still hot...

well i arrive in NYC at 6:30 this morning...and immediately flew to new orleans to visit some friends and have some special little boy time as I am the substitute caretaker of two special little ones for a week. the reinforcements are coming in on wednesday...but i'm on my own till then! praise the lord for NO JEG LAG SO FAR! i was abel to sleep 10 whole hours on the plane here...and felt like i woke up in the morning just as my flight arrived in the states...in the morning. as i'm typing i'm getting a bit tired...but that's it. we'll see if i sleep tonight.

i flew through immigration and customs at the JFK airport...and ran to the delta terminal to re-check my bags and then board my second plane of the day to atlanta. i was bumped to first class as they double booked my seat. imagine the chances;) i spent a few hours in the atlanta airport and then boarded my third plane of the day...and arrived safely in new orleans by 3:30 pm. the wonders of aeronautics. i thought it appropriate to continue writing on the 100 degrees sight considering it's almost that in new orleans...reminds me of thailand...which now seems soooo far away...

the party's over...

as i affectionately remember my dad singing..."the party's oooooooverrrrrrr" in his most whiny voice...i concede that my fabulous overseas adventure is over for the time being. i just completed my final exam...and will head to the airport around 10 pm tonight. i can hardly believe it's been a month. a thai massage is on tap before dinner and then a final horrah with the class for dinner. i'm scheduled to get into NYC at 6 am tomorrow...i will claim a whole day of my life back! reflections on Thailand to come...

back in bangkok...back to reality.

well the time has come. back to school. clare leaves at 6 am tomorrow and my class began today. it's a little rough sitting through it in light of the past two weeks...pray for me;)

the beach!

ok from the top. here is a small selection of the many pictures from the beach...i have no idea how this will format but here goes. above, clare posses with a bunch of random students who came up to her and interviewed her for their english class. let's just say it was funny...borderline hysterical. and based on my knowledge of people liking to be in pictures...i snapped this one and they went wild and proceeded to insist on many more...

now...the sketchy elephant safari...the background might look to you like we're trudging through a construction zone. that is because we were trudging through a construction zone. our elephant's name was jason;)
ahhhhh the beach in phuket...

emily and clare at the beach in phuket...and just so you all know...clare got a racoon burn from a different pair of sunglasses and tried to cover it up in this picture with the "big" subglasses.

kayaking in PhangNa bay...perhaps our favorite event of the entire trip....

inside a cave in phangna bay...our new friend john from brooklyn is in the background! this cave is only accessible during low tide...

kayaking in another cave that you can only get in by boat, under rocks...scary yes. there is only one period of time each day that you can kayak into the cave...and this was it. we had to lay down on the boat and our noses almost touched the rocks above us!

the entrance to the cave...

sunset in phuket...our first night.

the beginning of the sunset in phuket our first night;)

our toes in the andaman seas

our view to the south from our beach spot...

and that's the lot of them. as you can imagine, there are hundreds. the views were breathtaking...and it was incredible to be on the other side of the world doing the exact same thing we do in atlantic city;) but the colors are a little different and the people around us were a lot different. we did plenty of lounging, sleeping, and sunning...a bit too much sunning;) the trip was amazing...we are both so thankful that we were able to go...and go together (shout out to leah, we wish you were here;).

PHUKET!

well, delayed as we are, it's friday night and this is our first post from the beach...we arrived safely on wednesday morning...and went directly to our hotel. we dropped our stuff and set out on an adventure to the next town over...we took a local bus and arrived in the town only to find it quite..."seedy." we explored the town and eventually set out on a trek to find the kayaking outfit that we wanted to take a trip with the next day. (since we don't have a phone, we have to do things the old fashioned way;) the lord provided...and protected...about an hour later we were very lost...well not lost, we knew where we were, but had walked about 6 miles past our destination. very discouraged because we couldn't find number "346/7" on the road we'd been hiking for over an hour, we spotted a hotel van and asked the driver what he knew. wouldn't you know, he told us to hop in and he drove us to our place. sooo...kink in our calculations...i mis-transposed the number...the actual address was 367/4. i'm retarded. but we found our place and bargained a great deal for our adventure at sea the next day.

yesterday (thursday) was incredible...we kayaked around miles of islands and caves in the andaman sea. it was so fun and beautiful. for those of you that know me and my strange ability to run into someone i know...here's the story of the week. we step into the van that was taking us to the pier...and wouldn't you know there was a woman in the van from weston connecticut...and hired clare to babysit when they both get home! crazy...

today we spent lounging on the beach, by the pool, and getting a little too much sun in the tropical mecca...tomorrow we're going on a little elephant safari and then heading home to bangkok...well not really home;)

we're not sure we'll really understand just how amazing this trip has been until we're not on it anymore.......

pictures to come on monday...won't have internet until then. be well.

pics!

here are pictures from our weekend in chiang mai...it was beautiful save one small thing...a few cockroaches in our guesthouse! yikes...TOP TO BOTTOM: the top picture is a cockroach that i killed! clare and i at top of doi inthanon, the highest peak in thailand. two hill-tribe boys playing in the rice patties (and peeing on them). the boonmee mansion where we stayed. clare and i at the summit of doi suthep, a temple at the summit of another mountain. and last but not least, another of the one thousand things to see before you die, the four season resort, chiang mai. clare and i ate dinner there at the "poolside terrace" because it was the muuuuuuch less expensive alternative.

leaving for phuket in the morning, will be back in bangkok late saturday night...we will be enjoying the beautiful beaches of thailand!

back in bangkok

back in bangkok, we arrived safely and now it's blog time. these are pictures from thursday in bangkok...we went to the top of the tallest building in thailand...sweet view. we did a lot of wandering and checked out the country's bets university, chulalonkorn. and...we went with a friend to get her a tattoo...don't worry there are not unatural markings on clare's body nor mine!

sunday...

so we made it to the highest point in thailand...and it rained. likely story. we're going to bed, we're exhausted...will post again in bangkok. over and out from chiang mai...

thurs, friday, and saturday...

sorry for the delay in writing...we´ve been away from a computer. but now i sitting at ¨the amazing sandwich¨ in chaing mai utilizing their free internet;)

thursday we toured bangkok one last day and saw some NEAT things...pictures to come when we get home to bangkok on monday. we then flew out to chaing mai early friday morning and spent the day in the mountains and experienced 2 of the must see before you die spots. The first...experiencing a thai massaage...it was incredible. the second was seeing the four seasons resort, chaing mai. and since we obviously could not afford to stay there...we just ate there;) i would say that on a list of the most tranquil places ie ever been, this would be tied for first! it was soooooo beautiful and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. it was a slightly rainy evening and it is low season for the northern resorts. we had and awesome waiter from bali named tay.

today we climbed 306 stairs to a wat (temple) on the top of a mountain. it was breathtaking...pictures to come of course. weŕe hitting the night markets tonight, climbing the highest mountain in thailand tomorrow...and seeing the painting elephants on monday;)

weŕe staying in a neat guesthouse called the boonmee mansion which is owned by a neat christian thai lady named florence...only 18 dollars a night!

weĺl be back in bangkok late monday night.
weŕe being safe and having fun. miss you.

wednesday...

wednesday brought the great bangkok adventure...clare and i zipped around the city seeing more of bangkok that one might desire in one day! sights included the grand palace, wat(temple) po and the reclining buddah, wat arun, wat kaew san and the emerald buddah, a river ride, the democracy monument, the giant swing, the golden mount, sanam luam (like central park), and had ice cream for lunch. note:ice cream for meals is a popular zilich travel tradition. enjoy some pictures...

tuesday...

an adventure to the ancient capital of thailand...ayuthaya (on of the 1000 places to see before you die;). it served as the capital of thailand(siam) until it was conquered and pillaged by the burmese in the 1700's. it was incredible...we rode around the historical park on sweet cruiser bikes, took a boat ride, and checked out "tony's place" for lunch. here are some pictures for you to enjoy;) clare and i were accompanied by beth from PNG, diana from the philippines, and elizabeth from indonesia.

monday...

monday was a "maintenance" day. did my wash, finished a lot of school work, and waited for Clare to arrive! the Thai's all wear yellow shirts on monday...to honor the king...so a few of us joined in...mind you my yellow shirt was three dollars!

Pictures from the Weekend!

OK, from the top...

1.

The Chatuchuk Weekend Market
Located in Northen Bangkok...they call it a suburb...spreads across 5 miles of pavement. Plenty of statues/things of this nature...I liked this lady-looking one...

2. A better persepctive of the market...with that one clock tower in the middle...it's about the only way to orient yourself in the sea of stands...it's sooooo easy to get lost.

3. This is actually walking over a bridge looking down at the center of the town I'm staying in...BangNa, a district of Bangkok, but not city proper.

4. My traveling companions to the market...we actually went with a big group...but it broke up into smaller groups because of traveling ease...try keeping track of 10 people in a sea of thousands. In the middle is Beth, a PBU grad and a missionary in Papua New Guinea. Opposite me in Annika from Washington state, a missionary in Indonesia. (Whenever I go to a place on the list of "1000 Things to See Before You Die," I take a picture of who I was with...the company is half the adventure.

5. A flower stand...The market has everything from clothes to furniture to gongs to pets...random i know...

6. Early in the morning at the Market...a stand unpacks their fruit for the day...

There you have it...stay tuned for exciting pictures from tomorrow's adventure...the ancient city of Ayuthaya!

frustration.

Well...after I left you all following my last post...I went directly back to my apartment to change to go running and headed to the gym. I forgot my money however (you have to pay to go to the gym) and turned around and went back to my apartment. En route, I decided to head to the pool instead and would go run later in the evening. I grabbed my books and towel and spent the remainder of the afternoon swimming, sleeping and reading. It was an exceptionally sunny day and got some good color on my nose;). Well, 5:30 pm roles around and I decide it’s high time to find some friends and grab some dinner. I went back to my room only to realize I’d forgotten my keys and was locked out. Now, as you can imagine, all I have is my bathing suit a towel and two books. No cell phone, no car or money to go anywhere...so I just chilled. I chilled for 3 and a half hours I found a classmate and tried to called the director who was unreachable...I read my book in my bathing suit and just waited. (Now if you are saying to yourself this is such a proverbial “emily” move...take it back because it aparently happens all the time;). Long story short, the director had no key and I was prepared to camp out for the night in a classmates room...ahhh. Just as I thought all hope was gone...the Lord pulled through. I saw the Thai school director’s car parked outside. We looked for her to no avail. BUT I decided to leave her a note on the car...and just as I was walking to put in on her car, I found her in the stairwell...she found the daughter of another employee and we got the maintenance man...crazy. So following a good night sleep in my bed and in my own pajamas I’m filling you in. Will do a bit of exploring today, and then I’m off to get Clare from the AIRPORT!!!

sunday...

i don't have internet access on the weekends...so my apologies for the delay in posting...i'm at an internet cafe right now so that i can give you an update.

i completed my class on friday....and the adventure has begun:

Saturday we went to my first of the "1000 things to see before you die" that is located in Thailand. The Chatuchak Weekend Market...it was incredible! there were stands selling anything you can imagine lining streets and creating their own streets for over 5 miles. (pictures to come;)

the afternoon was spent reading by the pool, and the evening brought another small adventure. in an effort to see a movie (which is quite the experience in Thailand) we went to an incredible mall downtown. it was just like the King of Prussia Mall in America but nicer...flat screen TV's hung on the walls in the food court...and level 5 of the mall had Ferrari and a Lambroghini dealers. it was strange...

i had my first ride on the skytrain which was neat and ate ROTI for the first time. it's like an omlette inside of a pancake...and has chicken and veggies inside...topped with a chili ginger sauce. SOOOO good...my favorite thing yet.

Today we went to an English speaking church downtown-very cool- and then went out for Lebonese food for lunch. good stuff...

basically i'm just counting the minutes until my sister gets here....

tomorrow we're headed to Krachanaburi...where the bridge over the River Kwai is lacated along with the historical death railroad...then picking Clare up from the airport late...then the real fun will begin...

i'll add pictures on monday...

AHHH you can all pray for one of my classmates who contracted Denghi Fever and is in the hospital...it's a disease transfered by mosquito's and it referred to as "Break-bone" fever because you feel like your bones are breaking...great huh. she'll probably miss class this week and she's bummed...and not to mention in pain...don't worry mom she contracted the disease in Cambodia...

Figured it out!!!! (the website however is still in Thai;)

ok...no one knows why these pictures are arranged like this...but...at least it's pictures...

clockwise from top left:

the pack-horse...my distinguished airport shuttle driver;)...the pink and purple airline...the inside of my humble abode...the international community school where my classes are held(picture taken from the balcony of my apartment...)

While the last few days have been filled with new sights, new people and new smells, the most incredible thing to consider is that I am on the other side of the world from all of you...and that people here live life just like we do...only different...but it's still this day to day thing...Thailand is a lot like America, but completely different (well the city anyway). Bangkok, or what I've seen of it so far, consists of the usual city sights: shopping, street vendors, museums, parks, cars, buses, etc. Oh yeah and then there are these monstrous statues of gods and the King;) I went walking to the local grocery store today...small back-roads where the cars and motor bikes have to make way for the people rather than vice-versa. The people are completely chill as they just stroll along and find what they want for dinner, then proceed to take funny colored liquids home in clear plastic baggies. Stray dogs line the side walks and lots of puddles left over from the night's torrential downpour need to be consciously avoided. The walk was not bad and the heat is very tolerable. The humidity is the hard part...I ended up getting a ride back to campus from a Thai woman who recognized me from the Smile Post-a place to go on the internet and mail various things. I've only been there once but I suppose I'm pretty recognizable considering I'm the only person with blonde hair in the vicinity. No jet-lag and no sickness of any kind from the food yet;)(My apologies for taking so long to post. I'd intended to do it yesterday but the internet went down on campus...aghh.)Consider this the Tuesday blog...even though it's Wednesday...on this side of the world;)

this website is in THAI!

ok, so the blogger website on the computer is completely in Thai...good think i'm a visual learner who is drawn to spacial layout and graphics, thus i have the website memorized spacially and know what buttons to hit...

i have arrived in Thailand and as i write, it is 4:15 on monday june 25th...which is strange because the majority of you are 11-12 hours behind...but that's ok.

Bangkok is a little scary...simply because i forgot how difficult it is to be in a country that speaks another language...my little pink Thai phrase book is quickly becoming my dearest companion.

lunch was only one dollar! unbelievable...

already the Lord has shown his provision through the course of events surrounding my arrival...i realized about 4 hours into my 17 hour plane ride that i did not print out the email with all of my school's contact info. on it. ergo(sp?) i had no idea how i was going to tell the Thai-speaking taxi driver how to take me where i needed to go, nor did i have anyway to find out where to go, as my cell phone no help. (i wouldn't know what number to call even if i had a phone). i'msure i lost sleep over it on the plane...but all was well upon arrival and a man held a sign with my name in it when i waltzed off the plane and away we went...and arrived safely. it was "all good" as they say.

i made it through the first day of class and no homework for tomorrow...we're headed to the mall (walking distance with a Starbucks). While i hate to succumb to the globalization of the American economy...starbucks is a comfort of home i cannot resist at this point...don't worry dad starbucks is only .65 here. oh and they serve iced coffee in bags. strange but fun.

well we're all (16) sharing three computers so i must sign off for now...pictures to come soon...apparently you can buy a Thai wireless card for approx. $5...i'm on my way.

a little over 12 hours from now..

...i'll be on a plane en route to the east. my bags are packed, cameras and school work ready, and a sister close behind for company. i'm so thankful for all that has been provided for this trip (thanks mom and dad;). a little less than 12 hours ago a dear friend informed me that she will be enabling me to carry an emergency cell phone with me as we travel through the vast unknown...you know...just in case we need it. a welcomed comfort and a gracious gift. thanks;)...soooooo that next time you hear from me...i'll be on the other side of the world.

one week from today...

...i'll be on an airplane en route to Bangkok, Thailand.
can't wait. the blog will function from june 23-july21...so grab your donuts while they are fresh...i love when you all leave comment on the blog...but don't forget to tell me who you are;)

the latest update, Miss Katherine Clare Zilich will be joining me on my adventure...so you can all drop her a line as well. She will arrive in Bangkok on july 2 and will be serving as my lil'traveling companion for two weeks following her glorious arrival...yay!

check it ouuuuuuuuuut.

here we go again.

for the sake of easing the anxiety of those who love me...i'm going at this blogging thing again so that they (and others) will know i am still alive.

destination: THAILAND.

i'll start posting as soon as possible upon my arrival. so check in with me periodically to see what i'm seeing...