Caption for Photo: "Jungle House, or Prison?"
As we’ve mentioned, everybody in Hangchat has been extremely kind, generous, and friendly. Why am I still going slightly crazy, then?
As many of you are already aware, back in Boston I really valued my independence. I loved being able to hop on a T or a bus on my own and go shopping downtown. On a nice day, I would often walk down to the river and relax for an afternoon. Or, if the roommates were out of town, I could still go out for the night, (yes, you guessed it, on my own) and meet up with some other friends at a bar. Of course I had to be smart about it, but I never really felt ENDANGERED. This ease of mobility was mostly facilitated by the fact that Boston is a city, (and a small and walkable one, at that) with an abundance of public transportation options, cabs, etc.
In Hangchat, Erin and I are prisoners, at the mercy of our fellow teachers. The distance into the very small downtown area (food areas, stores, etc) is only about 2 km, which may seem completely walkable, but when you factor in the heat, the lack of sidewalks, and the abundance of crazy motorbikers . . .it might not be the safest and most pleasant stroll. Sutham provided us with bicycles, which are currently being repaired, so these will most likely become our mode of transportation to town, (However, it has been several years since I’ve ridden a bike so I may need a bit of a refresher). OK, great. Problem solved, right? Wrong. Because we are women, and white, our fellow teachers have mentioned on several occasions that we should never be out alone after dark. In addition, any time we see something that looks remotely fun (i.e a karaoke bar,) somebody tells us with a chuckle, “I don’t think you should go there, there are bad people there.” So, anything after 6 pm is out of the question, and it is not safe for us to kick back with a beer and horribly sung renditions of Celine Dion and Mariah Carey. Even with the bikes we are back to where we started . . .at the mercy of others for any kind of fun.
To get to Lampang and bigger stores, restaurants, and places to go out, it’s about a 20 minute drive . . .I will OBVIOUSLY not be biking this! So Sutham has kindly also supplied us with a motorbike. Erin (and I) will be getting lessons on how to drive this soon. . .should be interesting! I hope it goes well, because I think the motorbike could be my “Get Out of Jail Free Card.”
So, to all of our friends in Thailand, this is my plea to you. Let’s plan a fun outing soon!!! I need to break free out of Hangchat and spend time with people that are under 35 (and over 17!) We have discovered that there is a bus into Chiang Mai, although good luck to us, trying to tell Pan that she is not invited.
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