Ayutthaya, Thailand

On our last day in the Bangkok area, Tomoko arranged for us to meet with a colleague from her newspaper in Japan who is working as a foreign correspondent.  It sounds like a cool job, but also very stressful as is in charge of reporting on the whole SE Asia region.  This means that when Malaysia has elections that he will be visiting KL to report on the happenings.

He was kind enough to take us out for day of sightseeing outside the city.  First we visited Bang Pa In, the summer palace of the kings of Thailand.  It’s an interesting combination of European, Chinese, and Thai architecture and the grounds were beautifully kept.  It’s located along the banks of the Chaopraya River and you can see how they had to go to great lengths to prevent the site from being flooded last fall when many areas in and around Bangkok were inundated.

Thai-style pavilion with the rather daunting title of "The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom."

The ruins at the Ayutthaya Historical Park (UNESCO World Heritage site) were not so fortunate in terms of the floods.  As we toured around, you could see the water line on many structures that had been left as many areas were surrounded by standing water for months.  The ground had been saturated and softened under some of the temple structures so it was no longer safe to walk directly in and around them and had to be closed off only to be viewed from a distance.  Ayutthaya was the Siamese royal capital from 1250 to 1767, and a Khmer outpost before that.  The Sanskrit name means “unassailable” or “undefeatable.”   

Many areas were damaged when the Burmese ransacked the place in 1767.

Bliss.

Later that evening he took us to a German Brewery for dinner and entertainment and we met up with two other Japanese correspondents from other news agencies.  It turned out that it was HUGE!  Touted as the “world’s best Thai-German bar and restaurant,” it could probably fit 500 people on multiple levels.  It did a decent job at east-meets-west and some pretty funny performances by well known Thai singers and dancers.

Bangkok in Between

Even though I was in Bangkok for almost a week, I only had a chance to do a little bit of sightseeing between all the convention activities.  Coming from Alaska, Kuala Lumpur seems like a big city, but going from KL to Bangkok is a whole different story.  Bangkok is home to at least 7.5 million people with 14.5 million in the greater metro area.  KL can only claim 1.6 million, although the greater KL area is about 7.2 million.  As I mentioned I was fortunate to stay with a fellow Ambassadorial Scholar during part of my time in the city and she had a beautiful view from the top of her building.  There are so many more sky scrapers in Bangkok; it’s really amazing to think of the sheer number people who live or work in those buildings and how we all co-exist.  For a charming account of living and studying in Bangkok, please check out Ashley's blog creatively titled Chasing Dreams and Curries!  She's really a much better blogger than I am, haha :) 

View of Bangkok from my friend's apartment.

One afternoon I snuck out to visit the famous Chatuchak Weekend Market.  Throughout my travels I have tried to limit the amount of goods/souvenirs/stuff that I buy, I still enjoy experiencing the markets just to see the crafts and of course enjoy the local foods!  I heard that this market was particularly huge and sold everything from silks to hip clothing, ceramics, fruits, puppies, birds, fish, and many other fluffy little creatures including these animals that looked something like baby squirrels (for pets, not eating...I think).  It’s so large that there’s actually an information booth (if you can find it).  I had to check at the info booth just to find my way back out of the market. 

Little turtles for sale at the Chatuchak Market.

As I mentioned in the last post, we had several activities with a sister Rotary Club in Bangkok and one of them was a night river boat cruise.  It happened to be on the night of the recent super moon so we were lucky to witness the huge moon peaking in and out from behind the clouds over the Bangkok cityscape.

Super moon rising over the banks of the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok.

The Grand Palace and Wat Pho where beautifully lit up at night. 
Hard to get good shots in the dark from a moving boat though!

Temple of Dawn....at night.

Super moon glowing from behind the cloud.

On one of the last days I headed out to visit the Grand Palace and some Wats (temples) nearby.  I knew they closed for the day in the mid-afternoon, so I made sure to rush over.  Well, unfortunately they don’t inform tourists when the Palace may randomly be closed for the day due to the Prince visiting and things like that, so when I showed up they said it had closed a noon and that I would have to come back the next day, oh well.  I did get to visit Wat Pho which made up for my disappointment because it features the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand.  In the reclining position it illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana (i.e. the Buddha’s death).

This is an impressive statue at 46m long and 15m high!

Wat Pho is also the national headquarters for the teaching the preservation of traditional Thai medicine, including Thai massage.  So when you are hot, tired, and dehydrated, you can slip into an air conditioned building on the grounds and enjoy a foot massageJ.  There are many figures around the temple area depicting yoga techniques in which the original purpose was as visual aids. 

From there I opted to take another route back to the hotel by hopping a river boat taxi.  There were many locations along the river to catch a boat so I headed to the nearest one.  I arrived and it looked rather abandoned looking and there was no schedule so I thought I’d just wait a few minutes and if no boat came then I would wander on my way.  Eventually I saw one coming my way but it didn’t really look like it was slowing down.  It came straight toward where I was standing and the attendant just informed me to JUMP as the boat was still moving by!  Good thing I was wearing appropriate shoes or else I might have ended up in the very dirty river. 

Rotary International Convention 2012 Bangkok

Lest some of you think that having the opportunity to attend conference/convention in a far away and desirable place is just an excuse to enjoy a holiday, let me say that there is quite a bit of work involved and exhaustion through the heart of it.  There are sessions to attend, booths to visit, meetings with colleagues, partnerships and networks to be formed.  One must have their game face on when attending a large international conference like this one because you never know who you will run into or what opportunities can be had.  I have only had the chance to attend a few large conferences such as the Geological Society of America Annual Conference and HydroVision.  I had no idea what to expect from an international conference with more than 32,000 people registered to attend.  In addition, I was wearing two hats as you could say;  I was attending both as an Ambassadorial Scholar and Rotaract member. 

As a disclaimer, I apologize in advance for all of the Rotary lingo that I’m sure I’ll use in this post.  It will seem vague to many people reading, and I would love to explain more, it’s hard to go into detail about all the different projects and programs that “make” Rotary as it is such a large international organization that it takes on a culture of its own.  I feel like it’s one of those topics that the more you learn, the there more there is to know!  If anyone wants more information please contact me via e-mail or Facebook or whatever, I’ve heard for some reasons it’s difficult to leave comments on the blog so just feel free to contact me directly. 

I started out by arriving a few days early to take part in the Rotaract RI Preconvention Meeting.  It was so great to interact with Rotaractors from around the world, with especially large turn outs from Australia, Malaysia, India, and Nepal!.  The Rotaract community in Alaska is fairly small with only a handful of clubs in the whole state, which makes sense based on the small population.  So it was a wonderful eye-opener for me to see and learn how strong and engaging Rotaract is in other parts of the world and what is possible, plus gain great ideas of possible future community service projects and how to work closely with Rotary Clubs.  I attended workshops on Doing Good in the World: The Rotary Foundation’s Areas of Focus and Connecting with Rotaract’s Global Network, as well as participating in some great fellowship activities (social outings) that were organized. 

After two days of Rotaract, I was already exhausted and the formal convention hadn’t even begun!  I attended a bit of the World Peace Symposium and next came the highly anticipated Opening Plenary Session which featured a great display of Thai culture through music and dance performances and a flag ceremony featuring all the countries Rotary is active in (200+) including a few new ones such as Bhutan.  There were probably 20,000 people in a huge convention room for the first ceremony and you could really feel the energy and refreshing diversity of volunteers coming together from literally every corner of the world! 

The next few days were full of breakout sessions, networking, and visiting with new and old friends from around the globe.  I attended sessions focused on clean drinking water such as Planning for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Projects, and Rotary International/USAID H20 Collaboration.  Rotary has recently formed a Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group which is a global leadership initiative for safe water (http://www.startwithwater.org/).  I made sure to visit all the booths that featured clean drinking water projects and new technologies.  I’m hoping to perhaps keep my options open for doing more work in the humanitarian side of international water resources.  This convention was a great chance to meet with other Ambassadorial Scholars from the SE Asia region, as we have all been in touch online but mostly never met in person! 

I want to say a special thank you to a new/old friend Bangkok scholar Ashley (from California) who hosted me in her apartment for my first three nights in Bangkok amidst all the craziness.  It was fantastic to compare experiences with someone who speaks the same language, Rotary language that is, haha, it really does suck you in. 

Ashley and I after the World Peace Symposium.

Ashley and I and the guy who helped make it happen, Jorge...our host counselor
through Rotary International who coordinated between our home and host districts.

Something else that anyone else who has been to large conventions might be able to relate to is what I call badge blig.  Here, we started out with a simple name badge and added on from there.  Mine in no way represented that I was an Ambassadorial Scholar, so I had to add that on myself, then you got pins and stickers and tags based on whatever other groups and activities you were associated with.  By the end, it was quite the assortment to carry around and I had to be sure to remember to remove my garland before navigating the public transit of Bangkok each night or I would have looked pretty silly/important(?).   

There were many great less serious activities to participate in during the conference as well.  One night I was invited on a river cruise with the sister club of my Malaysian host club (Rotary Club of Titiwangsa) and another evening we attended the Host Hospitality Night which featured speciality food from the many different regions of Thailand and also around the world.  It was truly and extravagant experience that included a cultural parade with what I call “food fairies” prancing around with platters of amazing food goodies J  Another activity, that I didn’t participate in unfortunately, included creating the so called “biggest smiling face in Thailand,” since this is the country of a thousand smiles. 

My dear Malaysian host counselor Kiren and I on a dinner cruise.

Over 2,000+ Rotarians coming together to creat a vibrant smiling face :)

Sorry so blurry, hard to capture prancing food fairies!

I think Bangkok did a swell job of hosting such a HUGE event considering all of the logistics and planning that go into bringing 30,000+ Rotarians together in one place.  They did a great job of branding as we were greeted with welcome signs and other Rotary project symbols almost everywhere we went in Bangkok from the airport to billboards to our coffee cups! 

Overall, I left the convention feeling very inspired and even more grateful for the amazing opportunities Rotary has provided me.  I know we (as Rotaractors/young people) will have some big shoes to fill based on the accomplished and prominent Rotarians I had the chance to engage with. 

KL Sunrise

I procrastinated on finishing my packing for Bangkok, which required me to wake up earlier than I would have otherwise this morning.  But it’s a good thing I did because I was able to catch a splendid sunrise.  Of course the photos don’t do it justice, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the window.  Thankfully I still made it to the airport on time!

This one is from after the storm last night, but I just thought I'd throw it in.

More on the Trail to Everest

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

Mr. John Muir said it well; I definitely felt nature’s peace flowing through me as I found myself in the Himalaya.  I feel like a half dozen more posts are necessary to really do justice to documenting my Nepal travels and experiences amongst the Earth’s tallest mountains.  But alas, another adventure beckons at my door tomorrow as I head to Bangkok for the Rotary International Convention.  So I we’ll see what I can do to share a bit more through photos.

Here are a few photos of the crew that I trekked with.  14 people total, 12 Malaysians, one Singaporean, and me!  Some Rotarians, some relatives of Rotarians, and some non-Rotarians.

The Crew.

A selection of the colorful women in our trekking group.

Myself and another team member with the wonderful porters that carried some of our gear. 
They sure made our trekking days a lot easier.

It was amazing to see the symbols of Sherpa culture and religion during out time on the trail.  The Sherpa people are very devout Buddhists and you can see this woven into the fabric of their lifestyles.  They believe in numerous deities and demons that inhabit every mountain, cave, and forest amongst other things. 

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom.
It is thought that prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread goodwill and
compassion into all the pervading space and bring benefit to all.

On of many many of stupas along the way.

We stayed in about nine different villages along the way and trekked through many more.  I loved the names of the villages such as Namche Bazaar, Tengboche, Dingboche, Gorakshep, Phortse, etc. 

Dingboche from above.

First light on Namche Bazaar (the largest village in the region) as seen from our bedroom lodge window.

Of course I can’t say enough about the yaks and other pack animals.  Although they made the trail quite dusty at times, I couldn’t help but take photo after photo of them in magnificent settings.  At higher elevations about tree line, they also provide another valuable resource, poo!  Where there is no wood to burn to cook or keep warm, locals collect dung from the animals and dry it out to use as fuel. 

Yak dung drying for fuel.

Pack animals near Everest Base Camp.

Another aspect of the trail that I found quite fascinating was the numerous suspension bridges.  It was amazing to see a train of yaks with full packs crossing hundreds of feet about a raging river.  Just thinking of how they get all the supplies there to build the bridges is mind boggling.   

A big concern on the trail is avoiding acute mountain sickness (AMS) commonly known as altitude sickness.  Symptoms can include anything from general fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, nausea, lightheadedness/dizziness, insomnia, etc.  This is one of the main challenges of mountaineering, climbing and trekking above 8,000ft (2,400m).  It effects everyone differently, and some people not at all!  I’m happy that felt great for most of my time on the trail with just two noticeable headaches and some lightheadedness.  I felt like the lightheadedness actually enhanced my trekking at one point as I felt like I was floating across the trail surrounded by an amphitheater of glorious peaks.  There is a medication you can take to reduce symptoms called Diamox, but it has many side effects that I didn’t want to deal with including tingling fingers/hands and the incessant need to urinate as you must drink tons of water if you take it.  I found that consumption of Ibuprofen did the trick and it was convenient that a study came out right before I left verifying that it is shown to prevent altitude sickness.  We took two layover days on the way up to acclimatize. 

The joy and beauty of being in the mountains was overwhelming.  As you climb higher and higher the scenery just gets better and better and better until you come around a corner towards the last village and are presented with an amphitheater of unimaginable mountains in every direction.  It was hard to keep your eyes on the trail to prevent tripping (as we were hiking across a glacial moraine at that point) when there were so many majestic mountains to witness including Everest (29,029 ft), Lhotse (27,940 ft), and Nuptse (25,791 ft). 

View from the village of Labuche.

The moon setting as a few of us trekked up Kala Pattar at 5am.

The peak of Mt. Everest emerging as we ascended with the sun rising from behind
illuminating the snow blowing off the summit.

Toward the summit of Kala Pattar (in the foreground).  Pumori in the background.