chinese new year

sorry for the interruption in the thailand posts, but i need to get a chinese new year post in!

what can i say about the CNY... hmm.
1. there is a lot of red lanterns, red ribbons, red firecrackers, red... everything. everywhere!
2. a lot of rabbit decor as well, since it IS the year of the rabbit.
3. the fireworks were out. of. control for about 3 days. lack of sleep and loss of hearing. they were lighting them off at 7am. they were lighting them off at 7pm. and 1am. and 11am.  basically 24 hours a day.
4. i got a 3 week paid vacation! you can't complain about that.

i was able to go to yuyuan, one of my favorite shanghai spots, 2 times this week to see all the decorations.
they were a little over the top, but fun!
here are some pics :) enjoy!

the firework aftermath in front of my apartment. no joke, on sunday night, i felt like i was in a war zone!

eating tang hu lu! it's fruit with this hard sugar coating over it. it's AMAZING!

(oh, and sporting the lens-less glasses phenomenon that is taking over China!) it's so fun.

all the crazy blow-ups in the water that i assume tell the story of the CNY

yuyuan all lit up and a big rabbit :)

more weird blow ups :)

I am a certified mahout.

... and I have the "certificate" to prove it!
No, really. I do! They gave us a printed out certificate that says we passed the training. Then again, I am 100% that everyone gets those at the end. haha

One of my "must do's" for the Thailand trip was getting to see elephants. Whether it be just going on a small ride, or getting to learn more things, I didn't care. I just love elephants and wanted to get close to them. So, Jacqueline and I signed up for a half day elephant training and mahout course. A mahout is just someone who trains the elephants :)
We did it in the afternoon and we are SO glad we did! We were the only 2 in the course, and when we were back at the same place the next day there were so many people in the morning class! Awesome.

First off, they made us change into these ridiculous outfits with just our swimsuits underneath. Obviously they were one size fits all. I am actually glad we had to wear them though because the elephant's skin is super rough and they have very coarse, sharp hair up by their head (I discovered this when I was learning how to climb up on the elephant using their legs and then trunk and the inside of my legs got super scratched up. I could only imagine if I wasn't wearing those crazy pants :)

Next, we learned a few Thai commands of what to tell that elephant. "Yoh ka" means, "lift your leg". "Pai" means "go!" and... I honestly forget the rest... I should have kept that paper... After learning some basic words we were able to just give the elephant some sugar cane, bananas, watermelon and pineapple so she would warm up to us.

on Soo Si :)

feeding the elephant

Then, it was on to learning how to climb up. Goodness! You have to have somewhat of an athletic bone in your body or you were screwed. It was so hard to climb up! After saying "Yoh ka!" the elephant would lift its leg, you grab its skin with your left hand and behind its ear with your right, and step on the leg. Then as its lifting its leg, you basically have to throw your other leg as high as you can (a few feet, like 4!) up and over. Seriously, so hard.
We also learned how to climb up its trunk and it would lift it's trunk (with you on it!) up and over its head. I liked that one better. No climbing and jumping :)

climbing up from the front!

attempting to turn around

We also learned some commands how to "steer" the elephant which was actually very confusing. I didn't  understand most of the time and my elephant (ohhh, her name was Soo Si! i forgot that little snippet) just did as she pleased, mostly in reverse :) haha

trying to get the elephant to go left maybe? unsuccessful.

Jacqueline and I both went through all this training and were then able to lead our elephant down some trails and rivers (with a qualified guy following us). Once we went down the trails we were lead to a small watering hole where the elephant laid down in the water and we got to bathe her! It was my favorite part! We sudsed her up and had a water fight. We then mounted her again and finished the small trail back to the camp.

jacq and i down the trail

the beautiful scenery

us with Soo Si, giving her a bath

water fight!

It was honestly one of the coolest and most amazing things I have ever done in my life (tied with snorkeling which happens later in the trip). I kept thinking "Wow, a year ago i would have NEVER thought I would be learning to guide an elephant in Thailand."

Just a year ago, I felt like I was in a really hard place in my life. I honestly didnt like the direction my life was heading and was struggling with some relationship problems, feeling very neglected and not worth it.
Now, it's been a year since then and I feel like I have changed. Traveling has changed me. I am happy the direction my life is heading. I am seeing things some people will never see in their life time, I am living this adventurous life I would have never expected. This is not to say that every day is easy. That every day I am happy. I have my low points. But I am getting there, I can feel it.
I am living my dreams. I have goals that I am actually reaching.
I think that's something to be desired, don't you? :)

Chiang Mai - Sunday Night Market

We were greeted in Chiang Mai by one of the owners of Mai Siam, the small resort we stayed at the entirety of our stay, and her British friend. They drove us in their car to where we were staying. It ended up being about a half hour away from the city center of Chiang Mai but we loved seeing the beautiful scenery every day on our ride into town.
Once we settled in to our bungalow the staff made us a really tasty dinner and then we showered and headed to the Sunday Night Market, a very popular attraction in the town that only takes place, obviously, on Sunday nights. They shut down some of the roads and there are tons and tons of vendors selling jewelry, lanterns, clothes, paintings, etc! There was also a food square with so many Thai foods!
I got some type of burrito looking thing (i forget the Thai word) and a fried banana with chocolate... oh man. amazing!
I bought a great bracelet, earrings, a dress and a lantern.
It was a great introduction to Chiang Mai and we were so excited for the next day where we would head to ... the elephant camp :)

night market

night market

i got one of these lanterns. i just can't get it assembled... haha

a "wat" or temple in the middle of the city center and Sunday market

the beginning

Let me start from the beginning of my Thailand adventure...

Jacqueline and I were up and in a taxi at about 7:00, dressed in sandals (her), my TOMS (me), jeans, and sweatshirt with a jacket. We wanted to wear all of our "wintery" stuff on the way since they wouldn't fit in our luggage (especially my backpack, it was stuffed to begin with)!
We got to the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and began to check Jacqueline's luggage. We went through the security and they began to open my backpack... apparently you can't take toiletries over 100ml in your carry on, and all mine were over 100ml. After a slight panic because I reeeaalllyyy didn't want to check my luggage, in fear of my "fake market" backpack getting ruined on it's way to Bangkok, I ended up checking in. I had to, if i wanted to be able to wash during my 2 weeks :)

Oh, and they gave us these stickers for "international transfer" once we hit Guangzhou, China that we had to wear, but we kept calling them "retard stickers" because we were the only people with them. :)

jacq and her sticker 

After a few hours in the freezing cold airport of Guangzhou, and a mediocre meal, we were on our way to Bangkok, and on our way to the warm 85 degree weather! (This is after the plane left an hour and half late...)
Once we arrived in Bangkok we had a few very important matters to attend to:
1. get in line QUICK to get our passport checked.
2. exchange money
3. get jacqueline's bag, again, QUICK! because....
4. We had to figure out how in the world to buy train tickets north to Chiang Mai and get to the actual station.

We were able to use a phone at a tourist desk and call the train station directly. In Thailand, everyone speaks pretty great English and are SO friendly! They are so willing to help you out with anything you need.

Once we get in the cab to go the train station we had to make a game plan. We had found out there were only a handful of tickets left at the train station and they train left in about an hour. They were second class seats, either the sleeper or the seats. We had our fingers crossed for sleeper.

ps. they drive on the other side of the road! weeirrrd.

It was straight out of Amazing Race I felt like, the plan was...
Jacqueline will pay the cab driver and get her luggage, and I will grab my backpack and run into the station for tickets. I ask the attendant for any 2 tickets into Chiang Mai (we HAD to take this train because the last bus had already left, due to our flight being delayed).
We ended up with 2 second class tickets... seats. They were the LAST ONES TOO! Actually, they weren't too bad, minus the whole train being soo freezing cold.

the train station

jacq and i in our seats with our "towel" blankets and Leos

thai sunchips which i think looks like it says "bu tuna" :)

I had read on Lonely Planet that Thai busses like to run their air conditioning extremely cold, but didn't even think about trains.
I was wrapped in anything long sleeved I had brought and a small blanket aka towel they gave us.
We met some pretty fun people on the train! They were 2 Thai couples who wanted to take some pictures with us, and enjoy a Leo (a beer).
I was actually able to sleep a good amount (thanks to some Tylenol PM).
We woke up the next morning in the train, had some breakfast and were getting pretty pumped up for our adventures into Chiang Mai :)

the next morning in my big seat once some people left

welcome to chiang mai!

*more to come this week...

all about chiang mai!

pictures from the land of smiles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiinholt/sets/

here is the link to my Flickr pictures from Thailand!
i will be blogging about my adventures and posting specific pictures later but have a look!

and a few of my favorite shots from the trip ... i couldn't resist.

2 weeks in thailand!

i'm heading out to thailand in the morning!! got everything packed into 1 backpack and one small duffel bag, which is a HUGE feat for me considering I am the world's best over packer.  i am one of those people who live by the saying "it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it!" but when you don't want to check any luggage, those rules don't apply anymore. good thing thailand is warm because shorts, tanks, and skirts don't take up half as much room as sweaters and coats! i'm heading into 80s and 90s with suuuuun! can't wait to bust out the shades.

my flight leaves at 9 in the morning, and i fly into Bangkok. then we will grab a train overnight and arrive in chiang mai that next afternoon. sleeping on the train is gonna SUCK. it's the only part of the trip i am not looking forward to.
after  5 days of gallivanting around in chiang mai riding elephants, visiting night markets, eating fresh fruit, seeing temples, doing some cooking classes and eating crazy amounts of thai food, we will fly back into bangkok to pick up jacquelyn's friend. we will spend the night in bangkok and fly south to krabi thailand for the next week. here we will be beaching it up, snorkeling with fishies, day drinking, getting tans and well... straight just being lazy and relaxing :) (maybe even some rock climbing :)

i won't be on my computer for the next 2 weeks. pray for safe travels! thanks everyone.
you will have many pictures and stories after!

embarrassing moment in chinese

well, i COMPLETELY embarrassed myself in front of Jack today (my Chinese tutor). as he was walking out the door we were wishing him our "zei wei"s (shanghainese for goodbye) and "xin nian kuai le"s (chinese for happy new year) when i went to shut my book and found his pencil underneath my cover...

dun dun dun....

i utter out the phrase in which i thought was, "Zhè shì nǐ de bǐ ma?" -- "Is this your pencil?" (pencil is bǐ)
but i actually said "Zhè shì nǐ de bī ma?" -- which means "Is this your vagina?" (vagina (vulgar) is bī   [as nciku.com states]). *notice the differences in marks over the letter i.


i had no clue obviously that that is what i said and within .342 seconds he is like "wooahhh. ohhh nooo. nooooooo...." and is laughing hysterically, half nervously. he says "this is bad. really, really bad. umm... let me explain. well... ummmm...."
many umms and hmms later he writes the word "womb" on a piece of paper but says "outside womb".
we all say "ooohhh" trying not to explode with laughter as i am slamming my head down on the table.
as soon as he leaves we all explode with laughter.


this just goes to prove to you that so many words are close together that mean TOTALLY different things. 
you could really offend someone without even trying.
makes me wanna keep my mouth shut. 
:)