Airports - Bangkok and Japan

The Bangkok airport was like a party.  I enjoyed all the visuals, the stores, the bustle, the slick, modern things everywhere.  I didn't capture everything cause I was concentrating on getting home in one piece but here'a something:

Tokyo airport:

Sick and Alone in Chiang Mai

No one likes to get sick.  It's really icky to get sick alone, in a foreign country when you're confident you've come down with Dengue fever since you just left your river bungalow in Laos, a breeding ground for mosquitoes in a country that had a Dengue Fever outbreak this past June.

It started when I got to the (thankfully really nice) hotel in Chiang Mai.  The lady at the front desk looked at me and said, "Fever?"  

"Ummm, I'm a little tired," I responded, "but I don't think I have a fever."  

Cut to: Two minutes later when I get to the hotel room.  I feel exhausted and suddenly achey, also as though I'm walking under water.  

I decide to go out into Chiang Mai, get dinner and explore.  When I got outside I felt icky and made a detour to the drug store to pick up Tylenol and a thermometer.  

I took my temperature, which came in at 101.8.  I was kind of shocked since I felt like I just got sick.  From there things got progressively worse - chills, well, actually I was freezing cold sitting under hot water trying to warm up.  I put the temperature in the room to like 80 degrees and basically that trip to the drug store was the last time I left the room for the next three days. 

The next day my temperature rose to 102.8.  My body hurt and I was still freezing.  I had to cancel my elephant trip, which was heartbreaking because I was so excited for that.  I cancelled the cooking class.  It was just me, CNN, Cipro (antibiotic prescribed by doctor at home), Tylenol and bottles and bottles of "drinking water" as it was labeled.  That water tasted so bad but there really was no other option.  I called room service to bring me the plainest food on the menu - French fries - and I left the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.  Thank goodness I was in a nice hotel with no more bugs.  

Since I have a fear of needles, I was panicking that I would need to go to the hospital in Thailand.  Which hospital I didn't rightly know but the idea of strangers putting needles into my arms while battling with language barriers really scared me.  I decided I did not want to go to the doctor there and the only way to avoid that was to stay completely hydrated.  

Ugh, so I felt terrible and was not ready to continue traveling, feeling bad, not knowing what was wrong and risking getting sick yet again in the upcoming weeks.  I asked my mom to call the doctor at home and she said to come back if I still felt achey, which I did. I wound up flying to Bangkok as planned.  From there I flew to Japan and then home to JFK.  I am recovering, sleeping and just taking care of myself. What a crazy whirlwind of an ending.  It's disappointing but I'm trying to look on the bright side. 

Alms Giving Ceremony - Lao Monks

The family who owns the Guesthouse took some guests to the city for the alms-giving ceremony.  

About 200 monks walk through the town with a bowl and people put food in their, which they eat for breakfast and lunch.  They ask tourists only to participate if it is meaningful to them.  They also ask that tourists buy "good food" from restaurants.  Monks apparently have gotten street food and got sick.  

The guesthouse family brought baskets of sticky rice and biscuits.  Each of us put on a sash, knelt down on the ground and took little punches of sticky rice out of the basket with our fingers (which we washed first) and then put them in the bowls.  Women must be lower than monks (kneeling) though men can stand. If a monk touches a woman, he must spend days praying and cleansing himself.

The monks range in ages - some of them are so young!  I found out yesterday, however, that you don't have to be a monk forever.  My teacher at the weaving school was a monk for six years and then  left Monkhood to go to college in Luang Prabang.  Monks must go to special schools together and there is no "monk university" in Luang Prabang.  

The ceremony was really cool and I wasn't expecting to actually participate, so that was an added bonus. 

On a side note: a roach thing with wings crawled on my arm today by the bathroom sink.  This was early on the morning.  I screamed and like tossed things in the air.  I am now afraid to go back in aforementioned bathroom.  Ugh!!  Between that and the millipede...though this Guesthouse was awesome, I just don't think I could stay here again! Too many bugs!!!  

Also, I don't know what was going on this morning but at like 3 am people were ringing bells and pounding on drums.  Roosters were cockadoodledooing....!  The electricity went out and without the sound of the fans and things, I think it was just easier to hear more of the "atmosphere" around the river. 

I fly to Chiang Mai today.  There I'm staying in a real hotel with a front desk and things, so hopefully, I can calm down a little...

Ock Pop Tok

Hello!!

Today was a really rewarding day for me at Ock Pop Tok.  What was that, you say?  Yes, Ock Pop Tok, which means "East Meets West." It is a store and crafting center started together by a Lao weaver and an English photographer.

At the crafting center you can work with Lao weavers and dyers to learn their arts!!  This is what I did today and I'll walk you through how it went.

Disclaimer: photo heavy.

Second disclaimer:  I'm sorry for any typos/glaring or egregious spelling and grammar errors.  There's never an excuse but I am typing on my iPhone and yesterday's blog post was written at 2 a.m. when I woke up and found a disgusting black millipede type snake/bug in my bed - yes, IN MY BED !!!  It was pitch black, no one nearby, no phone to the front desk (in case it like morphed into a giant mutant millipede...so I couldn't go back to sleep and I blogged in the middle of the night).  Anyway, long way of saying, excuse me for not proof reading.

Okay, back to the day.  It started by meeting at the town store at 8:30 in the morning.  Here is some scenery from the city center on the walk there: 

This umbrella move on the moped seems to be popular:

Tuk Tuk: 

Store fronts:

Time to clean the dragons:

This is the Mekong River with mountains and mist in the background:

And this is the Ock Pop Tok city center store with some of their goods on display:

Goods: 

From the store, a tuk tuk takes you to the crafting center.  Sooo...this was actually my first tuk tuk ride so that was sort of cool!

View from inside the tuk tuk:

The road to the crafting center may be bumpy but once you get there it is oh so cute.  True to the name, there are Easterners and at least one Westerner, who I saw today, working there: 

I was given a "welcome drink" of bell fruit tea:

Then we (me and a Finnish girl with a beautiful accent) were given a tour of the premises. Hanging from the ceiling was this dragon made of fabric: 

Chan was our guide and he was awesome.  He was like my private teacher for the whole day too.  He taught us the silk making process, which starts with these silk worms!!!!  Here they are eating and getting ready to build cocoons:

Then, when they make cocoons, they are put in this configuration.  The cocoons (seen as the yellow fuzzies below) are boiled to get the silk.  Apparently it takes like 50 cocoons to get one long thread of silk so thousands and thousands of these guys are needed to get the job done.

Next, we learned about the raw materials needed to make different colors of dye (like the ones used in these gorgeous scarves): 

We saw some Master Weavers weaving:

On big looms!

Then we went to the dyeing portion of the day.  This is the colorless silk gathered before it is dyed:  

We chose our colors and then worked with the natural materials needed to actually make the dye.  I chose pink, orange and yellow.  For pink, we needed this bark: 

First we had to like machete it into pieces so the color would be easily released when boiled:

This is my cut up pile of bark:

Next, the dye was made by boiling the bark.  Often different things like a mineral or a rusty nail are put in the water to "fix" the color.

Seeds are ground to make orange, the color of the monks' robes in Luang Prabang and Thailand.  This is me grinding seeds, which was actually hard work!!!  

Lemongrass was used for the bright yellow:

Next, we dyed the silk:

Then we rinsed it and wrung it out:

It was then hung up to dry!!  These are my beautiful colors!!  

These are other colors made there that can be used for weaving, which is what I did in the afternoon:

After I picked my colors, Madame Phan and I spun the silk onto spools: 

Spools (I think I focused the camera on the wrong thing but you get it):

She then started up the loom for me and taught me how to use it.  This type of loom that is unique to Laos.  They have been using this same method of weaving for the past 1,000 years according to my teacher!!

Then it was time for a lunch break.  The food was so good!  I got the vegetarian lunch which included pumpkin and mushroom salad (bottom right), tofu salad (bottom left), squash soup and sticky rice.  Then, I got dragon fruit for dessert.  This was my first dragon fruit experience !

Dragon fruit:

Then it was back to work.  It took three more hours to complete this scarf.  This orange pattern here is really complicated to make.  I can't really explain it but think of the loom as a strategic game of Cat's Cradle.  Every time you move a string on the loom (which is made of nylon strings), it changes the pattern of your weaving.  It was definitely hard work!!!  I really came to appreciate this skill.

Now, this picture really isn't the best but, for now, this is the best I could do.  Here is the finished scarf.  Madame Phan hand rolled the fringe herself:

And, on a different note, as promised, the elephant pants that are all the buzz over in Laos.  These are from the evening market.  They also have fabulous elephant shorts.  Everyone is wearing these harem pants though!  It's like passing off pajamas as real clothes.  I'm not complaining:

So tomorrow the family who runs the guesthouse invited me to accompany them to the monks' alms giving ceremony.  I am really excited to attend because it's supposed to be beautiful.  I also think it will be extra special to go with a Lao family!  

Tonight, I'll continue to bathe myself in deet, crawl beneath the mosquito net and pray that millipede doesn't find his way back on the bed!!!