agriculture movement in Thailand as well.. I will hopefully be spending some time in a rural village, using them as my point of reference for this project. The details of this are obviously pretty scattered but I will be meeting with my adviser hopefully next week and he should be able to help me focus.
Okay it's time for a Thai ice tea or chaa thay yen break . I love you all.
Tueday August 28th, 2007
Hey all,
I have decided that instead of writing hundreds of mass emails, I will simply post my adventures and such on this blog..... Enjoy.
I have been in thailand for almost one week and already feel quite comfortable with the Chiang Mai University (CMU) campus. I'm living in a village called Mae Yoi, which is about 30 mintues from Chiang Mai (CM), with a 34 year old named Phii Anny and her parents. As of now I'm in the process of finding a new homestay because the distance from CM is a bit isolating. So far, I have not encountered all that much culture shock, although I'm sure it will hit me sooner or later. We begin classes next week, so this week has and will consist mostly of wandering around the city trying to get to know. I will write more later.....
I have decided that instead of writing hundreds of mass emails, I will simply post my adventures and such on this blog..... Enjoy.
I have been in thailand for almost one week and already feel quite comfortable with the Chiang Mai University (CMU) campus. I'm living in a village called Mae Yoi, which is about 30 mintues from Chiang Mai (CM), with a 34 year old named Phii Anny and her parents. As of now I'm in the process of finding a new homestay because the distance from CM is a bit isolating. So far, I have not encountered all that much culture shock, although I'm sure it will hit me sooner or later. We begin classes next week, so this week has and will consist mostly of wandering around the city trying to get to know. I will write more later.....
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