Snowboarding in Japan!

My friend Garrett heading off-piste down some great powder. The area we were in is known as the Japanese Alps, and there are some towering mountains behind the ski area. It was really beautiful.

Hot sake outside a Japanese convenience store. It was freezing so this was just the remedy for a cold night.

Looking down a run at the town of Hakuba.

I found this guy back at my house after returning from Japan. He seems to think this is his house because he keeps coming back to the same spot in my kitchen. He's bigger than my hand!

Area in Tokyo similar to Times Square. Being in Tokyo at first I wondered where all the people were for a city of 20+ million, but after coming here I realized that about 3 million of them were in the area of a few city blocks!

Al-Qaeda in Japan? Close - Gabe.

Getting ready to hit the slopes!

Nice boots!

The line to the gondola.

The boys outside a Japanese pagoda.

This statue you were supposed to rub the elbow and head for good luck.

This is a luck game where you pull out a numbered chopstick and then find the corresponding drawer on a huge wall of cabinets. Inside your numbered drawer will be your fortune. Whether good or bad you tie it up around these little strings here.

People come here to breath in the incense to "cleanse" the soul or mind.

Cool-looking tree outside the temple.

A little two-seater taxi that is pulled by a man wearing Ninja Turtle shoes...sweet.

Outside the front gate of a major temple in Tokyo.

After entering the front gate there is a long corridor full of shops before entering the main temple grounds. This day it was packed with people.

A buddy that went on the trip thought he was buying tea but ended up getting hot sake.

A little side street of of the main road leading to the temples.

Three PCV friends and I recently took a short trip to Japan to do some skiing/snowboarding, and we had an amazing time. We spent one day in Tokyo and the other four in Nagano Prefecture in a town called Hakuba. The mountain we rode was Happo One, which was the site of the 98' Winter Olympics. We found a really great Japanese package deal with the help of a friend in Tokyo, so we were put up in a hotel with traditional Japanese sleeping mats and a bath house. We also spent each breakfast and dinner eating Japanese style in a small cafeteria in the hotel. It snowed four out of the five days we were there so there was soooo much powder. There were parts on the mountain where the powder came all the way up to my thighs. I found the snow in Japan to be a bit wetter and heavier than I'm used to from Colorado, which made it somewhat hard to make turns. But, after you got used to it, it was some of the best snow I've ever been in.

The other pictures are from a temple we visited while in Tokyo. It was a big temple complex with four or five large buildings. The day we were there a ton of people had come to pray and make offerings. Also while in Tokyo we went to the "times square" area, ate some awesome sushi and took a boat ride along the main river in the city.

all pics...

Some kids chillin' watching the dancers from Makha Bucha Day.

Putting gold flakes on Buddhist sculptures and statues is pretty common during festivals and holidays.

This was also part of the ceremony. You made a donation of whatever you wanted and then received a bowl of coins. You walked around the temple putting one coin into each of the little black pots.

Here I am throwing in my two cents.

AHHH! A fat baby, Buddha statue playing with his toes!

One of my sixth grade students performing a Northern Thai dance.

One of my friends from school helping serve coffee for the holiday.

The local band rockin' out, or not.

Before the ceremony begins.

During prayer.

Lighting candles and incense as offerings.

Trip to Roi Et to see some fellow Peace Corps friends.

Monk tending the flowers.

I was really interested in this statue. At the way he is so emaciated. I didn't have the chance to ask anyone why he looks like that, but I'm thinking it may be one of the stages the Buddha went through on his way to enlightenment. Complete guess.

These were some other statues near by the previous one. Looks like the Buddha teaching under the .......... tree. Anybody know the name?

It is a yellow watermelon! I couldn't believe my eyes. They call it honey watermelon and it pretty much tastes like red watermelon, but it's so entertaining to eat something you've always had, but in another color. Like making blue spaghetti sauce.

Meghan and I after the race! Yeay!

Posin' with our medals.

A few post-race drinks by the pool!

A cock fight at a town about 5 kilos from me. They have this every Saturday and it was packed with gamblers. They set up about 10 of these rings and then a crowd gathers around each to watch and place bets. The cock that loses is the one that runs away first. These guys had some sweet Kung Fu moves.

The giant, standing Buddha in Roi Et. It must have been at least 10 stories high. A monk let us climb up into the thing and out on an observation deck, which was really cool.

Near a year...

I haven't posted anything in nearly three months! Sorry for the lack of updates on my time here in Thailand. I am now past my one year mark in Thailand, and nearing my one year mark since being at my site (the first three months of service were spent training in a different province). I am also coming to the end of my first full year as an English teacher. It's been quite the trip, and I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like it. I feel very comfortable where I am. I'm finding out that between my town and the town 2 km. from here we are about the size of my Jasper, Indiana (my birthplace). The people here continue to be extraordinarily welcoming and friendly. I've made some good friends and even a few best friends I believe I will have for the rest of my days. I look forward to seeing my Thai friends when I am away from site for too long. Surely this is a good thing.




Just this morning, at the local temple, I continue to have wonderful cultural experiences, and I just love how "in the thick of it" I am. I participated in the opening ceremonies of a festival called Makha Bucha Day, which is actually Thursday, but many towns will have a few days of festivities leading up to it. The temple was decorated in all colors and people from all over our district came to watch as troupes from different schools performed traditional dances originating from all the regions of Thailand. Everyone also also did a "tamboon," or ceremony to honor Buddha. This usually includes monks chanting, lighting of incense and candles, ringing of bells and even putting gold foil on the buddha statues. It's a really cool ceremony, and I enjoy the music that goes with it. A traditional band consisting of different xylaphones, drums and bells was playing throughout the morning. This evening I'll go back to the temple to listen to a live band from a nearby school perform.


Also, recently I completed a marathon here in Thailand. It was held in a town called Khon Kaen, which is in the same region as I live. The race started at 4:30 a.m. and we ended at about 9:00 a.m. The weather was nice and cool with a little rain. We really got lucky because the weather can get really hot unexpectedly. I ran it with two other friends and all three of us finished feeling pretty good. We just hobbled like cripples for about 24 hours!




I do, however, have a claim on a possible "first" for a marathon...





As I was running at about mile 13 or so, I started getting really dizzy and realized that I was just starving. Of course, I didn't bring any money with me, so I couldn't buy anything. We were running down these streets filled with people cooking grilled chicken, selling fruit, making soups. And the smells! I could taste that savory chicken and those sweet oranges if I just closed my eyes. Drooling, something had to be done. We were starting to leave the "town" area, and you never know when you might next come across vendors. Then, I spy her. A sticky rice lady. She's taking the rice fresh out of the pot! If you've never had sticky rice it's similar to white rice except that it's so sticky you can grab hand fulls of it and squeeze it into little dipping balls. It's great to eat using your hands and an assortment of dips, veggies, etc. She saw me seeing her. We locked eyes. I gave a smile and slightly widened my eyes at her huge wicker basket full of sweet, sticky carbs. She smiled back and without hesitation motioned me over as she tore off a great hunk of goodness! I was so relieved! I smiled at her over and over saying thank you in Thai as I shoved a little rice in my mouth and said, "It's delicious!" in the local language before running off. She laughed and laughed and I could hear her yelling to her friends sitting nearby as they started to laugh too. And everybody after her along the road got such a kick out of watching this crazy white guy run along the road as he chowed down on their favorite staple. I gotta say though, after eating a couple of mouthfuls I was right back in action. And, sticky rice is famous for making you clogged up (if you know what I mean!), which is awesome when you're running for four hours!

(side note and a little gross - if you ever eat sticky rice while running a marathon and you don't have anything to eat it with....the salt from either your lip or your forehead makes for great seasoning and replenishes your body salts too!)

Northern Thailand backpacking trip

Here are a bunch of pictures from my trip to northern Thailand in October during my school break. I went up to my friend and fellow PCV's site Garrett and also the city of Chiang Mai. Garrett's site is located in the province of Chiang Mai and the district of Mae Jam. His district has quite a population of Karen people, who are one of the many mountain tribes living in the north of Thailand. Most Karen people speak the Karen language as their first language and learn Thai as they go through school. This is true in most cases, but as we backpacked we definitely ran across some people (mostly older) who only spoke Karen, so we had to have our guide translate into Thai. The backpacking lasted two nights/three days and was some of the most up and down hiking I've ever done. Even though the mountains around the north aren't alpine, they are definitely steep! I also don't think many people around here have ever heard the word "switchback." "Straight on up" was more the phrase of choice to describe most of the trails we hiked on. It was really amazing to see this other side of Thailand that I had no idea existed. From the language to the houses to the food to the clothes the Karen culture is definitely a little pocket of something completely unique, even for Thailand.

Wat Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai City
Located on a high peak overlooking the city, this temple was definitely great to go see. They have a pavilion overlooking the whole city, and on a clear day you see everything in Chiang Mai.

The dragon staircase leading up the temple of Doi Supthep; supposedly the longest dragon statues in any temple in Thailand.

Getting ready to set out...I'm trying to puff up my chest so I can look as manly as Garrett! The dog just wanted in for the picture...he didn't actually come backpacking with us.

Definitely a candid moment. That's Garrett trying to work his GPS gadget and me scratching my head trying to figure out where the hell we are on the map.

After a little walking around we found our way to a rice shack in the middle of the mountains where we had lunch with some local Karen people working the fields.

This was after our backpacking trip. Near where we ended there is a tourist attraction of "long neck" Karen people. It's pretty exploitative...pretty much just staring at these people wearing rings around their necks as they try to sell you souvenir.

Same village...woman trying to sell cds of the folk music she plays.

I feel like this is a sign you would see on South Park, but they had them every few kilos to let you know what you were coming upon!

The central temple of Wat Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai City

With my friends Garrett and Danai

The second night of our backpacking we camped near a lake outside of a small village. This is the mist coming off the lake in the morning when we woke up.

This is the "mayor" of one of the villages we walked through. He walked with us in the morning for about an hour before headed off into the mountains to work in his rice fields.

After the long way down! We walked for about 12 kilos pretty much straight down and we were all definitely relieved to see the bus stop where we're sitting.

Sign post telling us where we had walked from. I think in total we walked about fifty kilos in three days.

A huge bamboo grove in the middle of a small village. It eerie the way bamboo creaks in the middle of a hot day when the wind blows. I don't know if I've ever heard anything like it.

Coming down a pretty tall we peak we happened upon a tiny village consisting of about five houses, twenty people and no roads going in or out...only footpaths.

Some of the kids who sat with us having tea and eating a fruit similar to grapefruit called "som-o".

An old woman who came to chat with us. The floor she's sitting on is a typical design for the Karen houses I saw. It's a woven bamboo that's really bouncy. It almost feels like you're going to fall through it if you step too hard, but it's great to sleep on because it's so soft.

With some villagers outside the lake town where we camped.

Walking through rice fields.

The first night we stayed with the family of our guide, "Sa-oo." Nice to sit down after that first long haul!

Sa-oo is wearing the white shirt; sitting with his family in the kitchen. Most of the Karen houses had a kitchen in one of the rooms inside the house. The rooms didn't have ventilation, so the smoke turned the ceiling black and could get quite smoky. I'm not quite sure why they don't have chimneys.

On the way uphill. Garrett, Sheila and myself.

Nice view overlooking the surrounding mountains.

Garrett, Sa-oo and myself.

Rolling hills.

Crossing the bridge into the tiny village we went to. Took a nice, freezing! bath in the river!