Yesterday

I don't get to actually sit down with the Internet very often, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks when I get my teaching placement it will be in a place where the Internet is a little more convenient. This week I taught my first two classes. It was a learning experience, and I teach more classes next week. In the afternoons and evenings I've spent a lot of quality time with the ocean.



My hotel sits across the street from the beach. On the side of the street with the hotel, there are other (mostly empty this time of year) hotels and some small restaurants. On the beach side, there are lots of beach chairs and umbrellas and tables. Sometimes people order food and then walk across the street to eat on the beach. Sometimes at night people drag sound equipment down there and throw karaoke beach parties.

On Wednesday after school I joined some of my fellow TEFLers at the beach. There was a huge jellyfish in the water, and some of them were trying to play with it while others were keeping their distance. These shots are from my underwater camera.





The top feels like nubbly plastic. It's not at all what I expected. That is not my hand; one of the brave gentlemen was making sure it was safe.

The jellyfish had a live crab inside of it, which later escaped when it was herded to shore for further investigation. Afterward, jellyfish was promptly returned to the water alive. Crab wandered away.

On Thursday I headed down to the beach with a book after class. The sky was clear with some haziness at the horizon and wispy white clouds overhead. Behind me, inland, the sky was overcast but light gray. I was hoping for a spectacular sunset. I sat down with my book (The Masked Rider, by Neil Peart) and started to read. I noticed a flash on the page, which I thought could absolutely not be lightning behind me, until a good few seconds later thunder rumbled above me. This was the longest, loudest thunderclap I have ever heard. I looked around behind me and the sky was still light gray. This happened again until the sky started to downpour on me, and I hurried across the street to take shelter at a restaurant and eat dinner (garlicky squid on rice.) Sudden weather changes are typical this time of year.

Most of my TEFL class was going to go out Friday night for karaoke to celebrate the birthday of one of my fellow students. Our instructor mentioned that a bunch of the TEFL employees and students from the other TEFL class were going to Rayong (the big city with the giant TESCO Lotus) for karaoke that night and that we were welcome to join them. This sounded like a great idea!

So we rented a songthaew (that's a pickup truck with two benches in the bed and a roof on top) and 14 of us rode into Rayong. We joined the TEFL group at a huge restaurant/bar where a cover band was playing songs in Thai and English. After an hour or so of this, the whole horde (about 25 people) walked to the karaoke place where we had a private room. This was amazingly fun. There were a fair number of English selections. I sang "A Whole New World" from Aladdin and "Desperado." I also sang "Yesterday." While I had a great time, I'm glad that I don't work at the karaoke bar. Having to listen to other people's karaoke parties all night long might be one of the worst jobs.



I'll leave you with Chaoying. She seems to live in the Condochain lobby. Her coloring reminds me of my kitty Clarice. She's chewing on my camera strap here.

First Weekend in Ban Phe

My first week of teacher training is complete.

Saturday I rode on the back of a motorbike around Ban Phe. I actually tried to drive a motorbike, much to the amusement of the hotel housekeepers who were hanging out of the window laughing at me. Jerk forward, screech to a halt, jerk forward, lean sideways, screech to a halt. I'm sure you'll have no difficulty visualizing this. I'm much better as a passenger. I don't think they make motorbikes with training wheels.

In Bangkok and here in Ban Phe there are motorbikes all over the roads but helmets are rare. Some of them pile on three plus people, including children on their laps. I've seen women ride sidesaddle. They don't really have enforced traffic rules so the motorbikes dart in between cars when they can. As a result, at a stoplight there is always a hoarde of motorbikes blazing forward first when the light turns green.


This fella was hanging out in my condiment tray.

Is it sad that it took me until Saturday to get past my knees in the ocean? It was a hot day, and shortly after sundown I took a dip in the warm ocean. I've never been in a warm ocean before, and it was wonderful. I luckily missed the torrential end-of-monsoon thunderstorm, which waited until I was safe and dry in the restaurant/motorbike rental/convenience store/Internet cafe next to the Condochain.

When the rain let up, I walked back to Condochain to the cacophony of the competing karaoke bars on either side of the hotel. I think that the one next to my side of the building has the advantage. Being in a covered pavilion outdoors, the flashing disco lights draw people and moths alike and the music has a much straighter path through the crack where my sliding glass door doesn't slide all the way shut.

Sunday five of us went to Khao Chamao national park. This trip was amazing. I don't know what I was expecting; we knew there were waterfalls and wildlife (elephants and tigers and bears, oh my!)

The first wildlife I saw was this gigantic black and yellow spider:


The hike to the waterfalls required a park ranger as an escort, and they did not let us bring food or water to the hiking trail. It turned out to be a 2.6 kilometer hike each way, but it was very intense. It was an uphill climb through the jungle. The trail went up and through little streams, and required a lot of energy to find the best place to step among the rocks and tree roots. There were about six waterfalls along the trail, and of course they were beautiful but so was just walking through the jungle. The sounds were amazing, the flora was amazing, the sudden drop in temperature as I stepped around a corner and into view of a waterfall was just amazing!



I bought a bag of fish food for 10 baht (33 cents) at the desk where we gave up our water bottles. The first (or second?) waterfall we passed had hoards of fish beaching themselves to get at this food. I tried out my camera's underwater capabilities here, which was a little tricky since I couldn't see the viewfinder.



The hike was grueling, especially without water. Up near the top, we passed an area with a very zoo-ish smell. The guide said it was tiger. We didn't actually meet a tiger. When I emerged from the jungle after four hours (I think?) I was covered in a slimy film of sweat, sunscreen and insect repellant. And leeches. Also leeches.

I pulled this sucker off my ankle:



It was so worth it though!





It started to rain just as we were leaving the jungle, and I had lunch at the park under a little pavilion while the rain turned into a downpour. The largest animal we met at the park was a deer.



One can rent a bungalow and stay the night at the park, which I think would be amazing. After returning to the Condochain I took a dip in the warm ocean and took pictures.



I tried to get a picture with an awesome wave crashing behind me, but it didn't work.

Giant White Lady goes shopping

I now have a Thai bank account with an ATM card and everything. Last night I visited Rayong (the largest city in the province) with most of my classmates for a shopping trip. The mall was disheartening. I don't enjoy clothes shopping, but I was looking for short-sleeved button-up shirts and I found some pretty ones. I asked the sales lady if she had big ones (with an accompanying gesture--I am very eloquent.) She dug around and presented me with a shirt.

The tag said "XL - US 8."

The next stop was the giant TESCO-LOTUS. Tesco is from the UK, and is a lot like Wal*Mart. They sell clothes and electronics and groceries. Here I was so pleased to find shirts up to 3X, for 200 to 250 baht! I bought four XXL's.

Behind the Tesco in Rayong there was a night market. The night market sold pirated cds and games, clothing and all sorts of tasty food. For dinner I bought squid-on-a-stick and was happily looking forward to walking around the market eating my squid from its stick. Instead, the vendor slid the squid off of the stick for me, cut it up into bite-size pieces, and put it into a small bag with cucumber and some sort of sweet sauce. I did get a new stick with which to eat my squid pieces, so it wasn't a disappointment. It was tasty.

Today's picture is a gecko on a sign at the monastery where I go to school.



(I posted this the morning after I wrote it, and my intestines might regret the squid-on-a-stick.)

Spotty Internet

Alas, my accommodation at TEFL training lacks Internet! The Buddhist monastery where I learn to teach and practice teaching has Wi-Fi (is that weird?) but it was quite spotty during the end-of-monsoon season thunderstorm this afternoon.

My first night here, I watched the sunset over the gulf of Thailand.





I probably won't be blogging much here. I hope you understand.

Up on the roof

My room is on the second floor, and today I walked up to the top (fourth) floor of my hotel to see what there is to see. Little did I know, there is a rooftop garden and shrine above the second floor.



The bit on the right covered in tarps is a walkway to Khao San Road. I'm grateful that I'm off the road a bit here because it stays very loud very late out there.

In the afternoon I visited Banglamphu Weekend Market.



I didn't buy anything. There was lots of street food that tasted and smelled heavenly, but I had just gone to McDonalds. It sounds kind of awful to eat at McDonalds, but I went because the McThai web site lists "Corn Pie" in the dessert section and I just had to try it. This McDonalds didn't have corn pie, but I had pineapple pie which tasted like you would expect.

I didn't try this:


Wat Bowoniwet is visible from the market. Here is a picture of its chedi.



A chedi, I learned, is the bell shaped structure at a temple that usually houses a relic of the Buddha. Most Thai men spend some time as monks before they get married. It's perfectly acceptable in Thailand to be a monk for a few months and then stop. Members of the royal family usually choose to do their time at this temple.

I'm leaving Bangkok tomorrow and heading to Ban Phe to start my teacher training. I don't know how reliable the Internet will be for me there.

Oh, and I went back tonight and bought the tee shirt.

In which Emily fails at haggling, or The Most Amazing Tee Shirt I Never Bought

I've found that Khao San Road is infinitely better at night than during the day. Apart from the impromptu breakdance party my first night here, the music is better (and some of it is live!) it's cooler, there are more people, as a result of there being more people taxis don't go down the road at night (tuk-tuks do) and there are more food carts. Some of the street vendors pack up and leave, and some are just getting started. It really makes it clear that this is a sort of cultural bubble, a community created for and by these weird hippie backpackers and the locals who love their money.



I wasn't going to buy any souvenirs for myself in Bangkok, or on Khao San Road specifically. I researched everything I could about Thailand before coming here, and one of the big things is that everything on Khao San Road is 1) overpriced and 2) available elsewhere in Bangkok.

My rule doesn't apply to souvenirs for other people though, and in addition to pirated cds and dvds, fake IDs and touristy knick-knacks, the biggest thing for sale here is the Tee Shirt. Shirts range from simple "Bangkok City" and the label designs from Chang and Singha beers, to musicians and scraggly-looking guys with cigarettes who I assume are musicians, to naked ladies and naughty words, and the just plain weird (Tree: "hug me." Man: "No.") There are a couple of people in my life who wear tee shirts (I do not...) so I took a couple of pictures in a stall yesterday and sent them to Saul and my brother. My brother said he would wear a certain shirt, so I went out looking for it again today.

No. No, no, no. For one, the street vendors set up shop in different places every day. For two, they don't put all of their stock on display. I couldn't find it! There are a lot of shirts that feature in four or five stalls along the road. This one, nowhere. At the Burger King end of the road, there is a big tee shirt vendor that seems to have set up shop for the evening. This:



Put a ridiculous grin on my face, which was probably my first error. You should probably know that Queen is my favoritest band in the world. I wasn't going to buy it; I don't even wear tee shirts. But someone put "Love of My Life" on a tee shirt and they decided to feature it prominently on the wall instead of on the rack and that made me happy. I dug through the shirts on the rack, hoping to find something for Saul or Nathan. I did not find something for Saul or Nathan. But I did find this:



Amazing. The print gives Important Biographical Information about our hero. Weight: 8.5 stone. Favorite Actress: Liza Minelli. Favorite Drink: Champagne. I don't wear tee shirts, it's big and will fit weird, the sleeves are a funny length. But it is also the most amazing tee shirt I have ever seen in my entire life. I ask how much it costs. "250 baht, but for you I'll give a discount. It costs 200 baht." I was really taken aback, not fake haggle-taken aback. 200 baht is six dollars! The other shirt vendors on the road ask for 100-120 baht, although they are the same shirts that everyone sells, and this baby is unique. There are only two of them, that I saw.

I think I displayed my taken-abackness quite well. I said that's too expensive and offered 100 baht. The man said that the discount was only down to 200 baht. I started to put the shirt back on the rack, and then I put the shirt back on the rack. I started to walk away, and then I walked away. And he didn't stop me. It's not supposed to work like this.

I bought myself a plate of pad thai and walked down the road to the other end, contemplating whether I really wanted this shirt and making sure that none of the other vendors had one (they didn't.)

When I got to the end of the road, the pad thai had kicked in and I was thirsty, so I bought myself a coconut shake. It's blending behind the carrots.



I sipped it as I walked back down the road again. I'm getting very good at politely brushing off the tuk-tuk drivers, by the way. As I approached the end with the amazing shirt I couldn't figure out what to do.

Ronald offered me no guidance.



Captain Jack wanted only for me to buy one of his bracelets.



I reached the shirts and decided that I needed to take a picture at least. As the man saw me approach he made the smuggest of smug faces, which I think was the universe trying to remind me that I don't wear tee shirts and I said I wouldn't buy myself anything on Khao San road. I took the picture and turned around for good.

Rain O'er Me

It's the tail end of the rainy season here. Last night I ordered dinner (palak paneer) from an outdoor restaurant on the street. It had just started to sprinkle, a raindrop landing here and there on my arm or face. This had been a long, hot day and each drop of water felt delicious. The man who took my order directed me under the canopy to wait for my meal, but I savored the rain for a few moments.

As I ate under the canopy, I noticed people with umbrellas and more than one person walked by with a plastic bag on his head. It wasn't more than a drizzle, even as I walked back to my guesthouse. I guess it's a Washington thing that people don't mind when it drizzles a little. Overnight it rained. I wondered before I opened my door this morning, whether that faint smell of decay that seems to be everywhere in Bangkok (covered briefly by street food or jasmine or incense, but always there) was going to be cleaned away by the rain, or whether instead the water would saturate the ground and let whatever putrid smell is there float up to the surface.

Either the rain cleaned the air, or I'm getting used to the smell of Bangkok. It was a great morning. There was still a slight mist, and I brought my umbrella just in case when I went for my walk. My feet were sore from all of the walking I did yesterday, so today I would just visit Santichaiprakarn Park a few blocks north of Khao San Road.



The first thing to greet me when I crossed the street into the park was this pavilion.



Santichaiprakarn Park is on the Chao Phraya River. That's the Rama VIII bridge. There was a wonderful breeze at the park today which combined with the mist to make the most perfect day.



That's a little boat in the canal next to the park. The vegetation reminds me that this is a jungle. I made a new favorite tree at the park. It's a Malay Banyan (thankfully there were signs on the trees which gave their names in English.)



I think it would be absolutely perfect for a Swiss Family Robinson-style treehouse.

Prasumen Fort is one of the biggest draws to this park. It used to be a part of the wall around the old city.



I walked across a little bridge next to the park that took me over the canal. The canals are supposed to be the stinkiest thing about Bangkok, and yesterday the one I crossed to visit the Grand Palace almost made me retch. It might be because of the rain last night and today, but this one didn't smell.



On the other side I saw this kitten on a roof next to a spirit house. I thought it was a perfect representation of Bangkok: cat, spirit house and sattelite dish. I also thought it was a cute picture.

Grand Palace, Saranrom Park

My first meal in Bangkok, very appropriately, was a banana pancake. It's appropriate because Khao San Road, where I am staying, is one of the most notorious stops on the backpackers' "Banana Pancake Trail" through southeast Asia. It's not really Thailand, which is part of why I decided to stay here. Tuesday after trekking across the street to the 7-11 to get water, and down the street the pharmacy to get Valerian root so that I could sleep, I went back to my room and slept. I actually slept this time, with real dreams rather than the frustrating daydreams that end with the air conditioner clicking me back into reality.

Wednesday, which is today, I woke up early again (around 6 ish?) but that's okay because I had been in bed for about 18 hours. Seriously. I showered and had breakfast (eggs and toast) and decided to walk to the Grand Palace.

This is the courtyard of my guesthouse where I eat breakfast:



The morning smelled like car exhaust, street food, incense and decay. I thought that I would get lost, but I made it. Lots of Tuk-Tuk drivers (Tuk-tuks are three-wheeled motorized rickshaws; I don't know if they're made from motorbike parts or golf cart parts or if someone actually manufactures them as-is) tried to tell me it was closed, which is a common scam that I already knew about.

I (surprisingly enough) made my way to the Grand Palace and hired an English-speaking guide. He was amazing. I think his name was Boomsong. Here we are together:



I think I am like a foot taller than him. He took my picture in front of the various buildings and explained which ones were built during the reign of which king.



He was very proud of this picture with the flower in front:



At the end of the tour, he took some time to show me on my map the other things I should see, and told me not to believe anyone telling me that something is closed until I go in the gate and see for myself, and to always take a meter taxi. I knew these things but thought he was awesome for telling me anyway.

Across the street from the Grand Palace is Saranrom Park. I strolled around the park a couple of times and admired the scenery. All of the flora is different here. Even the grass is different. The grass has very wide leaves and is flatter than grass in the USA. The trees were all different, and there were some neat looking birds and interesting bird calls. I did see lots of standard US-issue pigeons and a squirrel that looked a lot like a regular US squirrel.


Neat looking tree, ungrass.

There were a bunch of guys fighting with wooden swords in the park. They would line up in two lines facing each other, and wave their swords and yell taunts at one another, then another fellow counted "neung, song, sam" (this I recognized from Rosetta Stone) and they would all try to kill each other! Some things are universal.



There are lots of stray/semi-stray cats in Bangkok. They make me a little homesick because my kitties are staying in a strange place right now too. I thought this was cute:


He is perched in the wall around the park.

After visiting the park I got very mixed up before making it back to Khao San Road. I ended up at Democracy Monument where I got my bearings.



I had my first Thai Iced Tea which was served in a plastic cup and not a plastic bag (boo!) and some Pad Thai from a cart. It was good. The lady who made it changed the price from 25b to 30b (still less than a dollar!) right after I got mine.

Someone on the wise, vast expanse of the Internet said that one who visits Thailand can either watch very closely what they eat, and avoid ice and street food and all that and get sick in 2 weeks, or eat whatever they want and get sick in a week and a half. I decided to be part of the second group, but I still cringed a little bit inside while watching the man prepare my iced tea.

And most importantly, since I was completely drenched in sweat by this time, I made it back to Khao San Road:



Now I take refuge in my air-conditioned room during the hottest part of the day (91f according to the Internet.)

ICN to BKK

I guess I can't sleep in Asia. Weird. Monday morning I woke up at about 5:30 and could not get back to sleep. After my complementary breakfast courtesy of Asiana I went for a walk. I stumbled on Dongdaemun Market, and as it was still pretty early in the morning, folks were sawing and drilling to make their displays and deliveries were arriving on trucks and motorbikes. It smells like leather and fish and perfume. Everyone smiled at me and I think a lot of folks were happy to practice their English with me. I had lots of "Hi, how are you, have a good day" and actually no "come buy stuff from my shop."


Dongdaemun Market. The Internet says it's something like 10 acres. There are lots of real stores and also vendors set up on the streets. You can buy clothing, sunglasses, fresh fish, handbags, and...


Korean Ginseng in pretty bottles at the market.

I also walked by the Bank of Korea musem, which is a very pretty building which is closed on Mondays. An underpass map had a palace listed on it, and I couldn't find the thing and was getting thirsty so I went back to my hotel to look it up online and I learned that all the palaces in Seoul are closed on Mondays too! What timing I have.


The museum.


This is a fountain near the museum. It was covered in flowing water when I saw it from across the street, but after crossing through the underpass it was off when I reached the other side.

I got very very tired all of a sudden around noon, but could not take a nap. I tried sleeping at the airport after arriving there at 5, and may have dozed some. The 5 and a half hour flight to Bangkok seemed more cramped than the one to Seoul, but I think I may have slept for a few minutes.

I knew I was going to be completely exhausted on arrival in Bangkok. I had a very clear series of tasks for myself: Pee. Go through immigration. Get baggage. Go through customs. Find ATM machine (my card worked, what a relief.) Buy bottle of water. Find taxi. I managed to complete these tasks and was very satisfied as I got in the cab that I would be sleeping soon.

It was about 1 am when we got on the road, so the highways were pretty empty. This was a very scary cab ride! The driver straddled the line between the lanes a lot of the way (I saw other cabs doing this too.) No signal or anything, just drive on the line for a bit until you make a decision. I reminded me of Toad's Turnpike on Mario Cart. Anyway, we arrived at Khao San Road. Taxis don't go down the road, so I got all my luggage out and trekked into the backpacker ghetto.

It was bustling at 1:30 or whatever. There was a circle of people around a guy who was breakdancing in the middle of the road. He wasn't on cardboard or anything, just spinning on the pavement. I heard a hoard of people singing along to U2 and it was so heartening, but I needed to get to sleep so I didn't investigate.

I found my hotel (can you call it that at $19 a night?) and checked in. It is a stark contrast to the fancy hotel I stayed at in Seoul. It's tiny. The walls are dirty and gray, and there is a frightening reddish area above one side of the bed on the otherwise purple headboard. The bathroom is the shower, so toilet paper has to live in the bed area or it will get soaked. But this room has three very important things: a bed (well really a mattress and boxspring on the floor, but close enough,) air conditioning and wifi. I'm set!

I can't sleep though. I took some benadryl last night in the hope that it would make me drowsy but still woke up at every little noise the air conditioner made. I woke up for good a little after 7.

I don't have high expectations for myself today, but if I can make it to the 7-11 down the street I would like to get some Tylenol pm or something.

I am in Korea!

I spent 11 and a half hours in the sky, and the sun never went down on Saturday--it just kept on shining into Sunday as I tried and failed to fall asleep on the plane. I was excited when I opened my vegetarian meal and saw rice and broccoli and yellow curry. Curried what, I wondered. It looks like rice but it's next to rice. It was curry sauce on a garden burger. Yum!

I had trouble figuring out where to go when I got off the plane since I knew Asiana had made a hotel reservation for me, but I didn't know where to get the information. Angel was an angel though and met me at the airport and made me happy on the bus to my hotel (which is, by the way, the fanciest hotel room I've ever visited. It has heated toilet seats and lots of other toilet buttons which I have not pressed.) We walked around a bit in the area around my hotel, which is very busy and musical and bright for being 10 at night.

My ears still need to pop and I'm very tired now, so I'll leave you with a picture of me. Unwashed, sleep-deprived, but in Korea.



Tomorrow night I leave for Bangkok!