So we finished camp one. There is some things words cant describe about the camp, like the closing ceremony, so Ill just say that kids were crying, teachers (sadly not myself, as I found it all a bit ridiculous) were crying, the TAs were crying... it was a sob fest and the kids get on the ground to "wai" you in respect, tell you they love you and how much they enjoyed their time here... or for me and Jo, sort of just mumbled in Thai/English. It was an experience at the least...
So camp ended, and we ran for the bus, and went to Bangkok to celebrate, what i consider to be, one of the all time great festivals of the world, to compare with Beerfest or even Carnival. Song Kran is the Thai New Year. It consists of 5 days of waterfights. Families loaded in the backs of trucks drive the streets and dump/soak water on you. Everyone has waterguns and buckETS OF WATER... it's literally complete chaos. All the thai people get this powder stuff, and they turn it into a paste and wipe it on your face, saying happy new year (so what dee bee mai) I ended up doing some great thai jokes, Alai Na?(whats that) pointing up to the sky and then squirting them in the face with water... or another favorite namn mot (out of water) then squirting them in the face saying me namn (have water) most all found it to be completely entertaining... i sure did. The nights and days were just complete chaos, and you couldn't escape the water... even with our bags people would throw large buckets of water directly at your face. it was fun, but exhausting.
After the complete chaos of Bangkok, we headed down to Koh Samet, and island south of where we are currently teaching, and spent a couple days relaxing during the day and partying all night, which, of course, ended up being drenched by buckets of water and swimming in the ocean. We were always safe, of course
So now we are back at school, just met the new group of kids, and it's hard not to have favorites from the ones that are returning from last camp. Should be fun, we'll see!
Hope all is well, glad to hear the cabin is coming along, and will be ready for me to visit, maybe, if I have time when i come home for christmas! Can't wait for the cruise!
Love you all
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Teaching
Forgot to upload this, but once i get my computer i should be able to make a littlemore steady of account of the time spent at Asian University.
The kids are really fun, though somewhat spoiled (since this camp is more than 8x's what a "typical" thai makes in a month) but they are still good kids...
They are just nervous about speaking, and shy, but once you get them having fun they're like any other. Teaching them is fun, since half the time it is me running around like a fool trying to get them to understand what I am asking them to do, or get them interested in learning the language to be learned. We get to do lots of projects and art stuff to help, and break up long days teaching. We have AC rooms and access to materials, and they provide a book for a baseline. It's fun.
they have weekly BBQ dance nights, in which we theme up and dance outside (sweating horribly,as it's probably still in the 80's at night) and that's fun.
Started to get into the groove of things,so not much to report... just trying to have fun and teach at the same time, and go out to the islands or on fun dance nights when we are allowed off campus to have fun.
all is well, good talking with everyone on Easter! The cruise is only a couple monthsaway!
The kids are really fun, though somewhat spoiled (since this camp is more than 8x's what a "typical" thai makes in a month) but they are still good kids...
They are just nervous about speaking, and shy, but once you get them having fun they're like any other. Teaching them is fun, since half the time it is me running around like a fool trying to get them to understand what I am asking them to do, or get them interested in learning the language to be learned. We get to do lots of projects and art stuff to help, and break up long days teaching. We have AC rooms and access to materials, and they provide a book for a baseline. It's fun.
they have weekly BBQ dance nights, in which we theme up and dance outside (sweating horribly,as it's probably still in the 80's at night) and that's fun.
Started to get into the groove of things,so not much to report... just trying to have fun and teach at the same time, and go out to the islands or on fun dance nights when we are allowed off campus to have fun.
all is well, good talking with everyone on Easter! The cruise is only a couple monthsaway!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Chaing Mai
So we got to Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand. We did one day of walking around the city, taking it all in. It is a big city without the mess and chaos of Bangkok. It's nice. The old part of the city is surrounded by a moat, and that is where most of the life is.
We decided to take a Thai cooking class, where we can now say, proudly, we are certified to cook Thai food! We did a full day class, where you start with a market tour, letting us see all the materials we will be using late in the day. We then went to our chef's house where there were individual stations for all 8 of us, with utensils and everything. We learned how to make 7 dishes. It was great. We all did very well and stuffed our faces with curries, pad thai's soups, spring rolls, sticky rice and mango, papaya salad, etc. One part, the "adventure cooking part" we even learned how to make a huge fireball explode from the pan. it was a very very good day. at the end we got a recipe book to be able to cook for everyone when we get home.
The following day we decided to do a 3 day 2 night Hill Tribe trek into the mountains. This was an awesome experience. We started by doing a vigerous uphill hike, and then down a long long road into a valley (actually we started at a little waterfall and lunch...) The first tribe was about 28 families, and they live nestled in a valley. All the houses have their own rice paddies and livestock tied up right below their house. Literally you can hear the cows and buffalo sitting under you as you sleep. They made us a great dinner of curry and vegetables. We got to walk around the village and see daily life, and go to a small church. The next day we did a 3-4 hour hike through more paddies and hills before coming to an elephant camp. We got to ride the elephants for about an hour, half the time we got to sit on their heads. We then treked into the next village and got to play games and hang out with a bunch of kids while some people played soccer. The shower situation was interesting. the first place had a large piece of bamboo shooting out from the rocks above in the stream so you could stand under the "shower" in the river to clean up. The second shower was just getting in the river and washing off. The third day we woke up and boarded our bamboo rafts, that are made by hand by tying together bamboo (very simple) and standing on them and using long bamboo poles to navigate the river. We spend about 4 hours rafting down the river, which was calm at points, and small rapids at others. It was overall a really really great three days.
The following day we took it easy and walked around the city again, checking out the temples and wats. We saw a teak wat, and old ruined wat, and even at one wat got to sit and talk to a monk, who is 22 yrs old, and finishing up his last two years of schooling. We learned all about a monks life and what he wanted to do once he had finished school. Quite the lifestyle.
Today, March 5th, we took a local bus 4 hours north to a city called Chiang Rai. We checked in and are about to see what there is to do around here for the next day or so, then we head to bangkok for the weekend. We will sadly be saying bye to my friend Dave from school who has been traveling with us for the past 6 weeks. He's on his way to south africa. Then I move into school on the 12th, and start teaching officially on the 15th. Talk to everyone soon!
We decided to take a Thai cooking class, where we can now say, proudly, we are certified to cook Thai food! We did a full day class, where you start with a market tour, letting us see all the materials we will be using late in the day. We then went to our chef's house where there were individual stations for all 8 of us, with utensils and everything. We learned how to make 7 dishes. It was great. We all did very well and stuffed our faces with curries, pad thai's soups, spring rolls, sticky rice and mango, papaya salad, etc. One part, the "adventure cooking part" we even learned how to make a huge fireball explode from the pan. it was a very very good day. at the end we got a recipe book to be able to cook for everyone when we get home.
The following day we decided to do a 3 day 2 night Hill Tribe trek into the mountains. This was an awesome experience. We started by doing a vigerous uphill hike, and then down a long long road into a valley (actually we started at a little waterfall and lunch...) The first tribe was about 28 families, and they live nestled in a valley. All the houses have their own rice paddies and livestock tied up right below their house. Literally you can hear the cows and buffalo sitting under you as you sleep. They made us a great dinner of curry and vegetables. We got to walk around the village and see daily life, and go to a small church. The next day we did a 3-4 hour hike through more paddies and hills before coming to an elephant camp. We got to ride the elephants for about an hour, half the time we got to sit on their heads. We then treked into the next village and got to play games and hang out with a bunch of kids while some people played soccer. The shower situation was interesting. the first place had a large piece of bamboo shooting out from the rocks above in the stream so you could stand under the "shower" in the river to clean up. The second shower was just getting in the river and washing off. The third day we woke up and boarded our bamboo rafts, that are made by hand by tying together bamboo (very simple) and standing on them and using long bamboo poles to navigate the river. We spend about 4 hours rafting down the river, which was calm at points, and small rapids at others. It was overall a really really great three days.
The following day we took it easy and walked around the city again, checking out the temples and wats. We saw a teak wat, and old ruined wat, and even at one wat got to sit and talk to a monk, who is 22 yrs old, and finishing up his last two years of schooling. We learned all about a monks life and what he wanted to do once he had finished school. Quite the lifestyle.
Today, March 5th, we took a local bus 4 hours north to a city called Chiang Rai. We checked in and are about to see what there is to do around here for the next day or so, then we head to bangkok for the weekend. We will sadly be saying bye to my friend Dave from school who has been traveling with us for the past 6 weeks. He's on his way to south africa. Then I move into school on the 12th, and start teaching officially on the 15th. Talk to everyone soon!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Back to the "Motherland"
Well, i am back in Thailand, thank god. Vietnam was fun, but I am very excited to be back in Thailand, where the food is better, the noise is less and we speak the language a little bit more. It's amazing how much better received you are when you can do simple transactions in Thai.
We flew from Hanoi, Vietnam to Bangkok and then took a night train that evening up to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. It's the second largest city in Thailand. It's .... ohh no! i need to go eat lunch. ill update this later!
We flew from Hanoi, Vietnam to Bangkok and then took a night train that evening up to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand. It's the second largest city in Thailand. It's .... ohh no! i need to go eat lunch. ill update this later!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Vietnam
Ok, so we've been in Vietnam about a week now, and it calls for an update.
The busride from Cambodia was long, and boring, and warm, and crowded... so all in all not too bad. We arrived in Saigon (District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City). Luckily we found a room right around the corner for $15 between the three of us with A/C warm water and a TV and fridge. Not too shabby. Dave had become sick, we assumed it was Dengue or something equally awful, for he spent the whole time in Saigon in bed, watching TV, going for short walks and then returning to bed. We did one full day of pure shopping, because you can find all sorts of worthless junk for a dollar, which makes it seem worth buying. I did reletively ok, since we had been to the exact same markets two years prior, and nothing seemed too needed. The food in Vietnam isn't the greatest, and we ended up finding some really good and cheap western places, to get sandwiches and salads.
Another day I did an all day tour out to see a Cao Dai temple, which is a religion infusing Catholicism, Daoism, Buddhism, Confucionism, etc...) The temple was really neat, with large pillars and dragons wrapping around them. It was pretty cool to see. We then head to the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong fought during the Vietnam/American War. They are a serious of 250 km underground where the VC lived and fought, making it almost impossible for the American troops to see of fight back. It was really fun running around and crawling through the tight litttle tunnels in pure darkness and stuffy hot air... for about 2 minutes, then you want out.
A third day we went into Chinatown which ended up being the same as everywhere else with the people looking a little more Chinese.
We decided to take a sleeper train and stop over in the middle of Vietnam for a day or two before heading up to Hanoi, but once we got there, the train schedule was awful and would make us either stay 3 days there or leave immediately, so we jumped back on another overnight train hours later. It ended up being about 36 hours on the trains overall, but the sleeper cars are great when you just nap and stare out the window and read, so it went by very fast.
When we got into Hanoi we went straight to the Old Quarter, where the streets are narrow, packed with people, motos, and an unbelievable amount of buld goods from candy to shoes to chickens. One of the most little chaotic towns we've seen. It's crazy and all day and night you just hear people honking and blaring their horns. In Asia, unlike the US, a horn is a very liberally used instrument to say, hello, im right here, behind you, watch out, move over, im coming around you, hurry up, why are you stopped, go faster, im coming around the corner, anyone there... and anything else possible. Some of the riders have their kids in the front and sometimes you see a 2 yr old just sitting there holding the horn down, but the parents can hardly stop them for they need to focus on not hitting one of 102,938 other things in the street at the time. It's great for an early morning headache.
We did a two day one night trip to Halong Bay, where there are 1,980 islands shooting out from the water of the bay, many with caves and temples build on and around them. The trip was on an old junk (a type of boat) and we slept in cabins below. There were 11 of us, all 25 and under, from England, Canada and Japan, so it was a really fun trip. The next morning we continued a tour of the bay and then head back to Hanoi
Luckily our mail came through, to help us get the Non Immigrant B visa we need in order to legally work, so now we have to wait the weekend to trun it in on monday and get started on the visa before we head out, either into Laos, or up to Northern Thailand. There are many horror stories of the busride to Laos, taking from 12-38 hours so we will probably end up flying somewhere instead... but we're not too sure.
Just today I got to go and see Ho Chi Minh's body, in a mosuleam, where it has been preserved and put on display. It looks like he's just slepping peacefully in a comfy little bed. It's interesting because you can't talk, or use your phone or camera, or put your hands in your pockets or stop walking... the gaurds just push and shove you right through to make sure the hundred and hundreds of people each morning get to see him. Now it's a couple days to try to enjoy the chaos of Hanoi and check out the sights while we wait for our Visa's to let us back into Thailand. Let's hope it's not a huge pain to get everything checked out and legal... but who knows, it's SE Asia, and nothing is as easy as it should be.
The busride from Cambodia was long, and boring, and warm, and crowded... so all in all not too bad. We arrived in Saigon (District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City). Luckily we found a room right around the corner for $15 between the three of us with A/C warm water and a TV and fridge. Not too shabby. Dave had become sick, we assumed it was Dengue or something equally awful, for he spent the whole time in Saigon in bed, watching TV, going for short walks and then returning to bed. We did one full day of pure shopping, because you can find all sorts of worthless junk for a dollar, which makes it seem worth buying. I did reletively ok, since we had been to the exact same markets two years prior, and nothing seemed too needed. The food in Vietnam isn't the greatest, and we ended up finding some really good and cheap western places, to get sandwiches and salads.
Another day I did an all day tour out to see a Cao Dai temple, which is a religion infusing Catholicism, Daoism, Buddhism, Confucionism, etc...) The temple was really neat, with large pillars and dragons wrapping around them. It was pretty cool to see. We then head to the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong fought during the Vietnam/American War. They are a serious of 250 km underground where the VC lived and fought, making it almost impossible for the American troops to see of fight back. It was really fun running around and crawling through the tight litttle tunnels in pure darkness and stuffy hot air... for about 2 minutes, then you want out.
A third day we went into Chinatown which ended up being the same as everywhere else with the people looking a little more Chinese.
We decided to take a sleeper train and stop over in the middle of Vietnam for a day or two before heading up to Hanoi, but once we got there, the train schedule was awful and would make us either stay 3 days there or leave immediately, so we jumped back on another overnight train hours later. It ended up being about 36 hours on the trains overall, but the sleeper cars are great when you just nap and stare out the window and read, so it went by very fast.
When we got into Hanoi we went straight to the Old Quarter, where the streets are narrow, packed with people, motos, and an unbelievable amount of buld goods from candy to shoes to chickens. One of the most little chaotic towns we've seen. It's crazy and all day and night you just hear people honking and blaring their horns. In Asia, unlike the US, a horn is a very liberally used instrument to say, hello, im right here, behind you, watch out, move over, im coming around you, hurry up, why are you stopped, go faster, im coming around the corner, anyone there... and anything else possible. Some of the riders have their kids in the front and sometimes you see a 2 yr old just sitting there holding the horn down, but the parents can hardly stop them for they need to focus on not hitting one of 102,938 other things in the street at the time. It's great for an early morning headache.
We did a two day one night trip to Halong Bay, where there are 1,980 islands shooting out from the water of the bay, many with caves and temples build on and around them. The trip was on an old junk (a type of boat) and we slept in cabins below. There were 11 of us, all 25 and under, from England, Canada and Japan, so it was a really fun trip. The next morning we continued a tour of the bay and then head back to Hanoi
Luckily our mail came through, to help us get the Non Immigrant B visa we need in order to legally work, so now we have to wait the weekend to trun it in on monday and get started on the visa before we head out, either into Laos, or up to Northern Thailand. There are many horror stories of the busride to Laos, taking from 12-38 hours so we will probably end up flying somewhere instead... but we're not too sure.
Just today I got to go and see Ho Chi Minh's body, in a mosuleam, where it has been preserved and put on display. It looks like he's just slepping peacefully in a comfy little bed. It's interesting because you can't talk, or use your phone or camera, or put your hands in your pockets or stop walking... the gaurds just push and shove you right through to make sure the hundred and hundreds of people each morning get to see him. Now it's a couple days to try to enjoy the chaos of Hanoi and check out the sights while we wait for our Visa's to let us back into Thailand. Let's hope it's not a huge pain to get everything checked out and legal... but who knows, it's SE Asia, and nothing is as easy as it should be.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Ode to Rocks
Our first day in cambodia was in transit to a city called Siem Reap. The city itself is really nice, actually, as it caters a highly international crowd. We spent the afternoon just walking around, finding great food for a dollar and checking out the city. The next morning we rose at 530 am to get a cart attached to the back of a motorbike to go out to Angkor's temples. In the day, we saw about 12 different ruins (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom [Bayon, Baphuon, Terrace of Elephants, something involving the king] Phreah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Eastern Mebon, Sra Srang, Banteay Kdei, Ta Phrohm, and of course, Angkor Wat. It was such a long day, but well worth every penny and minute. The temples are gorgeous, with stone faces carved meticulously into the facadesa and perching on the towers. Some have been overgrown by the jungle (Think of Tomb Raider... since we saw the one it was filmed at). Giant trees, incence, statues, gates, gaurds, unbelievably detailed stone walls covered in intricate carvings... it was truely a sight to behold. You'll just have to see the pictures. We saw sunrise and sunset, all within the ruins, and had a driver all day taking us around. We even had lunch and snacks and waters from the people that still live within the ruins. It was an amazing day.
tHE NEXT DAY WE OPTED TO GET AHEAD OF SChedule and went to Phenom Phen, with a bumply little 6-7 hours bus ride. Phenom Phen is the capital city, but with few buildings over 3/4 stories, it's hard to remember that you're in a huge city. We scoped out the sights near and around our guesthouse the first day.
The following day was devoted to the shopping experience that is the Russian Market and Central Market. Here you can get real brand name clothing (as much of it is made here) for dollars. you can get watched and necklaces and shirts and pants and sildk and scarfs and anything else you want for dollars. It was fun. Luckily we can't carry too much so I had to limit myself to a couple items, the best of being a birthday gift for my brother. (check the mail ill send it to mom and dad unless i find good internet and get your address.) There were some other little things, dont worry grandma and mom, and maybe dad and shelley and nick... and mom's classroom... We spent a full day shopping around twomarkets. the first one, the russian market it a giant mess of stalls mere feet apart with little isles and paths around. it is caotic, as you can be in clothing one second and with pig snouts the next.
the central market is in a big building that is a huge done with 4 wings full of merchandise. same same stuff. this one had a lot of beautiful floral arrangements outside as well.
Today, the 12th, we spent in a sombering tour of S-21 and the Killing Fields. It was the Khmer Rouge that devistated the country in the late 70's killing anywhere from 300000 to a couple million people... no one knows. It was ethnic cleansing and genocide, and we toured a high school turned prison camp where people slept 50 to a room chained to the ground or in cells hardly big enough to lay in. Almost everyone that went through the camp was tourtured, questioned and then sent to the Killing fields to be killed and thrown in mass unmarked graves. So that's not fun, but well worth the trip to understand where Cambodia was, and how far it has come today. The afternoon was spent checking out the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda (where they have 5,000 Kilograms of silver plates on the floor) That was a nice change of pace. We had a great lunch inbetween and an even better indian food dinner. Tomorrow we take a nice little 7+ hour bus ride into Saigon to experience, once again, all that is Vietnam in a whirlwind tour of the country.
i heAR you'rew all up in the snow... lucky. i don't remember what cold feels like, unless it's at night when you rip off your clothing because your back is stuck to everything and your face is drowing in sweat... but then again, it's winter here and the cold season. lets see how i feel in april/may
love you all and tell chase to get out here, he'd love it!
tHE NEXT DAY WE OPTED TO GET AHEAD OF SChedule and went to Phenom Phen, with a bumply little 6-7 hours bus ride. Phenom Phen is the capital city, but with few buildings over 3/4 stories, it's hard to remember that you're in a huge city. We scoped out the sights near and around our guesthouse the first day.
The following day was devoted to the shopping experience that is the Russian Market and Central Market. Here you can get real brand name clothing (as much of it is made here) for dollars. you can get watched and necklaces and shirts and pants and sildk and scarfs and anything else you want for dollars. It was fun. Luckily we can't carry too much so I had to limit myself to a couple items, the best of being a birthday gift for my brother. (check the mail ill send it to mom and dad unless i find good internet and get your address.) There were some other little things, dont worry grandma and mom, and maybe dad and shelley and nick... and mom's classroom... We spent a full day shopping around twomarkets. the first one, the russian market it a giant mess of stalls mere feet apart with little isles and paths around. it is caotic, as you can be in clothing one second and with pig snouts the next.
the central market is in a big building that is a huge done with 4 wings full of merchandise. same same stuff. this one had a lot of beautiful floral arrangements outside as well.
Today, the 12th, we spent in a sombering tour of S-21 and the Killing Fields. It was the Khmer Rouge that devistated the country in the late 70's killing anywhere from 300000 to a couple million people... no one knows. It was ethnic cleansing and genocide, and we toured a high school turned prison camp where people slept 50 to a room chained to the ground or in cells hardly big enough to lay in. Almost everyone that went through the camp was tourtured, questioned and then sent to the Killing fields to be killed and thrown in mass unmarked graves. So that's not fun, but well worth the trip to understand where Cambodia was, and how far it has come today. The afternoon was spent checking out the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda (where they have 5,000 Kilograms of silver plates on the floor) That was a nice change of pace. We had a great lunch inbetween and an even better indian food dinner. Tomorrow we take a nice little 7+ hour bus ride into Saigon to experience, once again, all that is Vietnam in a whirlwind tour of the country.
i heAR you'rew all up in the snow... lucky. i don't remember what cold feels like, unless it's at night when you rip off your clothing because your back is stuck to everything and your face is drowing in sweat... but then again, it's winter here and the cold season. lets see how i feel in april/may
love you all and tell chase to get out here, he'd love it!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Cambodia
Two years ago, I was denied entry into this country due to a "random" selection on Semester at Sea Fall 2005. I blame the government, global warming and India. Today, after waking up at 420 AM, taking a 4 hours bus, 2 hour border crossing and 3 hour taxi ride, I arrived in this hidden country. Exhausted. The bus was good, except for the 2 thai girls and one thai guy that started to vomit on the floor. The border crossing went smoothly, ignoring the fact visa's are 20 bucks and making you pay 33. The taxi ride was ok, from the mafia, who drives 60 mph on a dirt road littered with potholes, turned, construction, chunks of rock and cement, 1000 bikes and moto's with dead pigs hanging off the back... it was a long day....
But we're in Cambodia! Bet Chase is jealous. We plan do do a all day sunrise to sunset ankgor wat temple exploration tomorrow. look into buying tons of fake merchandise, and eat for 1-2 bucks a meal. good times. We left out house in hua hin, retirement capital of Thailand, and went to BKK for two nights, saying goodbye to our Canadian friends and out Ennglish friend we'd been traveling with for 2 weeks. We met up with an old TEFL friend at his new apartment, which was great with 16th story views of BKK skyline.
Other than that, I got a call from Shelley, which was great. Hope all the family is doing well, hope mom got my text for her anniversary. ok, more later
But we're in Cambodia! Bet Chase is jealous. We plan do do a all day sunrise to sunset ankgor wat temple exploration tomorrow. look into buying tons of fake merchandise, and eat for 1-2 bucks a meal. good times. We left out house in hua hin, retirement capital of Thailand, and went to BKK for two nights, saying goodbye to our Canadian friends and out Ennglish friend we'd been traveling with for 2 weeks. We met up with an old TEFL friend at his new apartment, which was great with 16th story views of BKK skyline.
Other than that, I got a call from Shelley, which was great. Hope all the family is doing well, hope mom got my text for her anniversary. ok, more later
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Southern Thailand
So, I'll make this as quick and detailed as possible.
We left Hua Hin to do a border run to Burma, which was really cool. We took a little longtail boat across a big river, stopping at little Immigration Island Checkpoints. It was beautiful and being out on the water was really fun. By far, it was the best border run Ive done to date. We then hitched a bus to Surat Thani to catch a night ferry to the island of Koh Pha-ngan, where the legendary Full Moon Party is held. The boat was unbelievably fun, it's like a floating camp. The top floor is all mats where you all cram in and sleep. Everyone gets drinks so you just chat and hang out and have fun. Then I met some Malaysians and we decided to go sit on the front of the boat, which was loaded with produce. So we climbed over grapes, lettuce, oranges all sorts of stuff and sat at the front of the boat on produce. It was really fun, dangerous, but really fun. We got to the island at 6 a.m. and walked all the way down to our little beachside bungalo. It was a shack, but right on this whitesand beach with mangrooves and it was gorgeous...
The full moon party was unbelievable. thousands and thousands of people dancing the night away out on this huge beach. sometimes there can be as many as 25000-30000 people there. it was really really cool. we danced and partied till about 530 am, then i had to retire for the night. It is a really fun island, and I even got to meet up with a friend from home, which was really fun.
We then took the boat back and went to a place called Khao Sok National Forest. This was what you consider a Jungle to be. Huge trees, vines hanging everywhere, lush green vegetation. it was realy really fun. we did two different hikes. the first one was about 7 K round trip to a waterfall called "sip ed chan" which means 11 layers. It was cool, but we got leaches on our feet and then I was attacked by a swarm of bees who liked the way i smelt (like a dirty sweaty mess) The hike was really fun though. My feet got torn up by my keens, and the leaches, so the next day was tough
The following day we did what I like to call the Death Hike. It was about 16-18 K roundtrip, took us about 7 hours roundtrip. It was fun at first, really easy, then it turned to straight vertical climbs, where you needed to hold onto vines ad tree roots to pull yourself up and climb down. the killer was the heat and humidity. you sit there and sweat and sweat and sweat. we both took 2 liters of water and they were gone half way. the shirt i was wearing would probably have been drying if i jumped in a pool. imaging doing a hike, a hard rigerous hike, in a sauna. then imagine you do it with clothes that just came from the hot dryer. That's about half of what it felt like. hoooooooot. but after it was fun to look back. the waterfall was really cool, with a nice pool to swim in to cool off. sadly i was once again attacked by bees and had a "unstable" moment of flailing my arms about.
After the national forest we went to Phuket, to spend the evening before going to Koh Phi Phi. We found the most delicious store in the world Banana Variety. Imagine...
We then took a boat out to Koh Phi Phi, a stunning island in the South of Thailand. It was really cool and we spent one whole day kayaking around the bay. it was exhuasting but we got to see some really amazing parts of the island, limestone cliffs jetting straight up out of the ocean, then i tipped the kayak, then we went to monkey beach and around to a little cove that was stunning.
Jo's birthday was the 29th, so that involved a lot of buckets of liquor and a bar that lets drunk friends fight in the ring for buckets. we went straight upstars to the dancing portion and watched some liquid enduced entertainment and dances and had a really good time. it was fun.
the next day was a recovery day, then an all you can eat buffet, which made us all sick. so we evacuated the island and went to phuket for a night in patong, a lively night area and then took a 12 hour bus ride back to Hua Hin to relax and rest up before starting a 4 weeks SE asia whirlwind expedition...
hope that was a decent update!
We left Hua Hin to do a border run to Burma, which was really cool. We took a little longtail boat across a big river, stopping at little Immigration Island Checkpoints. It was beautiful and being out on the water was really fun. By far, it was the best border run Ive done to date. We then hitched a bus to Surat Thani to catch a night ferry to the island of Koh Pha-ngan, where the legendary Full Moon Party is held. The boat was unbelievably fun, it's like a floating camp. The top floor is all mats where you all cram in and sleep. Everyone gets drinks so you just chat and hang out and have fun. Then I met some Malaysians and we decided to go sit on the front of the boat, which was loaded with produce. So we climbed over grapes, lettuce, oranges all sorts of stuff and sat at the front of the boat on produce. It was really fun, dangerous, but really fun. We got to the island at 6 a.m. and walked all the way down to our little beachside bungalo. It was a shack, but right on this whitesand beach with mangrooves and it was gorgeous...
The full moon party was unbelievable. thousands and thousands of people dancing the night away out on this huge beach. sometimes there can be as many as 25000-30000 people there. it was really really cool. we danced and partied till about 530 am, then i had to retire for the night. It is a really fun island, and I even got to meet up with a friend from home, which was really fun.
We then took the boat back and went to a place called Khao Sok National Forest. This was what you consider a Jungle to be. Huge trees, vines hanging everywhere, lush green vegetation. it was realy really fun. we did two different hikes. the first one was about 7 K round trip to a waterfall called "sip ed chan" which means 11 layers. It was cool, but we got leaches on our feet and then I was attacked by a swarm of bees who liked the way i smelt (like a dirty sweaty mess) The hike was really fun though. My feet got torn up by my keens, and the leaches, so the next day was tough
The following day we did what I like to call the Death Hike. It was about 16-18 K roundtrip, took us about 7 hours roundtrip. It was fun at first, really easy, then it turned to straight vertical climbs, where you needed to hold onto vines ad tree roots to pull yourself up and climb down. the killer was the heat and humidity. you sit there and sweat and sweat and sweat. we both took 2 liters of water and they were gone half way. the shirt i was wearing would probably have been drying if i jumped in a pool. imaging doing a hike, a hard rigerous hike, in a sauna. then imagine you do it with clothes that just came from the hot dryer. That's about half of what it felt like. hoooooooot. but after it was fun to look back. the waterfall was really cool, with a nice pool to swim in to cool off. sadly i was once again attacked by bees and had a "unstable" moment of flailing my arms about.
After the national forest we went to Phuket, to spend the evening before going to Koh Phi Phi. We found the most delicious store in the world Banana Variety. Imagine...
We then took a boat out to Koh Phi Phi, a stunning island in the South of Thailand. It was really cool and we spent one whole day kayaking around the bay. it was exhuasting but we got to see some really amazing parts of the island, limestone cliffs jetting straight up out of the ocean, then i tipped the kayak, then we went to monkey beach and around to a little cove that was stunning.
Jo's birthday was the 29th, so that involved a lot of buckets of liquor and a bar that lets drunk friends fight in the ring for buckets. we went straight upstars to the dancing portion and watched some liquid enduced entertainment and dances and had a really good time. it was fun.
the next day was a recovery day, then an all you can eat buffet, which made us all sick. so we evacuated the island and went to phuket for a night in patong, a lively night area and then took a 12 hour bus ride back to Hua Hin to relax and rest up before starting a 4 weeks SE asia whirlwind expedition...
hope that was a decent update!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
I have a job, in two months...
So, quick update.
I got a job working a summer camp, two 4 week sessions
I don't start till 2nd week of March, so I have decided to travel south east asia for a little. I am going south to the islands (Koh Pha Ngan, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi) and some national parks for 2 weeks, then ill head up north to the chaing mai/rai area. as time permits ill probably check out Laos, and maybe Vietnam and Cambodia...) Then I'll work for two months, and in that time probably secure a position for the academic school year starting in May.
Tomorrow is another border run to Burma, and then I'm off the the island for some fun and Full Moon Parties (world known for all night partying on the beach)
Hope all is well!
I got a job working a summer camp, two 4 week sessions
I don't start till 2nd week of March, so I have decided to travel south east asia for a little. I am going south to the islands (Koh Pha Ngan, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi) and some national parks for 2 weeks, then ill head up north to the chaing mai/rai area. as time permits ill probably check out Laos, and maybe Vietnam and Cambodia...) Then I'll work for two months, and in that time probably secure a position for the academic school year starting in May.
Tomorrow is another border run to Burma, and then I'm off the the island for some fun and Full Moon Parties (world known for all night partying on the beach)
Hope all is well!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Hua Hin
So we came from Bangkok to Hua Hin, a couple hours on the Upper Southern Gulf of Thailand. We got a bus, came into town and got a hostel. We decided to start the house/job hunt, and ended up with a great 3 story town house for the month of January, to base our job hunting. The house is great, near the Royal Palace and Queen's Park, in a relatively quiet and safe area, about 6 minutes on bike from the city center. We quickly found out that the jobs in Thailand really want you to work for them, but they won't hire you until the school year starts. This means that schools would love to hire us, but can't get us working until May 1st, and there is no way any of us can wait that long. Of course we found this out the day we got our townhouse, but it seems that anywhere in Thailand, for normal Thai schools, would be in a similar problem. So we have been looking all over...
We did get one job offer from Stamford International University, with their English Immersion program, but have not fully decided on that one. It would be amazing, and we could even start teaching University level intro English classes, but we feel that teaching kids would be more rewarding for us. So that is one option, if things get out of hand.
Another school really liked us, and was trying to figure out a way to pay us half time until may when we can start working for fulltime. This sounded ok, but we have started to question if Hua Hin is somewhere we would want to spend 6 months or a year, as there really isn't a young scene, or a huge backpacker scene... so we'r just conflicted and torn.
The worst part is that our Tourist Visas are coming to and end. We have to do a border run next weekend, and if we can get a 2 or 3 month tourist visa from Malaysia, we may make the trek, but if not we're planning on renewing for one more month, and then just figuring it out.
The money is going, but not horribly fast, so we're not in a GIANT rush, but the visa thing does suck a little. There is a really cool Summer Camp, which would be awsome, but it doesn't start till March, and unless we have a tourist visa that can handle it, we may have to flee the country in hopes of something else. But that's not for at least a month.
Weve been trying to see what we can of Hua Hin, which has great night markets, and some decent beaches. There is a temple at the other side of town that has monkeys running all around, so you can pay 60 cents to get bananas and feed them. Today Johanna set them down to take a picture of me, and one big monkey stole the whole bunch and ran up a tree... sneaky little...
There are some cool beaches, and when it's really hot we go for a swim and do some reading. Cooking for ourselves is also great, and putting peanuts and fresh pinapple with stir fry has really become addicting... the best pinapple.. mmm so fresh
Let's see. We rented bikes too, so we have our own transportation, and it gets great gas mileage, i think. I spent about 5 dollars and got around 200 kilometers... i tried to convert it, but didn't remember exactly what I got. Either way Ive driving all over the place in the past week and only spent about 8-10 dollars on gas... gotta love the little motorbikes...
I guess that's it for now, sorry I didn't write earlier.
Oh, Her Royal Magesty, the Princess (the King's sister) passed away a couple weeks ago, and it's interesting to see all the tv adverts for her, and lots of her pictures were put up. Also you are asked not to wear lots of bright clothing, as to respect the time of mourning...
On that note... hope all is well, and I'll post up on this once I figure out if I am going to take any of the job offers, or move to Bangkok to look for jobs, or try for that Summer Camp at the University on the other side of the gulf... Hopefully tomorrow morning will help everyone get back to my emails and we can get some productive stuff done. Also, I just might be able to call people (no promises), so watch out grandma!
We did get one job offer from Stamford International University, with their English Immersion program, but have not fully decided on that one. It would be amazing, and we could even start teaching University level intro English classes, but we feel that teaching kids would be more rewarding for us. So that is one option, if things get out of hand.
Another school really liked us, and was trying to figure out a way to pay us half time until may when we can start working for fulltime. This sounded ok, but we have started to question if Hua Hin is somewhere we would want to spend 6 months or a year, as there really isn't a young scene, or a huge backpacker scene... so we'r just conflicted and torn.
The worst part is that our Tourist Visas are coming to and end. We have to do a border run next weekend, and if we can get a 2 or 3 month tourist visa from Malaysia, we may make the trek, but if not we're planning on renewing for one more month, and then just figuring it out.
The money is going, but not horribly fast, so we're not in a GIANT rush, but the visa thing does suck a little. There is a really cool Summer Camp, which would be awsome, but it doesn't start till March, and unless we have a tourist visa that can handle it, we may have to flee the country in hopes of something else. But that's not for at least a month.
Weve been trying to see what we can of Hua Hin, which has great night markets, and some decent beaches. There is a temple at the other side of town that has monkeys running all around, so you can pay 60 cents to get bananas and feed them. Today Johanna set them down to take a picture of me, and one big monkey stole the whole bunch and ran up a tree... sneaky little...
There are some cool beaches, and when it's really hot we go for a swim and do some reading. Cooking for ourselves is also great, and putting peanuts and fresh pinapple with stir fry has really become addicting... the best pinapple.. mmm so fresh
Let's see. We rented bikes too, so we have our own transportation, and it gets great gas mileage, i think. I spent about 5 dollars and got around 200 kilometers... i tried to convert it, but didn't remember exactly what I got. Either way Ive driving all over the place in the past week and only spent about 8-10 dollars on gas... gotta love the little motorbikes...
I guess that's it for now, sorry I didn't write earlier.
Oh, Her Royal Magesty, the Princess (the King's sister) passed away a couple weeks ago, and it's interesting to see all the tv adverts for her, and lots of her pictures were put up. Also you are asked not to wear lots of bright clothing, as to respect the time of mourning...
On that note... hope all is well, and I'll post up on this once I figure out if I am going to take any of the job offers, or move to Bangkok to look for jobs, or try for that Summer Camp at the University on the other side of the gulf... Hopefully tomorrow morning will help everyone get back to my emails and we can get some productive stuff done. Also, I just might be able to call people (no promises), so watch out grandma!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
New Years
Hello everyone.
So we have successfully finished the course. We are all certified teachers. After we finished, we took a bus to a town called Pattaya known for it's Adult things. We ended up dancing for two days straight at one of the best clubs Ive been to. A mix between a live band and DJ, it was really good. Then after, on the street people are walking around with giant snakes and baby lemurs and all sorts of naughty things so the walk back is also quite fun.
Then we came up to Bangkok and are staying with our friend Chris, from the course. He has a great place, with a pool on the roof and it's right next to the Skytrain. We went to a movie (4 bucks) and saw I am Legend. No one knew it was scary and we all nearly had heart attacks. I officially hate mannequins. We partied alright (but nothing compares to the dance-fest of Pattaya)No we are relaxing by the pool, getting coveted Western fast food, and trying to feel better. Tomorrow is more sightseeing in BKK, an embassy visit, and hopefully seeing the Guertins at some point.
Ill update again when I have the time. We will be in the search for jobs and an apartment in the next week, hopefully we'll have both by the time I need to do a border run in 20 days. Enjoy New Years! or... i guess you already did.
So we have successfully finished the course. We are all certified teachers. After we finished, we took a bus to a town called Pattaya known for it's Adult things. We ended up dancing for two days straight at one of the best clubs Ive been to. A mix between a live band and DJ, it was really good. Then after, on the street people are walking around with giant snakes and baby lemurs and all sorts of naughty things so the walk back is also quite fun.
Then we came up to Bangkok and are staying with our friend Chris, from the course. He has a great place, with a pool on the roof and it's right next to the Skytrain. We went to a movie (4 bucks) and saw I am Legend. No one knew it was scary and we all nearly had heart attacks. I officially hate mannequins. We partied alright (but nothing compares to the dance-fest of Pattaya)No we are relaxing by the pool, getting coveted Western fast food, and trying to feel better. Tomorrow is more sightseeing in BKK, an embassy visit, and hopefully seeing the Guertins at some point.
Ill update again when I have the time. We will be in the search for jobs and an apartment in the next week, hopefully we'll have both by the time I need to do a border run in 20 days. Enjoy New Years! or... i guess you already did.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Cambodia!
Well everyone... 1st off. no one has gotten skype to call me, but thats ok. sometimes i text message myself. Also, mom i tried to text message you a little bit ago, i dont know if they work, but if you get one from me, email me and let me know.
In other news, I have found out that teaching English is fun, and that my teachers think that Ive been doing a good job. Must be all that practice in Mrs. Medina's 4th grade class. Tomorrow I am going to Cambodia for a border run. Which means I have to pay a lot of money to leave Thailand, then turn around and come back in. Im excited for the experience but it will suck getting ripped off at the border. There are 6 of u going, we rented a van and driver so that should help. Wish me luck!
We have also decided to travel to another part of Thailand to look for a job. Now we are looking into the South peninsula, the northern part. It's about 4 hours south of bankok, but this time west of it. We are planning to base ourselves out of Hua Hin, which we hear is a great city. There were will scope out the surrounding town looking for someone to hire us for the year. Everything is going great, Thailand is a lot of fun, and when we get long breaks we go swimming in the ocean, which is a 3 minute walk down the road. It's warm, and humid and hot, but we're starting to get used to it a little.
Hope Christmas plans are going well. We have a dinner at a restaurant in town from an expat who is going to make a big turkey roast, stuffing, ham, potatoes... food we miss dearly in a rice-dominated market.
Feel free to email me at robster125@gmail.com whenever you want. Ill try to email people when I get the chance, but the internet shop down the street is heavily flooded with kids playing oldschool Warcraft games, so sometimes it's hard to get a computer (especially one that doesn't shock you when you touch metal)
Talk to everyone later!
Oh, and in case you REALLY wanted to call me (66-83-110-8791) or maybe it's 66-083-110-8791... i forget if you need the zero or not. laters
In other news, I have found out that teaching English is fun, and that my teachers think that Ive been doing a good job. Must be all that practice in Mrs. Medina's 4th grade class. Tomorrow I am going to Cambodia for a border run. Which means I have to pay a lot of money to leave Thailand, then turn around and come back in. Im excited for the experience but it will suck getting ripped off at the border. There are 6 of u going, we rented a van and driver so that should help. Wish me luck!
We have also decided to travel to another part of Thailand to look for a job. Now we are looking into the South peninsula, the northern part. It's about 4 hours south of bankok, but this time west of it. We are planning to base ourselves out of Hua Hin, which we hear is a great city. There were will scope out the surrounding town looking for someone to hire us for the year. Everything is going great, Thailand is a lot of fun, and when we get long breaks we go swimming in the ocean, which is a 3 minute walk down the road. It's warm, and humid and hot, but we're starting to get used to it a little.
Hope Christmas plans are going well. We have a dinner at a restaurant in town from an expat who is going to make a big turkey roast, stuffing, ham, potatoes... food we miss dearly in a rice-dominated market.
Feel free to email me at robster125@gmail.com whenever you want. Ill try to email people when I get the chance, but the internet shop down the street is heavily flooded with kids playing oldschool Warcraft games, so sometimes it's hard to get a computer (especially one that doesn't shock you when you touch metal)
Talk to everyone later!
Oh, and in case you REALLY wanted to call me (66-83-110-8791) or maybe it's 66-083-110-8791... i forget if you need the zero or not. laters
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
I have a cell phone!!
If you want to call me
+66 8 3110 8791
It's probably expensive to call, so I suggest getting a Skype account. I have one, name Robster125... feel free to set up a skype and then call me anytime! i think it's free for me to accept calls, if it isn't, then ill stop answering them
In other news.
School is still going. Teaching is fun. It's still warm. We plan on going to Bangkok for New Years to celebrate in style, then a little trip around to look for places to call home. Hope all is well
I'm a bubble Goodbye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+66 8 3110 8791
It's probably expensive to call, so I suggest getting a Skype account. I have one, name Robster125... feel free to set up a skype and then call me anytime! i think it's free for me to accept calls, if it isn't, then ill stop answering them
In other news.
School is still going. Teaching is fun. It's still warm. We plan on going to Bangkok for New Years to celebrate in style, then a little trip around to look for places to call home. Hope all is well
I'm a bubble Goodbye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
week one
well everyone... it's been a week. i know i should try to keep the grammer of this correct, but if you sae the computer i was on, you would understand...
sooooooo. bangkok was rad, but too much going on. we hopped on a bus down to Ban Phe (ban pay) and then walked to find our school at the end of town. The walk was horrid, with all of our bags, we were hot, sweaty nd tired by the end. our school is on a street that runs into the beach. we're about a minute walk down to the beach, 5 if you want your own little spot of sand undisturbed by anyone else. it's fantastic. The king's birthday was on the 5th, so from monday the whole town started putting up lights, setting up huge markets, a giant stge for music nd dancing... it's been quite the week.
sunday we hung out around ban phe, met everyone in our program, made some friends...
school isn't hard. its actually quite easy and just a lot of busy work. may be harder for the older people who rnt used to writing a lot and reading everynight... but its really not bad.
wednesday we got to be in the parade for the king, all wearing our King's Polo's (yellow) and marched down into town then had the owner of TEFL take us out to dinner (the second free diner we have recieved)
today, saturday, the course payed for a boat to take us over to the usland of Koh Samet, with white sand beaches. we rented scooters but mine had no power, and on one hill, johanna had to get off, then the engine died. then the wheen locked up, then i fell into a ditch with it... whoops. the water here is so nice, so warm, feel great after sitting out in the sun
lets see, prices...
meals set us back about 25-60 baht, 70 cents to 2 dollars a piece
renting a moto for the day is about 8 dollars
gas is a dollar a liter (but thats ok with motos)
we've met some people teaching all over, and even have a couple contacts we want to try to use when it comes time for finding jobs. we have met two kids, Airlie and Trevor, from PEI, Canada, who want to work in the same city as us (Rayong, about 30 min from Ban Phe) so we may all get a house together. We hear jobs are plentiful and rent is cheap, so we're going to check it out tomorrow.
the week went by pretty fast, but it feels like we've been here a while.
our thai is getting a little better by the day, ordering food and drink is getting a little easier, and hello and thank you and do i look good in this... all the basics.
hope all is well, i bet it's getting a little cold at home... the best we get is AC'ing our rooms to get cold, but once it's off you just start sweating again... or at least i do.
ill be uploading pictures on facebook soon, so mom... remember to check those.
hi gradma and bompa! hope hawaii was fun
talk to you all soon. soon ill have a cell phone and number. and i may set up a scype account. talk to you soon
sooooooo. bangkok was rad, but too much going on. we hopped on a bus down to Ban Phe (ban pay) and then walked to find our school at the end of town. The walk was horrid, with all of our bags, we were hot, sweaty nd tired by the end. our school is on a street that runs into the beach. we're about a minute walk down to the beach, 5 if you want your own little spot of sand undisturbed by anyone else. it's fantastic. The king's birthday was on the 5th, so from monday the whole town started putting up lights, setting up huge markets, a giant stge for music nd dancing... it's been quite the week.
sunday we hung out around ban phe, met everyone in our program, made some friends...
school isn't hard. its actually quite easy and just a lot of busy work. may be harder for the older people who rnt used to writing a lot and reading everynight... but its really not bad.
wednesday we got to be in the parade for the king, all wearing our King's Polo's (yellow) and marched down into town then had the owner of TEFL take us out to dinner (the second free diner we have recieved)
today, saturday, the course payed for a boat to take us over to the usland of Koh Samet, with white sand beaches. we rented scooters but mine had no power, and on one hill, johanna had to get off, then the engine died. then the wheen locked up, then i fell into a ditch with it... whoops. the water here is so nice, so warm, feel great after sitting out in the sun
lets see, prices...
meals set us back about 25-60 baht, 70 cents to 2 dollars a piece
renting a moto for the day is about 8 dollars
gas is a dollar a liter (but thats ok with motos)
we've met some people teaching all over, and even have a couple contacts we want to try to use when it comes time for finding jobs. we have met two kids, Airlie and Trevor, from PEI, Canada, who want to work in the same city as us (Rayong, about 30 min from Ban Phe) so we may all get a house together. We hear jobs are plentiful and rent is cheap, so we're going to check it out tomorrow.
the week went by pretty fast, but it feels like we've been here a while.
our thai is getting a little better by the day, ordering food and drink is getting a little easier, and hello and thank you and do i look good in this... all the basics.
hope all is well, i bet it's getting a little cold at home... the best we get is AC'ing our rooms to get cold, but once it's off you just start sweating again... or at least i do.
ill be uploading pictures on facebook soon, so mom... remember to check those.
hi gradma and bompa! hope hawaii was fun
talk to you all soon. soon ill have a cell phone and number. and i may set up a scype account. talk to you soon
Friday, November 30, 2007
Bangok
So after a looong flight, we finally arrived into BKK, Bangkok. The first flight was about 14 hours, and due to an older plane, the entertainment factor was quite slim. Sadly, the highlight was High School Musical 2, which was the only movie worth watching of the 2 they played. I tried a couple glasses of wine but that just made me feel sick and not be able to sleep. However, the flight went surprisingly fast, and after a quick stint in Taipei, we got an AMAZING AND AWSOME plane to Bangkok. There were 60 channels, movies, audio, and video games. I watched TV, ate, called my friend in the seat next to me via our seat phones... it was a blast! If only the first 14 hours were as nice. Bangkok has been good to us so far. We opted to brave taking a bus from the airport and saving money, so we headed to the station below the airport and waited for our bus. Surprisingly (or not) it was full of tourists only all going to the same street, Th Khao San. This the THE tourist pull, but we got off and were determined to walk to find a little hostel. We met a kid names Bailey from Northern California and he had a recommended place so we followed him to it. The hostel is called KC guesthouse and worked fine for us. We took a double room, but then asked if he wanted to sleep on the "couch" and so we're now sharing a room with AC for 6 dollars a person a night. Not too bad.
The street food is PHENOMONAL, mainly the pineapple. It's about 20 baht for a whole one, which is about 60 cents. It is so fresh and sweet and they cut it up right there for you. Then there are the noddles, and banana pankakes and more fruit and eggs over rice. Who doesn't love street food (keeping away from the fried stuff, of course). So far it has been good.
The first night we lived it up a little too hard, and went to bed at about 9pm. We were all so exhasted we didn't make it late at all. Then we slept for about 12 hours, but I was up bright and early at 7 am, showered in the cold water and then just lay around, because it's still tiring from all the travel and no sleeping on the planes.
Today we explored a little bit of Bangkok, going to the Golden Palace and the Siem Square and possibly Chinatown later and then over to Patpong for some nightlife and entertainment. As of now, the people are great, and laugh histerically when we try our thai, and offer to help us learn words, however complicated, which we forget immediatlely, of course.
Ohhh, the weather! Thailand is HOT AND HUMID AND HORRIBLE. no it's not. it's perfect. it's not really hot or humid, it's cool in the night... we hit the good season. i don't want to know the hot season, because this is perfect. I love it. We are excited to get down to Ban Phe and have a place to call home for 4 weeks. We're near fluent in Thai. Love you all
Rob
The street food is PHENOMONAL, mainly the pineapple. It's about 20 baht for a whole one, which is about 60 cents. It is so fresh and sweet and they cut it up right there for you. Then there are the noddles, and banana pankakes and more fruit and eggs over rice. Who doesn't love street food (keeping away from the fried stuff, of course). So far it has been good.
The first night we lived it up a little too hard, and went to bed at about 9pm. We were all so exhasted we didn't make it late at all. Then we slept for about 12 hours, but I was up bright and early at 7 am, showered in the cold water and then just lay around, because it's still tiring from all the travel and no sleeping on the planes.
Today we explored a little bit of Bangkok, going to the Golden Palace and the Siem Square and possibly Chinatown later and then over to Patpong for some nightlife and entertainment. As of now, the people are great, and laugh histerically when we try our thai, and offer to help us learn words, however complicated, which we forget immediatlely, of course.
Ohhh, the weather! Thailand is HOT AND HUMID AND HORRIBLE. no it's not. it's perfect. it's not really hot or humid, it's cool in the night... we hit the good season. i don't want to know the hot season, because this is perfect. I love it. We are excited to get down to Ban Phe and have a place to call home for 4 weeks. We're near fluent in Thai. Love you all
Rob
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Yet another Blog...
Well,
Since it looks like Ill be doing little blogs for the family (Diane, Nancy) everywhere I seem to end up... This is the latest and greatest fantastic fun-filled breath-taking bounty of blogwork. As always, I dont know how much I'll be able to update this, but I should be able to access it once and a while.
In case you dont know, I have decided to move to Thailand and teach English for the next 7-12 months.
Since it looks like Ill be doing little blogs for the family (Diane, Nancy) everywhere I seem to end up... This is the latest and greatest fantastic fun-filled breath-taking bounty of blogwork. As always, I dont know how much I'll be able to update this, but I should be able to access it once and a while.
In case you dont know, I have decided to move to Thailand and teach English for the next 7-12 months.
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