So I’m sitting here in the Frankfurt airport (not enjoying my 6 hour layover) and I can’t believe that it’s actually over. Actually, I guess I can believe it since I just paid 3 Euros ($4.35) for a water that would have cost 7 baht ($.24) in Thailand… and because I cried when I said good bye to Pi Da on Friday afternoon and then again when I got to the airport (which was very awkward given I had never met the driver I was with and he didn’t speak English). It’s going to be strange to not spend all my time with the same 15 people. When I was reading the pre-departure guide before going to Thailand, I never thought I would actually have the “reverse culture shock” that they warned us about. I’m realizing that I most definitely am experiencing it. I keep wanting to say “sawasdee ka” and “kop kun ka” to everyone while wai-ing. I am confused when I have to spend more than $1 or $2 on my meals and I’m starting to remember that not everyone in the world is as friendly as the average Thai person.
As I look back on this trip, it has been probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life. From being immersed in the Thai culture, meeting the great American students, and learning about bioethics in an entirely new context, I have loved this summer.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A boat cruise and my last night in Thailand
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| Boat tour |
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| Performance on the cruise |
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| The rain is coming |
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| Sarah's umbrella... yet she's not using |
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The HIV Temple and Ayutthaya
On Tuesday morning, we headed out on an overnight field trip to the HIV Temple at Lopburi and Ayutthaya. Because a rough draft of the final papers was due for the Thai students on Wednesday and, I imagine, this trip is the equivalent of a New Yorker going to Times Square, they were given the option to not attend. Amy and Suk still decided to go… actually Suk was absent when the announcement was made that it was optional so he was sort of tricked into attending but we were happy to have him!
Anyway, after about 2 hours of driving, we arrived at the HIV Temple and were met at the gate for a tour. The first place we were taken was a building that houses several bodies that were donated to the temple. The bodies are kept in metal cages and are at various levels of decomposition depending on their age. They are victims of AIDs with a wide range of ages, from small children to adults. There was one body that had mold all over it because o f a skin reaction to the chemicals used to preserve the bodies. This body had to be kept in a glass case instead and could not be disposed despite the adverse reaction because there were legal documents asserting that it was to be donated to the temple. For some, the idea of donating the body to the temple is controversial because Buddhists believe that the body must be cremated in order for the cycle of birth and rebirth to continue. Several human rights groups have criticized the temple for keeping the bodies out in the open and on display like this but the temple believes that it is an important reminder of the importance of valuing life. In the same room was a glass box with hundreds of white bags of ashes of AIDs victims that had not been claimed by the families of the deceased. We learned that misconceptions of HIV and AIDs were incredibly widespread in Thailand in past years and are only now improving. Earlier, people often thought that HIV could be spread just by skin to skin contact such as a handshake so when a member of their family was discovered to have it, they would often been ostracized or abandoned. We were told of taxis pulling up in front of the temple and sick people being pushed out and left sitting at the gate alone. After walking around the eerie building with cages of bodies, we headed outside and saw the various places where people could pray as well as little houses where HIV patients who were stable yet not quite ready to return to society could live as an intermediate step following their stay in the wards at the temple. We passed a group of statues created from the bones of HIV/AIDs patients that were created with the hope that misconceptions about the spread of the disease could be further reduced. We went on to see more housing, a gift shop that sold crafts created by the patients, and prayer area with more huge glass boxes of unclaimed ashes. We also walked through another building that displayed several jars of organs donated to the temple for display and study. The last part of the tour was the most interesting- we walked through one of the wards of HIV patients. They were mostly lying in their beds, which held everything they possessed (food, bottles of water, toys, books, trinkets). Often, it seemed there was little room for the patient in the bed with all the other stuff. The ward was not air conditioned because air conditioning contributes to the spread of TB so in the hot and humid summers of Thailand, the patients often lie in their beds wearing diapers only because they are too weak to stand or have lost the ability to move their legs. The patients are not treated at the temple; they are taken to a nearby hospital for treatment but return to the temple to stay, possibly because the hospital is too full to offer them a bed. The patients at the temple work together to care for each other by helping with tasks, such as changing the sheets and passing out donated food.
Seeing all of this first hand was an incredible experience, perhaps one of my favorites on the trip. It was touching to see the generosity of the people working there as well as the monks, volunteers, and other patients. We were told that, at first, the monk who allowed the HIV patients to live in the temple with him faced challenges because people stopped donating food to him because of fear of the disease. (Side note: monks do not have any personal possessions and live solely off of donations of food and robes, etc. They walk the streets every morning at approximately 6 am to collect their food for the day and only eat before noon.) Each day, he found himself having to walk further and further from his temple to collect enough food to provide for himself and the HIV patients. It was heartening to see that this had changed as the beds were overflowing with food from donations. This, without a doubt was one of the most emotionally charged places we’ve visited during our time in Thailand; despite the sadness brought by the thousands of bags of ashes and the weakened patients, the collaboration of the patients, their smiles, and “sawasdee kas” directed at us created a feeling of hope for the future.
After a quick lunch, I promptly fell asleep on the bus and woke up 3 hours later, VERY disoriented. We were ushered off the bus, directed to a line, and handed tickets. Seconds later, I was sitting on an elephant with Erin. For all I knew, the elephant could have been taking me to Cambodia (it wasn’t). We started off on our elephant ride by crossing a street and almost getting hit by a motorbike that was driven by a woman as her very young son stood in front of her with his hands on the handle bar. Safe. We walked along the busy road but had great views of ancient ruins. As my sleepiness wore off, I figured out that we were in Ayutthaya, which was the former capital of Thailand before being sacked by the Burmese. Our 15-minute elephant ride was a joke- it was literally along a road equivalent to Charles Street in Baltimore or JPA in Charlottesville. Erin and I decided we had “merged” using an elephant which was hilarious to think about. At least it made for entertaining photographs. Following our elephant ride, we walked around ruins that were the former grand palace. It was particularly cool to see because it was the exact same as the new grand palace in Bangkok which we went to see the second day we were in Thailand so I could somewhat imagine what each crumbling wall had used to look like.
That night, we headed to a group dinner at a restaurant on one of the several rivers that runs through Ayutthaya. Pi Da had ordered a variety of delicious Thai dishes that we all tried. Back at our hotel, very full and happy, we decided to work on creating a music video that we had been planning for a while. It all started out as a joke when we took a Tuk Tuk in Hua Hin to ride elephants. As we sped along on the highway, the driver turned on Lady Gaga on full blast. We had all laughed about how funny it would be to have a music video that took place in the Tuk Tuk with baths flying everywhere and thus, the idea for “Bahts on Bahts on Bahts” was born. On Monday, we had mentioned this to Larry right before class and told him that we thought he should be the rapper. By the end of the first lecture, Larry had whipped out several incredible verses. After filming a few scenes and getting some VERY bizarre looks from other people in the hotel, we headed to bed.
Wednesday morning, we checked out and headed to one temple and two museums. Even beyond yesterday, I was in awe of the ruins because I don’t think that I’ve ever seen anything as old as these. They were built in 1350 when Ayutthaya was founded. The first museum explained the history of Ayutthaya and had models showing what it used to look like. The second museum was an art museum, which had a variety of beautiful artifacts including old Buddhas and wall carvings. Next, we headed to another hotel for an amazing all-you-can-eat buffet. Where I had one of my favorite Thai food items, something called “karon croch” (in Thai). It is basically coconut milk that is poured into a little pan slightly bigger than a half dollar coin. The heat causes the milk to brown on the outside and makes it into a little pie-like desert. They put sometimes put corn or a green herb in the middle, which remains somewhat liquid despite the outside crispiness. After two more temples and dozens more photographs, we headed back to Bangkok, tired but satisfied with our busy days.
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| HIV Temple |
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| Sculptures from the bone resin of AIDs victims |
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| Merging on an elephant |
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| Temple |
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| Bahts on Bahts on Bahts |
Monday, August 8, 2011
A beauty hospital, acupuncture, weekend markets, and bribing the police
I leave Thailand to head back to the US on Saturday, just a few days away and I am getting very sad to leave this amazing country. The past week has been so amazing because of our new Thai friends that we are taking class with, as well as some great field trips.
After returning from Koh Samet, we began our bioethics class on Monday with the new Thai students. It has been great to have their perspective on the bioethics issues that we are discussing. On Monday night, MUIC threw an elaborate welcome/farewell dinner as some students from the first session would be leaving and other students had arrived. The dinner was held in the 6th floor hotel that is part of the MUIC tourism training program and included delicious food and live music performed by students in the school of music. Many faculty members of MUIC thanked us for coming and welcomed the new students with very nice speeches. It left me feeling embarrassed by their gratitude for my presence in Thailand- I really felt like I should be thanking them for all their kindness and hospitality during my stay.
On Tuesday, we headed to the National Cancer Institute where we were spoken to by a researcher. It was incredibly interesting to hear the perspective of a doctor who works in the public sector where he receives very little pay in comparison to the private sector doctors. One student asked him why he didn't work in the private sector and he basically said that he had turned down an offer to do so because he thinks that there is more to life than money. The shortage of doctors in Thailand's public health sector demonstrates that most doctors do not share his charitable attitude..
On Friday, we had another field trip that offered a great contrast to this trip. We headed to Yanhee Hospital in Bangkok. Yanhee is a beauty hospital that specializes in elective procedures, specifically plastic surgery, sex changes, etc. The nurses who work there are all incredibly beautiful and most of them wear heels while working. I have never been in a building with more mirrors. As we toured the hospital, it reminded me of a shopping mall. Throughout the various departments, there were dozens of brochures advertising the services and prices of the various procedures that were offered. This private hospital offers top of the line care and is internationally certified. It caters to both foreigners and Thais. Our lecturers described the ways in which the hospital sold its services, focusing on health AND beauty. The hospital even hosts a beauty contest known as Miss Yanhee. One of the runners-up of the contest later went on to compete in the Miss Thailand competition. The prevalence and prominence of this hospital's sex change operations was clear as one of the winners of the beauty contest one year had formerly been a man. The prevalence of this procedure is something that we have all observed throughout our time here. Nearly every time we go into Bangkok, we see a few "lady-boys," whether it be in a restaurant as our waiter, in the hospital as our tour guide, or just walking around the mall. They are much more common here than they are in the US. Sometimes we don't even realize it until they speak or until we notice that their hands or feet don't quite match their other delicate features.
Friday afternoon, we headed to Golden Jubilee Medical Center where we learned about alternative medicine and even got to try some out. Several of us got to try acupuncture, cupping, Thai massage, and other alternative medical treatments. The doctor was leading a few of us in some stretches to help with back pain from poor posture and when she adjusted my hand position, she noticed my sweaty palms... and proceeded to tell me that they were caused by a misalignment in my spine and observed that my shoulders are not even. She told me that to cure my sweaty hand problem, I should go to a chiropractor to correct my spine issue. The alternative medicine experience was definitely one of my favorite trips because it was so interactive.
Saturday morning we headed to Chatuchak weekend market which is a huge outdoor market that is perhaps the most overwhelming shopping experience I've ever had. Chatuchak is an expansive flea market where bargaining is imperative and everything from cats in costume, bracelets, soccer jerseys, spices, and handbags are sold. After spending a few hours getting lost among the hundreds of stands, Erin, Carla and I left to meet Praew at Platinum fashion mall. Platinum is basically Chatuchak moved indoors and limited to women's clothing. The same bargaining is expected and the prices are dirt cheap but shopping was slightly difficult as they don't allow you to try the clothes on.. for non-size 0 Thai girls, this leaves a lot to chance and guess work. For the most part, the vendors were helpful in determining if something would fit but there was often only one size sold. Platinum was so overwhelmingly large- the directory is about half an inch thick with multiple tabs and fold out pages. We were so grateful that Praew was there to help us navigate the narrow aisles and speak Thai to the vendors on our behalf. We were also very grateful to finally collapse into the comfort of an air conditioned cab after a long day of Thai-style shopping, which, in my opinion, is much more tiring than shopping in America for several reasons: the narrow aisles, hundreds of people, bargaining, small sizes, and the language barrier.
Sunday morning, we continued our weekend of markets by heading to Rachaburi for a floating market. Since we first arrived in Thailand, we have wanted to see one of these markets and we finally made the trip. At around 9 am, me, Erin, Sarah, Roman, Tamar, and Larry piled into a cab. Now you might notice that 6 don't fit into the standard cab. Despite the fact that Rachaburi is about 80 km away from where we live, the cab driver had no problem with us squeezing 2 extra people in the cab as long as we paid him for his services. About an hour later, we finally emerged at the floating market which is a series of canals along which there are dozens of stands. In the canals are many boats selling food and other items. We paid for a 30 minute boat ride which took us up and down the canals. As we moved along, we waved over boats carrying food or items which we wanted to purchase. Larry and Sarah bought the typical pointy hats and we all got some delicious snacks including some egg rolls and mango (which I'm really going to miss back in the US). All the boating vendors help each other out and at one point, I watched one vendor throw some baht to another vendor in a plastic bag so they could provide the necessary change for a purchase. Just as the roads of Thailand are overwhelmed by traffic, the canals were as well. During our ride, we ran into several other boats and had to go through several tricky maneuvers to make it to our destination. After our boat ride, we walked around the edge of the canal and were surprised by a baby elephant who tapped me on the shoulder with his trunk. Roman bought some food for the elephant and we all got to watch it sit, lie down, and bow as it was fed. On our ride back to Salaya, we were pulled over which was a pretty exciting experience. Although we were blatantly violating traffic laws with 2 people in the front seat and 4 people in the back seat, the driver just paid the police officer 200 baht and he sent us on our way. Later we were telling one of our Thai friends this story and he was unsurprised. He knew someone who didn't have a driver's license and was pulled over for drinking and driving. The cop demanded 3,000 baht or threatened to take him to jail but the boy simply said, "I'll pay you 500 baht" ($15) and drove away without so much as a warning... only in Thailand (something that we've started to say every time something absurd happens).
With less than a week less, I'm getting very sad to leave. Thailand has been such an amazing experience for so many reasons. We have lots of plans for our last few days though, so I have many things to look forward to before I land in Dulles on Sunday.
I haven't uploaded the pictures that go along with this blog yet but I will add them once I do!
After returning from Koh Samet, we began our bioethics class on Monday with the new Thai students. It has been great to have their perspective on the bioethics issues that we are discussing. On Monday night, MUIC threw an elaborate welcome/farewell dinner as some students from the first session would be leaving and other students had arrived. The dinner was held in the 6th floor hotel that is part of the MUIC tourism training program and included delicious food and live music performed by students in the school of music. Many faculty members of MUIC thanked us for coming and welcomed the new students with very nice speeches. It left me feeling embarrassed by their gratitude for my presence in Thailand- I really felt like I should be thanking them for all their kindness and hospitality during my stay.
On Tuesday, we headed to the National Cancer Institute where we were spoken to by a researcher. It was incredibly interesting to hear the perspective of a doctor who works in the public sector where he receives very little pay in comparison to the private sector doctors. One student asked him why he didn't work in the private sector and he basically said that he had turned down an offer to do so because he thinks that there is more to life than money. The shortage of doctors in Thailand's public health sector demonstrates that most doctors do not share his charitable attitude..
On Friday, we had another field trip that offered a great contrast to this trip. We headed to Yanhee Hospital in Bangkok. Yanhee is a beauty hospital that specializes in elective procedures, specifically plastic surgery, sex changes, etc. The nurses who work there are all incredibly beautiful and most of them wear heels while working. I have never been in a building with more mirrors. As we toured the hospital, it reminded me of a shopping mall. Throughout the various departments, there were dozens of brochures advertising the services and prices of the various procedures that were offered. This private hospital offers top of the line care and is internationally certified. It caters to both foreigners and Thais. Our lecturers described the ways in which the hospital sold its services, focusing on health AND beauty. The hospital even hosts a beauty contest known as Miss Yanhee. One of the runners-up of the contest later went on to compete in the Miss Thailand competition. The prevalence and prominence of this hospital's sex change operations was clear as one of the winners of the beauty contest one year had formerly been a man. The prevalence of this procedure is something that we have all observed throughout our time here. Nearly every time we go into Bangkok, we see a few "lady-boys," whether it be in a restaurant as our waiter, in the hospital as our tour guide, or just walking around the mall. They are much more common here than they are in the US. Sometimes we don't even realize it until they speak or until we notice that their hands or feet don't quite match their other delicate features.
Friday afternoon, we headed to Golden Jubilee Medical Center where we learned about alternative medicine and even got to try some out. Several of us got to try acupuncture, cupping, Thai massage, and other alternative medical treatments. The doctor was leading a few of us in some stretches to help with back pain from poor posture and when she adjusted my hand position, she noticed my sweaty palms... and proceeded to tell me that they were caused by a misalignment in my spine and observed that my shoulders are not even. She told me that to cure my sweaty hand problem, I should go to a chiropractor to correct my spine issue. The alternative medicine experience was definitely one of my favorite trips because it was so interactive.
Saturday morning we headed to Chatuchak weekend market which is a huge outdoor market that is perhaps the most overwhelming shopping experience I've ever had. Chatuchak is an expansive flea market where bargaining is imperative and everything from cats in costume, bracelets, soccer jerseys, spices, and handbags are sold. After spending a few hours getting lost among the hundreds of stands, Erin, Carla and I left to meet Praew at Platinum fashion mall. Platinum is basically Chatuchak moved indoors and limited to women's clothing. The same bargaining is expected and the prices are dirt cheap but shopping was slightly difficult as they don't allow you to try the clothes on.. for non-size 0 Thai girls, this leaves a lot to chance and guess work. For the most part, the vendors were helpful in determining if something would fit but there was often only one size sold. Platinum was so overwhelmingly large- the directory is about half an inch thick with multiple tabs and fold out pages. We were so grateful that Praew was there to help us navigate the narrow aisles and speak Thai to the vendors on our behalf. We were also very grateful to finally collapse into the comfort of an air conditioned cab after a long day of Thai-style shopping, which, in my opinion, is much more tiring than shopping in America for several reasons: the narrow aisles, hundreds of people, bargaining, small sizes, and the language barrier.
Sunday morning, we continued our weekend of markets by heading to Rachaburi for a floating market. Since we first arrived in Thailand, we have wanted to see one of these markets and we finally made the trip. At around 9 am, me, Erin, Sarah, Roman, Tamar, and Larry piled into a cab. Now you might notice that 6 don't fit into the standard cab. Despite the fact that Rachaburi is about 80 km away from where we live, the cab driver had no problem with us squeezing 2 extra people in the cab as long as we paid him for his services. About an hour later, we finally emerged at the floating market which is a series of canals along which there are dozens of stands. In the canals are many boats selling food and other items. We paid for a 30 minute boat ride which took us up and down the canals. As we moved along, we waved over boats carrying food or items which we wanted to purchase. Larry and Sarah bought the typical pointy hats and we all got some delicious snacks including some egg rolls and mango (which I'm really going to miss back in the US). All the boating vendors help each other out and at one point, I watched one vendor throw some baht to another vendor in a plastic bag so they could provide the necessary change for a purchase. Just as the roads of Thailand are overwhelmed by traffic, the canals were as well. During our ride, we ran into several other boats and had to go through several tricky maneuvers to make it to our destination. After our boat ride, we walked around the edge of the canal and were surprised by a baby elephant who tapped me on the shoulder with his trunk. Roman bought some food for the elephant and we all got to watch it sit, lie down, and bow as it was fed. On our ride back to Salaya, we were pulled over which was a pretty exciting experience. Although we were blatantly violating traffic laws with 2 people in the front seat and 4 people in the back seat, the driver just paid the police officer 200 baht and he sent us on our way. Later we were telling one of our Thai friends this story and he was unsurprised. He knew someone who didn't have a driver's license and was pulled over for drinking and driving. The cop demanded 3,000 baht or threatened to take him to jail but the boy simply said, "I'll pay you 500 baht" ($15) and drove away without so much as a warning... only in Thailand (something that we've started to say every time something absurd happens).
With less than a week less, I'm getting very sad to leave. Thailand has been such an amazing experience for so many reasons. We have lots of plans for our last few days though, so I have many things to look forward to before I land in Dulles on Sunday.
I haven't uploaded the pictures that go along with this blog yet but I will add them once I do!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Koh Samet: New friends, seafood feast, and playing with fire
On Friday morning, a huge bus picked us up from our dorm for the three hour drive towards Koh Samet which is an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Having finished our first class on Medical Anthropology, we were joined on this trip by several Thai students who would be studying with us in our second class as well as 2 new American students and 1 Canadian student. During our bus ride, we sat with our assigned roommate (Thai students were matched with non-Thai students) and got to know everyone. The American students were even given Thai nicknames- mine was Me-ow (very fitting given my love of cats). Most of the others' nicknames had meanings like "sweet" or "orange," mine i just the noise that a cat makes but it was still exciting. We finally arrived at a dock where we got on a speed boat to Koh Samet. We had no idea what we were getting into. The speed boat ride was probably scarier than touching a tiger and I spent half the time being concerned that I was going to be thrown from the boat as, in true Thai fashion, there seemed to be no speed limit or any other safety measures taken for our ride. Once at Koh Samet, we headed for the beach immediately and swam until getting ready for dinner. Our dinner was a delicious seafood feast organized by the program. We ate at a long table right on the beach and after we were all very full there was an amazing fire show performed by 2 young boys and an older man. Later we headed to a beach bar closer to our resort where we took part in some fire limbo... Thailand has a lot of safety regulations (not). I even got to swing a chain with a fireball at the end of it to light the limbo pole on fire. Saturday and Sunday were incredibly relaxing and were just spent on the beach getting to know our new Thai friends who are all so friendly and nice. Our professor joked that all panels who plan on making decisions should start with a relaxing trip to the beach in order to create a good environment before intense discussion. Now that we have Thai students in our group, the dynamic has changed completely. It is so great to have students our own age to show us around, help us with the language and culture, hang out with, and generally get to know. I am so excited to participate in class for the next two weeks with them! Even having all just met, Koh Samet was so much fun because all the students were so welcoming, helpful, and generally excited about the opportunity to meet us.
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| Boat ride |
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| Playing with fire |
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| Fire Limbo |
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| Beach at Koh Samet |
Friday, July 29, 2011
Kanchanaburi: Jam sessions, waterfalls, monkeys, and tigers
On Wednesday after class, we headed to the bus station to catch a ride to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi is a town west of Bangkok that is the location of the famous bridge on the River Kwai and numerous beautiful national parks. We ended up getting a van from the bus station for just 100 baht each and since we were the only passengers, the driver agreed to drop us directly at our hostel. We arrived at around 7:30 pm to "Sam's Place" where we had reserved several bungalows which were connected by bridge walkways. After getting settled in, we headed out to see the town. We ended up at a bar with a live band that was mostly percussion so Atara joined in on the bass and had a nice jam session which was really cool to see. We then headed to another place where we met tons of other travelers from Canada, Britain, and other countries. We also made friends with a very nice Thai guy our age named Day who gave us tips on places to go on Thursday and even said he wanted to come with us and hang out.
We woke up early on Thursday morning to head to Erawan National Park with Day as an unofficial guide. We hiked to several gorgeous waterfalls. My favorite was one with several large rocks that we could slide down. We stayed there for a while and then headed to a waterfall farther along the trail which was absolutely beautiful. While we were sitting there, I got a little hungry so I decided to sneak a few handfuls of potato chips from my bag (although food was not permitted in the national park because of a littering problem). Seconds after I closed up the bag, a monkey came out of nowhere and tried to steal my entire backpack.. evidently littering wasn't the only reason for forbidding food...
Next, we headed to the Tiger Temple, which was very touristy but very cool. We got to take pictures with the tigers and walk one as well. Almost none of us realized since it is actually a temple, we would need to have appropriate clothing... as a result I ended up wearing Dylon's basketball shorts because my shorts were too short which made for an entertaining outfit.
We headed back to Salaya after our trip to the Tiger Temple in order to get some sleep before going to Koh Samet for the weekend with the Thai students who would be joining our class starting Monday! Kanchanaburi might have been my favorite of all our adventures thus far because we got to escape the pollution of Bangkok and see some beautiful countryside. Meeting Day and having him show us around on Friday just further confirmed my idea that Thai people might be the friendliest people in the world.
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| Sam's Place |
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| Jam session |
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| Natural Slide |
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| Fighting the monkey |
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| Waking up from a little tiger snooze |
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Ice coffee, school uniforms, pole dancing, snakes, and Thai disco music
Sawatdee ka! (Hello). I'm starting to learn some Thai... Today, Da, the woman who I buy breakfast from everyday taught me "Sabai dee mai?" which means "how are you?" Boosadi, the woman who sells coffee, taught us how to order- "ga fay yen yai" (large iced coffee). I'm obviously on my way to fluency with all the essentials. My repertoire also includes pad thai gai (chicken pad thai), kop kun ka (thank you), and mai pet (no spice). Again, since Thai is a really simple language with just 5 tones, I am confident that I'll be fluent in no time. But actually, despite my inability to speak the language, getting around and order food, etc. has not been too difficult. Nearly every sign is in English and Thai and most restaurants have English menus or menus with pictures. There are also lots of Thais who speak English and are more than happy to help. Pida also writes things down for us in Thai to show people (such as cab drivers). It is made even easier by the friendliness of the Thai people - I know the names of the woman who cleans the bathroom near our classroom, the woman who I buy my soda from at lunch, and the woman who I usually get my lunch from, all because they asked my name (and remembered it the next day), just like Da and Boosadi did.
Back to what we've been doing around Thailand. After our trip to Hua Hin and our presentations on Monday, we went back to regular class...or so we thought. On Wednesday, we headed to Ramathibodi hospital where we learned about disasters and the health system's response with several medical school students. We did several simulations and stations with them which was a really cool experience. I was surprised to see them wearing school uniforms as med school students but then again, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering the emphasis on uniforms in Thailand. Every student that we've seen, from the youngest pre-schoolers to these medical students, wears a uniform. The only reason that we aren't required to wear a uniform is because we are here for such a short time and they don't want to make us buy them for 5 weeks. After our trip to the hospital, we headed to Khao San road for dinner. Dylon, Michal and I were able to fulfill one of our goals - ride in a real tuk tuk. After eating dinner and hanging out for a while, we found a tuk tuk who was willing to take us all the way to Salaya which is about 40 minutes because of all the traffic. It was quite the ride.
The next day, we went on another field trip to "Empower" which is a foundation that helps sex workers. We were all pretty surprised because Empower is not the typical organization. Rather than attempt to get the women out of the industry, it tries to help them get protection and provides them with resources such as English classes, condoms, and a place to meet other sex workers. It views sex work as a legitimate job, which is obviously not the most common opinion. While we were there, one sex worker came in and talked to us. She even gave us a demonstration of her pole dancing technique on a table in the foundation with poles that is used by the women to teach each other tricks of the trade. Carla and Larry even got up and tried it out which was hilarious. As we were leaving Empower, we passed a night market being set up by dozens of men all wearing "I love the king" tank tops. Later that same day, I was running around the track when I witnessed another display of patriotism - a trolley pulled up near the track and began playing the national anthem. Everyone within earshot immediately stopped and stood at attention for the duration of the song, including the full soccer game being played on the field inside the track.
Friday was one of our most tiring days so far. We headed into Bangkok in the morning to see the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Snake Farm where we saw a venom extraction in the morning and then walked around looking at snakes. I think we might have been more entertained by the dozens of little Thai children in adorable uniforms than we were by the snakes. Next, we walked over to Siam Ocean World where saw a shark feeding and lots of cool animals (plus more adorable Thai children in uniform). We then headed back to the Snake Farm to see the show and hold a huge snake (a facebook picture opportunity that we couldn't pass up). Our last stop of the day was Jim Thompson's house where we were able to see beautiful Thai art and architecture and hear about the unsolved mystery of his disappearance.
Saturday night was one of our most entertaining nights yet. On the suggestion of our dean at MUIC, we headed to a place that would apparently give us the real Thai experience with traditional music and dancing. He didn't give us too many details but just told us to be sure to be there by midnight. We arrived at 11:30 to a dark club filled with dozens of Thai people sitting at small tables as western dance music and rap blasted from the speakers. We were led to a table directly in front of the stage on the edge of the dance floor. As we walked in, most eyes were on us, clearly not locals. Once seated, we quickly made friends as one guy our age asked my name. He also asked me if I spoke Thai and when I shook my head, his entire table started laughing. Maybe that should have been our first hint that something was up... At midnight, several Thai men and women with sequined costumes emerged holding a picture of the king... no surprise there. They sang some songs and there was some dancing. Moments later, two Thai men dressed in drag came out and performed about 20 minutes of stand-up... entirely in Thai...with many gestures towards our table that were followed by laughter from everyone else in the bar. It was somewhat awkward but also hilarious. After the comedy routine, there was much more dancing and singing. As the performers were finishing their acts, people would come and drape ribbons around their necks with tons of 100 baht bills stapled to the ribbons. Eventually, the dance floor cleared of the performers and the people at the bar began to dance. After a few minutes, we were up and dancing with them. Some of the performers came and talked to us and one even taught us a few dance moves. Although they had probably been laughing at us earlier during the standup routine, everyone at the bar was incredibly nice and welcoming. They would pull us out of our chairs to dance and teach us how to dance to the Thai music. By the end of the night, we were all dancing and had made a few new friends. Even though most of them didn't speak English and our Thai is pretty useless unless we're ordering iced coffee, we had a great time enjoying good music and entertaining dances.
Back to what we've been doing around Thailand. After our trip to Hua Hin and our presentations on Monday, we went back to regular class...or so we thought. On Wednesday, we headed to Ramathibodi hospital where we learned about disasters and the health system's response with several medical school students. We did several simulations and stations with them which was a really cool experience. I was surprised to see them wearing school uniforms as med school students but then again, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering the emphasis on uniforms in Thailand. Every student that we've seen, from the youngest pre-schoolers to these medical students, wears a uniform. The only reason that we aren't required to wear a uniform is because we are here for such a short time and they don't want to make us buy them for 5 weeks. After our trip to the hospital, we headed to Khao San road for dinner. Dylon, Michal and I were able to fulfill one of our goals - ride in a real tuk tuk. After eating dinner and hanging out for a while, we found a tuk tuk who was willing to take us all the way to Salaya which is about 40 minutes because of all the traffic. It was quite the ride.
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| Tuk Tuk |
The next day, we went on another field trip to "Empower" which is a foundation that helps sex workers. We were all pretty surprised because Empower is not the typical organization. Rather than attempt to get the women out of the industry, it tries to help them get protection and provides them with resources such as English classes, condoms, and a place to meet other sex workers. It views sex work as a legitimate job, which is obviously not the most common opinion. While we were there, one sex worker came in and talked to us. She even gave us a demonstration of her pole dancing technique on a table in the foundation with poles that is used by the women to teach each other tricks of the trade. Carla and Larry even got up and tried it out which was hilarious. As we were leaving Empower, we passed a night market being set up by dozens of men all wearing "I love the king" tank tops. Later that same day, I was running around the track when I witnessed another display of patriotism - a trolley pulled up near the track and began playing the national anthem. Everyone within earshot immediately stopped and stood at attention for the duration of the song, including the full soccer game being played on the field inside the track.
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| The group at Empower |
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| Word wall to help with learning English |
Friday was one of our most tiring days so far. We headed into Bangkok in the morning to see the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Snake Farm where we saw a venom extraction in the morning and then walked around looking at snakes. I think we might have been more entertained by the dozens of little Thai children in adorable uniforms than we were by the snakes. Next, we walked over to Siam Ocean World where saw a shark feeding and lots of cool animals (plus more adorable Thai children in uniform). We then headed back to the Snake Farm to see the show and hold a huge snake (a facebook picture opportunity that we couldn't pass up). Our last stop of the day was Jim Thompson's house where we were able to see beautiful Thai art and architecture and hear about the unsolved mystery of his disappearance.
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| Adorable. |
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| Just holding a snake.. |
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| Jim Thompson's House |
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| We love the King. |
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Crazy traffic, temples, food stands, the King, cats, dogs, and 7-11s
Last weekend, we headed to Hua Hin which is known as the Royal Beach Resort. Our trip there gave us a little taste of public transportation in Thailand. From our dorm, we took a cab to the bus station where we got our tickets (160 baht for the "3 hour" ride). Three hours after we got on the bus, we were still on the bus, sitting in traffic and surrounded by other buses, pickup trucks with half a dozen people in the back, cars, motorcycles driven by parents as their children sat behind (or in front if they were particularly small). The highway was supposed to be three lanes but there were 5 lanes of traffic.. evidently lane lines are just optional in Thailand. We only passed 1 accident (a truck carrying yellow curry which spilled all over the road) which was surprising considering the drivers in Thailand are, for the most part, crazy. The good news was that the bus was air conditioned. As we neared Hua Hin, we pulled into a gas station and sat for about 45 minutes before my friends and I realized we were waiting in a VERY long line for gas and that we were only about 15 minutes away from our destination... oh the joys of not speaking Thai.. so we got out and hailed a cab. We finally arrived at our hostel (Jing's Guesthouse) around 5 and a half hours after we left Bangkok on our "three hour" bus ride but for $5, who can complain? We began exploring the beach town and, after some heavenly Thai massages, we met up with the rest of our group for dinner. At dinner, we saw the first of several blatant examples of sex tourism (or at least what we guessed was sex tourism). One table away from ours, at the casual, open air restaurant sat a white man in his late 60s with a young Asian woman in her 20s. They were eating in silence and mostly staring off into space. It was quite awkward to watch and we were even more surprised that they were so in the open about it. We tried to think of potential explanations but as we watched them more, it was pretty clear what sort of arrangement it was. After dinner, we headed back to our hostel and went to bed with plans to wake up at 5:30 to see the sunrise on the beach.
The next morning, bright and early, Sarah, Carla, Erin, Felicia, and I headed to the beach to watch the sunrise. We got there right on time, cameras in hand, expecting to see a beautiful sunrise...we hadn't taken into account that this is the rainy season in Thailand and so it is often cloudy and overcast. In spite of the clouds, the beach was beautiful and peaceful so early in the morning.
Later that day, we decided to go ride elephants which we had been wanting to do since we got to Thailand. The woman who ran the hostel, just like nearly every Thai person we've met so far, was incredibly helpful and sent us in the right direction. The elephant ride was about an hour long and VERY hot but also very entertaining. About half way through, the guides got off the elephants and took our cameras. We each took turns sitting on the neck instead of in the chair on top of the elephant while the guides acted like paparazzi... ours may have actually taken more pictures of us on the elephant than I have the entire trip. At one point, Felicia dropped her sunglasses and the elephant picked them up with its trunk and handed them to the guide... very impressive. After riding elephants, we relaxed on the beach for a few hours. There were very few people laying out in the sun (only Europeans and Americans). The Asian people on the beach were nearly all under umbrellas and avoiding the sun at all costs... further confirming what we've observed - an intense desire to be as white as possible (we've already noticed that every kind of Thai lotion has a "whiting" aspect to it).
Later in the afternoon, we decided to walk into one of the many Buddhist temples that were stuck directly in the middle of the town, among all the bars, restaurants, shops, and hotels. This weekend was the beginning of the rainy season during which monks must sleep every night in the temples and never disrobe. There is a ceremony called Wan Khao Phansa and people bring many candles and robes for the monks because they will need them for all the time spent studying in the temple during the next three months. The ceremony was over but we saw the huge candles and all the left over food. Later that night, back at the hostel, we witnessed some more of the sex industry. Two older white men in their 50s and two Asian girls in their 20s were sitting in silence at a table. The women spent nearly the entire time playing on their phones and any exchanges were made in English, which was clearly neither the men nor women's first language. In the adjacent room, another white man and young Asian girl were "playing" pool.. they also were not speaking and were not following any sort of pool rules that I had ever heard of.. unless going three times in a row for no reason is part of some new game...
On our last day, we headed to the beach early to enjoy some sun before we got picked up by a bus sent by our program. Our trip back was so much more relaxing than our trip to Hua Hin all thanks to Pi Da organizing a bus to pick us up. Pi Da is a wonderful, friendly, and helpful woman who works for MUIC and is basically our savior everyday. If we ever have any questions or need an activity to do, she has recommendations and helps us get it organized. We literally would be lost without her. The other day, she was worried about us not getting enough to eat and said, "I just want you to be happy and never hungry in my country!" She is amazing.
On our ride back, I spent a lot of time looking out the window... aside from the crazy driving, I saw dozens upon dozens of Buddhist temples, outdoor food stands, signs for the king (We love the King), stray cats and dogs, and of course 7-11s. I would say that these things are the most common sites in Thailand- at least 1 of them every 10 yards on the major roads. Finally back home, most of us had to finish a presentation for class on Monday (so we obviously uploaded all our facebook pictures first...). Our trip to Hua Hin was a nice escape from Bangkok/Salaya and it was definitely interesting to see the Thai tourist scene.
The next morning, bright and early, Sarah, Carla, Erin, Felicia, and I headed to the beach to watch the sunrise. We got there right on time, cameras in hand, expecting to see a beautiful sunrise...we hadn't taken into account that this is the rainy season in Thailand and so it is often cloudy and overcast. In spite of the clouds, the beach was beautiful and peaceful so early in the morning.
Later that day, we decided to go ride elephants which we had been wanting to do since we got to Thailand. The woman who ran the hostel, just like nearly every Thai person we've met so far, was incredibly helpful and sent us in the right direction. The elephant ride was about an hour long and VERY hot but also very entertaining. About half way through, the guides got off the elephants and took our cameras. We each took turns sitting on the neck instead of in the chair on top of the elephant while the guides acted like paparazzi... ours may have actually taken more pictures of us on the elephant than I have the entire trip. At one point, Felicia dropped her sunglasses and the elephant picked them up with its trunk and handed them to the guide... very impressive. After riding elephants, we relaxed on the beach for a few hours. There were very few people laying out in the sun (only Europeans and Americans). The Asian people on the beach were nearly all under umbrellas and avoiding the sun at all costs... further confirming what we've observed - an intense desire to be as white as possible (we've already noticed that every kind of Thai lotion has a "whiting" aspect to it).
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| Umbrella city on the beach. No chance of sunburn in there.. |
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| "Extra whitening" |
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| Elephant rides |
On our ride back, I spent a lot of time looking out the window... aside from the crazy driving, I saw dozens upon dozens of Buddhist temples, outdoor food stands, signs for the king (We love the King), stray cats and dogs, and of course 7-11s. I would say that these things are the most common sites in Thailand- at least 1 of them every 10 yards on the major roads. Finally back home, most of us had to finish a presentation for class on Monday (so we obviously uploaded all our facebook pictures first...). Our trip to Hua Hin was a nice escape from Bangkok/Salaya and it was definitely interesting to see the Thai tourist scene.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
The First Week!
I've been very bad about blogging. Last week, my excuse was jet lag. This weekend, I didn't bring my computer on our trip and last night I was working on a presentation. Now that I've exhausted all possible excuses for procrastination, I'm finally going to write a long update...
On Monday, we got picked up from MU Place (our dorm) at 9 to go to our school (Mahidol University International College) for orientation. There are 12 people in the class for the first session which is about medical anthropology. They are hoping to have some Thai students join the class eventually but their exams don't end until Wednesday so we are on our own for now. After we heard a brief introduction and overview, we headed to a bus to see several sites in Bangkok with a guide. Our guide was very nice and explained some general information about Thailand as we drove...the only issue was her thick accent which made understanding her a challenge, especially with the noisy traffic around us. Our first stop for the day was Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Kaew is the site of the emerald Buddha. The walls of the temple are decorated with murals of the Ramakian story, the Thai version of the Indian epic Ramayana. The entire temple was gorgeous but the emerald Buddha was especially breathtaking. In the same complex, we saw the Grand Palace, which served as the house of the kings until Rama V moved to the Dusit Palace Park. As we were leaving the grounds of Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, a group of Thai school girls asked to take a picture with us, which was very entertaining. Our next stop was for lunch where our tour guide helped us order from a street vendor. I got delicious chicken pad Thai that was made right in front of me! After lunch, we headed to the Dusit Palace Park where we got a tour of the Vimanmek Teak Palace. This is where Rama V moved when he left the Grand Palace. It is filled with European artifacts and Thai treasures. Our guide took us through the palace and explained some of the history behind it. Rama V had many, many wives, five of whom lived in the Palace with him. Each of the five wives had their own color with which the rooms that "belonged" to them in the palace was painted. As we were leaving the grounds, we saw two Komodo dragons which was pretty unexpected and exciting. The Thai people love their king and our tour guide was very emphatic about us buying things from the gift shop at Vimanmek because all profits go directly to the king. Furthermore, there are signs and posters about the King everywhere in Thailand. Our last stop of the day was Wat Pho, site of the reclining Buddha, which was gorgeous. Tired, jet lagged, and sweaty, we got back on the bus with several bags of fruit from a street vendor to head back to MU Place. Once back, we grabbed dinner (spring rolls and fried rice for me) and headed to bed.
Tuesday was our first day of class. We usually have a 2 hour lecture, 2 hour lunch break, then 2 hour lecture every day. After our first lecture, since it was our first day, we had a welcome lunch in the nicer restaurant at our school that is attached to the tourism school (where they train students). It was delicious.. and the first Western food I had since I left the US. On other days, we have the option of eating there or in the regular cafeteria which has a variety of options. At the lunch, we met a few of the professors who will be teaching us as well as the dean of students at MUIC. Once our classes were over, we got a bus back to the dorm. Atara, Rachel, and I decided to go for a run so we walked to the track at the University. There were tons of people using the track and playing soccer so it was fun to run and people watch. After we got back from our workout, Atara and I started talking about music and spent a good amount of time listening and exchanging the names of people we like to listen to which was really fun.
On Wednesday, we had our usual classes but headed into Bangkok after class to Siam Paragon which is a huge shopping mall. Siam Square has an extensive street market at night which we wanted to check out. After a delicious dinner in the food court (McDonald's. Sorry I'm not sorry. I was craving it.), we headed out to the night market. There were tons of vendors selling everything from food to clothing, jewelry, wallets, DVDs, music, etc. I found a few bracelets that I liked but mostly we just people watched and looked around. My few purchasing experiences showed me that I am VERY bad at bargaining. Larry, who walked around with me, tried, unsuccessfully, to teach me how to bargain. I get too nervous and don't have the guts to argue with the vendors. I ended up getting 10-20 baht off on the bracelets (usually around 80 baht in price). I'm going to need to work on that when we go to the wide variety of markets found everywhere in Thailand.
Thursday's first lecture was one of my favorites thus far as it was given by a Buddhist monk from Cleveland. He was raised there but moved to Thailand to study Buddhism and become a monk. Following lunch, we headed to Ramathibodi Hopsital in Bangkok where we heard from a Thai/Chinese doctor who studied in the United States. Her varying cultural perspectives were incredibly interesting to hear. After the lecture, we walked from the hospital to the sky train station and headed back to Siam Paragon to see HARRY POTTER. We got there and bought our tickets for 120 baht each (popcorn was 30 baht). Keep in mind, this was the opening day of the movie in Bangkok and we showed up 5 minutes before and got great seats. The theater was probably half empty - quite the contrast from the American movie theater scene. Before any movie in Thailand starts, everyone in the audience stands as the national anthem and movie with pictures of the king is played...Just in case the dozens of signs outside don't remind the people that they should love their king. After the movie, Erin, Carla, Felicia, and I headed to Khao San Road to meet up with a Thai girl who we made friends with in the cafeteria at school. Khao San Road is a very bright and vibrant street filled with vendors, tourists, backpackers, and young Thai people. There are tons of restaurants, stores, bars, and clubs. Once we found Saniya and met several of her friends, we sat outside for quite a while. Vendors kept coming up to us to try and sell us trinkets and other souvenirs. There was one very adorable 8 year old boy who took full advantage of his cuteness to sell flowers for 20 baht per flower. He just kept grinning and posing for pictures with everyone. It was really fun to hang out with Thai people our own age. They all speak English very well so the language barrier is not an issue at all. One girl, Nan, invited us to her birthday party next week which should be fun! Hopefully we can keep making friends with Thai students our age.
That's all for now- more on our weekend tomorrow!
On Monday, we got picked up from MU Place (our dorm) at 9 to go to our school (Mahidol University International College) for orientation. There are 12 people in the class for the first session which is about medical anthropology. They are hoping to have some Thai students join the class eventually but their exams don't end until Wednesday so we are on our own for now. After we heard a brief introduction and overview, we headed to a bus to see several sites in Bangkok with a guide. Our guide was very nice and explained some general information about Thailand as we drove...the only issue was her thick accent which made understanding her a challenge, especially with the noisy traffic around us. Our first stop for the day was Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Kaew is the site of the emerald Buddha. The walls of the temple are decorated with murals of the Ramakian story, the Thai version of the Indian epic Ramayana. The entire temple was gorgeous but the emerald Buddha was especially breathtaking. In the same complex, we saw the Grand Palace, which served as the house of the kings until Rama V moved to the Dusit Palace Park. As we were leaving the grounds of Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, a group of Thai school girls asked to take a picture with us, which was very entertaining. Our next stop was for lunch where our tour guide helped us order from a street vendor. I got delicious chicken pad Thai that was made right in front of me! After lunch, we headed to the Dusit Palace Park where we got a tour of the Vimanmek Teak Palace. This is where Rama V moved when he left the Grand Palace. It is filled with European artifacts and Thai treasures. Our guide took us through the palace and explained some of the history behind it. Rama V had many, many wives, five of whom lived in the Palace with him. Each of the five wives had their own color with which the rooms that "belonged" to them in the palace was painted. As we were leaving the grounds, we saw two Komodo dragons which was pretty unexpected and exciting. The Thai people love their king and our tour guide was very emphatic about us buying things from the gift shop at Vimanmek because all profits go directly to the king. Furthermore, there are signs and posters about the King everywhere in Thailand. Our last stop of the day was Wat Pho, site of the reclining Buddha, which was gorgeous. Tired, jet lagged, and sweaty, we got back on the bus with several bags of fruit from a street vendor to head back to MU Place. Once back, we grabbed dinner (spring rolls and fried rice for me) and headed to bed.
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| Wat Phra Kaew |
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| Wat Phra Kaew |
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| The Grand Palace |
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| Chicken Pad Thai |
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| The Reclining Buddha |
On Wednesday, we had our usual classes but headed into Bangkok after class to Siam Paragon which is a huge shopping mall. Siam Square has an extensive street market at night which we wanted to check out. After a delicious dinner in the food court (McDonald's. Sorry I'm not sorry. I was craving it.), we headed out to the night market. There were tons of vendors selling everything from food to clothing, jewelry, wallets, DVDs, music, etc. I found a few bracelets that I liked but mostly we just people watched and looked around. My few purchasing experiences showed me that I am VERY bad at bargaining. Larry, who walked around with me, tried, unsuccessfully, to teach me how to bargain. I get too nervous and don't have the guts to argue with the vendors. I ended up getting 10-20 baht off on the bracelets (usually around 80 baht in price). I'm going to need to work on that when we go to the wide variety of markets found everywhere in Thailand.
Thursday's first lecture was one of my favorites thus far as it was given by a Buddhist monk from Cleveland. He was raised there but moved to Thailand to study Buddhism and become a monk. Following lunch, we headed to Ramathibodi Hopsital in Bangkok where we heard from a Thai/Chinese doctor who studied in the United States. Her varying cultural perspectives were incredibly interesting to hear. After the lecture, we walked from the hospital to the sky train station and headed back to Siam Paragon to see HARRY POTTER. We got there and bought our tickets for 120 baht each (popcorn was 30 baht). Keep in mind, this was the opening day of the movie in Bangkok and we showed up 5 minutes before and got great seats. The theater was probably half empty - quite the contrast from the American movie theater scene. Before any movie in Thailand starts, everyone in the audience stands as the national anthem and movie with pictures of the king is played...Just in case the dozens of signs outside don't remind the people that they should love their king. After the movie, Erin, Carla, Felicia, and I headed to Khao San Road to meet up with a Thai girl who we made friends with in the cafeteria at school. Khao San Road is a very bright and vibrant street filled with vendors, tourists, backpackers, and young Thai people. There are tons of restaurants, stores, bars, and clubs. Once we found Saniya and met several of her friends, we sat outside for quite a while. Vendors kept coming up to us to try and sell us trinkets and other souvenirs. There was one very adorable 8 year old boy who took full advantage of his cuteness to sell flowers for 20 baht per flower. He just kept grinning and posing for pictures with everyone. It was really fun to hang out with Thai people our own age. They all speak English very well so the language barrier is not an issue at all. One girl, Nan, invited us to her birthday party next week which should be fun! Hopefully we can keep making friends with Thai students our age.
That's all for now- more on our weekend tomorrow!
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| New friends! |
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Sunday, July 10, 2011
Getting settled in...
I landed in Thailand at about 2 pm on Saturday and made it through security without any trouble. A nice man from the program greeted me at the gate. He didn't really speak English so he called the woman who runs the program in Thailand at Mahidol University and she told me that he would take me to where I was living and that some Thai students would meet me there to show me around. The drive from the airport to our dorm was about an hour. Everyone here drives SO fast and changes lanes with approximately 1 inch between every car. It was slightly nerve-wracking. Anyway, we are living in an area that is outside of Bangkok called Salaya. It is about 20 minutes from the center of Bangkok. When I arrived there, three students named Gift, Fame, and Chong greeted me and took me up to my room. My roommate wasn't there so they offered to take me to get some food and drink. I also had been rushing through the airport to meet my driver so I hadn't exchanged any money so they took me to a bank. After that we walked to a 711 (they are everywhere here) and I got a bottle of water for 7 baht ($0.23). Everything is so cheap here. Then they drove me through Mahidol University and told me about it. They are just regular students there because, although we will be studying with Thai students in our program, those students have an exam tomorrow (Monday) so they were busy studying all weekend. In the car, they were listening to the exact same music I would expect to hear at home (Beyonce, Adele, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, etc.). Chong had seen Beyonce on her Crazy in Love tour in Thailand so we talked about that for a while. It was really cool to talk to them about music because it was so universal regardless of the fact that we come from such different places. They told me that area we are in is basically a college town because most people who live there are students at the university. This is pretty nice because the area is not at all touristy and everyone is very friendly. After they gave me a brief tour, they dropped me off back at the dorm and my roommate was in the room so we met for the first time. Her name is Erin and she just graduated from Columbia. Our dorm is great. It has air conditioning (crucial since it's between 90 and 100 degrees during the day and VERY humid) and internet, as well as TV (1 or 2 English channels). Every room has a bathroom and a small balcony as well as a mini fridge, closet, two desks, and a vanity. Everyone in our program is on the same floor so Erin and I went around just like we were first years in college again and met people. She already knew two boys and a girl who lived in the rooms on either side of us. After we unpacked, Erin, Sarah, Dylon, Larry, and I went to get dinner. We basically walked out of our dorm in the direction that we had all been driven by our Thai guides. Larry had been to lunch at a good restaurant and we thought we could go back there. It turned out to be closed so we just continued along the same road. Typical Americans, we decided to go into a place that said "Pub and Restaurant" in English under the name (which was in Thai) because we weren't sure of where else to go. When we got inside, it was a small restaurant with egg crates on the wall for decorations (or acoustics.. we weren't sure). They were playing American music but when they brought us menus, it was all in Thai and no one spoke English.. so the English on the sign outside had been somewhat deceptive. I guess that's the downside of being outside of the touristy areas and Bangkok where more people might speak English. We used hand signals and Sarah knew a few Thai phrases so we ordered 5 chicken fried rices (fried rice gai) and 5 beers. We tried to order pad Thai gai (chicken pad Thai) but they had no noodles so they some how told us they had chicken fried rice. By the end of this process, we were all laughing and pretty much every employee at the restaurant was laughing at us too. More and more Thai people our age kept arriving to eat and by the time we left and paid our bill (110 baht or $3.60 each), it was full so we must have picked a good local place. We kept walking further down the street and came across a place called "Get Bar" (http://getbar.net/). Obviously the English signs enticed us again so we went in and there were two guys playing guitars and singing so we decided to sit. We ordered a pitcher of some blue drink that two girls were sharing at the table next to us and enjoyed some Thai music. Soon they switched over to covering American songs which was entertaining. They performed a good version Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" as well as "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson and a few others. By the time it was 11 pm, we were all exhausted from traveling and jet lag so we decided to head back. When we got back to our dorms, we fell asleep very fast. The next morning, once everyone was up and ready to go, Erin, Larry, Carla, Jen, Sarah, and I headed out to get some more food and look for a camera for Erin. We walked down our street and finally came to a store that sold phones and cameras. A nice Thai couple who was about our age helped translate for Erin so she could get a camera, memory card, charger, and case. Every Thai person we've met so far has been incredibly nice and helpful. Then we went back to the place that Larry had been for lunch on Saturday. The menu was in English and Thai which was very nice and the waiter spoke a good amount of English. I ordered green curry chicken and my friends got fried rice or a fried pork dish with three different sauces which they said was delicious. After we finished eating, we asked our waiter about going to the floating markets that we had heard about. He told us that they were about an hour away and were usually morning markets but then he came back and told us about a closer market called Don Wai (http://www.bangkok-daytrips.com/don-wai-market.html). He wrote down the name in English and Thai on a paper so that we could show the cab driver. We headed back to our dorm to get Dylon and when we got there a few more people on the program had arrived. The women at the front desk called some cabs for us and we went to the market. It was pretty crowded with lots of vendors selling everything from fruits and vegetables to noodles, seafood, chicken, rice, candy, and toys. At the back of the market, which was along the Nakhon Chaisi River, we found a place offering boat rides for 60 baht. The boat ride was about an hour long and we finally got some chicken pad thai while we were on the boat. It was very delicious and they made sure not to make it too spicy for us (when we ordered they asked us if we wanted it without spice and laughed). The boat driver gave commentary in Thai while we moved along the river but we obviously couldn't understand what he was saying. It was so interesting to see the contrast in houses along the river. There was everything from shacks to mansions as well as tons of Buddhist temples. At one point in the ride, a smaller boat with two people on it pulled up along side our boat and tied up to us to sell ice cream. We got two small cups of it and all shared it. It had peanuts on top and some strawberries mixed it. It was delicious. Once we got off the boat, they had pre-printed these pictures of our group onto a plaque with the name of the tour on it. Most everyone getting off the boat was getting one for their group. I got one for 100 baht ($3.30). The entire thing was very touristy yet we were the only non-Thai people on the boat. When we got back to the market, we walked a little further through it, got some popsicles and cokes, and then headed out. Back at the dorm, we relaxed and decided to go bed early since we are getting picked up at 8 am tomorrow to go to a bunch of temples and the palace which I'm really excited about. Here are a few pictures from so far.....
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| Where we live |
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| On the boat tour |
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| Ice cream from the boat |
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| The ice cream boat |
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| Pad Thai Gai |
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| Seaweed flavored Lays |
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| Entrance to the market |
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| Vendor in the market |
Getting to Thailand..
Getting to Thailand from Baltimore was an adventure in itself. After a 7 hour flight from Dulles to Frankfurt, I had a 10 hour layover so I decided to into the city and explore. Although I only slept about 4 hours on the flight, I was excited to stretch my legs. From the airport, there was a short 11 minute train ride to the city center that cost about 3 euros. Once I arrived, I walked a few blocks and consulted the map/guide that I had gotten from the airport. I knew of a few places that might be interesting to see so I went about trying to find them. My first stop was Romerberg which is the location of the city hall (since 1405) so it has traditional medieval German architecture. I looked around that square for a while and then headed to the Dom (the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew) which was the site of the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor for about 300 years. After exploring the inside of this cathedral for a while, I continued walking to Hauptwache which is considered the city hub because of its central location. Hauptwache is very modern and has lots of shopping and tourists. I walked down the main shopping street (Zeil) and found a street market with many different vendors. At this point, I was very tired from walking and so I went back to a cafe that I had seen closer to the train station and ordered some food. Most everyone spoke some English so the language barrier was nearly non-existent. Afterwards, I decided to head back to the airport so that I could nap in the terminal. I'm really glad I got to spend my long layover exploring because it made the time fly by. Frankfurt was incredibly modern for the most part but had some beautiful old building stuck right in the middle of all the newer ones (as well as Starbucks every few blocks). It seemed like every car that drove by was either a VW, BMW, Merecedes, or Audi but I guess that is to be expected in Germany. Back at the airport, I sat around until my flight boarded. On the plane, I fell asleep almost immediately and only woke up for dinner and breakfast. Over the total 10 hour flight, I think I slept about 8 hours which was nice. Here are a few pictures from my brief time in Germany:
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| Romerberg |
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The Dom
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