Monkeys, Curry, and Tuk tuks: A Thailand Adventure

Journey Home

2008-07-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

I won't be adding any more posts from this point forward as I'm leaving for Canada at 4AM Wednesday morning (4PM Tuesday for you).

I'll be arriving in Vancouver at 11:40AM on Wednesday (traveling back in time is really confusing) where I'll be meeting up with my band (the Greg Milka Crowe Band) and we'll be touring back to Winnipeg.

I'll be back home on the 6th of August. Thanks for keeping up with my adventures. I look forward to seeing you all!

Condensing the last four weeks into one post

2008-07-28T01:04:00.000-07:00

So, with everything coming to an end, I've had very little time to write. Here's a VERY rushed summary of my last four weekends/holidays in chronological order.

Buriram:

Awesome. Such a genuine experience. The village was amazing and I got to learn a lot about life as a rice farmer / silk weaver.

Erawan Falls - Kanchanaburi:

I was sad that I missed seeing these waterfalls during my last visit to Kanchanaburi, so I went back with Lori to check them out. Absolutely beautiful. There were 7 different tiers to the falls and each was more breathtaking than the last.

Monkeys!

Cambodia:

Phnom Pehn: Everything that was a culture shock to me when I arrived in Thailand was enhanced exponentially in Cambodia. Traffic, invasion of personal space (harassed constantly for money), and extreme poverty were a few of the most intense differences. Most areas in Phnom Pehn are also not nearly as developed as Bangkok which gave it an interesting feel.

Cambodian gas station (for scooters):

I got to finally check out some Muay Thai boxing (the guy in the bottom pic has a board with about 12 cell phones strapped to it. There were many of these guys taking multiple people's bets over the phone).

I hardly took any pictures of S-21 (the Genocide Museum) or of the Killing Fields. I won't write anything about either site either. It was far too much of an emotional experience to summarize into one short entry. These two stops were by far the darkest of my trip to S.E. Asia.

Angkor Wat was incredible. I thought Ayutthaya was already very impressive. We spent a whole 12 hours exploring the ruins (of Angkor Tom and Ta Prohm as well).

Back in Thailand - Southern beaches (Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, Krabi). The weather was cloudy or raining 3 of the 4 days, but it was a relaxing way to end the trip.

And having finally gotten some sun, I'm now sporting a most impressive watch tan.

Critters

2008-07-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

I'll get the ugly out of the way first:

Think you know your critters? These guys show up at night on the streets. They have hairy legs, and LONG antennae. They seem to be able to almost fly sometimes, but maybe only for short periods. They're almost the length of a playing card from the back of their hind legs to the tips of their antennae. They're super fast and can climb up through your drain.

Any guesses? If I had to say one bad thing about living in Thailand, it would be that I have to deal with these guys.

I've caught 4 in hotel rooms that I've stayed at (none in my apartment so far though, thankfully).

Now for some cooler ones!:

Bats:

Cambodia has a lot of bats. They fly around the lamp posts at night. During the day I managed to get some good pics of these guys in Phnom Pehn.

Giant snails:

I've seen a few of these, this was one of the biggest with the shell being almost the size of my fist.

Giant fly:

I've only seen one of these.. Minus the wings it was about the size of my thumb. Looking past the fact that its size was fairly horrific, it was a beautiful insect!

Praying Mantis!!:

So cool. I never thought I'd get to see one of these guys in real life. It was way bigger than I expected one would be (probably almost 6 inches long). Its movements were so un-insectlike. It moved about timidly, as though each limb had a very expensive glove on it.

And to make things more interesting, I also got to watch a stand-off between a praying mantis and a gecko! After watching for a good 2 or 3 minutes, the gecko got spooked and ran away.

Speaking of geckos - I was super excited about them for the first week or so of my trip, before I realized that they're absolutely everywhere!

I mostly see them on the walls of apartments, etc at night, but I've had a few in my apartment.

Most of them are about 4 or 5 inches long, but my most recent visitor was just a baby. No longer than 2 inches. Adorable.

Mangosteens, Rambutans, and other amazing fruit

2008-07-10T04:18:00.000-07:00

In most markets as well as at street vendors, you can typically purchase pineapple, watermelon, longan berries, lychee nuts, durian, dragon fruit, mangosteens, and rambutans.

Pineapple and Watermelon:

One will cost you about 15 or 20 baht (under 60 cents) and they are sold pre-cut and peeled in bags with sticks. The quality of both of these is outstanding. Pineapple was my favourite fruit before going to Thailand, but I really had no idea what I was missing quality-wise. I’d probably come back to Thailand for the pineapple alone.

Durian:

I never quite expected to see durian in as large quantities as I have been exposed to. I tried this crazy spiked fruit back in Winnipeg (they sell them at Superstore if anyone is interested). I can’t say that I’m a fan. Their aesthetic and smell does add character to the market though.

Longan Berries: Look like a cross between very small potatoes and walnuts, but they grow on a vine like grapes. The inside is very similar to that of a mangosteen (see below).

Dragon Fruit:

Oh so pretty. Texture of a kiwi, flavour of a melon cross-bred with a pepper. I like them but haven't gone out of my way to purchase them.

Lori loves them. :P

Mangosteens and Rambutans – My two new favourites:

Mangosteens look a little bit like a plum from the outside but unlike a plum, it’s only the centre that you CAN eat. The outer shell is purple and then the centre is fleshy, white and divided into 5-10 segments. The flavour and texture of this part is like a cross between a mango and a peeled blueberry.

Rambutans are super exciting looking on the outside and unlike any fruit that I’ve seen before. They are the size and shape of a kiwi, with a colourful shell that’s almost nut-like. The inside of the Rambutan has the texture of a peeled grape with the pit of an olive in the centre. The flavour is similar to that of lychee.

In an attempt to find more pictures of crazy fruit that I’ve eaten, I found the following link. http://www.knowphuket.com/fruit.htm

I’ve eaten everything on this link except for snakefruit. I love Thailand.

Ayutthaya

2008-06-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Ayutthaya is the old capital of Thailand (though Thailand was still Siam at the time). The capital of Siam, Ayutthaya, was destroyed by the Burmese in the late 1700's forcing the government to relocate (to present day Bangkok).

The temples and ruins form a whole little village that you can walk in/through. Reminding myself of how little technology was available in the 1300's, when this Kingdom was built, made the grandeur of Ayutthaya all the more incredible.

There were thousands of Buddha sculptures in Ayutthaya. Some were still fully intact and in pretty good condition.

Most, however, were decapitated. When the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in the late 1700's they made a point to cut the heads off the majority of these sculptures.

This head was grown over by the roots of a fig tree. Somehow the tree knew not to cover the face.

I didn't consider myself to be much of a history nut, but Ayutthaya was absolutely breathtaking.

Floating Market

2008-06-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've already spoken about the markets in Thailand, but one of the most outstanding ones that I've seen so far exists two hours outside of Bangkok in Ratchaburi. This market exists on a 32 km long canal that was dug out at the request of King Rama IV in the late 18th century. The vendors in this market exist either along the edges of the canal on docks, or in boats. These vendors are accessible mostly by boat. We rented a boat and had a great morning navigating our way through the beautiful insanity.

Although many of the vendors sell a lot of touristy souvenirs now (sarongs, candles holders, etc) this market is apparently still commonly used by the Thai people to get spices, rice, and many different fruits and vegetables.

The following images give a pretty accurate impression of just how crowded (and how beautiful) this market was on this Saturday morning.

Crazy kids

2008-06-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

My grade 6's figured out how to use Photobooth.

Random treats

2008-06-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

I could easily write a blog entry every day about the food in Thailand: some delicious, some strange, and some unidentifiable by site, smell and even taste. To narrow it down a little bit, I'll only write about the interesting foods that I've eaten on days when I've also had a camera on me. (Consider yourself lucky that the chicken feet were not on such a day, that was not a pretty sight).

This Tom Yam Gai soup definitely falls into the category of delicious. Savoury coconut broth with lemongrass and vegetables = so good. :)

One of MANY shakes I've had in Thailand. Restaurants obviously have much better presentation than street vendors, but they're also about 30 baht more. The ones I buy near my school are only 15 baht each! (about 50 cents). At that price, it's hard to say no to a shake made of 100% fruit (papaya, mango, pineapple, coconut, etc).

7-11 adventures: Almost all of the snacks are a mystery. This one looked a little like cheese puffs. I should have noticed the tentacled chef picture sooner. These were definitely another example of the many "cuttlefish" snacks around here.

Corn is a dessert vegetable in Thailand. I've had corn in waffles at the market as well as in a couple of other treats listed below. This corn milk with chocolate was on sale so I thought I'd try it out. It was really quite delicious. Corn and chocolate together at last!

Speaking of chocolate - why not try putting chocolate sauce on French fries?!

At our market there's a sandwich stand with these pre-wrapped jelly sandwiches. This one is purple and orange, but I've seen red, green, yellow, etc. I got curious one day... They taste pretty much as you would expect them to based on the colours. It essentially tasted like a Kool-Aid sandwich.

Another example of corn in unexpected dishes. This is corn and red bean yogurt. So good!

I had to try one of these colourful desserts at some point while I was here, so one day when I was in Chinatown I bit the bullet and tried to communicate my way through the ordering process. I watched someone else order one then pointed at what he was walking away with and said enthusiastically "same same" which is a Thai expression meaning what it sounds like ("the same as"). I then "chai-ed" and "mai-ed" (yes and no) my way through the possibilities of ingredients until I had a colourful bowl of gelatins, fruit, noodles, corn, and crushed ice covered with sweetened condensed coconut milk.

Buying food is usually a mystery, but not quite at the level it is when you buy it wrapped in a banana leaf. Really, they could put anything in that package. Something about the intrigue makes me want to buy them more often.

This one had nothing but sticky rice and taro root. How boring! (but pretty!)

Speaking of pretty, anyone up for any deep fried flowers?

School differences: Insane photocopying procedures and a hatred of staples

2008-06-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

Having been incredibly spoiled working in an office for the past 5 years, I find the parts of my job here that involve paper to be pretty frustrating, and well, humorous at the same time.

Here is what a teacher at my school has to go through when they want to give their students handouts of something they've prepared:

1. Print original on paper that already has information printed on the second side.

2. Find photocopy request sheet

3. Fill out photocopy request sheet

4. Leave photocopy request sheet and original document with one of two higher authorities in the school for a signature (permission to copy).

5. Once you've gotten this signature (possibly the next day), you can take these two documents to the photocopier, or rather, to the man who works at the photocopier.

6. Now you attempt to communicate with the man at the photocopier who speaks little English. You try to explain to him what your English characters mean (double-sided, which pages need printing, what side of the paper is yours and what was someone else's printed document that was used to refill the printer).

7. Leave the material with him.

8. Hope for the best. If it's exam time or review time, the waiting process could take a few more days.

9. Check the out-going photocopy section daily (search through randomly stacked piles of copied material in search of what might be yours).

10. Come out victorious with your material (sometimes it's missing pages, or you have to cross off pages that have nothing to do with the food chains handout you put together for your grade 6 science unit, but whatever).

Now, the fun begins:

The machine doesn't staple.

If you want your packages stapled, you have to do so manually.

This is fine. Again, I've worked at an office for years, occasionally I'd forget to hit the staple button -no big deal, stapling 30 documents takes a little more than a minute maybe?

But for some reason, teachers aren't allowed to give students something that is stapled unless the staples are also covered from both sides with duct tape. Yes, duct tape. So you are asked to wrap every corner of everything that you give to students that is more than 1 page long with a piece of duct tape.

I have spent hours duct-taping my corners and I still don't fully understand what the threat is.

The best explanation I've gotten is something along the lines of "little fingers get hurt easily".

Remember my concern about the safety of children in my motorcycle post?

Now can anyone tell me how they could possibly be so concerned about staples?

The "Motorcy"(cles)

2008-06-19T02:37:00.000-07:00

It seems to occur to many of us at one point or another, that having a motorcycle/scooter as a secondary method of transportation is potentially a great idea. For those of us who live in Winnipeg, this idea seems pretty brilliant until we are reminded of a very important part of Winnipeg living: Winter.

In Thailand, winter means slightly less heat (the temperature lowers to about a 27 degree high instead of 37). With no snow, or other conditions to worry about, the "motorcy" makes a whole lot of sense here for short commutes.

Motorcycles are everywhere in Thailand. Most pizza delivery vehicles are motorcycles, motorcycles are available as taxis (as I mentioned in my hospital post), and because they're so cheap to purchase (I saw one in the grocery store for about $2000), and good on gas, many people use them as their primary method of transportation.

People here get quite efficient at carrying things while driving a motorcycle.

They drive them in the rain.

Unlike in Winnipeg, where it's illegal to ride your bicycle on the sidewalk, in Thailand bicycles and motorcycles seem to have more right to the sidewalk than pedestrians do sometimes. They weave in and out of traffic on the streets and then in and out of traffic on the sidewalks or in the already narrow aisles of the market.

The most astounding thing about motorcycles here, is the amount of people that can fit onto a single motorcycle. The most I've ever seen is five: Mom, Dad and three kids. The most I've caught in a photo is four (bad shot with the sign in the way.. taking pictures of these guys is hard! They're pretty speedy!).

Now when I arrived here, I was pretty surprised to realize that I didn't have a seat belt in the taxi on the way home from the airport. It was a small but notable difference from back home. I got used to this in about a week. Seeing so many children on these motorcycles without helmets or anything holding them in, however, still catches me off guard.

And for those without kids:

School Differences: Thai Fire Drill

2008-06-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

We had our first fire drill at my school today. They apparently lit a real fire in the kitchen (for effect?), and the fire alarm went off. The students then proceeded to empty the school by order of status. The most wealthy students (the ones in the International Program) filed out first. We walked by classrooms of Kindergarten students waiting their turn. It was very strange.

Fried Rice

2008-06-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

For my first 2 or 3 weeks here, I didn't know how to say much in Thai, so when I ate out, I tended to order one of the two things that I knew how to order in Thai: pad thai or fried rice (kao-pad-gai). I'm happy that I know how to order a lot more now... Variety is good. :)

There's one restaurant around here that actually has an English menu. I've ordered most of the thai things on the menu there, including the fried rice, but I'd always been curious as to how "fried rice" would differ from "American fried rice".

You might be interested to know that in America (according to the Thais), the egg in the fried rice isn't stir fried with the rest, but is instead cooked over easy on its own and then placed on top of the dish. The dish as you can see is also served with a side of bacon and sausage (perhaps Americans consider this to be a breakfast dish?) Also, Americans not only like peas in their fried rice, but they also enjoy copious amounts of raisins and pineapple. Who knew?!

Driving in Bangkok

2008-06-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

You couldn't pay me to drive in Bangkok (Peter, you're insane). For about the first week or so that I lived here, I was convinced that there were no traffic regulations. Just like most things in Thailand the "anything goes" philosophy seemed to apply here as well.

Getting used to driving on the left side of the street would be a headache in itself, let alone getting used to the fact that drivers pay no attention to speed limits, weave in and out of traffic aggressively, and make new lanes for themselves by riding the dotted lines when they need to be somewhere in a hurry.

Oh, and the familiar unsettling situation of passing a bicycle in a single lane of traffic from back home is enhanced ten fold when you turn the bicycle into a motorbike that you might pass on your right or left, sometimes with a whole family on board...

The car to motorbike ratio here is probably around 6 to 1. They're everywhere. Motorbikes are huge in Thailand. They really deserve their own post. I will make sure to remember that for a future entry.

Moral of this post. Stay safe - don't drive in Thailand.

Koh Sumet

2008-06-15T02:12:00.000-07:00

Koh Sumet is very quaint. Very touristy as well, but during the off season it was quiet and kind of cozy.

The speedboat ride over to the island was pretty exciting in itself, and at the end of this ride we were let off, luggage and all, at the shore, but not on the shore.. :P

Apparently the rainy season in Thailand is just starting now. We have a pretty good downpour about once every day now, and when it rains here, it REALLY rains. It rained a good portion of the weekend unfortunately, but it was still a great time.

The beaches here are beautiful. Such white sand, and much bigger waves than I'm used to at Lake Manitoba! I've heard that this beach is pretty ugly compared to the beaches that I'll be seeing in the south at the end of my trip (Phuket and Phi Phi).

I've been hearing so much about Thai massages that I figured I should indulge at least once while I'm here. As if lying on a beach in Thailand wasn't relaxing enough in itself...

The fire dancers in Koh Sumet were amazing - such skill and coordination. I've never seen fire dancing before. It was quite mesmerizing to watch.

I also drank out of my first bucket this weekend (or rather shared a couple with Lori). This in itself is a big deal because this is very much a Thailand thing.

Every bar/club has a deal on buckets. The most commonly purchased bucket seems to be Samsung (Thai whiskey) and Coke. A bucket can usually be purchased for under 300 baht (under $10) and each bucket contains a full mickey of alcohol.

Nothing encourages conversation more than a bucket full of a delicious ice cold beverage of your choice and 5 straws.

Koh Kret: The island of pottery and other pretty things

2008-06-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

I discovered Koh Kret in an attempt to find a place to see production potters in Thailand. We walked the perimeter of Koh Kret, which is almost 8km's long and very scenic.

The main road winds through villages, plantations, markets/shops and pottery workshops along the way. The houses in these villages are very rustic and beautiful They are all on stilts with thatched roofs. There aren't any windows or doors on these houses as privacy doesn't seem to be too much of a concern in Thailand. I saw many Thais lounging around in their living rooms on hammocks.

The plantation fields mostly consisted of bananas and durians, but we also saw coconuts, jackfruit, papayas and dragon fruit (images show the last three in the same order as they are listed).

The pottery for sale was sometimes sold containing a food or a drink (Lori purchased an iced coffee for 30 baht, it came with a free hand-made drinking bucket).

Most of the pottery sold in Koh Kret was described as "Mon" style, which seems to refer to the their signature unglazed, oxidized earthenware pieces with exceptionally intricate carving. The potters often sat in their stores carving leather hard pieces in between helping customers.

At the end of our walk, we saw some small and large "turtle back" kilns (single chamber).

The pottery workshops were very large for such a small island.

We also had the opportunity to watch some potters working on the wheel.

Their precision in making every piece identical and the speed at which they pumped work out was incredible. (see videos below).

Toilets!

2008-06-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

The highly anticipated toilet post!

The first toilet that I used in Thailand looked like this:

These are pretty standard at public restrooms in Thailand. These “squatters” have no running water (you fill that bucket with water from the hose on the left and pour it into the toilet to flush it). That little bin on the bottom right is for feminine products and in the case of tourists, toilet paper (which you make sure to carry with you in your purse/backpack). If you’re smart you’ll also carry a plastic bag of some sort with you as many washrooms also aren't supplied with any waste paper baskets to put said toilet paper in.

Needless to say I was thrilled to see that my washroom was super high class (I'm talking LUXURY here. A seat, AND running water! I really am SO lucky).

I’m still not supposed to throw toilet paper into this one either, but that’s FAR from the inconvenience that I was expecting.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what the Thai alternative to toilet paper might be, check out the hose to the left of the toilet. The infamous bum gun! I haven’t felt the need to test this out yet, but I can only assume it would be a comparable experience to that of a bidet, but with the combined qualities of a pressure washer. Could be fun? I’ll let you know if I ever give it a try.

Map link

2008-06-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've now added a link to a map of Thailand (to the right, under my profile).

Some notable places I've been so far (and where they are located in relation to Bangkok) include Hua Hin (south west), Kanchanaburi (north west), Chiang Mai (north west), Ayutthaya (north), Ko Sumet (south, near Pattaya), and Buriram (north east).

(Posts about the last three locations still to come).

By the end of my stay here, I will have also traveled to Phuket (south west), Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap (east (Cambodia)).

Fun facts

2008-06-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

As trucks in Canada beep when they're put into reverse, trucks in Thailand play

"It's a Small World After All"

Temperature

2008-06-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

I just yesterday moved the temperature on my air conditioning up another degree to 29 degrees Celcius. 28 was starting to feel a little chilly.

School differences: Class lists

2008-06-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post an entry about this when I first got the class lists. But there were a couple of notable differences on the list in comparison to a class list in Canada.

One expected difference: The names

The names were all Thai, but much easier to pronounce than I was expecting. Every student has, at a young age, been given a nickname by a Buddhist monk. I have seen the birth names of my students and am extremely grateful that they go by their shorter names. A few examples of these names are: Flook, Meng Hao, Tah, or Nupuk (meanwhile a sample birth name might be Ritthirong, or Chosita Khunchai).

The second, more unexpected difference: The "disabilities" heading

One student in my class had "vegetarian" listed as a disability.

This surprised me, but not as much as when I glanced at my friend's class list that one of her students was labeled with the disability "Hindu".

The Grand Palace

2008-06-01T05:09:00.000-07:00

The Grand Palace was built in the late 1700's and served as the residence and offices of King of Siam at the time, Rama I. His reign and the construction of this complex took place shortly after the fall of Ayutthaya.

The Grand Palace was overwhelmingly ornate. Many people that I traveled with used the word “beautiful” to describe it. It was amazing, it was elaborate, it was very shiny. It's construction was obviously expensive, but I wouldn’t have chosen the word beautiful in it's description. It just didn’t suit my taste I suppose.

I was happy that I went of course, just as I would be happy to see any art from the Rococo period. The palace was incredible. The intricacy of the construction alone was well worth the trip.

I’m also certain that I will never have the chance to see that much gold again in my lifetime.

And some of the statues were very clever.

The temple with the emerald Buddha was a highlight (cameras were forbidden inside this temple).

But the enormous reclining Buddha just outside of the Grand Palace was my favourite on this excursion. (See last photo below for scale)

Funny uses of the English language: May

2008-05-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

Always remember to:

On the outside of a song thaew (pickup truck designed to transport people).

These strange proverbs are everywhere in my school. Most of them almost make sense.

Hua Hin grocery store aisle:

Soda Cracker box:

I'll admit that my taste has been in need of companionship lately.

Incase you can't read the fine print on the right side of the broom I bought:

"Fancinating and modren design" is my favourite. Oh and I pretty much bought it because I was somebody with "new life style". It seemed appropriate.

World of Warcraft

2008-05-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

(I am aware that there are many of you that will not understand the following reference; don’t worry about it – it is exceptionally geeky).

I can't explain quite what went through my mind when I saw this wild boar in the distance. All I can say is that it’s a good thing I didn’t have my mace on me at the time…

Which gelatin would you choose?

2008-05-25T04:41:00.000-07:00

I thought I might loose weight while I’m in Thailand but there’s just way too much random food to try for that to happen. At the rate I'm going, I wouldn't be surprised if I put on twenty pounds.

Jen and I conquered the market near our place tonight and also brought some food back to enjoy on my balcony. (Below: Photo of Jenn making fun of my ridiculously small chairs that "didn't seem so small when I bought them" while eating some pork on a stick (lots of meat comes on sticks in Thailand)).

This market is about a ten minute walk from our apartment, and is about the size of a Safeway parking lot. A single food item costs between 3 baht (10 cents) for meat on a stick to 20 baht (60 cents) for 6 spring rolls/half a pineapple/mango and sticky rice as well as a lot of things that I have never seen a Winnipeg equivalent of. The fact that you can try so many different foods makes the excursion much like going out for dim sum…Except cheaper, far more crazy and quite a bit more colourful.

Because we were stuck there during the daily storm (we've had one/day for the last week or so), we couldn’t help but gorge ourselves on delicious (and some not so delicious) Thai treats. Although there were some things that were more delicious, these gelatin desserts were certainly the most visually appealing.

And the unidentifiable green goop (in the video below) was one of the most random for tonight.

Sepak Takraw = Thai Volleyball

2008-05-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought that I was going to have a predictable night of going out to the market for some food, and maybe a walk through the park, I came across this group of guys in the park playing this mind-blowing game, which we've been since referring to as "Thai volleyball".

The rules of the game seem to essentially follow those of volleyball -except that your arms are the only part of your body that are NOT allowed to touch the ball.

For some reason, I imagine that if Colin Kelly would have been there with me, he may have wanted to join in…

A few small differences

2008-05-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

Some things are similar here, but different.. Other things aren't the least bit familiar...

More often than teens, it’s the dogs who loiter at the 7/11s.

The cows are very skinny.

I’m taller here.

Ronald Wai’s the customers (a classic Thai greeting that signifies respect).

Oh, and among the strange menu items, the McDonald's pie flavours are (rather than cherry and apple), pineapple, taro and corn.

The eggs are never refrigerated (not even in a grocery store). And some are bright pink. (?)

You can buy water at the grocery store by the glass.

Our “Big Bite” (the classic hotdog that 7/11 sells in Winnipeg) has somehow been converted into a wiener salad…

At 6:00pm every night, supermarket parking lots everywhere host aerobics (see video below).

Where I live

2008-05-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

Some have been asking about what my accommodations, etc are like. So here are a few photos of my place and area.

My apartment: Super nice, amazingly clean, washing machine in the building, and best of all I took this first outside view of my apartment building (below) from inside my classroom. How awesome is that? :P

This is definitely one of the nicer apartments in this area of Bangkok. I feel very well-off and therefor out of place sometimes.

View from my balcony of the main security guard (there’s one on duty 24/7, this is the night guy). I love this guy, he doesn’t speak any English really, but he’s so very considerate towards all of us. It's hard to explain the bond that you get from seeing certain people every day and even harder to explain how such a bond can develop without any real conversation... I suppose this photo is one of the few that I've posted mostly for my own benefit. "Where I live" wouldn't be complete without him.

My school:

My Classroom:

Day 2 Chiang Mai: Elephants and white water/bamboo rafting

2008-05-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

After reluctantly leaving Daniel, the folks from Israel, and the village behind, we trekked back down the mountain and into the elephant camp.

Because I’m still not sure how well the elephants are treated at these camps, I stayed behind while the rest of the group went on the 45-minute elephant ride. I instead chose to spend most of that time feeding and interacting with the elephants (as well as playing a couple games of checkers with some of the elephant trainers back at the camp).

Time to state the obvious: Elephants are REALLY big.

They’re also magnificent creatures. It was great to finally meet one in person.

We ended the day with some exhilarating white-water rafting and then some relaxing bamboo rafting. The former looked pretty intense, but turned out to be a lot of fun. I would recommend either type of rafting to anyone who gets an opportunity to try it out.

Overall, best weekend so far. Chiang Mai was amazing.

No more Monkeys Curry!

2008-05-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out how to add the comma. I hope you're all happy. :)

Chiang Mai: The Village

2008-05-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Again, not to sure what to expect, I knew that on this two day tour, the plan was to hike up the mountain in order to spend the night in “the village”.

I was initially apprehensive about the inclusion of this part of the tour as I like to avoid places that are designed for tourists who like to pretend that they’re not tourists. The way this place was set up, however, made a lot of sense.

The people that live in the village recognize that tourists have money and also have a desire to see and experience new things. One family in this village takes advantage of this by opening up their house to foreigners who pass through every weekend. They treat this like a business opportunity.

They had a room set up with bamboo mats and mosquito nets for all 9 of us to sleep in, they cooked us a delicious curry chicken dish, and then welcomed us to sit around the fire while one of them played some songs on the guitar.

Much to my surprise; I think they seemed genuinely excited to have us there.

I went for a walk just to see what I could that wasn’t “set up for tourists”. There was no electricity, but there was running water. They grew vegetables in their gardens, and raised pigs and chickens for food (we woke up to the sound of about a dozen roosters at 4:30AM).

The children don’t go to school. There is no doctor or medical help within two hours of this village and in speaking to our tour guide, many children don’t survive their first two years up here.

I had read that, in Thailand, daily tasks are only worth doing if they’re fun. Rather than seeking out things that are “more fun to do” as we do in North America, I'm constantly encountering people here who make their existent lives more fun by joking around, playing games, singing, and laughing. Although the village wasn’t particularly poor, they were far from well off either and the people within this village seemed to have a lot of “sinuk” or fun. They made all of their daily chores seem enjoyable. Although their lifestyle would be very hard for most of us to adjust to, their outlook is very inspiring.

Chiang Mai: I’m pretty sure I just climbed a mountain

2008-05-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

I should have probably looked into what “trekking” meant before going on this tour, but in the end I’m happy I did it.

Ashley and I signed up for the tour because it seemed like the best way to cram the most of Chiang Mai into one weekend. I’m not sure how far we walked, but it took almost 5 hours and was all uphill (note the direction the trees are growing in the previous picture).

I don’t think anyone has truly lived until they've walked for 5 hours uphill in +34-37 degree weather.

The sites along the way were phenomenal. For a good portion of the trek we were walking right alongside a stream, which eventually led to a beautiful waterfall where we took our break.

The forest was filled with the sounds of rushing water as well cicadas, which I initially mistook for a far away chainsaw.

Our tour guide, Pan, was very knowledgeable, and his English was very good. He does this trek once/week with tourists and has a good sense of humour (“watch out for the crocodiles” was one of his favourites).

The other 7 who had signed up for this same tour included two from Bangkok, four from Israel, and one awesome fellow, Daniel, from Scotland (who at one point on the trek broke into a Barenaked Ladies tune!). All in all it was a great group and it was nice to get to know some different people.

None of these pictures will do this trip justice. What I saw, smelled, heard and experienced was absolutely exceptional and will be undoubtedly be one of the most memorable weekends of my life.

Chiang Mai: Snake Charmer

2008-05-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

The main event of this stop on the tour was to watch a “snake charmer” (much like a lion tamer) do a bunch of tricks with a variety of different venomous snakes including cobras. The whole thing was pretty cheesy in my opinion, but it was interesting to see some of the snakes.

The cobras really do sit right up and watch you while you walk by – very creepy.

Because I was one of the few to react calmly to the site of a large python out of its cage, one of the workers decided that I would also like to wear it around my neck. Although I didn’t really know what was happening until the weight of this enormous snake was draped around my neck, I really enjoyed the experience – very cool.

FYI for any of my fellow reptilian lovers (David? Don?) cobra's skin feels amazing. It doesn’t even compare to that of a python or boa. The whole cobra felt like the underside of most snakes but even smoother and with more of a lacquered quality.

Chiang Mai: Orchid Farm

2008-05-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

The first stop on our tour in Chiang Mai was at an orchid farm. The flowers were beautiful and it was really interesting to see how they grow. Their roots pull all of the moisture they need right out of the air (demonstrating just how humid Thailand really is).

The Desire to Be Exactly What You Are Not

2008-05-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

It never even occurred to me that it might be difficult to find normal moisturizer in Thailand. Everything on the shelves comes with some sort of “skin lightening” substance in it. Having lighter coloured skin is highly desirable here. All advertisements etc, contain images of Thai girls with digitally enhanced ghostly white skin. I had to look in two separate shops before finding a lotion that didn’t have any “whitening power”.

Funny to think that back home, the shelves are stocked high with “self-tanning lotions” and bronzers.

Kanchanaburi - Team Building: Staff Retreat

2008-05-11T23:00:00.001-07:00

CEDC should go here for their next staff outing. :P My school, Lertlah, had their team building day at this crazy resort in Kanchanaburi in which we participated in an obstacle course full of challenges which closely resembled many of the stunts from the TV show Fear Factor.

From zip-lines, to hanging bridges, to balance beams, it was a really adventurous day. I wish I had more photos, but had nowhere to carry my camera -as when one fails any of these activities, they fall directly into the marsh.

Our beautiful hotel rooms overlooked the river Quai, and the whole resort was incredibly breathtaking.

Group photo below taken outside our hotel room: The girls at campus 1 (with me) from the U of M. I'm lucky to be with such a great group of people. From left to right: Yours truly, Lisa, Ashley, Jenn, Rosanne, and Maite.

My only regret is not getting the chance to see this guy, lol (he wasn't playing the night that I was there).

In the evening, some of the Thai teachers put on a show for everyone and we watched our principal chug back a wine cooler in less than 5 seconds. Have I mentioned that things are very different here?

Kanchanaburi - Tiger Temple

2008-05-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

As my friend, Richard, pointed out, having spent my first weekend at Monkey Mountain and my second at Tiger Temple, it sounds a little like I’ve been playing out the levels of some video game.

(As a side note, this water buffalo, also in the sanctuary (or at least we thought it might be a water buffalo) scared us all a lot more than the tigers did).

And these ones below were just plain weird. I might dub in some audio when I'm feeling more creative. :P

Tiger Temple is an animal sanctuary in Kanchanaburi that came to be when an orphaned tiger cub was dropped off by villagers at a monastery to be raised by a group of monks. Word quickly spread that this was a good place to take animals whose mothers had been killed by poachers, etc. The idea is similar to an animal refuge centre, except that the main people caring for the animals are the Buddhist monks.

I was initially skeptical about any place that kept tigers on display for the entertainment and viewing of humans. Through reading up on the sanctuary, however, I learned that the two hours in which the temple is open to the public every day are essential to the funding of this sanctuary. The large cats consume up to 60 lbs of food every day and what better place to get the money for this food than from rich tourists wanting to “see the tigers”.

When the tigers aren’t in the canyon, they’re free to roam about in a section of the sanctuary that is much larger and very similar to their natural habitat.

Reasons why the temple is only open for this small window at a specific time of day:

1. It would be cruel to have them cooped up there any longer, two hours is plenty long to begin with
2. This is the hottest time of day and the felines are more lethargic under these conditions
3. The workers/monks feed the animals just prior to the temple opening meaning they’re both satisfied and sleepy (anyone who has a cat at home that they feed once or twice/day should be quite familiar with this phenomenon. After meal time, my kitty is heavily sedated and pretty much dead to the world for a few hours).
It was almost humorous how structured the event of meeting the tigers was (I suppose one can never really be too careful with such a large carnivore), but I ended up getting some good pictures out of it.

Kanchanaburi - Safari

2008-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

When given the choice, I seem to always choose the option with the most animals, so in Kanchanaburi, I was pretty keen to check out the safari tour.

I didn’t quite know what exactly to expect, and was surprised to see that the experience was set up a little bit like a large scale petting zoo. The giraffes were a definite highlight of the tour.

But this one particular giraffe took the cake. :)
(Thank you Richard for taking this video).

Not a Market

2008-05-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

I accidentally tried to buy someone’s laundry today. (I was really desperate for pants). Oops.

Markets/Bartering

2008-05-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

I assume that bartering is quite common in many places of the world, particularly tourist spots, but having not traveled much, this was all very new to me.
Hua Hin, day two after arriving in Thailand I was already introduced to Thai markets and the concept of bartering. The markets in Thailand are amazing. They seem to sell anything and everything at these mile long markets. Some daytime markets have mostly food:
Others are only open in the evenings and sell clothes, jewelry, home decorations, gadgets, etc.

The non-food markets encourage “bartering”, which essentially means that they would rather you buy something for a lower price than what’s posted than leave the store empty-handed. Because Hua Hin is such a tourist spot, the Thai sales people are all equipped with a calculator to communicate prices.

An example of how this works (choose your own adventure style):
The owner of a Thai kiosk spots you looking at a miniature tuk tuk made up entirely of a Singha beer can and will rush over to you with their calculator and show you that what you’re looking at will cost you 350 baht.
You:
A) Reach into your wallet and pull out 350 baht to pay for your tuk tuk
B) Decide that’s too much for a beer can, no matter how clever it’s been transformed
C) Offer them 175 baht for the tuk tuk
These options will usually have the following results:
A) You’ve got a tuk tuk can! Congrats! 350 wasn’t THAT much…
B) You’re followed by the sales clerk who is now holding out the calculator with the price of 320.
C) The sales clerk laughs at you and then offers it for 300
You:
A) Are super happy that you’ve got your tuk tuk and are out of that crazy market. An extra couple hundred baht was a great price just to get out of that place in a hurry!
B) Still act uninterested. It’s just a beer can.
C) Offer 200 baht
Results:
A) You’re at home playing with your tuk tuk. Good times.
B) You leave the store empty handed (they’ll generally only lower the price once without you participating in the bartering before giving up)
C) They laugh again or just plain shake their head and then offer 280
With option C you can generally get them to knock between ¼ and 1/3 of the price off whatever you’re buying by faking disinterest, acting concerned about the price, pretending you can get a better deal elsewhere, or if you’re male, flirting with a female sales-lady.
I, personally, went with option B. Although there were a couple of people back home who I thought could appreciate the tuk tuk, and who have likely had a Singha or two during their time in Thailand, I couldn’t justify taking up the room in my suitcase with something so unnecessarily fragile. :P

Hua Hin

2008-05-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

The beach in Hua Hin was pretty amazing and yet I've heard that it doesn't even compare to most of the other beaches in Thailand.

Most of my beach pics didn't turn out because my camera was set up strangely and there was too much sun, but here's a pic I took of a woman and her daughter who came by selling stuff to us on the beach (VERY typical, we had about 10-15 different people come by with different things to sell from Thai massages, to silk table runners to Popsicles. I bought a headband off of these two (the little girl was so cute, she wanted to make sure that I saw every colour before deciding). :) I'm happy they agreed to letting me take their picture.

Being sick in Bangkok

2008-05-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

In such a hot climate, it took awhile for me to realize that I was sick (don't worry, Mom, I'm fine now). I felt hot and tired, but who wouldn’t at almost 40 degrees Celsius. What finally clued me in was when I went to my apartment to get some rest and found myself turning off the air-conditioner and curling up under my blankets. This was the first time since I had arrived that I felt cold. After two nights with the chills and two days of feeling woozy, feverish and not holding down any food I was advised to go to the hospital.
Although there are fewer clinics in Bangkok, meaning that more people go to hospitals, my visit went much more smoothly than I was expecting.
One of the Thai teachers took me to the hospital (bless her heart). She spoke more English than most of the doctors and nurses and filled out my forms for me with my help and with the information on my passport. The forms were all written in Sanskrit, which meant that I couldn’t read them, and I could tell that she was very unfamiliar with writing in English characters. It was a team effort.
Once all of the forms were filled out, we moved to the waiting room. Having spent my first 4 days in Thailand at a more tourist-oriented location (Hua-Hin), this was the first time I’d realized just how much of a minority I was. I was not just the only white patient in that room at that point in time, but based on everyone’s reaction, I might also have been the only one they saw that week or month. Many stared but pretended they weren’t. Kids stared openly. It was all very unfamiliar and interesting.
After seeing the doctor and handing in my prescription to the in-hospital pharmacy, they processed it and handed over 5 different packages all with different pills to take at different times (before meals, after meals, before bed, etc). Having recently had my health plan expire on me, I’m very aware of how expensive all of this would have been in Canada. However, in Thailand, it all came to a little under 400 baht (about $12.00). Was Thailand mentioned in the movie Sicko? I was overall very impressed.
To top off my adventure, the Thai teacher Krou-Ply suggested that we take motorcycles back to the school because it would be faster. I knew my first motorcycle trip would be exciting, but I didn’t think I would be doing it with a fever, carrying a laptop or wearing my uniform (I’d gone there straight from school). This transportation is efficient and cheap, but it will take some getting used to for sure. I would definitely advise against the skirt as not being able to straddle the bike meant compromising some safety for the sake of being more ladylike…Not cool. It was exhilarating though and made me all the more happy to be back at home.

Monkeys!

2008-05-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

I’ve always had a fondness for monkeys as a kid. I’ve read books on Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey, and Koko (one of the first gorillas to learn sign language). Because I’m clearly still a kid, when I heard about a place called “Monkey Hill” I was more than eager to check it out.
I had no intention of feeding or petting the monkeys when I arrived there, but I was strongly encouraged (through a series of gestures and smiles) to do both by the Thai women who worked there.

The monkeys of Monkey Hill are called macaques and they were a blast to see in person. As nerdy as it is, being surrounded by dozens of screeching macaques will certainly be a highlight of this trip. I regret not taking any videos of their antics, but I am hoping that some of the photos I took will remind me of their awesomeness. ☺

Dogs

2008-05-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

I’d heard that there were stray dogs in Thailand, but the amount is pretty overwhelming. I have seen a couple dozen or so stray cats as well, but the number of stray dogs that I encounter on a daily basis will be pretty hard to get used to. In walking from my apartment to my school, (which, for a Winnipeg comparison, is about the distance from the Pyramid Cabaret to Mitzi’s), I am likely to see between 4 and 8 dogs (or even more at night).

What it takes to travel to the other side of the world

2008-05-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

My timeline:
April 30
5:30pm Arrival at Wpg Airport to clear customs
8:30pm Departure to Vancouver
9:30pm Arrival in Vancouver (11:30pm Wpg time)
May 1
2:55am Departure to Hong Kong (4:55am Wpg time)
May 2
6:55am Arrival in Hong Kong (5:55pm Wpg time (May 1))
8:55am Departure to Bangkok (7:55pm Wpg time (May 1))
10:35am Arrival in Bangkok (10:35pm Wpg time (May 1))
We still had a two hour drive from the airport to our apartments, a meeting at the school another 3 to Hua-Hin, and dinner once we got there. No one got any sleep until 10:00pm that night (10:00am Wpg time (May 2). Yes, I'm now exactly 12 hours ahead of you guys in Winnipeg))
At least most of us (a pretty ridiculous percentage actually) had laptops with us to help pass the time during the 6 hour stopover in Vancouver.