Although there are a good amount of Singaporeans at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, most of my classmates are students who came here from all over China. Being that China is a huge country with billions of people, it's impossible to briefly describe their entity. However, there's one thing that I can share that holds true with all my classmates. I think tells a lot about the Chinese people and their overall outlook on life.

When preparing for something important, (in our case at music school, most often a performance), instead of saying "Good luck!", Chinese say "Jia you!" (pronounced jya yo). Directly translated, it means "add oil!" Instead of telling you to depend on luck to get you through, they are wishing for you to run like a well-oiled machine. If they translate "jia you" into an English word, they don't say "good luck" even then. Instead, they say "fighting!" What a country! Full of people who never believe in giving up, never encourage relaxation, instead try to help give you power to fight till the very end.

That being said, I have been receiving a lot of "Jia you!"'s lately for my upcoming graduate diploma recital! It's funny that my final recital in Singapore is in just one week, when in many ways I feel like I just got here. I can't even begin to describe how different of a violinist I am now than when I arrived here. All the opportunities given to me, from competitions to masterclasses to different performances, have helped me more than I could have possibly imagined. Even just today, I got the opportunity to observe a rehearsal with world-renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin and Albert Tiu, one of the two distinguished piano faculty members of the school.

Here's just two recent performance pictures. I will upload more later!

All students from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, having dinner with our conductor after playing in the pit orchestra for Singapore Lyric Opera's "La Boheme"

Classmates after another orchestra concert.

And one more thing of interest, I just found this link: 50 reasons why Singapore is the greatest city in the world . It's kind of hokey, but maybe gives a bit more info about this little sunny island! For me, the ones that ring true especially are: 1,6,8,10,14(!!!), 19,22,32(!), 43,45(!), 49.

Before arriving in Bali, Balinese (and javanese ) music was certainly enjoyable to me, kind of in the same way that much contemporary music is enjoyable. Meaning, that I can listen to it, but might as well completely forget about understanding the structure, the composition, and what makes it work as a piece. Most of the other students going on this trip had years of experience learning world music, and could easily recognize different popular Indonesian gamelan tunes. I, on the other hand, had no idea how to comprehend Balinese music with its strange sounds, on unfamiliar instruments, WITHOUT being able to read any sheet music!! That being said, I was terrified as the week began. Terrified that someone would look at me struggling and say "oh, nevermind, you don't understand this stuff. " I started the week in Bali feeling as if I was about to take an intimidating test, and instead I found myself embarking on a musical, cultural, historical, intellectual and spiritual journey (YES all five of those!).

From my journal at the end of our first full day in Bali:
"Tonight at the gamelan performance, I wondered, "how am I going to endure this?" I didn't like the sound of the jegog at first. The bamboo was so harsh and abrasive sounding. Even so, I couldn't help being impressed by the way all the musicians were so into what they were doing- always grooving, always smiling, even when the spotlight was on the actors and dancers instead of on them.
At the end of the night the audience was invited to come up on stage to experience the instruments first-hand. I sat in a corner, sandwiched between some musicians furiously beating out the melody in record speed, and some other men beating out the bass line on the gigantic bass jegog. It was so powerful- I heard the interlocking melodies, saw the colors of bamboo and the red stage. I felt the vibrations of the instruments. But what was most powerful to me was what I smelled- the air was heavy with the scent of fresh cut bamboo mixed with the thick sweat of so many people who were giving every ounce of energy they had into furiously conjuring up the spirit of the music. The smell was so raw, so primal. And they were putting their whole being into it. This music that I just could never understand before suddenly hit me at every level, and I started crying on stage."




Representative list of Bali Cast of Characters (shortened most of their names)

Pak Wayan- organizer of Flower Mountain. Named Wayan because he is the fifth of 9 children (the first, 5th and 9th of every family are named Wayan). Patiently answered all of our questions, created masterplan tours for us, had no problem driving us an extra 45 min if we didn't like the first beach he took us to. Had a calm and consistent sense of serenity to him, that made you feel like when you were with him, you had all the time in the world.

Pak P- the other main driver who took us to performances, to and from town, etc. Hardly spoke english, but spoke enough to make us all laugh with his references to John Travolta, imitations of Chinese songs, and practical jokes. He really had a smile that lit up his whole face, even when he had to stay up all night and day with different driving assignments.

Boo M- the wonderful and affectionate chef whom I ended up calling my "Bali mom". M is famous for keeping the musicians of World Music Center well fed. About 3/4 of what she cooks is vegetarian, so good for me! While we had our gamelan class, we could smell all kinds of curries and sauces wafting in from the kitchen. Her food was so delicious that we often opted out of eating in town in order to have more of her food. She cooked extra tofu because she knew it was my favorite. On the third day she took us to a temple ceremony in her village, and the whole time she was glowing as she showed us her temple, her community and her customs.




Pak A- I'm not sure I can put into a paragraph how powerful a teacher Pak A was to me. He had a quiet demeanor but bursting with energy. He enjoys doing Eastern/Western fusion music, so we would sit the library for hours collaborating on pieces he wrote for violin with Balinese instruments. He played his music and sang what the violin part should be, while I tried to pick it up. I wrote down as little as possible and really tried to use my memory to learn his music, the way that is so common in non-Western learning. He encouraged me to improvise- praising my good ideas, and suggesting other things when my playing sounded uninspired. We recorded two songs that I will be able to post soon. His fusion music opened a new world to me and I hope to do collaborations like that many more times in the future.

The rice farmers (Pak W, Pak R, Pak S, Pak M, Pak S)- a group of rice farmers who happen to be a walking encyclopedia of incredibly long strains of ancient Balinese music on antiquated wooden "xylophones" called gambang. They spent the whole week attempting to teach us a song called Labda Karya. They speak very little English so most of the communication was done through demonstrating, singing, and smiles. The spacing on the gambang makes no sense- sometimes the notes will rise in pitch as you go to the right, in the order of a piano, and other times you will find yourself going to the far left of the instrument for the highest pitch. But this is no worry to them! Only to standardized, westernized me! I just loved their personalities though- so laid back! They shared in our excitement as we finally mastered maybe 1/3 of the song that week.
Pak M- M is the specific rice farmer that I worked with. He was younger than the others but when he smiled I noticed he only had a few teeth. He sat on one side of the gambang and played the melody backwards while I struggled to learn it sitting on the normal side of the instrument. While always patient, he seemed completely befuddled that the spacing of the keys, and the (very random-sounding to me) melody confused me. At one point he sighed and took out his cell phone. Let me just tell you, for some reason it was such a surprising sight for me to see this rice farmer, dressed in temple clothes, playing an ancient instrument, whip out a cell phone!! I was pulled straight back into the 21st century, and I sadly thought, maybe he was bored teaching me and decided to do some text messaging. However, to the contrary- he had programed on his cell phone the pitches of the song we were learning, and made me listen to it on his phone over and over! It seemed so funny to me, listening to an ancient melody, passed down in the family for generations, on a cell phone!
On the third and fourth day of our week together Pak M was not there. The others told me in their halting English that he has diabetes and often gets sick. I found this very sad, because the more I asked, the more I learned that there is really not sufficient medicine in Bali for someone with diabetes. And the best I could do was tell Pak M on the last day to take care and that I hope he feels better.
The 3 of us ladies learning from the farmers!



The Balinese dont separate music into practicing and performing. music is not just an activity that they do. Art is their entire being, and you can see it in the way they walk, the way they talk to others, and the way it is on their face when they perform. Tied to a higher thread, this is because religion is truly all-encompassing for them, and they express themselves to the gods through art. I think it is rare these days to find such a level of integrity. Some of our teachers brought their fathers or their elders, who were also (of course) extremely accomplished musicians, and they would sit patiently during the lessons. I am someone who cannot sit still. After about 5 minutes of sitting still, I end up fidgeting. I think most people are the same. But, these old men were different. I saw one of them peacefully reclining against the wall, attending to something that had nothing to do with the people around him. Eventually I figured out where his attention was. I realized that he was naturally and meditatively tapping an offbeat pattern to go with the tweet of an insistent bird nearby. He did this for at least 30 minutes.

I could tell so many more stories~ such as wandering onto a rice field and speaking with a farmer in what little Indonesian I know, or bringing great joy to a few poverty-stricken children by handing out tic tacs to them instead of money, or observing the most absurdly elaborate and decorated funeral procession I've ever seen. Feel free to ask me more questions via email, but if I tell all these stories now then I would never ever finish this blog. I felt very humbled as I was leaving Bali, knowing that in 7 days of intensive lessons I was only able to grasp about 5% of what this small island has to offer. My close friend and I cried as we were leaving Bali. As soon as the streets became 2 lanes, and then 4 lanes, we knew that our charming village days were over and it was back to the real world. No more improvising with musical masters until 2 in the morning, no more worrying about getting your keys stolen by a monkey. I just really hope that one day I can return to this amazing place!

Round 2

For my return to Singapore for my second and final year at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, I flew 14 hours to get to Japan. I spent my four hour layover figuring out the conversion of USD to yen, admiring Udon and a plethora of strange drinks at the cafes, and marveling at the "shower" feature they have in Japanese bathrooms(basically, if you press the button water will come up through a hose from the toilet to "clean" you). Hanging out in Japan made me feel very far away from home, and I still had 7 more hours of flying to go.

After 26 hours of travel and a 12 hour time difference I was dropped headfirst into Singapore. And I didn't feel so far away from home anymore. I can't begin to describe how strange it felt to arrive in a completely different part of the world, and yet be in a place that I knew so well. On my first day back I walked around for hours, taking the long way everywhere, just to be sure of everything. Compared which buildings were new, what shops had changed, tested my memory of what I would see at the turn of every corner (keep in mind I was sweating profusely the whole time, since I had to readjust to the climate!). During my summer in the US, Singapore was a place that I described in great detail to all the curious friends around me; but the longer I stayed in the US, the more my time in Singapore felt like a dream. The sudden tangibility upon returning- the feeling, sights, sounds and smells were overwhelming.

At the same time, I can already feel my life in the US slightly slipping away. I had such a wonderful summer and loved seeing everyone and being at home in my own country, but I have to accept that I cannot completely manage two lives at a time. There will always be one place that feels very far away. That being said, I hope to keep in touch as much as possible this year.

I have to keep this short because I'm writing this the night before I'm leaving on possibly the coolest "school field trip" ever! Tomorrow I go with a group of 8 students from my school and 2 professors to Bali to play Balinese gamelan and try my hand at traditional balinese painting and dancing too! I will be sure to write all about it when I return

I will end with one cultural note that sums up my daily life here- While at an outdoor food court with some Singaporean friends, I ordered some food (carrot cake, actually. It's not what you think it is, trust me). As I went back to my table I wondered why they didn't ask me what my table number was. When my food was delivered to me, my friends burst out laughing for a reason I didn't know. They pointed to the side of my plate, where, written in chinese characters was the word "yang ren", which translates to mean "the caucasian". So that's how the waiter knew where to bring my food :-p

Photo highlights of 2009!

There's my neighborhood! I moved there in January and it's lovely! The building to the left is where I lived.

This was the crowds in Chinatown on Chinese New Year! The whole country shuts down for 2 days while everyone celebrates

Some friends from school and I celebrating Chinese New Year
Game night with the studio! Third from the right is my violin teacher, and the rest of us are her students
My good friends all came out to celebrate with me on my birthday in March! From left to right is: Jolene (roommate from first semester and one of my closest friends in Sg), Yoon-Tae (an extremely friendly Korean engineering student), Zak (an exchange student from England), Lauren (my wonderful Australian roommate during 2nd semester), me, and Golnar (a wonderful and vivacious clarinet student from Iran).

The whole table of us out for my birthday! (and my friend from school Emily's bday as well!)

When the director of Peabody came to visit Singapore, the maestro of our orchestra took him out to dinner with me and Peter, an exchange student from Peabody. Here we are at a popular and delicious dim-sum restaurant called Crystal Jade!

Pictured here are me and Peter again, with Leon Fleisher and his wife, after Mr. Fleisher conducted and soloed in our conservatory orchestra concert!

Karaoke, always a popular pastime in Asia!


This is me in the dressing room before my solo recital, with Qi Hong, another member of my studio who had her recital right before me!
Playing "Fratres" for violin, string orchestra and percussion at my school. All my friends generously donated their time in exchange for pizza, to play with me at my recital!

Performing Elgar Violin Sonata with Imma, my duo partner for the semester. Imma is from Indonesia, and she has been teaching me the English slang of S-E Asia!

With my fantastic teacher, Qian Zhou, after my recital. Ms. Qian was so helpful as I learned my repertoire, and I never could have improved so much this year without her!

The night/morning we got durian at 4:30 AM

Downtown Singapore by the river

Reflections at the end of year one

Yes, I know well that it's been over six months since my last update!

I write now from the comfort of my computer room at home- All year I saw my family sitting at this same computer while they Skyped with me. And now I'm here!

The main reason that I did not blog for so long, is because I really didn't feel that I had anything interesting to update about during the second half of my year in Singapore. Instead of particular events that stood out, this was a slow time of transition from a "complete foreigner" to "one who could pass as an expat".

I would call my second semester of school, starting Mid-January, a time of getting comfortable. I moved much closer to school, so that I didn't have to commute 45 minutes back and forth every day. As the new and disoriented exchange students arrived in Singapore for a new semester, I was able to help them find their way and answer their questions, the same way others had done for me back in August. Things that originally seemed so weird when I arrived began to feel incredibly normal.

I became accustomed to the absurd Singlish accent (for an example, check out this video or the Wikepedia article). I began to say "can?" instead of: "is this possible?" (for example, you see a bus in Singapore and you want to know if it gets you where you're going. all you have to say is "can?"). I also said the word "lift" without thinking, since the word "elevator" makes everyone so confused...I asked somebody in the US how their "Sem" was going, forgetting that we don't shorten the word "semester" back at home. I had to say "air-con" instead of "AC" or "air conditioner". I no longer got surprised when everyone said "specs" instead of "glasses". I ordered "teh tarik" and "kopi beng" (iced unique SE-Asian coffee) and "soya milk less sugar", and I began to ask the servers at food stalls in Chinese if their food is vegetarian.

My daily life during the semester was fairly unexciting. When I wasn't teaching, I was usually preparing for my first graduate recital or orchestra auditions. Many hours were spent alone in a practice room. However, I began to develop stronger friendships with both the students at school and the very warm faculty that we have. I made some exciting musical discoveries and developments while working closely with my amazing violin teacher. I also became much more comfortable performing, simply due to the greatened number of times that I had to appear on stage.

Near the end of the semester, after my recital was over, i had a little more time for fun, and went out and explored the east side of Singapore (everything I had to do previously was in the west or central part). My favorite adventure was meeting some new friends one night and getting durian at 4:30 AM with them from a fruit-stand that was opened all night. It's amazing to live somewhere where there is always an opportunity to meet immediate friends, and it's always fun to tell a taxi driver, "we just want to eat durian!" and watch as he amiably takes you to the perfect place! I got to spend quality time with my friends who were graduating and/or leaving Singapore at the end of the year, and I'm grateful that we had a few weeks to have fun together before we all went home.

As the year was drawing to a close, I wondered how I would feel when I returned to the US, where there is no prata shop across the street from my house...where I wouldn't see chinese shrines and incense in random corners of buildings and on almost every street. During the year I got used to taxi drivers who did not want to drive in certain areas at night- not because of high crime (Singapore is actually astoundingly safe), but because certain places were "too haunted" to drive by in the dark. I had gotten used to planning my violin teaching around the inevitable tropical storms that showed up mid afternoon. I became a fiend at using chopsticks. ALL of these things were new when I arrived in Singapore, and I was apprehensive that I would once again feel like a fish out of water when I returned home.

But I was wrong!

I've learned this summer that there is truly no place like home, and I'm so happy to be back for a bit! I have been home since early May, and I have visited family in Connecticut, friends in Baltimore, Washington DC, and San Francisco. I also spent 3 weeks in Sarasota Florida at Sarasota Music Festival. It has been so wonderful to see everyone that I missed, and I am sad to have to say goodbye to everyone for another year!
My travels within the country this summer have spanned thousands of miles and yet- wherever I go, I feel the incredible comfort of being in my own country. During this summer it has been so refreshing not to be stared at while I'm walking down the street, or sitting on a bus, or walking into a store. If I need to stop and ask someone for directions, I don't have to cross my fingers and hope that they speak enough English to communicate with me (don't get me wrong, most people in Singapore speak excellent English, but I HAVE had some very awkward encounters both in Singapore and in neighboring countries with a language barrier). Nobody confusedly asks if I'm from Australia or Russia. At home there are no daily confusions over subtle cultural differences (like the time I affectionately called one of my students in Singapore "silly" and she almost cried- apparently the word silly means "stupid" in Asian culture).

I truly believe that as I explore other parts of the world it is completely natural to be uncomfortable- getting out of my element is what opens me up and helps me to learn. However, it has been very nice to be completely good old American me for a few months :).

Since this entry is getting pretty long, I will make another post with picture highlights since January!

**pictures that are wide instead of tall are not showing correctly. to see the full picture, click on it!**

As a warning, this posting is very discombobulated. If I fully organized all events and thoughts, and tried to make quality writing out of it, you would be waiting until 2010 to hear from me. So much happened in 10 days- I can hardly keep it straight myself let alone write it all down!!

This was all written while I was in Thailand, with only some minor changes for the sake of coherence! After sharing what I wrote in the moment I will tell some other stories that I have not yet written :)

Day 1 - Phuket (pronounced boo-GET)

I can't believe I'm in Thailand at all. The whole time I was in the taxi to phuket town, I just kept saying to myself "WOW I'm in Thailand!" Being here does and doesn't remind me of Vietnam. IT reminds me more of Malaysia I'd say, with the same tropical feel as Singapore but without the organization. While Vietnam was a fishing place from what I saw, Phuket is a beach party place, where the main streets cater to tourists (we really went for hours tonight seeing only farangs [westerners], besides the people selling things to the farangs), and where taxi drivers drive unlabeled sketchy cars and try to overcharge.

A few things struck me today. For one, I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever on Karon beach. I floated in the salt water, with the setting sun warming me on one side, and the moon overlooking me on my other side. I could hear nothing but the sounds of the waves around me and the sound of my own breath. It was so surreal and beautiful that I couldnt believe I was actually experiencing it. Such an expanse of beautiful sky and water.

I faced a moral dilemna as I and my friends haggled for prices at the market and for a taxi. We literally walked around for 30 minutes fighting with taxi drivers to bring down the fixed price of a taxi from 500 baht to 400 baht. Granted, they were majorly overcharging tourists, whose only option for getting home from the beach at night is a taxi, but 100 baht divided between the 3 of us- that's less than $1 USD each. We ended up getting our ride for 400 baht but I had to question myself. I am so lucky that I don't have to worry too much about where I will get my next dollar. These people do, and yet we still had to haggle for the "local price". It just made me really sad when I said thank you to our taxi driver in Thai (kab-kum-kah!), and he gave me a huge genuine smile, after we didn't even trust him to give us correct change for a 500 baht note.

Writing this makes me realize how simple my life is. I feel so lucky that I can go on a holiday and swim on a beach and play with waves without worrying about anything. My phone has been turned off all day and I know that I am free from obligations- there is nobody that needs to reach me right now. I feel almost guilty that I can take a trip like this, so I need to enjoy it as much as I can while I still live a relatively obligation-free life. And as I said before, today has reinforced how lucky I feel that I don't have to worry where my next dollar is coming from. In one hour of teaching I make the same amount that some people here make in one week. It's something to think about..

Sunsets and beaches in Phuket:


My Phuket travel buddies

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Day 6- Second day in Bangkok
Last night I literally passed out- at 10:15 pm on my rock-hard bed, with my duffel bag, travel guide, maps, phone....everything! scattered around me. Still in the clothes I had been wearing all day, with the lights shining brightly on my face. I did not wake up again until 2:30 AM, at which point I confusedly knocked everything off my bed, turned off my lights, and fell fast asleep again till 8:30 AM. It's about time I got sleep like that!
When I woke up today I changed guesthouses. The one around the corner where I am now is much more nice and cozy, but now I'm finding that the main light bulb is burned out so it's dark, and there are no outlets. However, there IS hot water! I took a luxurious shower with the first combination of clean shower AND hot water that I've had so far, and took bus 44 to meet Ice at Wat Phra Kaew, the grand palace. (Ice is my good friend from school in Singapore. His full name is Kittiphan, but most Thai people go by nicknames since their full names are so long). After wandering around Bangkok by myself for 24 hours, it was so nice to see a familiar face. Ice and I went to the palace, and regal doesn't even begin to describe it.





After peeking inside each section and marveling at all the gold and beauty, Ice and I went to cross the river by ferry. We visited another wat on that side of the river, and then Ice bought some very cheap bread for 10 baht. After tricking me into eating it by calling it "special delicious thai bread" (!!), I realized that this stale bread was specifically for feeding the pigeons and huge koi fish at the pier. As I fed fish and birds by an ancient temple, with Buddhist monks, friendly dogs, and locals milling about around me, I felt so relaxed. It reminded me of the scene from Marry Poppins where she was feeding the birds. Later I had a vegetarian version of Papaya salad with Ice for lunch. It was so spicy that there were tears running down my face from eating it!





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I don't know if I will ever get used to carrying around my own tissues as a replacement for toilet paper. It's just something I never had to worry about before.
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To continue, Ice and I traveled to Siam Square in the afternoon and looked around there. It's very similar to Singapores' Orchard Road, but much less crowded, better prices, and a more unique variety of shops. Their Christmas decorations were much better than Singapores' and I love that they had one xmas tree constructed of recycled CDs and one of recycled coke cans.

[ I never did finish telling the story of that day! But here are some pictures!]
This is me with, from left to right: Su, Pom, and Mika. Pom is my friend from school's brother. Mika is his girlfriend, and Su is Mika's best friend. They were all so incredibly kind to me, took me for all kinds of food and showed me different places in Bangkok, and I am so grateful to them!

This is how they make milk tea- tossing it from cup to cup adds lots of bubbles!

A christmas tree from recycled CDs

Day 7- Third day in Bangkok
This trip is starting to make me really tired...!
I didn't sleep as well last night for whatever reason- maybe I was less exhausted? But today I feel kind of drained and I am getting a sore throat. Maybe I caught it from Su or Ice. I'm still so full from all of yesterday's food!


Day 8- fourth day in Bangkok
At the end of an eventful day, in which I made my way all over Bangkok completely alone, I have to wonder, why do I feel so safe? Everything went without a hitch today, besides some irritating taxi/tuktuk/motorbike drivers whose creepy voices will give me shivers for a long time. But even they were harmless.

After having a vegetarian late breakfast (I luxuriously slept in my big bed til 10- maybe the massage helped, or I was just that tired. As a sidenote, it's funny what the word "luxurious" means to me at this point. Basically, it means: comfortable and bug free!).

So I had my breakfast and took the bus to the historic area of Bangkok, from where I thought it should be easy enough to find the river and follow it to Chinatown- the way my complimentary yet sparse Bangkok map told me I would. Turns out I REALLY had no clue how to get around. And I could only look at my map for fragmented private moments, because as soon as I started looking at my map, I got harassed by every driver on the block, all of them trying to sell me a taxi ride! So, instead I had to walk confidently and look like I knew EXACTLY where I was going. Ironically, confidently walking in one direction took me a good kilometer out of my way. Finally, I saw a music store and talked to a friendly lady inside who spoke with perfect English,. She saved me by directing me towards the river. So I ran into bus 1, which Ice told me I could take to chinatown. I hopped on (literally- the bus doesn't really stop moving), and the lady in charge on the bus was so kind. She tapped me the second there was a free seat and made me sit down (even though I stand on the buses in Singapore allll the time), told me when to get off for Chinatown, and didn't even charge me for the 30 minute bus ride! The differences between public and private transportation here are amazing.

So, Su had eloquently told me that every Chinatown is the same. This Chinatown was a little more crowded than Chinatowns I'm used to, with less English and less tofu. But, it was still Chinatown for sure. I visited 2 beautiful wats and a hospital that mixes modern and traditional Chinese medicine. I finally built up the courage to smile and nod my head to a monk. I was always (always being...the past few days) nervous to look at them in case I accidentally did something wrong or offensive. Then I walked along the streets, took in the sights, and was very careful not to trip on people who were sitting on the ground selling merchandise laid out on the sidewalk.

I wandered onto a soi that was selling lots of shoes. I turned 1 or 2 corners and all of a sudden I was hit by the most insane outdoor market area I've ever seen! There were tons of shops on each side of a narrow path selling extremely cheap-looking things for extremely cheap prices. Often sellers had food carts set up in front of the other stalls, making the path seem more like an obstacle course. Motorbikes barged through as well as people carting huge boxes of merchandise, so the crowds were squeezed even more to the sides. The crowd consisted of school children, moms with their kids, the local chinese population- And ME! It was too crowded to actually shop, in my opinion, so I just went with the flow of the crowd and looked around.
While walking, an extremely nice lady at a food cart grunted until she had my attention, took my empty plastic drink cup that I was still holding, and threw it in her little trashcan for me. Little gestures like that just made me love the Thai people. I can't imagine any other place where people are so helpful that they want to give you free bus rides and even throw out your trash for you!





I then found Choa Phraya express and took a lovely ferry boat ride to the center of the city, where I could take the sky train to wherever I pleased. I called Su, who was luckily free to hang out, and we went to an area of Bangkok called Nana to have Indian dinner. I had such a great time with Su. She is the perfect person for me to eat with, because she is also vegetarian, likes healthy food, and since she is a pharmacist she knows all the properties of food and what is and is not healthy! We had a long and comfortable dinner- Su was starving because she had not eaten lunch, and I was pretty hungry from my long walk around Chinatown, so we ate a ton of food and relaxed together!



That evening, I roamed around more of the city, and took a long walk in the beautiful Lumphini park. There was a running path along a huge pond (or what the guide I just gave a link for called an artificial lake), and many people of all ages were running after sunset. So for a few hours I walked around, watched families and friends and school children as they went about the park, looked at various monuments and buildings, and even ran into a mother dog and her litter of puppies!


I listened to a free concert for a while, and found the bus I need to take to get back home, and made it back here with no problem.

Now I am back on Khao San Road by my guesthouse, enjoying a green tea latte and writing about my day in a 24-hour coffee shop!


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Well that was all that I actually wrote while on the trip! But I have to at least describe the other places that I visited!

Krabi a province in Southern Thailand, about 2.5 hours away from Phuket, that is supposed to be home to Thailand's most gorgeous beaches and islands. So, of course I could not pass up the opportunity to see that! I won't say that I was disappointed with Krabi, because it certainly did live up to its reputation of being beautiful. However, I have to say, it was only a little more beautiful than the beaches of Phuket, and a lot more difficult to get to!! Everything in the area was extremely touristy and expensive, but the sights made it worth it!

My personal favorite picture from my trip:





Nakon Si Thammarat
After four days of what felt like a spring break party among the beaches, my next destination was well off of the tourist path. My friend Lara, whom I have known since I was four, is teaching English with her boyfriend Will in this city for a year. Both of them went to my highschool and we graduated together, so I had to visit them!! Nakhon si Thammarat was a nice change. Instead of locals trying to use me for all the money I might have in my pocket, these locals followed us around the street calling us beautiful in English or Thai. I don't know if I was more interested in them, or if they were more interested in us! Any time I smiled or waved at one of the people in the city, they were thrilled! It was like being an instant celebrity, which is a very funny feeling. However, it was nice to feel a mutual fascination with each other.

Shadow puppets is a very important and historic art in Nakhon Si Thammarat

Weekend market

Lara, Will and I!

Oh, and another highlight of Nakhon- I had my first ride on a motorbike!! It's the only way of getting around!

And one last picture- This was me with Mika's family and friends on my last night in Bangkok. Mika and her sister and her sister's husband all play vital roles in a string ensemble, whose performance was that night. After their concert, we celebrated until 3:30 am!

This trip was extremely rich for me in so many ways. It forced me to grow up a lot, as I had to handle so many logistics and decisions completely on my own. Once again I got a painful awareness for all the wealth and opportunities that I do have, and that others unfortunately do not (as a side note, I was very happy to see that Bangkok has such a large middle class- it is not only extremely rich people and extremely poor as I had feared) .
Overall, this trip gave me a deep appreciation for human kindness- its definitely NOT the case that everyone I met during my ten days was an angel. Some people were unfriendly, and many wanted to take advantage of the Western traveler in any way possible. However, my friends that took me under their wing, random strangers who gave me small but vital help, the 3 sisters who ran a guesthouse and spent a good part of their night telling me about Thailand, the children who let me take their pictures, the many people who clasped their hands in prayer every time the bus or train passed by a temple (which, in Thailand is ALL the time). These are only a few examples of the beauty I saw, and the spirited energy of Thailand will stay in my mind for a long time.

Oh, and for those of you who were wondering- no, I did not see a single protester in Bangkok! :)

Happy New Year everyone!!