The Thailand Escapades of Erin and Emily

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

2010-04-14T20:47:00.010+07:00

I need to make this entry as dramatic as I possibly can, so please click the green arrow below to accompany your reading of this final post.

	Boyz II Men - It's So Hard to Say Goodbye .mp3

	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Well folks, Boyz II Men says it best. How can I possibly put into words what the past six months meant to me? I left the states last October as a person who planned every move she made. I didn’t go to the grocery store without a list. I didn’t meet up for dinner with a friend without first putting it on my agenda. I didn’t let fish eat the dead skin off my feet. I left the states last October as a person who was a little impatient. I didn’t always take the time to listen to other people. I had no tolerance for lateness. If you couldn’t keep up with me, you were out. I left the states last October as someone who, although curious, had a fear of the unknown.

It was that curiosity that drove me to Asia and caused me to shed my inhibitions and have the best time of my life. Calm down, I haven’t turned into some carefree, bungee-jumping, hitchhiking maniac. But I know that great things can come from something that might seem a little scary or intimidating. Erin is going to make fun of me, but December’s hill tribe trek was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Was it a pleasant experience? Not entirely. Did my life flash before my eyes at some points? Yes. But when we made it to the village, and we danced around the fire with the Akha people I felt such a sense of happiness and fulfillment. If it takes life-threatening mountainous treks to experience life, (after all, that’s what it was,) then I’m putting a pair of hiking boots on my birthday list.

I can’t write this post without mentioning the incredible Thai people, who have some of the biggest hearts, most fun-loving personalities, and most comfortable clothing of anyone I’ve ever met. I can guarantee you that my students taught me more than I taught them. They taught me the value of appreciating what you have. They taught me how to have fun in any situation. They taught me the value of a smile. They taught me to always dance like no one is watching (just kidding, I didn’t need any help with that one). SOME of them were, by far, some of the kindest and most respectful teenagers I have ever encountered. I already miss them more than words can say, and I wish the very best things for each and every one of them. I find myself, these days, blasting the Thai music the students gave me while weeping alone in my too-big, too-comfortable bed. I want each of them to pursue what makes them happiest, and if that means farming in Hangchat, that is what I want for them. I think they have what a lot of Americans don’t have, and that is a sort satisfaction with one’s life. We are always hoping and wishing for something bigger and better, which can be fine, but it leads to a sense of discontentment. We met several people in Thailand who didn’t have much more than the necessities, but we never once heard them utter the words, “I want.”

Although it was a completely unique experience, teaching in Thailand almost certainly made me into a better teacher. I mastered the skill of adapting a failing lesson when only crickets can be heard from the desks, as happened on many occasions. Those Thai kids were some of the toughest critics I will ever have. If a lesson wasn’t fun enough, they simply wouldn’t participate. I think my teaching has officially reached a new “fun level.” Our fellow teachers taught me to mai bpen rai, or “don’t worry.” If something doesn’t go well, there’s no point in dwelling on it. You’ll get ‘em next time.

Our good time is largely thanks to our fellow teachers and the people of Hangchat, who made us feel like family. Hangchat will always feel like home to me, and I most certainly hope to return someday. Special thanks to Lun, Pan, and Sutham who took the very best care of us.

And finally, I think I need to take a moment to address the question in our header: “Will the 16 year friendship survive six months in southeast Asia?” It was tested. As I’ve been explaining , Erin and I lived together, worked together, ate meals together, and travelled together. Our longest times apart were when we were teaching, or when Erin would go for jogs around the field. I can safely say that most married couples I know would have divorced under these circumstances. We annoyed the hell out of each other. Our very different personalities clashed. We had disagreements. We had ‘silent treatments.’ We shed tears over a couple of heart to heart, ‘Let’s Work This Out’ sessions. But in the end I think we learned why we have been friends for almost as long as we can remember. We’re good for each other. Erin makes me do things that I would never otherwise do, like jump on a motorbike with a stranger and get taken to a mysterious wooded campsite. By the same token, I keep Erin in line, by doing things like booking guesthouses in advance. We disagree sometimes, but in the end we can always have a good laugh over some chips and salsa, or lad na.
Where are they now? Erin Coneeny is currently trying to pursue a career in finance, specifically one that will land her overseas, perhaps back in Asia. Emily Duval will be moving to Brighton this spring and nannying for the summer. She is giving her resume to anyone who will take it, to try to find an elementary teaching position in her beloved Boston area in the fall. Erin and Emily are still in contact with each other on a daily basis and continue to take trips together, although on a smaller scale, (Hampton Beach, Boston, Five Guys). So yes, the friendship did survive and is perhaps stronger than ever.

Now a special thank you to all of you, the readers and followers. We know we are wordy and sometimes less-than-funny. But we appreciate all the time you’ve taken to follow our adventure, and the feedback you’ve given us. We recognize that our number of followers have grown exponentially, and we are so happy to have been able to entertain and perhaps even teach you a thing or two! Be sure to keep in touch with us and help us find jobs, oops, it slipped out.
Sa wadii ka, rak na, joop joop.

Until the next great adventure . . .

Hong Kong: Itineraries and Babysitters

2010-04-13T09:29:00.009+07:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this, but if you remembered to keep checking back you have gained true fan status! Enjoy the final installment!

After leaving behind our beloved Thailand, it was off to Hong Kong! Luckily, we were able to extend the layover that we already had in Hong Kong en route to America, from a couple hours to 3 days, to make this trip happen. We were excited to see the city because we knew Hong Kong would be a lot different than any other place that we had been in Asia. Unfortunately, we had bad timing because Paul, my friend who visited us who lives in Hong Kong, wasn’t going to be in town because he was on a business trip in London. He was nice enough to let us let us stay at his apartment even without him there though, which was great on our bank accounts, which were running low. Paul has two roommates, Julian from Germany and Guillaume from France, who were both around our age. We liked to call them our “babysitters,” because Paul had clearly asked them to keep an eye on us/entertain us/make sure we didn’t get into any trouble…even if they won’t admit it. For example, each night at least one of them was conveniently available to go out with us, even though they had to be up for work the next day. Thanks guys!!

Previous to this trip, Emily and I had had the task of trying to research before we got to a new place, trying to devise a plan of what we wanted to do while there. This was not the case in Hong Kong, however. Paul came through for us by emailing us an EXTREMELY DETAILED itinerary for our 3 days in the city. It was literally step by step...which way to turn when we exited his front door, the exact order to do certain things to lead us to the perfect place for lunch, etc. He let us know that it was easier for him to make it detailed and that we could follow it as closely or loosely as we wanted. We opted to follow it to the letter. We were so obsessed with the itinerary that we were hesitant to do anything that wasn’t on it. People would ask us, “Well, have you seen this yet?” and we would say, “Well, it’s not on the itinerary, so we probably won’t have time.” Or, “Where do you want to go out?” to which we would respond, “Well, the itinerary had a few options, so I think one of those would be best.” The itinerary was almost as good as having Paul there to lead us around…almost!

We didn’t arrive at Paul’s apartment until almost midnight on Tuesday (March 23rd). We met our new roomies/babysitters and chatted with them for a bit before bed. Wednesday we were up fairly early for Day 1 on the itinerary: exploring Hong Kong Island. For those of you who don’t know (we were quite confused ourselves), Hong Kong is located on the south coast of China and is made up of Hong Kong Island, which is separated from mainland China by Victoria Harbor; Kowloon and the New Territories, which are connected to mainland China; and over 200 islands. Hong Kong has been part of China since 1997 when it officially became independent of Britain, but is considered an S.A.R., or special administrative region, which gives it some sovereignty. For example, Hong Kong governs itself and has its own currency. It is also home to about 7 million people, which because of its small land mass makes it one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Back to the itinerary…Paul lives on Hong Kong Island, and that is where the most “must-see” tourist sites are. We had our first misstep when we got on a “bus” instead of a “tram,” even though Paul made everything very clear. A taxi ride fixed that mistake and we were back on track…we found ourselves in the downtown business district with the looming sky scrapers of international companies that Hong Kong is known for. After checking out the sites from a free observation deck we headed to the famous Central-Mid-Levels escalator, the longest escalator link in the world. Hong Kong Island is steep and hilly so the escalators were built to make commuting quicker and easier. It consists of over 20 escalators and 3 walking side walks. After the excitement of riding escalators, we wandered some old streets, checked out a Chinese temple, and perused Chinese chotch (ehhh, I like Thai chotch better). Then, we had quite the experience at lunch.

The itinerary told us we should try a place that was one of the last remaining authentic dim sum halls in Hong Kong. Although Paul did warn us that it would be no easy feat to eat there, we were still a little culture-shocked upon arrival. First, you enter a room packed with people and no hostess, so you have to seek out some empty chairs and invite yourself to a table with strangers. Then, in order to actually eat you must track down the “waitresses,” who are little old Chinese women pushing carts holding bamboo containers full of food. You must pick up the lids and point to what you want. When we first entered we had a mini panic attack when we realized we were the only non-Chinese people in the whole place and every table seemed to be full. I saw a couple of empty chairs, but when I tried to ask if they were free the people just shook their heads at me without making eye contact…awkward. As we pondered what to do, an English-speaking Chinese man saved the day and told one of the waiters to tell us we could sit with him and his friends. He was very sweet, spoke fluent English, and shared some food with us, including tea that he had brought from his home garden. I was too flustered to make informed choices from the bamboo containers, but everything ended up being delicious. I’m glad Paul led us there because it was a truly cultural experience...one neither Emily nor I will soon forget.

After lunch, we were off to the Peak Tram, which brings tourists up, up, up the hilly terrain of the city before stopping at Victoria Peak, where a mall was built with a viewing platform on its roof. The view of the city was spectacular, or as the itinerary put it “unmatched,” as Victoria Peak is the tallest mountain on Hong Kong Island. After taking advantage of the great photo op the itinerary allowed for us to go home, and thank goodness because we were beat. We had a little time to rest before going to the horse track that night. Every Wednesday night at the Happy Valley Race Track there is horse racing, and apparently betting on horse racing is extremely popular in Hong Kong, making it a popular weekly event. Unfortunately for us, there was also an event called Rugby 7s in town. Rugby 7s is a popular rugby tournament that travels around the world and comes to Hong Kong every year that same weekend, with most people arriving earlier in the week to make a trip out of it. Therefore, Hong Kong was overrun by beer-bellied rugby lovers, mainly from Australia, it seemed. We aren’t sure if it was the actual reason that there was no racing at the tracks on the one Wednesday we were there, but we are blaming Rugby 7s anyway. We still had a good time though, with babysitter #1, Julian, and a couple more of Paul’s friends that he had let know we were in town. Live racing from another track in the city was shown on big screens and people were still betting, but it just wasn’t as crowded as it normally is. After we had had enough we headed back down by Paul’s apartment to go out for “Ladies Night”. Boston really needs to get one of these, or I need to find out about it if it already exists…but every Wednesday night in Paul’s neighborhood, girls drink for free until 3 AM. Pretty good deal!

Thursday took us to Kowloon upon the Star Ferry. It’s only a short ride from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon across Victoria Bay, but the itinerary called it “among Hong Kong’s most iconic features… the best sightseeing bargain in the world.” Paul really knows how to sell his city, doesn’t he? We arrived with maps, books, and itinerary in hand. Paul had us following a walking tour from a Frommer’s guide. First, we walked along the Avenue of Stars, which is Hong Star’s version of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, which was right along the water, giving a great view of Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side. The Hong Kong natives were particularly obsessed with the Bruce Lee statue, which you could hardly see because of the crowds posing around it. I, on the other hand, was more interested in Cheung Ying (as you can see above,) you’ve heard of him, right?

Next, we hit up the History Museum, which Paul noted he had spent over 4 hours exploring. Emily and I had a feeling we wouldn’t need QUITE that much time. The museum was very interesting though, and had been newly renovated to add impressive 3D displays. There were also several elementary school field trips there that I kept getting caught in the middle of and therefore getting descriptions of the displays shouted at me in Cantonese through a loud speaker. The kids were so darn cute, though! After the museum, Paul’s friend Hayley, who we had met the night before, took her day shift as our babysitter. Our walking tour took us through a park; some shopping streets; the Goldfish Market, where Hong Kong residents buy fish as pets because they are good luck; and through the Flower Market, which was full of fresh, cheap flowers for sale.

After a lovely but tiring day we had a babysitter switch-off, with Hailie dropping us at restaurant where Julian met us for his night shift. Our itinerary told us to make sure to get back down to the Avenue of Stars to see the “Symphony of Lights” laser show, which is set to music and projects off of over 40 buildings on both sides of the harbor at 8 PM each night. We were “ready to be wowed” as the itinerary prepared us to be, but Julian ate too slowly and we missed it. Ugh, aren’t babysitters supposed to wait for you, and not the other way around? Just kidding, Julian! The view at night was beautiful with or without the laser show, as you can see above! After dinner we head to an itinerary-approved bar for some live music, drinks, and chatting with our new friends.

For Friday activities the itinerary gave us many options, as it was our last day but much was left to see. We could go see the Big Buddha Statue, but we were kind of Buddha’d out; or we could go to Macau, but we aren’t really into gambling; or we could go to one of Hong Kong’s many islands...yes, this was right up our alley! We decided on Lamma Island, because of its short distance from HK Island, only a 25 minute ferry ride. The island is the 3rd largest of Hong Kong’s islands, but it was still very quaint. Buildings larger than 3 stories are not allowed and there are no automobiles. A walking path connects the northern part of the island to the eastern part and takes about an hour to walk. I was a bit unprepared as I was wearing flats, not realizing quite how hilly the terrain would be. We did get to stop about halfway at a surprisingly beautiful beach for a rest though, where we fit in some of our final self-timer shots.

That night was our last in HK, but we also had a 9 AM flight the next day…rough. We obviously had to go out though, because our itinerary wasn’t aware of our early flight and had set the night up to be our biggest night out. Don’t worry, we made sure to pack our bags before going out. Guillaume, babysitter #2, was in charge of us for the night. First, we met up with a friend of Emily’s, Nate, who happened to be on business in Hong Kong…small world! After a lovely dinner in SoHo, the four of us headed to Lan Kwai Fong aka LKF aka the most well-known party area in Hong Kong for expatriates. It truly was crazy. There was one big road with a few small side streets full of bars and restaurants, with people overflowing out of them into the streets (see above). Rugby 7s took over once again making it even more packed than usual. This also meant that the old beer bellies thought that the streets were a rugby field and therefore we found ourselves dodging stuffed miniature rugby balls that were being thrown around all night. Oh, Rugby 7s! We had a fun night hopping to a few different places, including an ice bar and a bar with a roof deck that gave a beautiful view of the city at night.

All in all, it was a great and extremely packed trip. We missed Paul, but he set it up so that we had a great time even without him (hard to do though, I must admit,) so we are very thankful to him! Sadly, Hong Kong was the last stop on our awesome month-long trip and wrapped up our 5 months in Asia. It certainly was the perfect way to end it, though! If you were wondering, we did make our flight home, but just BARELY…blame a phone alarm that was accidently set to silent!

Stay tuned for Emily’s final goodbye post, it will most likely be posted in a much more timely fashion than I posted this…because Emily is much more organized than I am!

Back to the Old Stomping Grounds

2010-04-02T22:45:00.012+07:00

After leaving Sarah in Bali, Emily and I were back to honeymooner status and off to leg #4 of our journey, which took place in Bangkok. We were in Bangkok for about a week when we first arrived in Thailand for orientation, but we spent a majority of the time in a hotel attending courses, leaving little time to explore the city. Many people we’ve met in Asia seemed to be full of negative things to say about Bangkok: it’s overcrowded, dirty, etc., and therefore not even worth visiting. Though, we felt that after living in Thailand for 4 months we couldn’t pass up a trip to the bustling capital and a chance to make our own judgments. We also had to go because it was from Bangkok that we were flying home.

As for accommodations, we had been used to our $5 a night private guesthouse rooms, but this is not the case in Bangkok. Since the city is so much more expensive than the rest of the country, we had to stay at a hostel for the first time. We weren’t looking forward to showering in a public restroom and sharing a room with 4 other girls and all their noise and heaps of belongings, but this hostel was incredibly nice. Supposedly, it was voted the best hostel in Asia. It was fairly new and stunningly clean. It seemed that as soon as someone got out of the shower there were maids scurrying to get in and tidy it up. There was also Wi-Fi throughout the entire place, which is always a plus!

Before arriving, we made sure to devise somewhat of a plan of things that we wanted to do. This is definitely necessary in a city the size of Bangkok, home to over 9 million people. We landed in the city in the late afternoon on Saturday, and after an early dinner at a Lonely Planet suggested spot (obviously,) we decided to go see a movie, which we had yet to do while in Asia. We took the sky tram, which is the public transportation that runs on a track raised above the streets throughout the north and east parts of the city. The sky tram made traveling throughout a city as congested as Bangkok very easy. It was also extremely clean, well air conditioned, and we never had to wait more than 3 minutes for one to arrive. The closest theatre was at the Siam Paragon Mall, which is quite a wonder. It's only 4 years old and is one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia. Along with a 15 theatre movie theatre and a slew of top-end stores, the mall is also home to an aquarium, an art gallery, an opera concert hall, a bowling alley, and a karaoke center. THAT is what I’d call some one stop shopping! We decided to see Alice in Wonderland, because Emily had been “hearing about it for years,” and honestly, we didn’t know many other movies that were out since we haven’t been able to keep up with American pop culture. I was personally disappointed by the movie, but this is not a movie critique so I will spare you my thoughts.

Good thing we got to bed early, because Sunday was a big day for us. It was our last official Thai chotch-buying day…and you know how much we love chotch! Off we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which is thought to be the largest outdoor market in the world, with over 5,000 stalls of chotch to peruse! It is so large, in fact, that maps are given out to help you navigate your way through it (see above). We made lists before we went so weren’t tempted to buy everything in sight…we couldn’t forget to pick up those last minute presents and a couple things for ourselves that we had always wanted but kept putting off. It was a full day event, but we did well and didn’t even spend as much as we were scared that we might. We ended the day with our last $5 foot massage, which was great after a long day of walking around in the heat. Boy will we miss those!

Sunday night, after dinner, we made our way to Sky Bar, which was voted the best rooftop bar in the world (at least in the article we read). Our friend, Christina, had sent us an article about it before we’d even arrived in Thailand, so we had to check it out! Good pick, Christ! It was located on the 64th floor of State Tower, the second largest building in Bangkok, and is part of Sirocco, which is the world’s largest open-air restaurant. Clearly, we like going to the world’s biggest and best! We were ushered off the elevators by a sharply dressed maitre d’ and into the rooftop bar adjacent to Sky Bar, although unknown to us at the time. After waiting our turn we got to move onto the cushions by the windows that overlooked the entire city. We were one of the only couples that wasn’t an actual “couple,” so we laughed watching all the canoodling twosomes take close-up pictures of each other while sipping overpriced drinks. The view was good but not what we were expecting out of “the best rooftop bar in the world,” so we were a little confused. On our way out, we noticed a bunch of people outside and thought it was must be a private party, but upon asking we realized that it was actually the bar we had wanted to go to all along. It certainly wasn’t a mystery why this bar was the one that had gotten all the accolades. It was absolutely breathtaking. Once you opened the glass doors, the entire restaurant was outside, giving a 270 degree view of the city. A large staircase led down to a circular bar, the Sky Bar, which was an extension off of the building, holding you over the street and giving you an incredible view of all the lights and action of the city. If you turned around and looked back up at the building there was a gorgeous lit up dome topping it. We couldn’t stay long because we kept getting asked if we wanted a drink, and since we’d already spent one day’s salary (as Emily figured out) to buy one next door, at the wrong outdoor bar, we were certainly all set.

Next, we headed to a night bazaar which had both a market and an outdoor venue with a concert stage and food vendors. We had read that there were good Thai cover bands, so we thought we’d have a couple drinks and enjoy some botched Lady Gaga covers. Unfortunate for us, non-soccer lovers, that night there happened to be a very important (or at least we hope so) soccer game on, featuring two Premier League teams. Side note: Thailand is obsessed with the Premier League, and supposedly the biggest fan club for the league isn’t in England, but in Bangkok. Therefore, several large projector screens were set up with the game on, which meant no live band for us. Luckily the game was almost over, and when it did end the live music started, but there was only time for a few songs before another game began.

Enjoy the video we captured of Beyonce's future backup dancers.

After spending the morning shopping/being overcharged at the local market on Monday, it was time for cooking class. It is hard to portray, in words, the absurd personality of our cooking instructor, but I will try. He was a mini Thai man, who I assume was gay (although it’s often hard to tell with Thai people,) with an extremely dry sense of humor and ridiculous facial expressions. In short, both Emily and I were in stitches laughing for the majority of the class at this man and his antics. He started off by taking us to a local market to buy some fresh ingredients for the 5 courses that we would be making, which included: tom yom goon (seafood soup,) sweet green curry with chicken, pat thai, Thai chicken salad, and a sweet potato and coconut milk dessert. When we got back to his cooking school, he showed us how to wash and prepare everything. For this and all his other instructions, he would say them all extremely fast, while smirking, and then run out the door to another room. Emily and I, along with the two other women in our class, Kylie from Australia and Nicola from England, would always find ourselves looking at each other puzzled every time he left. Everything was fairly organized though, as he had little stations set up for each of us both inside to prepare ingredients and outside with a wok and burner. He also had three young assistants, our “minions” as we liked to call them, who were basically his slaves. At one point, he was showing us baskets full of different spices and he accidently knocked one of them over, making a mess on floor. He immediately said, “No problem, my staff will clean it” before yelling “Staaaaff!” to call them into the room. He also liked to try his humor on us. When we were making the paste for the green curry, which requires beating all the ingredients for a good 20 minutes with a mortar and pestle, Emily said to him, “Ugh, this is difficult!,” to which he replied, “Mmmm, yeah, keep pounding,” and abruptly left the room, disgusted with us. Then, each time we finished making a dish, he would look at us and, with mock excitement, exclaim, “YES! You… made it happen!” All the food we made was delicious, but 5 meals along with 5 sets of spastic directions was a lot, so I can’t say I remember it all. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon though, and a good way to see what goes into the meals we had been eating the last 4 months. At the end, we insisted on getting a group photo. Try not to laugh at his beyond ridiculous “smile” or the fact that his reply to our request was, “Ok, pictures are FUN…STAFFFF, come take our picture!!!” The man was something else.

That night, we invited Kylie from our cooking class to come out with us, as she had come alone to Bangkok for a few days before she joining a group tour. Emily and I never mind adding another member to our honeymoon crew. She had been to Bangkok before but never to Khao San Rd., which is unacceptable as it is must-see for any tourist. Emily wrote about it in one of our first posts, as we went there during orientation, but as a refresher: it’s a backpacker’s haven...a completely ridiculous road full of bars bumping techno remixes to every song imaginable and chotch being sold at every turn. We enjoyed some great people watching, and I mean GREAT, along with our last Thai beers. I’ll note that I had to work hard to keep up with Kylie, as Emily’s last post was no lie, those Australians are quite the drinkers!

Tuesday was our last day in Bangkok, but our flight wasn’t until 7 PM, so we had some time to kill before then. We had already accomplished everything we had set out to so Kylie had suggested a museum, Suan Pakkard Palace, which was somewhat off the beaten tourist path. It is the former residence of the grandson of the former King of Thailand, Rama V. It consisted of 4 traditional Thai buildings connected by walkways, displaying old artifacts and antiques. It was a good way to learn something while simultaneously killing time before our flight. As a bonus, Emily and I got our own private tour guide along with our admission price, which was nice, because we usually just walk around places clueless, trying to read any plaques that we may stumble upon.

Overall, it was nice to be back in Thailand, our old stomping grounds, after being gone for almost 3 weeks. We could finally converse at a basic level again and not feel totally out of the loop with the currency, customs, etc. It was really weird leaving it all behind for good this time though, not to return until an unknown time in the future…but we’ll always think of it as not only a place that we visited, but a place that we called home, even if only for a short while. Sawatdee ka for now Thailand…

The Cullens Go to Bali

2010-03-28T19:08:00.008+07:00

Sorry for the delay everyone. We have been a bit busy globetrotting, and I’ve been having some internet issues. In any case, I’m sure you’re wondering how our 10 day stint in Bali went!

Sarah, Anna, Erin, and I actually split our time between 3 towns on the island of Bali, part of the archipelago that makes up Indonesia. (I never thought I’d use the word archipelago in my life, but if you have the opportunity, you must seize it). We first arrived in Kuta, which I would say is the main, most crowded tourist area of Bali. It has a real surfer vibe with Quicksilver stores and other surf shops dotting the streets. The beach was fairly beautiful, although a bit overcrowded with MILLIONS of hawkers absolutely swarming us, trying to sell us henna tattoos, sarongs, massages . . .you name it. The best part was the ENORMOUS waves of the warm Indian Ocean – hence the surfers. We weren’t quite brave enough for surf lessons, but we did have a fun time splashing around, and Erin got destroyed at least once.
There was a bad, very bad part to our time in Kuta. After our first day on the beach, Anna, Sarah, Erin, and I all got some of the worst sunburns of our lives. The thing that makes these burns special besides the severity of them, was that they were received THROUGH AN UMBRELLA. Yes, that’s right. The four of us were sitting under two beach umbrellas for nearly the whole day, completely aware of our proximity to the burning equatorial sun. For future reference, UV rays can travel through beach umbrellas. Lesson learned, vacation ruined. I’m being dramatic though, we still had a fun time for our remaining 8 days in Bali. We had a fun time fully clothed, in the shade, indoors, and working our way through 4 bottles of sunscreen, hence the title of the blog. For those of you who have missed the Twilight train, the Cullens are vampires. Get it? The highlight of the Kuta time was probably our time with O’Brien and Kara (an avid blog follower . . . HOLLER Kara!), a couple of CIEE friends that we hadn’t seen in forever! We were lucky that our travels intersected in Bali and we had such a fun time hitting up the club with them! Bali was swarming with Australians with bleach blonde hair and absurdly tanned skin. We found them sort of overwhelming, honestly. When we went out in the evenings we were almost always the only Americans, completely ignored by these dudes and dudettes. They can consume more alcohol faster than I’ve ever seen (even after 4 years in college). And the worst part was their national chant: “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.” Ugh. In disgust, Erin tried to make up an American chant: “Bald eagles fly!” It didn’t catch on. In any case, we had a fun evening filled with a few Arak Attacks, Bintangs, and lots of dancing. We had had our fill of scorching and crowded Kuta after a couple of days, so after saying farewell to Kara and O’Brien, the four of us headed to Ubud, about one hour northeast of Kuta, in central(ish) Bali. Ubud is a very artsy and culturally rich town. Since Balinese New Year was approaching (more to come on that) there were lots of masks everywhere and incense offerings burning on the sidewalks. Whereas the smell of incense used to send my mind to church, it will now forever send me back to Bali. While there, we took in a really cool Balinese chanting and dancing show, known as the Kecak dance. I still need to Wikipedia some of the symbolism and meanings of this dance, but the costumes were gorgeous and ornate and the dancing was strangely mesmerizing!

There was also amazing shopping in Ubud, especially lovely dress shops. The specialty seemed to be silk dresses of varying styles, and although they weren’t ‘Thai-priced,’ Anna and I gave into temptation and each bought one. Besides shopping, eating, and staying out of the sun, we really didn’t have much of a plan for Ubud during the days. Anna jumped in and made an amazing suggestion for one of the afternoons. The four of us had all read the book Eat, Pray, Love, the true story of a thirty something woman named Liz Gilbert who travels the world ‘find herself.’ For part of her journey, she is living in Bali, specifically Ubud, and writes about this ancient medicine man, named Ketut Liyer, who she stays with and who sort of gives her advice and becomes one of the influential people in her life. Anna had read online that people can actually go visit Ketut, talk with him, and see what words of wisdom he has. It seemed like a good, sunless activity! We asked a few cab drivers and finally hunted him down. We arrived at his ‘complex,’ and were immediately surprised. The book made it sound like he lives on a farm or something, sort of a rural place. He may have in fact moved, we’re not quite sure. His property has a series of buildings, one of them being an open structure, with a roof, and a large bed in it. Erin is still wondering if he sleeps there at night. He was indeed very old, and very toothless, with minimal English, matching Liz’s description in the book. When we first arrived, he invited us to sit on his porch and he showed us his autographed copy of the book from Liz. He then asked Anna to read his description that Liz wrote. Here’s a clip of Anna reading to him, and him explaining how he doesn’t understand anything!

Then he told us he would ‘read’ our faces and palms. It turns out that Anna and I both have beautiful eyebrows, noses, ears, sweet lips (Anna’s are sweet like sugar, but mine are sweet like honey), we are both going to live to be 100 years old, we are both very respected but both impatient. Neither of us will have arthritis or get in bad car accidents. Both of us will have very good and happy marriages, with no quarreling and no divorce. What a coincidence! Oh, but don’t think that Ketut repeats the same thing to everyone, because Anna will have 2 children and I will have 3. So it turns out that the fame has gone to dear Ketut’s head and he’s sort of running a bit of a scam. Oh and he provided us with business cards, yes BUSINESS CARDS, advertising his medicine man services, homestay, as well as a few other services he offers that I can’t remember. What an entrepreneur! The best part is that he tried to charge us $25 dollars a piece . . . an enormous amount of money in Indonesia. We had read online that any money given is a donation, and $5 dollars is standard. So we collected $15, gave it to him, and bolted. I know, I know, what a horrible thing to do, right? But Ketut is trying to take advantage of poor tourists and I’m on a tight travel budget. He was very sweet and adorable, very funny, but someone needs to talk to him about taking it easy on the tourists (especially the young backpacking girls, because their backpacks are filled with chotch, not money!

After Ubud, we said goodbye to Anna, who was returning to Hua Hin to get ready to teach summer school (ewww). Sarah, Erin and I headed about 3 hours north of Ubud to the coastal town of Lovina for the next 5 days. When I say town, I mean town.

Lovina was extremely small, there was nothing except guesthouses and a few tiny warungs (restaurants) in the vicinity of our homestay. We were technically staying outside the main town of Lovina, in a small fishing village called Anturan. It has black sand beaches (beautiful, but HOT HOT HOT) with chickens running around on them. A rainbow of colorful fishing boats lined the shore. We were staying at ‘Mr. Gede’s Homestay.’ When we first arrived, Mr. Gede (pronounced geh-DAY) told us some traditional Hindu tales while we sipped our ‘welcome drinks’ and then informed us that it was Balinese New Year the next day. We had been aware of this already, and had been told that there is no transportation anywhere on the island on this day. We asked Mr Gede if there was any sort of ceremony we could attend and he told us about the giant parade that was taking place that very evening in town. “But,” he explained, “you must wear sarong. You have sarong?” Sarah and I didn’t, so he drove us into town to buy some traditional Indonesian sarongs, (which might be good for table cloths when we get home . . .). We walked to the village for the parade that evening, and it just wasn’t quite what I expected. First, it was all villagers, with maybe only a small handful of white people. Much to our dismay, nobody (except the old grandmas) was wearing a sarong. Mr Gede, what are you trying to pull here? Maybe he has a deal with the sarong seller. We got a ton of strange looks and sketchy comments from some locals. But luckily found a very sweet Balinese girl who invited us to sit with her and her sister. She explained to me about the tradition as we watched the parade. The Balinese create these large monsters, called Agung, which represent evil. They are sort of similar to parade floats. The Agung are marched through the town, and then burned to represent killing the evil spirits, to create good luck for the coming year. The parade was so interesting and lots of fun, even though I felt stupid in my sarong.The next day, because it was Balinese New Year, nobody on the entire island of Bali was allowed to leave their hotels, guesthouses, or places of residence. Luckily Mr. Gede is right on a beach, so we spent the day reading, (‘eating books’ as Erin calls it,) and swimming. Although, I will say that I got awfully sick of Mr. Gede’s food. Sidenote: The food in Bali really wasn’t that great compared to the other food we’ve been eating. Lots of bones in things that I didn’t even know had bones. That night, we weren’t allowed to have lights on. Apparently patrol boats circle the island and if any lights are on the night of the holiday, the homeowner is given an enormous fine. We had to sit in the dark, with only the small glow from a tiny tea light, eating dinner with all the other guests at the homestay. Needless to say, we went to bed early.

The following day, we woke up to at 5:30 for a sunrise dolphin hunt and snorkel. We rode in a TINY boat to spot the famous Lovina dolphins. We did see a few, but our boat kept breaking down so we kind of missed out on a lot of the action. There were a ton of other boats out there, and the drivers just sort of chase the dolphins so the tourists can sneak a peek. It sounds pretty malicious, but no dolphins are harmed and I think they must be used to it by now. After our pretty frustrating dolphin hunt, we headed to a coral reef to snorkel! It was my first time snorkeling and it was SUCH a blast! We saw such a variety of interesting critters down there: huge blue starfish, gorgeous fish of every color imaginable, and the amazing coral! The best part was that to get back in our boat, which had no ladder, and very steep sides, Sarah and I didn’t quite have the arm strength to lift ourselves, so the driver literally stuck his hands under our armpits and lifted us into the boat from the water. With my extra rice poundage, this was no small task, but clearly the dude has been hitting up the Lovina gym.
We spent the next couple days lounging, reading, swimming in the Bali Sea, peeling our skin off, and visiting with Mr. Gede. One night we met a couple of Americans who had needed a place to sleep and stumbled upon our village during their motorbike exploration of the island. They were in complete shock that we had intentionally come to the town for a part of our vacation and kept cracking jokes about “lovely Lovina” and “livin’ Lovina loca.” Was it what I expected Bali to be like? No. But it was a unique and worthwhile experience just the same! It was completely relaxing, a great way to recharge, and we really got a chance to know the locals and experience Balinese culture.

On our way back to the south and the airport, we stopped at Mt. Batur, a large volcano on the island.
An amazing 10 days, sunburn or no sunburn.

As you know, we're home now, but we'll continue to post the final blogs to bring this thing to a proper close!

1 Malaysia

2010-03-18T15:43:00.002+07:00

We have now finished leg #2 of our Southeast Asian adventure, which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The main reason we chose to go was because it was a good entry point to Bali, a place we knew that we definitely wanted to visit. We didn’t expect much of Kuala Lumpur, since it’s a city and there aren’t many must-see sights, but it ended up being a surprisingly neat place. Malaysia itself is a very diverse country, and although Malays make up the majority, Indians and the Chinese are also highly represented ethnic groups. The same goes for religion. Although over half of Malaysians practice Islam, and it is common to see women with long robes and scarves covering their heads, many other religions are also practiced. Therefore, the city was full of culture, with different types of architecture, cuisine, etc. to satisfy its diverse population. It’s a large and modern city though, with sky scrapers, sky trams, and expensive prices. Oh yeah, and malls…lots and lots of malls! You could almost forget you are still in Asia. Another interesting thing was that the Malay language uses our same alphabet, instead of characters. It even seemed that many words were similar to English, or as Emily put it: “looked like a kindergartener misspelling words.” For example, taxi is spelled “teksi.”

As we had an early flight from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur, we spent most of the afternoon resting at our guest house. We met up with friends, Sarah and Anna, both of whom went to college with Emily and are accompanying us in both Kuala Lumpur and Bali. That night we hit up Chinatown, but unfortunately got caught in a pretty serious downpour on the way. Supposedly it doesn’t usually rain much in March, but every day that we were there, there was always a period of intense rain at some point during the day. Quite inconvenient for sight seeing and exploring!

Monday, we were more productive. We started the day off with some mosque hopping. We had to fill our wat void with something! It was our first ever visit to a mosque and we knew we had to dress modestly, so we left the tank tops and shorts at home. Little did we know, that wouldn’t cut it. Upon entrance we were ushered over to racks of what looked like graduation gowns. We also had to choose a head scarf. With many patterns and colors to choose from, Emily treated it like a fashion show, making sure to pick a color that complemented the robe, while making fun of my choice of black, which totally clashed…how embarrassing! As only Muslims are allowed in the mosques and there wasn’t much else to do, we had a mini America's Next Top Model photo shoot, posing in our outfits throughout the grounds...ok, maybe a bit sacrilegious, whoops. The next mosque we went to gave us pastel purple robes with hoods that Emily thought looked like ponchos for Splash Mountain. It only took a few minutes of walking around in hundred degree heat in the robes for it to look like we actually had gotten drenched on a water ride.

We continued our “culture day” by heading to the National Museum. I became fascinated by the “1 Malaysia” campaign display. The campaign, which is advertised on posters and banners all over the city, was organized within the last few years by the current prime minister and focuses on maintaining and strengthening harmony between the many races and religions that exist in the country. It is also meant to encourage Malaysian citizens to work together to improve their country in hopes that it will be granted developed nation status in the near future. I was impressed with how diverse Malaysia is but how peacefully the people seem to live together, especially since it has only been an independent country since 1957. I probably should have interviewed a Malaysian to see if they really feel that their country is as harmonious as the museum made it out to be, but for now I choose to believe it is. The last stop of the day was the bird park, which is supposedly the largest in the world. We chased some exotic peacocks, saw a couple in a photo booth with parrots on their heads, and ate some ice cream…normal bird park activities I would assume.

That night we moved into the luxurious accommodations where we spent the next 3 nights. We have a friend from Boston whose family moved to Kuala Lumpur 11 years ago, and although him and his brother have moved back to America, his parents still live there. He was gracious enough to organize for us to stay with them in their beautiful condo situated right outside the city. It had balconies with a beautiful view of a golf course surrounded by a jungle, along with all the accommodations we had been missing from home: comfortable couches (do not exist in Thailand), American snacks, TV with American Idol on TiVo, lightning speed Wi-Fi, etc. If I were to give them a grade for their hosting skills it would certainly be an A+. We were only strangers to them but they treated us just like family, their “adopted daughters,” taking us out for dinners and shopping, giving us free reign of their house while they were at work during the day, and leaving us notes telling us where to put our clothes if we wanted them washed (don’t worry, we weren’t that lazy, we did our own laundry). Basically, we had it made, and we couldn’t be more thankful to them for their hospitality. Thank you Jamie and Scott!

Tuesday, we spent the morning lounging around in our sweet pad and watching some TV for the first time in months. In the afternoon, we took a cab into the city to do some sight seeing. Kuala Lumpur is home to the Petronas Twin Towers, which from 1998 until 2004 were the tallest buildings in the world. They are quite a sight to see, especially at night. Visitors are allowed to go on a walkway that connects the two towers, but you have to get tickets early in the morning because there is a limited amount available. As we weren’t quite willing to set the alarms for that, we made sure to get reservations at Sky Bar, which is a rooftop bar on the 33rd floor of a building across from the towers. We had a classy time sipping wine at our window-side table while enjoying the wonderful view. After Sky Bar (we could only afford one drink each) we made our way to Rum Jungle, which we had to check out simply because of its ridiculous description in Lonely Planet, which was something along the lines of: “enter the jungle, where you can mingle with other crazy animals like yourself.” Yes please. The place was crawling with US Marines; supposedly there were over 3,000 of them in the city. They hadn’t seen land or been allowed to drink in 120 days, so they certainly lived up to the “crazy animal” status that Lonely Planet guaranteed we’d meet.

Wednesday was our last full day in the city, and by then we’d hit most of the tourist sites, except the Batu Caves. All week we’d been getting asked by our cab drivers if we’d gone, so we felt they must be worth seeing. After visiting, I have come to the conclusion that the cab drivers were pushing the caves not for their entertainment value but for the fact that they are little ways outside of the city, meaning more money for them. Overall, the best word to describe the caves is random. I think we were expecting to be ducking through dark caves that seemed untouched and ancient, but instead got caves with walls that had been painted in 70s themes, had food wrappers polluting them, and tacky statues at every turn. One of the caves, which they somehow convinced us to pay to enter, had rows of glass cases, some filled with reptiles with no descriptions of exactly what type of animal it was, while others were completely empty. To continue the randomness, Emily “somehow ended up” aka volunteered to go on a stage for some Indian dancing. Her and Anna joined with some more Marines (they were everywhere,) shimmying away to what looked like the dance at the end of Slumdog Millionaire. Then, we managed to climb the over 300 steps to the main cave where we feared for our belongings as dozens of monkeys ran and jumped around us. I swore that I saw one make direct eye contact with me and start inching toward me, ready to pounce and steal my backpack at any moment.

Overall, it was a pleasant and relaxing trip, with no pressure to see this or that attraction and Jamie and Scott spoiling us. We are now in Bali, where we will be for 9 days (!!!,) and although we are nursing nasty sunburns (more to come on that, I’m sure) we are enjoying ourselves and excited for more beach time!

Cambodia: Cue Guilt and Heatstroke

2010-03-05T17:06:00.009+07:00

Although the departure from Thailand was soul-crushing, the grand adventure around Southeast Asia continues! We touched down in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, Tuesday afternoon. Why Cambodia? Well we wanted to venture to at least one more country in the northern part of Southeast Asia . . .if that makes sense. We had narrowed it down to Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam. We ruled out Laos after talking to some crazy hippie Chiang Mai backpackers who informed us that the country has very little unique culture, there’s not much there that’s very different than northern Thailand, and it’s basically just a good place to get wasted and drink ‘shroom shakes. I’ll take a pass on the ‘shrooms. Tickets to Cambodia were cheaper than tickets to Vietnam, so that settled it. I didn’t really know much about Cambodia before coming. Everything I knew about the country I learned from Phil, the host of the Amazing Race. I’m pretty sure he’s referred to Phnom Penh as ‘the bustling capital of Cambodia,’ but that’s all I retained. I also knew that Angkor Wat is in Cambodia, so it was thrown on the list of things to do.
First impressions – Poverty is much more noticeable and prevalent than in Thailand. I’m talking naked babies, children without shoes, begging for money, sleeping under newspapers, trash everywhere along the streets, the whole nine yards. In Phnom Penh there was quite a trash/waste stench, which when combined with the extreme heat, (100-110 during the day) is enough to make you a little nauseous. There were some beautiful parts of the city as well. Ornate palaces, wats, and statues were scattered around. Along the river, there were a scattering of lovely cafes. Although I must mention that the French influence is not nearly as strong as I anticipated, (Cambodia was colonized by France – you can Google those dates if you’d like). I was expecting crepes on every corner! Every now and then there was a restaurant called “La Maison,” or something of that nature, but those years of high school and college French went to waste yet again. Although it is such an impoverished city, things in Phnom Penh were not nearly as cheap as we’d like. Cambodia uses the USD in addition to their own money, the riel ($1 = 4,000 riel) which I assume is an effort to cater to tourists, or something like that. But this meant we were spending $4-$5 on a meal, or $1 on a water. 150 baht for dinner?!? It’s ludicrous! Mais, c’est la vie.

We tried to find some nightlife in Phnom Penh, but sort of failed. Although there are many bars and cafes, there aren’t enough tourists to fill them, and the result is a whole slew of bars with about 4-5 patrons in each - not really our scene. And most of the tourists in Cambodia seem to be older, certainly older than a lot of the Thai tourists. At one point a senior citizen man, who had graduated from Babson, offered to buy Erin and me drinks. I’m just not at that level of desperation yet. Give me another 10 years sir, I might reconsider. I did find chocolate ice cream, and was reunited with a lovely glass of wine after far too long. We spent our one full day in the city learning about the tragic, very recent, history of Cambodia. Well . . .after getting a little shopping in at the Russian Market, of course. (Still not sure why it’s called the ‘Russian Market’ but it certainly did a number on my wallet. Silk scarves + jewelry + Emily’s February salary = not a good mix). We then continued our tuk tuk tour of the city, visiting ‘The Killing Fields’ just outside the city, and Tuol Sleng prison, (a former school,) both of which have been transformed into memorials and museums. They detail the gruesome atrocities brought on by the Khmer Rouge, the extremist communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1976-1980. Thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed, mostly intellectuals, city-dwellers, and other people whose ideas differed from those of the Khmer Rouge. The exhibits were hard to see, but the thing that got to me most was the display of the photographed faces of those people who had been imprisoned and most likely killed at Toul Sleng, several of whom were children, some only babies. The most shocking part of it was that it was happening only 30 years ago! It was a sad, but enlightening day to say the least.
On Thursday we hopped a bus to Siem Reap (the town where Angkor Wat lies) and after five hours of lovely farm and plantation scenery we had arrived. The town is extremely touristy and also much more scenic than Phnom Penh. However, the extreme, in-your-face poverty still exists. You can’t even walk through the market without being bombarded by someone, often a child, either selling something or simply begging for money, crying “Lady! Lady! Lady! Lady! I need moneyyyy.” After dinner and drinks on Thursday evening, we were suckered into buying 2 containers of Similac baby milk at the 7-11 by a couple of small children, each with an infant slung around their backs. How can you say no to these kids and still live with yourself? A couple of British brothers we were with shook their heads at us as we held the children’s hands and accompanied them into the store. “You know, those are probably a couple of the richest kids in this town,” the Brit pointed out to me. But as Erin says, even if those kids sell the milk and it’s all a scam . . .someone is going to get baby milk. “And,” we informed our pessimistic Brits, “now we’re going to heaven.” Since then, I’ve also bought a bracelet from a young girl who informed me that if I bought one she would tell me the president of the United States and the capital of the United States. She got an A+. Erin bought 4. I’ve officially found Erin’s soft spot: impoverished Cambodian children, especially those with small heads. Angkor Wat is an ancient temple, I believe dating back to the 12th century, (we didn’t have a tour guide and there were very little informational signs so my facts are lacking). You may remember our Sukhothai entry? – well Sukhothai is sort of the Thai version of Angkor Wat, although Angkor Wat crushes it in nearly every department. The ruins are much more expansive, and some of the “jungle ruins,” those where the trees are sort of eating away at the structures, were even used in the filming of Tomb Raider! Very cool. It's all very Indiana Jones-esque and Erin and I feel like we are contestants on 'Legends of the Hidden Temple.' (Remember that show, all you children of the 90's?) We were taken from temple to temple by tuk tuk, driven by an adorable man that works for our hotel. He basically just chose which ruins to take us to, and we trusted him completely. He also pointed us to which food stands to eat at, and would nap while we visited the temples. He was pretty adorable. The only pitfall occurred when we got a flat tire on our way to a far off, more removed site. We had to sit at the home of some rural Cambodian residents while our buddy went to change the tire. We played "This Little Piggy" with the kids and watched the little naked baby take a cold "bath," screaming his head off while Mom poured cold water on him. I sort of wish I could have gotten one of those baths.

We sweltered away under the beating Cambodian sun, climbing, photographing, and exploring the ancient temples. The catchphrase of Siem Reap seems to be "It's so hot." We've heard it about a million times from our tuk tuk driver, children begging for money, waiters, security guards at the temple - everyone! I'm unsure whether these people are actually hot, or whether it's a line reserved for the tourists. The only downfall (besides the heat) was the fact that there were many tour groups swarming the temples . . .I almost felt as though the little Japanese women were preparing to pillage and ransack the remains. They were extremely pushy and didn’t seem to have much consideration for the other tourists. Because of this, our timer shots were lacking. Not only is it sort of embarrassing to take a timer shot when there are a lot of people around, you are just sort of limited in space and opportunities. Our timer shots sort of turned into weird pseudo-candids. In any case, the National Heritage Site is extremely beautiful and interesting, although perhaps a bit difficult to appreciate when you feel like you may lose consciousness at any moment. Don’t worry, Mom, I drank lots of water and used my bug spray.

Oh and last night we got the infamous fish massage . . .SOOOO TICKLISH, I almost died. But for $2 we got our dead skin eaten by fish, an Anchor beer, and a complimentary neck and shoulder massage (done by a human). Never again, though . . .
We have safely touched down in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and have met up with some of my old Emmanuel crew, Sarah and Anna. Very exciting! I'm already having big city culture shock after all our time in Hangchat and visiting ruins! If our luck with the free wifi continues, so will the blogs!

Final Goodbyes…

2010-03-03T16:58:00.007+07:00

This past week was our last as teachers at Hang Chat Wittaya School, and a very sad week it was. Each day, one by one, we had to say goodbye to our classes. We gave out lots of candy and conducted intense photo shoots, getting full class pictures along with many, many candids. We hadn’t taken many photos of the students throughout the semester, because we didn’t want to seem like stalkers or distract the students during class time, so we did not hold back during our final week. Peace signs, framing of the face with the thumb and pointer finger (see above), and using arms to make hearts seemed to be the most popular poses. Many of the students were super sweet, seeming genuinely sad to see us go. They told us they loved us, gave us cards and candy, and didn't want to leave when the bell rang.

During Emily’s goodbye to her favorite class, M4-2 (10^th grade), she even broke down into tears (first of many occurrences). As she tried to arrange them for a class picture they all flocked to the chalkboard writing: “I love you Teacher Emily”, “We will miss you, please come back soon,” etc. As I came in to take the picture, Emily looked at me, pointed at the board, and continued crying. One of the students even took a bracelet off his own wrist, giving it to her saying, “Now you will never forget Thailand.” The class also organized and made a booklet full of all their pictures, email addresses, sweet messages, etc. to give her. Oh, it’s those sweet students that make leaving so hard! There were other students that were more apathetic, though. We weren’t quite sure if they didn’t understand that we were leaving or if they just didn’t care (the latter is much more plausible).

Friday we had to give a “goodbye speech” to the students at their morning assembly. The speech quickly turned from professional to ridiculous as Emily and I had dinner at Pan’s house the night before and she helped us write it. We decided we would do the speech together to reduce repetition, switching off line by line. For every sentence we said in English we did a short Thai translation, because Pan said we had to show the students the Thai we'd learnt. Our grand finale included singing the first line of the school song in Thai…“Hangchat Wittaya nam roaw cow loo lueng!” All the students were clapping along with us, thinking we were going to sing the entire song. Sorry guys, but we aren’t THAT good at Thai! Pan told us that all the teachers and students thought our speech was funny and they liked hearing us speak Thai though, so we were happy. At the end we were presented with huge bouquets of roses and one of the 9^th grade students came up and gave a “Thank You” speech to us on behalf of the whole student body. She had memorized the entire thing in English, all in one night. Impressive!

Not only did we have to say goodbye to our beloved students but also to our fellow English teachers, some of which we have become very close with over the last four months. Friday night Pan made everyone go to a steak restaurant for our “farewell dinner”, one of the few in the country I’m sure, because she thinks we’re obsessed with steak. Although we both love a good steak, Thai steak is not quite up to par. The other teachers ended up ordering random things off the menu…Sutham said everything he ordered was “arroy nidnoy”, only a little bit tasty. Dinner included Sutham randomly reading off sheets of chain email jokes which he busted out of shirt pocket and Pan, Emily, and I being the only ones drinking. At Pan’s request, we were continuously cheers-ing with our daiquiri-type drink that no one else was interested in. When everyone was finished eating, Sutham announced that it was time for the teachers to say their final goodbyes to us. Just the announcement made Emily start crying. For all we knew they could have said, “Goodbye, good riddance, your loud voices in the teachers’ room will not be missed,” but I guess Emily was anticipating more. She was right, as all the teachers had very nice things to say. The night ended with some presents and pictures and goodbye hugs for Noy and Ning, who we were seeing for the last time.

The weekend meant it was time for the dreaded task of packing. Every time we saw Lan over the weekend she would ask, “Did you put something in your backpack?” Yes Lan, we each put one thing in our backpacks... we are making such good progress! She clearly doesn’t understand how much chotch we’ve bought! For dinner we took a break from stuffing chotch into our way too small bags and went with Lan, Dart, and Dream to moo-ga-ta for one last food fest! This time we decided on limits beforehand, though. We would only get enough food for ourselves and not over-do it, and we each gave ourselves an ice cream scoop limit so we all wouldn’t feel like we were about to burst after, like last time. After eating, we forced Dart and Dream to sit with us on a seat swing made for children to take pictures. They humored us, probably because they knew that was the last time they would have to endure our antics. Thanks guys!

Sunday consisted of more packing. At night, as Emily and I were lying around taking a break, we heard some giggling from outside. Seven students from my favorite class, M4-1 (as you can see, M4 are clear favorites with us both,) came over for a surprise goodbye (they clearly didn’t want to be outdone by Emily’s tear-inducing M4-2 class)! They presented me with a poster board filled with pictures of everyone from the class, including the class picture I had taken with them. They also had a mini photo-shoot with me and Emily, who were both in our pajamas since we hadn’t known they would be showing up. Therefore I was left posing in short shorts and a tank top, neither very appropriate in Thailand and especially not in front of my students. I was so surprised and touched that they came all the way out to our house on a weekend night just to say goodbye. Gosh, I’m gonna miss them!

After they left, we went for our “goodbye dinner” at Lund Dang’s. Apparently goodbye meals are run of the mill in Thailand, because every time we ate at one of the places in our rotation for what we thought was the last time, the owners would all say “you must come back one more time for your goodbye meal”! Some goodbye meals consisted of our regular order plus a few extras things thrown in while some were special meals the owners cooked up just for us, but the common theme was that the meal was free. Lund Dang’s eyes teared up as we gave him a Red Sox t-shirt as a parting gift. Then, Emily surprised him by calling Nate on her cell phone (arranged through Facebook) and letting them talk, which they hadn’t done since Nate left in October, as Lund Dang doesn’t have a computer and it’s too expensive for him to call. He was so shocked that, at first, he didn’t believe it was actually Nate, throwing the phone back saying “I can’t speak English,” thinking we had put him on with Emily’s dad (who he also misses).

Monday was a day of gluttony. First, we had two “goodbye lunches” to attend, one at Cow Man Guy and the other at Lap. We didn’t have enough time left in Hang Chat to do one as a lunch and one as a dinner, so we refrained from telling Lap that we had already eaten a full lunch before we got there. That meant that lunch consisted of: sodas, an omelet, cow man guy, and soup first, then red curry, Chinese noodles, and pork for dessert. We kept saying we felt like we were in a hot dog eating contest…you aren’t there to enjoy your food, you are just there to finish it all. We felt pretty disgusting after, especially since Lan barely helped us saying the food wasn’t for her, because she wasn’t the one leaving. Thanks for adding to our expanding waistlines, Lan. Annie and her mom both gave us little parting gifts and the mom was tearing as we left. It was very touching!

Monday afternoon and night Pan claimed us. First she picked us up and brought us to Big C for some ice cream sundaes…MORE food, nooo! Then we went to her house where she made us our final dinner. Poon also showed me how to make sushi, which I love. She even had some of her own special recipes including rolls with omelet in them. After dinner, Pan called Mr. Janwit (Christmas designated driver) and made him drive us home with her so he could say goodbye. She had obviously caught him off guard because the parting gifts he gave us were clearly random things he found in his house…but it was very cute that he felt the need to give us anything in the first place.

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early for our ride to the airport with Pan and Sutham. First we had to say goodbye to Lan, as she wasn’t able to accompany us. Thais are very unemotional and crying isn't something they really do, so although we could tell she was very sad and would miss us a lot, Lan’s eyes remained dry while both Emily and I cried and sniffed away. At the airport, Pan and Sutham walked us as far as they could before saying goodbye. Pan broke the Thai code of behavior and shed tears as we hugged her, a sure sign she will truly miss us. Sutham tried to give me a handshake as a goodbye, as man to woman hugging isn’t a norm in Thailand, but I turned that down quickly…you will not get a handshake after 4 months, you will get a bear hug, and you will like it! At this point Emily and I were really turning on the water works, which was cracking up the security checkpoint officials. I think this goodbye was especially hard because it was the first time either of us have ever had to say such an uncertain goodbye, when you really don’t know if and when you will ever see the people you are leaving. Thailand certainly isn’t close and who knows when we’ll have enough time off to return, while traveling for Thais is ridiculously expensive. I still can’t believe that we are really gone, but everything must come to an end at some point. It was an adventure we will both never forget and I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to experience it. Peace out Hangchat, we will miss you dearly, but you are forever in our hearts!

Travel update: Emily and I are safely in Cambodia, where we will be until March 7^th. Then, it’s off to Malaysia from the 7^th to the 11^th, Bali from the 11^th to the 20^th, Bangkok from the 20^th to the 23^rd, Hong Kong from the 23^rd to the 27^th, and home on the 27^th. We will try to keep up with the updates as long as we can find some Wifi along the way! Stay tuned!

English R Us

2010-02-23T08:16:00.006+07:00

Things are (very sadly) coming to a close here in Hangchat. Erin and I are currently completing our last week of teaching! As it turns out, 4 months is more than enough time to be spending with some of the students, but not nearly enough with most. Just when we are starting to connect and become friendly with some of the students, it is time for us to jet off. Enough with the boo hoo, though.
This past weekend was by far the most fun weekend we’ve had in Hangchat! It was the annual English Camp that is held for M4 (10th grade) students, a weekend-long program that is held at nearly all Thai schools. You may recall that we assisted at an English Camp in Chiang Rai back in December . . .please refer to the “Chulabots” entry. Let’s just say that our camp had the same main goal of giving the students an opportunity to study English for an entire weekend, but it was done with true Hangchat flair and style. For starters, the name of this year’s camp was “English R Us.” How was the camp given such a grammatically incorrect name? One afternoon, as the English teachers were gathered around a table planning the camp, Kru Sutham began asking for ideas for the name. “Super English,” “Awesome English Camp,” several ideas were thrown out there. Leave it to me, with my hilariously not funny jokes and puns to throw something completely bizarre on the table. “English R Us!” I shouted, of course laughing at my own joke. Sutham, with his vast knowledge of western culture immediately grasped my joke and humored me with a chuckle. “What?! What?!” Pan exclaimed. Sutham explained to her that it’s a large toy store in America. “Ohhhh! Ok! ‘English R Us!’ It’s good I think!” Despite my efforts to explain that it was a stupid joke, and it only barely makes sense, Pan’s mind was made up. Less than a week later, to my great dismay, she appeared at my desk with a sketch of the camp t-shirts, ‘English R Us’ scrawled across the back. Sigh. When the T-shirts were actually finished, the ‘R’ is not only backwards, but also upside-down. That's so Hangchat.

As Erin has previously stated, Sutham is easing into retirement at Hangchat. He wanted to bring some fresh blood to English Camp this year so he called upon Mr. John, a freelance English teacher in Lampang (from Michigan) to plan nearly every aspect of the camp and help run it. In addition to Mr. John (and his young teenage son) Sutham also got his hands on a couple of high school exchange students from Brazil and Canada, respectively. Not exactly ‘native speakers,’ but still farang! Finally, Sutham called upon a youth group that is run out of Rajabhat University, in Lampang, to organize ice breakers and games for the down time between activities . . . basically to act as babysitters while the teachers showered and took breathers. This youth group ended up killing a lot more of the time than we initially anticipated, and sort of turned the camp into a Thai dance camp rather than an English camp, (the games and songs were all in Thai). Lack of educational value aside, the students loved the silly games and dances. The Rajabhat students brought a ton of energy to the camp and were certainly one of the highlights for the students! Enjoy the examples of some of the silly dances that took place! Each enjoyed very loud drumming and singing and shouting into microphones. The students were required to do ridiculous dances that involved, yup you guessed it, lots of hip thrusting, (a sort of theme here in Thailand).

During the day, Erin and I each manned ‘educational’ stations. Mine was boring so I had to spice it up. John informed me that I was to taking care of the word recognition station, in which I would call a word and a student would circle it. Boring. So I turned it into a racing game. I would make each student walk back about 10 yards from the white board, call a word out, then make the students race to be the first to touch the word on the board. It turned into some pretty intense hand to hand combat, so of course the students loved it. Success. Erin played Pictionary and taught parts of the body.

Let me take a moment to paint a picture of M4. These 96 students are, by far, some of our favorites in the school, (Yea, that’s right. Teachers do have favorites.) 4/1 is made up of students who were in Pan’s Christmas play. We were able to spend a lot of time with them during rehearsals, and Erin teaches them every week. The class consists of a whole slew of the sweetest girls you can imagine, who love learning English, and love talking to us. There are also a few adorable boys including Jame, (who I still think has star quality) and Big and Bell, the twins, both of whom Pan refers to as “Bigbell.” You may remember a video of me dancing with these 3 on Christmas. Donut is also in 4/1. I like his nickname.

4/2 is my class, but Erin became close to a number of them when they became her basketball teammates, (before the hoop broke). Ter is possibly the best English speaker in the school. His friend J is just adorable, sweet, and helpful. And then, there’s Home. Ahhhh, Home. Slightly overweight, walks with a ridiculous strut, always getting picked on by his buddies . . he’s the epitome of “the fat friend.” Home does not like English, nor is he any good at it. I will often ask him to repeat a phrase. “Come here please, teacher.” “Eh Uh Ehhhhh Aee OHHHH.” Not even close, Home, not even close. In frustration, he will often speak to me in Thai, rapid fire, and I just look at him and laugh. And then there is Somsak/Frasai/Sai/Lay/Helen, perhaps the most complex out of all the M 4’s. He is a lady boy, not quite as beautiful as Ram, our M5 lady boy, although perhaps with a bit more charisma. He (she) is very sweet, tries hard at English, and struts around campus with a pink Hello Kitty backpack. I love him (her).
4/3 is the slow class. 4/3, 5/3, and 6/3 are on the ‘language track’ at school, as opposed to the ‘math and science track.’ You would think this would mean that they are good at English, but really it means that they are bad at school, (although usually the most fun and entertaining in the grade). My 4/3 boys are the biggest, burliest, loudest, and possibly funniest group in the school. I used to get insulted when they would mimic my voice or tease me in some other way, but I have grown to love them and appreciate their humor. It’s not unusual to see one of the boys riding on the back of Bank, (well over 6 feet tall), or see one of the boys with his shirt unbuttoned to his stomach. I often feel like I’m in the army when I’m with them (there is only a small handful of girls in the class, who wisely keep their distance from the loud, smelly boys). As you can imagine, spending a weekend with this eclectic group was a trip!

The highlight was most certainly Saturday night, after we had all changed into our “comfy clothes,” (which included boxer shorts for some of the boys . . . shocking and wildly inappropriate!) The students had less than an hour to prepare skits in groups. Sutham distributed plot summaries of actual Korean soap operas, which the students had to base their skits on. Sai of course took the female lead of his group’s skit. One skit involved HIV . . .Ter kept that skit PG by having the narrator announce, “Then, they have a sex.” Here is a video of Ter dying of AIDS. As you can imagine, these plays made little to no sense, but were laugh-out-loud funny.

After the plays, we had a dance party. Yes, that’s right. Sutham cranked Thai hit after Thai hit out of the speakers, Pan turned out the lights and shone a flashlight everywhere, and Erin and I got crunk with our students. Things got a little weird when the boys were taking their shirts off, and at one point Erin yelled in my ear, “Pan needs to turn the lights on or things might start getting really awkward.” We got some interesting looks from the students when we led them in the Macarena, but I was glad they had a chance to see us as the young hip chicks we are. I’m a cool mom. But trust me, it was all harmless. And today I have sore legs. I just don’t have the stamina I used to.

Post dance party, Erin and I escaped to our jungle house, while the rest of the teachers had to sleep at school. Ha, suckers. We were informed that some of the boys were awake until 4 am!!! And they had to wake up at 6:30. This meant that Sunday was a wash. Oh yes, they had to attend our stations, but this didn’t keep them from sleeping. Even the teachers were exhausted from all the fun, and at one point when I caught Kru Ning resting against a post, she replied “Lazy R Us.” My Sunday station involved creating “Save the World” posters, perfect for sleeping. The studious, diligent students made the posters, while the 4 am partiers slept. I had a blast getting pictures of all of them, as you can imagine. Were there any negatives to the weekend? Only three. One: we had to sign every single student’s book after every station. This means that Erin and I signed our names a grand total of 288 times over the course of the weekend. Exhausting. Two: demonstrating the orange under the chin game with Erin in front of the students, ridiculous. Three: Hearing Pan outside my house at 7am, calling my name, because she’s ready for her shower. English R Us proved to be an unforgettable weekend that will make it even harder to say goodbye to these amazing kids.

Enter, PAUL!

2010-02-18T07:58:00.020+07:00

Wow, wow, what a fun-filled weekend we had. A friend of mine from college, Paul, came to visit. He is working for an American company in Hong Kong and we decided that since we were both in Asia we had to get together. It’s such a small continent, right? Since this weekend was Chinese New Year, Paul had Monday and Tuesday off, giving him enough time to make the trip worthwhile. We were determined to make sure he had a great time, as he did have to take a ferry and two planes to get here. We had quite the email chain going to make sure the weekend was full of activities to show Paul the greatness that is Thailand. I think we were successful, right Paul?

The weekend began with a delayed flight that Paul couldn’t inform us of because his phone wasn’t working. We were afraid he was lost but finally heard a tuk-tuk coming down our guest house’s alley, saw a bright white VILLANOVA t-shirt glowing in the dark, and knew it had to be him. We wasted no time, going straight out to show him what Chiang Mai nightlife had to offer. We took him to a part of town with a bunch of open-air bars where university students like to hang out, making us just about the only foreigners. Very authentic. Everyone had pitchers of mixed drinks, of which you could pick from a range of colors. We started off with green, which was tasty, but noticed that most other tables had the brown flavor, so we had to try that next. It only took one sip to realize what a bad idea that was, as an aftertaste of irony blood sunk in (our fingers spell blood in the picture above). Must be a Thai thing.

Friday night was also when Paul introduced us to DJ Earworm’s “mash-up” of the 2009 Top 25 Billboard Hits (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNzrwh2Z2hQ). This DJ takes the top songs from the year and mixes them altogether to make one song. It sounds really cool, so cool that Paul has memorized it by watching it “at least 8 to 9 times a day,” don’t tell his boss. Throughout the weekend he continually praised the “mash-up” and could be found singing his favorite clips through the streets whenever the mood struck. Emily also got her first taste of Paul’s obsession with Villanova. He’s pretty much the head of its fan club. Therefore it was no surprise when we discovered that Paul writes a blog for the business school about working abroad. He’s not as free to share as we are, though, since his has an editor. The running joke of the weekend centered on trying to guess if the things we did or pictures we took would pass the edit of Paul’s blog. First, we would take a picture holding our drinks, then without to make it blog appropriate. Paul was also introduced to song-taos, the pick-up truck taxis that take you anywhere in town for under $1. He was supposedly told by a friend that had been to Thailand that people often ride on the roofs, although Emily and I have never seen this. We never let him try the roof but he did insist on getting some pictures hanging off the back while Emily yelled, “You better be hanging on tight. You’re making me very nervous!”

Friday night made Saturday morning’s early wake-up a bit painful, but it was time for Flight of the Gibbon. Anyone who has ever been to Chiang Mai, no matter how short their stay, has heard of it. Huge billboards, posters, stickers, and brochures can be found everywhere around the city. It’s Thailand’s longest and highest zip-line course that got its name because you act like a gibbon when you fly from tree to tree. Since we had been bombarded by so many advertisements over the past couple months and this was our last trip to Chiang Mai, we just had to see what all the hype was about. The course is set up in a jungle about an hour outside the city. There were 10 zip-lines and each was different. Some you rode alone, while others you could go in groups (yes, Paul, Emily, and I all went across together); most required you to be caught by an employee at the other side, while one gave you the option to fly into a net and climb your way to the ending platform; and a couple were vertical lines, dropping you down long ropes like a firefighter on a pole. Overall, it was a great day. The staff was extremely friendly and, more importantly, Emily was impressed by how attractive they all were. As she put it, "Happy Valentine's Day to me!" We had to fill out exit surveys and in the suggestion section, as a joke, Emily wrote: “Come to Hang Chat” along with her number. If you are wondering, “Ken” did in fact call. You would think that zip-lining in a Thai jungle would be the highlight of our day, but the van ride home may have won. The three of us sat in the back row and quickly discovered that the seats fully reclined. As we were over-tired, or overexcited from interaction with the Flight of the Gibbon “models” in Emily’s case, we found this extremely exciting. We spent the ride annoying the other passengers by singing songs from our youth, and of course the 2009 mash-up, in full recline position.

Even after some rest, our energy levels were pretty low on Saturday night. Well, maybe not Paul. We went to a nice restaurant on the river for dinner, where a live band played hilariously unexpected American hits. We always hear “I’m Yours” but “Good Girls Go Bad” and “Tik Tok,” really Thailand? We like! We tried again with another mixed drink pitcher, but only to fail once more as this one tasted like mint toothpaste. We decided that this was still better than blood, though. Then, we headed to the farang section of town to go out. We ended up at a reggae bar where we seemed to be crashing a reunion of all the weirdest people alive. Let’s just say we were the most normal people there, BY FAR! We realized we had to get out of there when Emily said, “Guys, we had more fun in the van today than we are having right now.” That and Paul trying to yell over the music, “Can we go somewhere more fun,” just as the song ended, making it so everyone could hear him.

Sunday we got up early to go watting with Paul. As you know, Emily and I are over wats, but luckily we found a street on the map that had 3 wats all within walking distance. Bam, bam, bam, done! Next, we forced Paul to get a Thai massage, which is just as important to a visit to Thailand as the wats, in our opinion (and they cost less than $5). Thai massages are pretty rough, especially if you aren’t very flexible. Little Thai women push your limbs to the limit while climbing all over you, torturing you at every turn. Paul didn’t know what he was in for, but we told him he had to get one…we are so cruel. Then it was off to the Ping River for a boat cruise. At one point we stopped at a farmer’s house to enjoy some Thai fruit. We were told that parts of Rambo 4 were taped there in a weird museum that was attached. We are still trying to decide if it was a good lie since no one has actually seen Rambo 4 or if it had to be true because the place and movie were both too random to make up. After the boat ride we did our quickest chotch buying to date. We “cut to the chotch”. Get it? Not funny? Paul is unfortunately not as big a chotch lover as we are. We encouraged him to buy lots of weird and unnecessary things, but he was able to hold himself back. He did end up with a little painted lamp for his apartment though, because it’s humanly impossible to leave a chotch fair empty-handed. This just in: he has admitted to buying more chotch when he was alone before he went to the airport.

Then, it was off to Hang Chat. Paul got to experience his first ride on a motorbike, with me at the helm, from the bus stop to the Jungle House. On the ride, Mr. Positive had one of his many great quotes saying, “I will never forget this moment…riding on the back of a motorbike through this little town in Thailand as the sun is setting.” You’re so darn appreciative, Paul! We had big plans for Paul’s one night in Hang Chat, but for some weird reason everything was closed. First, our favorite cook, Lung Dang, had to close his shop because his sidewalk was being used for a funeral (long story). Then, both the roti and donut stands were closed. We did have some delicious pat gapow, Oreo shakes, and many laughs instead, though. The Oreo shakes were bigger than usual and may have caused a sugar high because we had quite the amount of energy when we arrived home. We set Paul up in the hallway between our rooms with two big blankets, although its still a hardwood floor, ouch. Then we broke out our Thai dice game, some chips and salsa, and some top 40 tunes and had ourselves one ridiculous slumber party.

Emily awoke at 6:45 the next morning to a cheerful “Good Morning!” coming from the hallway. Paul was obviously already awake and excited for his trip to school. The students were also excited to see him, a boy farang! It seemed to be every student’s goal to figure out whose boyfriend Paul was, even though he is neither of ours. To them it made no sense why he would come all the way to Thailand, on Valentine’s weekend, just to visit friends. Too bad I can’t say “he didn’t come all the way from America and it’s also Chinese New Year weekend” in Thai. “Kru Erin, is Paul your Valentine?” one of the students asked me. “No, we are just friends.” “Ok, then Kru Emily?” Then, a boy in another class kept making eye contact with me and putting his two fingers together, his way of asking “Are you two together?” without having to speak English…how creative! They were very frustrated that they weren’t able to get one of us to admit it, but they still loved Paul. He helped in both of our classes, at one point making a list of the “top 5 things he would bring to a deserted island” to which he included spiced rum, making him an instant hit with grade 12. Aside from teaching, Paul also spent the day breaking our computers by downloading all of his favorite YouTube videos…including the almighty mash-up, obviously. Paul loved his day playing teacher. At one point as he was leaning over the railing taking pictures outside he said, “I’m thinking about changing careers…this is heaven!” As he was taking the pictures the students outside were supposed to be in class but were instead using the fountains to have water fights and practicing muay-thai boxing on each other….what little angels!

Farewell dinner was with Pan and Poon. Pan thought that Paul’s name was Pon and called him that all night. She also told him that he looked Chinese and was “a different farang.” Everything turned out pretty tasty except one dish Paul ordered that was translated on the menu as “fried shrimp with peppers and peanuts.” The translation was definitely iffy as it ended up being an entire plate filled with raw onions, chili peppers, ginger, lemon wedges, herbs, and then in the middle a little pile of mini shrimps that Paul couldn’t even pretend to like. Then, for dessert we asked if they had ice cream and got the response, “No, but we have pineapple cheese.” You have what? And how is that a substitute for ice cream? Of course we ordered it anyway and ended up with 20 pieces of pineapple, each with a little square of American cheese (the kind in the plastic wrap) and a gummy on top, all held together with a little flag toothpick. At the end I had 9 flags on my plate while Paul had only 8…winner! Emily, Pan, and Poon all chocked down 1 each…lame!

As Emily and I have turned into grandmas here in Thailand, with our bedtimes of 9 PM on weekdays, and if we’re feeling really crazy, 11:30 PM on weekends (that is, if we’re traveling), Paul put a real jolt in our considerably calm and restful Thai lives. But in a good way, of course! It was great to see a familiar face, and an always smiling one at that, and to have another to add to our usual two-person weekend honeymoons. I probably haven’t laughed more in one weekend than I did this past one. I will close with what was probably Paul’s best quote: “I keep trying to pick out a highlight from this weekend, but the whole experience has been one big highlight.” Gotta love him!

What’s On The Menu?

2010-02-12T12:37:00.007+07:00

Although we have mentioned, here and there, some of the food we have been eating while over here, for example the many banana pancakes and our fried-up dinners, I thought that a whole entry should be devoted to it. I mean, everyone’s interested in food right? Personally, it’s one of my favorite parts about Thailand! We also have a whole cast of Hang Chat characters to more fully introduce you to. As previously mentioned we have tried our best to stay away from Western food and really indulge in the local cuisine. Not that we have a choice while in Hang Chat, as Thai “restaurants” are the only option. These “restaurants” usually consist of tables, sometimes only one or two, set up in front of or inside the residences of the people that own them. Usually one big wok is set up over a transportable one-burner stove just off the sidewalk in front of the owners’ home. As we only have a microwave, Emily and I go to town to eat dinner every night, and it only sets us back about 75 cents for a huge delicious meal. Going out to dinner has also become somewhat of an event for us as we wait in anticipation for the clock to strike 6:15 every night so we can take the motorbike to meet Lan for dinner (she has only missed 2 dinners the entire time we have been here). We have created somewhat of a rotation which consists of about 5 restaurants in downtown Hang Chat that we alternate between. We don’t always know the names of the places, so for some we make up our own.

First is a place called “Lap,” which is the name of a Northern Thai dish of ground pork and herbs served at the restaurant. We have become friendly with the owners: a young Thai couple, Annie and Sak, who are about 25 years old, and Annie’s mother. The couple has been very friendly ever since we first arrived in Hang Chat due to fact that they were previously friends with Nate. They have taken us to Lampang and shown us the nightlife, as we are lacking any other friends our age, and have also brought us to see a Thai boxing match in town. The mother speaks no English, and we understand very little of the Thai she throws at us, but she seems to enjoy our visits, always giving us huge smiles when we arrive. She likes to call herself our second mother, as she always worries about us when we go away on weekend trips, and she even gave us good luck bracelets to keep us safe. The daughter has recently become pregnant (as Emily referred to in a previous post), which is a new exciting event for us to check up on each time we dine there. Although they have an extensive menu, it’s in Thai and Lun says we wouldn’t like most of it (this usually means the dish includes seafood, liver, birds eggs, or congealed animal blood). Therefore, we just order what we can see, which is pork that they cook on their roadside grill that comes with an awesome tangy dipping sauce. We also get kap moo, which is a Northern specialty of fried pork skins, and a couple serving of delicious sticky rice since Lap is the only place in town that has it.

Next, there is Lung Dang (or Uncle Dang). You may remember this character from the post about Mr. and Mrs. D’s visit to Hang Chat, as he was the honored cooker of lunch. Lung Dang may be the cutest man on Earth. He has a baby face which makes him look about 35, while he is actually turning 49 next month (we are brainstorming some great birthday plans, including a Red Sox t-shirt as a gift,) and wears an apron with baggy shorts and little rubber rain boots. Too cute! He and Nate were supposedly the best of friends and he gets sad just thinking about his long lost friend. He often wears a baseball cap that Nate gave him (we are hoping the Red Sox tee will become its replacement) and each time we go he shares a new piece of information revealing just how close him and Nate had become…Nate cried when he said goodbye, used to take him out to clubs in Lampang (can’t picture this), used to come to his house at 1 AM if he couldn’t sleep, and burnt him English CDs (which he loooves to play), just to name a few (this is all translated through Lun, as Lung Dang’s speaks no English). Emily and I feel bad that we can’t get as close with him, since he is such a nice man, because of our lack of Thais-speaking skills. Either way, his food is awesome, especially one dish in particular… LATNA! Chan chop latna (I love latna)! It is not only my favorite dish in Thailand, but very possibly my favorite dish, period (Dad, start learning the recipe). It consists of stir-fried wide noodles in a thin brown gravy-like soup with many fresh vegetables, like pea pods, baby corn, broccoli, pumpkin, etc., which are bought fresh each morning at the local market. Thai pepper, peanuts, and spicy powder can be added on top as you like. It is simply amazing and I have to admit that we have had it 3 times in one week before. We just can’t help ourselves!

Then, there is a place we call “Khow Man Guy,” because every time we go we get the dish by this name, which roughly means “chicken and its oils with rice”. Although the dish seems simple, skinless chicken pieces atop white rice, the oils give the rice a buttery taste and the ginger sauce that it comes with makes it mouth-watering! We want to take some of the sauce home with us but realized it probably won’t last unrefrigerated while we travel around before flying back to America. The sauce is so good in fact, that I pour all of it on top and mix it around until every last piece of rice and chicken is covered in it (enjoy the before and after photo). The meal also comes with a delicious chicken broth soup. The only down-side to this restaurant is that it’s only open for lunch, as are a lot of restaurants in Hang Chat, which is very unfortunate for us. Therefore, every Monday and Friday we take the trek from school at lunch time, since these are the only days we have enough time to: go home, get the motorbike, drive into town, eat, drop the motorbike back off, and get back in time for class. It’s a bit of a production but so worth it (ask Mrs. D, who after trying many different meals throughout her 2 week stay called this her favorite)! It has gotten to a point where when the owners see us we no longer have to say “khow man guy, sauwg (two),” because they just know. Also, do you see those cucumbers and herbs on our plate? Emily would like you to know that we had to fight for those! Originally, we were being served our dish without both but would notice that all the Thai customers would get them. I blame Nate for this, as we assume he didn’t like them and the owners thought we wouldn’t either…those farang are all the same! But one time we asked Lan to order for us and specify that we would like the cucumbers and herbs. Since then we have always gotten them, so we make sure to eat every last bit of each so we don’t lose our privilege!

There are a couple other places we go where we aren’t as friendly with “the management.” One is Baan Thai (The Thai House), where we like to get a dish called pat gapow, which is fried ground pork on rice with garlic and basil…pet nidnoy (just a little spicy), of course. We once ordered pat gapow and forgot to make this request and Emily and I were literally crying and sweating it was so spicy. Another place we call “The Pat Thai Place,” because we usually get pat thai, but have recently branched out to try a dish called pat see ew, which is similar to latna, with wide noodles, but is without the gravy and has egg and canna, which is a green leafy vegetable. Another place we call “The Place Across From Lap,” because it’s directly across the street from Lap Restaurant, and we always get khow pat, aka fried rice. The portions are easily the largest in Hang Chat and possibly the largest we’ve experienced in Thailand, but of course we always clear our plates. Recently we’ve also added a couple new places including “The Soup Place” and “The New Restaurant”.

Some other dishes that we have tried and really like are nam prik aung, which is the Thai version of bolognaise sauce that comes in a small dish surrounded by vegetables for dipping. Green curry is a favorite of ours when traveling since it is unfortunately not served in Hang Chat. It is not curry like one would typically think of, like an Indian curry, as it is much sweeter and without the pungent smell, although we recently discovered it is only made sweeter for foreigners. It is made with green pepper paste and coconut milk, along with chicken pieces and a vegetable similar to zucchini. It is usually served with white rice, which you pour the curry on top of. Desserts are also plentiful in Thailand, lucky for us. Our personal favorites are the Oreo shake, with pieces of cereal, gummies, and chocolate and caramel sauce on top (see below); Thai donuts with dipping sauce; and the Thai version of fried dough, called roti (Emily single-handedly keeps the Hang Chat roti stand in business).

Personally, I am so grateful that we are in a country with such great cuisine. Five months is a long time to be eating food you don’t really like. We aren’t being super adventurous, but we try to sample everything that is offered to us and are often finding new dishes that we enjoy. One of the most helpful phrases we've learned is “arroy ma”, or “very delicious,” because it is important to Thais that people enjoy their cooking. Although we say “arroy ma” every time we eat something, we are almost never lying…almost! I suggest Google-ing the recipe to some of these dishes. You won’t be disappointed! Let us know how they turn out, but don’t blame us if anything goes wrong as improvising may be necessary if some ingredients are not available in the States!

Sukhothai

2010-02-09T08:26:00.008+07:00

This past weekend Erin and I hopped a bus to Sukhothai, about 3 ½ hours south of Lampang.

We’ve chosen our weekend destinations strictly based on Lonely Planet’s ideas, and towns that usually appear on maps of Northern Thailand. I know this is less than ideal, and we aren’t exactly getting too far off the beaten path, but with the limited time we have in Thailand, (and the even more limited opportunities we have for weekend trips,) this is how it’s turned out. Sukhothai is a small province in the southern part of the northern region of Thailand, (Kao jai, mai?) It was the first capital city of Thailand, from the 14th to the 15th century, AD. It is a must for anyone interested in history. I’d say I’m minorly interested in history, but I was really fascinated by the site! The ancient town has been converted into a national park and is filled with ruins of more than 91 Buddhist temples (wats), contained in a 5 kilometer radius. Additionally, less impressive, stumpier ruins can be found throughout the town of Sukhothai, in the yards surrounding houses, along the main road, and in the jungle. In the States we just don’t have anything that can compare to the age and stature of the monuments, and it’s sort of breathtaking to imagine what sorts of things were going on within the walls 700 years ago!
Because the wats are spread throughout such a large area, renting a bicycle or motorbike is the best option. For 30 baht (90 cents) each, we got our hands on a couple of not so shiny and new bikes, and were ready to tour the town. Let me add that Sukhothai is EXTREMELY hot and humid, much hotter than our lovely Hangchat, and alas, the ancient wats have lost their roofs, so we had no coverage from the sun. By the end of the day I had a sunburn on my nose, hands, and forearms . . .classic bike burn.
Like I mentioned before, Erin and I were most certainly impressed by the rich history in which we were immersed. However, neither of us is what you would call a ‘history buff.’ There just has to be one more added element to touring a historical site . . .some sort of challenge, if you will. On high school field trips, this took the form of a question/information sheet, a task that must be completed as a site is toured. In Sukhothai we had no prepared questions. So, our task for the day became capturing as many photos of the two of us as possible. Of course, we were travelling without a third friend, (much to Pan’s dismay. . .”I worry about you and Erin, always.”) How would the task be completed? Ask a random tourist to take a picture? That would be the easy route. Plus, although Sukhothai is a popular tourist destination, the ruins are so spread out that often we were the only ones at a site. Hmmm. That only leaves one option, the most fun option . . .self-timer shot!!!
Ohhh such thought went into each self-timer picture! We had to lean the camera, just so, on each piece of historical rock, pillar, or platform. The self-timer allowed us 10 seconds before the picture was snapped, (there’s probably a way to adjust that, but I haven’t figured it out, and I secretly enjoyed the time restraint. . . it added to the challenge of the task!). Now remember, we wanted pictures of ourselves in, on, and around ruins. This meant that the button-pusher had to sprint, hurdle, climb, and make a ridiculous pose, all in the span of 10 seconds; a truly impressive feat, to say the least.

At one point, lucky for you, we mistakenly captured a video, rather than a timer shot. You can see the process in action:

We captured our fair share of misses, but I think the end result was well worth the dirt, bruises, and scrapes. Task, achieved; day, productive.

What else? We got lost a lot . . .our three maps didn’t always cut it. And we almost got attacked in one of the ruins by an ‘overly friendly’ Thai man. Last week with my classes we worked on comparatives and superlatives, so since I’m in that frame of mind, I’ll list some Wat superlatives:

Most Popular Field Trip Spot: Wat Mahathat

Wat with the most gi-normous Buddha: Wat Si Chum

Most Exhausting Wat to Access: Wat Saphan Hin

Wat Where One Is Most Likely to Get Groped: Wat Phra Phai Luang

Wat With a Smell Most Closely Resembling Vomit: Ta Pha Dang Shrine

After our long day of biking, exploring history, and snapping pictures in the scorching heat, we were hungry and dying to try the famous goo-ay dee-o Sukhothai, Sukhothai style noodles! It took us an hour of walking up and down the streets of ‘New Sukhothai,’ where we stayed, but we found them. . .and . . . I was less than impressed. It was almost exactly like the soup we eat everywhere in Thailand, but with Ramen noodles, chopped green beans, and a slightly sweeter broth. Ohhhh, Thailand, you get me every time!

A final note, if anyone ever finds any nightlife in Sukhothai, contact Erin and I. We spent both evenings listening to the Carpenters and Dolly Parton surrounded by nutty European backpackers. Ugh, I’ll take a Lampang disco please.

Nonetheless, another amazing weekend. I’m going to miss this place :(

Tuesdays

2010-02-05T10:06:00.005+07:00

No television. No internet. Friends that can be counted on one hand. How do we keep from going crazy in Hangchat? A lot of book reading, journal writing, movie watching, puzzle making (that’s all Erin), and for me, boredom snacking. Strike one. The main event of every weekday (and weekend spent in Hangchat) is meal time with Lan. Because we have nothing to do, and Lan doesn’t either, we try to stretch our meals to take up as much time as possible. When we have finished loitering for as much time as possible at the local restaurant, we will often (2-3 times per week) go grab a milkshake at the traffic light, or perhaps some doughnuts at the stand across from Lan’s house (an additional 1-2 times per week). Strike two. What does our Thai diet consist of? Some variation of a rice or noodle dish, usually fried, every day and every night. Strike three. Three strikes and you’re fat.

“Have you gained weight or lost weight in Thailand?” Thai people often ask with a big grin. Gained, gained, gained, gained. Luckily, we have found a way to both fight the battle of the bulge and occupy some time! Back in early November, Lan informed us that her sister-in-law teaches aerobics classes, in the ‘fitness center’ parking lot on Tuesday evenings. Aerobics? Say no more. I will participate in any form of exercise that involves dance music. We have since become regulars at Tuesday evening aerobics class. And the best news? It’s free . . .okay, well everything is relatively free in Hangchat, but this is literally FREE!

A few words about aerobics. The tempo of the Thai dance music seems about 20 times faster than music in any American aerobics class I ever attended. Maybe it’s just the scorching Thai heat that restricts my movement, and makes the tempo seem faster. Our theory is that Thai people are small, with short limbs, and they can move more quickly than us gangly Americans. I will say, however, that I’ve developed a love for this corny, Thai, disco-esque, dance/love music. It usually involves women singing in shrill voices or men whining.

Who are our classmates? Well, we are the only white people, (obviously. . .this is Hangchat, after all). We are also the youngest attendees. I can safely say that the vast majority of the 15-20 Thais are over 40 years old, probably over 50 years old. (Try to guess a Thai’s age sometime. Nearly impossible). One woman proudly informed us one day that she is 76 years old. Erin and I are convinced that one of the women is over 80. About half of them are overweight, and I’m pretty sure they just attend in order to socialize with their girlfriends. They don’t prance with feeling.

People come and go as they please. Some only come for the stretching portion. Some come halfway through. People are in and out throughout the hour. Also, because it’s a parking lot, we have to dodge bicycles, motorbikes, and sometimes cars. It’s the parking lot of the miniscule fitness center, as well as the fire station, and, I’m pretty sure, the electric company.

Only one man attends. Erin thinks there is something wrong with him. Like, maybe all the upstairs bulbs aren’t screwed in properly. He always proudly prances in the front row and his movements are rather spastic. He sort of thrashes his arms and legs around, in a way that makes us think he’s joking. But his face is always deadpan. Recently he’s begun attempting to communicate with us. He’s asked us how to spell a Thai name in English. (HA! ) He’s also asked us what one says in English, to tell a naughty student to sit properly in his chair. (‘Sit in your seat!’ – the title of my as yet, unpublished memoir). These questions make us think that he’s a teacher. Erin’s theory of a mental handicap might have to be abandoned. Or perhaps the teaching is the cause of his mental handicap.

A final comment about Thai aerobics class – it involves a lot of hip wiggling and thrusting. It seems that this holds true throughout the country, as our friend farther north made a similar comment about an aerobics class that she attends. I love watching the elderly ladies, (and the crazy man) move their hips in such a sassy way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4TfGbUGycg

Enjoy the video, and make your own observations.Is Thai aerobics keeping me in shape? Not really. The skirts are getting tighter and tighter with each passing week. But, my classmates keep me thoroughly entertained, I sweat a whole lot, I get to gyrate without shame to some pretty catchy music, and I feel just a smidge less guilty about those pints of Wall’s ice cream I devour after naughty-children-filled days.

Parental Pah-jahn-pie, Part Sawng (Two)!

2010-02-03T14:25:00.006+07:00

This past weekend was Mr. & Mrs. D’s long awaited trip to Hang Chat…duh, duh, duh! Because of their beach getaway (too many topless old European women if you ask Mr. D) they couldn’t make it until Sunday, so Emily and I were left to entertain ourselves on Saturday.
At night we were able to rope Dart, Lan’s nephew, into driving us to Lampang for a buffet dinner, along with Lan and Dream. This was not any ordinary buffet, but a Korean-style “moo ga ta” buffet, which literally means “meat in a pan”. It’s the Korean version of a barbeque, but do-it-yourself. A little grill surrounded by boiling soup over a charcoal fire could be found in the middle of each table, and an endless supply of meat and seafood in different marinades, along with vegetables and noodles to cook in the soup were available to choose from. Along with the items to cook there were also dumplings, French fries, fried rice, chips, etc. that were ready to eat if you were too hungry to wait. And I can’t forget about dessert…or at least one dessert in particular, coconut ice cream, one of our favorites. It’s not like normal American ice cream but instead a mix between soft serve and Italian ice, and peanuts are added on top for the perfect finishing touch. We may have had 2 or 3 bowls of multiple scoops each…oops, blame the buffet, where self control goes out the window. Basically, Emily and I thought we had died and gone to heaven and Lan was getting a kick out of how much and how quickly food was disappearing from the table. We all ate until we were about to burst…and we think Dream may have, as after her nearly 10^th plate of food we watched her rub her stomach, run to the bathroom, and return with a smile. It’s surprising “moo ga ta” buffets don’t exist in America, but it’s probably because they are quite the liability…an unsupervised fire in the middle of the table, raw meat being cooked by non professionals, etc…but America has too many rules!
Finally it was Sunday and the big arrival of the farang parents! Mr. and Mrs. D arrived via driver to the Hang Chat Wittaya gates and we walked them to the infamous Jungle House. Mr. D was quite surprised that it isn’t actually in a jungle, but visible from the road. Sorry, no monkeys or cheetahs either, but we do have spiders, for those who have seen Emily’s pictures! Mrs. D decided that the outside of the house is a poor representation of our rather cute abode, as it is painted dark brown, poor choice. Don’t judge a book by its cover! Lan arranged for two cars to pick us up, one driven by her nephew (we assume bribery was used to get him to agree to hang out with us two days in a row) and the other by her brother. They were our trusty chauffeurs for the day. The first stop on the tour was Lune Dang’s for lunch. We frequent his little restaurant at least once a week, if not more, and told him in advance that we wanted to bring Emily’s parents when they visited. He seemed honored, pulling out all the stops for the celebrity parents. He got all dressed up, tossing aside his usual oversized tee for a crisp polo shirt, and he dug out some of his best dishware. He also created a special menu with some things he doesn’t typically offer, including green chicken curry and a cashew chicken dish. Just the thought of this cute little man buying special ingredients to share with people he had never met was adorable. He was so happy to see that everyone enjoyed his creations that his eyes were watering as we left. Aww!
The rest of the day consisted of the typical

Thailand

tourist routine: elephants and temple-hopping! You just don’t get more Thai than that! Although we insisted that it wasn’t necessary to go to the elephant center since the Duval’s had ridden elephants earlier in the week, our chauffeurs insisted that THIS elephant center was different. Other than the fact that it’s in Lampang instead of Chiang Mai, I’m not sure I agree, but we go where the chauffeurs take us. So although Emily and I had already been on 5 different elephant adventures, we gave in. With Pee Sak’s police connections we got in for free through the back entrance and even got front row for the elephant show because the head of our school board happened to be there. I even accidently ended up sitting next to the governor of the province and therefore was part of his paparazzi photo shoot, so keep your eyes peeled for my Thai newspaper front page debut! It was the Duval’s lucky day because it happened to be some sort of elephant holiday this past weekend, which meant a special performance even we had yet to see. It included Thai dancing, sword fighting, a play about Thai history, all done in beautiful traditional costumes. Some dressed-up elephants were also thrown in there somewhere, as it was an elephant center and all. Lan’s comment of the day, and she always seems to have one, occurred at the show while she was watching Mr. D take some photos and said, “Oh, he looks just like a movie star!”…settle down Lan, he’s a happily married man!
Next, we did some temple-hopping. Don’t get me wrong, the temples, called wats, in Thailand are quite beautiful, but once you’ve seen a few, you’ve seen them all. Emily and I have even started “double-watting”, our name for visiting the same wat for a second time. This is due to the fact that “no” is not really the answer any Thai person is looking for when they ask you if you want to visit their place of worship, and therefore our response is more along the lines of “Well of course we do, how did you guess?” We also can’t remember the names of the wats, so we are never quite sure if we have already been until we get there, see it, and realize that we have. We have gotten pretty good at pretending its all new to us, though…Emily even snaps pictures that she already has from the last time we were there. We have now, after the Duval's visit, officially begun triple-watting, as we have been to one wat in Lampang three times. A bit painful…I mean beautiful. I think even the Duval's were getting watted-out…but they still smiled, conducted some mini photo shoots (how else will Mrs. D fill up her Asian-inspired living room unless Mr. D takes close to 400 pictures in 2 weeks??), and asked some thoughtful questions…success! As I rode with Pee Sak and Dream throughout the day, I supposedly missed some ridiculous conversations in the other car as a result of Lan’s interaction with the Duval’s. Lan was still laughing at dinner this week about jokes from the ride, her favorite being Mr. D’s response of “too long” when she asked how long he had been married to Mrs. D. Oh Lan, you’re so easy to entertain!

From one set of Thai babysitters to the next, we got passed off from Lan’s family to Pan’s at the Duval’s guest house. Pan and Poon would be taking us to dinner. We had gotten the Duval’s ready for Pan in advance, as she and Lan are complete opposites. They were a little nervous for her high energy personality as we were all very tired from the long day of Lampang site-seeing. We did give Mrs. D one important task though: she must get Pan to say “little noodles” because she says it so hilariously, sounding more like “leaden nooden”. Don’t worry, it’s all in good fun, and Pan is always laughing at Emily and I. The task was completed, good job Mrs. D! Dinner consisted of, well, whatever Pan ordered and then whatever we could yell out loud enough for the waitress to hear. For example, although we had had green chicken curry for lunch, Pan insisted we have it again. Ok Pan, whatever you say! We warned Mr. and Mrs. D that Pan sometimes liked to have late nights, and with their early wake-up for school the next day they weren’t sure they could handle that. Mr. D’s used a subtle comment of “Well, I’m getting pretty tired” to bring the dinner to a close.
Bright and early on Monday morning the Duval’s hitched a ride to school with Pan for their first day of Thai high school. They stuck to the strict dress code assigned to them by Emily…no Dad, you may not wear shorts, your legs are far too hairy...you’ll scare the children! They got plenty of stares as anticipated…Who are those old farangs? Mrs. D and I could be found rolling our eyes at each other throughout the day in response to the gasps by every last teacher and student of “very handsome, very young…TOO young!” when they saw Mr. D. No one could believe that he was Emily’s father, but thought that he had to be her brother. Do not fear, I have faith that Mrs. D will bring him right back down to earth so his head doesn’t get too big, although I think he now understands what we mean when we say that Asia is a major self esteem booster! Enjoy the footage of Mr. and Mrs. D introducing themselves to one of the Emily’s classes and fielding a few questions. Mr. D quickly realized the language barrier/lack of interest of our students when he tried to ask one student a question and he ran out of the room… welcome to our lives!

Overall, it was great to see Mr. and Mrs. D, my “second parents,” who have been feeding me dinners ever since third grade when I wouldn’t get the hint to leave their house when Mrs. D started to set the table. They were like our little newborns, discovering the world for the first time, or at least Asia, and their sense of wonderment and awe at all things Thai was very entertaining to watch. Their excitement and ohh’s and ahh’s in response to what has been our everyday lives for the past few months was a great reminder of how truly one of a kind this experience is. So thank you Mr. and Mrs. D for letting me crash your family vaca and treating me like part of the fam once again J!

Mom and Dad’s Grand 'Pah-jahn-pie'

2010-01-27T07:39:00.007+07:00

I know many of you must be wondering how Keith and Louise are faring in Thailand. Admittedly, I was more than apprehensive about their decision (well, Dad’s decision) to venture to the Far East. Anyone who has ever met my parents can understand my unease. Mom enjoys the comforts of home. She likes doing laundry and curling up in the chaise with a good book. She also likes seat toilets. Dad talks, a lot, and usually at a high decibel level. He likes having meaningful conversations with strangers, and this usually requires a response on the other end, in English, (although, now that I think about it, not always). I wouldn’t exactly call either of them ‘culturally sensitive.’ Don’t get me wrong, they’re very sweet, kind, and tolerant, but neither of them watches the Travel Channel or the Amazing Race as religiously as I do.

Despite my many honest warnings about potential issues they might have in this country, Dad booked the plane tickets (much to Mom’s initial dismay) and the decision was made. Now again, don’t read into this! I was excited that they would be coming, I was just feeling as though any problems they had would put my head on the chopping block. Is it possible that I’m overprotective of my parents?

After 30+ hours of airports and airplanes, they arrived in Chiang Mai early on Thursday morning. Erin and I made the trek to the city to see them Friday, after school. I couldn’t take my usual nap on the bus ride there. Were they doing okay? Had Mom’s bladder exploded from refusing to squat? Had Dad landed himself in a Thai prison with his wild hand gestures and strong political views? The two arrived at the Arcade Station to pick us up with their driver . . .yes driver. Let me explain. My parents have befriended the sweet Thai woman who owns a Thai restaurant in Nashua. It turns out that this is the best friendship that has ever happened to them. Ae’s brother lives in Chiang Mai, working as a professor at the university. He lives on an amazing piece of property just outside of the city limits, and let’s just say that the guy has some serious cake. He has ensured that my parents are completely looked after and comfortable, hooking them up with drivers, all the Thai fruit they can eat, and an itinerary jam-packed with wat visiting, elephant riding, and market shopping.

“This is Mi, our driver, isn’t he so cute?” said Mom after embracing her long-lost daughter. I could tell by her beaming smile that I had been completely off the mark. She was having the time of her life! Mi drove us back to our guest house for the weekend (funded by Mom and Dad) and I could immediately see why. This was nothing like the Jonadda Guesthouse, where Erin and I usually call home in Chiang Mai. There was a garden in the lobby, free snacks galore, and an owner who loved chatting, (perfect for Dad!). Erin and I dropped our bags in our lovely room, (we’ve both become experts at sharing a big bed without invading each other’s personal bubbles,) and Dad went upstairs to freshen up. Dad freshened for quite a while, and then he came downstairs wearing a pair of ridiculous ‘play pants’ (in Emily language) or ‘fisherman’s pants’ that he’d picked up at the local market, pretending that he would be going to dinner in them. Ha. Although I’m immune to his practical jokes after dealing with them for 23+ years, I was pleased to see him embracing Thai fashion!
The four of us shared a delicious traditional Northern Thai dinner consisting of somtam, nam prik ong, green curry, pad gapaow, and sticky rice. Aroy maak maak! Mom and Dad thoroughly enjoyed each and every dish Erin and I threw at them! Of course we completed the evening with some roti, Thai fried dough with chocolate and bananas.

A theme of the weekend seemed to be “buy, buy, buy.’ You see, things in Thailand are cheap, very cheap. Erin and I usually pay 25 baht for dinner in Hangchat (about 75 cents) each night. 5 baht (15 cents) can buy you a large bottle of water, or even a bag of doughnuts. In Chiang Mai, things are not so cheap, but 200 baht (about 6 dollars) can still buy you a shirt, skirt, or a pretty awesome chotchke. For Mom and Dad, this means everything is free. For Erin and I, who are on Thai salaries , everything is not free, and we must control our compulsive spending. As it turns out, Mom + Dad + baht = hilarity. Dad would pull out a handful of one-baht coins, and say to Erin, “these are useless, right?” No Dad! You can get yourself a treat or a fruit with those! 400 baht for a table cloth? “Louise, we have to.” 9-tiered teak candle holder? How could one live without such a vital decoration. Mom would often pull out her wallet full of baht, and flash it around as if it was a fistful of nickels. “What’s this green one?” As Erin says, “It’s just monopoly money to them.”

My Thai bargaining skills only made them feel better about their spending. They were getting a deal on all of their crap! “Em, come here, come here, come here, I need you. I want to buy this T-shirt. I want it cheaper.” After buying a handicraft, Mom would get all excited and think that the sellers were her friends! It seemed she thought that they were only lowering prices for her. Ohh, Mom. Let’s just say that after visiting three markets over the course of the weekend, many pairs of ridiculous pants and piles of chotch were bought and Erin is now a Thai art collector. Mom and Dad are horrible influences.

Besides the shopping, we also went on a pah-jahn-pie (adventure) to beautiful Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand. Dad had read in a guide book that the mountaintop is great for bird-watching, and despite his attention deficit issues, it’s become an interest of his in recent years. Alas, no birds were seen. Sorry, Dad. Dad did, however, find someone to have ridiculous conversations with in Jarran, our driver for the day. Enjoy this video of an attempted crossing of the language barrier.
Sunday was a day of massages. At the market, the girls got foot massages and sipped fruit shakes. Then, back at the guesthouse, Dad, Erin, and I got Thai massages. Sabai, sabai. I should add that Dad had two Thai massages in three days. Someone might be getting spoiled . . .

The two are currently in Phuket lounging at the beach. As I wrangled escaping 14 year olds back into the classroom this morning, I was more than slightly jealous of them. They’ll get theirs, though. They will arrive in Hangchat on Sunday. I’ve trained the students to say “Mr. Duval, Mrs. Duval. How are you?” Lund Dang, one of our favorite Hangchat cooks, is already preparing a special menu for them. Something tells me that their pah-jahn-pie is just beginning . . .

Holiday School

2010-01-21T09:19:00.005+07:00

As we have mentioned previously, we go to what Sutham likes to call a “holiday school”. This means that there seem to be more days off or in-school activity days than actual school days. So far, Emily and I have taught very few full weeks of classes, and not just because we have taken days off or because of holidays. For some reason or another, at least a few of the fourteen classes we teach a week will not show up. For example, every time there is a school event which causes classes to be cancelled, like Cultural Day or Christmas, students will also skip class on days prior to prepare for the event. Last week grades 9, 10, and 11 went on a Boy and Girl Scout field trip from Tuesday until Friday, which meant that none of them were in class on Monday either. Obviously preparation was needed to skip four days of school…it’s not as easy as it looks, you know. Emily and I both teach classes from every grade, so when half the school is gone we have half as many classes. In addition, grades 7 and 8 took off classes on that Tuesday because, apparently, they needed the entire day to “clean” the campus. Upon further inspection it looked more like each class had picked one person to sweep some leaves while the rest played tag or napped. Oh yeah, and don’t forget grade 12. Although they were not on the field trip either, they were supposedly “studying math and science without teachers” all week. I’m sure they were extremely productive considering that they graduate in less than 2 months and their senioritis is off the charts (apparently it’s a world-wide phenomenon).

In general, the 12^th grade classes are real wildcards. On any given day they could be in our class or they could have taken a Senior Skip Day, or maybe just a Skip Emily and Erin’s Class Day, but we figure out by simply waiting to see if they show up. At least 25 minutes is needed to make this determination though, because that’s how much time they need even if they do plan on showing up (side note: classes are only 50 minutes long). My personal favorite of their class-skipping tactics is when they simply lay outside instead of coming to class, but chose to do so in plain view of the English wing. Either they aren’t very sneaky or they like to rub it in our faces that we have no control over them. You would think that they would be scared of the repercussions of their actions, but all the other teachers say is, “Oh well, its grade 12.” They sure do keep you on your toes, though. Little rascals!

Sports Days also seem to be a weekly occurrence. Although our school held its own class-cancelling, 2-day Sports Day in November, some of our students are so sporty that they also need to attend the event at neighboring schools. Any time there are a lot of boys missing from class its safe to guess that they are off playing soccer (football) somewhere. There was also a week-long trip that the boys in grades 7, 8, and 9 took to become monks in honor of the King’s birthday. If Emily or I had a class in any of these grades we were left with half of a class (not complaining though, we got a lot more done in that week with only girls than we ever had with the rowdy boys present). Then there is “student army training” for the older boys. Even though every Tuesday at school is a half-day of classes, with the afternoon reserved for this army training (and boy and girl scouts for the younger students), there are occasional day and week-long training camps in addition. Next there are the academic competitions that are always happening. One day it’s a science competition, the next it’s math, and so on. This means your brightest students, which keep you sane, will be gone for a day. The English competition happened to occur on a weekend, so no missed school day for us, but an extra school day instead. No wonder none of the students like English!

On top of all those missed classes, add in the holidays like the King’s Birthday, which was then combined with Constitution Day to make a 4-day weekend; a half day for Loy Kratong; and another 4-day weekend for New Years, and you have yourself a “holiday school”. The best part is, none of the teachers seem to know about the events or the exact dates of the holidays beforehand and none are too bothered by the fact. This means that Emily and I are definitely kept in the dark, so each day we wait to see which of our classes will show up, and if they do, how many students will be present. It’s always a mystery! We certainly can’t complain though because holiday schools are prettttty relaxing, and we’ve heard some horror stories from students in our program at much stricter schools. As Sutham put it, “I used to teach in Bangkok and it was so much work, so I came to this school for a vacation. I’m slowly easing into retirement.”

My Newly Formed Superiority Complex

2010-01-13T09:59:00.008+07:00

So we have spent more than two consecutive weeks in humble Hang Chat and my self-esteem is at an all-time high. Here’s why.
Some of you may be aware of the Thai obsession with attractiveness, and a very specific paragon of beauty that they all value and strive for. This ideal includes fair skin, large eyes, a thin and pointy nose, well-defined cheek bones, straight and shiny hair, and thin legs, just to name a few characteristics. The models that Thai girls look up to tend to be Korean, because they traditionally encompass these characteristics (to a greater degree than Thais). Sadly, plastic surgery is becoming a growing trend among young Thai men and woman who are getting their faces restructured to look ‘Korean.’ Erin and I are most definitely not Korean, but lucky for us, we seem to (surprisingly) encompass some Korean traits! Jackpot! It turns out that beauty is in the eye of the . . .Thai!

On one occasion, towards the beginning of my time here, I was mid-lesson, doing my elaborate ‘song and dance’ of over-pronunciation and word miming, when a young girl looks at me and said, “Teacher, you have beautiful eyes.” “Ummmm, oh well, umm thank-you! You too, I mean . . . ok, well, ummm, back to the lesson,” I stammered while blushing and beaming. I’ve never been one to take a compliment well. Maybe I was under-complimented as a child, (I’ll stop analyzing before Mom gets angry). As embarrassed as I was at this moment, I must admit that it was nice to be complimented so directly and sincerely. Ohhh, haven’t we all been told we’re beautiful by those schmucks at the bars who are trying to take us home with them? But this was a genuine compliment from a young Thai girl who wanted nothing of me, (I don’t submit grades,) only to tell me she liked my blue eyes.

A brief caveat: sometimes the only English word the students know is ‘beautiful,’ so they throw it around like ‘hello.’ “Teacher, beautiful!” Erin and I often hear as we walk to school in the morning. It’s the equivalent of saying ‘hello’ for them. But, I will continue to enjoy these compliments whether they are intentional or not.

Occasionally the compliments are a little odd, due to the language barrier. Apparently in Thai, ‘sexy’ does not have the same connotation that it does in English. Occasionally the students will use the word, although in these cases I completely ignore it and pretend I didn’t hear it. Who do I look like, Mary Kay Letourneau? Sometimes, however, Lun’s brother, Pi Sak, (the undercover police officer) who speaks NO English will greet Erin and myself by giving us two thumbs up, a huge smile, and saying “sexy, sexy!” Creepy? At first, a little bit, but it turns out that I love Pi Sak, and if he wants to tell me I’m sexy, it’s fine! He thinks it’s a synonym of beautiful and it’s one of the only English words he knows. I probably still blush when he says it, but I always give a very sincere “thank you.”

Update to the ‘sexy’ situation: Lun has (since this post was initially written) informed me that I am not sexy. According to Lun, Erin is sexy, very sexy, but I am not. I was floored by this assessment. I of course encouragd her to elaborate. “Emily, I think, very very sweet, cute, and lovely, but not sexy. Erin, sexy.” Neither Erin nor I felt complimented, but smiled and accepted. Way to keep my ego in check, Lun, thank you!

This past weekend, the compliments were taken to the next level by Lun and Pi Annie, our wonderful friend who, along with her husband and mother, own one of our favorite restaurants in town. We had just found out that Annie is preggers! Congratulations Annie! I of course was so excited for her and her husband, although sad that I won’t be here to welcome the arrival of the little one, (I’m having baby withdrawals, as the majority of my waking hours were spent with babies back in Boston, and now I’m surrounded by pubescent teens, ugh).

Annie started up with the flattery, even more than usual, as she discussed her hopes for her little bun in the oven. Lun translated as Annie said “I want my baby to be like you. I will look at you two all the time so that my baby can look like you. Nice skin, beautiful!!!” Oh Annie, judging by the look of you and your husband, your baby will not look anything like Erin or me. Then things got taken to the next level. Erin and I were sipping our chaou minaus (iced lemon tea) enjoying the beautiful day and the company of Lun and Annie, when the girls suddenly began jabbering away. Then Lun was staring at our faces. “What is it Lun,” I said. “We think you have beautiful eyebrows, very thin” she said. We of course thanked her and explained that we pluck the occasional stray hair. “OHHHHHH, hurts!” she responded. Our beauty comes with a price, Lun. I then said to her, that her eyebrows are very nice too! Let’s face it, Asian people are not exactly known for being hairy! Her eyebrows looked just fine to me! “Ohhhhhh nooooo, too thin!” It turns out that poor Lun has minimal self-esteem. 3 minutes passed and Erin and I continued to sip our tea. Annie and Lun jabber jabber jabbered. “What, Lun?” “I think beautiful teeth! Very beautiful, so straight!” We thanked her and explained that we both had braces for 2 years apiece. “Ohhhhhhh very expensive, I think!!!” she responded. Yes Lun, very very very expensive. Again, it is the price of beauty. Although Lun’s appraisal of our beauty may have been diminished just a bit with these new bits of information (plucking, braces, oh my!) she remained persistent. Annie and Lun jabber jabber jabbered some more. “Yes, Lun?” “Annie think that every expression you make on your face, very beautiful! Beautiful in every emotion!” This was the breaking point, I really couldn’t take anymore.
Erin and I burst into hysterics. It doesn’t even make sense! A. I'd say I'm average-looking, maybe cute at best. B. I am most certainly not beautiful in every facial expression I make. I mean maybe Gisele Bundchen would fall into this category, but I’m sure even she has her ‘off days.’ Erin then made a ridiculous face and said, “Am I beautiful now?” “STILL BEAUTIFUL!” Lun exclaimed. We threw in the towel, we just couldn’t argue any further. “We will touch your stomach sometimes so that maybe we can pass on our traits to your baby,” Erin informed Annie. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Since then we have been given some other ridiculous compliments by Lun, and have tried to argue them to no avail.
Lun -“You both wear jeans very beautifully. Good shape!”
Erin – “I can barely button these jeans. I can’t even move right now.”

Lun – “You have very beautiful hands, so small”
Me – “They are midget hands. I look like a child. People make fun of them all the time.”

What is the point of all this? For me, it further reaffirms the idea that as humans we will always desire what we don’t have. I wish I didn’t, er, fill out my jeans quite so much. But for our very petite Thai friend with less, um, assets, a little extra junk in the trunk is a good thing. I’ve always hated my midget hands and yearned for long, delicate fingers. Lun has lovely thin fingers but thinks they are much too long. The Thai girls use whitening lotions on their skin, while American girls are spending hundreds of dollars a year and giving themselves skin cancer at the tanning salon to become ‘Thai-colored.’

Oh, and the other point of this? My self-esteem is at an all time high and although I used to shy away from compliments, and still try to fight Lun when the compliments don’t make sense, I’m getting used to the excessive flattery! When I get back to Beantown, those men at the bars are really going to have to work for my attention.

"You are so beautiful.”

“HA! Is that the best you can do? You’re going to have to get a little more creative than that, Sport. I’ve lived in Thailand!”

Excuse Me, Do You Speak Robot?

2010-01-11T12:40:00.003+07:00

Since this post is only thoughts and not about any specific event, I have included random pictures that never made it on here, including plenty of waterfall shots (top at Chae Son National Park and the others from Chiang Mai) and Emily and I with the cast of Pan’s play, Baan Saitong.

Learning a new language is not easy, so we never expected to be speaking fluent Thai after only 5 months in Thailand. And although we have picked up a bunch of words (although mostly related to food because we are always eating) and have moved on to making sentences, we are having some serious struggles. At first we were really frustrated by the poor English abilities of our students, thinking how at their age we knew French, which we had also been taking since elementary school, much better than they know English. Trying to learn Thai has given us a much better understanding of how hard it is for them, though. Besides the fact that Thai has a totally different alphabet, with 44 consonants and 22 vowels, most of their sounds do not directly correspond to the sounds of our letters. For example, the Thai language has a character that corresponds to the sound “ng” in English, which is a sound that is extremely difficult for an English speaker to say at the beginning of a word (try saying “nguang”, or elephant trunk), while our “x” does not correspond to any of the Thai characters, and is therefore almost impossible for Thais to say. There are also characters that correspond to two sounds in our alphabet. For example, there is one that corresponds to both v and w. So although v and w sound totally different in English, when speaking Thai you can choose either sound to make in place of the character. Therefore, a van becomes a “wan,” and this always cracks us up.

The Thai language also has no articles, does not conjugate its verbs, and allows for speaking in fragments. Therefore, it makes sense that the students say things like “I rides bike to school.” When you want to say a sentence in French, it is possible, although usually not perfectly correct, to translate each English word into French. This excludes word-order problems, which also occur in Thai (adjectives also go after nouns). In spoken Thai, fragments are the normal way of speaking, so if you translate each word from English you will sound completely ridiculous. For example, if you want to ask someone if they are enjoying their food all you say is “Arroy, mai?” or “Delicious, no?” At first, we thought that people were speaking to us like this so that it would be easier for us to understand, but then we realized that everyone does it. Try as I might to learn how to speak in full sentences, it just isn’t necessary. I want to sound like a Thai-speaking expert when someone asks me if I had a nice weekend by saying, “Yes, I had a great time!” (in Thai) but all I need to say is “Sanook, sanook!” or “Fun, fun”.

You would think that we’d gain confidence in our Thai speaking after learning a couple words and phrases, but just because you know how to say something in Thai does not mean you are saying it so that a Thai person can actually understand you. This brings us to the topic of tones. Oh tones, you will be the death of me! Thai is a tonal language, meaning that every Thai syllable has one of five tones: low, middle, high, rising, or falling, which determine their meaning. This does not seem very important since every syllable in English technically has a correct tone, but if said wrong can usually still be understood. In Thai, a mispronounced tone usually means you are saying another word altogether, since many Thai words are only one syllable. For example, the Thai word “pa” can mean 5 different things when said in each of the 5 tones, either: to throw away, forest, aunt, or two ways of saying Dad. Although it’s exciting to learn a new word, we will most likely use the wrong tone and be misunderstood when trying to use it. For example, soi said in a rising tone means beautiful, but when said in a middle tone, which is flat, can mean bad luck, which is not something you want to refer to in Thailand, where everyone is superstitious and lottery tickets are sold on every street corner. The most frustrating thing about the tones is that they are barely audible to the English-speaking ear. When we hear Lun use a word at dinner that we don’t know, we will repeat it, exactly as she said it (or so we think) and she will say, “No, no, like this” and repeat exactly what we thought we just said. But no, the tone is different. We feel like we are deaf when Lun says a word, we repeat after her, she repeats again, and we, again, repeat it wrong.

Although mastering tones is very important to becoming a fluent Thai speaker, we have also learned that honing your robot-speaking skills is valuable. Speaking Robot simply means making your voice sound exactly like a robot’s, with no stresses, tones, or emotion. When we first went to visit Jessie in Chiang Rai she had told us that the only way a tuk-tuk driver could understand the name of her school (Rong Rian Chulabporn) to take her home was if she spoke Robot, which she demonstrated for us. We laughed and were sure that she must be exaggerating, but soon found out that she was not. The next time we went to visit her we had to catch our own tuk-tuk to her school. When we said the name to the driver he looked at us puzzled and shook his head. Since we knew the school was well-known and not very far away, we kept repeating the name. He called over the other tuk-tuk drivers so they could all listen and laugh at the supposedly non-existant place that we wanted to go. Then we got Jessie on the phone to attempt the pronunciation, but with no luck. Frustrated, Emily jokingly said to me in perfect Robot: “Rong Rian Chulabporn”, and suddenly one of the tuk-tuk drivers turned around and goes, “Oh!! You want Rong Rian Chulaporn!!”…umm yeah, isn’t that what we were saying!? Robot doesn’t only work for the Chulabporn School but also for other words, because another friend reported success speaking Robot near Bangkok.

Since our Thai is not coming along as quickly as we may have liked, when we are with the Thai English teachers they always speak English with us, with sporadic attempts at teaching us Thai. Although, for Thais, they are exceptionally good at English, things still get lost in translation…and mostly with Pan. I will add that we fully understand that we are the ones who came to a foreign country and can barely speak baby-talk in its language, and therefore do not expect superb English out of people who do not need it to survive. We simply find humor in the confusion that can occur when English and Thai come face to face. The most notable mix-up occurred one night when Pan, as she often does, dropped us off at Big C (Thai Walmart) to entertain ourselves while she went home to rest and change before the night’s events. She was taking us to see some sort of singing and dancing performance at her daughter’s high school. Sometimes when she drops us at Big C she expects us to get dinner without her and sometimes we aren’t supposed to because we are going out to dinner with her after. So when we got in the car we asked her if we should get dinner and she said something unclear like, “Yes, you two will eat together.” Just to clarify we asked if she would be eating with us, and we thought she said no. She also said that she would pick us back up at 6:30, and with the performance beginning at 7:00 we thought this was only further evidence that we were supposed to eat without her. But when Pan picked us up and drove us to a place that wasn’t a school, Emily turned to me and said, “Soooo, I don’t think we were supposed to eat.” Then we felt bad because Pan had to eat alone while we just stared at her (we had eaten both a large dinner and dessert so we couldn’t even attempt eating again just to be polite). We tried to explain how we misunderstood her, and she said it was fine, but in reality she was probably thinking, “Wow, they are slow”.

Overall, our communication with Thais is often blurry, but hand motions and slow-mo speaking seem to do the trick most of the time…and getting used to Thai is difficult because we are used to speaking in full, grammatically correct sentences as to not sound stupid in English. We are learning though, and it’s slowly slipping into our English, so don’t be surprised when we come home sounding like toddlers.

I will leave you with the fun fact that there is a Thai vegetable that’s name is pronounced the same as the “F word” in English…always makes us leap and go “What did you say?” whenever we hear it.

Until next time…and keep practicing your Robot if you ever want to visit.

Happy New Year . . .2553!

2010-01-05T13:13:00.005+07:00

In Thailand, rather than New Year’s resolutions, people deliver “New Year’s Wishes,” something that you wish or hope for someone else. We found this out the hard way, when we walked in on Pan giving an emotional speech filled with New Year’s Wishes for her Matayom 4 homeroom last week. She ran up to us and forced us to give an emotional speech to these kids who can’t understand us when we speak. I should add that her co-teacher was videotaping the awkward speeches. Mine involved a lot of nice words like “fun,” “laughter,” and “happiness.” So, bloggers, in the Thai holiday spirit, my New Year’s Wish for you is that you all appreciate and enjoy the small (or big) adventures life hands you, and that you always accept the microphone when somebody asks you to sing karaoke.
Before our mini-vacation, we had a very special New Year’s party with the faculty of the English department. Pan informed us about the existance of this party, that would take place at our house, two days before it occurred. God, Pan! Give me some time to clean the jungle house please before I have guests! At 4 PM on the nose, Sutham, Pan, Lun, Ning, and Noy pulled up to the jungle house in all their glory. Pan brought a Korean styyyyyy electric grill and a suki pot. A suki pot is a large bowl with a burner under it, in which you cook vegetables, noodles, tofu, and even meat. Although, I took a pass on the fish tofu. Pan also arrived with her full karaoke system, including speakers. Hilarity ensued. Sutham sort of hogged the thing, as he loves singing. At one point adorable, precious Ning said to Erin and I, “I want you to sing next. I like hearing native English speakers sing.” Apparently she had had it up to here with Sutham’s antics. Here is a video of him singing "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" which I have discovered is sort of the theme song of Thailand.

Even Camp came! Apparently Pan invited him because we had spent some time with him on Christmas, although she did make him leave at one point to buy more Coke and ice, and loved forcing him to take pictures of all of us. Poor Camp, can’t catch a break but smiles in spite of it. So maybe it was a little stressful for me, cleaning up the remnants of the fun (don’t want to come home from vacation to a dirty house!) but it was great spending time with our co-workers!

As many of you have seen from my large assortment of pictures, we spent New Year’s weekend in paradise. We flew to Phuket, an island in the south of Thailand, on Wednesday and after a pina colada toast on Patong Beach and a beautiful sunset, we were ready for live music. We found a large stage set up on the beach and realized that although it was December 30, the New Year’s party had officially begun. There was a “host,” for the music, stunt show, and bartending performances, a young Thai woman who had apparently learned to speak English by watching MTV. She said things in Thai accented valley girl lingo like, “They are like ready to rock alllll of you.” Or the classic, “I really like need like 3 people to come up on the stage and win these T Shirts. I like think there are like people raising their hands but to be honest, I cannot like see youuuuu!” She was a trip. We got to take in a performance by the popular Thai rapper, Joey Boy, and somebody named DJ Spidermonkey. I have included the youtube link to some video footage at the bottom of the post. I watched some Thai 19 year old college students dance in the most awesome way I’ve ever seen Thai people dance, (I ended up talking to them . . .they go to college in Phuket, obviously a party school, right?) and then two handsome young Brits came and sat with Erin and myself at our table.

Erin often says: never talk to anyone about politics, religion, or weird tattoos or jewelry (they always have sad emotional significance). All of these topics are buzz kills and conversation killers. Her theory has proven true yet again. The Brits happen to be in the army, living in Brunei (Erin had never heard of it, I wasn’t exactly sure where it was – strike 1 in the conversation). Then Jase (that’s not even a real name . . .) brought up American politics. “For Pete’s sake,” I thought to myself. “I might as well just say goodbye to these fellas right now.” For those who know me, know that as sad as it is, I have never had the political fire in my soul, and unfortunately for the conversation with Jase (not a name), Erin is similar to me in this regard. I don’t really know what he asked me, or exactly what I said. I know I mentioned not getting a lot of internet reception in Hangchat and coming from a conservative family. It’s like asking somebody how they tripped on the sidewalk, it just sort of happened and there’s nothing that could have prevented it. Within 5 minutes, the jolly old blokes had moved on to the Tiger Dance Club. To my dismay, I realized that Jase had left a nearly full beer behind. I must have been pretty awful for him to leave a nearly full beer behind. If I was at least bearable, he could have changed the topic and finished his beer in a few minutes. From now on, I will stick to my usual conversation starter reserved for these situations. “You know, I once won a karaoke contest in Boston . . .”

A few words about Patong. It was seedy, really seedy. There were probably more prostitutes than vacationers. And all the prostitutes have patrons, mostly obese, middle-aged, white men. Oh and there were male prostitutes too, who some of the girls thought were suit salesmen and Erin thought “was selling candy or something.” The beach was great, but one night in the town was more than enough for me, thank you very much.
For New Year’s Eve we met up with some friends from the program, had a nice dinner, then went back to the Beach Party for yet another concert (BigAss, a VERY popular rock band, a favorite among our students) and more fireworks than I’ve ever seen in my life! It was lots of fun. For those of you who weren't aware, there was a full moon on New Year's Eve. It was also a blue moon, which means there were two full moons in the month of December. A blue moon happens once every 18 years, but it may never happen again on New Year's Eve in your lifetime! Thai people are very into full moons. Apparently this may have contributed to the size of the party!

Then we ended up staying out until 4:15 am. How did this happen? We went to some dance club and one of the boys from our program was paying for our drinks. Where is all of his money coming from? I certainly don’t have any extra baht lying around, especially after a vacation to Phuket! Boys!
And, a part of my New Year’s Eve that will never be forgotten is Carlos. Not to name names but Teacher Katie (one of our long lost CIEE friends,) met a ‘friend’ at her hostel who she invited out. Carlos was an Australian man who for some reason, accepted her invitation although none of his friends did. He came out with us and often stood there awkwardly while we talked to our CIEE friends. We constantly felt pity for this poor guy. We kept asking ourselves, “WHY DID CARLOS COME OUT????” I tried to strike up a conversation with him, but it was almost too pathetic. I will add that Carlos was dressed head to toe in white, with running sneakers, and a lanyard with his keys on it. “Carlos, that lanyard is killing me.”
The day after New Year’s, we managed to roll out of bed at 7 (AM!) to catch the ferry to Koh Phi Phi Don. This is the island, next to the island, where Leonardo, my boyfriend, filmed his movie The Beach. Sadly Leo couldn’t make it to visit me, his girlfriend, for the New Year, but I forgive him because he’s just that handsome. It was a lot more heavenly, peaceful, and scenic than Patong, although we were pretty tired from the previous night’s festivities. We visited two of the island’s beaches, the central Hat Tonsai, and the more remote and a bit more upscale Hat Yao. There’s not much else to say except that the beaches were amazing, (despite a bout with heat rash, ew) it was so great to visit with and catch up with all our CIEE friends, and it was one of the best ways I can think of to welcome the arrival of 2010 (2553, in Thai . . .something having to do with Buddhism, according to Lun). Put “Visit Islands in Thailand” on your 'bucket list' (the vocab term I have assigned Lun for this week). Here is a video with some more pictures and concert excerpts! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imhOzmNywS4
Happy New Year everyone!