Koh Samet: The sea cures all.

I just had a fantastic weekend in Koh Samet, an island about 4 hours south of Bangkok. We took a van and ferry there, quickly found inexpensive bungalows to sleep in, and then spent the next 3 days soaking up the sun and floating in the beautiful blue-green water. Saturday all 15 of us went out on a boat for snorkeling, a BBQ lunch, jumping into the sea from the upper deck of the boat, and sunset fishing. And of course the evenings were filled with drinking, late-night swims, and befriending the Thai and Cambodian bartenders and some Swedish boys that Lauren and I had pegged for hard-core Weezer and Miles Davis fans (“not cool enough for Coltrane”). It was a really excellent couple of days. I couldn’t stop saying that it looked like paradise and telling everyone how convinced I was that the sea can cure all of life’s problems.

Ao Hin Khok beach in Koh Samet

The most intense game of Jenga you ever did see. We played the Cambodian & Thai bartender sharks like pros, and I made the Jenga move of my life.

I'm pretty sure that's heaven.

I'm reading El Principito right now (Spanish translation of the Le Petite Prince) and this looks exactly like his drawing of the snake that swallowed an elephant.

sadness

The only downer of the weekend (and it was a huge downer) was when Lauren and I got in the middle of an abusive argument between a British man and a Thai woman. The situation brought Lauren to tears and she felt she needed to talk to the woman. So keep the man distracted, I sat at the barstool next to him, gave him my most hateful glare, and then picked a fight about a person’s opportunity to make the world a better or worse place, help or hurt others, through one’s every day actions. Meanwhile Lauren got the woman’s heartbreaking life story and held her hand while they both cried. The scumbag and I continued our debate about whether it matters if we do good or bad unto others for about 20 minutes before he saw Lauren talking to his girlfriend and put 2 and 2 together. Selfishly, that was good timing for me because I was more physically intimidated by this man than I’ve ever been in my life. He was thin but towered above me as soon as our argument moved away from the bar. This man just absolutely emitted violence and aggression in a way I can’t describe. My whole body was tense speaking to him. I know it was not our smartest decision to get involved and act as if we could fix anything in the world with this one intervention. But as Lauren said, we also could not just sit there. My only worry is that the woman’s night may have actually gotten worse because of us rather than better. It really scares me to think about that. I gave the woman my phone number and email address, but she said she doesn’t have access to internet or a phone. Of course she doesn’t. She broke our hearts. And the worst part is that this “couple” is just one example of a situation that is far too common.

As Lauren and I walked away, we stole the asshole’s unopened bottle of whisky and practically finished it between the two of us as our own personal (and admittedly meaningless) “F you” to the bastard.

So that was the heartbreaking part of our weekend.

Loy Krathong & first weekend in my new new home

Wednesday was the Loy Krathong festival throughout Thailand. This Buddhist celebration (with its origins in a Hindu tradition) is a time to let go of grudges and disappointments, symbolized by lighting incense and candles and sending them to float away on the river atop banana leaf rafts (krathongs). It also honors the River Goddess and apologizes to her for human damage to waterways.

Heidi and Ladky met me in Hua Mak Wednesday afternoon, and we dined on skewers of street meat that I’d been raving about (though this time they were a little undercooked) and bought a few handmade krathongs from a vendor down the street from our office. Then we headed for the Thaksin Bridge in Bangkok to launch our little boats. Having had my heart set on seeing this festival in Chiang Mai, the scene in BKK wasn’t exactly as I’d imagined it. It was beautiful though, and I think all of us benefited from the opportunity to let go of our disappointments and refocus on the wonderful. We wandered down a very small soi and happened upon a tiny pier full of locals just in time for the firework show. I don’t normally care for fireworks, but they were beautiful and the setting was even better. All in all it was a very nice night.

I spent Thursday and Friday in Bang Na with my other ajarn buddies. We went to Hi Life, the one bar/restaurant within walking distance of campus, and had a good night hanging out. Friday afternoon I came back to Hua Mak, ironed out a few lesson plans, and wandered around the market a few blocks away. I also took my first motorcycle taxi that night and that was good fun. Sam and lots of other people keep telling us to stay away from the motorcycles, but it’s just too fun. And cheap, by the way, so win-win for me.

Saturday we had an extremely long orientation meeting with the university president and some other dudes. Most of it was terribly boring for a Saturday, but it was good to meet other new faculty. After the meeting, Lauren, Rob, Griffin, Jenn and I went to a place called Dream for dinner. We planned on grabbing a quick bite to eat before going into BKK to check out Lumphini Park, but “ quick dinner” turned into 8 ½ hours of marathon drinking all in that same place. Thailand is holding three days of mourning in honor of the King’s deceased sister, so no one is legally allowed to sell alcohol. We were pleasantly surprised that this place offered to serve us as long as we sat inside. We made friends with a group of third year students who were rocking out on an acoustic and singing favs like the Beatles, CCR and Oasis. (They love Oasis here, btw.) Half of the night was a giant sing-a-long with our group, 2-6 of the students, and a couple other tables of Thai men. The students were reluctant to keep hanging out with us after they found out we are Ajarn (professors hold a high level of respect in Thai society), but we just kept insisting that we were friends that night, not ajarn. These kids were super sweet and we had a really awesome time with them. Hopefully we’ll all meet up again soon.

Jenn and Lauren stayed over Saturday night, and we met up with Heidi and Ladky the next morning to go look at apartments and townhouses for the four of them. Sam, the amazing woman who works in the International Student office at ABAC, drove in on her day off just to help us find places. She’s been wonderful in helping us resolve some of the issues we’ve had with Supa, especially the housing debate. Sometimes it seems like she cares a lot more about getting us to move out to Hua Mak than some of us even do. So anyway, Sam and Pierre, a really nice Indian man who’s been in TH for about 8 years, walked around with us for hours until we found something. At first some of the girls were about to plunk down tons of money for a DISGUSTING house with visible mold and a character-building stench, but Jenn and I talked them out of it. Then everyone got attached to a cute townhouse just a 5 minute walk from campus and they decided to move on it. (Huge 2 BR, 2 floor townhouse: 10,000 bht per month – about $300!) I’m really excited that they’ll all be living so close to me now!

That takes care of this past week here. Sorry the post is so long! Hopefully no one has gone blind. =)

I hope all is well with everyone at home. Miss you much!

Hua Hin to Hua Mak

I moved to the Hua Hin campus yesterday. Although it’s dirtier and older, it’s also much more convenient to get into the city. Here I’m only about 10 minutes from the closest BTS skytrain stop, while the Bang Na campus is more like 45 minutes away from the BTS. I’m happy to have moved out here, even though I’m unfortunately the only teacher from my group here now. Most of us have been pressuring the school into letting us move, but it’s been a seriously uphill battle and I’m the only one to win the fight so far. A couple others are still making their case, and some are considering just paying for an apartment closer to the city. Either way, hopefully they will be in the area soon enough.

In the meantime, I’ve been meeting more people out here anyway. I’ve met a few other teachers in different departments, so I’m happy to be expanding my social circle. Yesterday afternoon after I finished teaching I walked around the neighborhood, through a market with fruit and other goodies, to the grocery store, and through another university campus. It was a nice walk and I already love this area for its liveliness much more than the secluded Bang Na campus.

Hua Hin beach group:

The weekend in Hua Hin was cool. We spent the days on the beach and the nights being uncomfortable at bars filled with prostitutes and sex tourists. I’m starting to see that it’s not a scene I’ll easily be able to avoid this year. One of my weekend highlights was the Irish-Mexican bar (yeah, IN Thailand) where Lauren Ladky had to show the Thai bartenders how to make Irish car bombs, where Rob and I downed a couple shots of delicious Thai whisky, and where we all ended up spending a fortune when the bartenders charged us for all their shots. We really should’ve been expecting that.

Thai-Irish-Mexican bartenders?

We also met a sweet Thai artist whose gallery was just across from our guesthouse. He has spent time in the US and is a former art professor at a university in Chiang Mai. He showed us his sketches and let us watch him make progress on his current painting, all the while happily chatting away to us about our adventures in Thailand and his curiosity about what John Lennon might have whispered to Bob Marley if given the chance. That pretty much made my weekend.

my new favorite person:

PS - I had lunch with Sam yesteray - she works in one of the ABAC offices and has taken an interest in helping our group. She told me that "Hua Mak" (my new home) refers to the area's past as a huge beetle nut market. So now you know.

Halloween weekend

Last week when we went downtown for a conference, I fell in love with a quiet little side street discretely tucked away from the Bangkok chaos. So I booked a room in the Suk 11 guesthouse and spent the weekend there with some of the other teachers.

Sukhimvit Soi 11

We had a blast on Halloween Friday. Lauren M, Heidi and I were pirates, Griffin was a vampire and Lauren L was a coked-out model. We splurged on a tex-mex dinner with sangria and befriended the British restaurant manager. He invited us to stop by a costume party later that night. The party was for a group called Thailand Friends – supposedly half Thai and half expat guests. That turned out to mean half cute, young & “friendly” Thai women and the other half middle aged white dudes seemingly on the prowl. We never fully decided if this was an official prostitution ring of just a really weird singles group, but mai pen rai.

We actually had a great time despite ( or maybe because of??) being groped by Thai women dressed as sexy nurses. And if I ever want to take Ris up on her offer for a free weekend at her beach house – all we have to do is be open to “whatever it takes” to have a good time – then I can always call the number she practically stored in my phone for me.

I can’t even begin to describe the taxi ride home, but it was a good one. Take my word for it. We ended up... “somewhere,” as the Thai would vaguely put it.

Saturday was lovely and low-key. We wandered around the Nana area and southern part of town for most of the day. We chilled in a cute Chinese tea house, and later went to the closing night of a film festival for a killer showing of Scorcese’s “Shine a Light.” It was great – Lauren and I were as pumped and dancy as if at a real show. There was free beer and popcorn, too. Beat that. We ended the night at a small house party of some of Ladky’s new friends from her Frisbee tournament.

Sunday, we took a bicycle tour of the “Bangkok Jungle.” We rode out of the city, took a longtail boat across the river and then biked through rural areas. We rode on a concrete path only one meter wide and quite high above the land and water. It was really nerve-wracking, especially at all of the 90 degree turns we had to make on this platform while still riding at a reasonable pace. Jenn almost bit it at a turn, but luckily she caught herself.

So it was a great weekend – complete with Halloween costumes, a party full of hookers, a Rolling Stones concert experience, and a kickass 5 hour bike ride. I rather enjoyed myself and plan to spend as many weekends based out of Suk 11 as possible.

A few of us are off to Hua Hin for a weekend at the beach. We found a guesthouse for about $9 a night and a block from the white sand beach. I'm excited!

OBAMA!

I have been glued to the TV watching CNN and BBC until the wee hours for the past two weeks, and last night I barely slept at all. I was excited and really freaking nervous watching the numbers come in. I tore myself from the tv in time for my 9 a.m. meeting and then had to start my 45 minute journey to Hua Mak. Upon my arrival I went straight to CNN.com and started jumping up and down as I told Lin and Nui, the Thai women who work in my office, that Obama had won. They laughed and were happy that Obama won, but they still looked at me like a crazy person. They asked if I was wearing blue on purpose. (Yes.) And about 10 minutes later, I shed my first southeast Asian tears with relief and consideration of this wonderful opportunity for change in the U.S. I'm ecstatic!

And I'm getting a kickass Thailand for Obama t-shirt that I can't wait to show off.

Right now I'm headed to an Obama victory party in the city. Can't wait!