This week marks four months in Thailand! Time has been flying by. I still can’t believe the new year is already around the corner. I’ve honestly never been happier than I have been this past month. Everything here is finally clicking, and life in Thailand feels normal now.

Winter has also officially arrived in the north. Temperatures dipped to around 50ºF these past two weeks, which meant everyone pulled out their “winter” coats. It only lasted 2 weeks though, and we’re back to 80º now.

Week 1

School has been very chill and uneventful. In my thai craft class, I learned how to weave a zebra. I’ve also been working on embroidering my rotary blazer in my free time! I finished the Thailand pocket, with my thai name, and symbols of Thailand. Now, I’m working on the Texas side!

I also went to a really cute cafe this week, where I tried a Hong Kong egg tart for the first time! They’re so delicious, and tasted like creme brûlée! I also got a strawberry matcha latte, which is my new favorite drink.

On Saturday, I went to a Hainan (Chinese) heritage event for all Thai people with ancestors from Hainan/ China. I learned that Thailand actually has the highest amount of people with Chinese ancestry than any other Asian country (except China and Taiwan of course 😉). I got to try new foods including Fish Belly and a dessert that had sticky rice, taro, coconut, and gingko, which is a yellow fruit.

On Sunday, I went to a fundraising concert for my Rotary club. The band was called Nuvo, and they were popular in Thailand in the 80’s. It was to see how concerts are in Thailand! Marie’s little host brothers cooked steak before. It was good, but nothing can compare to my dad’s steak recipe 🥰

Week 2

This week, I learned how to cook lots of Thai food! At school, I learned how to make Pad Mama, which is a stir-fried noodle dish made with the famous Mama instant ramen. I also learned how to make Pad See Ewe with my host aunt! It’s way easier than I thought it would be.

Pad See Ewe Recipe

• Marinade pork/ chicken in oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil , sugar, tapioca powder for 15-30 minutes
• Separate flat noodles and soak in dark soy sauce 
• Boil Chinese kale, after peeling and cutting it. Then soak in cold water
• Pour oil in pan and grill garlic till yellow. Add eggs and pork, until pork is cooked and no water left
• Add noodles, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar.
• Stir fry and add kale

There was also a Phrae Craft Festival this past weekend! I got to see so many items that are only found in Phrae. There were lots of indigo dyed clothes, keychains, and teakwood furniture. My city is known for its teak and furniture business throughout Thailand.

Week 3

On Tuesday, I got to attend a school field trip to Chiang Mai. I woke up at 2:30 AM, in order to catch the bus at 3:45 AM. Thai buses are amazing– they have two levels, karaoke machines, disco balls, and even lights. They kind of reminded me of the chicken buses in Guatemala. For breakfast I ate a 7-11 sandwich made of imitation crab and mayo (sounds gross, but it’s pretty good haha). I slept a little bit on the 4 hour journey, but not much. Our first stop in Chiang Mai was the NARIT planetarium. We watched a little movie about constellations on the domed screen. Then we went to a zoo. It was pretty sad to see though, the cages were really small and had multiple animals in them. It didn’t feel very humane. We finished the trip at a Chiang Mai mall, and I got to see stores we don’t have in Phrae, like Uniqlo and H&M.

On the way home, the bus was a party. For 3 hours, everyone was singing and dancing.

On Wednesday, we didn’t have school because it was Constitution Day in Thailand. I was able to sleep a lot, thankfully, and got to cook shabu, which is Taiwanese hotpot soup for lunch. We put mushrooms, pork, beef, noodles, taro, and veggies into the boiling broth to cook. That night, I tried duck for the first time in Thailand. It really just tasted like chicken. It’s also an exciting week in Phrae– we finally got the famous ChaTraMue Tea cafe in our town! This brand is known as the original Thai tea brand, and they have cafes in bigger towns around Thailand.

On Saturday, my family took me to Chiang Mai for the weekend. We got to explore a temple that was over 500 years old. On Saturday night, we went to a 2km long night market, where I got to try new foods we don’t have in Phrae, like chrysanthemum tea and pineapple fried rice. On Sunday, we went to a very big mall, that had 7 stories.

Update on Thailand- Cambodia Conflict

I also wanted to give a quick update about the whole Thailand–Cambodia situation, since I know some of y’all are probably worried after seeing it all over the news. The conflict is over a temple on the border, and they’ve had little flare-ups for years. Things got tense again, this past weekend, after a Thai soldier was shot, and Thailand responded with a drone strike. The southeastern part of the country is affected, but life in the rest of the country hasn’t really changed.

I’m about 800 miles from the border, and up here in the north no one is stressed about it. Thailand’s military is way bigger and has strong support from other countries, so the chances of it turning into anything huge are super low. It’s definitely sad for the people who live right on the border, but I’m grateful to be completely safe and far from where anything is happening.

Until next week 🤍

Emma Kate