So I have a week off of work and decided to take the time to go see a bit of Southern Thailand. My first thought was to go to Phuket, but after asking Judith and getting a resounding and emphatic "Stay Away!", I changed my plans to visit Krabi instead. (More on Judith in another post, but she's pretty awesome)
Coincidentally, my friend from Korea, is on vacation in Thailand, so I contacted her and we decided to meet up. OK. Plan is now to go down South and spend three days in Krabi.
I wake up early on Saturday and pack up my essentials. Fun fact, all the street food in Thailand is put into plastic bags and tied together with small rubber bands. I've been saving these and on Saturday I found out why. Clothes are much easier to pack if they are bundled with rubber bands.
STEP ONE: The cheapest and easiest way to get around a city is to hop in the back of a somchet (a pick-up truck with seats that makes bus routes) I ride the next somchet to the train station and buy a ticket to Bangkok.
STEP TWO: Sitting in front of me on the train to Bangkok were two Thai boys. Every few minutes or so one or both of them would peek over the edge of the seat. I would catch is gaze and wink at him and he would disappear. It reminded me of the Wack-a-Mole game at arcades but with Thai children and no hammers. Eventually, the worked up the nerve to speak with me and I gave them each a pin. I told them in Thai that I didn't speak Thai very well and that I didn't understand what they were saying. This didn't stop them from trying though, so I did a lot of sitting and smiling Using my dictionary they were able to point out the words they wanted and we had a very basic communication (I can't really say we had a conversation). They wanted to know where I was going, what I was doing in Thailand and did I have a girl friend. I was able to ask how old they were and how they were doing. Hour and a half ride to Bangkok.
INTERMISSION: At the Bangkok train station I purchased a ticket to Surat Thani and a connection ticket to Krabi. The train leaves at 19:30, its 12:30. I have some time to kill. There was a Muai Thai match on the big (really big) screen television. I have no idea who won but even the commercial were entertaining. There are shops, market stalls and a food court lining the walls of the station. Another odd phenomenon of the local economy: A small coffee americano costs 40-50 baht, a big cup of fresh (really fresh) coconut juice over ice costs 15 baht. I found a quite table on the second floor and posted up with my ukulele. All told, the Hua Lamphong train station isn't a bad place to spend a hot Bangkok afternoon. Apparently, this sentiment was shared by a couple of young Thai girls. They caught my eye, I waved and they asked me if they could sit down. They wanted to practice their English.
"Of course", I smiled.
Ying, Pote Pot'e (pronounced "Potato") and I exchanged the formulaic introductions.
"What is your name?"
"Where are you from?"
"How old are you?"
"Where you going?"
"How long you stay in Thailand?"
After our rote conversation had played out I brought out a deck of cards and asked if they wanted to play a game. Ying looked around surreptitiously as if I had just pulled out a joint and asked them if they wanted to smoke.
"The police men right there," she said in a hushed whisper.
Apparently, there is a strong connotation between playing cards gambling (illegal). I assured them that the game was for practicing English and they agreed to play. I taught them the simple game I had learned from the teacher from Uganda. In return they taught me the Thai gambling game. At some point during our conversation is came out that I was a teacher and they both immediately asked me for my telephone number (which I gave them). They added me to their facebook and I promised to let them know the next time I was in Bangkok.
The girls left to chat up some other farang, but i saw them a few more times that afternoon and they eventually saw me off on my train.
STEP THREE:
Sleeper Train. Definitely my favorite mode of transport thus far. the train leaves at night, you sleep and when you wake up you're there. I sat (bunked?) next to a young guy from Canada going south to finish his dive master training and a family from France. Hawkers walk along the aisles of the train selling food and booze at outrageous prices. Regardless, having a drink with Mr. Canada and Mr. France in the dinning car as the sun set over the jungles that whipped by the windows felt well worth it.
STEP FOUR
The train stops at Surat Thani station and I head across the platform to the bus that will take me to Krabi. The only notable items at this stage are that 1) I still haven't had breakfast and 2) I see for the first time a Thai person become flustered or upset. I'd be frustrated too if it were my job to get a bunch of clueless tourists who don't speak your language on a bus and take them somewhere. I didn't see anybody else wai when the conductor took their ticket. It must be a rough gig. Anyway, we're off. few hour ride through the jungle.
STEP FIVE
Step five is just like step four. We get off the bus and then get on another bus.
STEP SIX
Step six is just like steps four and five only when the man says 20 mins he means 2 hours. Also, I still haven't eaten.
STEP SEVEN
Finally I make it to Krabi town. I sign into the hostel. This is the first hostel I've ever stayed at, but this is better than a hotel. I'm am sharing a room with two smoking hot girls from Northern Europe (Norway and Sweden). We walk down to the local 7-11. Lots of smiles. I sing a few songs. Lots of smiles. We play cards. Lots of smiles.
I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them when I can. Krabi is an incredible place. Beach on one side, jungle on the other and through in a couple of huge rocks for good measure.
Smiles,
nick
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
What's up gang
Sorry for the extended absence. I wish I had some epic adventure stories to share with you all, but as it is I've been pretty busy with English Camp. So, I'll tell you how that's been going.
We left Thursday for Pattaya to spend two days teaching and playing with 6-9th graders. (Not called 6-9th grade in Thailand. P1-3 M1-3) It was nice to drive though the Thailand countryside, and I got to see a lot of cool things on the way. There were jungles and strange birds and raging unattended grass fires. Nobody seemed to worried.
Pattaya, if you don't know, is a prime tourist destination for much of Europe. You are just as likely to meet a Thai person on the street of Pattaya as you are a Russian, Ukrainian or German. Fun fact, the Thai word for a Russian national is "a Mafia". We arrive in Pattaya and settle into (what I think was) our luxury hotel. I meet Ben, another teacher from South Africa and my roommate for our stay, and we decide to go for a jaunt in the town and get some culture.
As far as I can tell, Pattaya is known for three things, prostitutes, karaoke bars and mega-hotels. The street women in Pattaya are veracious. (I can think of some less attractive words but I'm going to stick with this one.) Unconsciously, I found myself following the same rules of courtesy I follow for the stray dogs. Don't get too close, don't make eye contact and for god's sake don't feed them. This sounds bad I know, and I do feel a twinge of something like remorse for this description, but Ben walked to close to a group of bar girls on our way to the beach an one of them jumped up, grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into the bar.
We make our way to the beach front. I thought that our hotel was luxurious. Little did i know that Pattaya is the stage for the world's most ostentatious hotels On our way down the beach we walked past an outdoor cabana restaurant, a fire poi show and a water slide that went straight from your room to a floating pool restaurant. We got lost on the hotel grounds. I felt like we had wandered onto the set of Jurassic Park.
After our excursion into Hotel Jurassic Park, we went looking for a drink, and ending up having it in a strip club. Not that that should be any judge of our character, all the bars in Pattaya are strip clubs. Inevitably, our drinks are served with girls on the side. A pretty girl in red underpants named Au takes a seat next to me. She asks me where I'm from and I tell her, "pom mah jak bratet America". This was sort of the end of our conversation, but I was able to tell her that I only spoke a little Siamese. The whole encounter wasn't as awkward as I was afraid it was going to be. I asked her for a few Siamese words, and as soon as it was pretty clear that neither Ben and I were buying what they were selling, they moved on to more lucrative prospects.
Our English Camp was for students a little bit older than last time, but our routine stayed the same for the most part. Game/ Dance then quiz about ASEAN. rinse repeat.
btw. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nation and is something like the EU for Thailand and its neighbors. This is important to English teachers like myself because one of the requirements is that the population be somewhat proficient in English.
point is English Camp is where students go to practice speaking English and learn about ASEAN.
The last interesting thing of note is the Thai television show I saw the other day. I have no idea if it was a game show or a soap opera or what, but they dressed up one of the actors/ contestants in a wig, glued a soul patch on his chin and put a big rubber nose on his face. My first thought was, farang don't look like that. However, I'm forced to change my mind. In Pattaya the demographic representation of farang seems to be limited to fat old men, fat old women. Thinking back, the TV farang wasn't that far off the mark.
Today I learned:
If you're already exotic, nothing you do or say will surprise anybody.
Sorry for the extended absence. I wish I had some epic adventure stories to share with you all, but as it is I've been pretty busy with English Camp. So, I'll tell you how that's been going.
We left Thursday for Pattaya to spend two days teaching and playing with 6-9th graders. (Not called 6-9th grade in Thailand. P1-3 M1-3) It was nice to drive though the Thailand countryside, and I got to see a lot of cool things on the way. There were jungles and strange birds and raging unattended grass fires. Nobody seemed to worried.
Pattaya, if you don't know, is a prime tourist destination for much of Europe. You are just as likely to meet a Thai person on the street of Pattaya as you are a Russian, Ukrainian or German. Fun fact, the Thai word for a Russian national is "a Mafia". We arrive in Pattaya and settle into (what I think was) our luxury hotel. I meet Ben, another teacher from South Africa and my roommate for our stay, and we decide to go for a jaunt in the town and get some culture.
As far as I can tell, Pattaya is known for three things, prostitutes, karaoke bars and mega-hotels. The street women in Pattaya are veracious. (I can think of some less attractive words but I'm going to stick with this one.) Unconsciously, I found myself following the same rules of courtesy I follow for the stray dogs. Don't get too close, don't make eye contact and for god's sake don't feed them. This sounds bad I know, and I do feel a twinge of something like remorse for this description, but Ben walked to close to a group of bar girls on our way to the beach an one of them jumped up, grabbed his arm and tried to pull him into the bar.
We make our way to the beach front. I thought that our hotel was luxurious. Little did i know that Pattaya is the stage for the world's most ostentatious hotels On our way down the beach we walked past an outdoor cabana restaurant, a fire poi show and a water slide that went straight from your room to a floating pool restaurant. We got lost on the hotel grounds. I felt like we had wandered onto the set of Jurassic Park.
After our excursion into Hotel Jurassic Park, we went looking for a drink, and ending up having it in a strip club. Not that that should be any judge of our character, all the bars in Pattaya are strip clubs. Inevitably, our drinks are served with girls on the side. A pretty girl in red underpants named Au takes a seat next to me. She asks me where I'm from and I tell her, "pom mah jak bratet America". This was sort of the end of our conversation, but I was able to tell her that I only spoke a little Siamese. The whole encounter wasn't as awkward as I was afraid it was going to be. I asked her for a few Siamese words, and as soon as it was pretty clear that neither Ben and I were buying what they were selling, they moved on to more lucrative prospects.
Our English Camp was for students a little bit older than last time, but our routine stayed the same for the most part. Game/ Dance then quiz about ASEAN. rinse repeat.
btw. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nation and is something like the EU for Thailand and its neighbors. This is important to English teachers like myself because one of the requirements is that the population be somewhat proficient in English.
point is English Camp is where students go to practice speaking English and learn about ASEAN.
The last interesting thing of note is the Thai television show I saw the other day. I have no idea if it was a game show or a soap opera or what, but they dressed up one of the actors/ contestants in a wig, glued a soul patch on his chin and put a big rubber nose on his face. My first thought was, farang don't look like that. However, I'm forced to change my mind. In Pattaya the demographic representation of farang seems to be limited to fat old men, fat old women. Thinking back, the TV farang wasn't that far off the mark.
Today I learned:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Getting Settled
hey gang
The last couple days have been a bit slow, so I've left off an entry and instead will just ram a couple of days together.
Beginning on a high note, I've moved into my apartment. It's not not much, but I dig it. My lovely residence comes complete with a bed, a TV, a refrigerator, a closet and a bathroom. What else do I really need? I was a little disappointed that there was no kitchen. But I suppose my apartment is hot enough all ready, and food is so cheap here. If only wifi were free then my life would be complete.
A word on Thai toilets. Perhaps you have heard of the "squat toilet" It is essentially a basin that you squat over to take care of your business and then proceed to flush by pouring a couple buckets of water down the hole. I don't have one of those, I have a western style porcelain throne. What I do have is a toilet hose. For whatever reason, the one surefire way to clog your toilet is to try to flush toilet paper down it. Renovating the sewage system is expensive and time consuming. Instead those clever Thai run in a hose with a garden nearby for you to wash up after doing your business. I imagine the experience lies somewhere between a bidet and an enema. Ah Thailand. In any case, it should save me money on toilet paper.
On a less than happy note. I am still kicking myself for not being able to tell the difference between a 50 baht bill and a 500 baht bill and overpaying my cab driver by a large margin. Its the kind of mistake that I'm not likely to make again, but still, I feel pretty stupid for making it once. I hope he puts it to good use.
The plus side is that I started working yesterday and made up the money that I "donated" to my driver. My job entails getting into a car, driving some distance to a school and playing English related games with a group of students. A lot of these students already speak pretty good English, we just need to get them talking, about anything. The students (and many of the teachers) were all very excited to have a white guy teach them English and at the end of the day all of the students (and many of the teachers) wanted to take a picture. I'm beginning to have some idea of how it feels to be a department store Santa Clause. Today I will be going down to Pattaya to spend a few days doing the same thing. Should be fun.
The staff of the English Camp have all been extraordinarily friendly and helpful. The girl who lives in the apartment down the hall, Bianca, also teaches at the English camp and had some very interesting things to say about South Africa. Did you know that the overwhelming majority of their parliament has been to jail?
After the camp, Bianca and I went to get dinner. Eating at the local hangout for farang teachers, we over heard one fresh of the boat American teacher relate (quite loudly) the disgusting and disturbingly compelling account of his first two weeks in Thailand to two European backpackers. In two weeks he had: given up hope of ever being able to teach 65 students English, had sex with a prostitute, almost had sex with a ladyboy, and tried and failed to have sex with a ping-pong girl. I'm not sure if I felt worse for him or the two Europeans he was chewing the ear off. In either case, I've never been more proud to be an American.
We met a couple of Bianca's friends (both teachers). And I was really looking forward to gaining the wisdom of their experience. However, the band started playing and I only caught a few useful nuggets of information.
It struck me last night how sweet my life has become, "Here i am having, sharing a drink with three of what I'm sure are the most gorgeous women in Thailand with the most incredibly intoxicating accents. 20 feet away from the stage of a Thai band knocking out kicking jams."
English English word for "Granny Panties"
"Apple Catchers" because, "you and your brother can each fit into a leg, walk around the orchard and drop apples in them"
Ok,
Enough for now,
I'll post some pictures of my apt soon
The last couple days have been a bit slow, so I've left off an entry and instead will just ram a couple of days together.
Beginning on a high note, I've moved into my apartment. It's not not much, but I dig it. My lovely residence comes complete with a bed, a TV, a refrigerator, a closet and a bathroom. What else do I really need? I was a little disappointed that there was no kitchen. But I suppose my apartment is hot enough all ready, and food is so cheap here. If only wifi were free then my life would be complete.
A word on Thai toilets. Perhaps you have heard of the "squat toilet" It is essentially a basin that you squat over to take care of your business and then proceed to flush by pouring a couple buckets of water down the hole. I don't have one of those, I have a western style porcelain throne. What I do have is a toilet hose. For whatever reason, the one surefire way to clog your toilet is to try to flush toilet paper down it. Renovating the sewage system is expensive and time consuming. Instead those clever Thai run in a hose with a garden nearby for you to wash up after doing your business. I imagine the experience lies somewhere between a bidet and an enema. Ah Thailand. In any case, it should save me money on toilet paper.
On a less than happy note. I am still kicking myself for not being able to tell the difference between a 50 baht bill and a 500 baht bill and overpaying my cab driver by a large margin. Its the kind of mistake that I'm not likely to make again, but still, I feel pretty stupid for making it once. I hope he puts it to good use.
The plus side is that I started working yesterday and made up the money that I "donated" to my driver. My job entails getting into a car, driving some distance to a school and playing English related games with a group of students. A lot of these students already speak pretty good English, we just need to get them talking, about anything. The students (and many of the teachers) were all very excited to have a white guy teach them English and at the end of the day all of the students (and many of the teachers) wanted to take a picture. I'm beginning to have some idea of how it feels to be a department store Santa Clause. Today I will be going down to Pattaya to spend a few days doing the same thing. Should be fun.
The staff of the English Camp have all been extraordinarily friendly and helpful. The girl who lives in the apartment down the hall, Bianca, also teaches at the English camp and had some very interesting things to say about South Africa. Did you know that the overwhelming majority of their parliament has been to jail?
After the camp, Bianca and I went to get dinner. Eating at the local hangout for farang teachers, we over heard one fresh of the boat American teacher relate (quite loudly) the disgusting and disturbingly compelling account of his first two weeks in Thailand to two European backpackers. In two weeks he had: given up hope of ever being able to teach 65 students English, had sex with a prostitute, almost had sex with a ladyboy, and tried and failed to have sex with a ping-pong girl. I'm not sure if I felt worse for him or the two Europeans he was chewing the ear off. In either case, I've never been more proud to be an American.
We met a couple of Bianca's friends (both teachers). And I was really looking forward to gaining the wisdom of their experience. However, the band started playing and I only caught a few useful nuggets of information.
- Pharmacies will sell you anything you need sans-prescription.
- Thailand really doesn't have malaria despite what the books might say
It struck me last night how sweet my life has become, "Here i am having, sharing a drink with three of what I'm sure are the most gorgeous women in Thailand with the most incredibly intoxicating accents. 20 feet away from the stage of a Thai band knocking out kicking jams."
English English word for "Granny Panties"
"Apple Catchers" because, "you and your brother can each fit into a leg, walk around the orchard and drop apples in them"
Ok,
Enough for now,
I'll post some pictures of my apt soon
Monday, February 11, 2013
Day Three
Given the last two days of intense (mis)adventures, you're all probably hanging on the edges of your seats. "Oh my God?! Whats going to happen next?!" Sorry to disappoint, but today was less than adventurous, but one or two notable things did happen.
I made an appointment with my future employer (Language Services) to discuss my position as a staff member for their English camp. Their office is 4km down the road and the meeting was set for some time between 1 and 2 pm. "Great", I think, "I'll have to sleep in, have breakfast, rent a bicycle and mosey my way down the road."
The sleeping in worked out great until about 6:00am when the local roosters decided to have a contest to see who could crow the loudest. "No, problem. I didn''t really need sleep anyway" The breakfast was great too. Again, scrambled eggs. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe scrambled eggs is a local Thai favorite. I decided that, being in Thailand, I should branch out from my usual cup o' joe and order some exotic Thai tea. I was a little let down when the hostess brought Lipton Yellow Label. All complaints aside, the food was delicious and filling.
I felt pretty good about getting to use my Siamese. I asked the lady in the kitchen, "Kor nam noy?" (Could I have some water please)
She looked at me for a moment laughed and replied in English, "Water free! We have everywhere."
Ok, maybe a silly question, but I still felt pretty good about being understood.
Next door to the guesthouse is a bicycle rental shop where you can rent the jankiest bikes in Ayaduia for 40 baht. Its only 4 km to the office so I didn't expect this to be a problem. What the Google map doesn't make apparent is that the street also serves as a freeway also serves as a market also serves as a racetrack. In Thailand the only "rules" of the road are:
I made an appointment with my future employer (Language Services) to discuss my position as a staff member for their English camp. Their office is 4km down the road and the meeting was set for some time between 1 and 2 pm. "Great", I think, "I'll have to sleep in, have breakfast, rent a bicycle and mosey my way down the road."
The sleeping in worked out great until about 6:00am when the local roosters decided to have a contest to see who could crow the loudest. "No, problem. I didn''t really need sleep anyway" The breakfast was great too. Again, scrambled eggs. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe scrambled eggs is a local Thai favorite. I decided that, being in Thailand, I should branch out from my usual cup o' joe and order some exotic Thai tea. I was a little let down when the hostess brought Lipton Yellow Label. All complaints aside, the food was delicious and filling.
I felt pretty good about getting to use my Siamese. I asked the lady in the kitchen, "Kor nam noy?" (Could I have some water please)
She looked at me for a moment laughed and replied in English, "Water free! We have everywhere."
Ok, maybe a silly question, but I still felt pretty good about being understood.
Next door to the guesthouse is a bicycle rental shop where you can rent the jankiest bikes in Ayaduia for 40 baht. Its only 4 km to the office so I didn't expect this to be a problem. What the Google map doesn't make apparent is that the street also serves as a freeway also serves as a market also serves as a racetrack. In Thailand the only "rules" of the road are:
- If it has wheels and can move it's good.
- Right of way is given to the biggest and fastest thing on the road
- Traffic stays on the left side of the road, unless you're in a real big hurry, or you're feeling lucky or you're a punk kid on a brand new scooter and feel like showing off.
Keeping with my current theme of, "Let's go twice as far as we need to and spend a good amount of time running in circles" I ended up biking about 8km and passed the office twice before I had to call the man I was suppose to meet and put him on the phone with a local security guard. To chagrin (and relief) my future boss hops on his scooter comes to meet me and then leads me back to the office. We have a chat and vuala I have a job that pays me to travel and play with kids a couple time a week and a free apartment to kick it in the meantime. I will have to feed myself on the days I'm not travel-working, but groceries are so cheap here. I think I'm going to conduct an experiment. I'd like to see what the bare minimum amount of money is for living in Thailand. I'm going to shoot for $5 dollars a day (that's 150 baht).
It was with a light heart that I made my way back to the guesthouse. Seriously doubting the integrity of my bike, I decided to shell out for the ferry rather than attempt another crossing of the bridge. I only had a rough idea of where the ferry was, but I was pretty pleased that I only passed it up once and overshot the mark by about 200 meters.
Back in my room I discovered that I had gotten more sun than is probably good for me. I chug some water. crash out and hope I'm feeling up to going to the New Year's Day festival later that night (oh yeah, there's a festival)
I'm woken by the sound of music, fireworks and general revelry. I'm still feeling a little groggy, but decide to brave the party, if for no other reason than to buy some fruit and a foot massage.
Quick flashback:
During one of my less busy quarters at Santa Barbara I decided to take a massage class. I figure, "Getting massages from girls in bikinis and the massaging girls in bikinis, what could be better?" In reality, all of the girls in bikini's paired up with each other and because I came alone I was partnered with the only other dude in the class. Less than ideal, but I still learned how to give a pretty good massage.
Anyway, the point is I walk up to the massage tent and am paired up with the only dude giving massages. I think I must be cursed. But the massage was super legit. When they say "foot massage" they really mean foot massage, leg massage, arm massage, neck massage, shoulder massage and back massage. Actually, looking back, maybe I'm lucky my masseuse was a dude. A Thai leg massage come dangerously close to being a Thai groin massage. If my masseuse had been a hot young Thai girl in a bikini I think I might have embarrassed myself.
Fruit in hand and feet in heaven I start on back to finish the nap I started that afternoon. While passing the restaurant I ate at the night before I am hailed by a group of people at a table. One woman, the manager of the bar, remembers me as "Mr. Pad-Thai" and pulls up a chair for me. I don't have better plans so I order a drink and get acquainted. The group of merry makers includes "Mama" the manager. She decides to do my hair and take a picture. Taiyo is a local teenager, he speaks perfect English with a totally baffling accent. He was super friendly and recommended that I check out a full moon party when I get the chance. Exactly the kind of friend I need, so we exchanged numbers and I told him I'd contact him later.
Another woman, Sayli (seaweed) was very friendly (not pictured). She lives in Bangkok, and invited me back to the bar for her birthday (Feb 24). I think her exact phrase was, "Nick, you no forget Sayli. You come back." I'm not sure what the Siamese word for "cougar" is, but I was definitely picking up some weird vibes. But, any friends are better than no friends. Stay tuned for more news on Sayli.
Later, I broke out my ukulele and entertained my new group of friends with a few of my favorites. I stumbled through the second verse of Jason Mraz"s "I'm Yours" But the pretty Thai girl sitting next to me knew the words and helped me out. A local musician came by with a guitar and we managed a duet of a few Thai songs. I didn't speak Siamese and he didn't speak English but we were able to communicate through the language of music. Granted, I was playing the same two chords over and over again so I still felt like I was repeating myself, but still, I think the moment was pretty special.
End of Day 3
Things I've learned:
- Sunscreen is not a magical talisman that wards away harsh sunlight. You must apply it to your body to see results.
- The same thing goes for bug spray
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Day 2: Temple Run
Hi friends,
A lot to write about so I'll get right into it.
I woke up early on Sunday ready to take the train to Ayatthuya. My hotel is right next to a train station so I figure I'll just pop over, catch a train, and be in Ayutthaya* before lunch. Just to be sure I asked the friendly hotel clerks about taking the train from the station to Ayutthaya. The woman at the desk said that I couldn't get to Ayutthaya from the train station (despite the map with the clearly labeled railroad going from the train station to Ayuthuya. I decided to trust the map and my instincts and make a go for the train.
*there is no agreed upon Phoenician spelling of Siamese words
Just walking around Thailand is an interesting experience. Only about half the streets are labeled and only half of those are labeled in English. On just about every street corner, somebody has left out dish of food with an incense stick stuck inside. This is some kind of religious offering made for wayward spirits. I think that this is probably one of the major contributing factors to the enormous contingent of stray dogs that seem to inhabit every nook and cranny. I don't usually consider myself a dog person, but I have to have more respect for these animals than their vapid American counterparts. These dogs have balls (no pun intended). They aren't mean or unfriendly, for the most part they'll ignore you. However, I do my best to avoid them and I am seriously considering taking a page out of Max's book and start carrying around an iron rod. On the whole, the outskirts of Bangkok reminded me a little of Indiana in the summer. The weather is hot and humid, there is a marsh with marsh noises and 50 percent of the locals are missing either a tooth or a shirt.
I did eventually find the train station. It should have only been about a two mile walk, but I think I was able to tag up an extra mile through excessive backtracking and and walking in circles.
At the train station I found that I could not, in fact buy a ticket to Ayutthaya, this line only goes as far as Bangkok city center. Ok. Bangkok city center it is. The Lat Krabang train stations has two platforms: The skytrain is fast and has air conditioning. I saw a lot of other "farang" (westerners) going up to the skytrain platform. The MTS is standing room only and has a broken fan. This is train that the locals take. Hefting my luggage, I climbed onto the train with the thais and we chug-a-lugged our way into the city. Looking out the window, I was given the distinct impression that somebody had decided to build a bunch of sky scrapers in the middle of a village. Except for the high rises, all of the "buildings" were three sided shacks with correlated metal roofs. It struck me as interesting that: there is no real practical need for a lot of these houses to have doors, or even walls. It's never cold and they have nothing anybody would want to steal. For part of the ride a stood next to a father and his toddler son. The boy looked up at me and gabbled something is Siamese. It is a weird feeling to be exotic.
Our train stopped at the Bangkok train station. I had just enough time to figure out where I was, figure out how to buy a ticket to Ayutthaya, buy a quick lunch and run out to the platform to catch my train as it was pulling away from the station.
The train ride to Ayutthaya was much more comfortable. I had a whole bench to myself and there seemed to be an even spread of locals and farangs. Hawkers walked up and down the aisles of the train selling pork and rice or a selection of cold drinks. At some point a Thai girl of about my age sat down next to me. We exchanged glances and shy smiles for a few minutes. I decided that now was as good a time as any to practice my Siamese so I asked her her name. (At least that's what I think I asked) That was about as far as our conversation got. She replied and I didn't catch a word of it. So I awkwardly tried to repeat what she had said. I showed her my Siamese-Thai discretionary thinking that maybe she could pick out the word she was looking for. She looked at it for a few minutes, handed back to me with a pitying smile. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good about myself, but she offered me a stick of gum and gave her a pin from my hat. She must have been on terms with the hawkers because one of them said something to her, she said something back and slapped him playfully. I think they were talking about me, but since I have no idea what they said I'm going to assume it was positive. A few moments later my new friend got up and left and I resumed my survey of the passing landscape. I came away from our exchange feeling a little like an explorer in a nature documentary. The one where David Attenborough meets a tribe of natives in the jungles of Africa and manages a friendly exchange of gifts. The face of the Aftican natives is the exact same as the face of the Thai girl when I gave her the pin. Its the face that says, "What is this junk you're pawning on me?", "Why would I need such a thing?" and "I'm only taking this because I don't know how to politely refuse in your language." Oh well, I guess its a start.
The countryside outside Bangkok is much more like the Thailand I expected. Houses on stilts, slow murky rivers and lots rice fields. Finally make it Ayutthaya. I unload my suitcase and hire a taxi-truck to take me to the guest house I've decided to stay at. The P.U. Guesthouse (yes actual name and no it doesn't smell) is quaint (only word I can think to describe it). I have a single room on the third floor, I share a bath-shower with the other guests and the hostesses serve breakfast all day.
I set up my room and go back downstairs. The hostess is selling tickets for a boat trip around the city.
A little Ayutthaya geography for you. The city of Ayuthaya is on an island at the juncture of three major rivers and is the cite of more Buddhist temples than you can shake a stick at. Oh, and by the way, to day is Chinese New Year. So, yes, please, I would like to take a boat trip to a bunch of temples on the their festival day.
There comes a point when you have to let picture do the talking. This is that point. Suffice to say that the temples were decked out in their New Year's best. Locals were was out making offering of incense, flowers and money and I joined a group of devotees for a chanted prayer in front of a golden Buddha. (I figure in might not be a bad thing to have the Buddha on my side too)
Boating around the river I really felt like I had suddenly been sucked into a real life game of Pokemon Snap. I'm going around a track trying to capture all of the sights of camera. (My generation will get this reference)
We land back on the island and the New Years Festivities are just kicking off. I stop to peruse the night market /carnival on my way back to my room. After some unintentional detours and more circle walking a find my guesthouse. The whole of the street seems to cater to the needs of farang, so I put my stuff back in my room and go order some dinner.
End of the Day
5 mins today is 30 mins tomorrow: Wrap up your cords when your're done or you'll have to untangle them latter.
A lot to write about so I'll get right into it.
I woke up early on Sunday ready to take the train to Ayatthuya. My hotel is right next to a train station so I figure I'll just pop over, catch a train, and be in Ayutthaya* before lunch. Just to be sure I asked the friendly hotel clerks about taking the train from the station to Ayutthaya. The woman at the desk said that I couldn't get to Ayutthaya from the train station (despite the map with the clearly labeled railroad going from the train station to Ayuthuya. I decided to trust the map and my instincts and make a go for the train.
*there is no agreed upon Phoenician spelling of Siamese words
Just walking around Thailand is an interesting experience. Only about half the streets are labeled and only half of those are labeled in English. On just about every street corner, somebody has left out dish of food with an incense stick stuck inside. This is some kind of religious offering made for wayward spirits. I think that this is probably one of the major contributing factors to the enormous contingent of stray dogs that seem to inhabit every nook and cranny. I don't usually consider myself a dog person, but I have to have more respect for these animals than their vapid American counterparts. These dogs have balls (no pun intended). They aren't mean or unfriendly, for the most part they'll ignore you. However, I do my best to avoid them and I am seriously considering taking a page out of Max's book and start carrying around an iron rod. On the whole, the outskirts of Bangkok reminded me a little of Indiana in the summer. The weather is hot and humid, there is a marsh with marsh noises and 50 percent of the locals are missing either a tooth or a shirt.
I did eventually find the train station. It should have only been about a two mile walk, but I think I was able to tag up an extra mile through excessive backtracking and and walking in circles.
At the train station I found that I could not, in fact buy a ticket to Ayutthaya, this line only goes as far as Bangkok city center. Ok. Bangkok city center it is. The Lat Krabang train stations has two platforms: The skytrain is fast and has air conditioning. I saw a lot of other "farang" (westerners) going up to the skytrain platform. The MTS is standing room only and has a broken fan. This is train that the locals take. Hefting my luggage, I climbed onto the train with the thais and we chug-a-lugged our way into the city. Looking out the window, I was given the distinct impression that somebody had decided to build a bunch of sky scrapers in the middle of a village. Except for the high rises, all of the "buildings" were three sided shacks with correlated metal roofs. It struck me as interesting that: there is no real practical need for a lot of these houses to have doors, or even walls. It's never cold and they have nothing anybody would want to steal. For part of the ride a stood next to a father and his toddler son. The boy looked up at me and gabbled something is Siamese. It is a weird feeling to be exotic.
Our train stopped at the Bangkok train station. I had just enough time to figure out where I was, figure out how to buy a ticket to Ayutthaya, buy a quick lunch and run out to the platform to catch my train as it was pulling away from the station.
The train ride to Ayutthaya was much more comfortable. I had a whole bench to myself and there seemed to be an even spread of locals and farangs. Hawkers walked up and down the aisles of the train selling pork and rice or a selection of cold drinks. At some point a Thai girl of about my age sat down next to me. We exchanged glances and shy smiles for a few minutes. I decided that now was as good a time as any to practice my Siamese so I asked her her name. (At least that's what I think I asked) That was about as far as our conversation got. She replied and I didn't catch a word of it. So I awkwardly tried to repeat what she had said. I showed her my Siamese-Thai discretionary thinking that maybe she could pick out the word she was looking for. She looked at it for a few minutes, handed back to me with a pitying smile. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good about myself, but she offered me a stick of gum and gave her a pin from my hat. She must have been on terms with the hawkers because one of them said something to her, she said something back and slapped him playfully. I think they were talking about me, but since I have no idea what they said I'm going to assume it was positive. A few moments later my new friend got up and left and I resumed my survey of the passing landscape. I came away from our exchange feeling a little like an explorer in a nature documentary. The one where David Attenborough meets a tribe of natives in the jungles of Africa and manages a friendly exchange of gifts. The face of the Aftican natives is the exact same as the face of the Thai girl when I gave her the pin. Its the face that says, "What is this junk you're pawning on me?", "Why would I need such a thing?" and "I'm only taking this because I don't know how to politely refuse in your language." Oh well, I guess its a start.
The countryside outside Bangkok is much more like the Thailand I expected. Houses on stilts, slow murky rivers and lots rice fields. Finally make it Ayutthaya. I unload my suitcase and hire a taxi-truck to take me to the guest house I've decided to stay at. The P.U. Guesthouse (yes actual name and no it doesn't smell) is quaint (only word I can think to describe it). I have a single room on the third floor, I share a bath-shower with the other guests and the hostesses serve breakfast all day.
I set up my room and go back downstairs. The hostess is selling tickets for a boat trip around the city.
A little Ayutthaya geography for you. The city of Ayuthaya is on an island at the juncture of three major rivers and is the cite of more Buddhist temples than you can shake a stick at. Oh, and by the way, to day is Chinese New Year. So, yes, please, I would like to take a boat trip to a bunch of temples on the their festival day.
There comes a point when you have to let picture do the talking. This is that point. Suffice to say that the temples were decked out in their New Year's best. Locals were was out making offering of incense, flowers and money and I joined a group of devotees for a chanted prayer in front of a golden Buddha. (I figure in might not be a bad thing to have the Buddha on my side too)
Boating around the river I really felt like I had suddenly been sucked into a real life game of Pokemon Snap. I'm going around a track trying to capture all of the sights of camera. (My generation will get this reference)
We land back on the island and the New Years Festivities are just kicking off. I stop to peruse the night market /carnival on my way back to my room. After some unintentional detours and more circle walking a find my guesthouse. The whole of the street seems to cater to the needs of farang, so I put my stuff back in my room and go order some dinner.
End of the Day
Things I have learned to far:
Savor the small victories: seriously, i've never felt so good about finding my way back to my room or getting access to the internet
5 mins today is 30 mins tomorrow: Wrap up your cords when your're done or you'll have to untangle them latter.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Day 1 fun times in Bangkok
Hey there,
It's been a pretty busy for the last 48 hrs, but I finally have some time, an internet connection and a power converter, so i thought I'd give you an update.
Getting out of Bangkok airport was easy. "Bud Atipat" (both nicknames) was there waiting for me and my hotel was close to the airport.
Check it was pretty smooth too. The hotel staff all spoke pretty good English. I asked the bellhop if I should give him a tip. "Tip. Yes." I tipped the change from my room fee, 2 baht. When he didn't seem satisfied I asked, "How much is customary?" (a silly question looking back) Confused, he replied, "Yes. Tip." So I slipped him another 50 baht. I have no way of knowing whether I stiffed him or way overshot the mark. He seemed satisfied in any case and then in a serupsticious whisper he asked if I wanted him to send a lady to my room. I was taken aback, but not entirely surprised. I told him i was tired and went to bed.
End Day 1
After about 4 hours of sleep I woke up, repacked my things and went downstairs for breakfast. I found it somewhat ironic that for my first meal in Thailand I had the, "American Egg Breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee. However, the cafe menu was pretty limited. After breakfast, I asked the concierge to call me a taxi and take me to the shopping center in downtown Bangkok. The cabby had some great advice for getting back to my room and sites to see. However, his English was pretty bad and my Siamese was worse so I got about half of what he said. I am here now at MKB, the Bangkok mall, trying to stock up on some essentials (power converter, Thai SimCard, Umbrella) and will then try to make some sense of the Thai railway system. Tomorrow I go north to look for work.
Thai people have been very nice and are very eager to help. However, I am also pretty sure that I am being taken advantage of. I wasn't out of the cab for 10 seconds before another cab driver asked where I was going and did i need a ride. I turned a corner and another driver told me he would take me to the Thai Center (whatever that is) for 20 baht. I can't really complain though. Even if I am paying higher prices, they are still cheaper that what I would pay in the states. It's almost noon here. I kind of expect it will take me the rest of the day to solve the mystery of the Bangkok train system.
End day 1
Peace out,
Nick
Just kidding
I though I was about to post that last piece of writing using the wifi network of the internet cafe, but unfortunately there is no such thing as free wifi in downtown. In fact, the prices in the limited area of downtown Bangkok I was today were all really wacky. I was going to buy an umbrella until I realize umbrellas cost about as much as a hotel room. Umbrellas are convenient and all, but if it starts raining and I'm going to drop 500 baht, its going to be on a hotel room.
Getting back to my hotel took more doing than I expected. The helpful cab driver from this morning explained to my that I should take the electric train out of the city before getting a cab back to my room, (some explanation I didn't catch), it is cheaper to do it this way. The driver told me which station to exit, but because I didn't write it down and some of the station names sound a lot alike I got off four stations too early. Anyways, I did some walking. I'm going to skip some stuff, but the lesson learned is,
"If you're going to write out instructions, write it in Siamese"
Finally, back at my hotel. I'm ready to crash out, but I figure I sleep now I'll wake up hungry in the middle of the night. So I grab my wallet... where's my wallet? Shit... So I unpack everything in my backpack, lay it out on the floor and am still missing a wallet. I go downstairs to the front desk and tell them I'm missing a wallet and that anybody who finds it should call me. I walk back into my room, ready to skip dinner and spend the rest of the evening trying to track down Siamese taxi companies and cancelling credit cards. The phone rings as soon as I enter my room, It is the front desk. They had my wallet. They didn't recognize me because I have long hair in my ID. For not the first time in my life I have the feeling that God's on my side. I got to have dinner tonight. Curry chicken has never tasted so good.
Lesson learned: "It is a good idea to keep two wallet on you in case one is stolen. It is a better idea to keep a credit card in each so if one is lost your life doesn't end.
I was going to write something about finding a way to get around more frugally, but I'm beat. I'll write it later
seriously,
good night,
Nick
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