Songkran - Thai New Year - Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai hosts the biggest and greatest celebration for the thai new year. A lot of the thai people travel up north to Chiang Mai to participate in this city wide water fight! Thanks to my good friend Heath who told me I must be in Chiang Mai for it, I had the greatest time!!
The biggest water fight ever! It's the time of year that EVERYONE turns into a big kid!


I asked around to understand how the water fighting evolved and I was told that it was traditional to pour a SMALL amount of water on each persons head as a sign of good luck for the new year. Now, water guns are loaded and buckets are filled! There is no moderation when it comes to songkran now a days!
Here is what my friend Mike has to say about Songkran. These videos may need some time to load. But they are worth the wait just for a taste of what Songran is like!

Dry Elana. But it didn't last long! (This was the ONLY moment of seriousness the entire day) 
And of course I felt bad shooting water at innocent people. Gosh I got to get over this guilt thing and not feel so bad to participate! So most of the day I was a spectator. But I still had tons of fun!






A lot of the water came from the dirty mote that made a square around the old city. I was advised to keep my mouth closed so to avoid ingesting the water and getting sick. I did my best but it's hard to keep your mouth shut when you are laughing and smiling so much :)




And then there were the refill stations that were full of ICE water. Those were the best. Not only were you soaking people but you would get great reactions as they screamed from the chill of the water!

Soaked Elana!!! Happy Elana :)

Here is me with a friend I met from Brazil. Local's came around and smeared white powder on our faces which is also a wish of good luck for the new year!

So here is just a taste of a mild day of Songkran in the best place to be... the only place to be.. Chiang Mai!

An Unexpected Feeling – Connecticut

I would have never anticipated the feelings I did when I visited the University of Bridgeport to interview for their residency program. I have dreamt about being a resident at SCNM for four long years and my vision was shaken up the day I visited Connecticut. I was faced with a very difficult decision after that interview -which school to rank as my number one and number two and I had a much more difficult time with this process than I had ever anticipated. The reason I decided to post about this is to share one of the biggest lessons I am now experiencing and a lesson that will inevitably guide me throughout my trip: Plans are never concrete. There is ALWAYS the possibility they can change!

The hard part of that lesson for me is that I am innately a planner!  Adrienne, one of my best friends and study partner, and I would get together just to plan a future plan! We loved this. We needed this. We thrived off of planning. But life isn’t lived by the plans you make and I knew this was a lesson I was inevitably going to learn over and over again on my trip. I just didn’t expect it to hit so hard and so soon!

After talking to dozens of people, making numerous pros and cons list, continuosly going back and forth trying to find clairty of which program will be the best one for my growth as a doctor, I decided to rank Bridgeport as my number one and leave it to fate to make my decision. Well, I just heard back that I was matched with University of Bridgeport and will now be their new resident. I am honored that they chose me and have to believe that this is really what was meant to be.

I am excited but I am also scared and most of all right now I am sad knowing I will be leaving my SCNM community for the next year. For those who are reading this that are part of my SCNM family, I want you all to know that the two hardest parts of making this decision was the thought that I could potentially be leaving my SCNM family as well as the excellent homeopathic education we are privileged to get. The idea of not being present on a Dr. Messer shift, not seeing Adrienne on a day to day basis, not getting the chance to giggle face to face with Betsy, to not play like a kid with Heath, to not see my dear friend Korah’s new baby, to not walk by the registrar's office for that great big hug, to not join the team of stellar students that have been asked to do the SCNM residency, and to miss out on all of the meaningful relationships I have built with so many of you truly saddens my heart. Gosh, this was the hardest decision I have yet had to face in my life thus far.

I am grateful to my family, friends and teachers who helped me find clairty with this decision and who have supported me along the way of making a decision. I already miss my SCNM family so very much and will continue to miss you all each and everyday I am away. PLEASE keep in touch as I promise to do my part too. There are SO many special people out there that I am just not ready to let go of. I am hopeful that if I am meant to return to AZ I will be back! For now, I surrender to those future plans and just leave it up to faith if it is meant to be it will be!

So, I guess this means I am off to Connecticut after my travels. Another crazy adventure ahead for Elana!

Sunday night street market - Chiang Mai

This was the largest street market I have ever been to. Can you imagine such an excited elana?!

Crowded streets. Went on and on and on and on...



These food stands go on forever.




My meal that night - really yummy noodles with peanuts on top. Have no idea what it was called. Let's say yummy noodles with peanuts on top :)





Randomly would pass a beautiful temple!








Fried grasshoppers, crickets, worms and water bugs. Yum?




Mango sticky rice. Always a treat!





The begging dogs. They are everywhere :( My dad has asked me to buy food and feed all the dogs on the street but I'm scared they will follow me and possibly bite me. My dad has such a good heart. When I told him I don't feel comfortable doing it he went to a dog shelter in CA and donated money and food. I love my dad. What a giver.





Live entertainment. There is no joking around with this market. Food, art, temples and music are overwhelming the streets of Chiang Mai every Sunday night!





Mike and I having fun.




Oh this was so touching to me. I bought this purse that you can see on my arm. It was hand made by this kind woman. I asked if I could have a picture with her to remember and appreciate who made the purse and before I knew it her kids wanted to join in the picture!
This to me makes my new purse very meaningful. Hands down beats any purse I could have ever bought at any store. I am grateful.





Click on this picture below to see more pictures of the sunday market. For all those foodies out there, this  album is for you!!




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Yummy Thai Recipes to share!

Great to share as well as keep for my records! These dishes are some of my favorite so I chose to post them. The main ingriedients that show up in many of these dishes that are worth your trip to an asian market are the following: fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, dark soy sauce, galangal, thai chilies, and thai basil. All of the other ingredients should be easy to find in your local grocery store.
  ENJOY!!

Mango sticky rice 1 cup sticky rice ½ cup coconut milk 1 mango 1-2 tbsp sugar ¼ tsp salt	Add coconut milk, sugar and salt to a pot and boil. Add the liquid to the cooked sticky rice and mix. Top with sliced mango. *Prepare sticky rice by steaming it in a bamboo steamer
Bananas in coconut milk 1 cup coconut milk ½ cup water 1 tbsp sugar 2 bananas pinch of salt	Pour coconut milk and water into a pot and boil. Add bananas and sugar and cook until soft. Add salt to taste.
Pad Si-Ew 200 grams cooked wide noodles 100 grams sliced tofu ⅓ cup of sliced long green beans ¼ cup sliced carrot 2 cloves garlic 1 egg 1 tsp of fish sauce or soy sauce 1 tsp of dark sweet soy sauce 1 ½ tsp sugar 1 ½ tbsp oil 1 stem chopping scallion (in cooking class we used mushroom sauce and molasses instead of the dark soy sauce)	Mix dark soy sauce and sugar with cooked noodles and set aside. (or use molasses and mushroom sauce instead of dark soy sauce). Heat oil in the wok and fry the tofu. Add garlic, green beans, carrots. Push veggies aside and beat the egg. Mix scrambled egg with the veggies. Add noodles and season with fish or sauce. Add spring onions and stir fry.
Papaya Salad 1 cup peeled/deseeded shredded green papaya (or replace with cucumber, zucchini, cabbage, carrot, or apple) 1 thai hot chili 2-3 cloves garlic 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice 2 tsp sugar ⅓ cup chopped long beans 1 tomato cut into 6 pieces 2 tbsp peanuts 1 tbsp fish or soy sauce ¼ tsp salt	Put garlic, long beans and chilis in the mortar and mash. Then add lemon juice, sugar, fish sauce, tomato, peanuts and salt and mix and mash more. Add shredded veggies/fruit and mix.
Tom Ka 100 grams tofu or chicken 1 cup coconut milk 1 cup water ¼ cup sliced galangal (not ginger) 1 stalk lemongrass sliced in 3cm long pieces ¼ cup sliced onion ¼ cup sliced tomatoes ½ cup sliced mushrooms 1 crushed chili 2-3 kaffir lime leaves 1 stem chopping spring onion 5 coriander leaves 2 tsp lime juice 1 tbsp fish or soy sauce ½ tsp sugar pinch of salt	Put water and coconut milk in a pot and boil. Add galangal, lemon grass and onion until frangrant. Add tofu, tomatoes and mushrooms. Season with fish or soy sauce, sugar and salt. Finally add lime juice, corriander and kaffir lime leaves, spring onions and chillies. (greens always go in last) Serve with rice.
Curry paste basics (serves 1-2) 1 tbsp shallots 1 tsp chopped galangal ½ tsp chopped kaffir lime rind 1 tsp garlic 1 tbsp chopped lemongrass 1 tbsp chopped krachai (thai ginseng) ¼ tsp roasted cumin seeds ¼ tsp roasted coriander seeds ¼ tsp salt (or use ½ tsp salt to extend the shelf life) chilies  red curry - use 2 dried red chilies  green curry - use 2 fresh green long chiilies  yellow - use 2 dried red chillies plus               1 tsp chopped tumeric               1 tsp curry powder               1 tsp chopped ginger	Put a ingredients into a mortar and pound!
Curry dish 1 cup coconut milk 1 cup of water Veggies (eggplant, onion, brocolli, etc) Curry Paste Tofu 1 tsp of sugar 1 1/2 tbsp fish or soy sauce 3 kaffir lime leaves 2 stems sweet thai basil	Pour coconut milk into pot and boil. Add curry paste and tofu. Stir. Add water, veggies, sugar, fish sauce, salt  and turn heat up. Keep on stirring. A rapid boil is just fine. Once everything is cook add the greens. Sweet basil and lime leaves. Serve with rice.

A moment of honesty

Awe, great day to relax and catch up on my posts, upload pictures, do laundry and rest up. This week has been filled with great excitement as well as frustration, difficulties and sadness. With travelling comes its ups and downs and I am definitely experiencing the roller coaster. I was anticipating these challenges and always look to grow from these moments in life, but when you are actually experiencing them they are not fun at all! Obviously that is why they are called challenges! But, I am grateful for these times just as much as I am for the fun times. Easier to say after the fact but one of my intentions for my trip is to seek personal growth so what better way to accomplish this than to test my reaction to stressful situations, force myself to go with the flow when plans fall through, practice patience and acceptance of second or third best options, etc.

So you must be thinking, what has she been going through!? Well, just to share a few things. My plans to visit Nepal fell through :( I accidently checked a wrong box on my India visa application which pretty much would leave me stuck in Nepal without being able to return back to India. Long story short, that can’t work out for me so with that simple mistake my travel plans are forced to change. So I felt super bummed at first and learned my way through being flexible. A great life lesson to experience that plans are never concrete. I understand I must not be attached to any plan because you never know what may come of it.

I have also experienced cockroaches in my last guesthouse and now just today found ants crawling throughout all of my dirty clothes. Ugh! Breath Elana, just another obstacle to practice not over reacting to. During difficult times like these I repeat in my head "This too shall pass." And it always does.

To add, I am constantly being bit by mosquitoes, had a bad reaction to the itch cream recommended here (which is just tiger balm – good thing to keep in mind as it really works to decrease the itch!) but guess now I know I am allergic to it :( and boy is it hot over here. Hot and humid!! People here sweat constantly. And I mean constantly! Makes me realize how PERFECT the weather is where I grew up in California. Really doesn’t get much better than that.

And last and most difficult to add is my sense of homesickness. Gosh, I have such an amazing group of friends and family. I really do miss you guys! Travelling alone in a far off country has its difficulties. I love having people around and I have such great people back at home that I wish could join me. Luckily there are so many great people to meet but they can’t compare to my connections back at home. Travelers are transient. We move from one place to the next quickly. So if I meet a great person to hang out with inevitably he/she will leave soon and we will part directions. Most of the time I feel so great to be here and then I have my moments where I miss you all so much. So that is one of my greatest challenges. But another one to learn and grow from.

So here is my moment of honesty. As with any great challenge in life comes obstacles and difficult times. Although non of them are fun to experience, this is life and I am grateful for the opportunity to grow from my experience with each of them. With that all said, I have also had many amazing, incredible, up lifting moments and experiences! The next few blog posts will tell you all about them!

**For those "worriers" out there reading this post - please let go of your worries for me! I CHOSE to do this! I knew all of these challenges were possibilities and I still would not have changed my travel plans for anything. I asked for these challenges in order to grow. I just wanted to share with all of you my true emotions. The ups, the downs, and the in betweens :)

Children of Southeast Asia

There is something about a young childs innocence that I love. They have such pure spirits. Never can they be discontent because they haven't yet experienced what other options they have in life. They don't know or care about cleanliness, or what food they are being fed, or what clothes they are wearing. They go through life finding the fun in any environment and each express their unique smile along the way. Children inspire me. And during my journey I couldn't help myself but take pictures of these little people. Through this I realized that all children are the same wherever in the world they grow up. They are all beautiful, innocent and eye catching! 

I am so touched by the kids here that am inspired to find some type of volunteer work with kids. I can't wait!


Click on this picture to see the album I have created of beautiful faces! I intend to add more as my trip goes on.

A day with Elephants! - Chiang Mai

Elephants are wonderful creatures. Smart, strong and very cute animals. It was really fun having the opportunity to get up close and personal with them!
I felt so bad for the elephant but I promised my nephew Noah I would ride Dumbo so I HAD to follow through! We are talking about the cutest 4 year old boy ever. How could I dissapoint him? So I had to ride an elephant!


















Next we watched an elephant show. Elephants played soccer, painted a picture and did tricks. Once again I felt bad for these animals but I tried appreciating what I could.












Really crazy that this is possible. I promise elephants painted these!







I was SO pleased that my nephew Noah was satisfied with seeing these pictures. I love you Noah!!

Click on the picture below to see more pics!


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Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai

It was a beautiful day to visit a beautiful temple outside of the city. Doi Suthep stood at the top of a mountain about 30 minuntes outside of Chiang Mai. My friend Mike and I rented a scooter (who I named Georgia :) and we had such a wonderful day!








Here we are on our scooter, Georgia, enjoying the scenery and the fresh air!! So much fun! So grateful to Mike for driving and enjoying great company!!

The view from the top.









There were so many of these signs that read "Please the Horn". Mike and I couldn't figure out what that meant. So please, everyone, just please the horn OK!






Another wonderful day. Thanks to Mike, Georgia and beautiful temples and views!! I am so grateful.


Click on the picture below to see more pics!


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Meditation Retreat - Chiang Mai

So very grateful to find a meditation retreat to join while in Chiang Mai. Deepening my practice is one of my intentions of this trip and I am grateful to begin that quest sooner than later.

I found a tuk tuk to bring me to Wat Sudonk where we all met up. The driver asked me what i plan to do at this temple and I told him I plan to meditate! His response was "oh meditation, it's good for the heart."  I just loved this reaction!

As I arrived to the temple I was given white clothes and entered this meditation room for a discussion on buddhism to introduce the retreat.











Everyone introduced themselves and said how many years he/she has been practicing and where they are from. It was amazing, the small group of maybe 25 represented over 10 countries! I love the feeling of being in a room with people from all over the world! I was also surprised that the majority of people had never meditated before as this was their first time. When it was my turn to introduce myself I was shocked that it has been 7 years since my first meditation retreat and I still want more! I was first introduced to Vipassana meditation while traveling in costa rica in 2004 and since it has helped me through many low points in my life as well as the daily madness that goes on in my head! It is a practice I will always treasure and continue for the rest of my life. It felt good to reflect on how long I have been practicing at the young age of 26.

As the monk was talking about Buddhism it felt great to me. Talking about materialism, balance, path to peace and happiness. I can't get enough of this stuff! I think I was a monk in a past life because I resonate with this practice and way of life easily. It feels close to home and close to my heart. It was so cute, I skyped with Adrienne to tell her about the retreat and she called me Monk-E. haha what a great nickname if I were a monk  :) Thanks A!

During our down time I reflected on my trip so far and realized that it is great to see sights and meet other people but what really brings meaning to my trip and to my life in general is taking time to meditate and deepen my practice. So it was great to start this early on in my trip.

Entrance to the meditation hall.





We woke at 5am to continue our practice. We did a combination of walking and sitting meditations. Sitting is by far my preference but I appreciate the guidance so participate accordingly. I find it quiet difficult to meditate with mosquitoes flying around! I already have loads of bites and the idea of even more makes my entire body itch! This takes even more mind control. One more thing to cause my mind to drift!

We had a nice group discussion to share one anothers experience and I was so honored that some of the participants directed questions to me since the Monk who was guiding us had difficulty with his english. So, I was asked questions about meditation and I was SO happy I could contribute with the knowlege and experience I have!

We did a lot of chanting. Before meditation, between meditation sets, and my favorite is before meal times. I like the idea of giving thanks before a meal. We are so fortunate for the food we have before us and i think it's the right thing to do to be mindful of the time, energy, expense, etc of getting it from farm to table.
The chanting is interesting to me. To be honest I dont know what the language is but the melodies remind me of Hebrew prayers. I would often think of my father, who since a young child I have been honored to hear him passionately sing/chant from the Torah. Hearing the melodies reminded me of my Jewish upbringing and sparked a curiosity of looking into meditation courses associated with Judaism. I definitely would love to do another retreat while in Israel!

Here I am in my white clothing they gave to us to wear.



 
All in all it was a great experience. And now I look forward to the other retreats I find during my travels!!

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Chiang Rai

Joined a day tour today. Got picked up at 7:30am dropped me off at 8:30pm. Now that's a full day of fun :) We headed 3 hours up north from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and it's surrounding areas.

First stop: Chiang Rai hot springs. Quiet a tease to be honest. All the fuss is this blow hole that shoots out hot water. There is nowhere to bathe in the warm spring while enjoying the pleasant scent of sulphur ;) although not a highlight, it is still worthy of a picture as it did mark our first stop of the day.



Second Stop: Definitely the highlight of the tour. Wat Rong Kuhn otherwise known as the white temple. It was magnificent! There are pieces of mirror embedded in the building so it glistens in the sunlight. It was magical! Unfortuntaely, pictures weren't allowed to be taken inside the temple so I will have to rely on my memory for this special moment. Inside stood 3 buddahs in decending order of height one in front of the next. A huge gold buddah was painted high up on the wall, next in line was a white buddah statue and next was a gold statue. Last was a monk (live monk!) sitting cross legged directly in front of the three other buddhas. He sat so still. I entered the temple, took off my shoes, kneeled in front of the monk and felt total peace. This was the first temple I have been to so far on my trip that I had a deep connection with. There were no thoughts passing through my mind. I was totally present. I could have sat there for hours!







Third stop: Golden Triangle. This is where Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, and Laos meet. We took a ride in the Mekong river where the countries border. The tour guide decribed the water as a chocolate color. And indeed she was right! Definitely wouldn't have wanted to fall off that boat!
She told us we were going to stop on an Island in Laos and kept on taking about how there is special whiskey made there. See below to see what she was referring too!













Ready for the whiskey?







Yep the above picture are bottles of whiskey marinating in snakes and scorpions! I was tempted to buy them as souvenir presents for my loved ones. (YA RIGHT! Yuck!)

Fourth and final stop: a visit to hill tribes.







Another wonderful day that I am grateful to have had!

Click on this picture if you want to see more pictures from the tour!



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Doi Inthanon - Chiang Mai

So great to get out of the city and into nature.
First stop Wachirathan Waterfalls.



Next stop: Karen hilltribe village. These small shacks house a family each. This village tribe is native to burma. It was amazing to see kids running around in dirt, babies lying in cardboard boxes used as their crib, and still smiles prevail. Such a contrast to all of the concerned parents who worry so much about the cleanliness of their children. Puts everything into perspective. (I got some great shots of the kids. Ill upload them and post them soon)



Third stop: Royal gardens where city folks and tourists come to get out of the city and enjoy gardens, waterfalls and the flowers grown for daily markets. This area was also a place where opium was grown but now have turned to growing coffee for obvious reasons. Lots of lovely fern!!


Last two stops: we visited the tallest peak in Thailand and by far my favorite part of the day, the Inthanon stupas. These two stupas were built in memory of king Inthanon to celebrate his 60th birthday. He must have been a special king because he not only got a stupa built for him but his wife got one too! :)
Here they are,

The queen


And her king



It made me start thinking if men and women are equal in Thailand. For such a massive structure to be built for the wife of the man being honored (and in my opinion a prettier stupa) I thought it was a fair question. I was sadly told that women are still viewed as slightly inferior to men in Thailand. Too bad. Makes me grateful to be an American when I hear things like that.

And now a 2 hour bus ride back. I'm so happy I have this blog. Allows time for reflection and sharing and there is nothing else I would have wanted to do during my bus ride back to the city. *Love my iphone!

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Everything is so cheap! - Chiang Mai

I just had the best massage of my life! And I felt guilty only paying what they asked. $5 yes only $5! Of course I had to include a generous tip. This thai man worked so hard!

Everything here is SO cheap! It's true it's really true! See, one hour thai massage 160 baht which converts to about $5. It's hard to believe yes. Guess you will have to come and visit yourself to believe it!
For now here is proof:




To get an idea of what cheap means...

Accommodations for backpackers range between $3-$12 per night depending on your taste.

An amazing filling meal ranges between $1 and $7. $7 includes fine dinning, drinks and appetizers. Im serious!

Water bottle $0.25

One hour at an Internet cafe $0.50 to $1

Laundry per load about $2 (and that includes folding!)

A full day tour examples are driving 6 hours total stopping at multiple sites, trekking/hiking, elephant riding, often lunch included averages $30 per day.

Renting a scooter for the day costs $6.


Yes I know this is crazy! Just imagine how much fun it is to actually be experiencing life so inexpensively. It is such a great contrast to my time in NYC. Wow, I cant wait for my next massage :)

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Backpack

People have asked me what I packed for this 4 month trip. So I decided to make the answer into a post so I can look back and remember as wel as to share with all of you (if you care to know).

My goal was to keep my bag as small as possible. So that is what I did!
Here it is



There is an amazing feeling to me to have very few things in life. People who know me best know I am somewhat of a minimalist. It takes me forever to make a decision on a purchase because I know it is another THING to add to my other THINGS and unless I love it I don't want to be overwhelmed with more THINGS! So, packing for 4 months was fun to me because I had no choice but to bring only a few things!








So that's it. Small, compact and full of only the essentials :)

So happy I can carry on. Goal accomplished!

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