Pretty in the Pink City

In case you've been thinking my venture to the Pink City (also known as Jaipur, Rajastan, India) was all Holi-induced-color-madness) I thought it was about time to give you all the Cliff Notes version of our first VC rendezvous.

 

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but India can be a bit (or a lot) crazy sometimes. It’s the kind of madness in which sometimes you find yourself flailing around, grasping for anything that might be the slightest bit familiar. The kind which leads to accelerated friendships with those who understand what  you are experiencing because they are going through the same (or similar) things themselves.

Enter my Volunteer Corps cohort. There are 7 of us here, scattered across 4 states of India, who had until Jaipur spent a grand total of 4 days together. It turns out this was enough time to bond us together on this crazy journey and we have been enjoying checking in on each other and sharing our experience over the interwebs (and for 6/7 of us, with a fellow volunteer in our city). 

My fellow Delhi Volunteer, Lauren

Our mini-Holi holiday break seemed like the perfect time for a reunion, so 5 of us trained, planed, and bussed ourselves to Jaipur, where two volunteers are so luckily placed.

We spent a few days exploring the city, enjoying each others company, and setting few hours aside to check in on our experiences at work. The later reminded me how lucky I am to have these people as resources, and provided a relief from some of the emotions and baggage I didn’t even know I was carrying around with me. I should have know better… who doesn’t need a good “good and welfare” every now and then??

Other highlights of the trip included…

Exploring the famous Amber (pronounce Ahmer) Fort and City Palace

 
 

Above: Amber Fort // Below: City Palace

  

Taking in the chaos of the Pink City Bazars
 

Peaking out at the city through the miniature windows of the Hawa Mahal, the "Palace of the Winds: built to both hide and to provide a view of the city to the royal ladies. 
  
 

Hitting up the delicious Lassiwala, which certainly lived up to the hype. [Note: the satisfaction gained from smashing our used clay cups was also pretty rad.]

 

And, because it wouldn't be right not to mention it, eating some delicious things. 

Not pictured are hours spent hiking up and over one of the mountains on the outskirts of the city to find a hidden pilgrimage site, an evening spent checking out my first Bollywood Film, Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, at the famous Raj Mandir Theater (yes it was glorious) and a few hours spent riding  around to some unimpressive sites in a rickshaw. The latter  was decidedly less glorious, but it at least allowed us a chance to see the partially submerged "Water Palace." 

Welcome to my life when I am not working my friends (though I will remind you that is not very often!)

More updates when I find a hot minute to myself!

Emily

[Pad]ThaiLand: Bangkok

Bangkok is gold and incense and scams. It is sweet coffee in bags and suicidal tuk-tuks. Bangkok is old and new and shiny and dirty. Bangkok is Bangkok, and nothing less.

I arrived in the country's capitol after my final flight aboard Bangkok Airways.
American Airlines take note: any passenger with a Bangkok Airways ticket is welcomed into a pre-departure BA lounge, once they've cleared security. This cozy room is filled with comfy chairs, service-e internet stations, free snacks and coffee to boot. Once on board, you can expect to receive an in-flight meal, or barrage of snacks, even on a sub 60 min flight and, 30 min prior to landing, the TV screens begin broadcasting an instructional video, leading the passengers in guided meditation and pressure point massage, to relieve the ill effects of air travel. Nice-uh!

After arriving in Bangkok and collecting my things, I purchased a bus ticket to Th Khao San (Khao San Road) and headed off to the Backpackers Ghetto, situated in the Western part of Bangkok's Old City. Over the last 20 years or so, the former rice market has become the home base for nearly every [budget] traveller passing through Bangkok. Spanning a city block, the road brings out a bit of the best and just about all of the worst of traveling and travelers. Crowded between the hoards of people, ranging somewhere between clean, chipper and fresh faced (those at the beginning of their travels) and more than slightly disheveled, deliriously tired, some what unaffected, and distinctly travel worn (those on the tail ends of their Round The World tickets,) one can find quite the variety of attractions and distractions. Surely you will find everything you thought you needed (an abundance of guesthouses, restaurants, bars, cheap food and clothing, and travel agencies) right along side those things you never knew you needed (the same cheap clothes and souvenirs, Dr. Fish treatment, dreadlock-weave stations, and stands selling any sort of false identification or paperwork you could ever need) and, not to be forgotten, those select services that NO ONE, ANYWHERE, EVER, will need (bogus combination boat/bus/train tickets to anywhere in Asia, questionable Thai massages behind closed doors, and even more questionable Thai men pushing invitations to illegal "ping-pong" sex shows.)

Once my bus dropped me off in the above described circus that is Khao San, I preformed my now routine ritual of ignoring each and every tuktuk/taxi driver, and set off in search of Khao San Palace, as per Ali's instructions. An hour later, I had finished marveling at the long forgotten fixtures of an actual hotel, swapped my airplane leggings for a pair of comfy, ankle concealing, fisherman pants, scarfed a dollars worth of Pad Thai and was ready to roll. Ali and I stopped to grab a quick gallon of iced coffee each, which was delivered "to-go" in clear plastic bags with straws, and happily slurped down said deliciousness as we strolled towards the Royal Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.


Getting into the palace was somewhat like an obstacle course, involving evading a seemingly endless stream of tuk-tuk/taxi drivers/scam artists, trying ever so helpfully to tell us: a.) They would love to give us a tour of Bangkok, and drive us to all of the temples for a meer 20 Baht, if we wanted to participate in a one day, tax free, shopping extravaganza. b.) "I am very sorry Miss, but this area of the city is closed today. I can give you a free tour of 'X' area AND take you on a one day, tax free, shopping extravaganza, or c.) "TUK-TUK, TUK-TUK, MISS, TUK-TUK, YOU NEED TUK-TUK!!!" Luckily Ali and I had both read up on tuk-tuk scams in Lonely Planet (don't want to go into it ..great description here) and Ali may or may not have gotten suckered into a scam by one Moon-Mi on her first pass through the city, so we knew to avoid such friendly offers outright. Thanks to my Seoulmate's previous expereinces, I learned early on that a confused "No hablo Inglés,"  or "Non parlo Inglese," depending on your faux-nationality of choice, was enough to scatter scammers by the masses. Seeing as a large portion of Bangkok is in cahoots over the great tuk-tuk scams, fending off a driver with the "I don't speak English" gem is enough to evade drivers for at least 100 meters or so. (Word to the wise, do not choose Hebrew for this clever ruse, as for some reason I was shouted at to "Yala! Yala!" almost as much as, "Come here, Let's go!")

After finally reaching the Palace, we purchased tickets, fashioned Ali a beautiful wool scarf/skirt (her lower ankles were a bit too provocative for the guards liking) and headed inside. Visiting the Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, is sort of like visiting the Colosseum or the Forum in Rome, or the Alhambra in Grenada (though not quite on the same scale as the latter). The Palace/Wat compound is enormous and simply filled to the brim with tour groups, travelers, and Thai field trips. While it was a bit overwhelming and stressful at times, the buildings and their respective embelishments were beautiful. We marveled at the gold spires, and glass mosaics adorning nearly every surface, read up on a little history from our handy pamphlets,  shot a friendly "Anyeong Haseyo" at some tourists we recognized as Korean, and snapped about a million photos. Basically, we were the world's biggest tourists; but, when in Bangkok...

 

Thoroughly exhausted and sweaty, we left the Palace and wandered towards to river, to see if we could figure out how to get to the famous floating market; but, after realizing it didn't really fit into our [lack of a]plan and hearing that it was really more of a show for the tourists these days, we decided it was not going to happen. Instead we jumped on the ferry and rode across the river to Wat Arun, or Temple of the Dawn. I realized later that, after reading through my LP, I had scrawled Wat Arun on the list of things I'd like to see, but couldn't quite remember why until we arrived. This was my absolute favorite Wat I saw in all of Thailand, and one of the cooler things I have ever seen. The entire structure is covered in semi-imperfect mosaics made from broken ceramic tiles and china, left over by Chinese traders. The effect is simply stunning, and gives the who structure a simultaneously earthy and other-worldly feel. As the sun began to set, Ali and I climbed a treacherous set of stairs, that literally required a rope support on the way down (yet later we saw a young monk practically sprint down) and took in a spectacular view from the upper levels of the largest spire. I found myself daydreaming of mosaics made by the students of MMSD, and outsider artists I learned about during my ArtEd coursework, and was immensely happy. Sometimes not having a plan can lead you to the most fantastic places you will ever encounter.  Wat Arun, you're pretty fab.

 

Post temple climbing, and an equally treacherous and terrifying descent, we headed back towards Khao San, managed to track down a somewhat hidden Israeli restaurant (much thanks and no thanks to LP, for the excellent recommendation and horrible map/description) where we proceeded to stuff our faces with the best falafel, pita and hummus I have had, outside the Land of Milk and Honey. The evening brought showers, a brief break with a dog named Hachi, and some nighttime shopping, before finding seats at the only bar on the street not playing club beats and grabing a few Changs. We had a lovely evening singing along to live, acoustic, English music, rubbed elbows with some new Thai friends, and called it a night.

The next day brought a trip to the weekend market, a modern day Buddhist hub, and a bit of lost wandering.  After obligatory gallons of morning coffee, we jumped in a cab (they actually have taxi cars in bangkok as opposed to the pickup trucks found elsewhere) and road off the the gargantuan clusterfriend that is จตุจักร (Chatuchak) Market. Chatuchak market is the largest market in Thailand, and one of the most famous markets in all of Asia. It covers 35 acres and has more than 5,000 stalls[1] selling everything imaginable. Food? Check. Clothes? Check. Furniture? Check. House wares? Check. Illegally traded animals? Double check. (I'll come back to this one) Ali and I spent the majority of the day roaming the market until were were totally and completely overwhelmed and felt ourselves fading into the crowd. We decided to hop on the skytram and head towards the Erwa shrine, which turned out to be one of the more interesting/currently relevant display's of religion  I saw in Thailand. The Hindu shrine, set amid Bangkok's highly developed, very westernized, swanky down town, receives thousands of visitors each day, stopping off between errands to make a quite offering. The popularity of the shrine, and hired dance troops preforming near by, can be attributed to the shrine's notoriety for bestowing good luck and answering prayers (the dancers are hired by worshipers, whose prayers have been answered, to show appreciation.)



After getting a bit lost on the return end, we spent the evening back on Khao San, getting our laundry done in a back ally, and purchasing beautiful handmade dresses from an adjacent shop. Ali packed up her belongings, as it was her last night in Thailand, and we headed out for one last night of good times, good music, and a few toasts to friends and adventures (not to mention some accidentally inferno Pad Thai... my bad.)

Ali left me early the next morning, but I still had one fabulous day left in the city of gold. I snagged some eggs, toast and coffee (obviously) and managed to get in contact with a long lost friend via the hotel phone. I was once more reminded that, solely based on my parents decision to send me to camp, I am very lucky to have friends in far reaching corners of the globe. Laura, a former Beber staff/boss/friend/loveee is living and teaching in Bangkok and we made plans to meet up that day.

Prior to our date, I ventured off on my own to Wat Pho, home of the famous reclining Buddha. I marveled at one last fortress of moasic and gold spires, checked out the very popular, but very impressive reclining Buddha and headed back towards Chatuchack to meet Laura for another round with the beast.We had plenty of catching up and camp gossiping to do (it has be two years since we last saw eachother) so much so that we kept forgetting to look at the menu and actually decide what to order for lunch. After lunch we dove back into the market and, true to the notion that you cant see it all in a day, ended up in corners of the market Laura, who has lived in the city for over a year, has never seen. At one point we inadvertently wandered into the animals section, and were at once surrounded by puppies (way to young to be sold), birds (some were already dead), weird squirrels, something that may or may not have been a monkey, turtles, fish, skunks... you name it. The whole thing was really gross and really sad (def not PETA approved) but the more we tried to find our way to a new section, the more we found ourselves trapped by thousands of rodents. It was literally my worst nightmare. I wish I had photographic evidence, but I was far to traumatized to pull out the camera at this point.

  

[ Point of interest, after my return I stumbled on this news article, describing a man attempting to smuggle out of Thailand: 88 Indian star tortoises, 33 elongated tortoises,7 radiated tortoises, 6 mata mata turtles, 4 Southeast Asian narrow-headed softshell turtles,3 Aldabra tortoises, 1 pig-nosed turtle, 1 ploughshare tortoise (which Traffic described as the world's rarest tortoise) 34 ball... pythons, 2 boa constrictors, several milk snakes, corn snakes and king snakes and 1 hog-nosed snake. There also were 19 bearded dragon lizards, 4 spiny-tailed lizards, 2 Sudan plated lizards, 6 Argentine horned frogs, 18 baboon spiders, 22 common squirrels and 1 African grey parrot, all stuffed into 3 suitcases. The animals were suspected to be purchased at Chatuchak, and the man was caught during routine security screenings. So, there's that.]  

Laura and I retreated to her apartment to cool off and spent the rest of the evening chatting away and getting 3 dollar facials with a few of her friends. I got to see a bit of the non-touristy areas of the city, my face has never felt more wonderful, and my heart was extremely full and happy after catching up with an old friend.  It was the perfect ending to a spectacular adventure. 

After one more evening of street food, shopping and packing. And a quick breakfast in the morning. I was off and away back to the Land of the Morning Calm. My time in Thailand was absolutely phenomenal, and I would be incredibly depressed if I thought I would never see its shining skies and glittering Wats again. As is, I have a feeling that one day the countries allure will draw me back into the crowded Soi's I loved so much, perhaps on the way to other, less familiar destinations...

So, Thailand, I guess I will finally cave and admit that my vacation is [long] over.
Thanks for the ride, my friend. To you, I will always look with a smile.


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To see all my Bangkok photos, click on the button on the right side of the screen :) enjoy!

[1] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Chatuchak_Weekend_Market

추석 Revisited: Adventures in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do

Apologies in advance for writing way too much in this post. I'm still trying to play catch up from Chuseok (better late than never, right??), but will make it my future goal to restrain myself.

Determined to make good use of my precious moments of freedom, I spent the latter half of Chuseok break with some friends gallivanting around Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do, seeing what each had to offer. The following represent our findings. 

Indian food and Kimchi-Cheese Pancakes
And that's about all she wrote. The night before Chuseok, I met up with some friends living in Ansan, a city about halfway between Pyeongtaek and Seoul. We scarfed delicious Indian food and headed out for a night in Ansan. I was once again amazed by Korea's determination to cover every mountable space with neon signs. It's amazing that some (many) areas are actually quite ugly on the surface, but come to life under the dazzling glow of a neon norebang, or two, or forty. The night was pretty low key by Korea standards, but enjoyable nonetheless. It eventually ended with some sort of kimchi-cheese pancake, at a restaurant, which Pat mistook for a bar. This was probably the better decision anyways and the pancake concoction could give a fatty slice of Ian's or PDR a run for it's money, in terms of effective late-night cuisine.

Tourists-Shmourists 
On Chuseok day I went with a handful of English teachers, to Gyeongbuk Palace, the oldest and largest Joseon dynasty compound. Gyeongbuk was my first palace experience, as well as my first super touristy activity since my arrival in the land of the morning clam. There was a traditional changing of the guards ceremony, as well as a small festival featuring traditional Korean "Samul Nori" dancers and acrobats. The child acrobats where amazing, and simple adorable. The palace complex itself was pretty fantastic. The ceilings of each building are supported by hundreds of wooden beams, painted in vibrant  greens, reds, yellows and blues, the only thing more extravagant than the ceilings are the interior spaces,
which add brilliant gold to the effect. I did my best not to hold everyone up, but at times felt the need to camp out on a bench (or the ground) and take everything in. I started a few sketches, and hope to do many more this year. I am definitely realizing how lucky I was to travel Italy and Europe, with 30 other people whose hearts desire it was to sink into a corner and draw/ or write. In the last week or so, I have started to connect with some other arsty-fartsy UW Gepik-ers and we are going to try to check out some artist events, with like-minded people, in the future. The palace group also attempted to go to Changdeok Palace, which is renowned for its beautiful gardens; however, after realizing we would have to pay for a guided tour, wait around an hour, and possibly listen to said guided tour in Japanese, we all decided to save Changdeok for another day.

Seoul Mates: An interesting cultural side note
Once a Korean couple reaches a certain level of serious-ness (cue Bubbie: "Is it serious??"), say 200 days, they often (or always) go out and buy matching outfits. These can range from matching or connecting t-shirts, to full on head to toe twinkies.

After getting our fill of the palaces, Ali, Pat, Brent, Lauren, and I, headed over to Myeongdong in search of some needed electronics, bags, and other such things. Myeongdong is a large shopping district in Seoul and has the potential to be a dangerous place if you have Won burring a hole in your pocket. Sadly/Luckily,  I am approximately eight times the size of the average Korean, and thus will be limited to the glories of Forever 21 and H+M. Although, it is nice to know I don't have to worry about wearing my clothes to rags in a year. After searching around and obvi eating some street food (something that resembled an egg on one side and a pancake on the other), Ali and I happened on the best Korean couples shirts I have see so far; so, naturally, we bought them. Best 10,000 W (8 bucks) I have spent so far. See above right to view the full effect of the connecting heart, cup-phone glory! The crew eventually went our separate ways, with vague ideas of hiking in the next few days.




"You should have seen that sunrise, with your own eyes..."
Ok, it was not a sunrise, it was two sunsets. Kill me, I couldn't help it.
Seeing as I am not living in what you may call a bustling metropolis, my few nights spent at home during Chuseok week were most often spent planning which adventure/activity to do next. After arriving home from an exhausting day of palace hopping, and filling my belly with something delicious, I flopped down on my couch and tried to figure out what to do next. At this point I still did not have a cell phone, so the planning process involved sitting in my glorious corner of wifi, guidebook in lap, and facebook, my only form of contact to those in Korea, on the screen. At around midnight, Ali and I struck gold, with possibly the best idea EVER. After realizing the weather would be absolutely perfect the next few days, we decided to head to Muui-do, or Muui Island, early the next morning. 9 am Seojeong-ri station departure, 6 hours of trains, buses, ferries, and the help of 2 friendly, but slightly confused Koreans later, we arrived. (sidenote: the return trip took a third of the time once we knew what we were doing!) Ali and I played a quick game of charades with the man renting huts, eventually reserving a small hut on the beach for the next two nights. Now, when I say small hut on the beach, I mean exactly that. Ali, Pat, Sam, Brent and I squished ourselves into a 7 foot by 7 foot hut, which was perched on stilts about 50 feet from the Yellow Sea (with the tide in), and equipped with a heated floor, five pillows and five blankets. This ritz-carlton-esque lodging cost us 60,000 won ($52.00) total for both nights, and was worth every fricken penny.

Muui-do is a small Island off the West coast of Korea, and is home to one of the most bizarre natural phenomenon I have ever seen. At around 9 pm the tied starts to go out and then ... it keeps going out.. forever. By midnight it is out over a half a mile, and by the next morning you have to walk 45 min to reach the shoreline. It is totally bizarre, but very cool to walk out on the mud flats, dodging crabs and weird tubers (possibly sea cucumbers?) and watching people dig for clams. At around 3 pm, the tide rolls back in and you can swim in water above your head, a short 50 feet from your hut.

The next 2 days were spent laying on the beach, walking out on the mud flats and eating the freshest sea food I have ever had (grilled clams and seafood pa-jeon [pancakes] right out of the ocean). The second day, Brent and I hiked up to the top of the island and took in a spectacular 270 degree view of green islands and sea, while ignoring the 90 degrees pointing us towards the airport.

There were about 5 other huts or tents of English teachers there at the time; so, after watching two spectacular sunsets, with nothing but the sea and more Islands to the West, both nights were spent relaxing and drinking around communal bonfires. On the second night, the smallness of the world came crashing down on me, when a Korean family joined our festivities. Somewhere in the course of the evening I learned that the patriarch of this family lived in Buffalo Grove for four years! His children even attended Daniel Wright Middle School, while I was learning Algebra over at Twin Groves. Words cannot explain the level of insane shock and coincidence both of us felt at this moment. The man then proceeded to introduce me to every member of his family and, I'm pretty sure, tried to set me up with his far too young, and totally mortified, nephew. Needless to say, my brain exploded; but this, combined with an 8:30 am make-your-eyes-water spicy noodle bowl, was the perfect end to a wonderful week in 한국!


Unfortunately, during this last stretch, my camera fell victim to soju, a lifeguard stand, and the yellow sea. ( I know, I know... stupid, stupid, stupid!!) I have not yet stolen Ali's Muui-do photos, or purchased a new camera. Both issues will be resolved soon; however, now I must simply say "C'est la vie" and appreciate every moment as it happens.  (**All Muui-do photos in the post were jacked from Brent's Blog "Way from Wisconsin"**)

I hope you're either enjoying or ignoring my adventures! I love hearing updates from home and I swear one day I will be on top of the whole more frequent, shorter blog post thing.  As my co-teacher Julie says. , "Ok-Bye-Bye, See you next time!"