Life in Siam (and other places)

Welcome to my Thailand Blog!

2011-10-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

visitors interested in Thailand: please feel free to review the information I have posted here about living, teaching, and traveling throughout Thailand, from the northern hills of Chiang Mai, to the city life in Bangkok, to the beaches of Phuket, et al. If you have questions, just leave a comment. If I can't give the answer myself, I'll help direct you to the information!

Friends and Family: Please continue to follow my adventures here: http://livinginsidenanjing.blogspot.com/
I miss you all!

Saying Goodbyes

2011-10-05T02:44:00.001-07:00

The goodbyes were filled with mixed emotions: excitement for a new beginning but sadness in leaving my friends, co-workers, and students.

Friday was the retirement party for our school director. This was held at our school with a delicious catered meal of different sea food items, including fish stomach soup (not my favorite!) After a week of practice, the foreign teachers went on stage to perform a traditional Thai dance, in traditional Thai costume. The gents- myself and Michael- had to dance while beating a traditional Thai drum. We actually did pretty well. After the dance, the director gave us a “thank you” envelope with about $7 USD (Thai Baht). Then we went and paid respect to some of the ‘big money’ benefactors of the school. One of them pulled out a wad of Baht and gave each of us about $30 USD. From my ‘show biz’ experience in Thailand, watching performances at Holland Beer, I knew it was customary for the audience to tip if they enjoyed the show. This was a pretty good tip by Thai standards so he must have enjoyed our show!

After we changed back into our normal clothes, we made our rounds to say goodbye. We thanked the director again and gave him our retirement present: a pricey bottle of alcohol. Next was our department head, who wished us all good luck. Then we said goodbye to my Thai ‘aunties’ who have been so great to us with their willingness to help and their insistence on buying us lunch throughout the school semester. There were tears in everyone’s eyes L and I promised to stop by again if ever I return to Thailand.

Saying goodbyes at the muay thai gym was the most difficult for me. The trainer, and his three teenage daughters and I had become very close. They speak about as much English as I speak Thai, so our bond was formed through exercise and acting out phrases. Proof that communication can form bonds without spoken words! One of the daughters sent me a message on Facebook, with the help of Google translate, saying: “we think you do not want to go to China. Don’t leave.” They made me pinky promise that I would come back and visit if I return to Thailand. Then the trainer presented me with my new Thai shorts that I had ordered the week before. I asked him to have my name, Thailand, and the name of the gym written in Thai characters sewn into the shorts. I also asked that he choose a good Thai fight nickname for me and he did not disappoint: หมัดพายุไซโคลน or H̄mạd phāyu (sounds like: maht-pai-yute), which means “punching cyclone!” How awesome! I put on the shorts and tried them out. Somehow, they made me kick faster and made me look better while I was kicking. These were no ordinary shorts! The trainer gathered all the boxers together and we took one final group picture inside the boxing ring. Then I gave out some hugs, handed out pictures of some boxing memories that I had printed, and waved goodbye. <sigh>

Back in the Benjasub neighborhood, my good friend Num came over to help us move out our store of borrowed furniture. We said goodbye and hugged; his parting well wishes were for me to have “good luck” in China. Luck is a huge part of the Thai culture. I wished him good luck as well.

My last meal with my cooking roommate: a cheesy omelet covered in black bean hummus, with homemade potatoes and gravy, on flatbread, served with coconut-mango smoothies. Scrumptious! In the evening, I headed up to Bangkok for a last meal at my favorite pancake restaurant and hangout: Ethos. Mango and banana pancake, how I love thee. This was with Nick and Kate, two Americans I became friends with at the teacher training in Phuket. Also joining us was my Thai friend Aom, who would be my taxi to the airport the next day. After dinner, we relaxed with an hour Thai massage—I am going to miss those massages!

The next day came quickly, and it was off to the airport again. Bangkok’s airport is quite nice, mostly because they have lots of free sweet treat samples! My plane left in the morning, and touched down in China later that afternoon.

Smile Please

2011-10-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

On my second to last day in Thailand, my friends at the private hospital, Ekachai Hospital, scheduled me for a teeth cleaning at the hospital’s dentist office. I’d already experienced Thai health care, so I was curious about Thai dental care. The price was right: only about $23. I arrived early and watched some replays of the recent tennis match between Federer and Djokovic. I think my dad could beat them both!

I sat down in the dentist chair and they covered my face with a thick paper towel that had a square section cut out for my mouth. No sunglasses to protect against the bright light shining down, they just give you a towel. The dentist lady spoke great English, but she didn’t use it very often. There is no small talk in a Thai dentist office, at least for the foreigners. That was nice. I’m used to struggling to maintain a conversation with my mouth open when the American dentists ask a bunch of questions!

All the dentist really said to me was: “do you have any problems with your teeth?...Raise your left hand if you feel pain…ok this part will hurt a bit more…” and “you need to floss more.”

She did a great job and I left with a more beautiful smile than before. My teeth felt and looked clean. The entire procedure was no different than what I could have in America, except that they did not waste my time or my money on the mouth xrays. American dentists want me to do xrays every time I even look at a dentist office, but I really don’t enjoy biting the weird tooth pillow and smiling for the camera, and it can’t be necessary every time, two or three times a year, right? Plus, it adds expense to the visit. Sometimes in America, I request not to have xrays done. Well in Thailand, I didn’t have to ask!

I would recommend any travelers / expats / medical tourists in Thailand to feel comfortable and to trust in visiting the Thai dentists, especially those at private hospitals!

Avatar

2011-09-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

What a fun-filled adventure weekend spent in Chiang Mai!

Chiang Mai is the largest northern city in Thailand, near the borders of Laos and Burma. The area is well-known for it’s incredible jungle landscapes. I spent the entire weekend feeling like I was in the movie, Avatar. The feeling came not just from being surrounded by never-ending stretches of jungle, but also the feeling of having an out of body experience. I almost could not believe this was my life. It had to be a dream! Take a look at this picture and you’ll be able to feel what I felt. This picture says it all:

High-flying adventures were the order of the day at Jungle Flight. Situated in the jungle mountains, this adult playground spans 34 platforms and covers a large chunk of land. The longest zip line was 130m (about 430ft). The “divine trees” as they are called, were each an average of 150 years old and 100m tall.

I also learned a new English word: abseil. Abseiling is when you sit back in your harness, the rope secured to the line above, but instead of zip lining across from platform to platform, you are dropped directly beneath you to a lower platform. To use in a sentence: The trip ended with a 40m drop that we had to abseil (see picture).

The guides and zip wire crew were like monkeys in the way they would quickly connect to the zip line, leap, and slide across to the next platform. Then as one crew member prepared us for our zip ride, the others were already zipping off again to get the next station ready. Sometimes they would hang upside down as they zipped across; they were really entertaining.

The Thais (and maybe Asia?) have a weird thing with hair in communal places. When I went to a water park, everyone had to rent and wear a swim cap. Then at the zip line, they first made each of us put on a hospital-style hair net before putting on the helmets.

The scenery here was amazing. Dense, lush jungle set against a mountain backdrop. Tall trees, soft bird calls, occasional sounds of water bubbling in the creek; the entire area oozed adventure and relaxation at the same time.

The elevation of 1000m above sea level is impressive for Thailand, but weak by Colorado standards. The higher elevation and being in the northern part of Thailand also contributed to a little cooler climate, a nice respite from the constant heat.

Joining me on the adventure was a nice Kiwi (New Zealander) and a group of Chinese young adults from Shanghai. The Kiwi and I swapped travel tales like a couple of old hands. I told the Chinese that I would be moving to Nanjing, and they happily invited me to Shanghai to have dinner. We exchanged our contact info and I will take them up on the offer! Shanghai is about 1 and ½ hours away from Nanjing by bullet train, according to my new Chinese friends.

The next day I went on an all-day trek with a nice couple from Spain (got to practice my rusty old Spanish skills!). The trek involved hiking, elephant riding, more hiking, swimming in a waterfall, lunch, a visit to an orchid farm, and white-water rafting.

I hiked in my reasonably expensive Gander Mountain hiking boots (this pair of boots, by the way, has touched mud in the rainforests of Brazil, has strolled the streets of Melbourne, Paris, and Copenhagen, and has climbed mountains in Colorado and Norway!).

The Thai tour guide, on the other hand, did the entire hike in flip-flops! This was over slippery rocks, through mud, etc., and I was the only one who fell into the stream to get my boots wet. The guide didn’t so much as stumble!

Elephant-ride: what a trip! As you might imagine, this part of the adventure was unlike anything I’ve experienced. Horse-back riding doesn’t come close. For one, horses are much faster. But the view on an elephant, and feeling like an insignificant weight on the large animal…very different. At times, I wondered if the elephant even knew I was sitting on its back! The Spaniards elephant was very hungry and kept munching on any nearby leaves it could get its trunk on.

What can I say about white-water rafting? I’ll tell you this much: driving through the jungle is fun, but rafting through the jungle is even more fun! I think it helps that the raft is open air and there is no ceiling, whereas in the van or truck, driving through the jungle, the view is limited to what can be seen out the windows. This part of the trip was very wet! The Spanish couple admitted that this would be their first time rafting. Made me a bit nervous, but they did ok and said they had lots of fun getting tossed around by the dips and twists of the river current. Our Thai guide for the rafting portion was funny and kept warning us to beware of crocodiles (we knew there were no crocodiles!).

I was pretty lucky that it did not rain during my adventure on either day. Right as we finished the last activity, rafting, the rain finally came. Our guide carefully drove the truck back out of the jungle. On the way, we passed two tourist charter vans stuck on a dirt hill that had turned to mud! The Thai tour team waved down my tour guides, who jumped out to help push. Being a good Boy Scout, I also came down and started moving the van with them, pushing up the hill. The Spaniard even joined in and we finally got both vehicles up the hill and the tires spinning on solid ground again. The Spanish girlfriend was watching the whole time and got pretty fired up when we came back to the truck. She complained, and rightly so, that both vans were full of tourists! None of the tourists who were actually "stuck in the mud," got out to help push, even after seeing the obvious American and Spanish tourists do so. And the tourists didn't bother to get out and watch the effort either, because if they at least got out, the van would have been much lighter to push! She had a good point! We laughed it off and were content to know we had rescued the lazy tourists.

This was a great weekend and the perfect end to nearly five months in Thailand. The jungles of Chiang Mai will be well maintained in my memories! Next stop, Nanjing, China!

Don't burn my eyebrows!

2011-09-09T19:14:00.001-07:00

I've eaten at a few Thai BBQ buffets, and would have to credit Best Beef buffet (near BTS On Nut station) as being the best. These eateries are a bit different than what Americans consider a buffet.

Similarity: They are all you can eat.

Difference #1: Some places (Best Beef) will weigh and charge you per 100g weight of leftovers that you do not eat. I also noticed this policy at Hot Pot restaurant. I always finish my food anyway, but especially at these places. Maybe this would be a good policy to be adopted in America- though I'm not sure whether it would encourage or discourage over-eating (already a problem!)

Difference #2: Diners cook all the food themselves. For the bbq buffets, a clay pot, filled with hot coals, is brought right out to each table. Then a hot skillet is placed above and diners add meat, and butter, to cook u the food. Unfortunately, the position of the skillet is usually right at face level. And unfortunately, this leads to some occasional, painful splatters of hot grease! I had both eyebrows singed over my last meal!

Difference #3: Time limits. Some places (Best Beef, and a Japanese buffet, Shabushi) say, "it's all you can eat, for two hours." After two hours, it's time for you to pay and go look for dessert! Maybe another good policy to adopt in America.

Pillow Talk

2011-09-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

My roommate asked me, “how’d you sleep man?” My response, “better. Actually, much better.” What was different? It’s all thanks to a wonderful new pillow I’ve been ‘resting my troubles’ on called the One Hundred Year Pillow. I discovered the miracle pillow when shopping at Central Plaza Rama Two, the large mall near my city. I read about it and the interesting, age old science behind the pillow, and had to have it.

When living in another country, far from the comforts of home and nowhere near my good ol’ tempurpedic mattress, it is very important to take advantage of comforts where I find them. And until now, the comforts provided by my cheap, Big C Supermarket pillow and floor mattress are just that, cheap. Well, I decided to spend the money to improve my bedroom comforts and it was so worth it! We spend about 1/3 of every day in bed, so we ought to be happy when we’re there!

The pillow is not filled with cotton but “buckwheat hulls” or “soba gara” which has been scientifically shown to be better for neck support. These husks allow air flow to pass much more smoothly through the pillow and between it and your body, so that the pillow stays a comfortable temperature and does not develop “hot spots” like my old pillow used to. The Japanese are credited with the discovery of these materials being a great sleep aide. The pillow has been sleep tested in the Orient for hundreds of years.

The company’s motto is: Cool head, warm feet, deep sleep. The pillow has given me just that: a much deeper sleep, letting me wake up more refreshed every morning! I recommend this pillow to anyone living abroad and, for that matter, living at home. Since it’s designed to last for many, many years (ok, not 100 years, but at least 10 years) I will be taking this pillow back to the states when I return!

For more info about the pillow, check out this website

Adventures in Cheese

2011-08-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

Homemade dairy products can be a lot of fun (and tasty) as well as provide for some interesting learning experiences. Take for instance, this page from one of my chapters in living in Thailand. My roomie, Michael, and I stand over the results from my latest batch of homemade yogurt, which has yielded something quite unexpected.

“What is it dude?” He asks.

“I dunno. Smell it.” I respond.

“Smells ok.”

“Yea, smells ok.”

“I dunno. It could be the start of some really awesome cheese or some really funky yogurt.”

“I guess we should taste it.”

“Ok, you first.”
(tasting)

“Tastes like cheese. Here.”

(tasting)

“That’s some pretty good cheese. It tastes like it’d be really good on pasta.”

Now, I should explain that these are Mongolian-style dairy products. Michael had spent a month living and learning on a dairy farm in Mongolia, and he taught me all he knows about making homemade yogurt and cheese, etc. Well, in Mongolia, they don’t have refrigerators and they don’t have the same appreciation for the appearance / presentation of food as we Westerners do. I’m sure the process of making Western dairy is quite different than what we do in our Thai kitchen. So be forewarned, the pictures you are about to view aren’t as appealing as a nice, tasty block of European cheese.

I should also explain that I go to great lengths to find and buy only organic dairy in Thailand. There is only one brand available, and it is quite good. So I can proudly say that the cheese I make is organic cheese!

So since my pictures of cheese may not be all that appealing or appetizing, then feast your eyes on this! Here is another creation from my Thai kitchen: stuffed french toast. Since maple syrup is hard to come by, I've had to resort to other options to french up my toast.

Option #1: blueberry yogurt, slices of banana, and drizzle with honey (banana not pictured - the photographer was hungry!)

Option #2: Gourmet raspberry jelly, topped with a handful of chocolate chips

I'll open the discussion board to my readers now: what looks and sounds more delicious? Blueberry/banana french toast or chocolate raspberry french toast? Think about it, and I invite you to try the recipes at home!

Finding Nemo

2011-08-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Can you find Nemo in the photo...?

I took advantage of my ‘new Friday’ on a Tuesday routine and left work at 10:30am on a van bound for Bangkok. For lunch: a delicious tomato soup with vegetables at a nice western café. Errand for the day: stop at a bank for some transactions. I filled in my ticket with the date 8/22/2554 (Thai Buddhist calendar year is 2554) and was surprised when the teller changed the date to 8/23/2554. Huh, I thought, I’ve been living in the past! So I quickly made a mental note to write my parents that night to wish them a belated happy anniversary! Happy anniversary mom and dad! I’ll go ahead and dedicate this blog to many more happy and healthy years!

Next on my Tuesday agenda, a real treat: Ocean World at Siam Paragon.

Siam Paragon is a large and very ritzy mall in Bangkok. It is a gorgeous mall with lots of great eateries, Thai traditional art galleries, hordes of in-vogue shopping boutiques, and a Lamborghini dealership on the fourth floor! In the basement of the mall-megaplex is Ocean World, the largest aquarium in Thailand.

NOTE for my teacher friends: The price charged to Farang (foreigners) is 1000 Baht, but if you show your work permit, they let you in at the Thai price of 380 Baht.

I was very impressed with the look and feel of this aquarium. I’d have to say it beats the aquarium in Denver, CO, and rivals the aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. The place was massive and the many different tanks were thoughtfully displayed. Each display also featured an informative write-up about the fish or creature with fun facts, etc., in both Thai and English. The aquarium was divided into three main zones: Deep Reef, Rainforest, and Open Ocean. The open ocean is where you want to go if you want to see sharks up close and personal!

At many of the exhibits, a staff member was equipped with a microphone and was explaining the exhibit in Thai, followed by an English translation. The English spoken was actually very good! I was impressed.

My favorite fish was the paraya. These small guys have some wicked looking teeth. All the better to eat their source of food: piranhas. You gotta be tough to hunt piranha! And yet, the paraya are harmless to humans.

Also in the mix, I got to see the water rats and sea otter feedings. Both were very cute. The sea otters have been trained to play fetch with balls tossed into the water before they earn their dinner! Very entertaining!

Then, the main attraction: I got to see two divers enter the Open Ocean tanks with a cage full of food. Piece by piece, they retrieved portions of meat to feed directly to the sharks! Is it bravery or foolishness? I’m not sure, but it was fun to watch! (and no one got hurt!) Oh- it was also pretty neat to hear the Jaws theme music played over the PA system throughout the shark feeding. That movie and the composer will forever live in association with sharks, the world over!

Returning to my town, about 45 minutes away on the van ride again, the evening was capped with wonderful food and camaraderie at a teacher party. This was held at the nicest seafood restaurant in town, which is situated right above the banks of the town river, providing for a very nice view of the sunset over the water. The Thai teachers all sang karaoke (they love their karaoke here!), and myself and my foreign co-teachers all enjoyed the evening. Nothing like seafood after spending most of the day staring at fish swimming around! You look at the fish in tanks long enough, and they sort of start to look like food. These "pineapple fish" (that's the real name too) were just begging me to eat them!

Elephants and Tigers and Crocs, oh my!

2011-08-20T07:07:00.001-07:00

My school delivered a nice surprise circa de Wednesday this week: there would be no school on Friday due to a district meeting for the teachers. I was invited to attend the meeting, provided I could understand the discussions solely in Thai, with no translation. So three day weekend!

First thing Friday morning, I was picked up by one of my Thai besties, Amonrat (Aom). I cooked us some breakfast burritos (black beans, guacamole, salsa, eggs, rice, homemade cheese, tortilla! Leftovers from home cooked burritos week). Aom took a few bites and handed me the leftovers, deciding it was not tasty. I’ve gotten used to the Thai’s we cook for just politely trying a few bites. I am pretty sure they are just used to Thai food and don’t like other tastes, but maybe I really am just a bad cook!

We drove about three hours to the beach in Chonburi province and met with my other Thai bestie Thanawat (Sam). Sam and Aom both work for the private hospital near my home. Sam had a training seminar at a nice hotel near the beach in Chonburi. We arrived in time to join him for the complimentary buffet lunch provided to attendees. I think they may have noticed me, the one white person at the buffet, but everyone was OK with it! After lunch, we traveled up to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo. The owner of the private hospital also owns the Tiger Zoo, among other businesses, and so had given Aom four VIP tickets for the weekend.

Our first stop in the Zoo was the elephant show. Man, those elephants sure do seem to have fun and enjoy performing! They danced, performed tricks, and even gave two brave volunteers an elephant massage! After the show, the elephants posed for pictures. If you walked by with a banana, they stole it right out of your hand!

Next was the crocodile show. Truly amazing and deadly creatures, we got to see their scary jaws open and snap shut more times than I’d like to remember. A muscular Thai man was the main trainer and he wrestled several crocs on the stage for performance. They actually don’t so much as wrestle them as they ‘hypnotize’ them. By rubbing the crocs snout with a stick, they were able to make the reptiles open their mouths and keep them open for several minutes. Long enough for the trainer’s to safely put their heads in the mouths! The other trainer was a small Thai girl, but she bravely and effectively battled those crocs. You know, just another day at work!

This part of the zoo was saddening, however, because the animals really seemed to be “living without souls.” They had been in captivity for so long that they had forgotten their dangerous nature. The stage was a big factor: it was a very slippery tile, preventing the crocs from easily running, much less walking across. If they moved, they would almost always automatically lose their footing and fall over themselves. Safe for the trainers of course, but we still felt for the crocs. Half of the reptiles did not even put up a fight or protest when the trainers dragged them around by their tails.

The next show, my favorite: tigers!

They were so much fun to watch. I wish I could post a video! They danced, jumped through hoops, rolled on the ground, and more.

Afterwards, we went to another area of the zoo and observed the young tiger cubs playing in their cages and then I took this picture with a baby cub! That is one cute cat! And the tiger cub is cute too :-)

Day Two: I volunteered to go on a school field trip to Ayutthaya for the day, and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Ayutthaya is the old capitol of Thailand, before it was destroyed by Burmese invaders centuries ago, so I knew I could appreciate the historical sites. But students on a weekend day?!? Well the trip turned out to be great fun. All the teachers and students were loaded into double decker, air-conditioned buses: a comfortable way to ride! The students were well-behaved throughout and gave us teachers plenty of space! I got to see one of the royal palaces (outside and inside), a European-style temple, and a museum for one of the Royal Projects. Also took a ‘ski-lift’ ride across the river. Perhaps the best part of the trip was seeing my co-teachers dressed in normal clothes, outside of school, being silly and having normal people fun :-) It was a very nice trip and time well-spent.

Day Three: As I write, I am planning on heading to my favorite restaurant cafe in Bangkok for a pancake lunch and to type, type, type on my computer. Then home to clean house a bit and get ready for another week of classes.

Another great weekend!

Kanchanaburi

2011-08-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is the name of a city and province near the Thai-Myanmar (Burma) border. The province has jungle mountains (ok, more like hills, but mountains for Thailand), a very nice town, and a famous national park. The highlight of the national park is a gorgeous seven stage waterfall. But I digress, let me start at the beginning…

We did not have any school on Friday because it was the Queen’s Birthday, which is also the day that the Thai people celebrate Mother’s Day. I sent my mother a nice email (if I don’t say so myself!) that describes the culture’s practice of giving a white flower garland to their mother’s on the special day. Earlier that week, some of my students asked what mother’s day was like in America: I described the importance of letting mother’s sleep in, then making them breakfast, and then letting them relax as much as possible!

My American friend, Nick, whom I’d met in Phuket for teacher training, came down to my town on Friday. Saturday morning, he and I met with my Thai friends, Thanawat and Amonrat, and drove with them up to Kanchanaburi province. The drive totaled about 4 hours, including about an hour of negotiating the famous Bangkok traffic.

The first sight to see is the “Death Railway,” which stretches across the River Kwai. I wish we did more investigation as to how it got its name...From there, we drove another 30 minutes to get into the national park. Some of my other English teacher friends were in the park as well, but they did not have use of a vehicle. Their trip from the town to the park took 2 hours by bus, so I was very happy to have my Thai friend’s with us when I heard about their long bus ride just to go what took us 30 minutes!

We spent some time taking pictures of the jungle covered hills as well as a large, scenic dam sight. This was where we paused to rest and gather some information from the tourist center. We briefly contemplated camping in the park, decided against it, and then drove back down the hills. Halfway down, we pulled over to swim in the River Kwai.

Back in the town, we had dinner with some of my English teacher friends then checked into the River Kwai Mansion. It was more of an apartment complex than a Mansion, but I was there on vacation and not to correct the mistaken translations to English, and the rooms were halfway decent. The next morning, we had Massaman curry, which was recently rated by CNN as the #1 food in the world. See here for the top 50 foods.

We returned to the national park and enjoyed a two hour hike up the seven stages of the waterfall. Each stage was a small waterfall drop-off that was spaced out by about 10 or 15 minutes hike before the next stage. The scenery was breath-taking. A dense, lush jungle with bird sounds, occasional monkey sightings, pretty water and sculpture-esque waterfalls. Another benefit: the majority of tourists where Thais enjoying the holiday. It’s nice not to see the country being enjoyed by just the white folk!

We swam and slid down a smooth boulder slide at stage number five, then had a “fish” foot massage at stage number six. What is a fish foot massage, you ask? Simply stick your feet in the water and find out! There is an interesting variety of fish that will come up to your feet and eat off the dead skin cells! Sounds gross and, ok, it is pretty gross. They bite only enough to take the top layer and do not ever break the skin to draw blood. It’s an all-natural exfoliation. And a very tingly one too boot! The massage is actually so popular that many spas in Bangkok have foot tank baths full of the fish and charge about six U.S. dollars for the service. Mine was free!

After hiking back down, we loaded into the car again and drove back to Samutsakhon. The drive, both there and back, consisted of jamming American pop music, discussing American rock music we didn’t like, and then swapping English words and sentence usage lessons for the same in Thai with our Thai friends. We all agreed that the road trip experience was as fun as the time in the park, but probably not as pretty after four hours sitting together in a little car!

Rescue at the Pool

2011-08-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

I spent a summer in Thailand and, on fateful Sunday morning, I woke up with a goal to go for a swim. I headed to Bangkok with a devious plan to sneak into the swimming pool of an international hotel. The only thing better than swimming in an international hotel’s pool in the heat of summer, is not having to pay for it. Little did I know that my devious plan would become a miraculous case of: right place at the right time…

I cooled off in the water and began to swim laps, grateful that I had the entire pool to myself. About halfway through my swim routine, I noticed two Asian children come out in their swimsuits and goggles.

“Great,” I thought to myself. “Kids and no parents in site.”

Their playing began to intensify and drift a little towards the deeper end of the pool. The pool actually does not get very deep, about 4 feet is all, but deeper than the kids are tall, and the slope has a very steep, sudden slope. I watch as the playing becomes a little rough and the boy climbs on top of his sister and she goes under.

“Wait a minute,” I think to myself, “are they still playing?”

The girl springs back up and gulps some air. Instinctively, my feet begin to carry me across the floor of the pool towards the scene.

“Looks playful, right?” my internal dialogue, continues. “She’s probably about to shove him off and maybe dunk him in return.”

The girl slips under water again. Her brother is talking in an Asian language and it’s difficult to judge if it’s a call for help.

At this point I begin to move faster through the water towards them. I had been about fifteen feet away, and cross the distance quickly. I pause briefly, within reach, when the sister comes back up for air.

The girl goes back underwater without so much as an attempt to remove her brother. She comes up again and her open mouth takes in more water than air before her brother weighs her down. Time to act! I move again and grab both bodies, lifting them clear out of the water. I move towards the ladder in the shallow end where the girl can touch her feet back to the floor. She is gulping the fresh air, but the brother has his arms locked around her neck: not in a ‘death grip’ but in a ‘fight for life grip.’ I pry his arms open and lift him to sit on the pool edge. He must have taken in a lot of water too, because he starts to vomit.

The two siblings pull more air into their lungs and take some time to recover from what was certainly a horrific experience. I pat the sister’s back to help her cough. I’m actually still a little bit in shock and not certain the kids are happy with my action. The sister looks up finally and says, in a very cute accent: “thank you very much.” This confirms my earlier suspicions and the reality sets in.

“Yea,” I manage a reply.

I ask them if they are OK and they nod. They are back to breathing normally and look to be recovered. I ask them where they are from and tell them to be careful. They are from Japan, they say. They thank me again and I get out of the pool to sit with my thoughts.

A few minutes later, the parents arrive on the scene. The kids tell mom and dad what has happened—in Japanese, but the body language says it all. Dad tells them to swim only in the short end from side to side, not across towards the deeper end. Mom comes over to me, smiling, and says “thank you, thank you!” We try to talk, but their English is not great. Dad goes into the pool with kids and begins an overdue swimming lesson.

The mom comes back later with an interpreter from the hotel. We talk and she again expresses her thanks. I tell them it was no problem and I was happy to help. She offers to buy me a beer or an orange juice but I tell her it’s not necessary. She says that her children are students in an international school in Japan and are taking English lessons. I joke and ask if they are taking swim lessons.

Word spreads fast and some more of the hotel staff arrive. They ask me to explain what happened and I oblige. Then the big question: “sir, may I ask what room you are staying in?”
“Actually, I just came here to swim today. But it’s a good thing I did!” I reply.

They smile and agree, and then the guest services manager asks if I will please enjoy a complimentary buffet lunch. Having seen the delicious food options before, that is an offer I can’t refuse!

The rest of the day I kept thinking about the situation. The parents were a few minutes away when the kids began to get into trouble. It was a very, very close call for the kids today, and I’m happy the winds blew me where I needed to be, sneaking into a hotel pool when I did. It’s a good thing that my plans for the weekend had already been blown off-course somewhat: I wanted to sneak into the international hotel on Saturday, but plans got shifted that Saturday morning. Had I already made my pool visit Saturday, I would not have been at the pool on Sunday! The world sometimes does work in mysterious ways, and sometimes directs us to the right place at the exact right time.

As strange as it seems, I had a strong feeling on Saturday that something important would take place that weekend. When I began to make plans to swim on Saturday, I received several calls from a few friends inviting me to join them for the day. After I received the third call, I distinctly remember thinking: “maybe something important needs to happen today, that I go to another place rather than go swimming. I better go.” My trip to the Floating Market on Saturday ended up being a wonderful experience, but the true direction I had been pulled in, if we can believe it, was to arrange a more precise arrival at the pool on Sunday. I had been thinking the universe was trying to get me somewhere on Saturday, when it seems actually that the fateful push was more to get me somewhere else on Sunday.

To the hotel’s defense, there were several warning signs posted around the pool. Furthermore, No parent should EVER let children go to a pool unattended, at the very least, not to new pools where the children are not familiar with the depths and slope of the pool floor, and especially not in a foreign country with language barriers. The parents thought to let the children run ahead by a couple minutes would be OK, but look what can happen in a few minutes! The hotel brought out ice cream for the kids to make them feel better and shake the shock, which was a nice gesture. I told the hotel staff: “chocolate always makes me feel better,” and I proceeded to then eat a healthy amount of chocolate at the dessert bar of the buffet.

meeting with Pongpol Adireksarn

2011-07-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

When I first began this journey many months ago and began to tell people about my plans, my good friend and one of my many wise mentors, Bruce Peterson, referred me to a University school mate of his to meet. The man he referred me to is Pongpol Adireksarn, a very accomplished person to be sure!

I asked the Thai teachers at my school how to pronounce “Pongpol” and they all recognized his name immediately. They told me he was very important in politics and is a Thai celebrity! His resume confirms this: past Member of Parliament, former Minister of Education, author, and now TV host for an adventure channel (like National Geographic). I called Mr. Adireksarn and, at the mention of Bruce’s name, he graciously invited me to visit his home in Bangkok. Thank you Bruce Peterson!!!

The trip into Bangkok is becoming fairly routine now, and I have a good understanding of getting around on the “sky train,” so I made quick time to our agreed upon meeting point. Arriving about a half hour early, I did something I had yet to do in Thailand: I sat down in a Starbucks. Pretty much the same as you’d expect in America.

Twenty minutes later, Pongpol met me and we walked back to his home. The “yard” area to his home greeted me with a very large collection of potted plants—many Thais keep potted plants in their patio/porch so I guess it’s not technically a yard. We sat down in the foyer to his beautiful home and spoke at length. He gave me valuable insights and suggestions on turning my blog into a well-read source of information about Thailand from a foreign “insiders” view and suggested even developing it into a book at the end of my adventures. Now I just have to start taking those steps…

He also showed me some of his video footage from a recent safari in Africa, as well as beautiful photos he took in some of the wetlands here in Thailand. The pictures and video were absolutely breath-taking. I can easily make some trips to the wetlands here on a weekend, but I had not thought much of visiting Africa until seeing the video. His work has moved me to seriously consider the destination. He also gave me a copy of three different books and autographed each copy!

I am halfway through the first novel, Rattanakosin, which is a fictional re-telling of the historical events that surrounded the formation and founding of Bangkok as the capitol. The story is full of adventure and is wonderfully narrated. He wrote each book entirely in English, published them under the pen name of Paul Adirex, and then later translated them back into Thai! Incredible!

At the end of our meeting, I asked if he would be willing to visit my school in Samutsakhon as a guest speaker. He happily agreed to do so! I am now making plans and a formal invitation with my department head and the school director to make this happen.

I feel very fortunate and very lucky to have met Pongpol. He is a wonderful and very intelligent man and has already been a good influence on me. I will be keeping in contact with him and I hope to one day repay his kindness. Until then, I can pay that kindness forward to others.

I highly recommend my readers to take some time and view Pongpol's brilliant photography here:

http://www.adirexphotogallery.com/index.php

Hua Hin

2011-07-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

This week marks the beginning of Buddhist ‘lent’ when the monks go into seclusion for three months. So most everyone took Friday off—my school included—to celebrate and prepare the monks. Since Monday was also another Buddhist holiday, I had my plans set for a good get away to a nearby beach called Hua Hin.

On Friday, my roommate Michael and I were invited to temple by one of our neighbors. We put on our Sunday’s best and went to meet her family at 7pm, then drove to the temple. Stepping out of the car and approaching the temple, we immediately felt extra self-conscious. Not only were the people staring at us white folk, as usual, but most everyone was wearing casual clothes, shorts, t-shirts, etc., and there we were, all dressed up!

The temple ceremony involved a normally clothed man speaking into a microphone for about thirty minutes. From what I could discern from my Thai language skills (still needing work) he talked about today being a good day to donate money and suggested different amounts. This was mentioned only a couple times, the rest of the speech was completely beyond my understanding. After the speech, everyone lit incense and everyone—about two hundred people—walked around the temple three times. There were monks inside the temple, but we really only saw them a few times throughout the entire ceremony.

The next day I was off to Hua Hin. Step One: take van to Bangkok. Step Two: take van to Hua Hin. The travel was about 3 hours, then an hour spent tracking down a good, affordable hotel. I met up with a group of about ten other teachers whom I had met and became friends with in training at Phuket. We went to the nearby mall for lunch and I ate some delicious New Zealand ice cream: chocolate fudge! I originally intended this trip to be an exploration and hike through the nearby National Park, but I found out that the trip I desired required a minimum of four people. It was a bit pricey, so no others wanted to join me L I asked the tour organizers to contact me if another group signed up that I could tag along with, but this being slow season for tourism, it didn’t happen. So instead, I occupied my time with some tanning on the beach, and then occupied my adventure appetite with jet skiing on the ocean! Since Hua Hin beach is in the Gulf of Thailand, the waves were weak and didn’t provide much lift for me to catch some air, but it was still fun. The water there was really more ideal for water skiing.

Whenever I travel to a major tourist spot like this, it is very important that I eat at some of the Western food establishments and skip Thai food whenever possible! So on Saturday, and then again on Sunday, I ordered a delicious 4 course meal at Ye Olde Buffalo Tavern. Some of the Brits we were with told us that the meal was pretty close to an authentic ‘Sunday Roast.’ Here’s what I ate: Australian beef, Yorkshire pudding with gravy, pumpkin and carrot mash, and vegetables. The food was amazing! So good that I ordered the exact same roast the next day and added an apple pie for dessert.

I did some browsing at the night market, not looking for anything in particular. Nevertheless, two souvenirs ‘found’ me and I am very pleased that they did! One is now hanging in my room as a great addition to my growing decorations, and the other souvenir is for a lucky sibling back home.

If any of my readers are curious about this fun in the sun and what a trip like this would cost, especially if any readers are considering visiting Thailand (ahem), let me show you how far $100 can go in Thailand:

Transport to and from Bangkok to Hua Hin….$12

Hotel for two nights……………………………………..$23

Jet skiing fun…………………………………………………$16

Ice cream!!!........................................$6

Sunday Roast……………………………………………….$10 / each night

Souvenirs……………………………………………………..$8

Fresh fruit and fruit smoothies…………………….$3

One hour foot massage……………………………….$7

Other food and snacks…………………………………$5

Transport along the beach…………………………..$3

Great weekend and memories…………………….PRICELESS

Benjasub Village

2011-07-10T02:06:00.000-07:00

The house my roommates and I will call home for the next three months is a quaint neighborhood called Benjasub Village (pronounced Benja-saab). There is one entry road into the village, which is marked along the main road, Ekkachai Road, by a 7-11 and a Tesco Express (corner store). We can get all of our day to day and even food essentials at either stop, but rarely do given almost everything can be found within the ‘hood.’ In front of the 7-11 are usually some food and snack carts. Continue down the entry road into our village and on either side can be found a few nice Thai restaurant ran by friendly neighbors. Most meals at local Thai restaurants cost about $1.25 US.

This is also where our friend, Num, has his stationery shop. Num helped me install a shower in our 2^nd bathroom (two showers in our house is a wonderful thing!) and he refused my payment for service saying “I am a friend.” He has proven to be a good friend time and again, and we try to have him over for our home cooked meals whenever we can. So nice! Back to the food—one of the restaurants has very good soup foods, the other restaurant has great noodle and rice options. Every morning, the same entry road has some additional food carts for the breakfast rush: one serves a soup that looks to be porridge (verification will be added once I sample some), another cart serves buttered toast, and few carts serve lunch-in-a-bag. For those who don’t know, lunch-in-a-bag is literally just that. Think of a sack lunch at school in America, but now think of that bag full of soup. The Thai’s fill small plastic baggie’s with broth, twist it around tight, then rubber band it, fill other bags with noodles and veggies, then put all of them in another, larger baggie for the road. Don’t spill.

The village opens up to a community center where the body of a dead and abandoned pool lies empty and in disrepair. There are loose tiles and broken bricks along the bottom. The heat is so great in Thailand that I have considered cleaning out the pool but I realize that the community probably can’t afford to keep it filled or chlorinated, or they just don’t see the use of a pool. The hallmark of this area seems to be the club house where the local youths gather in the evenings to compete on the six snooker/billiards tables. But from 6-7pm most nights, a fitness class has center stage. Outside, on the end of the pool opposite the club house, is a fairly large, flat chunk of cement that hosts fitness aerobics. The class burns calories to some fantastic fast-paced Thai pop music, and is led by an energetic woman who stands over the class on a wooden scaffold-like structure at the head of the class. The women turn and clap and twist and sweat, all of them smiling!

More food carts can also be found in this area (the food cart vendors can be identified by big beach umbrellas to block out the sun). There is a butcher cart where a woman chops up different meats on her chop block. Another cart has fresh seafood. And of course, one or two carts have delicious mangoes and other fruits! The Thai word for fruit is polamai. I try to eat a lot of polamai.

Also in this area are some run-your-own loads wash machines at a cheap price of 20 baht per load (about 70 cents), as well as some electronics stores, a fix-it shop, and a few other shops. One cart is a CD and DVD cart that plays music throughout the evening to entertain. Continue walking past the neighborhood central (community center and food cart alley), and you come to Soi 1 (soi means little street). This is where I do my laundry; I take clothes on Wednesday, pick them up on Sunday and drop off another load, which I then pick up and repeat again the following Wednesday. The clothes are washed and dry, pressed and folded, and the bagged or left on hangers. One month of laundry costs about $18, including tip! My house is on Soi 3, so laundry is just around the corner. Not far from the laundry lady is my choice of tailor, where I've had to take a few items. And near the tailor is my barber; I pay $2 for my monthly haircut in Thailand. All of these businesses are "home office" style, meaning the bottom level of a two story home is where the business is, and then the family lives above on the second floor.

We live in District 1, of which there are 3 districts in the Benjasub neighborhood. At the meeting point between District 1 and District 2 is a good-sized shrine area for worship and offerings.

I cross over into District 2 (takes a few minutes walk) to go fill up water at the purified water system, and usually have a nice chat with the machine’s owner who speaks a decent amount of English. Also in District 2 is a small playground for the kiddos.

Some of our neighbors have been shy around us, but most are very open and friendly. I played a bit of badminton with some kids the other day, I talked Thai Boxing with two men before that, and we always say “sawadee” to others as we walk past. They smile and respond, some more shy than others. We do look pretty out of place here! Many of our students live in this neighborhood, but I don’t know any by name yet. One, an older boy who is at least old enough to drive, stopped me today and said “teacher!” and indicated that I should get on his motorbike for a ride home. I was already in the neighborhood, just passing the restaurants and only a four minute walk to Soi 3, but I graciously accepted and he safely delivered me to my home, astutely following my pointed hand directions.

it’s rainy season in Thailand. We’ve been lucky so far to have most of the rain fall when we are already inside. There’s been quite a few nights where deafening rips of thunder awaken the house mates from sleep late at night, and one night the lightning temporarily killed all power, save for my handy, ever-ready flashlight. The sound of rain on our metal rooftop is very distinct. The dogs are the worst; they bark from about 9 to 10:30pm every night, so my sleep schedule revolves around their noise levels. I usually go to bed at about 11pm. Some nights the dogs will start barking and howling again in the middle of the night. There is almost always, without fail, a chorus of dog noise at about 5:30am, so that’s when I start moving and getting out of bed. Like I said, my sleep schedule revolves around those dogs. And they don’t so much bark in this neighborhood—I can respect a hearty dog bark. The dogs here “yip” and they “whine” and they do not sound tough or scary at all, just very annoying. I could do without these dogs!

Of course, if I manage to sleep through the dogs, I'll still be woken up by the 6am mobile alarm clock. That's right, there is a man who rides his bike up and down every street in our village, honking his horn again, and again, and again. Everyday, Monday - Saturday. My best guess is that he is paid by the factories nearby who employ a lot of our villagers. The factories want their workers to show up on time, so maybe they provide their own alarm clock system? I don't think this one biker guy does it just because he likes waking up and pissing off his neighbors!

One of my good Thai friends here has asked me and my roommates, on separate occasions, what the difference between a house and a home is. They do not have a similar expression in the Thai language, so the concept was at first confusing to him. I explained that home is really where the heart is, and a house can be anywhere you stay for a period of time. For me, I have a nice house in a nice neighborhood, a place that I am starting to become very comfortable with, but there still is no place like home!!!

Glimpses: Teacher Shirt

2011-07-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

My uniform code calls only for a collared shirt and slacks; I can wear short sleeves or long-sleeves with the sleeves rolled up. The only thing they are really particular about is that I wear blue on Friday. Until now, that meant my trusty, long-sleeve blue shirt, which is very hot in the Thailand sun. My school provided a wonderful remedy with this:

This is in the true "style" of Thailand and is very popular among the teachers at my school. Most of the teachers wear this same shirt on Friday (some have different patterns, but same style) and many wear the style with different colors throughout the week. The shirt has a couple of pockets, looks vaguely Hawaiian, was measured and is custom-fit, and most important, is very refreshing on hot days!

Glimpses

2011-07-01T04:17:00.000-07:00

Shared a meal with a nice couple that has adopted me for lunches every Wednesday. They barely speak English and I barely speak Thai, so at best we laugh our way through conversations and at worst, we have some silly misunderstandings. Well this particular Wednesday they drove me outside of town to the outskirts, along the main highway towards Bangkok, and pulled into the parking lot for a nice surprise: the name of the coffee shop we would eat at was Uncle John! They had no idea of the relation (I have a very silly Uncle John!), and I don’t think they even know what “uncle” means. The most likely course of events is simply that they chose the destination because the shop’s name and menu was printed in English. Most of the other restaurants in town are only identifiable by Thai letters; I may have eaten at other restaurants with names I’d find significant, but I wouldn’t know it because I’m still learning the Thai alphabet (44 characters).

I tried my best to explain the significance to the couple but I don’t think it carried through. They smiled, but probably out of politeness, not understanding.

The restaurant is a chain from Malaysia, but has a few locations sprinkled throughout Thailand. If it had not been for this random lunch exploration, I would never have found it. Had I seen it before, I surely would have stopped in, drawn by that name! I had pad thai for lunch and, although I am not at all a coffee drinker, I ordered the Uncle John Iced Coffee in honor of the guy! I don’t think it was really the kind of coffee he drinks; my Uncle John probably likes something a little stronger.

In other news, today’s Thai word of the day is เหม็น, which means “smelly.” It’s pronounced “men” which lends itself to a nice mnemonic device: I just remember “men are smelly.”

Editor’s Note: These two short glimpses are in no way related, despite what some relatives would loudly echo about Uncle John and “smelly.”

Dinner and a Show

2011-06-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

After enjoying the previous two weekends in Bangkok, I left school Friday with a mind to have a nice quiet, stay at home kind of weekend. I had agreed to meet my new Thai friend, Thanawat (nickname: Sam), for dinner, and then would retire early to bed. Or so I thought. When I arrived at Sam’s apartment, he informed me that he wanted to take me to a nice restaurant near Bangkok with a live entertainment show! Count me in!

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived at the restaurant. It’s a giant building on the side of the main drive to Bangkok, a familiar sight from taking the bus there and back the last few weekends. The place is called: Holland Beer. I’d only seen it from the outside and wondered as to the name. My best guess was that they served Heineken, which is actually widely available throughout Thailand anyway. Well it turns out they actually serve three different types of Holland-imported beers, and none of them Heineken. They also serve bratwurst, in addition to a normal Thai menu. The inside of the building and the friendly, ever present wait staff feels like a giant version of Texas Roadhouse—seriously, I kept checking the table for peanuts! At the end of rows and rows of tables is a big stage for the performers.

The food: delicious! We ate a couple of my favorite Thai dishes: shrimp salad with cashew nuts, and red curry with ostrich and pineapple!

The show: interesting, and I have to say, pretty entertaining and overall, pretty darn good. The costumes changes were particularly entertaining, switching between traditional Thai outfits to funny lady boy costumes, and then switching again to modern fashion. The song list was composed of traditional Thai songs that strike the cultural chord, mixed with modern Thai rock, mixed with dance music, with an occasional Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga song sprinkled in (both artists are huge in Thailand!). As it seems to be a signature of the Thai performing arts, there were a few lady boy songs.

Sam described the show to me as like a Broadway musical, and then I later heard his friend (who joined us there) comment something about “Thai musicals.” I couldn’t really follow a consistent story line thread, but that may have been the whole not understanding Thai language thing. Or, the show might have been a variety show, with no start to finish story, but a bunch of songs unrelated to one another. Either way, and even without understanding the language, I really enjoyed the show and the food, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with some Thais. Sam and I will be having dinner every week (probably not at Holland Beer every time) so I can help perfect his English and he can teach me Thai, and so we can be buddies J

He is a very nice guy and speaks English very well already; he was even so gracious as to deny my attempts to help pay for the dinner, which was not cheap by Thai standards. Next meal is on me!

One final tidbit: check out this Thai singer rocking the red, white, and blue!

Thai Bicycle

2011-06-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

What is the added significance of this blog posting? It’s the first one posted from my home internet! That’s right, after a few delays and minor snags, high-speed internet has finally been installed and I can blog and skype every day! Well, every day that I’m not going out and exploring Thailand to bring back materials for this blog…

Last week introduced a new aspect to my adventure: bike riding in Thailand. I’d had plans to buy a bike next month, after receiving my first full teacher’s paycheck. Well, those plans were literally taken by the handlebars and steered another direction.

Last Tuesday, some of the teacher’s invited me out for a “going away” party for one of the Guidance Counselor’s. We went to a local Thai restaurant and I graciously sampled everything they ordered. There were a few dishes that had pre-warnings and post-follow ups to them: fried duck feet, and soft bone from pork. The teachers warned: “Sean we don’t think you will like,” and then followed up with me the next morning to ask if “anything happened to my stomach.” Both dishes were actually tasty and had no bad side effects; the feet were a bit weird and didn’t have much meat.

Back to the pedal: the teachers offered me a ride home but I said I was going to walk over to shop at the market. They didn’t want me to walk, so they drove me there and asked what I would be buying. I had no plans to shop, just to browse, for bicycles to get a good idea before next month. When they found a bike shop, they parked the truck and four teachers piled out with me into the store. They asked me which one I liked and, when I found a real beauty, they immediately they started asking questions and negotiating prices with the sales lady. They worked out a sweet deal that was, admittedly, hard to turn down. But I was resolute and told them that I would wait till next month, just wanted to browse around and get a good idea. That’s when Teacher Chanida decided it was really too good a deal to pass, and she offered to buy the bike and let me pay her after the paycheck. I didn’t feel it was appropriate to accept such generosity, and I spent several minutes giving my best reasons to wait. I wanted to check the big mall too, I said. But Chanida assured me the deal they arranged would be better than everywhere else. So there I was, with four, female Thai teachers nodding at me, telling me to get the bike. I began to realize that denying her helpful offer would be the ungracious thing to do. We bought the bike. Loaded it into the back of the pickup. They arranged a lock to be thrown in for no extra cost, and extra light reflectors as well.

Next, we spent a good twenty minutes at two different stores picking out the perfect helmet (see picture). My roommate commented later that night that my helmet was “far too cool for a mere bicycle and would look more appropriate with a rocket or unicorn of some sort.” I agree.

One of the Thai’s who helped pick the bike is close to my age and the other teacher’s kept giving us a hard time, trying to arrange a date. But she is the Guidance Counselor who’s going away party it was. Nevertheless, she was very nice to drive me in her truck and to help pick out the bicycle.

The other three Thai’s that helped me do my shopping were all about my parent’s age and all very, very good shoppers. The way they mothered over the whole shopping experience, they way they negotiated and knew all the places to look for deals—I think I’ve found my Thai aunties! (editor’s note: when I get back home, I know my real auntie’s will have better food options than pork bone and duck feet!).

Field Trip to the Hospital

2011-06-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

Don’t worry, I am fine and still in perfect health. Just as my work visa required a trip to Laos, my actual work permit required a blood test and a physical at a hospital. So on Tuesday last week, Michael, Meredith, and I took a trip to the government hospital. This is a busy, busy place! There were people everywhere, including some not so happy looking people on stretchers in the waiting room. We checked in (with the help of some instructions for the medical staff that our school had written down for us) and then we were led to the blood drawing room. We were quite the spectacle! Everyone in the room ran out to grab other associates to view the show. We had about a dozen people watching, talking and laughing in Thai, while we covered our eyes and had blood drawn. One lady took pictures with her Blackberry! We think they were expecting our blood to be a different color.

They told us the doctors weren’t available to do the exam and that our results would not be available for 24 hours anyway, so we each set individual appointments to return. Mine was for Wednesday and, even though I had been there just the day before, I still managed to get twisted around and a little lost wandering around the hospital on my second trip.

I finally handed my patient card to someone and they had me sit down. Sure enough, they began all the trappings of a physical: took my temperature (thermometer under the armpit), checked my heart rate, etc. Then they asked me: “what are the symptoms?” I quickly informed them that I was OK and that I was not sick! That confused them—so what was I doing there? Luckily for me, at about this time a nurse from the day before recognized me and came to the rescue. She had me go to another room and I met with the doctor briefly. He spoke great English and asked a bit about my medical history. He only asked about five questions, it only took all of three minutes, then he told me I was healthy and sent me on my way. Blood tests all came back clean of course. Believe it or not, my short physical was actually more in depth than my roommate’s, Michael’s. The doctor simply asked him: “are you healthy?” And he answered “yes.” That was that. Altogether, the cost for the blood work and expedited physicals were only $3.30 USD. The second trip was much less of a spectacle, probably because we all went individually instead of as a group of foreigners. And the second trip was also a little more grisly: I saw two different patients in stretchers with stitches along the top of their head, and the hair shaved away in funny patterns to allow the doctors to do those stitches. Bad enough they were in pain, the poor fellas also were stuck with a bad haircut for the next several months! From the looks of it, these patients had not been wearing helmets on their motorbikes. In the words of my momma: “always wear your helmet!”

Editor’s Note: The health care system in Thailand is actually quite good. This fact was first brought to my attention by Ivan’s parents in Vietnam. Both of them work for the US State Dept. and told us that, when foreign nationals require good medical attention, they are flown either to Singapore or Bangkok. The quality of medical care they spoke of us was confirmed to me when I visited my local friend, Thanawat, at Ekachai Hospital. He works in the Pharmacy of Ekachai, a private hospital. This was practically an isolated island of America in a sea of Asia—the hospital looked and felt just like hospitals back home! Well, except for the food in the cafeteria, which was my purpose for the visit. We shared an English conversation and a tasty lunch together in the hospital’s canteen. The food was, you guessed it, traditional Thai food. We talked about cell phones, tv, and hospitals in Thailand. Clearly, there is a big difference between the government hospital and the private hospital here in my city. If I ever have the bad fortune to get sick, I know which hospital I’ll be visiting.

Easter in France

2011-06-03T18:44:00.001-07:00

This post is a little bit out of order on the calendar...but it's a good memory and I don't want to skip over it, even if it's out of place time-wise.

I landed in Paris, France, Easter morning. Spent a few moments on internet at an airport McDonald's (did not buy the food!). Took a bus into the city center and had my first French crepe with berries and chocolate. I had some time to spare before my train ride, so I took a look around. And by that I mean: I took a 40 second elevator ride up to the 56th floor of the tallest building and enjoyed the full panoramic view of the city. Saw the Eiffel Tower, saw Notre Dame, saw some building that my big sis would later inform me is where Napoleon was buried, and read some interesting information about the city that is available for the tourists.

From Paris, I took the Eurorail out to La Rochelle, a port city two hours away. It took me some time to get my bearings of the city and find the youth hostel, but I made it! Dropping my stuff off, I stole away to enjoy a nice, sit down steak dinner. Boy, do I miss steak, and I don't trust the beef in Thailand yet...Afterwards, I was back in a McDonald's and skyping to my brother's droid phone (which is really my phone on loan), and talking to the family. They were all gathered at Aunt Sheryl's house for Easter brunch. I really appreciated getting to say hello to everyone on the holiday. I miss the holiday food, to be sure, but I miss the family time more!

Happy Easter!

Just Another Weekend

2011-06-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend took me from Bangkok across the border to Vientiane, Laos, and back again. I had to make a standard practice “visa run” across the border, but more on that later. Saturday morning began at the local foreigner favorite, Bantoon Coffee, where I enjoyed my American Breakfast and made a skype call back home to ma and pa. It’s always so good to see their smiling, loving faces!!! Having started my day off right, I then caught a bus to Bangkok for lunch with my friend, Kym, at our favorite vegetarian restaurant called Ethos. I greedily devoured a mango and banana pancake with coconut cream and honey on top, then went on to eat a healthy serving of falafel and hummus in pita bread. Delicious! After our foodfest, we caught a bus to the weekend market. It was there that I bought my first pair of sunglasses in Thailand. This was a milestone moment because my mother and two sisters have nagged me about getting sunshades since…well, ever since I left ;-) I also drank down some of my new favorite tea: chrysanthemum. It’s very floral in taste.

On Sunday we explored a mall in the northern part of Bangkok, had some delicious mango, and then went to the mall theater. On the big screen: Hangover 2. This was a significant movie because it was filmed in Bangkok, so we just had to see it! We definitely recognized some of the locations, buildings, and of course, all things Thailand. The movie was entirely in English, and though not as funny as the first one, it was worth the $4.75 to get in. An interesting thing at Thai movie theaters—after the previews and before the movie begins, every theater plays the King’s song to a short video clip featuring pictures of the King. The music and the Thai lyrics are pretty, and the video is interesting. Everyone stands during this, then sits down again for the movie to play. Also- Asian movie theaters have assigned seats; when you purchase your ticket, you get to pick out where in the theater you would like to sit from the chart of remaining available seats. Can you imagine assigned seating movie theaters in America?!?

Sunday night I met up with my other friend, Kate, also from teacher training, who also needed to make a Visa run. Both of us were in the process of getting our tourist visa switched over to a business visa, which unfortunately sometimes involves the added expense and process of leaving the country. And even though Malaysia is closer geographically, it’s much more expensive than Laos and is not as easy a process. So we signed up for a visa run service by what we were told was a reputable company which our placement companies (the companies that arranged our jobs) had referred people to in the past. We loaded into a van full of other “farang” (Thai for foreigners) and left Bangkok at 9pm. The ride would be approximately 9 hours. We made three stops total, all for the purpose of getting out, stretching, bathroom and smoke breaks for the smokers. Not once did the van need to re-fuel. It was a diesel engine, and apparently got great mileage! I nabbed a few hours of sleep, but only as much as you can get in a noisy van on a bumpy road. At one point, I woke up to the van’s engine shutting down unexpectedly. As the driver fought the key to turn the engine, I couldn’t help but notice that we were in the middle of nowhere! After a few more tries, and killing the A/C and music power, the van roared back to life and we continued on. Thank goodness!

We arrived on the border of Laos at about 5:30am and began the process of clearing customs to leave Thailand, clearing immigration to enter Laos, and then visiting the Thai embassy to submit our passports for visa approval. Passports can be dropped off in the morning, but not picked up until the following afternoon. The vans took us to the hotels (part of the visa run package) and we were fed breakfast. I ordered an American breakfast, again.

For the rest of the day, Kate and I teamed up with a brother/sister combo from Arkansas who are doing Christian missionary work in Thailand. They were an interesting duo and nice people. We hired a van from the hotel to take us to the nearby tourist destinations. We saw a couple of wats (temples), a reclining Buddha, an archway, and did some shopping.

I bought what I will from now on call the ultimate “Laos Army Knife” which will be an incredible tool for ongoing home maintenance. Uncle John will be so proud!

We returned to the hotel and were entreated to a lovely buffet dinner, featuring Asian dishes from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand. We sat with a group from the Philippines who were all doing the same thing we were doing: living in Thailand and teaching English—their English is good enough to teach. They asked us questions about America and then one of them got our email address so we could stay in touch through facebook.

The next morning, Kate and I took a final walk along the streets of Laos. One thing we noticed was a strong presence of Veterinary facilities, something we had not really seen in Thailand. We went into one and found the place busy as a beaver! The people of Laos really love their animals!

Then we performed the ‘immigration hustle’ in reverse of yesterday: cleared Laos customs to leave, cleared Thai immigration to enter, and moments later I was officially legal to work in Thailand. We loaded our bus at about 2pm, ready to go home. That’s when things got a bit uncomfortable.

You know, when everyone on the bus speaks English fluently, and when all of us are living in country where few others speak our language and we don’t speak theirs, you would think that such a gathering would be full of chit chat and general English conversation at the joy of sharing something in common with a stranger, yes, but someone who is familiar in language. You would think so, but that is not the case! I felt like I was on a nightmare episode of Survivor! Two guys almost got in a fight over who would get the front seat. This wasn’t really resolved; one of them just took to the back of the van but promised the other “he’d steal the seat at our first stop.” Then two women who had sat together on the ride up to Laos found their seats had also been taken; when they asked some of the guys to shift around so they could sit together, no one was nice enough to do so. No one else on the bus came with a buddy either, and they weren’t friends sitting next to one another. In the words of one of the Americans who responded to the Europeans request, “it ain’t my problem!” I was sitting next to Kate, but even if I did the gentlemanly thing to give up my seat, the girls still would not have seats next to each other. So they were split up and had to sit next to the guys who didn’t want to cooperate. The two guys who almost fought had both mellowed out by the first stop, and the rest of the van slept soundly for our ride back to Bangkok. I listened to podcasts on my iPod and watched the Thai countryside roll along. I saw plenty of Asian cattle and saw several small bungalow villages where the farmers must live.

We arrived back in Bangkok at about 11pm. Too late for me to catch a bus back to my town—they stop running much earlier. So I stayed with Kate, hopped on an early bus at 6:30am, and made it to school in good form at 7:15am Wednesday morning. What a weekend!

Monk Sighting

2011-05-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

We spotted some orange-robed monks this morning, walking down Soi 3 (our street) in our neighborhood. It's 6am and I'm frying up my eggs for breakfast when my roomie Meredith calls out and announces that the monks have arrived. Sure enough, they were walking door to door, collecting the morning offerings.

In Thailand, monks will go out and the followers are to present food and water offerings, if they have it available. The neighbors directly across from our home put something in the monks bowl; I'm sure it was delicious! My camera hand wasn't quick enough to the draw, but next time I'll be sure to snap some photogs.

First Day Teaching

2011-05-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to Michael Oakley and the delicious egg sandwiches he made my house mates and I for breakfast on the start of our first day. The man can cook.

My job finally arrived, and it arrived in a hurry! Managing a class of fifty students and teaching to students who barely understand English is so different from any of my experiences volunteering in classrooms thusfar; that being said, my volunteering with Junior Achievement has prepared me tremendously. Any experience running a classroom and teaching helps in a big way, and JA provided all of those learning experiences. And don’t let me forget my mother the teacher, aka the Ace up my Sleeve who is always an email or phone call away with teacher tips!

Overall, my first day was pretty easy going. Students had just returned from a short break from classes and the school was a bit chaotic adjusting to the new term. My department head informed me and my fellow teachers (roommates) that the first two periods were for classroom cleaning and assigning materials and we would not be needed. This left me with only two classes for the day. Since the curriculum just called for introductions and getting comfortable with the students, I was able to breeze through both classes! The students are all, mostly, polite and well behaved. They like to chat during class but that is normal. They have cute American accents!

I can already see how much learning happens on the fly. Teachers must constantly readjust what they are doing and how they present information, and it’s not just the broad areas of teaching either, it’s also the little things! For example—I caught myself wasting too much time erasing the white board and not structuring my writing on the board in such a way that kept the class focused and engaged. Sometimes my body covered up what I writing. I made mental notes and addressed this in my second class. My “white board” utilization and management has already improved! As they say, “practice, practice, practice.”

Tomorrow will provide more opportunities for learning: I have a full day of six classes! Barely enough time to take a lunch break!

Saigon, Vietnam

2011-05-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

A happy reunion at the Saigon airport. I met sister Melanie and her fiancé Ivan at baggage claim. We stepped outside and were picked up by Ivan’s family and taken to their place. His mother, Vicky, his step-father Andrew, and his brother Michael, were all so very nice and gracious hosts. They are a very fun family and I can see that Melanie will fit in very well. Our flights arrived later in the evening and the international travelers were very jet-lagged, so we visited for but a few moments, called home to Denver, then retired for the evening. The next morning I woke up to the smells and sounds of our wonderful hosts’ cooking meat for breakfast. Ivan made eggs with vegetables and Melanie helped Vicky make delicious fruit juice from fresh fruits. We spent the day as good tourists; first we walked to the local Ban Thanh Market and perused the aisles of fresh food, exotic meats, and of course, souvenirs. Then we walked over to a large cathedral—Melanie commented on the similarities to Notre Dame and French design—

then we visited the Post Office, another work of structural and architectural art. For lunch we met Ivan’s folks at Pho 2000. This place is famous for having hosted President Clinton for lunch. Pictures cover the wall displaying this momentous feast for the small restaurant. The Pho was incredible, as was my avocado shake! Following lunch, we were given a tour of the inner office of the U.S. Consulate office, where both Andrew and Vicky work. The Vietnamese who work with them were all smiles and full of jokes.

Our next stop was focused on war history; we went to the War Remnants Museum and boy, did we get our war history, mixed with plenty of propaganda. The Museum cast America in a very bad light, and understandably so from their perspective, and the perspective of many Americans who opposed the war. And who are we to judge, when our own text books and museums carry the appearance of propaganda and one-sided historical accounts to foreigners in our country. About halfway through the museum tour I recognized two others in the building: one of the teacher’s from my Thai Training Program, Tara, and her boyfriend, Lee. They’re from Canada and are working in another part of Thailand; I hadn’t seen them since training ended, and what a coincidence that they should tour Vietnam and the same museum on the same day and time! It was great to see them there!

After about two and a half hours in the museum—complete with terrible pictures, big guns and tanks, and sad stories—we left and went to a nearby café for a sit-down. Ivan ordered the pineapple cake but hey, he’s on vacation. Lastly, we tried to squeeze in the Reunification Palace but, alas, it closed at four p.m., so we missed out. We returned to home base. With the rest of the group, we went to the top floor of the building and had snacks, looking out over the city lights at night. Then off to dinner at Ben Thanh market again for delicious fresh food, especially seafood. You know its fresh when you see the food moving in water buckets nearby, then the cook picks out the critter and sets it directly on the grill. It was a wonderful dinner. We finished off the night with a walk through town, one of the famous malls, up to the city river, and back through to the apartment.

Breakfast the next morning featured more fresh juice and some interesting sandwiches, like a French baguette with a Vietnamese twist and, of course, full of Vietnamese foods! Delicious! I said my goodbyes and thanks to the host family, then the driver took me to the airport en route to Mel and Ivan’s tour for the day. We ran into some trouble on the way to the airport, so hugs had to be fast and furious as I leapt from the vehicle and ran inside, but I made it in time. One hour and a half on a plane, another hour in a train and bus, thirty minutes walking, and I was back home in Thailand before I knew it.

I hope to see more family out in SE Asia…

Home Away From Home

2011-05-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Wednesday this week involved driving from apartment complex to apartment complex looking at rooms and talking prices. Myself and two other teachers from training, Michael and Meredith, have all been assigned to the same school and were interested in living in the same building. Well, none of us were pleased with what we were seeing. The apartments were all studios, basically no different than living in a hotel room with refrigerator or TV or couch for the next five months. So we asked our placement coordinator and Thai translator, Pak, to have our taxi driver take us into neighborhoods in search of houses for rent. This proved more difficult and after some driving through unappealing neighborhoods, an industrial sector, and then out along the middle of nowhere boonies for a while, we had all but given up. The day was late and we had been in a cab for five hours. We discussed staying at a hotel for a bit and continuing our search later in the month with the help of our fellow Thai teachers we’d be meeting next week. We asked (through translation) to have the cab take us through one last neighborhood near the bus stop, closer to town central, before we would go back to our hotel in Bangkok for the evening. Amazingly, that was just the last stop we needed to make. The cab driver spotted a for sale sign and we pulled over. The owner arrived shortly after we called, and the front gate was unlocked—yes this place has its own, locking front gate. We unlocked the front door and entered. The place looked great! The house is absolutely beautiful. Marble floors throughout in beautiful Thai patterns. A mahogany wooden staircase to the second floor. 3 bedrooms, living room, full kitchen (no appliances), two full bathrooms, and two extra rooms for good measure. Michael and I were sold, instantly. Meredith, the more level headed one, noticed some areas that were a bit dirty and reminded us to calm our excitement to be sure that the landlord cleaned from top to bottom before we jumped head first into the pool. So we talked all the necessary arrangements and agreements. Done deal. Perhaps best of all, the monthly rent ends up being slightly lower than our allotted housing stipend from our school, which means more money in my savings accountJThe tiny apartments we looked into would have been more expensive than the allotted stipend! So we found a great deal. Slight drawback, the house is not furnished, whatsoever. Well, besides one desk, which will be nice. Our arrangements were made to move in Friday.

Friday: we take a cab from Bangkok to Samut Sakon and to our new home. Our landlady is very, very nice but her English is virtually non-existent. Her name is Duang pon. She is a teacher and her husband is a police officer. She had some locals from our village at the house hard at work cleaning. One of them, named Num, owns a stationery shop up the road from us and has a decent command of the English language. We spoke to him and he’s going to help us find a used fridge for cheap. After signing our contract, the landlady takes us to Big C’s, which is the large shopping center/food court/grocery store/cinema and home good store. For about only $300 total, we picked up our floor mattresses (don’t have enough for a full bed just yet!), bedding, pillows, cleaning supplies, TP, speaker system for music, some cooking supplies and a coffee pot, three fans to keep us cool at night, and some cookies. We made out like bandits in proportion to how much we spent! The cab ride back home was quite comical, stuffing the trunk full of fan boxes and grocery bags, the back seat with folded floor mattresses, our trash can in Michael’s lap on the middle, and Meredith literally sitting on the floor of the car with me on the back seat. The cab driver thought we were pretty silly! But we made it home!

First night in the new home was a rough one; despite the neighborhood being significantly quieter than our hotel in Bangkok, which was above bars that played music until 2am, the reality of the situation spoke loudly to my mind. Knowing that it’s just me and two roommates in a new city, miles away from the big capital, thousands away from home, was a bit daunting. I survived, and I know that with each day my sleep will become deeper, better, and more long-lasting. But I will always miss home and family and friends!

Day two in the new home got off to a good start. I cut up some watermelon from the local market for breakfast for the roommates and I. We wandered out and about for a bit to explore nearby shops, then had some traditional Thai food for lunch. Our land lady came by in the afternoon and led us in a Thai Buddhist blessing of the house—this is done whenever someone moves into a new place. She took us into the town central to show us more good stores and where to catch the buses into Bangkok for weekend activities. She also showed us the route to our school and the bus stop to get there; we wanted to make sure we know how to get to work! Turns out our little village neighborhood is about two miles down the main street of town from the school! It should be a ten minute bike ride is all. I went back to Bangkok for the evening to stay in a guest house, shower up in the morning, and head to the airport for Vietnam with sister Melanie and her fiancé Ivan tomorrow!