An assortment of sorts...

This post doesnt have a clear direction (as if you couldnt tell by the title), so if you like structure in your reading or you have a weak stomach, then I wouldnt read this one. Consider yourself warned.

Last night, I ordered McDelivery. yeah, you heard me correctly. McDonalds delivers in Thailand. For only 20 baht. no minimum order required. AWESOME. I havent had MDs since Ive been here, and Im anxious to get away from rice/noodles for just a moment. I order a double cheeseburger with ketchup and cheese only (and three other meals for people) and it takes me 7.5 minutes to explain my order to him. I had lost all patience by the end of the conversation, and I was simply hoping that my food was correct. The delivery guy rides a motorbike, and he got here in less than 30 minutes!


Here is a picture of our food. MMMM I think it tasted just like America, but it felt different in my stomach. I guess Ive been eating foods that are a lot lighter and a lot less filling for the past week and a half, and my body has just gotten used to the switch, cause I felt VERY full after I finished the food. I think it upset the boys stomach, and we made a pact to only eat MDs once a month. I mean, I didnt come to Thailand to eat MDs, right?

Other things that I have learned while in Thailand:

I had my first set of digestive problems on Tuesday. Some of my friends and I have had detailed conversations about their digestive problems, but I hadnt had any yet. Once again, right about the point in time when I think I am reaching the invincibility threshold, I realize how mistaken I am. It wasnt a pleasant experience, and Im not exactly sure what I ate. But now I understand digestive issues in Thailand. I also finally asked how to use the spray nozzle in the bathroom. I thought it worked like a bidet at first, but I was wrong. Apparently you are supposed to wipe with the left hand and then use the spray nozzle to wash off your hand. I thought that I could fully assimilate into Thai culture... become super tan, eat rice 17 times a day, wear the school uniform... but I had to stop it at using the spray nozzle. I just can not bring myself to do it.

The smog here is horrible. I walk to school, so I am constantly in a heat wave from exhaust, and I breathe the stuff in all day it seems. Well, I finally blew my nose the other day to find greyness. Thats right, my nose stuff is grey, almost black. I hope I dont come back with lung cancer, because I feel like this stuff is worse than smoking a pack a day. ew. sorry if all of this is TMI... i warned you.

Did you know that there are over 5000 7-11 stores in Bangkok? I have always felt an extra special connection to this specific convenience store and actually entered my first one in Bangkok. They are everywhere here! I can walk out of one store and already see the next one later on down the road. I like to go in and buy water on my morning commute, cause it is pretty cheap.

My morning commute involves me walking through a construction site. And I hadnt really noticed (until Steve and Josh pointed it out), but people stare at me. I mean they STARE. And it makes me feel really uncomfortable. I remember talking to Kate about this last semester, how it is something that she just had to get used to as a white female in a foreign country. But, since I just started noticing, it is kind of freaking me out. Each of the construction workers on my path back to the mansion yesterday was either staring at me, yelling hello at me, or whistling. Im sure that I will get used to it and not think twice about it... but I might try to get me some mace for the mean time. lol, I know that they arent going to attack me... but you just never can be too careful.

I do have a cell phone in Bangkok. I bought one of those cheapo recycled cell phones that you would give a four year old to play with these days. And I thought I was being really frugal until I figured out that the 0 button doesnt work. That sucks because pretty much every number in Thailand begins with a zero. I officially have a very ghetto phone. No more blackberry for me. But the asians have blackberries. almost all of them. I went to lunch with my asian friends on Tuesday, and noticed that they all have two phones. Why, you ask? Well, one is for calling and one is for receiving. Duh! I was really confused, but apparently the glamor of answering calls on a blackberry is more important that function. I actually only have one cell phone in BKK, just in case you were wondering.

And lastly, Ive learned to cope without a few things from home, but I really missed cuddling. I used to get lots of cuddles from you know who, and I really miss them these days. So I made a cuddle pillow. (and you can too! lol) Its a simple pillow, with a long-sleeved T over top. Then I took my airplane blanket and some EA/ECF shirts and put them in the sleeves to make a pillow man. Thats right, a pillow man! desperate times, ladies! Im not saying it is as good as the real thing, but it's as close as I can get.

And tonight, I went to a Muay Thai fighting match. It was my first live fighting match, and I enjoyed myself. Its not something that I am dying to do again, but at least it was entertaining. I have a few videos of the fights, Ill see what editing I can do to them and most them later on.

Afterwards, we went to a chinese restaurant. Immediate thoughts: SWEET and SOUR chicken. mmmm. No. They dont have S&S Chicken here, apparently that is an Americanized version of Chinese food. I was thoroughly disappointed, and hardly ate any of my meal.

But I am not in Thailand for the McDelivery or the Muay Thai. Why am I in Thailand?

- to study economics! Definitely not. I dont mind the classes, but I dont think thats why Im here.

- to eat the food! nope, I didnt really know anything about the food before I left America.

- to run away from my problems! I cant think of any problems I want to run away from... I can think of plenty of reasons why Thailand will create more problems.

- to be put out of my comfort zone! hmm... this one is interesting, I have tried to use it before, and I think it is partially correct, but not holy correct. Ill tell you why.

You see, a lot of people ask me why I chose Thailand. They all have interesting stories... like: I was born here but never got to experience the culture or my dad lives in Thailand and I wanted to get to know him better or my parents are Thai and Im interested in their heritage. My answer... most of the time it's, 'well, why not.' The other answer I give is... 'I hope to figure it out while Im here.' And that is sufficient for most people, but it's not really sufficient for me.

I think I am starting to figure out why I am in Thailand. To be free from outside distractions! wait... what? that doesnt make any sense Jennifer. I know, I know. but hear me out.

I am free from outside distractions. I am so deep inside a culture which I know nothing about, that the only things familiar to me are the most important parts of my life. Im starting to realize what I value most by what I spend most of my time on. Talking on skype to those that I love. Learning more about Jesus and what he has in store for me. He brought me here to figure out the important things in my life and to learn how to love Him and others unconditionally. Its working, and I couldnt thank Him more for this opportunity to get closer to Him without the distractions of the hustle and bustle of everyday back home.


    I hear the Savior say,
    "Thy strength indeed is small.
    Child of weakness, watch and pray,
    Find in Me thine all in all."                               "Jesus Paid it All" -Alex Nifong

Ayutthaya ruins for 300 Baht, please!

I have the luxury of NOT having class on Mondays, so Steve, Josh, and I took a day trip to Ayutthaya (an ancient city in Thailand, now a popular tourist attraction). The train ride cost us only 15 Baht (thats $0.46), but it was clearly 3rd class with no air conditioning and open windows (which I wanted to hang out of and take pictures, but the train was a bit too crowded to do so). Below is a picture of the train station in Bangkok (it took us an hour and a half to walk to the ferry, take the ferry, walk to the train station), so we caught a train at 11:20.

Here is an example of the typical train ride. Many people are sitting on the floor, some are standing, and the lucky ones have a seat. The windows are open and the train bumps and rattles and screeches, etc. I wouldnt equate this to an amtrak experience. Although, we did not hit a parked truck, so I can say that this train ride was better than my last one. Anyways, we get there around 1:00pm and try to follow the direction of the tourists. We dont want to get a tuk-tuk (3 wheeled vehicle, very popular in Thailand) at the train station because we assume they will be overpriced. So we walk. with  no idea where we are going. The boys are quite okay with doing this, as am I (for a SHORT time). They call me mom cause I try to make sure everyone is as prepared as they can be, and I like the term of endearment. So being the Mom... I go into a hotel and ask for directions and he gives me a map... EVEN BETTER! We are stoked to finally know where we are going, and so we walk more. We see this tuk-tuk on the side of the road, and he agrees to take us around for the day and show us many of the sights to see in Ayutthaya. All of this for 700 baht ($7.00 each). He first takes us to eat.

I get a dish that looks like pad Thai (it was titled shrimp fried noodle). It is pretty good, but I would have liked it to be a bit spicier. No worries though. The boys got a mangostene drink and were sourly disappointed (no pun intended). I let them finish my coke as a great act of kindness, because I think they were in actual pain.

Now we head to a wat. Our first wat in Ayutthaya. We see the reclining buddha. the second of many reclining buddhas I expect to see in Thailand. I have read that a reclining buddha is about to die and enter nirvana. I plan on learning a lot more about Buddhism while I am here, but we did not have a buddhist tour guide who was fluent in English, so we basically stood in awe of the beauty of Ayutthaya all day, without any knowledge background.

This is the view from the top of the stupa (or chedi, if you are Thai). Stupas are round, mound like structures containing Buddha relics (you can see two other large ones in the left corner of the photograph). These are EVERYWHERE in Thailand. To the point where I say, oh theres just another chedi (pronounced Keddy if youre interested). You can see the back of Buddhas head also in the left portion of the photograph). All the yellow structures at the bottom of the chedi are lots and lots of buddhas in the seated position. This position represents the time when Buddha was about to obtain his enlightenment.

Yours Truly. See how steep the steps are to these chedis? The viewing tower is only about half way up the chedi, and this particular one was the tallest chedi on this side of the river.  Wat Yai Chaimongkhon was a great find, but it was only the beginning!

more ruins, at the second wat. There are seven different types of chedis, so pretty much anything that is round and points to the sky (or cleary did point at one time in history) is a chedi. Im a natural born climber (I like to scale things), so playing on the ruins was one of the best parts of my day. It is disrespectful to climb certain things in the ruins, but we tried to be mindful of the buddha's feelings.

Steve and Josh like to take unplanned pictures (which clearly look planned to me). Sometimes they turn out quite nicely.

Look at this awesome tree! There is a buddha head carved right into the trunks! You can click on the picture to see it on a page by itself, then you can zoom in on the picture to get a better look. Quite an interesting sight :] The next place we went...

Hello Mr. elephant! Wow, it was awesome to see these guys all up close and personal! They were giving out elephant rides, but for a steep price (at least when you think in Thailand money and not in $$), so we decided to save the ride for another day. Ive got some more sweet pictures, and Ill post a picture of me with the backside of an elephant, just for a size comparison.

Notice that he is just walking around, oh it's no big deal, an elephant just crossed the street... oh my goodness I was going crazy. Thats probably the most excited Steve and Josh have ever seen me... even though I do get pretty darn excited about grilled cheeses.

Baby elephants are now my absolute favorite! hands down. It was really hairy, and I wasnt expecting that. Thanks to the smart kids who said... well duh they are mammals... but honestly, do you think of hair when you see an elephant? If you zoom in on this picture you can definitely see all the hair.

haha! this is awesome... he looks so happy :]

I look super excited. That is corn that I am feeding the elephant.

Ill post a video below, hope you enjoy!

Feeding an elephant

More ruins. Can you image what must have stood here long ago? I wish I could have seen it, the grounds looked beautiful.

Ruins and flowers. great stuff!

extra large buddha. This one is bigger than the one earlier in this post, but still smaller than the reclining buddha at Wat Pho that I visited last week. They just have a thing for big buddhas around here.

Wow! Our guide definitely saved the best place for last. The sunset made this place look amazing. Truly amazing!

There is the river behind this one! Id love to take a river cruise all the way down the Chao Praya river, it would take me all the way through Thailand, and it could drop me off at my university!

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

on the way back to the train station, in our Tuk-Tuk. Seems pretty comfy and cozy, right? Even I bumped my head a couple of times!

Here is our Tuk-Tuk driver with Steve (left) and Josh (middle) in front of the tuk-tuk and the train station. It was a great day, and I would have loved for so many people back at home to have seen the awesome ruins of Ayutthaya with me. Love!

Asian hospitality

Remember when I met a man on the streets of Bangkok who had a daughter named Aom, and they invited me to go somewhere with them on Sunday? Well it actually happened! They picked me and Josh up around 10:50am at the mansion. Mom, Dad, Ti, and Aom were all in the car. They said we were going to 'floating market' about 50 km outside of Bangkok.

Riding the way there was an experience. Many times we would be trying to communicate and just have to give up, because we didnt know the right words to use from the other language. I posted a picture of the sign above, just in case you were interested in visiting the market one day. Not a single english word. There was also not a single white person at the market besides me and Josh. Haha, they were looking at the family like... you guys adopted two Americans? What is this world coming to....

First person we see at the market is a man making candy suckers from straight up melted, thick sugar. Ive linked a video if you would like to view!

Monkey fishing!

Aom's dad bought it for me. He bought me anything I looked at... everything I glanced toward. seriously. Then they would feed us as soon as they bought it, which made me almost full by the time we were done shopping. We bought all of this food, then we rented a table on a river boat and went cruising while we ate. Asian hospitality is absolutely awesome! You can see the boat we cruised on to the left.


Duck anyone? Yes, even I ate some! First duck Ive ever eaten :]



There are several different typed of mangoes in Thailand. The ones on the bottom left can only be eaten in Thailand, cause they go bad quickly. You can see two other different types of mangoes in the picture. There were absolutely delicious!

To the left is fish. I found it to be a bit too spicy for me, but it was good. I normally dont eat fish, but I tried to eat anything and everything they put in front of me on Sunday.

Above is the duck we ate. A whole duck, that was really boney...

MMMMMM.... these are like sweet little cornbread cakes wrapped in banana leaves. these were soooo good, and I probably ate 50% of the bag of these things. Just melt in your mouth amazingness! The shavings at the bottom are coconut, but I really didnt think they enhanced the flavor at all. Coconut shavings are put on A LOT of different foods here.




To the left you can see crab balls. Yes, balls of crab meat. They were actually very good, I was expecting some type of sausage ball (about every street vendor sells some type of sausage ball here), but I was pleasantly surprised at the crab meat. It was tender and had a bit of spice. Overall, a check plus for the crab balls. I probably had 3 or 4.

Another item with coconut topping, but Im not exactly sure what it is. I believe the inside was coconut too... but the outer layer was some type of sticky substance. It was sweet and gooey, but quite delicious. Thats my spoon that is holding the coconut item (I only had a spoon to eat with on this day), and you can see my sticky rice in the background of the photo. Yes, asians do have rice or noodles with every meal! Im kind of exhausted from eating it all the time.

This is a cute little marshmellow like substance, with the resemblance of a coconut ball in the middle (like above). Except the ball in the middle is just the outside sticky gooey purple stuff on the coconut ball above. They let me fumble with this in my fingers and then eat it before they showed me how to eat it. It was quite comical, and I ended up very messy!







Now you can see this jello substance, with coconut topping (didnt expect that to happen, did you?) Up until now, I felt like we were just eating candy and sweets for like the ENTIRE meal. And it was all served family style, so we all ate a LOT. This jello substance actually has a purpose though, you are supposed to eat it when you have just eaten something really spicy, and your mouth is on fire. I wish I had a spoonful of this on the streets of BKK, cause I run into that problem all the time.




There's Aom with her dad. Aom is spooning out a corn mixture... it was very sweet corn. like candy. everything at this meal was like candy. She is spooning it into this TINY little (looks like a coffee filter) sugar cone thing. Its literally bite size, even for me!












Josh and I are eating the wonderful mango in this picture. It was so delicious, thinking about it makes me want another one. Im sad to say that a lot of street vendors in Bangkok dont have mangoes. I get really excited when I see a mango slushie or mango anything, but most of the time the answer is 'no have.' Its one of the few let downs I have received due to street vendors. I still eat a lot of pineapple, though... and I always think of Mom and her cookout pineapple milkshake... and then I start thinking about cookout milkshakes, MAN! Id give anything to have half a CO milkshake.

In America, we have Ice Cream trucks. In Thailand, they have Ice Cream Boats... with only one flavor. Coconut. You wouldnt have guessed, right? The boat just pulled up to our boat, latched on, and rode down the river with us, serving ice cream to the guests.

















By this time, I know how it works... so I express an interest in the ice cream and BAM! there it is. Peanuts on top and a cute spoon complete the snack. MMM, it was great, so great that they were laughing at me cause I ate all of it, even the melted part at the bottom. I thought they would think I was a crazy lady if I tipped the cup up to finish, so I didnt.





Hong Nahm is how you say toilet in Thai. My friends and I have gotten very used to asking for it. I never realized how much I took for granted free, working bathrooms open to the general public. They dont have those here. No public bathrooms (unless you are in a train station or the university). I just never realized that bathrooms were a luxury, but they definitely are. 3 baht to use the restroom normally, and you have to buy paper (unless you have a handy pack already with you) for 5 baht. The bathroom on the boat was free, and it wasnt what I was expecting. Definitely not a western toilet. Luckily, I actually havent had to use one of these yet, as a lot of places have the seated apparatus, but this is the definition of pop a squat. I also would not suggest squanding, but you could try. Notice the water bucket in the background? Ive come to realize that you turn on the water bucket, lets say, if you need some background noise while youre in the restroom. Then you pick up the cup from the bucket (its red in this picture) and pour a cup of water to flush down your business. There was no spray hose or paper in this room, so I guess you were just supposed to wing it and hope for the best.

Ill post a few pictures from the boat. The river was very calm and relaxing, and I believe it is the same river that runs through Bangkok (that I cross over via ferry for school every day).

One of the more upscale Thai houses we saw along the river is pictured below. Lots of very poor houses were along our route.

All in all, the experience at the market was dumbfounding. I could not believe the hospitality of this wonderful Thai family. We joked and laughed throughout the meal, and we ate an enormous amount of food. So much that Josh and I both didnt want to eat again for a long time. The trip totaled about 3 hours, and I enjoyed every minute. It made me think about how different a home stay experience would be in Thailand (rather than an apartment) and about how much I wished that was an option.

 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! ... Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace.

Taken from Hebrews 13.

Markets, Markets, Markets

Friday morning class was much better than Wednesdays. The different pronunciation of English is starting to be recognized by my brain, so I am finally understanding exactly what the teachers are saying. After the class is over, I head to run some errands for the university and eat some lunch. I get shrimp fried rice, and it was great! Now, I was missing the white shrimp sauce that SOMEONE has gotten me addicted to ever since I ate shrimp for breakfast, lunch, and dinner this past semester. But I just added extra spice to compensate.

We then headed to Kao San Road. This is the popular tourist destination for Bangkok. Everyone working the road speaks English, and westerners are definitely not the minority. The food is slightly more expensive, but you can buy almost anything (tattoos, clothes, massages, souvenirs, etc). You can see a picture of how crowded it is on the right. Something interesting to see, but I dont really want to spend a lot of time there. I hear a lot of westerners think it is the best place to be in Bangkok, but I would disagree. I did get my first Thai massage on Kao San Road. 100 baht for a half hour. She cracked my back more ways than imaginable (note that I do NOT crack/pop anything). I didnt even know it was coming, and then all the cracks were like a ripple of chills up my spine. The rumors are true... a thai massage does hurt a bit, but it is definitely worth it!

The next day we got up and went to JJ market. This is the largest market I have EVER seen. I didnt get a good picture above it, so I found this on on the web. Pretty much everything you see between the two roads is part of JJ. They literally sell EVERYTHING there. I went looking for a bath mat and came home with one. We found pets (from chicks to lizards to puppies to flying squirrels to spidermonkeys). Oh yeah, and we saw a cock fight. They had the spurs taped up, so I guess they werent fighting to the death. I really think they were being showcased to potential buyers. I tried to pet a lot of the puppies, but one woman swatted at me with her brush. and then yelled at me in Thai. Talk about traumatizing. On the sky train to JJ, we saw a family with 4 kids under 5 (the youngest was an infant). I couldnt stop thinking how crazy that woman must be to bring all of those kids to THAILAND.


We saw some cooked insects, and just couldnt pass them up. Josh, Steve, and I ate a larvae each. Then Josh snacked on a cockroach while Steve ate more larvae. I was done after one... well you can see for yourself from the video.

So those two days were completely consumed with shopping... crowded shopping. You can see my friend, Will, at the bottom right of the picture. Hes almost a foot taller than everyone else here, and the crowds were parting like the Red Sea for him at JJ. We stopped at a park on the way back from JJ and joined in on an exercise in the park party. The photo doesnt even show half of the total people who were exercising. It made me miss Katie Starr, for sure.

After the park, we went to a KFC. Just like back in America, but not really. They had a few different things on the menu, and I split a variety pack with Josh. It was definitely nice to have fried chicken and french fries, and NOT rice... for just one meal. Definitely overpriced at 150 baht each, but it was a treat. We thought it was interesting that we got glass cups, real plates and silverware at a fast food restaurant! Had a great couple of days just shopping around which inspired my new blog title.

Everything is cheap in Bangkok, unless you buy everything!