Thai Senses

This semester is finishing in one week. Then, final exams week is coming. I’ve been in Thailand for more than 3 months, and experienced a lot of new things. Those new things used to be new. But after I found the new things, they are not new anymore. Is it a good thing? Of course, yes. It’s exactly a good thing. And there are so many new things around me. That’s why I want to try many things. And that’s why I came here.

I have already experienced some new things in Thailand. And those things became pieces of my mind. Here, I’ll show you 3 examples focused on Thai sense.

 

1. Thai sense of money

   Like I mentioned before several times, everything is very cheap in Thailand. Especially foods. One meal is from 25 to 60 baht, about 150 Japanese yen. 100 baht meals are still cheap, and 200 baht meals are same as “common cheap price” in Japan. I had thought so just after coming here. These days, when I see a menu and the average price of that restaurant is more than 100 baht, how do I feel? Can you guess it? The answer is “I have a special meal today!” When I have more than 100 baht meals, I feel like I am a rich lady.

   

2. Thai sense of taste

   Thai foods are too spicy or too sweet. There is no medium. Before coming here, I couldn’t eat spicy foods. But now I can. Last month, my mother came to Thailand, and we had meals together. She wanted to try Thai foods as many as she could, so she tried a bite of my meals, too. I didn’t feel so much spicy, however she did very much. And she said that my sense of taste has changed.
   Sweets are my favorite. But in Thailand, sweets are too sweet. In the first 3 or 4 weeks, I couldn’t have sweets in Thailand because it is too sweet. Now, I love it, haha. I don’t feel too sweet. They are just sweet.

   

3. Thai sense of time

   For me, when Thai people do something, it always takes very long time. In the beginning, I was so much annoyed at this. When I asked my faculty office to create some documents, when I had a meeting for group discussion, when I moved to somewhere else with Thai people, and when I used public transportations . The officers worked so slowly. The group members were late for the meeting. The Thai people walked very slowly. Traffic jam is a usual thing. However after 3 months, I don’t feel annoyed. These habits are already common for me. And one day, I had to go to the campus for group discussion, which started at 10:00. From my dorm to the campus, it takes more than 15 minutes. I left at 9:55, and I knew I would be late. If it happened in Japan, I felt I should apologize so much. But at this time, I didn’t feel so strongly. It shows me that I’m in Thai time.

   

 

These are just a few examples. But all of this kind of feelings are true. I’m proud of them, because they show that I spent in Thailand for a few months.

Actually I’m worried about one thing. It is about after going back to my country, Japan. Japan is said very busy country, and everything is very expensive. I know I should make myself fitted into Japanese styles, which is my original styles. Because Japanese society doesn’t know Thai society styles. I guess it will be a little bit hard work for me, but I should try hard and I will.

I don’t mean that I should forget these Thai senses. These are valuable experiences, right? I believe I can use them someday in my life.

Same Same in Chiang Mai

Hi! How are you doing? My last weekend was really amazing. I went to north Thailand with my roommate and a Japanese friend. We visited Chiang Mai and Pai. Chiang Mai is said the second biggest city in Thailand, and very famous as a sky-lanterns (Kohm Loy) festival place. Pai is a small village in more north from Chiang Mai. It takes around 3 hours by car from Chiang Mai. And here is famous among backpackers especially from western countries. So we saw many western people in Pai.

In Chiang Mai, I found an interesting thing. For me, the atmosphere in Chiang Mai is similar to the one in Kyoto city. In the beginning, I will introduce a little bit about Kyoto city.

Kyoto, where is my hometown and my favorite city, is very famous. Because Kyoto is an ancient city. It used to be a capital city in very very long time ago. At that time, people built a lot of temples, and have kept those architectures until today. So in Kyoto, you can see the ancient Japanese styles. And many people visit Kyoto for sightseeing not only from inside of Japan, also from foreign countries.

 

Now, I will tell you what I felt in Chiang Mai city compared with Kyoto city.

 

So Many Temples

In Chiang Mai, there are main streets surrounded by one big square street. Many small temples are in the square street. And also in outside of the square, some temples were built.

Kyoto is also famous as “temples city” because so many old temples are there. And most of tourists come to Kyoto for visiting those temples including small ones.

One of the most famous temple in Chiang Mai, Wat Phra That, is located in a mountain called Doi Suthep. This temple’s main spot is this gold monument.

This was so beautiful. When we went there, the weather was perfect. So I think this photo is really beautiful.

Well, have you ever heard Kinkaku-ji temple? This temple is also in Kyoto, and one of the most famous temples. And the color is gold like Wat Phra That. So Wat Phra That reminded me of the famous gold temple in Kyoto.

 

Less High Buildings

In Chiang Mai, I felt the sky is very huge. That was because there are much less high buildings than in Bangkok.

And actually in Kyoto, there are less high buildings. But Kyoto city government create some rules about buildings. To keep the valuable beautiful views in Kyoto city with ancient buildings, they created some rules to limit the height of buildings.

I don’t know Chiang Mai city also has some rules like in Kyoto city, or not. But my feeling in this city is the same because of this views.

 

Ping River

In east side of Chiang Mai city, there is a big river. When we joined the sky lanterns festival, we saw those lanterns from a bridge on Ping River.

And in Kyoto, they also have a big river. It’s called Kamo-gawa River. It is located in east side of Kyoto city. So when I walked along Ping River in Chiang Mai city, I got the similar feeling to when I was by Kamo-gawa River in Kyoto city. It’s interesting, isn’t it?

 

Ancient city

Chiang Mai is an ancient city in Thailand. It used to be a capital of Thailand for about 280 years in 13rd century. 

As I mentioned, Kyoto is an ancient city. It is really interesting thing, right? I think that’s why I felt the same atmosphere in Chiang Mai as in Kyoto.

 

 

These things are what I found in Chiang Mai. Also one of the reasons why I like and miss this city now. If you like or be interested in Kyoto, you like Chiang Mai. You should write “Chiang Mai” on your traveling list. Then, if you find interesting things like this, please share with everyone! Including me 🙂 haha.

Thank you for reading my reports! I’m looking forward to reading yours! See ya.

Japan in Thailand

Hello. As I wrote last time, this is already 4th month in Thailand. I looked back my Thailand life. From my country, Japan, to Thailand, it takes more than 5 hours by plane with a direct service. It’s far. I had guessed I could miss my home country after a few weeks or months in Thailand. But I have not so far. The reason is that I really enjoy myself here with great people. And also, because I know that it is possible in Thailand to fix my homesick by lots of Japanese stuffs or things if I become missing home. Yes, there are so many Japanese things here. I always feel that Thai people really like Japan. I already knew some Japanese company had spread their businesses into South-east Asian countries. However, I hadn’t expected such a lot.

When I went to the nearest shopping mall from my dorm for the first time, I was surprised. Because I found so many Japanese restaurants. I felt like I was in Japan.

 

Sukiya, Yayoiken, Cocoichibanya, Yoshinoya, Pepper Lunch, 8ban-Ramen are in that shopping mall. I was surprised by 8ban-Ramen because it is only in a small part in the middle of Japan. I searched the shop location, and found that they also spread into foreign countries. And it is only in Thailand and Hong Kong! 140 shops in Japan, 121 shops in foreign countries (114 in Thailand). You, Thai guys, are so lucky! Hahaha.

Here is one interesting thing. These Japanese restaurants are grouped in “Cheap and fast food restaurant” in Japan. However in Thailand, those restaurants’ location are look like “rich restaurants area”. And a little bit far from common food court area in that mall. It is interesting for me. Actually, the prices are expensive compared with common meals in Thailand. The average of one common Thai meal price is about 40 baht, and in those restaurants, the average is around 120 baht for one meal. The cheapest one is Ramen, and the price is more than 60 baht. But it is still cheaper prices than in Japan.

The taste is awesome. I expected a little different taste from in Japan, but almost same! And rice is not Thai rice, but Japanese rice. Japanese rice for Japanese meals. Perfect.

 

Japanese restaurants in Thailand are not only by Japanese company, but also by Thai. I already found a lot. Inside of my campus, I have tried a Japanese noodle (Ramen) restaurant, “Hako-Ramen”. “Hako” means a box. I don’t know why it is “Hako”. And they have Ramen, Don-buri and Curry-and-rice. At my first time, I had Shoyu Ramen. Noodle was boiled a little bit too much, but yummy.

In the second time, I had Curry-and-rice. Amazing. I was moved. That was perfectly what I wanted. Curry has a lot of tastes and it depends on countries or areas even inside of one country. But in this restaurant, they copied Japanese curry so well and this is not produced by Japanese company. It’s really amazing, isn’t it? The price was 70 baht. It is much cheaper than in Japanese companies’ restaurant; a little more expensive than other common Thai meals. Anyway, it is super great for me.

 

My favorite thing is Matcha. So I have tried lots of Matcha flavor in Thailand. And I found the best one in Thailand. It is in a cafe in Bangkok, which is named Fuku Matcha. I ordered Matcha latte with Hoji-cha ice cream. Pretty good. Because the taste wasn’t the closest one to the real, rather the real. And also, it says it is from Kyoto, my hometown. I was so excited. 

 

 

In Siam in Bangkok, there are some department stores, and they include ISETAN, which is a big Japanese department company. I’ve not been there yet. My Japanese friend went there and bought a book written in Japanese. ISETAN has Kinokuni-ya book store, one of famous book stores in Japan. I want to read books because I have a lot of free time here, but I didn’t find any Japanese books. So this was good news to me.

 

 

Thai people like Japan, and Japanese companies like Thailand. It is good for Thai people and Japanese people who stay in Thailand like me. That is one of my reasons why I don’t miss home. I can get everything I want even Japanese stuffs. It is kind of strange, but exciting. When you go abroad, I guess you think you don’t need to go to places organized by your home country. However it is also good and interesting thing. You can compare something you’ve not seen with original styles, which you already know, and enjoy finding differences. Try it! Your staying must be more interesting, I think. Have fun 🙂

Chinatown in Thailand

How are you doing? Time flies so fast. It’s already November, the 4th month in Thailand. My friends in Japan told me Japan is already like in winter and very cold. But yesterday, I had ice cream in Thailand. Hahaha. It’s interesting.

Well, this week, I had a free day so I went to Chinatown in Bangkok. Actually this is my second time to visit there. I still remember the first impression about the Chinatown, so I will write about my feelings in first and second time.

 

Chinatowns. There are a lot of it all over the world, and every town has each characteristic, right? In Japan, we have three main Chinatowns. Those three are located in Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki, and all of them are near each town’s ports. Of course, cultures in those three Chinatowns are based on Chinese culture, but those were already mixed with Japanese cultures. For example, in Japan, Champon noodle is very famous food from Nagasaki Chinatown. It is one of local foods in Nagasaki although it is a kind of Chinese meals. It’s already Japanese noodle. You can see the mixed culture from this example.

In Bangkok Chinatown, I found some characteristics, too. My first feeling in Bangkok Chinatown is…

“It’s Thailand town.”

Everything in this Chinatown is really like what I had seen as Thai cultures, especially foods sold on the street. My feeling was just like being in night market of Thailand.

I think the reason why I felt so is that the Chinatown is very old and they have mixed Chinese culture and Thai culture since a long time ago. The oldest Chinatown in Japan was founded in 1850s in Nagasaki. On the other hand, the Bangkok Chinatown was founded in 1780s. The older Chinatown is, the more local cultures they could have in the Chinatown.

 

On one of streets, people sell many foods; local Thai foods like in markets, fruits, and some ingredients for cooking. 

I could see that there are not only tourists but also many local people to buy what they need in their life. Actually it surprised me. Because Chinatowns in Japan are almost just sightseeing spots. It is the same in Thailand, too. But I think the Bangkok Chinatown is still in Thai people’s life style. That is good. Tourists also can enjoy to see local people’s life easily.

 

I had lunch in Chinese restaurant located on the main street. It was quite expensive in Thailand. But tasted so much nice. And it was Chinese taste what I had known; not too much Thai style. My favorite one was this.

It is something fried with shrimp. I want to eat it again until leave here in this about 2 months.

 

Well, here is Thai style again. On the road.

Yes, as you can see on these photos, traffic jam. And there is traffic jam all day. Pedestrians have to walk on the narrow streets. In addition, many small shops are on the streets. 

So it is very crowded even in weekdays. This is also an interesting point for me. Thai style streets. I hope you can feel positive like me in this situation when you visit here.

 

In Bangkok Chinatown, you can see local Thai lifestyle. But I recommend to visit here with somebody else, don’t go only by yourself especially girls. Actually it’s a kind of dangerous.

Hope you can enjoy in Bangkok Chinatown and please try to compare with other Chinatown you know. Then, see ya 🙂

Purple Line – MRT

Bangkok has many transportation systems to help people moving easily. Taxi, motor-bicycle taxi, tuktuk, bus, van, BTS, and MRT. The cost is cheap. The beginning price of taxi is only 35 baht. In Japan, it is about 500 yen (more than 160 baht) at least. On motor-bicycle taxi, we don’t need to pay the beginning price. Bus and van are also cheap. From my campus to the nearest BTS station, which takes about 30 minutes without traffic jam, the price is only 30 baht (about 90 yen). On tuktuk, it is a little more expensive than taxi. I guess that’s because they drive for tourists from foreign countries. But if you use those transportation systems, you cannot reach to your place without traffic jam. This is one of serious issues in Thailand. Especially in the center of the city, it always takes a really long time.

If you want to arrive just on time in Bangkok, and if you don’t mind to pay more, you should take BTS or MRT. BTS is a kind of trains, Bangkok Transit System. MRT is Mass Rapid Transit, a kind of subways in Bangkok.

On this post, I’ll write about MRT. One day, I found an article about a new line of MRT. The original line is called “Blue Line”, and this new one is “Purple Line”. From the article, it was opened in the last summer, August 2016. I was interested in (and also I didn’t have any plans for that day), so I decided to try the new MRT purple line with my roommate.

 

Bang Sue

To get the nearest station of Purple Line, Tao Poon, we went to Bang Sue station at first. From Bang Sue to Tao Poon, MRT  line is still under construction. When we asked how to get Tao Poon, the officer told us only how to get a bus stop. We didn’t understand at that moment, but there was a shuttle bus between those 2 stations. So we reached Tao Poon station for free in less than 5 minutes.

 

Tao Poon

My first impression in Tao Poon station is “only a few people in such a huge station”. That’s true. As you can see in the photo, the station is really huge. 

But not so many customers were there. Is that because it was in the daytime on a weekday? Is that because the way between Bang Sue and Tao Poon is still under construction? Or are there any other reasons? I don’t know. Anyway, the station seemed to be lonely.

Every sign in stations on Purple Line is colored purple. It’s nice idea, I think. On website, the MRT plans to build more lines around Bangkok; Crimson Line, Light Red Line, Airport Line, Green Line, Orange Line, Pink Line and Yellow Line. So, after those lines are ready, those colorful signs can help customers understand easily which line they should use or where they are. Also good for foreigners like me.

 

On the train

The atmosphere in the train was similar to in Japan for me. The sound of engine was quiet, windows are clean and wide to see views, and customers were polite. I felt like I was in a big city in Japan.

The trains have much enough space for lots of customers. To make more customers be in one train, seats are set only by windows, and many straps are installed throughout the inside.

To show where the train is, small electric screens are on the wall. It was written in both of Thai and English. Good.

 

I found one interesting thing on the train.

 

Different cultures from Japanese one are in this one photo. “No Eating or Drinking”. I’ve not seen this sign on trains in Japan. But my Taiwanese roommate told me that it is to keep clean in the train. I found that Japanese people can do it without any rules. Amazing, isn’t it? We, Japanese people, should be proud of it! hahaha

Well, the more interesting thing is in this photo. Can you see a picture of a person in yellow? It’s “a Monk”! Oooh. Buddhist countries’ style.

One more different thing from Japan. “Kids”. In Japan, it could be “People with Babies”. But in Thailand, it is only “Kids”. In fact, I have seen a person gave the seat to a kid on the train. And I haven’t seen people with babies in public places so far in Thailand. Interesting.

 

In the station

There are two doors to get on and off trains. One is on trains. Another one is on platforms. It is to protect customers from falling on the rail. Safety first. Awesome.

When we reached our destination, I found a problem. Just after getting off the train, we were taking photos in the platform. So most customers who got off with us were already in down stairs from the platform. But when we went to down to the ticket gate, those customers were still there and made some lines.

 What?! The line was to go outside of the gate. Why they should have made lines? That’s because there are only a few gates. MRT already made huge spaces in the station and inside of trains, but it was not enough. The ticket gates are the most important parts in stations, right? Because all customers cannot go inside or outside without passing there. They should make more spaces HERE!

 

 

 

Only on the way to reach my destination, there are many interesting things for me. I can enjoy finding those things. Please make sure that I don’t make complaints about MRT, but just share my discoveries. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for your reading again. See ya.

What I felt in the Historical Moment

Hello again. How are you doing? As you may know, the king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, has passed on October 13. I pray for his happiness in the next world. Actually, I had been unable to make a decision for a long time to write about this on my blog or not. Because I worried that my feeling, feeling by foreigners, could hurt Thai people’s feelings. I was thinking about that just after Thursday night. After the night, I visited around Grand Palace and saw many people who are in black, dark color or white cloths. Also, I talked about this with some of my Thai friends a little. And now, I realized I should write about my feelings, what I saw, thought and felt at this time. This big news is one of the biggest historical things in Thailand, and I am in here. Please make sure this blog post is just about my feelings, not opinions.

 

When I heard the news for the first time, which the king has passed in the hospital, it was not so late night on Oct 13. I was shocked because I knew many Thai people had prayed his longer life when they knew the king was in the hospital and his condition was not so good through SNS (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc…).

 

I have some Thai friends on Facebook and Instagram, so I can see a part of Thai people’s feelings. First, almost all Thai friends changed their profile photos into simple black pictures or black-and-white photos. I had seen something like this for campaigns or praying; for example, everybody changes their profile photos into photos covered flag colors after terrorism, disasters or accidents. When I see those kind of things, I always wonder the actions could really help or not. But at this time, it was different. I felt Thai people’s sadness by their actions. They were really shocked. So I couldn’t leave “Like” soon on the post which told me changing profile photos.

Those Thai friends also posted their king’s photo with their love after that news. It made me realized how they have loved him. Because in Japan we don’t know loving the king, I couldn’t understand that they truly love the king or not, actually.

 

On the next day, I went to the campus with uniform. Teacher told students that is better to be in black-and-white cloths. I was surprised and moved, because all Thai people wear uniform or black-and-white cloths even people seem to go out just for convenience store. Like changing the profile photos, they all do the same action.

 

Last Saturday, the two days after the king’s death, I went to Grand Palace in Bangkok. Before getting there, I saw some pictures on SNS what was going on around the palace. In those pictures, everybody wears black cloths, and sat on the street to wait for something with having the king’s photo in their hands. When I got there, the atmosphere was which I had never experienced before; the atmosphere was made by crowd of people. It made me so much sad. I had experienced that the bright atmosphere made by crowd of people makes me feeling bright because those people are so much excited. But this time, it was different. It is very difficult to explain in my second language, English. It was like a big wave coming to me.

 

When I went to shopping, I found every cloths shop promote black cloths. In markets, too.

Well, there is one thing I hate in Thailand. It is the way of promotion by Thai shop keepers. When I just get into a shop, the keeper comes closer to me and talks to me. Even when I just want to have a look. Their promotion is noisy for me, so I don’t like it.

And now in Thailand, everybody needs black cloths after the king’s death. And it is very good chance to promote cloths for those noisy shop keepers. However, they don’t do. When I was looking for black cloths, nobody talked to me! It shows that the king’s death is really truly sad and heartbreaking thing for Thai people.

 

These are almost everything I experienced after the historical event happened in Thailand. Thai people are really amazing, they have very warm hearts. I think I couldn’t find it if I was not here right now. I’m proud of Thai people. I became more interested in Thailand and their history. I need and want to read some books about Thai history to get more knowledges. But I cannot because there are not books written in Japanese. It’s okay, I am here in Thailand now, so I shouldn’t do that right now, I should experience more things in Thailand. I can never experience after backing to Japan, right?

Thank you for reading. If you have any comments, please write below. See ya.

The Kingdom

Hi, how are you doing? Well, it is already 3rd month in Thailand for me. I had never stayed abroad for more than 1 month, so this is my first time to spend 3rd month. And I found that the longer time I stay, the more things I can find. Not only cultures or life styles, but also something deeper. I’m not sure I should write about it on my blog or not. Please make sure that these are just my own feelings.

 

The full name of Thailand is “the Kingdom of Thailand”. Yes, they have their king and queen. And their political system is based on Constitutional Monarchy. As you may know, Japanese political system is based on Constitutionalism. Actually, we have a kind of king in Japan, but they don’t have so strong power like in Thailand. There are some differences between in Thailand and in Japan. I had not found cultural differences which are due to the political systems in the first 2 months here. And now, I’m finding some little by little.

 

You, Japanese guys, must be surprised to hear this.

Last weekend, I went to a movie theater and watched a movie in English. It was my first time to get into the theater in Thailand. Before beginning the movie, you always watch some advertisements of new movies, right? Of course in Thailand, I watched them – it took a longer time than in Japan. Just after finishing those long advertisements, I was waiting for starting the movie. BUT, this is the surprising story, everybody in the theater suddenly stood up. I couldn’t understand what was going on, but I also stood like everybody doing. And, the screen became brighter, and showed a short video of the king with Thai national song…! Everybody were just standing and listening to it. I realized that is Thai style and Kingdom nations’ style. When the song and the video finished, they sat down again, and the movie were began.

 

These days, the king has a kind of sick. I read it on some news articles. And on Facebook, many Thai friends posted the King’s photo with caption “long live the king”. I had known that many Thai people loves their king, but didn’t know it include young people. If it was in Japan, I think young people are not so interested in and they don’t post something about the monarch on their SNS pages. I realized how much they love their king.

 

On the streets, you can find pictures of the king and the queen a lot. It is very big. And there are also flowers and flags around it. You can see a picture of the king and yellow flags in this photo, right?

One of my Thai friend told me that yellow flag is for the king, and blue flag is for the queen. In August, my first month in Thailand, it was the queen’s birth month, so I saw a lot of blue flags around the streets.

 

Can you believe those life styles in Japan? I don’t think so. I’ve never experienced before. So this is very good opportunity for me. And also, I think I cannot find those things if I have stayed for only a month. I appreciate this chance.

 

P.S. I already wrote the draft of this page before the Thai king has passed on October 13. I was thinking I should change my topic or not, but I wanted to write my feelings just after I felt. So if you feel not good by this untimely blog, I’m so sorry. However, thank you for your reading.

Campus Life

I’m now so happy because midterm exams are over! It had made me feeling so annoyed. Well, I didn’t have any special plan last weekend because of midterms. So I’ll write about my campus life in Thailand on this week post. I didn’t notice that I haven’t tell you about it lol. Hope you guys are interested in.

 

The Gate

This is the main gate into the university. This university is one of the biggest universities in Thailand, so there are so many students. Always crowd of people especially in the morning and the evening.

 

Canteens

I always have lunch in this canteen. Inside of the campus, there are three canteens at least. One is this, near my faculty. One is in my neighbor faculty. And the last one is called Green Canteen, and there are library, cafes and bookstore around it.

The menu is almost same in every canteen, but in Green Canteen you have more choices. Thai meals, Japanese, Chinese, fruits, sweets, drinks, and so on. And they have English menu – but cannot order in English, aha. So you can point and tell them what you want. Or you can ask people around you to help because Thai people are so kind.

In the canteen of my faculty, I always buy fruit almost every morning. It is very cheap. I was surprised when I bought watermelon for the first time here. Only 10bht for 1 bag. The woman smiles so nice every morning. 

Also, I like this ice cream shop. I think he already remembers that I’m an exchange student from Japan. At first, I always bought green tea flavor, and these days, I want to try other flavors. But when he saw me having a look, he always asks me “Green tea??” I want to try others but it makes me choosing green tea flavor. I know the taste is good, so no problem… (But at this time, only chocolate with a corn because no green tea. 15bht, about 45 Japanese yean.)

 

The lounge in computer room

I always use this room to do assignments and study for exams. The sofa is really good; sometimes, it makes me so much sleepy. Also, the lights are nice and sunshine light on our desk more with the big windows. My roommate and I come here almost every day, and here is our meeting point after class.

 

Uniform

In Thailand, universities have each uniform like in high school in Japan. I bought 1 set because students have to wear it on the first orientation day of the new semester and on exam day. I always feel like being younger when I put on this uniform. The interesting thing is that so many university emblems are on the uniform; on buttons, a badge and a belt.

 

History

I don’t know much about this university’s history, but I know their history is very long. On October 6th in this week, it was 40th anniversary since the massacre in this university in 1976. Police and the Right-wing fired, 46 students and citizens were killed, and more than 3000 people were arrested. This event is called “the most terrible event” on Thai history. Nobody didn’t tell about this story to us, exchange students. I felt curious about it. I just found one article about this story on Facebook by chance. I think they should tell students about it. I can guess they have some reason not to tell students. (You can learn about it more from here.)

Anyway, they have a long history since it was established in 1934.

 

 

I like this campus life. Teachers are very kind to us. Students study so hard especially before exams. And they seem to do what they want to do in their campus life; I’ve heard that some are very popular as models or singers. The campus has mooooore facilities such as studios, big pools, gyms, fields, climbing wall, halls, etc. And don’t forget about Night Market inside of the campus, haha. I have spent for 2 months already here, and 3 months left until leaving. I know I can enjoy my campus life and want to make myself satisfied before backing home.

 

Thank you for reading. If you have any comments, please write below. See ya!

Traditional Thai Styles

Hey, guys. How are you doing? Did you have any fun things in the last weekend? I had no party in the last weekend, haha. But I joined the cultural trip planned by my faculty in the university. We went to Sampran Riverside and experienced some Thai cultures. First of all, I appreciate my faculty’s planning this awesome 1-day trip. Thank you.

 

Traditional Costume

What is your image of Thai traditional costume? Like this?

This, to wind a long cloth around the upper body, had been my image of Southeast Asian traditional style, and that was true. But, how about this?

When I asked a staff to try putting on traditional costume, she brought them to me! At first, I was surprised. It’s like a western style. And I felt ashamed to put them on. Lol But had fun :))

 

 

Similar cultures to Japanese ones

Bamboo Dance

 

If you are Japanese, I think you have seen or played it when you were in childhood. I didn’t know this is one of Thai cultures. They danced with stepping on two moving long bamboos to the rhythm. I tried with an American girl and an Indonesian girl. I thought the rhythm is Asian one, because it seemed to be hard for the American girl. That’s interesting.

 

Traditional toy – Fish

This fish is made of two pieces of leaves.

The guide introduced it and teach us how to make it as if it were Thai traditional culture. But actually, I’ve made it in elementary school and the teacher told us it is Japanese traditional toy. I have no idea where is the original place of this toy. I think this is an interesting discovery.

 

Rice Planting

They showed us how to plant rice. The way is the same as in Japan, but I thought one set of young rice plants is larger than in Japan. Nowadays in Japan, people use machines to plant rice instead of by hand like this traditional way. I should have asked how about in Thailand…

 

 

Thai style ceremonies

We watched a performance, and it showed us what ceremonies and festivals in Thailand are like. Traditional music with traditional instruments, traditional dance on traditional music with traditional dresses, traditional shows and traditional sports shows. Because of the performance, I can imagine Thai style ceremonies easily.

 

This is the traditional instrument. The sound is like xylophones. On music for the performance, this was the main instrument. I like that sound; not too strong, but also not too soft.

 

This is the bamboo dance I mentioned before. Can you see the dresses? Men wear very simple shirt and pants. But ladies wear colorful and glittering dresses. Red, yellow, purple, light blue… I wonder why only ladies’ clothes are so glittering. Because Thailand is Buddhist country, I thought ladies are despised and plainly dressed especially in long time ago when those traditional things were not just images but true. Anyway, they look so luxury.

 

 

 

On this 1-day trip, I saw a lot of Traditional Thai things. Maybe I can experience those things only in this kind of place. It was a good chance for me. Thank you for my faculty, again.

Crazy, Funny, but Beautiful Island

Koh-Phangan

Do you like parties? I’ve never been to big parties with alcohol before. In Japan, some people like going to parties and they dance with loud music, drink alcohol, and be crazy until midnight or early morning; they are called “Party People (Pa-ri-pi)”. I’ve never become like them. I thought they are too crazy. However, in the last weekend, I was one of them. I joined Full Moon Party in Koh-Phangan, a small island in south of Thailand. It is known as one of the biggest full moon party islands all over the world; the others are in Spain and India. How was it? Crazy. Too crazy. And too much fun. Hahaha.

 

My friends and I went to the party beach at 9:00 p.m.. It already started. Loud music, alcohol buckets, people in gaudy cloths, bright lights, and a lot of bars on the beach. Who can stay still?? I was so excited and crazy!

In the commercial of the party, it showed us that the party is held from the sunset until around 5:00 am. Actually, people kept on dancing after the sunrise (around 6:00 a.m.)!

 

Well, after enjoying the crazy party, I found something wonderful. Can you see the man carrying bags in the right side of this photo?

He and more staffs cleaned up the beach at the ending of the party. I didn’t know that one more party is held in the next evening of Full Moon Party. Probably, they had already known that. They also must have known that some guys want to enjoy the beach in daytime. The man on the photo and other staffs made the beach clean for those guys. I had not expected things like that. So I felt happy with this, and appreciated their working.

 

 

While staying in Koh-Phangan, we also had a great time at beaches. The island has a lot of beautiful beaches. Yes, this is the tropical beach! I had seen beaches like this only on travel magazines or websites! Beautiful seawater, beautiful sands, beautiful sunset… everything was beautiful.

 

When I went to the beach in the early morning to see the sunrise with my friend, we found something wonderful again. It was at around 6:30 a.m.. A few people were in the beach (you can see them on the photo below), and they were obviously not tourists. They cleaned up the beach. THAT beautiful views are of course natural, but we have to keep in mind that also made by hands; hands of people in Koh-Phangan.  

This is a little off the topic, but I have been to Iki-island, which is very small and belongs to my home university prefecture in Japan. I went there for volunteer activity to clean up the coast around the island. There were lots of garbage from China, Korea, and other parts of Japan. Iki-island is also very beautiful, but those garbage make it dirty. Through the volunteer activity, I helped making them better. However, in fact, the number of tourists is not enough for their business. When I visited there, people in Iki-island welcomed much and gave good service. They said, “We just want to show you how Iki-island is wonderful and beautiful.” I realized they had tried so hard to make their condition better.

On Koh-Phangan, I think their business is not bad. Because so many people might come to the island once a month at least for Full Moon Party. But I’m not sure that they were just lucky or had put effort into making their island one of the most popular islands in the world. Anyway, they make it very well. I thought so through this crazy party trip.

 

Sorry if I made you bored with this post, but thanks for your reading.

I have already a plan in the next weekend, and so excited. I’ll post about that later. Please look forward that! Aha! Then, see ya!