Lelli Family In Thailand

Swadee-Krop Family and friends

Wooohoooo! The Lelli family made it out to Thailand safe and sound! Unfortunately, Momma Lelli’s luggage got left in San Fran so we knew we were off to a great start. Luckily they sell elephant pants on every corner so we got Mom fitted in some cool new Thailand outfits! She loves how comfy and cheap the clothes are. Good news is her bag came two days later, she wishes she had just brought an empty suitcase and just bought everything out here! My bad on not informing the fam to pack light and to not bring much stuff because they will want to bring lots home. Sorry I was too busy with group projects and a dead phone to reply to your guy’s texts and emails!

BANGKOK

            We were in Bangkok for 4 days, the first full day here we took a river taxi up the waterfront of Bangkok and enjoyed the Venice of Asia. We took the taxi up to the Grand Palace where I had not been since the King had passed. It was quite the sight, the streets all near are closed down and we had to go through security showing our passports. Everyone is still dressed in all black head to toes. We ended up skipping the Grand Palace and let the Thais mourn the Kings passing in peace. We walked down the road to Wat Pho which holds the famous reclining Buddha, it is quite the sight.. After visiting the famous temple, we decided it was time to reward ourselves with a cold beer, I knew about a secret rooftop bar that overlooked the river and the temples. We went there for a couple drinks and had an amazing sunset. We then adventured out to the world famous flower market and then went down to the good ol’ China town where we treated ourselves to a yummy meal. Mom thought she might have felt something in her shirt, but didn’t say anything. Taking the taxi back home Alix and Kim were absolutely silent, thinking there was a bug in the back with them, our driver was confused on where to go and I recognized a bar and told him to stop there to enjoy more drinks with the fam. When we got out of the taxi Mom freaked out and just about threw her shirt off when the cockroach fell out, it had been in there since dinner!!! She handled it a lot better than all of us would have.  We sat outside the bar and played a fun game- Lady-boy or Girl, if you didn’t know, Thailand is known for its large population of Lady Boys. Family weren’t too good at identifying which are which, but by the end of the night they knew how to spot a lady-boy vs a real girl hahahaha It was quite the first full day!

Day 2

            The next day Steve and Alix got massages, they were in a bit of pain after! I told them the Thai messages aren’t the best! Anyways, we adventured around the city, I showed them my beautiful campus, they were impressed. We also explored another temple that is located nearby that I had never been to. That night, Alix and I decided we had to take the parents to the famous Koh San Road, the big backpacker hub where you can buy buckets of alcohol for $2 and party on the street till the cops close it down. They couldn’t believe the street, it is quite the sight, 10/10 recommend going there if you want to see a bunch of 20-30 year olds getting crazy on the streets with each bar blasting music! And I’m sure you are wondering, we did get buckets with the parents and they loved them.

DADS BIRTHDAY!

            December 15^th, pops turns the glory age of 60!!! Woot Woot, from the night before you would have thought he had just turned 21! LOL, Steve woke up early and ran a solid 5k in the hot heat while we all slept in. We went to a day market, did some shopping and drank a few beers at one of the restaurants. Took it pretty easy that day. We then went to one of the best rooftop bars in all of Bangkok for drinks, Vertigo Moon Bar, 10/10! It was a beautiful evening and one of the first time the parents had been to a true rooftop, it was on the 60^th floor, so made sense we went there since he was turning 60! After spending some time enjoying the beautiful night views of Bangkok we headed back to our hotel and ordered pizza to top off the night! I think he had a pretty good birthday, even though he didn’t get too many gifts.

Overall we had a great time in Bangkok, we didin’t fight as a family, we all got cool elephant pants, shared some good laughs, took in all the chaos and are ready to move on to the next adventure, Chiang Mai!

Chaing Mai

            We arrived in Chiang Mai and were greeted with clouds, great… Oh well, no one could make up their mind on what they wanted to do because we are the Lellis and “it doesn’t matter to me” is our motto. The day we arrived we explored the old city and the different temples. Went to one temple that’s made out of silver, unfortunately Alix and Kim didn’t like it because they were not allowed in. It’s a sacred temple and is believed if a women were to step inside; the temple would become cursed forever!

Day 2 Chiang Mai

            Family and I hired a taxi, not a taxi you would expect back home. But a Toyota truck that has seats in the bed. He drove us up to the Bou Tong Waterfalls (Sticky waterfalls) about an hour away from the city. It’s such a cool experience, you are able to walk up the rare waterfalls because of the minerals in the spring making the rocks sticky. It’s not a tourist spot and not too many locals even go which makes it perfect to get away from everything. After the waterfalls we enjoyed a Mexican dinner and a spa treatment. It was a solid day!!

Day 3 Chiang Mai

            We had nothing planned for the day and were able to finally sleep in. We explored the city more and went to a couple markets. Went to a nice rooftop bar for happy hour and enjoyed a another beautiful sunset, sunsets are by far my favorite thing in the world, and if I miss a good sunset, I’m not in a very good mood. That evening we went to one of the largest markets in Thailand called the Sunday Night Walking Street Market, it’s very impressive. I spent all my Christmas money from my grandparents on some sweet pants for all my friends, so they better be happy to see me! Its better to give than receive, I suppose. We are now off to Phuket to finish our time in Thailand, it’s a beautiful beach area in the south and hope to come back to the states darker than ever!

Phuket!

            We have arrived to Phuket, beach is nice, weather is alright, Mom seems have caught what I got in Chiang Mai a while ago, not fun, hopefully she will start to feel better soon and join us out at the pool.

Sorry for the long blog post, but this is what we are up to!

Oh, I forgot, I am all done with school, I am a college GRADUATEEEE!! WOOT WOOT, bitter sweet about it, but I’m excited to begin the real world. I have began applying for work in Portland, Austin, Denver, and Seattle, not sure where I want to end up, but I’ll see where the wind takes me! Each city offers something I’m passionate about and I’m excited to start 2017 fresh, with a college diploma and start saving my $$ for my future wakeboard boat!

Celebrating Dads Birthday on Koh San

Sunset in Chiang Mai

More Koh San

Best Steet in Bangkok

Vertigo Moon Bar

Sticky Falls in Chiang Mai!

Rentals

Bangkok Temples

Sticky Falls

Fam

More Rentals

Secret Bar 

More Secret Bar

Cambodia & Laos

Hello Family and Freinds!!!

I recently just got back from traveling to Siem Reap in Cambodia and then to Don Det, the south of Lao where the 4000 islands are located. I went on the 9 day trip with my friend Connor from Oregon State. We spent 3 days in Siem Reap, they have a cool bar scene called Pub Street, I think the name sums up the activities on the street. We stayed in a Hostel for $4 a night, it was... well you get what you pay for, but $4 def goes farther than in the states!

The second night out I went to withdraw money from an ATM, and the machine ate my card... The owner of the shop where the ATM was said he couldn't do anything about it, and I would have to wait till the bank opened up in the morning. The next morning I woke up, found a Tuk Tuk driver, gave him my last $10 US in my wallet and asked if he would help me track down my card. After 3 hours of going across the city to different banks, I finally came across my card. It was quite the adventure. Good news, only $100 was stolen off of it. It could be worse, right? Gotta love developing countries.

Later in the afternoon I met up with some other Americans from my school and Wisconsin to explore the famous Angkor Wat temple. There are some HUGE temples in the Siem Reap area, the temples hold some of the most beautiful architecture work I've ever seen, there are drawings in all of the stone. I would tell you all about the history of the temples, but I don't want to bore you, if you're interested in hearing about the rich history behind Angkor Wat there is a great thing called "Google"!

I'm really glad I went to Cambodia, they used the US dollar and beers on draft were as cheap as 25 cents!!! What a great way to spend $2! After a few days in Cambodia Connor and I packed up our bags and headed to the south of Laos using the Asian Van Transfer (highly recommend this company) and were smuggled across the border in 8 hours. We had to walk across the Cambodian Border into the Laos side and go through immigration there, where a new van was waiting to take us to Don Det. We got dropped off in one city and had to take a boat with about 12 others to reach the island. Man oh man, I really was nervous about the boat getting us there, it was all wooden, a small motor, and the entire boat would lean if one person shifted their body weight. Definitely can't be afraid to go for a little swim!

Getting to Don Det we realized we definitely were no longer in Thailand or Cambodia, it is a 3rd world country and is incredible. The roads were all dirt, the tallest building was 2 stories, and we were on the only island with electricity (that ended up going out the first night for 13 hours), oh and there was only one ATM in the area for 150 KM around. We stayed at OI's guesthouse (def recommend) and had 2 beds, 2 hammocks, and one small bathroom, most of the places all have shared bathrooms, and it only cost $4 a night as well!!

What to do in Don Det? Absolutely nothing. And that was exactly what I wanted. I lay in a hammock reading my book, ate some good food, and drank some cold beers. The sunsets, WOW!! They're incredible, one of the most beautiful spots I have ever been too.

The past 9 days was a great getaway from Bangkok! I now have class for 2 days and then am heading off to visit Taylor in Europe! We will be spending a few days in Prague, Brno and then fly to Amsterdam for the last couple days.

Cheers!

Angkor Wat

Sweet Eagle a person owned

All the roads in Don Det

Beuatiful Sunset from Don Det

Moving the motorbike back to the main island

Fishing in the river that goes through Cambodia 

Sketch Boat that has all of our luggage and all of us

The view from our hostel in Don Det 

In front of Angkor Wat

LongLiveTheKing

Sawasdee-Krop (Hello) Family and Friends!


Hi people. Thailand is still treating me as well as when I first arrived! I have been studying quite a bit for school and had midterms a couple weeks ago with group presentations this week. The tests were open-ended and each one lasted three hours. I have not received any grades back, but am keeping my fingers crossed that they will all be good. Over the past couple of weeks I have gone wakeboarding at a cable park with a couple of people from Switzerland, taught them how to wakeboard and by the the end they were pretty good. Sure felt nice to get back out on the water. Can't wait to own my own wakeboard boat in the future!

I had two friends from Bend come through Bangkok over the past couple weeks as well, both traveling around Thailand on their own. It was nice to see familiar faces and catch up on old memories over some cold beers. I traveled with one friend outside Bangkok to Pattaya, a beach area only two hours away. Spent the day there and then went to an island the next day with a 30-minute ferry ride. We rented motor bikes (scooters) on the island and were able to ride all across the island with not much traffic. It was a fun time exploring different Buddhas and the different beaches. Lots of watersports on the island, but did not participate in any because they were pretty expensive.

As some of you may have known, the King of Thailand passed away about a week ago. The King is the most beloved person for every single Thai. The feeling of the King passing is if your father who you idol were to pass. The entire country is in a mourning state right now, it really is a sad time out here. People all across Thailand are coming into Bangkok to say prayers for the beloved King. For the next 30 days all large festivities and entertainment are shut down, the mourning period lasts a full year for government officials and 30 days for everyone else. I walked into a shopping mall a couple days after and all the manikin's in each shop were dressed in Black and White with the retailers clothing brand. All the clothing displayed is black and white and every single person is wearing one of the colors. Every TV and monitor display a similar image of the King with a passage. Literally, everything is in Black and White, such as airline websites, Google and any posters hanging around the city. It really is a sad time in Thailand.

It is truly remarkable to be in Thailand during such a large moment in Thai history. Being on the outside, you could never imagine how much grief there is, I have learned a lot about respect and showing gratitude during this time. The country is very peaceful right now and most business are running like normal, however it will be interesting to see what will happen after this month. 

I will be traveling to Siem Reap, Cambodia today for a few days with another guy from Oregon State, and then head to South Laos, which holds the 4000 islands. We will be in the Don Khong area which has some power and electricity. I will be taking my Hammock, book and toothbrush and hope to be taking long naps overlooking the islands. I'm pretty excited to get out of the big city and get back to the rural lifestyle. I will return right before halloween, attend classes, and then head to Europe to visit Taylor for 10 days. I'll try to post a quick blog in between the two trips so you can hear about Cambodia and Laos.

Cheers family and friends. Hope life is treating you all well!
LongLiveTheKing

Sunset in Pattaya

Koh Larn

Leaving Pattaya 

Giant Buddha over looking the Island of Koh Larn

Only 250 steps...

At the top of the steps

Danger Road, because no good story started with "I took the motor bike up safe road" 

 Danger Road

Thailand Is Tight

Swatdee-Krop (Hello) Family and Friends!

I am going into week three out here in Thailand and the time is flying by oh so fast! It feels like I have been out here for more than three weeks though because of how adjusted I am to the culture. I truly am living developing country, and I LOVE it. It is crazy how much we take for granted by living in the States. If you have the opportunity to travel, travel to a non developed contry and take a step back and realize what most of the world is living with, it will make you appreciate life so much more. I LOVE Bangkok, and could not be happier to get to spend 3-4 more months out here. Here are just a couple of the differences between America and Thailand,

1) The driving: wholly smokes these people are CRAZY! Motorcycles going through traffic, cars going through interesctions without lights, everything. I rode on the back of my first motorbike the other day, I sure was scared, but afterwards I felt safe and knew that it would become a common form of transportation. I was one of the last people out here to test the waters with one, but now I take one every other day to get to the MRT (Subway) station back and forth (Sorry Mom!!). The people who drive them wear orange jackets and it means they are a registered motorcycle cab driver, yes, they're taxi scooters!!! The only other cars on the road are actual taxis, and the traffic out here sure can get bad! For example, a 40-minute taxi ride will only take 10 on a motorbike because they can go through all the traffic.
2) Sanitation: there is none here. Like none, all the street food and many other places just have large buckets of soapy water and hand wash everything.  Here's a picture of some street washers. I have ate some street food, but not too much yet, you have to be careful to make sure it's safe and cooked just for you!
3) Police: yea police aren't the same you get back home. If you have a problem, the police will prolly just make it a bigger problem and demand money. However, there are tourist police to help you with any problems or scams that you might encounter.
4) Friendliness: Everyone here is friendly. It's wild, these people work all day long, make no money, yet treat you as though you're best friends, lot better people than snobby Americans.
5) Water: You MUST drink from bottled water, tap is not an option. You got to wash fresh produce with bottled water to prevent sickness.
 6) The HEAT: The heat is unreal, and this is the cool season, I can't imagine what it will be like come November, I have already broken out twice in large heat rashes from wearing my school uniform and having my backpack. Luckily I've got meds and an oitment for it that make it go away in no time.
7) Rain: ALWAYS have a raincoat or umbrella on you. Never leave with out one, you never know when the clouds are going to unleash an ocean on top of you.

These are just some differences, there's a LOT of them, but you will just have to come out here to experience them for youselfs!

Last week went out for the first time to Khao-san-road, it's the touristy backpacker road with a bunch of bars that all sell buckets of alcohol for not too much. Lets just say its a place you don't want to pregame too hard becuase there is no escaping the drinks out there! Street vendors and backpackers fill the streets. Will definetly have to check it out more with friends and enjoy the good music and dancing in the road!

On Friday night the College of Business had an event for the exchange students, we did not know what the event was going to be, but it was an iniation for us new folks! It's what the seniors do to the freshmen, it was a really cool experience. When we met outside on the field we were all given blindfolds and told to grab onto the persons shoulders in front of us who would lead the way. We walked up the stairs into a building and then walked into an air conditoned room, where drums began to play and something came across our faces. As the drums picked up they took off the blind folds and we were all covered in powder. The Thais then sang/danced to us for about 15 mins that was a welcoming ritual, it was pretty awesome! Afterwards we played team games and got to interact with the local students, they sure are cool. This is Mook, she studied abroad at Oregon State last term and got me hyped to study abroad to Thailand after speaking with her! After the event we all went out for a delicous steak dinner, and then some of us went to a local Thai night club! They sure know how to party, it was a fun time and we danced past American bar closing time!

School: School is going great! I really am enjoying my classes (except for 1) and love that I get to hear ideas from so many different perspectives. All the teachers have different backgrounds and have unique teaching styles! I enjoy participating and putting in my American ideas that other people would have never thought of. I hope to do well in all my classes, considering I only have to go twice a week!

Traveling: I have yet to truly travel, but I am going to be going on some fun adventures in the upcoming weeks so stay tuned for awesome pictures and even better stories!

Markets: The markets out here are pretty sweet, you can basically find (knock off) of anything you need! However, we went to one night market that was talked about pretty highly and found it to be terribly sad. All the clothing they were selling seemed as though it had came out of a goodwill from America and was shipped here to be sold as new. I even saw a Phi Delta Theta shirt for sale! LoL!

Bangkok is treating me well, this is the pool that you can find me at relaxing and reading a book 80% of my time, I look forward to sharing my stories with you all! Until next time,


Cheers!

Here are a couple of videos my friends have made if you're interested in seeing what Thailand is like, I'm the star in the first one, and right at the start of the 3rd hahaah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR2S9RlX6fg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5m9utSQwLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzsZHBjSpyc&feature=youtu.be

If you want to reach me, Facebook messenger is the best.
Telephone- +66 615-961-169

First Week in The Land Of The Smiles

Swatdee-Krop (Hello) Family and Friends!

Here is a little blog about your above average Beaver living it up in the Land Of the Smiles! (Thailand). I first arrived out here about a week ago at 3 in the morning with three other students studying abroad also from Oregon State. When we got off the plane we could immediately feel the heat, while driving to our place, Bangkok looked just like any other huge city. However, when we got closer to our apartment, and having the driver ask the locals where it could be located we realized this city was going to be nothing we had ever experienced. The first day we went out to go shopping for a new phone plan and some groceries. I fell into my first scam for what I thought was a great phone plan for a great price. Found out the phone plan was going to be able to last me a week, but luckily I found the right carrier and got a great deal because of the university I study at.

The next day we meet our Chulalongkorn exchange buddies (the local students) and they were more than kind. They took us out to one of the nicest malls I have ever been in, we spent 8 hours doing miscellaneous shopping. To put in perspective of how nice the mall is, they had on the fourth floor a Maclaren car shop, Rolls Royce, Porch, Lamborghini, Ducati and Ferrari, I had never seen anything like it.

Here is a picture out side the shop where we buy our uniforms for class (YES, we wear uniforms, and yes, you are smarter while you wear them). The gentlemen on the far right is my roommate, Even, he is from Norway and I could not be more excited to be living with him for the next four months. The two other students are from Wisconsin University, Andrew and Tray.

This photo is all of us exchange guys starting our first day of class, I was pretty nervous of what to expect, but I am beyond thrilled to be studying at the most respected and prestigious university in all of SE Asia. Our uniforms and university is known by every person here. The ones who graduate are offered the highest jobs in the market! Pretty sweet! I only have class Tuesday and Wednesday which is very nice because I hope to study and travel on my days off!

I have yet to go out on the town, however, many students have been tearing it up and it sounds like a blast, I'm excited for my first night to go out! The Thai food is...well it's Thai food. I'm getting use to it and starting to know what I like and what I don't. In my apartment complex there is a little garage and kitchen that many of us exchange students will eat at, sharing our unique stories and making new memories. I love living with so many people that come from many different backgrounds. The number one question as an American I get asked about it "who are you voting for?" I never realized how large of a role America plays in all of these other countries and people are very, very scared of our election and what the outcome might become. It really has made me look into our politics more and ask myself who I want to lead this country, there are very many different views.

Today I went and saw some of the most famous Temples in Bangkok, such as the Grand Palace and the Relaxing Buddha, talk about impressive!! The taxi rides are cheap and the food is cheaper, I still have spent more money than I was expecting, but I will soon start sticking to my budget once I have all the necessities! I have to say, I love Bangkok and I am beyond thrilled to get to live in such a city with so much wealth, and poverty. It really is going to change my perspective on the world. Oh, and the Land of The Smiles, I can see why it is called that, everyone is very friendly and are always smiling! Ohhh, last thing, the driving here is CRAZY, motorbikes everywhere, 3-wheel taxi cabs and normal taxis fill the streets! It is very wild! Look forward to sharing the next week adventures with you all!

GoBeavs
GoChula