July 3rd, 2004

i'm now stuck at this small border town in thailand called Chiang Khong. It's the place where a lot of tourists cross over to Laos. I'm doing my project on cross border tourism here.

it's been around 1 week plus in CK and I can't wait to get out of CK soon. actually it's a really nice town, small and quiet. My guesthouse faces the Mekong river so I wake up to the mighty Mekong everyday. wahaha.. and at least this place has got internet cafes. =) But i'm getting sick of the food here which is a little pricey than Chiang Rai. And this place got SO MANY DOGS can!!!!!!!!! all so fierce lah can... damn scared. almost every hosehold has one 1 dog cos it's really cheap to keep one. But CK people are really nice.. they know we are students doing project and they are very helpful in getting infomation for us. hehe.

so far my project is still gog ok.. hopefully i can collect as much data as possible before the end. but it's really hot in CK here and i'm so dark now. haha.. so in the afternoon we just cannot do anything cos it's too hot.

okay, gotta leave now. but for now, i still love thailand.

it's been a week in thailand. past few days have just been so hectic lah.. went to visit all the field sites where we can do our projects. First we went to Mae Salong. I quite like MSL. The weather is really cool like in Genting cos it's quite high up in the mountains although a lot more wetter. But it's essentially a Chinese town lah. All the thais can speak Chinese so it felt kinda weird. There's a lot of tea to drink MSL cos it's a tea plantation area. Went to teach at a school in MSL too. It was very very run-down but it was nice teaching the kids although it was a lil lame lah.

Then we went to Mae Sai, which is basically a border town at the Thailand-Myanmar. It was quite a busy place cos of trade b/w myanmar and thailand at the border. But i dun really like it there as it's too crowded for me anyway. I dun really fancy the stuff they sell at the markert place anyway. I think the night bazaar at Chiang Rai is nicer. Anyway, i'm not doing porject there so it's ok.

Then we went to Chiang Saen, which is essentially the Golden Triangle which is quite boring lah.. After that we went to Chiang Khong which is the site I feel like doing my backpacking project there. It's a border town as well. A lot of backpackers stay there for a while to cross over to Laos. It's only like a short boat ride over to Laos. I like CK! it's really very peaceful and surreal.. imagine waking up to the Mekong River every morning! it has a really lazy atmosphere to the town. heh. hope i get my project lah

omg, i feel so tired nowadays lah cos it's soooo hectic. now i have to work on my project proposal oreadi and think things are gog to get even worse. @_@ but well, i really like thailand! i dun want to go back home so soon! heh

sawatdii kha!

this is khun jingjing blogging live from chiang rai, thailand. actually i dun use this but apparently the com is a bit siao and cannot display my OD page properly. Anyway, chiang rai is this really northern city in thailand. It looks a lot like malaysia except everything is in thai. duh? thai ple are really nice! omg... and the langauage is so nice. i just love to hear them yakking away even though i understand nothing. However, the hotel i'm staying in kinda sucks cos my toilet sinks like shit and i dun understand why. But at least i have a wardrobe. my friends dun have one in their room. So far, thai food is nice. I'm still coping well with all the food. Things in Chiang rai are really cheap. We ate pizza and pepsi for arounf S$2.50 per person! you can get a tattoo for 100B, which is freaking cheap.

Met my thai buddies from rajabhat Institute, Chiang RAi and Mae Fah Luang University and oh man, my thai buddies can speak chinese! although it's very limited. But oh well, they're really nice although i prefer ple from rajabhat. They're more shy and poor but i tot they were more down to earth. Their school kinda sucks but they look happy anyway. Unlike MFL which is freaking nice, even nicer than NUS. gosh... MFl students are more outspoken and rich. Most of them drive! and oh! of cos i must look out for cute guys.. muahhaha. erm.. generally thai guys are quite good looking unlike the NUS guys.. boring.. yawnz =P The most good looking one looks a bit like tay ping hui! hahah... anyway, they're really nice ple..

oh yah, MFL students love to sing, so do my professor, Prof Victor Savage. He sang so many songs during our welcome dinner. Even sang an indian song. -_-|| Many ajarns sang but Carl carn sing for nuts. There's this really sporting ajarn from Thailand who sang quite a lot. He even tried some teresa teng songs. muahaha.

gosh... there are so many things to blog. Now, i'm just typing whatever comes to my mind. hehe. and oh.. took lotsa pictures but have yet to attach cos well... i'm using internet cafe. schedule is really busy here. when we are not visiting universities, we are busy eating somehwere or shopping at a night bazaar nearby. muahahha.. and yah, think my thai is so lousy. they speak so fast and i understand nothing. i wonder how others cope then. but i still think thai is a ebautiful language and i love to hear them yaaking away even thou i dun understand.

so far, it's been 3 days in Chiang rai and it's still enjoyable although kinda tiring. like my eyes are gog to shut down anytime. will update when i have the time and chance to visit internet cafe again or i visit any really interesting sites.

One more day in Chiang Rai and it's to Mae Sai, Mae Salong, Golden Triangle. =)

Dichan chop muang Thai maak!

Sawatdii kha!