Spring break was incredible. The whole family was here and we had a great time together. A lot of conversation regarded the looming college application process, which isn't the best topic but a nonetheless a necessary one. During spring break we took a trip to Luang Prabang, Laos. You generally would think of Laos as a scarcely populated, impoverished third world country, which is true but Luang Prabang is an exception. Luang Prabang was great. We spent four nights there and it was the most calming place ever. To appreciate how calm it was there you have to first understand where it's located. Luang Prabang is on the Mekong river, and the guest house that we stayed at was also on the Mekong. Luang Prabang has a lot of guest houses for visitors to stay in. There are no high rise hotels or chain restaurants in the city. The Mekong mixed with the charismatic Laoasians make Luang Prabang so relaxed. The setting alone is remarkable. UNESCO established Luang Prabang as a world heritage sight so everything is intact and not globalized. There are also an endless amount of Buddhist temples all throughout the city. At one of these temples there were two monks from the United States there. It was weird to see Western monks among all the Lao monks so we started talking to them. One of the monks told us that one of the biggest Buddhist centers in the United States is in Keller, Texas. Probably one of the more random facts I learned about Texas.
We took a two-day slow boat on the Mekong to reach Lung Prabang. The slow boat was filled with all these post college backpackers, most of the had quit there jobs and were taking a break to travel Southeast Asia (who wouldn't want to do that?). They were from all over the place and we didn't run into many Americans. The one American we met was half Israeli and from New York. He was a really cool guy, and it ends up that he had spent a semester abroad in Israel when he was in high school. I asked him if he went on EIE and he said no. A lot of the other backpackers were just looking for a party to go to, so they mainly socialized among themselves. But anyways, I'm getting side tracked. The slow boat on the Mekong was really great. Even though we were on the boat 8 hours a day it was still awesome. Everything in Laos was extremely inexpensive. The currency exchange rate was 8,500 kip to a dollar. So a meal was usually four dollars around 34,000 kip. All of the paper money had a lot of extra 0's on them. After being in Laos for so long it made Chiang Mai feel like New York. I wonder what Dallas is going to feel like when I get back.
Then, once we returned to Chiang Mai, it was Songkron, which is Thai new years, which means a citywide water fight for three days straight. In Chiang Mai this is a huge traditional celebration and everyone gets into it. It was exactly what it sounds like--a ginormous water fight. During Songkron everyone literally walks around with water guns or buckets of water and you immediately get soaked. There is no escaping it. Songkron epitomizes a great time, and Chiang Mai is the center of it. A lot of other places in Southeast Asia celebrate it but Chiang Mai celebrates it the most intensely. During Songkron you literally get soaked once you step outside. In the middle of Chiang Mai is the old Lanna city, which is surrounded by a moat. That moat is the source of a lot of the water used during Songkron. We met up with a lot of our friends and went around with them. It was really fun. In front of Central, which is one of the shopping centers, they set up live concerts which were also really fun.
During the break in Chiang Mai went to an elephant reserve national park. This place is unmapped and virtually unknown unless you are told about it from someone. It is about two hours away from Prem. Unfortunately a lot of the elephants in Thailand are cruelly mistreated and taken advantage of. So this place rehabilitates those elephants and helps them recover from previous injuries and mistreatment. What people don't realize is that the elephant shows that attract so many tourists are really terribly cruel and disrespectful towards the elephants. But this elephant reservation place was amazing. The elephants roam freely in a huge open field and are happy together. When you visit this elephant camp you stay the whole day and learn about the life story of all the elephants and the kind of abuse they undertook. There were some incredibly sad stories. Unfortunately, some of the elephants have dramatic limps and other physical problems. You definitely think about the elephant shows differently after visiting leaving this reservation. Unfortunately, I went to one of the elephant shows where the elephants are treated badly. The elephants aren't treated badly during the show, but after the show, once all the tourists are gone, they aren't treated well. Anyway, at this elephant park you really get the feel for an elephants intelligence. All of the elephants known when their meal times are and they know there mahouts, which is Thai for their trainer. Each elephant has a separate trainer. We also got to bathe the elephants in a nearby river.
School is definitely picking up this quarter. I have a lot of papers to write and homework is piling up giving me barely any free time, hence my not posting on my blog these past two weeks. But everything is great here and I miss everyone back home. I'll start posting more regularly, so there won't be a month between posts.
