The (Metaphorical) Climb

June 13, 2015.

The 14 of us stood at the base of the Tiger Cave Temple and stared up the mountain at the multitude of steps awaiting us to climb. Needless to say, there was a wide range of emotions surging through the group; fear and anxiety, excitement, a very small amount of dread. 

1,260 steps to the top.

Camera in one hand and water bottle in the other, we all began out ascent. Before we even made it a few hundred steps up, our worry began to increase. The steps were practically as tall as my calf!!

Less than halfway up, we were ENTIRELY drenched in sweat. (It was dripping off my nose onto my camera. If we're being honest here...)

Our group had begun to spread out across the steps, with some people pushing through without stopping and others taking time to catch their breath and drink their water.

Kind people who were coming down were incredibly encouraging, reminding us that there wasn't much more to go and that there was water at the top waiting. Oh, and every single person told us that the top was worth every step we would take to get there.

Once we made it to the top, it was another large mix of emotions; exhilaration, joy. I couldn't stop laughing because I couldn't believe what we had just done!

After the entire group made it to the top (and many pictures were taken), Dr. Register sat us all down for her lecture on the mountain, talking about all of the connections we can make between our literal mountain climb and our metaphorical climb through life.

Dr. Register's mountaintop lessons:

• You can always go farther than you think you can.
• Not all stairs are created equal.
• Negative thoughts and words won't help you reach your goal (and will probably bring you down, and others with ya).
• Supporting those around you, and feeling supported by those people, will help you get to the top.
• The only person you should be comparing yourself to when you climb is your previous self, not others.
• Go at your own pace (because it will help you help others)
• Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. (Literally, for the body that carried us to the top of the mountain...)
• Even if your personal journey seems never-ending, there is always an end. And the end result is worth the work you put in. 

I am aware that all of this seems cheesy and cliche in many ways, but all of those phrases really resonated through the group in that moment. And let me tell you, I have NEVER felt as empowered as I did sitting listening to her lecture at the top of the temple.

On a slightly more personal note, the top of that temple is also the closest I've felt to God in a long long time. Maybe the Buddhists have something right in saying that the higher you are the closer you are to Him, who's to say. But after our lecture I wandered up and made an offering to some Buddhas, kneeled down facing the big guy pictured above, and began reciting some Catholic prayers and Bible verses. 

Just another way to express gratitude, and while it may not have been in the most traditional way it certainly felt appropriate for the moment.

Honestly, the descent back down the stairs was much scarier than the ascent due to the changing height of the steps and poor depth perception on my part. 

Plus, it definitely began to monsoon when we still had about 800 steps to go. Did I mention it's the rainy season here? After living my whole life between Texas and Kansas I thought I had seen the rain (insert "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" by CCR here), but I've NEVER seen rain like this before. But we were all still on a high of happy endorphins from the climb up and the lecture, so Rayna and Laura and sung our way down with "Singin In The Rain". 

You know what though? It was much more pleasant to be drenched in rain than in sweat like before!

Memories fade over time, but this experience is one thing I hope to never forget.

The (Literal) Climb

Hua Hin Adventures

A short recap from this weekend:

• We visited a temple that is literally only being held up by a tree. As in, the entire building is ENGULFED by the roots and branches of this tree.
• Next, we had a foot massage. On a boat. We're really slumming it here.
• There was also an evening boat ride to see fireflies. You'd think it'd be obvious that we're halfway across the world, so of course the fireflies were different, but it was shocking to see them differently! They literally looked like blinking Christmas lights; all of the fireflies hung out by the trees and blinked really quickly and abrupt. They were absolutely beautiful.
• Saturday morning, we woke up right after sunrise and made offerings to the monk! That means that we gave them food, toiletries, and water, and in return the monk gave us a blessing. The entire interaction was incredibly peaceful; sleepy classmates, a quiet river, monks paddling small longboats from house to house. Very serene.
• We learned a minuscule amount of Thai classical dance. Very, very minuscule...
• Then, we ate lunch literally in the middle of the ocean. We took a longboat out to the middle of the gulf where there was a bamboo hut about two stories out of the water. The whole thing was basically opensided, and you had to scale some pretty steep bamboo ladders to make it to the hut and back down to the boat again, but the views were astounding. 
• Also, tried a little Thai wakeboarding! Much easier than Western wakeboarding I think...
• Best part of the day by far: we planted some mangroves! That entailed some of us crawling through mud that was about knee deep. Or, if you're Becca, full-force crawling across the surface of the mud. Climbing through the mud pit was by far the most I've laughed this trip; something about it just brings out the small child in you! It's crazy how much fun you can have when you're willing to get a little muddy ;)

Some things I learned this weekend:

• Thai culture has a strong, strong emphasis on balance and symmetry. It's beautiful! This can be seen in their education system (balance between sciences & arts), in their foods, in their belief systems (if you do good, good will be done to you in return). It's a really nice change of pace
• Also, a large aspect of traveling is about embracing the vulnerability of not knowing things. There isn't a single culture here that holds all of the truths in the world, and when you are able to accept that fact then your eyes are open to a whole new realm of knowledge and experiences.
• Going along those same lines, when you accept your fear and try the new things anyway, it's generally an incredibly rewarding experience. (Let's just say I was a little scared to try the funny-looking wakeboard...but I definitely would have regretted not trying it.) Also, if this statement is being made by me, a generally fearful person, it can definitely apply to everyone else too. 
• When you travel, the first things you notice are the differences. Such as, there are no knives to eat with here. Or, you aren't guaranteed toilet paper or soap to wash your hands with when you go to the bathroom. And other small things, like massive Buddhas decorating the countryside. You know. But with time, you begin to stop noticing the differences and start picking up on cultural similarities. Young boys still horse around and make fun of each other when the teacher isn't looking. Parents still taunt their young children when they run around naked. Families still road trip to go on vacation. These are all very surface-level, but the deeper you dig into a culture the more similarities you find. 

We weren't really able to take pictures this weekend. However, we DID see a MASSIVE water monitor crawling around outside of the music therapy clinic during class today. Isn't he neat?

What? A free day?

July 16, 2015. Friend's Cafe, Salaya. 12:16 PM

Currently, I'm on my third cup of tea in this cute little cafe that Kara pointed out to me a few days ago. Thanks to having a personal free day, I finally have the opportunity to go exploring around the neighborhood and catch up on some work I've been meaning to do.

Also, its really nice to have a day to recollect after having an incredibly long day yesterday. These past few days everyone in our group has had two music therapy sessions and a meeting with Dr. Register scheduled. Plus, we were allowed to observe any session we wanted to and that our schedules allowed. The way it worked out I had both of my sessions and my meeting yesterday, so by the time I got back to Bundit (our apartment complex) it was hard to think straight.

The first session of the day was at Sirindhorn National Rehabilitation Center. This place rocks; there are so many high quality and easily available resources for the patients! Not to mention a solid team of professionals. We met Susan, who leads the laughter yoga session right before the music starts. Susan was kind enough to let us participate in her session with her, and to be honest I find laughter yoga really intriguing. The basic principle is that because laughing is so good for you, and because the body can't differentiate between fake laughter and real laughter, if you force yourself to laugh for long enough you'll begin to see many good benefits. I had to look more into it, so if you're interested in more information click here.
Then, it was music time! The Thai clients wanted to give us American names, and we were given name tags written in Thai and all (mine was Omn, in case you're curious).Three Thai students and three American students set up in a row across from the patients, and we sang songs as the clients requested them. It's funny, the clients sang louder than we did, and they didn't even have mics in front of them! We sang a good mix of Thai and western songs, with Sha La La La, Que Sera Sera, and We Are The World all making their appearance. And the clients got so excited to hear us sing in Thai! I'm sure we mispronounced every other word, but they didn't seem to care.

After a short bus ride back to the college and a quick lunch, it was time for session number two of the day! Here, two Thai students and I worked with a 17 y/o male on the autism spectrum. Music was used to increase his use of non-verbal communication, and even throughout the span of half an hour one could see a difference. Who says you need to speak a language to make a difference? It still blows my mind how much one can do with music, and music alone.

A reoccurring theme on my mind lately has been perspective. For starters, I feel like I can empathize with the international students back at home on a whole new level now. Even just adjusting to a new culture alone takes it time...tack on a language barrier and life gets so much more difficult. Shoot, I have plenty of times where my professors at KU say things that are over my head, and I grew up speaking their language.

Hmm, maybe I'll start a list somewhere of life lessons to post by the end of the trip. For now, I'm off to go read research and maybe explore my neighborhood a bit more. This weekend we're taking more beach time, so expect more pictures than stories.

Ta ta for now!

Planes, trains, and automobiles...

Hello! So this is the start of my travel blog, if I decide to keep it up on any future trips I may take!

For now though, this will be a digital log of my study abroad in Bangkok, Thailand this summer!
The past two weeks and the three that are coming will be spent traipsing around Thailand, co-leading music therapy sessions with other Thai and American students, and taking side trips wherever the busses take me to! Since I'm getting started a little late into the trio (oops...) I'll do a brief chronology of our first two weeks here based off of the personal journal I've been keeping here.

July 2, 2015- Mahidol University, Salaya

• Our first full day in Bangkok! 
• After 24 solid hours of travel and less than two hours of sleep, the main thing I remember was the exhaustion.

July 3, 2015, Bangkok

• Time to be a tourist! 
• Our main attractions:
• The Grand Palace
• The Emerald Buddha
• Wat Po (which holds the 3rd largest reclining Buddha in the world. WHAT.)
• Princess Sririkhat Institute 
• And finally, we ended with a boat tour around Bangkok. And an impromptu dance party with some lovely Thai children that were on the boat with us. 

July 4, 2015, Bangkok

• More tourist time! Probably at one of my favorite tourist destinations of the whole trip. This included:
• The Erwazan museum. This is a massive concrete 3-headed elephant in the heart of Bangkok; not only could we walk around outside of it, but you could also explore the inside of the elephant as well!
• In the afternoon, we took a tour around a place called the Ancient City. This was a (rather large) scaled down version of the entire country of Thailand. It was just big enough to ride bikes around, and to get off and walk around through some of the major attractions like the floating market, and some prominent temples.
• We finished this day by wandering around the Night Market, which is where the Thai's go when they want a good deal on just about anything. The shopping was fun! By far some of the most crowded streets I've ever seen. But you could buy a good pair of running shorts for just a dollar! They weren't kidding when they said everything was incredibly cheap here...

July 5, 2015, Bangkok

• First free day!
• A couple of girls and I went into town to wander another market.
• Chang (which is Thai for elephant) pants are the latest rage. I think we all got a pair that day.

July 6, 2015, Mahidol University, Salaya

• Lots of music making in the morning to prepare for the upcoming sessions.
• Lots of good conversations with new friends in the afternoon.
• Also had the opportunity to observe a music therapy session one of the Thai students was running. It's incredible how much you can pick up from a session where you barely understand what the therapist and the client were saying; without too much effort we could not only pick up on the goal and objective, but we watched the therapist skillfully navigate all of the hurdles the client threw at her throughout the session. Music truly is universal!
• Finished the day with dinner at TipSum, the place that INVENTED Pad Thai. How cool is that?! 

July 7, 2015, Mahidol University, Salaya

• Our morning was spent learning about Thai classical instruments and music by sitting in on one of their ensemble rehearsals. The music is unlike anything I'd heard before, very beautiful and intricate! It's funny how the music reflects the beauty and intricacy of the setting. And culture. 
• After listening to multiple pieces, the Thai students taught us how to play Chang (one of the children's songs we learned before takeoff) on their instruments. Let me tell you, some of those instruments are a lot more difficult than they looked..
• We spend the afternoon in the city getting a traditional Thai massage. 90 full minutes of painful bliss, topped off with some delicious balefruit tea. Yummmmmm

July 8-9, 2015,  Mahidol University, Salaya

• These two days were very important clinically, and will take a lot of time to figure out how to clearly articulate what happened. I'll come back to these two later.

July 10, 2015, Krabi

• We got up at the crack of dawn (well, before dawn technically) to catch a quick plane down south to Krabi, Thailand! 
• After the plane landed, we went to the Emerald Pond, the Blue Pool, and some local hot springs. 
• You could literally see 6-8 feet deep in the Emerald Pond! I've never seen water that clear in my life.
• And you could make bubbles come up from the quicksand in the Blue Pool just by clapping!
• We encountered our first true Thailand monsoon on our way to the hot springs. Let me tell you, Midwest storms don't hold a candle to the downpours here.
• Off to our resort for the night, fully equipped with an outdoor bathtub and a rooftop pool. We're really roughing it over here. ;)

July 11, 2015, Krabi

• This day entirely consisted of island-hopping and bar lounging. Work hard play hard, right?
• I had my first taste of Thai whiskey! 

July 12, 2015, Krabi

• We spent the morning traveling via tuk-tuk (tuktuk? TukTuk? I'm not fully sure) around an island that is rather close to our old resort.
• We learned about rice cultivating, traditional long-boat making, and textile painting.
• The island we were on is 95% Muslim and it's currently Ramadan, so the town was pretty slow and peaceful.
• That is, up until the afternoon monsoon hit in the middle of our tuk-tuk ride. Never in my life have I laughed so hard as riding this glorified go-cart down these tiny winding country roads with it raining so hard that it's raining sideways. Our driver was kind enough to pull to the side and bolt to a rain cover though, which helped us from getting entirely soaked.
• Then, a free afternoon and evening around our latest resort. This one equipped with an outdoor shower. (Part of me still doesn't believe all of this actually happened. Who leads that kind of life anyway?)

July 13, 2015, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi

• Also a momentous day. I'll document this one later too.

July 14, 2015, Mahidol University, Salaya

• Back in the swing of class once again. At least, as much of a swing as we can get into here!
• Early morning Philosophy of Music Therapy class
• Life class with Russell Hilliard, one of Dr. Register's closest friends. He is an incredible inspiration to any student hoping to make their way in this profession, and a kind-hearted human being to boot. It's been very enjoyable getting to travel with him this past week.
• Afternoon of music-making and session-observing.
• A small group of us spent the evening at a Cat Cafe. Why don't we have one of these in Lawrence? If any of the coffee shops started up business and offered free cute cats to pet I ASSURE you they would always be busy. These cats were so funny! But what was even funnier was losing track of time sitting there and having to run not only across a major road, but through campus, into the music building, past a local rock concert (which happened to double as a jury), all to catch the bus that was running over 5 minutes late. Only in Thailand, I guess?

Okay. Now that's practically all caught up. I promise all of the other posts won't be so long or boring, and I'll do what I can to include pictures as available. For now I need to run and prep for my sessions tomorrow, AKA listen to a little Thai music and get a lot of sleep.

Sawasdee ka!

-Alyssa