Am I Becoming Spoiled?

The answer is: possibly. I think I really have a massage addiction. It's getting to the point where Hilary and I have to limit our massages to once a week. I sincerely think that your body gets used to them and actually starts to crave them. We've found some alternatives to massages...other ways to pamper ourselves. We started getting facials about once a week and sometimes we get our hair washed which is really a scalp and face massage. This past weekend Hilary took me to the mecca of relaxation, the Thai Herbal Conservation Center which is just outside of Lampang. This place is amazing! It's a beautiful garden grounds and they make all of these herbal remedies, teas and tinctures on the premises. First, we decided to take an herbal bath. You would think that they would run bath water and just throw some herbs in the tub but actually the water comes out of the faucet with herbs already in it! It was clearly not what I was expecting. The water was frothy and a dark brown color and smelled like the Chinese medicine that I used to choke down when I was in Shenzhen. Hilary said she felt like she was taking a bath in Coke. One would think that an herbal bath would be relaxing but it's truly quite a grueling experience. I think there's something about sweating out all those toxins that makes you light-headed and really hot. The water wasn't too hot at all but Hilary and I had to keep getting out of our tubs to cool off. It was kinda like a sauna but overall it was a nice experience. They gave us tea to drink while in the tub!

Then we decided to get body scrubs. It was a little bit awkward at first cause you obviously have to be naked and the women doing the scrubs insisted on telling us how beautiful we were. They always say things along the lines of, "Wow! Beautiful! Very white" which I really don't know how to respond to. "Uh, thanks. Yup I'm pale alright." Or they will put their arm next to mine and say, "I'm black. You're white." I just feel sad they most of the people here don't think they're beautiful because their skin's not white.

So the scrub was a very yellow color. I think it was tumeric or something and there was also tamarind and sand in it. It was some serious exfoliation. After the scrub we were covered with yogurt which was interesting. The beds you lie on are covered in plastic so you're sliding all over the place. After it was finished we took showers and then drank some more tea. Our skin was shiny and new. We popped into the shop and spent way too much money on herbal teas and herbal soap, shampoo, medicine. It was a great and much needed afternoon.

Dinner Sunday night was at the new Japanese restaurant in town. It's a gorgeous building and the food is delish but not too expensive. You know I love Age Dashi Dofu so much. The last time I was there, we got into a wasabi-eating contest. Never again. Yoga on Monday was a full house. New people just keep coming and it's so nice that everyone enjoys it and is appreciative. Hilary and I keep trying to take a class when we're in Chiang Mai but we can't figure out the hours.

And now for my big adventure last night. I was over at my friend Karen's house for a girl's night dinner and Desparate Housewives. My mom called so I went outside to talk and decided to sit down on the patio. The moment I sat down, I felt a stinging on my butt. I didn't really think anything of it, but after I went back inside later, I started to feel really hot and a bit woozy. I thought I should maybe take a look at where the sting was. It was definitely a bite of some sort. I started to panic...was it a scorpion, a snake, some crazy insect I've never even heard of? Luckily our friend Sarah was there and she's lived in Thailand for over 20 years. She took a look at it and pronounced that it was only a spider bite. We put some vinegar on it and it seems fine this morning. Of course, we all know I have bad luck with animals in Thailand biting me. Don't worry mom!

This is my last week at school. Next week will be awesome and relaxing. I promise to post more pictures soon. I've really been slacking but honestly not too much has been going on. Soon I will be having more adventures and taking copious pictures. Soon.

The Coup's Not the Problem

The real problem right now is flash floods. The Wang River is swelling and they've been releasing the dams night and day. If it continues to rain, I don't know what's going to happen. Lots of houses and restaurants by the river are already flooded.

The coup already seems like a distant memory. It really doesn't seem like I'm living in a country without a government and under martial law. Everything is as usual. Thank god Thai people are so calm and nonchalant about the whole thing. There have been fears that the farmers and poor rural populations who suppport Tachsin might try to revolt, but now that the king has come out and supported the coup, no one would openly defy him. It's amazing that he doesn't have to ability to seize power but if the people ask him to lead in a time of crisis, he will. I honestly love the king.

Chiang Mai Easy

Every time i go back to chiang mai it gets more comforting and familiar. it's not the crazy hassle that it once was. we know where we want to stay, how to get around, how to say things in thai and where the cool places are. it's a nice break from the monotony of lampang.

hilary and i left directly after school on friday and arrived just in time for dinner with friends at a mexican restaurant. yes, i really need my fix of mexican food and it was perfect. then we went out for drinks at this reggae-type bar. it was chill and seems like someplace amy would like to go when she's visiting. we woke early on saturday and had a nice breakfast and then spent a loooong time shopping for books. there are some really cool used book stores and we ended up buying lots of poetry. i also bought the Little Prince cause Hilary had never read it which is sacrelige. as we were walking to the book stores we stumbled upon this temple that has the largest jade buddha statue in thailand. it was lovely.

after that, we headed down to the hip university district where we both got our hair cut. umm we were both a bit surprised by the short outcomes but it's nothing too drastic. actually, i almost cried but then i thought it's just hair and who cares if i look like a boy? it will look cute when it grows out a bit and it's starting to grow on me already. so after that we decided to treat ourselves to lots of nice flowy skirts, dresses and scarves and then chilled in a cute outdoor cafe.

somehow we decided that we wanted to watch a movie but there wasn't really anything interesting out. we decided on a new chinese film called "jasmine women." i would have to say that this movie is a ridiculous emotional journey that portrays motherhood as a depressing and lonely affair. besides which, i couldn't really get what the overarching message of the movie was. however, i have to say that surprisingly i liked it because it was told through three different generations of women and it was interesting to see how china was different at each time. also, we saw the preview for world trade center and hilary and i were both in tears. we definitely hope to go see it when it comes out.

saturday night, we had plans to hang out with chan cause she was in chiang mai visiting her family. rick wasn't with her, so we had a girls' night out. chan brought her neice who doesn't speak any english but somehow we managed to communicate all night. chan took us to the places where she wants to have her bachelorette party. the restaurant called Goodview is right on the river and it had a kick-ass band. there were song request sheets on every table and the band played an amazing selection of songs. also the food was good so we'll definitely go there. then we went on to a couple of night clubs. they were okay but crowded and a little bit of a meat market so i don't know if we'll go there or not. finally we ended up in the "farang" part of town at a little outdoor bar. chan and her niece left and we started talking to this british guy and his friend from bangladesh. the bangladesh guy was clearly tanked and was overly exhuberant. it turned out that he and the british guy had only met that day on the bus. it was their first day in chiang mai. well hilary started talking to the british guy so i was left talking to this crazy man who was telling me about moving from Dhakar to LA when he was only 12 and how strange that was for him. then it turned out that he was really rich *supposedly* and had houses in arizona, bangladesh, switerland, etc. as he was talking, he told me that his nickname is Rumi and i said, "oh like jelaladin rumi, the sufi poet?" and he started crying with joy. seriously. he was so happy that i recognized that name. i felt pretty awkward and just handed him a tissue. so then he proceeded to sing the praises of rumi's poetry. to make a long story short: hilary got the british guy's phone number while i got to talk to a crazy man who claimed he shot wolves from his airplane.

so today we got a massage first thing in the morning. we found this place that's inside temple grounds so it's nice to just lay there and see the lovely tips of the temple and lots of monks walking by. we did a bit more shopping at some weekend markets and then headed back. it was a perfect weekend.

Hits and Misses

Things I don't miss about America:

1. GW
2. having to drive everywhere
3. extremely fattening and unhealthy food
4. strict adherence to schedules/ deadlines/ always being "busy"
5. fox news
6. expensive price of living
7. students who are bored/apathetic/ too cool for school
8. terror alerts/ fear/ paranoia
9. being able to overhear and understand other people's conversations (here i can tune it out or don't understand)
10. illinois in august

Things I miss terribly at this moment:

1. you. most likely you are a friend or family member. i miss you all so much.
2. fall/ autumn. it's my favorite season.
3. cheese/ mexican food
4. watching a movie with my mom
5. hanging out at Barnes and Noble drinking espresso
6. picnics/flying kites with friends
7. music concerts/festivals/camping
8. not being able to attend family gatherings (bec's wedding, thanksgiving, christmas)
9. scrapbooking at aunt kath's
10. sunday dinners with grandma

Herbal Ball Rocks the House

So last night i got my first ever massage with an herbal ball. They give you a Thai massage for an hour and they let these big balls full of herbs soak in a steampot. They smell really good and they feel amazing. The masseuse just quickly pats the ball on you...it feels very hot but it doesn't burn. They keep reheating the balls and they massaged our legs, arms and back with the herbal balls. It was so nice to leave with glowing skin and radiating that good herbal smell. the balls can also be reused so we took them home and they're chillin in the fridge. i'm going to try to bring some of these home so we can all try them out.

also this week we discovered a really cool place to get facials. it was lovely and inexpensive so we've decided to put that in the rotation or massages and other treatments. it's sooo nice to just relax and treat your body well. well that's about all. only 2 weeks of teaching left and then it's time for my glorious vacation.

You have my permission to act silly

oh today is sunday and i'm laaaazzy. i had the greatest time on friday night. we went to the new japanese restaurant in town and i got into a wasabi eating contest. it was fun and slightly crazy (masochistic?) and then we mosey'ed across the street to Bar-bur-ee. it's a nice little outdoor bar that serves alcoholic fruit shakes. the table was covered with a long piece of white paper and we were given crayons to decorate it. it was difficult to contain our yelps of glee: "bar-bur-ee!" then it was off to More TAO once again. for some reason we started making all of these random noises from star wars...i've perfected the wookie sound and also some R2D2. we were all just acting so silly. we were making noises and talking animatedly and then i looked around at all the other tables and the people looked so proper. they were all sitting up straight and concentrating on the band. it make me laugh even more. i passed around glitter and stickers as per usual. then our friend dave got up to play a beck song with the band. good times were had by all. actually, we'll be starting a more tao myspace group so check it out. i'm gonna post pictures of the band (for those of you who are curious to see Gaang the thai cowboy). we're also gonna each blog about what happened at more tao anytime we go there.

adam's birthday party was fun. it's starting to seem to me like the scene here is getting smaller and smaller. there was lots of shit-talking going on last night which made me sad. i know that everyone here can't be everyone else's best friend but i just want us to all get along. hopefully the yoga will help with that. there is also a documentary film group that's starting out. i'm really glad for another reason to get everyone together sans partying. there's a lot of cool people here and i want to have long, intense discussions with them.

so this weekend hilary and karen and i did tons of shopping. we figured we deserved it after teaching so much overtime. bought lots of funny things...a cocktail dress that i could never afford in america, a purple sequin belt and some neon clothes from an indian shop. it feels so strange having money to throw around. we bought DVD's as well and we've been watching them like crazy! hilary and i will sprawl out on the floor on our mats and bolster pillows and make a snack buffet on the coffee table. it's sooo nice and relaxing. speaking of relaxing, i've got a date with the masseuse so i'm off. hope y'all have a lovely week!