Thailand Videos

These are the videos I made for the trip. The first one I made for the farewell Chaing Mai dinner party and it has footage from the first half of the trip, including Thai Classes, Miss International Flower Blossom Beauty Contest, Wat Stay and much much more. The second one I made for the final farewell party right before we all left Thailand. It has stuff from the second half of the trip, including our week long field trip to Bangkok and the village stay. Enjoy!

Yum Yum Delicous (The Long Awaited Video)

Pictures have also been uploaded to dropshots.com/mkinthailand2 and also pics from Mom and Ty's trip are at dropshots.com/bcmktstone3 Check them out!!

Visit from Mom and Tyler

Here's a little wrap up of what I did with mom and ty when they came to visit me in Thailand.
We saw the sights in Bangkok on the first day. It was super super hot! Then the next day we went on a tour to see Bridge over the River Kwai...some WWII thing. We had a wonderfully hilarious flamboyant tour guide named Oat. He was quite the character, but really nice and got us lots and lots of food...a very Thai thing to do. I think we sampled everything he saw that was edible on the entire tour. We also went to a really pretty waterfalls and to the Tiger Temple. That was pretty cool. It's a temple where there are tigers walking around. We got to pet them and get out pictures with them. That was crazy...even mom did it!
Then it was off to Phuket...the INDIAN OCEAN!! Yes, I have now swam in the Indian Ocean. I am so happy I got to do that while I was on that side of the world! It was so pretty and blue, but it was a bit rough. The waves would crazy several feet over my head.
After a bit of time at the beach, we went back up to Chiang Mai. We did the shopping markets and got lots of good stuff. We went Elephant Riding. That was super fun. It was a different place than I had gone the first time, so it was new for me too. At the elephant place we also rode in an Ox Cart...that I got to DRIVE! The driver was impressed that I could speak Thai so he let me and Tyler drive his ox cart. We rode a bamboo raft and saw an elephant show. The elephants danced and played harmonicas. It was so cute! Then our Elephant riding day was finished off with a trip to the Orchid garden. They are gorgeous flowers!
We went to the Kantok dinner...which is traditional northern style food and dancing. That was pretty fun...we sat on the floor. This could be defined as a "cultural experience".
We went to the Gem store! Love that place! Shopped around for some wonderful gems!
I think that's about it. As fast paced as this post is, is as fast paced as this trip was. We saw most of the main parts of Thailand...all in just 1 week! It's how the Stone Family travels!
Will post pictures soon!

Hello from AMERICA!!

Wow, I'm home. I can hardly believe it. I can still remember pretty clearly the day that I left for Thailand..driving to the airport, going through security, meeting all new people, EVERYTHING! And now I'm home again. The program is over and so is my time in Thailand.
It's nice to be back home with my family, sleeping in my own bed, eating wonderful food that does not include rice. But at the same time it's still weird that it's all over.
The trip home was lots of fun. I traveled with 3 other people from my program. 4 is a good number to travel with. We had a long layover in Bangkok before our flight to Taipei, so we found a lovely little corner with couches right near the food and just relaxed. Then it was off to Taipei! We had an overnight in a hotel...the hotel was gorgeous! It looked like something out of the Ikea magazine. It was clean and bright and very modern. The TV alone was huge and HD and nice. The bathroom shower was the coolest! The wall dividing the bedroom from the shower was magic glass. It had a switch that allowed the glass to be see through and then you could flip the switch and it would be frosted glass. I thought it was just so cool. So we stayed there over night and had breakfast in the morning. Then we decided to tour the city because we still had the whole day until our flight left. Instead of taking the free tour to the "pottery heaven" and "bird temple" we decided to do our own thing. We all really wanted to go to the Taipei 101...the 2nd tallest building in the WORLD! 2nd only to the Burj Dubai...that super super tall one in Dubai. So we got a bus to the city and went to the top! It was raining in the morning but it stopped by the time we got there. It was still a bit cloudy, but we were going up it no matter what...we only had those few hours in Taiwan. The ride to the top was in the world's fastest elevator. That was pretty cool. Then at the top it was a little cloudy, but we could still see most everything. Mountains surround the city and it was so cool. We headed down 1 floor to see the "super big winder damper". Yes, that is the name of it. Something might have gotten lost in translation there. It's basically, at least my non-scientific understanding of it, is that it is a building stabilizer. It's this huge sphere that looks like an alien space craft. Not sure why they would put that on the 88th floor, but then again I'm not a scientist.
There was a super high scale mall in the bottom of the building. After taking a quick look around we headed back to the hotel to eat our free lunch. We got there 3 min before they closed, but they still let us in anyway. Nice people. Then it was back to the airport to make the next leg of the journey. We were headed to Alaska!
Anchoarage to be exact....and may I say that it was absolutely GORGEOUS! Seriously there are snow capped mountains all over and they were just so pretty. I'll post pictures on dropshots. We got our passports stamped there and then back on the plane for another 7 hours to fly to New York.
Somewhere in there I lived Tuesday twice. (Went to bed Monday night in Taipei. Then woke up Tuesday morning still in Taipei. Toured the city during the day on Tuesday. Got to the airport Tuesday evening to fly home from Taipei. Got on the plane, took a nap and woke up in Alaska...Tuesday morning...AGAIN! Got back on the plane in Alaska on Tuesday morning, took another little nap and about 8 hours later arrived in New York...Tuesday night.) Needless to say, Tuesday was a very long, confusing day!
All my luggage made it home with me. My amazing woven bamboo basket that I made even made it home. I checked my large suitcase and my new "tarp bag". I got the tarp bag wrapped in that plastic wrap stuff and it worked wonderfully.
It's nice to be home with my family again. I was welcomed home with cake and fillet minion, mashed potatoes and peas! Just what I wanted!!
I'll work on posting pictures from the last little parts of my trip!

A few last words from Thailand….

Here I am in the Bangkok airport. Flying home. Wow. In some ways it seems like I was just arriving in this foreign land and now it all seems so much more familiar. It’s a weird feeling. I think I’m ready to go home. I’ve had some amazing moments here and some challenging times, but I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned to appreciate some things that I don’t think I fully appreciated until they didn’t exist anymore. I’ve composed a short list of things that I am really going to appreciate when I get home:

T he fact that my father works a 9-5 job that allows him the weekends off. My host father worked from like 8am-10pm almost every day and did not get the weekends off. His time off varied each week. My host brothers did not often get to hang out with their father because they did not have the same days off school as he had off work. I’m so thankful that my dad has off of work on the weekends and is able to eat dinner with my family.

2. I appreciate my brother a lot. I’ve always loved him but I think I value him more now. He actually talks to me. My host brothers very very rarely talked to me or did anything with me. My real brother actually talks to me and we are able to do things together. Not the case in my host family.

3. I also appreciate my mom. She lets me talk and talk and talk and she actually talks back to me. It’s a conversation. My host mother didn’t talk very much to me. She did on occasion, but it was never more than a 10 minute conversation at max. I love the fact that I can talk to my mom.

4. I appreciate having friends. I’ve made some really good friends on this trip, but no one compares to my friends from home that have known me for a while. I really value having that good friend to just talk to when I need to or even have the ability to call on the phone.

5. I love cheese. Cheese is something that I didn’t have often in Thailand. I probably only had it like 4 or 5 times…at max. It’s something I definitely can’t wait to eat when I get home.

6. I really appreciate my Select Comfort Bed..all the beds in Thailand…and I mean all of them, feel like you are sleeping on a brick, they are that hard. I love that have a bed that has a little bit of softness to it. My back will love sleeping on that again.

7. I also appreciate the ability to just run to the store if I need something. Living with my host family I didn’t have that option or that freedom. If I needed something I had to figure out a way to get it during my lunch hour. Stuff wasn’t as easily accessible as it is to just get in the car and drive to Walgreens.

8. I also really appreciate that I can read. In Thailand most signs are written in Thai and some are also written in English. I got a little taste of what it would be like to be illiterate. It’s a challenge. Sometimes I take for granted that I can just look around and read all the signs. Here I couldn’t do that.

9. I am glad I am a native English speaker. English is such a dominate language. If I had come here speaking Spanish or French or any other language I would have had a very difficult time. People here learn English, not those other languages. When things are written in 2 languages, they are written in Thai and English, not the other languages.

That’s a little taste of some things that I’ve learned while I’ve been here. Everything wasn’t easy, but it’s another adventure that I survived. I know many of you were praying for me and I am so thankful for that. I know my parents are too. My mom and brother came to visit this past week and they got to experience parts of Thailand and places I’ve been living for the past 4 months. It was really cool to be able to share a small part of this with them.

I got to see Thailand through fresh eyes again. I got to see things as if I had just arrived instead of being here for 4 months already. Things that I had gotten used to and were no longer different to me. Here is a small list of things that I’ve grown accustomed to seeing for the past 4 months and forgot how “not normal” they really are:

1. To see loose wires hanging off of telephone poles

2. To ride in the back of a truck with no seat belts

3. Saying “Sa-wa-dii-kha” whenever I greet someone…it’s become like second nature to me

4. Eating with a spoon and a fork…no knife

5. Having egg with almost every meal

6. Being hot and sweaty almost constantly

7. Seeing Asians all over

8. Putting the hotel key in a slot right inside to door to control the electricity

9. Hearing and now starting to speak broken English

10. Seeing signs to McDonalds delivery service

11. Driving on the other side of the car and road

12. Only drinking bottled water

13. Paying only 60 cents for a taxi ride across town

These are things that had been a regular part of my life for the past 4 months.

It’s crazy to think that in just 3 hours I’ll be boarding a plane and leaving Thailand. As I write this I’m in the Bangkok airport waiting to depart for Taipei and then from Taipei to Anchorage and then finally the last stop will be New York. My next update will be from my house in New Jersey!

Here is a list of things that I've observed to be Thailand. Things that don't happen in the U.S.

Only in Thailand…

Does a woman push her ice cart in the road as if it was a car.

Does a dog ride on the back of a motorcycle.

Can you buy an ice cream sandwich that is actually a sandwich (with bread).

Can five people fit on a motorcycle with a baby on the front.

Does deserts come in jelly form.

Are food portions miniature.

Can you get a sticky rice and mango Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

Can you ride in, hang on the back or on top of a rot-dang.

Can you fit 20 American students in the back of a pickup truck.

Can you drive down the road and throw water at other people (on Songkran).

Does 11 Thai students = 5 American students on an elevator.

Will people wait 10 minutes for an elevator to the third floor instead of walking.

Can you get someone to lower the price because you tell them you’re a student.

Do they sell whitening lotion instead of tanning lotion.

Do the cups hold only enough for two American gulps.

Are the words “American Standard” printed on squatty potties.

Is it ok for everything to be “Mai Pen Rai” (it’s ok…no worries).

Is being late mean being on time…Thai time!

Is Hello Kitty worn by girls from age 5 to 99.

Is it ok for children to use stilts on cement in gym class.

Is it ok for 40 children to pile into the back of one small truck without seat belts.

Can you buy Tiffany Jewelry, a Coach bag, and a movie still playing in the theatres, all for under $10.

Can you catch frogs in the dark with a flash light.

Can you eat a different kind of rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Does Ronald McDonald wai.

Are you greeted by complimentary drinks and moist towelets everywhere you go.

Can you sit on the side of the street to eat lunch.

Dose the butcher set up his stand on the side of the road.

Are things “same same but different”.

Can you find college aged guys in the internet café playing World of Warcraft.

Can you buy your lunch for under $1.

Are there over 200 different types of bananas.

Are there exotic fruits you never knew existed.

Is your political opinion defined by the color shirt you wear.

Does everyone love my king.

Are you not allowed to wash your underwear and socks with your other clothes.

Can you buy one size fits all pants in all colors.

Is it appropriate to ask a person’s age and tell them they are fat upon first meeting.

Will you be asked to pose for a picture with a random Thai family because you are white.

Is the prize for winning a beauty contest whiting powder.

Do people look at you funny when they see you jogging.

Can you buy a picture frame made out of elephant dung.

Is the fruit guy the most popular man on campus.

Is the entrance fee different for Thai people and foreigners.

Is there a butt sprayer instead of toilet paper.

Do they say if you put a bandaide over your belly button and smell yaa dom do you not get car sick.

Is it normal for multiple students to hold their own conversations and get up and leave in the middle of a lesson.

Frog Hunting and more

I totally forgot to write about a few things last night...
Frog Hunting being one of them. Yes, Frog Hunting. I went frog hunting and actually touched a frog. Crazy, I know! We went out into a rice field late at night, it was pitch black out there, and we took flash lights. Then you shine the light around looking for a sparkling eye. Then the frog freezes and you run over and catch him. I saw the sparkle and found the frog. Another girl and I wouldn't pick him up though, so someone else came over. Then later after a little freaking out, I held a frog in my hand! I was pretty proud of my self. After you catch a frog you shove it into a water bottle. We (well maybe not we, other people, I was along for the fun of it) caught so many frogs!
The fun part of being in the villages was driving places. Aside from the insane dust that the trucks kicked up everywhere we went, it was fun. We'd either ride inside the rot-dang, or hanging on the back, or even on top. This was the funnest--riding on top. We'd sit where the luggage goes and we had such a great view of everything and it wasn't dusty up there either.
Our translators were absolutely amazing! They helped me do interviews and helped translate everything! Gra-die was also a Christian which was really cool. She converted from Buddhism to Christianity when she was 17. It was so cool to hear her story and to meet someone who once was a Buddhist but found more to life in Christianity!

Village Wrapup

Where to start, where to start? There is so much that happened in the past 3 weeks that I’m not even sure where to begin this post. I guess I’ll start at the very beginning.

We left for our first village 3 weeks ago. We journeyed up north to the Chiang Rai province to a small Lahu Village. This village had about 40 families in. We spent 5 days there. On the way to the village, we stopped at Chiang Rai hot springs. I have never been to a hot springs before. It was actually really cool…well not cool, really hot actually, but really fun. I decided to see how hot it really was and stuck my toe in the side of the water…and oh my gosh was it hot! Try sticking your baby toe into boiling hot water and then you’ll know what I felt. This water is so hot that they boil eggs in it. After that we continued the journey to the village. We got there and they talked to us and we played with the kids…or rather the village children found new “play objects” and proceeded to jump all over us. It was fun, for the first few days, then it got extremely wearing.

This first night they pulled out the cicadas…yes those large bugs that only come out every 7 years. Well I ate one. It took a bit of convincing but I finally did it and I was so proud of myself. It was crazy! It was just a hollow shell. One of the guys took the legs off and the head so it was just the body and then he tried to help me put it in my mouth because I didn’t want to touch it but I just couldn’t do it. I had to put it in my mouth myself. After much screaming I took the first crunch and then drank a whole bunch of water. And I swallowed it!

In the Lahu village we stayed in a host family. I stayed with one other girl and a family that didn’t really speak Thai, let alone speak English. The spoke Lahu. But the little sister spoke a bit of Thai. She was cute. Her name was Nakrila and she gave me a Lahu nickname…Makrila. She talked to us non-stop and it was kinda cool.

The house we stayed in had a cement basement and a second floor. We slept on a mat on the floor and the bathroom was a squattie outside and a bucket shower. They did have electricity. Check dropshots for pictures of that house.

The first full day that we were there we had a feast of Pork. Fresh pork. Fresh as in just killed that morning in front of us pork. I couldn’t watch the actual killing but I found it kinda interesting to watch them filet it. I saw the stomach…which I later ate at lunch, the intestines and I helped remove the hair from it. Did you know that when you pour boiling water on it the hair just scrapes off? Pretty interesting. They have a very clean way of doing it all too. And then the dinner we had was very good. Nice tender pork!

We visited a few other close villages while we were there and helped paint an orphanage/boarding house. That was pretty fun. The walls were all plywood before and now they are bright white and it makes it so much happier in there. It was cool because even our rot-dang drivers pitched in and helped paint. Then the next day we went back and met the kids because they were coming back from visiting relatives for summer break.

We watched some native dancing and had some cultural interviews. We also got to go to church on Sunday. First we went to the women’s bible study, then to the main service, then later to the youth service and I think that was it. We spent most of the day in church. Which is pretty cool because we hadn’t been able to go to church very often here. It kinda made up for it in a way. The translator that translated from Lahu into English kinda reminded me of an Asian version of Uncle Paul. I’m not sure why, but he did.

After our five days were up in the Lahu village we headed to Karen village. It like all day to get there and a few people got sick on the drive up but we made it all in one piece. We stayed in what reminded me of a summer camp. It wasn’t but it was a boarding compound for students who attend a local school. Aj Mike built like the whole place and knows everyone in the village and the surrounding villages. Most of the girls stayed in the same cabin and there were 3 in my room. We had mosquito nets and I called it my “princess tent”. I wasn’t so concerned about the mosquitoes but more about the large spiders and lizards. We saw a huge spider on our first night there…not the greatest welcoming present but it was ok.

Our meals were eaten behind out houses in a outdoor sitting area. Some nights we would have French fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes and rice…all on the same night. They liked to cook “American” food. We also had cake and brownies occasionally because several students brought them from America to use in the village. That was super delicious!!

Each day we would have guest speaker come and talk to us and we would go on a field trip. We went to see “resorts”, other villages, government offices, hospitals…everything. One of the guys did get sick and had to go to the hospital. They thought he had denge fever and said he would be better off in Chiang Mai. As it turns out the whole hospital went on vacation to the beach a day later. We’re thinking “he was better off in Chiang Mai” because there was going to be not doctors at that hospital. Gotta love Thailand. He recovered well and was able to come back a week later.

I wrote my village paper on Karen wedding ceremonies. It was pretty interesting. I interviewed a few people. I made an A on the paper and got to learn a lot. They’re changing with development but these people want to hold onto their culture a lot so they’re not changing that much.

We got to go to a wedding while we were there. It was the rehearsal dinner in a sense. It was the brides party at her house. That was pretty fun. We basically just ate there. Also in one of the villages I stayed over night in my host family took me to a wedding night prayer. This couple had just gotten married that day and the tradition is for the community to come and pray for them that night at their house. The couple couldn’t have been more than 20 years old, in fact I think the bride was 19. They didn’t look like the just got married, in fact it didn’t even look like they liked each other. But the Thai people don’t show affection so this was normal.

During my time in the village I did a few home stays. I stayed in one village for Easter and another a few days later. The first one was the brother of a pastor and we spent Easter with his family. It was pretty cool. We had sunrise service in the graveyard … which was interesting, and then went to another service where the message was your typical Easter message and the songs were Easter songs, only they were in Karen. After the service we ate dinner at my host house. It was rice and nothing really special. In fact I can’t remember what it was.

That same day one of my worst nightmares came true. Two of the girls thought they had lice. The idea that I could possibly have it too almost put me into tears. They didn’t end up having it, but rather they had dandruff. I was so relieved but kinda shaken up by the whole thought. All the girls had their heads checked and it was crazy. But I’m so thankful no one actually had it.

The other home stay we did was in a village where my host grandfather had not seen a white person since he moved from Burma as a little boy. We got to talk to them and that home stay was a lot of fun.

The village was a lot of different adventures, but probably one of the hardest parts of this program and my time in Thailand. I was so exhausted physically and mentally and I was in the mindset that the work part of the program was over so to go to an entirely new and different place and actually have class and work to do was very difficult. The lack of internet and no phone service was also hard. I couldn’t even call my family to talk to them. The first week was the hardest and it got easier as the time went on. The second week I did more exciting stuff and got more used to life in the village. I made a basket out of bamboo. I weaved a basket!! How insane is that!! It was the coolest thing ever!

We just got back from the village on Wednesday. It was Thai New Year which is a week long water fight all over the county. It’s insane! So the whole ride back to Chiang Mai we had water thrown at us. It’s such a bizzar awesome holiday. Just imagine having a country wide water fight. The people get all into it. On Thursday we got all into it to. We rented a truck and drove all over the city with buckets of water and dumped it on people. And the cool thing is, everyone else is doing the same thing. And the killer is when people add ice to their water. It gets so cold! The city like shuts down for this holiday. It’s fun though.

Now people are leaving to go home or for futher travel. Several people went back to the Lahu village for a week to do VBS and English class. 1 went home already, another few leave tomorrow and then on Tuesday Mom and Tyler get here! I can’t wait to see them!! And then I’ll be home 1 week from Tuesday. I can’t believe the program is over.

Well, if you made it through that long update, good for you! Thanks for reading!