I realise I went to Myanmar/Burma a couple of weeks ago but exams, essays and ActionAid stuff has kept me pretty busy since then. I'm now in Vietnam after packing up my dorm room and leaving Green Park today. But I'll get to that later.
We left for Myanmar on Thursday Nov 26 at the crack of dawn. Literally. We saw the sun rise. And I'm not really great when it comes to early mornings. But we did it. Two Aussies, one Canadian and a crazy Finnish uni lecturer.
I don't even know how to begin to describe Myanmar. Everything I was expecting was completely wrong. We got in to the Myanmar airport around 8ish in the morning and from the second we got there, I think Danielle, Sarineh & I fell in love. Men, women and children were wearing longyi's, which is traditional clothing much like a sarong. Being in the city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, is like stepping back in time.
I won't go too far into the details of what we did, because I'd be typing forever. We were on the go constantly. One the first day we had a traditional Burmese breakfast of fish soup. Well, I didn't. I can't bring myself to eat seafood no matter what. Ever. Even if it means I'm being impolite. I just can't do it. But I did drink tea. Even though I swore I'd never drink tea because that would mean I was old. Only Nanna's drink tea. We went to a school where our uni teacher gave a lecture in Buddhism, had lunch with our awesome new Burmese friends, went to the National Museum which reminded us of Night At The Museum. We had a strange little guide who was wearing his longyi and a pair of Ray Bans. Inside. Despite the fact that there wasn't enough light for us to see anything properly. Weird. And then Marja-Leena (our teacher) and her friend Dr Pe Win took us to the Shwedagon Pagoda. Dr Pe Win was one of the funniest people I've ever met. He had this nervous little giggle that we don't think was actually nervous at all, that was just how it sounded. Everytime he laughed, the three of us (Danielle, Sarineh & I) looked at each other smirking like little kids. The Pagoda was incredible. Seriously, if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it. And if Burma seems a little too far to go for some Pagoda action, Google it. It's unbelievable. After Chinese food and some Myanmar Beer it was off to bed.
For those of you who don't know, Myanmar's electricity is... well, lets just say dodgy. Every house, business and hotel needs a generator because the state-owned electrical system will only work for a few hours a day. It cuts out without warning and when the generator kicked in the lights all came on and scared the hell out us.
Day 2 was just as busy, if not more so. We paid a visit to the Shalom Foundation, a local NGO. After a discussion with one of the staff members, we found out that they work with ActionAid Myanmar and off we headed to the ActionAid office! I became a total Development Studies geek and was so excited. For those of you who haven't been following my blog or haven't been pestered by my non-stop facebook messages, I'm hoping to get a position with ActionAid Australia as their next Project TOTO Outreach Blogger so for me, a visit to the Myanmar branch was awesome. We met the manager of field operations, Sital Kumar, who could not have been nicer to us. Despite the fact we just turned up at his office unannounced and without an appointment, he spent a great deal of time discussing ActionAid's work in Myanmar, particularly rebuilding the areas that were hit by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 and killed at least 100,000 people. Seeing ActionAid at work and learning about the way they have helped the wonderful, friendly people of Myanmar was quite possibly the highlight of the trip!
We visited another organisation and met Marja-Leena's Burmese teacher, Jennifer for dinner. We went to an awesome Nepalese restaurant. Well, it was awesome till we had finished eating and then I saw 2 giant rats running along between the walls and the tables. Yummy. But, hey, the food was good, and no one got sick! We had met a nice Dutch guy that was staying at our guesthouse the night before and we spent the rest of the night having some more Myanmar Beer on the roof. All fun and games til you wake up the other guests and get in to trouble like little kids. Whoops.
Day 3 was just as busy and just as exhausting as the previous days. A visit to an Armenian church for Sarineh and then a driving tour of Yangon. We went to a lake that literally could've been anywhere in the world. Sailing boats, a rowing club, beautiful weather. But we couldn't stay, more to see, more to do! We met Mimi's mum (Mimi is a fellow student at MUIC and is originally from Myanmar, her mum still lives there) and had Indian food for lunch. God I love Indian food. I could eat it anytime, anywhere. And this place just kept bringing the food whenever you finished some. Awesome.
Lunch was followed by shopping at the Aung San Markets, getting Indian sweets and sitting down at a little tea shop, in little chairs with little tables. A quick rest and we were off again! This time to the Myanmar Institute of Theology for their Christmas fundraiser/fair. Moments of pure gold were had that night. From choc mint ice cream, to the man-powered ferris wheel. That's right. Man powered. No motor, no engine. Just a bunch of guys. Picture a hamster wheel. One of those little wheels that you buy for a pet mouse. Now turn it into a full sized ferris wheel but substitute mice or hamsters for people. I refused to go on when I heard that some of it was held together with things akin to twist ties that you use on plastic bags. Erm.. thanks but I'll pass. We played some side shows, I won a soap holder thing (score!) and then it was off for a night out!
We headed to a bar named Mr Guitar, live accoustic music, beer, fries. What more could you ask for? Shame it couldn't last because our flight back to Thailand was early the next morning.
I must say that Myanmar is possibly my new favourite place in the world. The people are so lovely, so generous, and so accommodating. The city is green, much cleaner than Bangkok and is a crazy mix of old and new. Mostly old. :) If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate. Just go! Don't listen to those who tell you that you should boycott and don't be put off by those visa horror stories. It's totally worth it.
And now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh city. The trimester finished with much stress and people were planning what they were going to when they left Green Park. I had a minor freak out about being homeless and alone and booked a tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, kind of on a whim. Some of the other girls from the dorm left over the last few days, many, many tears were shed especially for those who won't still be around when I get back to Thailand. It's amazing how close we've all become in such a short space of time. We've likened it to Big Brother. You're crammed together 24/7 and have no choice but to become friends.
So my tour starts tomorrow. Exciting, but nerve-wracking at the same time. I've gone from having friends around me all the time to being totally alone. But, hey, it's meant to be character building right??
Missing you all!!
xoxo
Friday, December 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
It Started With A Head Injury...
For those of you with a short attention span, here's a brief summary of what I've been up to in the last few weeks: Bangkok-Singapore-Philippines, head wound, creepy town, amazing resort, cave swimming, long bus ride, Philippines-Singapore, aborted take off at airport and a lengthy delay, Singapore-Bangkok, uni, trip to Burmese/Myanmar Embassy, a fish massage, "This Is It".
And here it is in detail.
I flew from Thailand to Singapore to meet up with little Jen and after a brief overnight stopover, we were off to Clark Airport, Philippines! No sooner had we landed, we went to get into a cab to head to Angeles for the night and I smacked my head getting in. Hard. With my sunglasses on my head. Somehow the sunglasses came off unscathed while I was left with a minor gushing head wound. Who knew a head could bleed like that?? I certainly didn't. But I was determined not to let it dampen my mood, (and was 100% sure I didn't want to go to a hospital in the Philippines!) and we headed into Angeles.
For those of you who have never heard of Angeles, there is a reason. Unless you're a middle-age to elderly American man, there is little need to know about the town, much less visit it. But we managed to find a hotel for the night, I washed the blood out of my hair (so gross right?) and were deciding what to do when welding sparks showered into our room from under the door. It was like fireworks. And was so, so funny. We thought our bed was going to catch alight! So after laughing uncontrollably for a good 20 minutes, we checked that the coast was clear and set off to explore. And soon discovered that there wasn't much to see. Except for the old American men with young Filipino girls. Yes, that's right. Girls, not women. It was awful. We walked around for a bit, standing out as the only white chicks around for miles and headed back to the restaurant next to our hotel to have dinner. Where we were again confronted with young Filipino females with older white men. I know that the sex trade is alive and well in Asia (you see it fairly often in some parts of Thailand) but this was something like I've never experienced. There was an American guy that I would've guessed was around 50 years old dining with a Filipino girl who would've been no more than 17 years old. Seriously. It made us feel physically ill. Or maybe that was the orange cheese on the taco salads.
Thinking we'd seen the absolute worst of Asia's prostitution, we headed to bed for an early night. At the same restaurant for breakfast the next morning, things somehow got worse. Not only were Mr 50 year old American and his teen girlfriend there, they were accompanied by another older American man and his heavily pregnant Filipino girlfriend who I would've guessed was 15. 15 years old. With an old man. It was sickening. And there was nothing we could do about. It made me so sad.
Feeling ashamed of being a Westerner like the dirty old men we had just seen, we headed off to the bus terminal for our journey to Bolinao. For those of you who may have been living under a rock recently, or are just plain ignorant, the Philippines has been battered by incredibly strong,deadly typhoons in the last few months. In a country where 45% of the population lives on less than US$2 a day, natural disasters can be catastrophic. Over 1100 people died and countless more were left homeless between September and December this year due to typhoons. Suffice to say, we were unsure of what to expect. I have to say, if you haven't yet been, go to the Philippines. Now. It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. We were too far north to see much of the damage from the storms and the countryside is lush and green and... amazing. The people we met at the bus station couldn't have been more helpful and friendly. What we did see however, was poverty. And a lot of it. The gap between rich and poor was even more prominent than it is here in Thailand. We arrived at Puerto Del Sol resort in Bolinao (after a trike ride that we were convinced would cut our lives tragically short), an amazing, luxurious resort with a huge pool and a beautiful private beach, while there were whole families living down the road in a tin shed or a bamboo hut. No electricity, no running water, no couch or tv or internet or fridge. Grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, dogs, pigs, chickens, you name it. All living in a one or two room hut. Suffice to say, I was feeling more than a little guilty.
We spent the next few days living it up in the resort. Relaxing by the pool, hunting in Bolinao and Alaminos for an ATM that would accept an international debit card and eating awesome food. We watched the sunset on the beach almost every night, drank wine and watched the moon rise over the pool. We also took a trip to the Enchanted Caves, where we swam in the tranquil, fresh water cave pools. Incredible. All the while, people around me were living an existence that I couldn't even imagine myself living. But at the same time, they were happy and friendly and helpful. Jen and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they have it right. Ok, not the extreme poverty, lack of basic sanitation, health care and education stuff but perhaps it's a lack of greed and materialism. The more you have, the more you seem to want. And you don't really need that flat screen tv, or the latest mobile phone or ipod. But once you have one, you always seem to want more. Something for you all to ponder.
Eventually my time at Puerto Del Sol came to an end and I had to head back to Thailand on my own. It may not sound like such a big deal, but I'm proud of myself for surviving 1 day, 3 countries, 2 trike/tuk tuk rides, 2 bus rides, 2 taxi rides, 1train trip and 2 flights all by myself! Especially when the bus ride was meant to have taken 3 hours and been on an airconditioned bus but instead took almost 6 hours, with no airconditioning, just open windows that left me in a thin layer of grease and grime. I was also the only 'westerner' for miles, so I got plenty of stares, points and whispers! I managed to get back to Clark airport in the nick of time, flew to Singapore and had some hard earned Burger King! There were so many Aussies in Singapore airport and I'm not going to lie. I got a little homesick. It could've been so easy to jump on the Jetstar plane that was boarding next to mine and heading to Melbourne! But instead I boarded the plane I was supposed to, AirAsia to Bangkok. As we were heading down the runway, rapidly picking up speed, the pilot slams on the brakes. We all went flying forward, resulting in many jarred limbs and a case of two or whiplash no doubt. But after a brief mumbled message of "technical issues" and an hour and a half delay on the tarmac and a cold, miserable flight spend in pain after the aborted take off, I finally made it back home to Bangkok.
Last weekend was spent with a day in Bangkok, going to the Burmese/Myanmar embassy to get my visa (scary, scary place. Really. Like a prison.), hanging out at Starbucks, going to see "This Is It" again and getting a fish massage. Which creeped me out like I've never been creeped out before. It was hundreds of fish sucking on your feet and eating the dead skin. It was how I imagined leeches to be and I lasted about 35 seconds before flat out refusing to do it again.
So. In summary, the Philippines = beautiful, amazing but sad at the same time, recovered from injuries, even more scared of flying than I was before, fish massage = EW, NEVER AGAIN!
But now, it's back to the reality of uni work and the fun, if slightly stressful, Project TOTO blog!
Miss you all at home to the moon and back!
xoxo
And here it is in detail.
I flew from Thailand to Singapore to meet up with little Jen and after a brief overnight stopover, we were off to Clark Airport, Philippines! No sooner had we landed, we went to get into a cab to head to Angeles for the night and I smacked my head getting in. Hard. With my sunglasses on my head. Somehow the sunglasses came off unscathed while I was left with a minor gushing head wound. Who knew a head could bleed like that?? I certainly didn't. But I was determined not to let it dampen my mood, (and was 100% sure I didn't want to go to a hospital in the Philippines!) and we headed into Angeles.
For those of you who have never heard of Angeles, there is a reason. Unless you're a middle-age to elderly American man, there is little need to know about the town, much less visit it. But we managed to find a hotel for the night, I washed the blood out of my hair (so gross right?) and were deciding what to do when welding sparks showered into our room from under the door. It was like fireworks. And was so, so funny. We thought our bed was going to catch alight! So after laughing uncontrollably for a good 20 minutes, we checked that the coast was clear and set off to explore. And soon discovered that there wasn't much to see. Except for the old American men with young Filipino girls. Yes, that's right. Girls, not women. It was awful. We walked around for a bit, standing out as the only white chicks around for miles and headed back to the restaurant next to our hotel to have dinner. Where we were again confronted with young Filipino females with older white men. I know that the sex trade is alive and well in Asia (you see it fairly often in some parts of Thailand) but this was something like I've never experienced. There was an American guy that I would've guessed was around 50 years old dining with a Filipino girl who would've been no more than 17 years old. Seriously. It made us feel physically ill. Or maybe that was the orange cheese on the taco salads.
Thinking we'd seen the absolute worst of Asia's prostitution, we headed to bed for an early night. At the same restaurant for breakfast the next morning, things somehow got worse. Not only were Mr 50 year old American and his teen girlfriend there, they were accompanied by another older American man and his heavily pregnant Filipino girlfriend who I would've guessed was 15. 15 years old. With an old man. It was sickening. And there was nothing we could do about. It made me so sad.
Feeling ashamed of being a Westerner like the dirty old men we had just seen, we headed off to the bus terminal for our journey to Bolinao. For those of you who may have been living under a rock recently, or are just plain ignorant, the Philippines has been battered by incredibly strong,deadly typhoons in the last few months. In a country where 45% of the population lives on less than US$2 a day, natural disasters can be catastrophic. Over 1100 people died and countless more were left homeless between September and December this year due to typhoons. Suffice to say, we were unsure of what to expect. I have to say, if you haven't yet been, go to the Philippines. Now. It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. We were too far north to see much of the damage from the storms and the countryside is lush and green and... amazing. The people we met at the bus station couldn't have been more helpful and friendly. What we did see however, was poverty. And a lot of it. The gap between rich and poor was even more prominent than it is here in Thailand. We arrived at Puerto Del Sol resort in Bolinao (after a trike ride that we were convinced would cut our lives tragically short), an amazing, luxurious resort with a huge pool and a beautiful private beach, while there were whole families living down the road in a tin shed or a bamboo hut. No electricity, no running water, no couch or tv or internet or fridge. Grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, dogs, pigs, chickens, you name it. All living in a one or two room hut. Suffice to say, I was feeling more than a little guilty.
We spent the next few days living it up in the resort. Relaxing by the pool, hunting in Bolinao and Alaminos for an ATM that would accept an international debit card and eating awesome food. We watched the sunset on the beach almost every night, drank wine and watched the moon rise over the pool. We also took a trip to the Enchanted Caves, where we swam in the tranquil, fresh water cave pools. Incredible. All the while, people around me were living an existence that I couldn't even imagine myself living. But at the same time, they were happy and friendly and helpful. Jen and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe they have it right. Ok, not the extreme poverty, lack of basic sanitation, health care and education stuff but perhaps it's a lack of greed and materialism. The more you have, the more you seem to want. And you don't really need that flat screen tv, or the latest mobile phone or ipod. But once you have one, you always seem to want more. Something for you all to ponder.
Eventually my time at Puerto Del Sol came to an end and I had to head back to Thailand on my own. It may not sound like such a big deal, but I'm proud of myself for surviving 1 day, 3 countries, 2 trike/tuk tuk rides, 2 bus rides, 2 taxi rides, 1train trip and 2 flights all by myself! Especially when the bus ride was meant to have taken 3 hours and been on an airconditioned bus but instead took almost 6 hours, with no airconditioning, just open windows that left me in a thin layer of grease and grime. I was also the only 'westerner' for miles, so I got plenty of stares, points and whispers! I managed to get back to Clark airport in the nick of time, flew to Singapore and had some hard earned Burger King! There were so many Aussies in Singapore airport and I'm not going to lie. I got a little homesick. It could've been so easy to jump on the Jetstar plane that was boarding next to mine and heading to Melbourne! But instead I boarded the plane I was supposed to, AirAsia to Bangkok. As we were heading down the runway, rapidly picking up speed, the pilot slams on the brakes. We all went flying forward, resulting in many jarred limbs and a case of two or whiplash no doubt. But after a brief mumbled message of "technical issues" and an hour and a half delay on the tarmac and a cold, miserable flight spend in pain after the aborted take off, I finally made it back home to Bangkok.
Last weekend was spent with a day in Bangkok, going to the Burmese/Myanmar embassy to get my visa (scary, scary place. Really. Like a prison.), hanging out at Starbucks, going to see "This Is It" again and getting a fish massage. Which creeped me out like I've never been creeped out before. It was hundreds of fish sucking on your feet and eating the dead skin. It was how I imagined leeches to be and I lasted about 35 seconds before flat out refusing to do it again.
So. In summary, the Philippines = beautiful, amazing but sad at the same time, recovered from injuries, even more scared of flying than I was before, fish massage = EW, NEVER AGAIN!
But now, it's back to the reality of uni work and the fun, if slightly stressful, Project TOTO blog!
Miss you all at home to the moon and back!
xoxo
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Hmmmm....
I’m sitting in the airport in Thailand, with 2 hours until I board my flight to Singapore, then it’s on to the Philippines tomorrow. I could’ve used this time to study, or work on my first challenge for Project TOTO however blogging seems more fun now. Although I can’t quite work out how to use the airport wi-fi so it’s more than likely that I’ll post this at a later date...
On the long cab ride here, I realised I’ve been living in Thailand for 2 months. Pretty impressive that I have survived this long, especially considering the number of times I’ve been in a cab. Those of you who have been in a taxi in Thailand will know what I mean. The radio in the taxi was playing the Thai version of cheesy 80’s or 90’s rock ballads and we all know those are the perfect soundtracks for a little reflection. I mean, who hasn’t listened to Bon Jovi crooning about life and reflected on their own?? So I came to realise a few things.
Thailand has made me infinitely more patient than I once was. Those of you who know me well know that I have the patience of a small child. I want what I want and I want it now. But here, things are never that easy. There are no bus timetables (well, apparently there are but schedules don’t seem to mean much here), people often walk slow (even though they drive like maniacs) and the language barrier means that buying anything, asking questions, even ordering lunch at school can turn into a lengthy process.
If you had asked me a month ago, I would’ve said I was ready to come home but in the cab ride to the airport, I also realised that I am actually going to miss Thailand. I will miss the hilarity that comes with the aforementioned language barrier. I will miss being able to utilise my miming skills that, after two months of practice, would now put Marcel Marceau to shame. Seriously. I can mime everything from drink, to lighter, chicken, no fish, and toilet. It’s quite a skill. I’ll miss cheap food. Really miss it. I’m going to be Adelaide’s biggest scrooge when I have to pay more than 50 cents for a Cornetto, or 25 cents for a bottle of water. And eating at Mayo Cafe and UBC at uni is going to be a real struggle. At MUIC’s canteen, I can get an amazing pad thai, or chicken curry with rice (although I have recently completed a week long boycott against rice), a fruit smoothie and some fresh pineapple for around $3. Going back to Mayo’s crappy chips and gravy is going to suck. I will miss Milo Nuggets, one of the world’s greatest inventions. I may even miss people constantly staring at me and taking my photos. When I step onto that plane to head home, I will no longer be a “celebrity”. Walking down the street without feeling like a movie star will be strange. As will be the ease of life in a country where you speak the language. I’ll be able to get into a taxi and tell them where I need to go, without using a map, or calling someone to tell them for me.
Most of all, I’m going to miss the people I live with. Sure, I’ll get to see everyone back home again, but I knew that you would all be there when I came back. When I leave here, it could be ages if I see these people again, if ever. Living in a dorm has its challenges **THIS MEANS YOU FRIDGE MONSTER** but I’m lucky enough that I when I need a break, I can retreat to my room. I also know that if I’m in a bad mood, someone will be there to yank me out of it. If I’m sad or feeling homesick, I can go downstairs to the common area and there will be any number of people there to cheer me up. Or even if I just get a case of the sillies, there is always someone around to be silly with. Yes, again, I have this at home, but here in Thailand, in the dorm, it’s right there. I don’t have to make a phone call, or travel far to see anyone. The thought of not seeing the awesome people I live with every day sucks. But there is a bright side. I will now have friends all over the world. And I love to travel (even if I hate to fly), so they can all expect an Aussie visitor eventually.
I’m going to find it strange to come home to Adelaide and no longer see greenery around. Or to walk down the street and not see a woman begging for money for her and her children. It will be odd to see Australian houses with their well kept yards, lined up street after street, without seeing mansions next to tin slums. To not see people bathing in the river. To walk down the street and not have my nostrils assaulted by the strange smells of street stalls, cooking fish and pork and god knows what else. There will no longer be stray cats and dogs everywhere that make me sad, no spirit houses and people will no longer “wai” me when they say hello.
Damn you Thai 80’s/90’s rock ballads!
Despite everything I’ve said that I will miss, I do miss you all back home, and can’t wait to see you again!!!
Hugs & love!!!
xoxo
PS - This was posted 2 days after it was written, while I was in the Philippines!
On the long cab ride here, I realised I’ve been living in Thailand for 2 months. Pretty impressive that I have survived this long, especially considering the number of times I’ve been in a cab. Those of you who have been in a taxi in Thailand will know what I mean. The radio in the taxi was playing the Thai version of cheesy 80’s or 90’s rock ballads and we all know those are the perfect soundtracks for a little reflection. I mean, who hasn’t listened to Bon Jovi crooning about life and reflected on their own?? So I came to realise a few things.
Thailand has made me infinitely more patient than I once was. Those of you who know me well know that I have the patience of a small child. I want what I want and I want it now. But here, things are never that easy. There are no bus timetables (well, apparently there are but schedules don’t seem to mean much here), people often walk slow (even though they drive like maniacs) and the language barrier means that buying anything, asking questions, even ordering lunch at school can turn into a lengthy process.
If you had asked me a month ago, I would’ve said I was ready to come home but in the cab ride to the airport, I also realised that I am actually going to miss Thailand. I will miss the hilarity that comes with the aforementioned language barrier. I will miss being able to utilise my miming skills that, after two months of practice, would now put Marcel Marceau to shame. Seriously. I can mime everything from drink, to lighter, chicken, no fish, and toilet. It’s quite a skill. I’ll miss cheap food. Really miss it. I’m going to be Adelaide’s biggest scrooge when I have to pay more than 50 cents for a Cornetto, or 25 cents for a bottle of water. And eating at Mayo Cafe and UBC at uni is going to be a real struggle. At MUIC’s canteen, I can get an amazing pad thai, or chicken curry with rice (although I have recently completed a week long boycott against rice), a fruit smoothie and some fresh pineapple for around $3. Going back to Mayo’s crappy chips and gravy is going to suck. I will miss Milo Nuggets, one of the world’s greatest inventions. I may even miss people constantly staring at me and taking my photos. When I step onto that plane to head home, I will no longer be a “celebrity”. Walking down the street without feeling like a movie star will be strange. As will be the ease of life in a country where you speak the language. I’ll be able to get into a taxi and tell them where I need to go, without using a map, or calling someone to tell them for me.
Most of all, I’m going to miss the people I live with. Sure, I’ll get to see everyone back home again, but I knew that you would all be there when I came back. When I leave here, it could be ages if I see these people again, if ever. Living in a dorm has its challenges **THIS MEANS YOU FRIDGE MONSTER** but I’m lucky enough that I when I need a break, I can retreat to my room. I also know that if I’m in a bad mood, someone will be there to yank me out of it. If I’m sad or feeling homesick, I can go downstairs to the common area and there will be any number of people there to cheer me up. Or even if I just get a case of the sillies, there is always someone around to be silly with. Yes, again, I have this at home, but here in Thailand, in the dorm, it’s right there. I don’t have to make a phone call, or travel far to see anyone. The thought of not seeing the awesome people I live with every day sucks. But there is a bright side. I will now have friends all over the world. And I love to travel (even if I hate to fly), so they can all expect an Aussie visitor eventually.
I’m going to find it strange to come home to Adelaide and no longer see greenery around. Or to walk down the street and not see a woman begging for money for her and her children. It will be odd to see Australian houses with their well kept yards, lined up street after street, without seeing mansions next to tin slums. To not see people bathing in the river. To walk down the street and not have my nostrils assaulted by the strange smells of street stalls, cooking fish and pork and god knows what else. There will no longer be stray cats and dogs everywhere that make me sad, no spirit houses and people will no longer “wai” me when they say hello.
Damn you Thai 80’s/90’s rock ballads!
Despite everything I’ve said that I will miss, I do miss you all back home, and can’t wait to see you again!!!
Hugs & love!!!
xoxo
PS - This was posted 2 days after it was written, while I was in the Philippines!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Better Late Than Never!
I realise my birthday was a couple of weeks ago however midterms have kept me from updating my blog for a while, so here goes...
My birthday in Thailand was awesome! Despite the fact I was less than impressed with being another year older, and trying in vain to convince everyone that since I'm in a different country, my birthday was non-existant or somehow didn't count, I had such a fun weekend. Since Amber's 21st was 2 days after my birthday (we won't mention how old I turned), we had decided to celebrate together with a dinner on the Monday night but what Amber didn't know was that Lisa, Annie and I had planned to suprise her with a weekend in a hotel in Bangkok. FYI, don't ever try to surprise someone like this. It's hard, it's stressful and since they don't actually know that you're going to be surprising them, they get kinda mad when they think nobody cares about their birthday! Yes, Amber, I'm talking to you!
So we headed into Bangkok on the Friday to have lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (not terribly Outback-ish really. Although I did have a crownie!), telling Amber that Lisa was headed to the beach for the weekend and I was meeting a friend and spending the night with her. Only the stories we came up with were much more detailed and elaborate than that. So as Lisa distracted Amber by taking her to a grocery store that sells American & Aussie food, Annie and I checked into the hotel (the same one I stayed at with Leah & Shaun the weekend before, scoring a free upgrade in the process) and when it was FINALLY ready, Lisa and Amber headed up. We took Amber to her room, telling her it was my room and I reckon it took her a good 3 minutes before she realised what was going on. It was so funny! It's a good thing she's pretty because clearly she's not too clever! (Just kidding Amber... Maybe....) And it turns out that those sneaky little minxes had in fact pulled off a double suprise, buying me wine, cheese, crackers, saladas, twisties and a bunch of other stuff while they were at the store! Cheeky much?!?
Saturday was spent shopping (of course) in a crowded mall, with my tolerance levels slowly but surely decreasing. Until we headed back to the hotel, stopping at a mexican restaurant for frozen margarita's. Amazing what a cocktail can do for my mood! After a dip in the pool, we headed back to the mexican restaurant for dinner which was sooo good. Seriously, just thinking about it makes me want to head into Bangkok for more of it. Like, I'm actually considering it right now. It's not that far. Only an hour or so by taxi... I got surprise number 2 at the restaurant when we were given cocktails and I was sung happy birthday to by all the staff! Nawwww!!! I will have fond memories of Coyote's Mexican restaurant in Sukhumvit. I will not have fond memories of the rats just outside. From there it was off to a London Pub for a few more drinks, a couple of games of pool, a cover band that just about had Annie and I wetting ourselves with excitement when they first song they played was Dancing Queen (we automatically turned into those girls that start screaming and saying things like "it's my song!") and yet another surprise when the band sang happy birthday to me! Loves it!!
We had to head back to our dorm on the Sunday, which was my actual birthday, but not before I bought more wine, cheese and snacks to enjoy with the rest of the people from Green Park! It was the perfect way to spend a birthday, until I got felt up later in the night by the lady from the Thai whiskey stand... Interesting.
The past week has been a little crazy with midterm exams and essay's due, Halloween fun and the Loy Krathong festival, which was amazing. (If you haven't heard of Loy Krathong, google it. It's pretty cool). Highlights of the week were: getting yelled at by a salesgirl in MBK **see below post**, getting proposed to by a tuk tuk driver "miss, miss, you so white, very beautiful, you give me your number, we get married!" and making it to the shortlist of nominees for ActionAid Australia's Project TOTO Outreach Blogger. This is something I'm pretty passionate about (I'd want to be passionate I suppose, considering I'm studying to get a bachelors degree in Development Studies) and is a great cause. I'm stoked to have made it on to the shortlist of 12 out of the amazing 52 original nominees. If you haven't heard about ActionAid and the fantastic work they do, I suggest you pop on over to their website at: www.actionaid.org.au, or you can find out more about Project TOTO here: http://blogs.actionaid.org.au/toto/2009/10/26/project-toto-shortlist/
I'm so so so excited, although a little nervous, about the challenges I now have to undertake to hopefully get the position! Not to mention the excitement of my impending holiday! Tomorrow I'm off to Singapore and then on to the Philippines on Thursday with Jen, who I have mentioned in other blogs. I think. If I haven't, she's ace!! That's really all you need to know! Keep your fingers crossed that they don't get hit by another typhoon, not only for us, but for the poor people who live there and have been battered by crazy weather for the past few weeks!
Missing you all loads!
xoxo
My birthday in Thailand was awesome! Despite the fact I was less than impressed with being another year older, and trying in vain to convince everyone that since I'm in a different country, my birthday was non-existant or somehow didn't count, I had such a fun weekend. Since Amber's 21st was 2 days after my birthday (we won't mention how old I turned), we had decided to celebrate together with a dinner on the Monday night but what Amber didn't know was that Lisa, Annie and I had planned to suprise her with a weekend in a hotel in Bangkok. FYI, don't ever try to surprise someone like this. It's hard, it's stressful and since they don't actually know that you're going to be surprising them, they get kinda mad when they think nobody cares about their birthday! Yes, Amber, I'm talking to you!
So we headed into Bangkok on the Friday to have lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (not terribly Outback-ish really. Although I did have a crownie!), telling Amber that Lisa was headed to the beach for the weekend and I was meeting a friend and spending the night with her. Only the stories we came up with were much more detailed and elaborate than that. So as Lisa distracted Amber by taking her to a grocery store that sells American & Aussie food, Annie and I checked into the hotel (the same one I stayed at with Leah & Shaun the weekend before, scoring a free upgrade in the process) and when it was FINALLY ready, Lisa and Amber headed up. We took Amber to her room, telling her it was my room and I reckon it took her a good 3 minutes before she realised what was going on. It was so funny! It's a good thing she's pretty because clearly she's not too clever! (Just kidding Amber... Maybe....) And it turns out that those sneaky little minxes had in fact pulled off a double suprise, buying me wine, cheese, crackers, saladas, twisties and a bunch of other stuff while they were at the store! Cheeky much?!?
Saturday was spent shopping (of course) in a crowded mall, with my tolerance levels slowly but surely decreasing. Until we headed back to the hotel, stopping at a mexican restaurant for frozen margarita's. Amazing what a cocktail can do for my mood! After a dip in the pool, we headed back to the mexican restaurant for dinner which was sooo good. Seriously, just thinking about it makes me want to head into Bangkok for more of it. Like, I'm actually considering it right now. It's not that far. Only an hour or so by taxi... I got surprise number 2 at the restaurant when we were given cocktails and I was sung happy birthday to by all the staff! Nawwww!!! I will have fond memories of Coyote's Mexican restaurant in Sukhumvit. I will not have fond memories of the rats just outside. From there it was off to a London Pub for a few more drinks, a couple of games of pool, a cover band that just about had Annie and I wetting ourselves with excitement when they first song they played was Dancing Queen (we automatically turned into those girls that start screaming and saying things like "it's my song!") and yet another surprise when the band sang happy birthday to me! Loves it!!
We had to head back to our dorm on the Sunday, which was my actual birthday, but not before I bought more wine, cheese and snacks to enjoy with the rest of the people from Green Park! It was the perfect way to spend a birthday, until I got felt up later in the night by the lady from the Thai whiskey stand... Interesting.
The past week has been a little crazy with midterm exams and essay's due, Halloween fun and the Loy Krathong festival, which was amazing. (If you haven't heard of Loy Krathong, google it. It's pretty cool). Highlights of the week were: getting yelled at by a salesgirl in MBK **see below post**, getting proposed to by a tuk tuk driver "miss, miss, you so white, very beautiful, you give me your number, we get married!" and making it to the shortlist of nominees for ActionAid Australia's Project TOTO Outreach Blogger. This is something I'm pretty passionate about (I'd want to be passionate I suppose, considering I'm studying to get a bachelors degree in Development Studies) and is a great cause. I'm stoked to have made it on to the shortlist of 12 out of the amazing 52 original nominees. If you haven't heard about ActionAid and the fantastic work they do, I suggest you pop on over to their website at: www.actionaid.org.au, or you can find out more about Project TOTO here: http://blogs.actionaid.org.au/toto/2009/10/26/project-toto-shortlist/
I'm so so so excited, although a little nervous, about the challenges I now have to undertake to hopefully get the position! Not to mention the excitement of my impending holiday! Tomorrow I'm off to Singapore and then on to the Philippines on Thursday with Jen, who I have mentioned in other blogs. I think. If I haven't, she's ace!! That's really all you need to know! Keep your fingers crossed that they don't get hit by another typhoon, not only for us, but for the poor people who live there and have been battered by crazy weather for the past few weeks!
Missing you all loads!
xoxo
Saturday, October 31, 2009
***Warning - This Blog Contains a Serious Rant...***
I realise I haven't yet blogged about my awesome birthday weekend, my adventures for the last week or so, or the craziness of this weekend however there are a few things I feel obliged to put out in cyberspace right now, if nothing else, just to get them off my chest. I promise that aforementioned, not so crazy ranting blog is forthcoming! After midterms are over!!
A friend of mine from Green Park purchased an "ipod" from a store at a mall named MBK yesterday. As the price was extraordinarily cheap, it was no secret that said "ipod" was not the real deal. What was unexpected however was that it did not work, at all. It wasn't even recognised by her computer, let alone itunes and resulted in her computer suggesting that the item may corrupt her computer. So we headed back to MBK today to get a refund for what was undoubtedly a dodgy product. When we arrived at the store, we were advised (in a not so polite manner) that she knew the item was not genuine and that no refund would be given. Knowing the Thai people do not like to "lose face" we stayed calm and rang the number the mall itself has posted everywhere for situations such as these. As I stood waiting with my friends computer at the store, I was clearly being discussed in Thai. No problem with that at all. Hell, if I was in the salesgirl's position, I would've done the same. I was then joined by another friend and filled her in on what was going on, only to be called stupid by the salesgirl. Um... What?? I ignored her but when other people came to the same store to purchase an ipod, we told them not to bother as it most likely wouldn't work with itunes etc and were then subjected to a barrage of abuse, not only from the sales people we had been dealing with, but also from the surrounding stores. We were yelled at, told to shut up and were called stupid bitches. I personally am proud of the way we handled ourselves, either ignoring them or suggesting that perhaps it wasn't the best example of customer service to abuse your customers. The abuse continued. The MBK customer service woman was polite and as helpful as she could be, mediating between us and the sales people but the damage was done. I was sooo angry. I've never, ever been abused by sales people before, and hope it never happens again. Suffice to say, I will not be shopping at MBK any time soon. The point of my little story? This is yet another instance which has made me feel like Thai people are simply out to rip me off **see previous posts**.
Foreigners have to pay more for everything, purely because they are perceived as being well-off or rich, I have been stolen from not once, but twice, and it seems that someone is constantly trying to scam us out of our money. I realise that I am a guest in their country and therefore have to play by Thai rules, and that it is only a small minority of Thai people who are this way, but I can't help but let it leave a negative mark on my experience here.
Closer to home, for those of you who are unaware, the last Friday of every October is the date of the annual international rally/march known as either Reclaim The Night or Take Back The Night. It's aim to protest against, and raise awareness of, violence against women around the world. It is an event which is held in many major, and many small, cities world wide and dates back to the 1970's and calls attention to a serious and very real problem in most societies today. Some of my amazing, incredible friends took part in the rally that was held in Adelaide last night (Friday, October 30) only to discover that they had been shown on Adelaide's Channel 7 news and publicly labeled as sex workers. Whilst I personally have nothing against sex workers themselves, for Channel 7 news to so blatantly disregard the notion of research when reporting a story is something I find despicable. To state that these amazing women, who are standing up for the rights of women everywhere (such as your mother, sister, grandmother or friend), who are actually trying to make a positive change in the world, demonstrates a severe lack of research and preparation on behalf of the media. These people are not sex workers. The message of Reclaim The Night has nothing to do with sex, or the sex industry. It is about the violence that permeates the lives of women around the world. Sex workers, mothers, students, the lady that sells you your coffee, that woman that lives next door. To detract from the true message of Reclaim The Night, to make it something it's not, and to denigrate the fantastic people who take part in such an event, those that have the courage to speak out, from a simple lack of research is shameful.
So before you come to think I've turned into a raging feminist (not that there's anything wrong with that. Until you take it too far and lunge across the desk at me in a Justice, Liberty & Democracy class, yes, you know who you are!) I assure you it's not the case. I am angry and saddened by the state of our so-called free media in Australia. It seems that you can do very little, or no research, say what you want to say regardless of the facts and put it out there for the world to see and take as gospel. And, lets face it, we all know a number of people who hear it on the news or read it in the paper and believe it to be the honest truth. So to Channel Seven Adelaide, I say to you, well done on buggering up a great story, defaming my wonderful friends and the other fantastic people involved in the event, burying the truth among your lies, and detracting from an important and worthwhile cause along the way. Nice work.
A friend of mine from Green Park purchased an "ipod" from a store at a mall named MBK yesterday. As the price was extraordinarily cheap, it was no secret that said "ipod" was not the real deal. What was unexpected however was that it did not work, at all. It wasn't even recognised by her computer, let alone itunes and resulted in her computer suggesting that the item may corrupt her computer. So we headed back to MBK today to get a refund for what was undoubtedly a dodgy product. When we arrived at the store, we were advised (in a not so polite manner) that she knew the item was not genuine and that no refund would be given. Knowing the Thai people do not like to "lose face" we stayed calm and rang the number the mall itself has posted everywhere for situations such as these. As I stood waiting with my friends computer at the store, I was clearly being discussed in Thai. No problem with that at all. Hell, if I was in the salesgirl's position, I would've done the same. I was then joined by another friend and filled her in on what was going on, only to be called stupid by the salesgirl. Um... What?? I ignored her but when other people came to the same store to purchase an ipod, we told them not to bother as it most likely wouldn't work with itunes etc and were then subjected to a barrage of abuse, not only from the sales people we had been dealing with, but also from the surrounding stores. We were yelled at, told to shut up and were called stupid bitches. I personally am proud of the way we handled ourselves, either ignoring them or suggesting that perhaps it wasn't the best example of customer service to abuse your customers. The abuse continued. The MBK customer service woman was polite and as helpful as she could be, mediating between us and the sales people but the damage was done. I was sooo angry. I've never, ever been abused by sales people before, and hope it never happens again. Suffice to say, I will not be shopping at MBK any time soon. The point of my little story? This is yet another instance which has made me feel like Thai people are simply out to rip me off **see previous posts**.
Foreigners have to pay more for everything, purely because they are perceived as being well-off or rich, I have been stolen from not once, but twice, and it seems that someone is constantly trying to scam us out of our money. I realise that I am a guest in their country and therefore have to play by Thai rules, and that it is only a small minority of Thai people who are this way, but I can't help but let it leave a negative mark on my experience here.
Closer to home, for those of you who are unaware, the last Friday of every October is the date of the annual international rally/march known as either Reclaim The Night or Take Back The Night. It's aim to protest against, and raise awareness of, violence against women around the world. It is an event which is held in many major, and many small, cities world wide and dates back to the 1970's and calls attention to a serious and very real problem in most societies today. Some of my amazing, incredible friends took part in the rally that was held in Adelaide last night (Friday, October 30) only to discover that they had been shown on Adelaide's Channel 7 news and publicly labeled as sex workers. Whilst I personally have nothing against sex workers themselves, for Channel 7 news to so blatantly disregard the notion of research when reporting a story is something I find despicable. To state that these amazing women, who are standing up for the rights of women everywhere (such as your mother, sister, grandmother or friend), who are actually trying to make a positive change in the world, demonstrates a severe lack of research and preparation on behalf of the media. These people are not sex workers. The message of Reclaim The Night has nothing to do with sex, or the sex industry. It is about the violence that permeates the lives of women around the world. Sex workers, mothers, students, the lady that sells you your coffee, that woman that lives next door. To detract from the true message of Reclaim The Night, to make it something it's not, and to denigrate the fantastic people who take part in such an event, those that have the courage to speak out, from a simple lack of research is shameful.
So before you come to think I've turned into a raging feminist (not that there's anything wrong with that. Until you take it too far and lunge across the desk at me in a Justice, Liberty & Democracy class, yes, you know who you are!) I assure you it's not the case. I am angry and saddened by the state of our so-called free media in Australia. It seems that you can do very little, or no research, say what you want to say regardless of the facts and put it out there for the world to see and take as gospel. And, lets face it, we all know a number of people who hear it on the news or read it in the paper and believe it to be the honest truth. So to Channel Seven Adelaide, I say to you, well done on buggering up a great story, defaming my wonderful friends and the other fantastic people involved in the event, burying the truth among your lies, and detracting from an important and worthwhile cause along the way. Nice work.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Where you go?
Again, I will apologise for the obscure title for this post, and again, it will only be some of the Green Parkers that will understand! It's just too funny to not use!
The last five or so days have been amazing, sad, fun, and pretty much a couple of the best days I've had here so far. As most of you know, my best friend Leah and her awesome fiancee Shaun came to Bangkok to visit and that, coupled with the fact that we were all going to celebrate Helen's 20th birthday at Cabbages & Condoms on Wednesday night, had me bursting with excitement. Like a little kid on Christmas morning. Or a fat person with an unlimited expense account in a McDonalds.
After a long day at uni, I got to have a somewhat girly, squealing, excited reunion with Leah and Shaun on a Bangkok street underneath a BTS station on Wednesday night before we dropped my stuff off at our amazing hotel and headed to a restaurant called Cabbages & Condoms for Helen's birthday dinner. (If you haven't heard about Cabbages & Condoms, google it. Instead of after dinner mints, they give you a condom. And it's all in the name of an amazingly good cause)We were joined by one of Leah and Shaun's friends from their tour, Jen from New Zealand so not only did I get to see two of my oldest friends, I made a new one. And had a frozen margarita. Good times!
On Friday, Leah and Shaun had organised for us to go to Kachanaburi province where we went to a war museum and cemetery. Along with the three of us were several others from Leah and Shaun's tour, including Jen and Belinda and Hayden who had gotten engaged the night before! Nawwwww... Adorable!The amount of information on Aussie soldiers, including our very own South Australian Weary Dunlop, in the museum kind of surprised me. We don't often hear or learn about Thailand's involvement in World War II or the Australian soldiers who were here also. I found the number of graves of Australian soldiers in the cemetery to be a bit of shock also. They're so far away from home and there was so many of them. And I won't even get started on how incredibly disgusted we were by the Japanese tourists posing next to headstones. Peace signs and all. Kachanaburi is home to the River Kwai, and the famous Burma Railway bridge from the book and movie "The Bridge Over The River Kwai". The bridge was built by prisoners of war (forced by the Japanese Army)and was also known as the Death Bridge because during its construction approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway, while an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians were also killed. And I was too scared to walk too far across the damn thing. One trip or stumble and you would end up straight in the Kwai, so Leah and I walked a little way and turned back to safety.
We had lunch at a restaurant right on the river and then it was off to the Tiger Temple. I had some reservations about going because of stories that you hear about the tigers being drugged etc, but the guide had assured us that it wasn't the case. When we got there (and after Leah had to buy a shirt that wasn't brightly coloured so she didn't get eaten), Leah and I were still slightly skeptical about the level of cruelty. The tigers were all lazing around like they were depressed, which I guess you would be if you were chained to the ground. A guide grabbed each person by the hand while another took your camera and then you posed for photos while the poor tigers just sat there. At one point, one of them started drinking out of his water bowl and was punished for not looking at the camera by getting squirted in the face with water. I was less then impressed and in my not-so-quiet voice let the perpetrator of said squirt know only to be reprimanded for raising my voice. Dude, you're the one flinging water at a giant cat. My slightly raised voice is not going to piss him of half as much as water in the face. I am ashamed to admit that it was kind of cool to be so close to animals that are so big and so rare. Plus, one of them kicked me in the stomach (accidentally I'm sure) and actually knocked me backwards. It's not every day you get kicked by a tiger. Afterwards we were approached by an Australian girl who worked at the Temple who again tried to assure Leah and I that the only reason they're so docile is because they get fed prior to visitors coming near them and that they're only on the chains for a few hours a day. I personally think that's a few hours too many, even if in the long run they're helping the survival of the species. Animals shouldn't suffer just so tourists can pose for a cool photo to show to their family and friends. I would be just as happy to see them from a distance if it meant they had more freedom.
After a long day of war museums, possible animal cruelty (we're still undecided) and a water taxi down a stinking Bangkok canal Leah, Shaun and I headed back to our hotel, showered and went shopping. For other people. If any of Leah's friends or family read this, I hope you appreciate the trouble they went to get you guys some gifts!!! All was not lost though when we headed to McDonalds for a quick dinner to discover they had cheesy fries. A-MAZING! Thank god we don't have a Macca's near the dorm or I would be even fatter than I am now. Seriously, Thailand is damaging my waistline with it's extremely cheap food!
On Friday we headed down to Khao San Road to do some shopping and meet up with Jen. After much shopping (DVD's, matching toe rings for us girls, clothes and enough nose rings to last Leah a lifetime or two) we stopped in at a pub, pretty much so Leah and I could use the bathroom, and it started raining. And it just kept going. Love the end of monsoon season. Out of nowhere the rain hits and it never ends. And its so damn heavy. But rain did not deter us from shopping some more for the ever-elusive quality designer replica handbag for Leah. Whilst we didn't find exactly what we were looking for we did see some awesome Armaci Vercedi bags. Which had us in fits of laughter when we realised they were meant to be Gianni Versace. God I love Asian-English translations. Oh and Leah, this one's for you "Shaun was wrong, he he was wrong"!!! 55555 (The word for number 5 in Thai is ha so 55555 is the equivalent of hahahahaha. Something that highly amused Leah and I). We had decided that we would go see one of Thailands infamous Ladyboy shows that night. Shaun had called to make a booking and was informed that he, Leah, Bel and Hayden would be charged one price and I, an MUIC student, would get a discount. Until they saw that I was not a Thai MUIC student, but a foreigner. All of a sudden, I too had to pay the same price as the others. This whole foreigners pay more than locals is a constant source of annoyance to me. I don't understand it at all and I don't think I want to understand it because I get the feeling it will make me angry. It seems... racist. But I digress. The ladyboy show was amazing. I did however spend a large portion of it staring at people's crotches, trying to work it out. Some of them were totally gorgeous with amazing figures and I reckon it confused the hell out of the guys in the audience! Afterwards, the performers all lined up to pose for photos which I thought was a bit weird. I realise we'd just paid to watch them perform but there was something about them lining up to have people take their photos that was a little zoo-like for me. It seemed kind of odd.
I felt kind of sad when we got back to our hotel because Leah and Shaun were leaving the next day which meant not only did I have to leave the comfy bed and shower with actual water pressure (!) but I had to say goodbye all over again. And of course when the time came, I cried like a baby. And not just until their taxi drove away but the whole way home. I stopped in a supermarket that they had found that sells Aussie and American food like Twisties and Pop Tarts, spent up big on junk food, had the sales guy give me strange looks either for spending so much money on crap or for sniffling my way through the store, continued to cry on the BTS and the bus home, fogging up my glasses in the process. On the bright side, I got to see two of my favourite people in the world, in Bangkok for almost 3 whole days, got to see some awesome new stuff and places, do things I never thought I'd do, and meet new friends. It was just so so so great to have my people with me, even just for a few days. I can't describe what a little familiarity does for a person!
So after a few days, hours of fun, matching jewellery, great food and an awesome hotel, I have to send a HUGE thank you and a ton of love to Leah and Shaun. You guys are awesomely amazing and I miss you both!!! Having you both here was the best birthday present ever! And if anyone from home wants to make my Christmas equally as awesome by coming to visit, please do!!!
xoxo
The last five or so days have been amazing, sad, fun, and pretty much a couple of the best days I've had here so far. As most of you know, my best friend Leah and her awesome fiancee Shaun came to Bangkok to visit and that, coupled with the fact that we were all going to celebrate Helen's 20th birthday at Cabbages & Condoms on Wednesday night, had me bursting with excitement. Like a little kid on Christmas morning. Or a fat person with an unlimited expense account in a McDonalds.
After a long day at uni, I got to have a somewhat girly, squealing, excited reunion with Leah and Shaun on a Bangkok street underneath a BTS station on Wednesday night before we dropped my stuff off at our amazing hotel and headed to a restaurant called Cabbages & Condoms for Helen's birthday dinner. (If you haven't heard about Cabbages & Condoms, google it. Instead of after dinner mints, they give you a condom. And it's all in the name of an amazingly good cause)We were joined by one of Leah and Shaun's friends from their tour, Jen from New Zealand so not only did I get to see two of my oldest friends, I made a new one. And had a frozen margarita. Good times!
On Friday, Leah and Shaun had organised for us to go to Kachanaburi province where we went to a war museum and cemetery. Along with the three of us were several others from Leah and Shaun's tour, including Jen and Belinda and Hayden who had gotten engaged the night before! Nawwwww... Adorable!The amount of information on Aussie soldiers, including our very own South Australian Weary Dunlop, in the museum kind of surprised me. We don't often hear or learn about Thailand's involvement in World War II or the Australian soldiers who were here also. I found the number of graves of Australian soldiers in the cemetery to be a bit of shock also. They're so far away from home and there was so many of them. And I won't even get started on how incredibly disgusted we were by the Japanese tourists posing next to headstones. Peace signs and all. Kachanaburi is home to the River Kwai, and the famous Burma Railway bridge from the book and movie "The Bridge Over The River Kwai". The bridge was built by prisoners of war (forced by the Japanese Army)and was also known as the Death Bridge because during its construction approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway, while an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians were also killed. And I was too scared to walk too far across the damn thing. One trip or stumble and you would end up straight in the Kwai, so Leah and I walked a little way and turned back to safety.
We had lunch at a restaurant right on the river and then it was off to the Tiger Temple. I had some reservations about going because of stories that you hear about the tigers being drugged etc, but the guide had assured us that it wasn't the case. When we got there (and after Leah had to buy a shirt that wasn't brightly coloured so she didn't get eaten), Leah and I were still slightly skeptical about the level of cruelty. The tigers were all lazing around like they were depressed, which I guess you would be if you were chained to the ground. A guide grabbed each person by the hand while another took your camera and then you posed for photos while the poor tigers just sat there. At one point, one of them started drinking out of his water bowl and was punished for not looking at the camera by getting squirted in the face with water. I was less then impressed and in my not-so-quiet voice let the perpetrator of said squirt know only to be reprimanded for raising my voice. Dude, you're the one flinging water at a giant cat. My slightly raised voice is not going to piss him of half as much as water in the face. I am ashamed to admit that it was kind of cool to be so close to animals that are so big and so rare. Plus, one of them kicked me in the stomach (accidentally I'm sure) and actually knocked me backwards. It's not every day you get kicked by a tiger. Afterwards we were approached by an Australian girl who worked at the Temple who again tried to assure Leah and I that the only reason they're so docile is because they get fed prior to visitors coming near them and that they're only on the chains for a few hours a day. I personally think that's a few hours too many, even if in the long run they're helping the survival of the species. Animals shouldn't suffer just so tourists can pose for a cool photo to show to their family and friends. I would be just as happy to see them from a distance if it meant they had more freedom.
After a long day of war museums, possible animal cruelty (we're still undecided) and a water taxi down a stinking Bangkok canal Leah, Shaun and I headed back to our hotel, showered and went shopping. For other people. If any of Leah's friends or family read this, I hope you appreciate the trouble they went to get you guys some gifts!!! All was not lost though when we headed to McDonalds for a quick dinner to discover they had cheesy fries. A-MAZING! Thank god we don't have a Macca's near the dorm or I would be even fatter than I am now. Seriously, Thailand is damaging my waistline with it's extremely cheap food!
On Friday we headed down to Khao San Road to do some shopping and meet up with Jen. After much shopping (DVD's, matching toe rings for us girls, clothes and enough nose rings to last Leah a lifetime or two) we stopped in at a pub, pretty much so Leah and I could use the bathroom, and it started raining. And it just kept going. Love the end of monsoon season. Out of nowhere the rain hits and it never ends. And its so damn heavy. But rain did not deter us from shopping some more for the ever-elusive quality designer replica handbag for Leah. Whilst we didn't find exactly what we were looking for we did see some awesome Armaci Vercedi bags. Which had us in fits of laughter when we realised they were meant to be Gianni Versace. God I love Asian-English translations. Oh and Leah, this one's for you "Shaun was wrong, he he was wrong"!!! 55555 (The word for number 5 in Thai is ha so 55555 is the equivalent of hahahahaha. Something that highly amused Leah and I). We had decided that we would go see one of Thailands infamous Ladyboy shows that night. Shaun had called to make a booking and was informed that he, Leah, Bel and Hayden would be charged one price and I, an MUIC student, would get a discount. Until they saw that I was not a Thai MUIC student, but a foreigner. All of a sudden, I too had to pay the same price as the others. This whole foreigners pay more than locals is a constant source of annoyance to me. I don't understand it at all and I don't think I want to understand it because I get the feeling it will make me angry. It seems... racist. But I digress. The ladyboy show was amazing. I did however spend a large portion of it staring at people's crotches, trying to work it out. Some of them were totally gorgeous with amazing figures and I reckon it confused the hell out of the guys in the audience! Afterwards, the performers all lined up to pose for photos which I thought was a bit weird. I realise we'd just paid to watch them perform but there was something about them lining up to have people take their photos that was a little zoo-like for me. It seemed kind of odd.
I felt kind of sad when we got back to our hotel because Leah and Shaun were leaving the next day which meant not only did I have to leave the comfy bed and shower with actual water pressure (!) but I had to say goodbye all over again. And of course when the time came, I cried like a baby. And not just until their taxi drove away but the whole way home. I stopped in a supermarket that they had found that sells Aussie and American food like Twisties and Pop Tarts, spent up big on junk food, had the sales guy give me strange looks either for spending so much money on crap or for sniffling my way through the store, continued to cry on the BTS and the bus home, fogging up my glasses in the process. On the bright side, I got to see two of my favourite people in the world, in Bangkok for almost 3 whole days, got to see some awesome new stuff and places, do things I never thought I'd do, and meet new friends. It was just so so so great to have my people with me, even just for a few days. I can't describe what a little familiarity does for a person!
So after a few days, hours of fun, matching jewellery, great food and an awesome hotel, I have to send a HUGE thank you and a ton of love to Leah and Shaun. You guys are awesomely amazing and I miss you both!!! Having you both here was the best birthday present ever! And if anyone from home wants to make my Christmas equally as awesome by coming to visit, please do!!!
xoxo
Monday, October 12, 2009
They Just Go...
The title of this entry will not make any sense to most of you. In fact, there are probably only 3 other people who might get it and they're all fellow Green Parkers who probably won't even read this. But if you have a burning desire to know what I mean, let me know.
First, an update. One rat down. That's right. Today was the day that Green Park got revenge on the rodents. Caught in a trap, with no escape. One down, countless more to go. Not to mention the geckos and the cockroaches. But we will persevere. And we will prevail.
I thought I'd fill you in on what happened during the last week but first I want to share a few little bits and pieces that haven't made it into any previous entries.
SLEEP - As you know from my previous ranting, sleep seems to be a rare commodity around here. Loud dorm mates etc aside, the beds we have are hard. Like rock solid. Something akin to sleeping on a concrete slab. And the blankets we were supplied are scratchy woollen things that are not ideal for Thai weather. Also some of the girls found suspicious little black curly hairs on theirs so I invested in a replacement at the grand cost of 250 baht, or about $9.00. Who knew such a small thing can make such a difference?!? I finally feel like I'm sleeping in a bed that is slightly more...mine. Not my bed exactly, but it's better.
THE STUDY LAMP 900 - When you "invest" in a lamp that costs around $3.00, you probably shouldn't expect it to last too long however I was so disappointed when the switch on mine got stuck and I could no longer turn it on. I'd held such high hopes for the Study Lamp 900. So I thought I'd attempt a home repair job instead of splurging and buying a new one. Long story short, don't take apart a lamp, plug it into the electricity outlet and then stick your finger onto a metal section of said lamp. It will end in a minor electric shock, a burnt finger and a fair amount of pain. Despite the near-death experience, I have purchased a new Study Lamp 900 (version 2.0) and am now eagerly awaiting the release of the Study Lamp 1000.
THE FRIDGE MONSTER - We have a resident food theif. Yep, that's right. Some ass is stealing other people's food. It started with my pasta which is not terribly cheap in Thailand. I had made enough to have for two meals and put my leftovers in a clearly labelled container in the fridge. When I went to enjoy my pasta after a long day at school the following day, there was hardly any left. OUTRAGEOUS!! And it was not a one-off occurence. It appears that the Fridge Monster (as the theif is now known) has expensive taste and helps themselves to the stuff we buy for ourselves as little treats, like cheese, vegetables, bread and jam. We will catch them though. Fridge Monster, if you are reading this, your days of free food are numbered. You will be caught. And you will be named and shamed.
Now. On to my recent adventures in the Kingdom of Thailand. I haven't been well (god, I sound like Little Bob!) but that didn't stop Amber and I going to Dream World on the weekend. Yep, we went to an amusement park. Two supposed adults, aged almost 21 and 26 got up bright and early to go on rides all day.
Being ushered to an Information Office to buy our tickets instead of joining the outdoor line like the Thai people should have been a clear indication that this day was going to be one of those "only in Thailand" days. But I think we're so used to this strange form of racism they have here that we didn't really think anything of it. (The Thai's have different sets of rules for "farang" than they do for local people. Foreigners generally pay more for everything than the Thai people do. Even our college dorm and electricity is cheaper if you're Thai. It's beyond annoying. In any other country it would be discrimination!)But we got our tickets and skipped into the park like two little kids! I will add some photos of the park so that I don't have to go into too much detail about it here but we took a train around the perimetre to check out the sights and decide what we wanted to do, then headed to KFC to get some lunch. As I sat at the table, waiting for Amber to get our food, my purse was stolen. Right out of my zipped-up handbag. Right from under my feet. And I didn't see a thing. Major panic ensued as there was a fair amount of cash in it in preparation for souvenir and food and drink purchases (which are notouriously expensive in theme parks), not to mention my credit, debit and ID cards. No one had seen a thing, nobody seemed to speak much english and no one really cared. Thinking my day was completely ruined, we headed back to the Information Office to make a complaint to find that whoever had taken my purse had stolen all the cash from it and dumped the rest in the bin. The safe return of my beloved purse, cards etc, albeit without the cash, made my day. Having now had both my mobile phone and purse stolen out of a zipped up bag that has never been more than an inch away from me has, however, made me overly cautious and completely distrusting of Thai strangers. Which sucks. I don't want to think that every person that bumps into me is trying to rob me, but now I do. Hopefully it'll wear off.
So our day of fun in at Dream World continued with a 4D show that had us freaking out and giggling uncontrollably before we headed to the Haunted Mansion (Dream World has both a Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. For those of you who are unaware, these are both rides at the Disney parks. Dream World also sells Disney clothing and Mickey Mouse ears, yet is not affiliated with Disney in any way. It appears copyright laws mean very little here). The mansion had us that scared that we held hands the entire time and stuck uncomfortably close to a group infront of us so that anything scary would happen to them first!
The highlight of the day was by far and away Snow Town. Who would've thought you could go sledding in the snow, endure 1.5 degree celcius temperatures and get snowed on in the middle of Thailand?? So much fun!
Our day wrapped up with a cab driver telling us that Amber looks like coffee and I look like milk. For once, we found this kind of thing pretty funny, although I'm still confused as to why the Thai people are so fascinated with my skin colour. I'm not the first white person they've ever seen so it can't be that much of a novelty. It's one thing that I truly dislike about this country. It makes me hideously uncomfortable whenever they stare, point etc but I'm hoping I can get used to it eventually!
It seems that a lot of us are getting sick at the moment with either stomach issues or colds. I have had a headache, sore throat and aches for a few days now but I'm hoping it will go away. Of course here everytime one of is sick, it's automatically swine flu or malaria. Which in any other country would be laughable. Here, it's entirely possible. I'll give it a few more days before I head to the doctor.
For now though, I'm off to bed to listen to the amazing storm that's raging outside and to get one day closer to seeing Leah and Shaun. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am to see my best friend after over a month!!! 2 more sleeps!!!
Miss you all! If anyone else would like to make me happy, please feel free to come to Thailand to visit!
xoxo
First, an update. One rat down. That's right. Today was the day that Green Park got revenge on the rodents. Caught in a trap, with no escape. One down, countless more to go. Not to mention the geckos and the cockroaches. But we will persevere. And we will prevail.
I thought I'd fill you in on what happened during the last week but first I want to share a few little bits and pieces that haven't made it into any previous entries.
SLEEP - As you know from my previous ranting, sleep seems to be a rare commodity around here. Loud dorm mates etc aside, the beds we have are hard. Like rock solid. Something akin to sleeping on a concrete slab. And the blankets we were supplied are scratchy woollen things that are not ideal for Thai weather. Also some of the girls found suspicious little black curly hairs on theirs so I invested in a replacement at the grand cost of 250 baht, or about $9.00. Who knew such a small thing can make such a difference?!? I finally feel like I'm sleeping in a bed that is slightly more...mine. Not my bed exactly, but it's better.
THE STUDY LAMP 900 - When you "invest" in a lamp that costs around $3.00, you probably shouldn't expect it to last too long however I was so disappointed when the switch on mine got stuck and I could no longer turn it on. I'd held such high hopes for the Study Lamp 900. So I thought I'd attempt a home repair job instead of splurging and buying a new one. Long story short, don't take apart a lamp, plug it into the electricity outlet and then stick your finger onto a metal section of said lamp. It will end in a minor electric shock, a burnt finger and a fair amount of pain. Despite the near-death experience, I have purchased a new Study Lamp 900 (version 2.0) and am now eagerly awaiting the release of the Study Lamp 1000.
THE FRIDGE MONSTER - We have a resident food theif. Yep, that's right. Some ass is stealing other people's food. It started with my pasta which is not terribly cheap in Thailand. I had made enough to have for two meals and put my leftovers in a clearly labelled container in the fridge. When I went to enjoy my pasta after a long day at school the following day, there was hardly any left. OUTRAGEOUS!! And it was not a one-off occurence. It appears that the Fridge Monster (as the theif is now known) has expensive taste and helps themselves to the stuff we buy for ourselves as little treats, like cheese, vegetables, bread and jam. We will catch them though. Fridge Monster, if you are reading this, your days of free food are numbered. You will be caught. And you will be named and shamed.
Now. On to my recent adventures in the Kingdom of Thailand. I haven't been well (god, I sound like Little Bob!) but that didn't stop Amber and I going to Dream World on the weekend. Yep, we went to an amusement park. Two supposed adults, aged almost 21 and 26 got up bright and early to go on rides all day.
Being ushered to an Information Office to buy our tickets instead of joining the outdoor line like the Thai people should have been a clear indication that this day was going to be one of those "only in Thailand" days. But I think we're so used to this strange form of racism they have here that we didn't really think anything of it. (The Thai's have different sets of rules for "farang" than they do for local people. Foreigners generally pay more for everything than the Thai people do. Even our college dorm and electricity is cheaper if you're Thai. It's beyond annoying. In any other country it would be discrimination!)But we got our tickets and skipped into the park like two little kids! I will add some photos of the park so that I don't have to go into too much detail about it here but we took a train around the perimetre to check out the sights and decide what we wanted to do, then headed to KFC to get some lunch. As I sat at the table, waiting for Amber to get our food, my purse was stolen. Right out of my zipped-up handbag. Right from under my feet. And I didn't see a thing. Major panic ensued as there was a fair amount of cash in it in preparation for souvenir and food and drink purchases (which are notouriously expensive in theme parks), not to mention my credit, debit and ID cards. No one had seen a thing, nobody seemed to speak much english and no one really cared. Thinking my day was completely ruined, we headed back to the Information Office to make a complaint to find that whoever had taken my purse had stolen all the cash from it and dumped the rest in the bin. The safe return of my beloved purse, cards etc, albeit without the cash, made my day. Having now had both my mobile phone and purse stolen out of a zipped up bag that has never been more than an inch away from me has, however, made me overly cautious and completely distrusting of Thai strangers. Which sucks. I don't want to think that every person that bumps into me is trying to rob me, but now I do. Hopefully it'll wear off.
So our day of fun in at Dream World continued with a 4D show that had us freaking out and giggling uncontrollably before we headed to the Haunted Mansion (Dream World has both a Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. For those of you who are unaware, these are both rides at the Disney parks. Dream World also sells Disney clothing and Mickey Mouse ears, yet is not affiliated with Disney in any way. It appears copyright laws mean very little here). The mansion had us that scared that we held hands the entire time and stuck uncomfortably close to a group infront of us so that anything scary would happen to them first!
The highlight of the day was by far and away Snow Town. Who would've thought you could go sledding in the snow, endure 1.5 degree celcius temperatures and get snowed on in the middle of Thailand?? So much fun!
Our day wrapped up with a cab driver telling us that Amber looks like coffee and I look like milk. For once, we found this kind of thing pretty funny, although I'm still confused as to why the Thai people are so fascinated with my skin colour. I'm not the first white person they've ever seen so it can't be that much of a novelty. It's one thing that I truly dislike about this country. It makes me hideously uncomfortable whenever they stare, point etc but I'm hoping I can get used to it eventually!
It seems that a lot of us are getting sick at the moment with either stomach issues or colds. I have had a headache, sore throat and aches for a few days now but I'm hoping it will go away. Of course here everytime one of is sick, it's automatically swine flu or malaria. Which in any other country would be laughable. Here, it's entirely possible. I'll give it a few more days before I head to the doctor.
For now though, I'm off to bed to listen to the amazing storm that's raging outside and to get one day closer to seeing Leah and Shaun. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am to see my best friend after over a month!!! 2 more sleeps!!!
Miss you all! If anyone else would like to make me happy, please feel free to come to Thailand to visit!
xoxo
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The One With the Cockroach, the Dead Monk and the Half-Evolved Man
This weekend has had it all! It's been amazing, infuriating, so much fun and infuriating all at the same time.
We left for the Ampawa Floating Markets on Friday morning, stopping at a temple and the Sanam Chandra Palace. All together there were around 16 students, most of us from Green Park. There was one guy from Baan Suan which is one of the other MUIC dorms who can best be described as someone who has not yet fully evolved from an ape into a human being. He was a big, hulking, sweaty, stinky... thing. He complained non-stop, smelled like a mix of sweat and stale beer and decided it was ok to lounge around on the furniture at the Palace. Seriously, he just sat his disgusting, slimy ass on royal furniture like nothing was wrong and then couldn't understand why people gave him looks of disgust. Suffice to say, I was less than impressed when I got stuck next to him for a group photo (which take forever on these little field trips because everyone wants a copy of the picture on their camera despite the fact that they will eventually make it to facebook and they can just copy it from there). While you weren't allowed to take photos inside the palace itself (I got yelled at for it), I managed to sneak one in thanks to my mobile (bless the invention of camera phones!) of the royal toilet! I was so excited. Those of you who know me well know about my sanitation thing. For those who aren't aware of it, never mind.
From the palace, it was off to Ampawa via a bus ride that was akin to a roller coaster. I spent much of the ride airborne and what goes up must come down. I have a bruised butt. Our accommodation consisted of fairly basic little bungalows right on the Mae Klong River, each sleeping two people. When it came time to decide who was to sleep where, Half-Evolved Man (from here on known as H.E.M) pipes up "I'll share with one of the girls" and then continued to repeat it, despite the fact that none of us had ever met him before and despite there not being enough tequila in the world to make any sane female want to be remotely close to him in any way, shape or form. I, of course, couldn't help myself by this stage and had to let him know that hell would freeze over before any of us would consider sharing anything with him.
After an amazing lunch we hopped in long tail boats and headed off down the river. It was incredible! Houses built in the water, people bathing, you name it! We stopped at a temple that unfortunately (for me anyway) had a heap of caged animals, including a monkey. It was horrible. Tiny cages, sad looking animals and I was nearly in tears. Of course, several ignorant people in our group found the whole thing to be simply delightful. They poked the monkey, posed for photos and thought it was great. I can't begin to describe how mad I was. It's because of stupid, moronic tourists like us that people continue to cage wild animals for the entertainment of people, despite the fact it is unbearably cruel and inhumane. By this stage, the 2.5 (only some of the Green Parkers will understand who the 2.5 are, if anyone else is interested, email me!) were driving me insane. If I had had a gun, I am certain that one in particular would not be alive now. Especially when said person revealed that they found the monkey in the cage to be cute and funny. For the first time in a long time, I yelled at someone I hardly know. They however are clearly not smart enough to realise I was pissed as hell and they were lucky I hadn't physically forced them into a tiny little cage so we could all laugh and point while they were miserable. As we moved on from the awfulness, H.E.M complained that the 200 metre walk to the temple was too far. I was seething and he too copped a mouthful from me.
We got back into the boat, went onto another temple, back to the boat again and onto another temple... complete with real dead monk. That's right. There was a Madame Tussauds wax type figure and above it, the real thing. A dead body. Right there. Like nothing was wrong. Not covered, not mummified, just... there. After that little shock, we were finally off to the floating markets! The markets were awesome. 1.5 of the 2.5 still hadn't gotten the hint and we couldn't shake them for the night which totally sucked and at one point we actually tried to run away, but other than that, it was great! The markets are built on the water and some vendors literally sit in boats while they sell food, souvenirs, clothing etc. The crowdedness was getting a bit much and we decided to head away from the hustle and bustle while we ate. 1.5 followed. We sat, they followed. As I ate my lovely pineapple, I felt something on my arm. A big something. I jumped up and as I did, the worlds biggest cockroach climbed from my arm and up my torso. This thing was huge. It was a cockroach on steroids. Anna will forever be my hero after getting it off of me using her water bottle. We decided ice cream was in order and 1.5 followed again. We couldn't shake them. Until it was time to get back in the boats. We pulled a maneuver that the CIA would be proud of to lose our persistent shadows and it worked a treat! What followed was my idea of bliss. A nighttime boat ride (slightly scary at times)to see fireflies lighting up the trees like Christmas lights. AMAZING!!! The whole thing was like something from a Disney movie.
After a tiring day, we had a pretty quiet night and some of us were up early (by 7.30) to present gifts to a monk. Which was cool, if intimidating. We had to kneel down, offer him a gift of food, drink and some money and when we were all done, we knelt again as he "blessed" us. After that it was breakfast and back into the boat! Where I was again stuck with either H.E.M or another of the 2.5. One of whom was nearly "accidentally" pushed out of the boat at one point. I showed amazing powers of self-control, especially when the giant snake went swimming by! One push is all I would have needed! Seriously, I am a fairly tolerant person. And I'm not just being a bitch because the general opinion of the so-called 2.5 is unanimous. But after another amazing boat trip, lunch (which was one of the best meals I've had in ages) it was time to head home.
Today (Sunday) Anna, Lisa and I headed into Bangkok to do a bit of shopping and I finally got my tickets to the Michael Jackson movie "This Is It"! **Insert excited happy dance here**. The day was slightly dampened with two particularly uncomfortable staring incidents. I still don't get it. At one point, a grown woman pointed, stared and ran to get a friend so the two of them could point, stare and laugh at me together. Seriously. And all because I am pale with reddish hair. It's infuriating, uncomfortable and embarrassing. And inexplicable because we were in central Bangkok. Tourist central. It's not like these people haven't seen a white person before. Not to mention the serious lack of manners. Call me a typical tourist, I don't care if I'm in your country, that kind of behaviour is just wrong. We didn't stare, point or laugh directly at the Thai Albino we had seen earlier. We had a discreet glance, and then talked about him quietly, once he was totally out of earshot. And then I got stuck next to yet another adult starer on the hour long bus ride back to the dorm. She stared right at me the whole trip. Well, when she wasn't picking her nose and then cleaning her findings out from under her nails.
And on that note... It's time for me to hit the sack.
Hugs & love for you all!
We left for the Ampawa Floating Markets on Friday morning, stopping at a temple and the Sanam Chandra Palace. All together there were around 16 students, most of us from Green Park. There was one guy from Baan Suan which is one of the other MUIC dorms who can best be described as someone who has not yet fully evolved from an ape into a human being. He was a big, hulking, sweaty, stinky... thing. He complained non-stop, smelled like a mix of sweat and stale beer and decided it was ok to lounge around on the furniture at the Palace. Seriously, he just sat his disgusting, slimy ass on royal furniture like nothing was wrong and then couldn't understand why people gave him looks of disgust. Suffice to say, I was less than impressed when I got stuck next to him for a group photo (which take forever on these little field trips because everyone wants a copy of the picture on their camera despite the fact that they will eventually make it to facebook and they can just copy it from there). While you weren't allowed to take photos inside the palace itself (I got yelled at for it), I managed to sneak one in thanks to my mobile (bless the invention of camera phones!) of the royal toilet! I was so excited. Those of you who know me well know about my sanitation thing. For those who aren't aware of it, never mind.
From the palace, it was off to Ampawa via a bus ride that was akin to a roller coaster. I spent much of the ride airborne and what goes up must come down. I have a bruised butt. Our accommodation consisted of fairly basic little bungalows right on the Mae Klong River, each sleeping two people. When it came time to decide who was to sleep where, Half-Evolved Man (from here on known as H.E.M) pipes up "I'll share with one of the girls" and then continued to repeat it, despite the fact that none of us had ever met him before and despite there not being enough tequila in the world to make any sane female want to be remotely close to him in any way, shape or form. I, of course, couldn't help myself by this stage and had to let him know that hell would freeze over before any of us would consider sharing anything with him.
After an amazing lunch we hopped in long tail boats and headed off down the river. It was incredible! Houses built in the water, people bathing, you name it! We stopped at a temple that unfortunately (for me anyway) had a heap of caged animals, including a monkey. It was horrible. Tiny cages, sad looking animals and I was nearly in tears. Of course, several ignorant people in our group found the whole thing to be simply delightful. They poked the monkey, posed for photos and thought it was great. I can't begin to describe how mad I was. It's because of stupid, moronic tourists like us that people continue to cage wild animals for the entertainment of people, despite the fact it is unbearably cruel and inhumane. By this stage, the 2.5 (only some of the Green Parkers will understand who the 2.5 are, if anyone else is interested, email me!) were driving me insane. If I had had a gun, I am certain that one in particular would not be alive now. Especially when said person revealed that they found the monkey in the cage to be cute and funny. For the first time in a long time, I yelled at someone I hardly know. They however are clearly not smart enough to realise I was pissed as hell and they were lucky I hadn't physically forced them into a tiny little cage so we could all laugh and point while they were miserable. As we moved on from the awfulness, H.E.M complained that the 200 metre walk to the temple was too far. I was seething and he too copped a mouthful from me.
We got back into the boat, went onto another temple, back to the boat again and onto another temple... complete with real dead monk. That's right. There was a Madame Tussauds wax type figure and above it, the real thing. A dead body. Right there. Like nothing was wrong. Not covered, not mummified, just... there. After that little shock, we were finally off to the floating markets! The markets were awesome. 1.5 of the 2.5 still hadn't gotten the hint and we couldn't shake them for the night which totally sucked and at one point we actually tried to run away, but other than that, it was great! The markets are built on the water and some vendors literally sit in boats while they sell food, souvenirs, clothing etc. The crowdedness was getting a bit much and we decided to head away from the hustle and bustle while we ate. 1.5 followed. We sat, they followed. As I ate my lovely pineapple, I felt something on my arm. A big something. I jumped up and as I did, the worlds biggest cockroach climbed from my arm and up my torso. This thing was huge. It was a cockroach on steroids. Anna will forever be my hero after getting it off of me using her water bottle. We decided ice cream was in order and 1.5 followed again. We couldn't shake them. Until it was time to get back in the boats. We pulled a maneuver that the CIA would be proud of to lose our persistent shadows and it worked a treat! What followed was my idea of bliss. A nighttime boat ride (slightly scary at times)to see fireflies lighting up the trees like Christmas lights. AMAZING!!! The whole thing was like something from a Disney movie.
After a tiring day, we had a pretty quiet night and some of us were up early (by 7.30) to present gifts to a monk. Which was cool, if intimidating. We had to kneel down, offer him a gift of food, drink and some money and when we were all done, we knelt again as he "blessed" us. After that it was breakfast and back into the boat! Where I was again stuck with either H.E.M or another of the 2.5. One of whom was nearly "accidentally" pushed out of the boat at one point. I showed amazing powers of self-control, especially when the giant snake went swimming by! One push is all I would have needed! Seriously, I am a fairly tolerant person. And I'm not just being a bitch because the general opinion of the so-called 2.5 is unanimous. But after another amazing boat trip, lunch (which was one of the best meals I've had in ages) it was time to head home.
Today (Sunday) Anna, Lisa and I headed into Bangkok to do a bit of shopping and I finally got my tickets to the Michael Jackson movie "This Is It"! **Insert excited happy dance here**. The day was slightly dampened with two particularly uncomfortable staring incidents. I still don't get it. At one point, a grown woman pointed, stared and ran to get a friend so the two of them could point, stare and laugh at me together. Seriously. And all because I am pale with reddish hair. It's infuriating, uncomfortable and embarrassing. And inexplicable because we were in central Bangkok. Tourist central. It's not like these people haven't seen a white person before. Not to mention the serious lack of manners. Call me a typical tourist, I don't care if I'm in your country, that kind of behaviour is just wrong. We didn't stare, point or laugh directly at the Thai Albino we had seen earlier. We had a discreet glance, and then talked about him quietly, once he was totally out of earshot. And then I got stuck next to yet another adult starer on the hour long bus ride back to the dorm. She stared right at me the whole trip. Well, when she wasn't picking her nose and then cleaning her findings out from under her nails.
And on that note... It's time for me to hit the sack.
Hugs & love for you all!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Psycho Alert!
Where do I start with this one???
Since my last blog, I made it into immigration where I got to fully appreciate the way a cow feels when it's being sent to slaughter. While this won't put me off of eating beef etc, I will appreciate it just a little bit more. After the initial confusion and fighting our way through a crowd that I imagine was akin to one of people attempting to flee a war-torn country, the oh-so-lovely immigration officer simply crossed out the date on the existing stamp in my passport and wrote a new one. Seriously. It looks like I've done it myself. But I'm now legally able to stay in Thailand for another 90 days.
Friday night was a "Welcome Party" at one of the other dorms for all of the international students. Their dorm is much nicer than ours! It's huge and looks like a mansion that's just been turned into a dorm! And they have a kitchen with an oven! And no rats! (I don't know if I've mentioned the rat situation already, but I will get to it later!) But I didn't stay long, I had to be up early Saturday morning...
Saturday was (as most of you would know) AFL Grand Final day! Christine (who is from America), Regina (from Germany) and I headed into Sukhumvit in Bangkok to Bradman's Bar to watch the game. We had all decided that we would barrack for the Saints and I was so happy when we turned up to the pub to be greeted by a large Aussie dude, saw Geelong & St Kilda colours everywhere and was asked if I wanted a pie, pastie or sausage roll at half time! And I just about peed with excitement at the pre-match entertainment (Jimmy Barnes, Mark Seymour & John Farnham! Does it get any more Aussie??). I personally had a ball! First I discovered I was sitting next to a Port supporter who happened to be from Largs Bay (AS IF!), then we got talking to some nice Melbourne boys, the match was exciting (if a little disappointing) and I had an Aussie burger, Strongbows and got a meat pie at half time. An almost perfect GF day!
The highlight of my week however has been receiving a parcel from my mum. Consisting of all of the essentials, Twisties (in both flavours), Vegemite & Redskins! Oh and tampons. Which are impossible to buy here and when you do find them, pretty expensive. I now have so many that I'm sure I'll become some kind of dealer in the dorm. It has the potential to give me power... (Insert evil laugh here.) We've agreed that no matter how much fun we're having, having little things from home, even if it's just your regular brand of shampoo, can make life so much easier. Not to mention how much I love emails, text messages etc from home. Not to mention facebook! I'm saving my Twisties & Redskins for an emergency homesickness situation though, along with my stash of Tim Tams that I bought the other day (cost me a pretty penny too!).
The lowlight of my week... Hmmm... It's a tie between the rats (and some of the grotty people I live with) and the American Psycho I encountered this morning. Let's start with the rats. We have them living in our kitchen. They're huge. Bigger than my dog, and I'm not exaggerating. Although my dog is a Chihuahua and pretty small by dog standards. But by rat standards, these things are large. And I understand that I'm not living in Australia anymore however I find rodents in my kitchen unacceptable, no matter where I am. And the situation is not helped by those who think that because we have a maid who comes in the morning, it is okay to leave their dirty dishes and left over food on the kitchen sink. First of all, it's not the maid's job to clean up after you. That's not why she's employed. She's not a slave. And secondly, if you have a rat problem, leaving food around is asking for not just the one or two that we already have, but for an entire posse. And thirdly, it's just plain filthy. We're all adults. We can clean our dishes.
The American Psycho... I had to change classes (don't get me started on this nightmare.) and dropped one class, replacing it with another in the appropriate time frame (i.e. add/drop which was on Monday). I attended my new class today for the first time to screamed at by the Professor (I believe this is not an appropriate term for it implies a modicum of professional behaviour), told that I could not be in class as it was full. I questioned how it was full when there were only about 12 students in the class, he screamed some more, I told him to calm down and that I would go speak to the International Office, he screamed again and stormed down to the Office himself to yell at the staff. I was mortified. Long story short, Eugene Jones of Mahidol University International College (yes, I'm naming and shaming) is an obnoxious, arrogant ass who clearly hasn't gotten laid in years. It's the only explanation I have for his behaviour.
So now I have the thrill of selecting yet another class, making sure it's appropriate and getting my university to approve it. Something that seems to take them at least 4 days to do. The only problem is, I only have til 5pm tomorrow.
We're off to the Amphawa Floating Markets this Friday, staying overnight and coming back Saturday. Google Image Amphawa Floating Markets Fireflies and you'll see why I'm excited!
Again, feel free to shower me with messages of love and updates from home. And if any of you feel the need to send me a present (my birthday is approaching), please contact me to get my address!
Love and Hugs! xoxo
Since my last blog, I made it into immigration where I got to fully appreciate the way a cow feels when it's being sent to slaughter. While this won't put me off of eating beef etc, I will appreciate it just a little bit more. After the initial confusion and fighting our way through a crowd that I imagine was akin to one of people attempting to flee a war-torn country, the oh-so-lovely immigration officer simply crossed out the date on the existing stamp in my passport and wrote a new one. Seriously. It looks like I've done it myself. But I'm now legally able to stay in Thailand for another 90 days.
Friday night was a "Welcome Party" at one of the other dorms for all of the international students. Their dorm is much nicer than ours! It's huge and looks like a mansion that's just been turned into a dorm! And they have a kitchen with an oven! And no rats! (I don't know if I've mentioned the rat situation already, but I will get to it later!) But I didn't stay long, I had to be up early Saturday morning...
Saturday was (as most of you would know) AFL Grand Final day! Christine (who is from America), Regina (from Germany) and I headed into Sukhumvit in Bangkok to Bradman's Bar to watch the game. We had all decided that we would barrack for the Saints and I was so happy when we turned up to the pub to be greeted by a large Aussie dude, saw Geelong & St Kilda colours everywhere and was asked if I wanted a pie, pastie or sausage roll at half time! And I just about peed with excitement at the pre-match entertainment (Jimmy Barnes, Mark Seymour & John Farnham! Does it get any more Aussie??). I personally had a ball! First I discovered I was sitting next to a Port supporter who happened to be from Largs Bay (AS IF!), then we got talking to some nice Melbourne boys, the match was exciting (if a little disappointing) and I had an Aussie burger, Strongbows and got a meat pie at half time. An almost perfect GF day!
The highlight of my week however has been receiving a parcel from my mum. Consisting of all of the essentials, Twisties (in both flavours), Vegemite & Redskins! Oh and tampons. Which are impossible to buy here and when you do find them, pretty expensive. I now have so many that I'm sure I'll become some kind of dealer in the dorm. It has the potential to give me power... (Insert evil laugh here.) We've agreed that no matter how much fun we're having, having little things from home, even if it's just your regular brand of shampoo, can make life so much easier. Not to mention how much I love emails, text messages etc from home. Not to mention facebook! I'm saving my Twisties & Redskins for an emergency homesickness situation though, along with my stash of Tim Tams that I bought the other day (cost me a pretty penny too!).
The lowlight of my week... Hmmm... It's a tie between the rats (and some of the grotty people I live with) and the American Psycho I encountered this morning. Let's start with the rats. We have them living in our kitchen. They're huge. Bigger than my dog, and I'm not exaggerating. Although my dog is a Chihuahua and pretty small by dog standards. But by rat standards, these things are large. And I understand that I'm not living in Australia anymore however I find rodents in my kitchen unacceptable, no matter where I am. And the situation is not helped by those who think that because we have a maid who comes in the morning, it is okay to leave their dirty dishes and left over food on the kitchen sink. First of all, it's not the maid's job to clean up after you. That's not why she's employed. She's not a slave. And secondly, if you have a rat problem, leaving food around is asking for not just the one or two that we already have, but for an entire posse. And thirdly, it's just plain filthy. We're all adults. We can clean our dishes.
The American Psycho... I had to change classes (don't get me started on this nightmare.) and dropped one class, replacing it with another in the appropriate time frame (i.e. add/drop which was on Monday). I attended my new class today for the first time to screamed at by the Professor (I believe this is not an appropriate term for it implies a modicum of professional behaviour), told that I could not be in class as it was full. I questioned how it was full when there were only about 12 students in the class, he screamed some more, I told him to calm down and that I would go speak to the International Office, he screamed again and stormed down to the Office himself to yell at the staff. I was mortified. Long story short, Eugene Jones of Mahidol University International College (yes, I'm naming and shaming) is an obnoxious, arrogant ass who clearly hasn't gotten laid in years. It's the only explanation I have for his behaviour.
So now I have the thrill of selecting yet another class, making sure it's appropriate and getting my university to approve it. Something that seems to take them at least 4 days to do. The only problem is, I only have til 5pm tomorrow.
We're off to the Amphawa Floating Markets this Friday, staying overnight and coming back Saturday. Google Image Amphawa Floating Markets Fireflies and you'll see why I'm excited!
Again, feel free to shower me with messages of love and updates from home. And if any of you feel the need to send me a present (my birthday is approaching), please contact me to get my address!
Love and Hugs! xoxo
Thursday, September 24, 2009
See what I mean??
I just re-read what I had written and realised how cranky and unhappy it sounds! See what happens when I don't sleep??? Not that it's not pretty much true, but I have to point out that I am still having a blast and that I live with some pretty awesome people!!! It's not all bad! And I don't usually complain this much, I'm just so damn tired!
Maybe.
School's in. The trimester has started and from now until December, I will again be crazy study girl! So since my last post, we went and did our big "before school" shop so we could buy notebooks, pens etc and decided that we would go to a shopping centre we hadn't been to before and ended up at the biggest "supermarket" I have ever seen. These stores are like Kmart, Target, Coles and Woolworths all rolled into one. Highlight of the day: I'm casually going about my shopping, ignoring the not-so-discreet sideways glances and points when an elderly Thai woman comes strolling up to me, stands about 5 inches away from me and stares. And keeps staring. For a LONG time. I got the giggles and called Amber over yet still she stared. Then I started to get a little irritated. I can understand kids looking and pointing. But not an elderly woman. I don't like it and will probably never get used to it.
Monday was our first day of uni (check out the super snazzy uniform picture below)which I'm not ashamed to admit I was slightly apprehensive about. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that 2 hour lessons for every class are a total bitch. And there's no seminar/tutorial type thing. It's all lectures, which I so far have found to be... tedious. The lack of interaction means it's so easy to tune out, leading to a severe lack of actual learning.
To make matters worse, I have one full night sleep since I got here. This whole dorm/shared living isn't always ideal for sleeping and I can only imagine how much worse it would be if I had a roommate. And if you don't know what I'm like without sleep, ask anyone who knows me well. I need a solid 8 hours a night to be remotely pleasant to others and least 10 to function on a normal level. However in a relatively small space with this many people, sleep seems to be a rare occurrence. Doors are slammed closed constantly, lights are left on all night and showers are taken at the oddest hours (ie 2am). The constant state of tiredness and irritability has also created bouts of homesickness. (Not enough to make me want to come home yet though!)I also think it's possible that I could be the odd one out in the house. My years of partying, drinking, clubbing etc are pretty much behind me unless there's some sort of special occasion. I don't know if it's the age gap (I'm one of, if not, the oldest in the girls dorm)or it's just me but I have no desire to get drunk every other night, stay up til the wee hours of the morning and feel like crap the next day. I personally didn't come to Thailand to do that. I'm here to learn and see stuff, not have hangovers and memory loss. Maybe that makes me boring, or a nanna. Maybe I don't care! But, hey. That's just me. If you don't like it, too bad!
Anyway, its almost 11.30pm here and I'm going to attempt to get some sleep because I have to head into Bangkok to Immigration tomorrow. Super fun. And if it doesn't go well, you could be seeing me a lot sooner than February! Then it's back into Bangkok to watch the AFL Grand Final on Saturday at an Aussie Pub. I do actually wish I could come back home for it though. Just for one day. For a pie with sauce. Or a sausage in bread with sauce and onion. And an iced coffee that doesn't have so much sugar in it that it no longer tastes like coffee and instead tastes like sugary water. Thai people load EVERYTHING with sugar. It comes with the condiments like chili sauce and ketchup in restaurants. Even a loaf of bread is severely sweetened.
Wish for sleep for me!
Miss you all loads and loads!!! xoxo
Monday was our first day of uni (check out the super snazzy uniform picture below)which I'm not ashamed to admit I was slightly apprehensive about. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that 2 hour lessons for every class are a total bitch. And there's no seminar/tutorial type thing. It's all lectures, which I so far have found to be... tedious. The lack of interaction means it's so easy to tune out, leading to a severe lack of actual learning.
To make matters worse, I have one full night sleep since I got here. This whole dorm/shared living isn't always ideal for sleeping and I can only imagine how much worse it would be if I had a roommate. And if you don't know what I'm like without sleep, ask anyone who knows me well. I need a solid 8 hours a night to be remotely pleasant to others and least 10 to function on a normal level. However in a relatively small space with this many people, sleep seems to be a rare occurrence. Doors are slammed closed constantly, lights are left on all night and showers are taken at the oddest hours (ie 2am). The constant state of tiredness and irritability has also created bouts of homesickness. (Not enough to make me want to come home yet though!)I also think it's possible that I could be the odd one out in the house. My years of partying, drinking, clubbing etc are pretty much behind me unless there's some sort of special occasion. I don't know if it's the age gap (I'm one of, if not, the oldest in the girls dorm)or it's just me but I have no desire to get drunk every other night, stay up til the wee hours of the morning and feel like crap the next day. I personally didn't come to Thailand to do that. I'm here to learn and see stuff, not have hangovers and memory loss. Maybe that makes me boring, or a nanna. Maybe I don't care! But, hey. That's just me. If you don't like it, too bad!
Anyway, its almost 11.30pm here and I'm going to attempt to get some sleep because I have to head into Bangkok to Immigration tomorrow. Super fun. And if it doesn't go well, you could be seeing me a lot sooner than February! Then it's back into Bangkok to watch the AFL Grand Final on Saturday at an Aussie Pub. I do actually wish I could come back home for it though. Just for one day. For a pie with sauce. Or a sausage in bread with sauce and onion. And an iced coffee that doesn't have so much sugar in it that it no longer tastes like coffee and instead tastes like sugary water. Thai people load EVERYTHING with sugar. It comes with the condiments like chili sauce and ketchup in restaurants. Even a loaf of bread is severely sweetened.
Wish for sleep for me!
Miss you all loads and loads!!! xoxo
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Just Don't Think About It...
This blog was actually written on Friday, September 18th, however we have not had any internet access in the dorm since then either. Or water for a short time there... But that's another story all together! I seem to have "tricked" the internet into letting me use this site and am crossing my fingers and toes that it lets me post this!!!
UPDATE: My ankles have finally returned to me! I’ve chalked their return up to one of two things. First, they were mad at me for abusing and overworking them but then got over and came back, or I expelled that much fluid over the last 12 hours that my body just sucked it from wherever it could. More on that later. The good news is I no longer have cankles and look like a normal person again!
I also want to apologise if these postings are a little long-winded. I’ve decided that it’s better for me if I write as much as I can because, let’s face it, I’m getting old and my memory isn’t what it used to be! If I write a lot, it’s all recorded somewhere for me to read when the Alzheimer’s kicks in! And if you don’t like it, well, too bad really.
So we left yesterday (Thursday) for our beach break in Hua Hin which is about 3 hours away from our dorm by bus. We had found that we could catch an air-conditioned bus from Bangkok so we all made our way there to find ourselves on a bus that was from the 1970’s at best. And not even close to being air-conditioned. Suffice to say, we were pretty hot and sweaty when we finally arrived. For those of you, like me, have never heard of Hua Hin, it’s a coastal town that is famous for its night markets and known to be one of the favourite holiday spots for the Thai royal family. To make a long story short, we had lunch, wandered around, checked out the markets, had a cocktail or two and then made our way to sit on the beach and have a few drinks before heading back to the hotel around midnight. Around 4 a.m. I woke up violently ill. Shakes, vomiting, the works! So today, while everyone else spent the day at a beautiful beach, I became well acquainted with the bathroom and a rubbish bin. Lovely.
In between contorting my body into positions a gymnast would be proud of while writhing in pain and mad, panicked dashes to the toilet, and watching last weekend’s AFL matches (thank you Australia Network!) I started feeling majorly sorry for myself. I just wanted my bed, in my bedroom at home, my mum and my dog. Pathetic, really. So to snap myself out of it, I grabbed my notebook (thank you Mila!!!) and came up with the following lists (you will notice that a few of these are interrelated):
Observations About Thailand/Thai people:
1a – Thai people giggle a lot. Especially when they can’t understand what I’m saying. They don’t actually try to work out what I’m saying, they just giggle. Even the men.
2a – Thailand has an almost obscene amount of restaurants, food stalls, 7/11’s, cafés, coffee stands etc. I can’t quite work out if most of them sell the same, or similar, products and therefore, how they make any money and stay in business.
3a – There also seems to be a large number of petrol stations about the place.
4a – Thai people have a corn fetish. You can buy it on the cob from a street vendor, in bread, as a yoghurt or ice cream flavor, even in milk form!
5a –Some Thai people seem to be somewhat captivated by the way some of us “farang” (foreigners) look. Especially if we have blonde hair, or blue eyes.
Things I Love About Thailand:
1b – The fact that I can get a meal anywhere, anytime, for around $1.00 (see 2a).
2b – The ever-present state of total chaos. Cars driving on the wrong side of the road, people cramming into buses until there is not one spare inch of space etc.
3b – The kids! (see 1c!!)
4b – Premade Milo’s that are just so damn good frozen!
Things I Am Being Forced To Accept But Will Never Understand:
1c – Why I think Thai kids are adorable. I don’t like children (I don’t want to hold your baby) but for some reason, kids here just have to smile at me and I want to hug them. It’s quite unnerving for someone like me.
2c – The rat that is apparently living in our kitchen and the gecko that is living in my room. There is absolutely nothing I can do about either of these things, I don’t get why they’re here, and I just have to suck it up. It is things like this that have created our rule of “just don’t think about it”.
3c – That at any given moment of any day my nostrils can, and will be, assaulted by some kind of offensive odour. Like dried shrimp. Or some unidentified stench that just comes out of nowhere.
4c – The seemingly enormous gap between socio-economic groups. One second you have a brand new BMW or Audi driving past, the next it’s an entire family crammed onto a dodgy looking motorbike that may or may not have been used in World War II.
5c – The crazy manner in which people drive (see 2b!). Call me crazy, but I just don’t think it’s entirely safe to be driving a bus from the dark ages in the middle of two lanes, while going at least 120 kilometres an hour and talking on your mobile phone. And surely if you’re a cab driver who goes so fast that you’re occasionally airborne, you should probably be driving a car with seatbelts.
6c – The amount of attention that my lily-white skin, reddish hair, and blue eyes seem to get. Flattering at times, creepy at others. I understand that I am incredibly pale; however this in itself does not give you permission to stare, take photos or point. All of which I have experienced. I would be interested to see how people here would react to an Albino…
7c – How air-conditioning can mean one of two things: a barely-working system that is several decades’ old, or freezing cold. There is no middle ground.
Anyway, after making my little lists, I decided it was best to head back to my dorm to wallow further in self-pity at my run of bad luck (stolen phone, allergic reaction to anti malarial meds, idiot immigration officer at the airport who stamped my passport incorrectly meaning I have to take a trip to the Immigration Office in Bangkok next week, getting sick and not being able to go to the beach etc). On the bright side, I can have full use of the laundry facilities tomorrow and not be caught up in the rush when everyone else gets back! Therein lays the silver lining!
Loving and missing you all back at home!!! xoxo
UPDATE: My ankles have finally returned to me! I’ve chalked their return up to one of two things. First, they were mad at me for abusing and overworking them but then got over and came back, or I expelled that much fluid over the last 12 hours that my body just sucked it from wherever it could. More on that later. The good news is I no longer have cankles and look like a normal person again!
I also want to apologise if these postings are a little long-winded. I’ve decided that it’s better for me if I write as much as I can because, let’s face it, I’m getting old and my memory isn’t what it used to be! If I write a lot, it’s all recorded somewhere for me to read when the Alzheimer’s kicks in! And if you don’t like it, well, too bad really.
So we left yesterday (Thursday) for our beach break in Hua Hin which is about 3 hours away from our dorm by bus. We had found that we could catch an air-conditioned bus from Bangkok so we all made our way there to find ourselves on a bus that was from the 1970’s at best. And not even close to being air-conditioned. Suffice to say, we were pretty hot and sweaty when we finally arrived. For those of you, like me, have never heard of Hua Hin, it’s a coastal town that is famous for its night markets and known to be one of the favourite holiday spots for the Thai royal family. To make a long story short, we had lunch, wandered around, checked out the markets, had a cocktail or two and then made our way to sit on the beach and have a few drinks before heading back to the hotel around midnight. Around 4 a.m. I woke up violently ill. Shakes, vomiting, the works! So today, while everyone else spent the day at a beautiful beach, I became well acquainted with the bathroom and a rubbish bin. Lovely.
In between contorting my body into positions a gymnast would be proud of while writhing in pain and mad, panicked dashes to the toilet, and watching last weekend’s AFL matches (thank you Australia Network!) I started feeling majorly sorry for myself. I just wanted my bed, in my bedroom at home, my mum and my dog. Pathetic, really. So to snap myself out of it, I grabbed my notebook (thank you Mila!!!) and came up with the following lists (you will notice that a few of these are interrelated):
Observations About Thailand/Thai people:
1a – Thai people giggle a lot. Especially when they can’t understand what I’m saying. They don’t actually try to work out what I’m saying, they just giggle. Even the men.
2a – Thailand has an almost obscene amount of restaurants, food stalls, 7/11’s, cafés, coffee stands etc. I can’t quite work out if most of them sell the same, or similar, products and therefore, how they make any money and stay in business.
3a – There also seems to be a large number of petrol stations about the place.
4a – Thai people have a corn fetish. You can buy it on the cob from a street vendor, in bread, as a yoghurt or ice cream flavor, even in milk form!
5a –Some Thai people seem to be somewhat captivated by the way some of us “farang” (foreigners) look. Especially if we have blonde hair, or blue eyes.
Things I Love About Thailand:
1b – The fact that I can get a meal anywhere, anytime, for around $1.00 (see 2a).
2b – The ever-present state of total chaos. Cars driving on the wrong side of the road, people cramming into buses until there is not one spare inch of space etc.
3b – The kids! (see 1c!!)
4b – Premade Milo’s that are just so damn good frozen!
Things I Am Being Forced To Accept But Will Never Understand:
1c – Why I think Thai kids are adorable. I don’t like children (I don’t want to hold your baby) but for some reason, kids here just have to smile at me and I want to hug them. It’s quite unnerving for someone like me.
2c – The rat that is apparently living in our kitchen and the gecko that is living in my room. There is absolutely nothing I can do about either of these things, I don’t get why they’re here, and I just have to suck it up. It is things like this that have created our rule of “just don’t think about it”.
3c – That at any given moment of any day my nostrils can, and will be, assaulted by some kind of offensive odour. Like dried shrimp. Or some unidentified stench that just comes out of nowhere.
4c – The seemingly enormous gap between socio-economic groups. One second you have a brand new BMW or Audi driving past, the next it’s an entire family crammed onto a dodgy looking motorbike that may or may not have been used in World War II.
5c – The crazy manner in which people drive (see 2b!). Call me crazy, but I just don’t think it’s entirely safe to be driving a bus from the dark ages in the middle of two lanes, while going at least 120 kilometres an hour and talking on your mobile phone. And surely if you’re a cab driver who goes so fast that you’re occasionally airborne, you should probably be driving a car with seatbelts.
6c – The amount of attention that my lily-white skin, reddish hair, and blue eyes seem to get. Flattering at times, creepy at others. I understand that I am incredibly pale; however this in itself does not give you permission to stare, take photos or point. All of which I have experienced. I would be interested to see how people here would react to an Albino…
7c – How air-conditioning can mean one of two things: a barely-working system that is several decades’ old, or freezing cold. There is no middle ground.
Anyway, after making my little lists, I decided it was best to head back to my dorm to wallow further in self-pity at my run of bad luck (stolen phone, allergic reaction to anti malarial meds, idiot immigration officer at the airport who stamped my passport incorrectly meaning I have to take a trip to the Immigration Office in Bangkok next week, getting sick and not being able to go to the beach etc). On the bright side, I can have full use of the laundry facilities tomorrow and not be caught up in the rush when everyone else gets back! Therein lays the silver lining!
Loving and missing you all back at home!!! xoxo
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Missing: One Set Of Ankles. Reward Offered.
Ok before I start getting into what I’ve been up to for the past few days, I need to ask if anyone has seen my ankles?? They’ve been M.I.A since the second day I was here. Now instead I have cankles. Coupled with my pasty white skin and searing red sunburn, this does not make for a terribly attractive Sharna. So if you have seen said ankles, please let me know ASAP!
We had our Orientation Day on Monday, which was as you’d expect any university orientation day to be. We selected classes, had a “survival” Thai lesson (I’m so mad that I can’t take a Thai language class and get credit for it at Adelaide!), bought our Mahidol Uni belts and pins (yes, that’s right.), had a buffet lunch and got a tour of the campus. Well, some of it anyway. It’s actually so big they have these little tram things to take you from one building to the other… And they have so many clubs that you can join! I’m thinking I may need to join the “Volunteer Club”! It’s an entire club based on volunteer work in rural kinds of areas in Thailand!
Monday night a group of us went to an Indian restaurant in Bangkok, thanks to Wil one of the guys who live in our dorm who is actually from Thailand. It was freaking amazing. Fantastic food, including chocolate naan, apple flavoured sheesha and then jelly shots in syringes! Not to mention the restaurant itself was so cool and they had Jenga and Connect 4 on the tables!
Today (Tuesday) all of the international students went on a field trip to the Ancient City, which is a huge area of land with replicas of temples, monuments etc from all over Thailand, which we thought was a completely random idea. It turned out to be pretty cool though, especially when we figured out that one of the temple things was used for the final catwalk in America’s Next Top Model, season 6! There were also a ton of Thai school kids at the City who found us “farang” (foreigners) to be highly entertaining. They kept waving and laughing at us. Now, those who know me know that I do not like children. Ever. I just don’t. But I wanted to take some of these one’s home! They kept asking my name and telling me I was beautiful! Certainly good for the ego. I think there is a distinct possibility that I was the whitest person they had ever met, which might explain their fascination. Suffice to say that after a whole day in the sun (including another awesome buffet lunch. I’m going to get so fat here) I got burnt. Again. It’s not too bad though and I think I should expect a lot more cases of sunburn over the next few months.
Tomorrow we’re off to Bangkok to buy our school uniforms (I can hear you all giggling from here) and a whole bunch of us are going to spend a few days at the beach at Hua Hin before classes start so we’re catching a bus down there on Thursday!!
Hope everyone back at home is missing me as much as I miss them!!! (This, admittedly at times, is not much. I’m having way too much fun!)
Hugs and love xoxo
We had our Orientation Day on Monday, which was as you’d expect any university orientation day to be. We selected classes, had a “survival” Thai lesson (I’m so mad that I can’t take a Thai language class and get credit for it at Adelaide!), bought our Mahidol Uni belts and pins (yes, that’s right.), had a buffet lunch and got a tour of the campus. Well, some of it anyway. It’s actually so big they have these little tram things to take you from one building to the other… And they have so many clubs that you can join! I’m thinking I may need to join the “Volunteer Club”! It’s an entire club based on volunteer work in rural kinds of areas in Thailand!
Monday night a group of us went to an Indian restaurant in Bangkok, thanks to Wil one of the guys who live in our dorm who is actually from Thailand. It was freaking amazing. Fantastic food, including chocolate naan, apple flavoured sheesha and then jelly shots in syringes! Not to mention the restaurant itself was so cool and they had Jenga and Connect 4 on the tables!
Today (Tuesday) all of the international students went on a field trip to the Ancient City, which is a huge area of land with replicas of temples, monuments etc from all over Thailand, which we thought was a completely random idea. It turned out to be pretty cool though, especially when we figured out that one of the temple things was used for the final catwalk in America’s Next Top Model, season 6! There were also a ton of Thai school kids at the City who found us “farang” (foreigners) to be highly entertaining. They kept waving and laughing at us. Now, those who know me know that I do not like children. Ever. I just don’t. But I wanted to take some of these one’s home! They kept asking my name and telling me I was beautiful! Certainly good for the ego. I think there is a distinct possibility that I was the whitest person they had ever met, which might explain their fascination. Suffice to say that after a whole day in the sun (including another awesome buffet lunch. I’m going to get so fat here) I got burnt. Again. It’s not too bad though and I think I should expect a lot more cases of sunburn over the next few months.
Tomorrow we’re off to Bangkok to buy our school uniforms (I can hear you all giggling from here) and a whole bunch of us are going to spend a few days at the beach at Hua Hin before classes start so we’re catching a bus down there on Thursday!!
Hope everyone back at home is missing me as much as I miss them!!! (This, admittedly at times, is not much. I’m having way too much fun!)
Hugs and love xoxo
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
So here I am in my dorm room in Bangkok at 12.25am unable to sleep. For the second night in a row. I’ve been here for almost 24 hours now and have learnt so much already. For example, air conditioning and ear plugs are a god-send. Seriously. It’s so hot and muggy here and the air conditioning in my room is so loud. So you can see why I appreciate the ear plugs. I have learnt that I have not packed adequately for this weather. At all. Also, I have learnt that Thai people have no concept of personal space. None at all. You should see how many people they can cram onto a bus. And you should be one of those people crammed onto that bus. Anyway…
So I left Adelaide yesterday (was it only yesterday???) accommpanied by much fanfare from my family. Totally embarrassing and I thank you all for that. I arrived in Sydney, had a while to spare and then caught the long flight. For those of you who don’t know, I hate to fly. HATE IT! So the idea of a 9 hour flight was less than appealing. And at Sydney airport, I got one of those “holy crap, what am I doing” moments. It passed when I realised I got the aisle seat I had requested and found that I was in a row of 4, with an older guy on the other aisle and no-one in the two middle seats. Score! And then down the aisle comes the lady….with the baby. Great. 9 hours + 1 screaming baby = suck-fest 2009. Needless to say, I was stoked when she asked to move to another seat. About 4 hours into the flight, I realised that older guy in the aisle seat was a nose-picking pervert. I would look over at him to see him either staring at me or digging for gold. Nice.
I arrived in Bangkok after my not-so-fun flight around 11.15pm local time, tired and smelling like airplane and with no idea where to go. Eventually I found my driver (not dressed in a safari suit as I had been promised), 2 Canadian girls, 1 Canadian boy and an American girl waiting and we were ready to go! Stepping out of that airport was like being slapped in the face by suffocating heat. We all looked at each other and just cracked up. I seriously did not realise the heat would be like this! It’s terrible. Everytime you move, you sweat. Meanwhile the Thai people look fresh as daisies.
It turned out I was the only one who had been picked up at that time that was staying at my dorm (Green Park Home) and I was dropped off first. The driver didn’t speak any english and neither did the security guy that greeted me with a bow, handed me a key, let me up three flights of stairs, opened my bedroom door, bowed and walked away. Welcome to Mahidol University International College! Thank god I scored my own room and don’t have to have a roommate. And I will thank every god throughout history that my room is airconditioned. Even if it will end up costing me a small fortune in electricity charges.
This morning I met some of my dorm mates, Danielle from Canada and Isabel, Svenja and Regina who are all from Germany. Danielle’s dad is over here to help settle her in and do some business so she spent the day with him and the German girls and I decided to take the bus into Bangkok, which is about an hour away by bus. We caught the sky train to Siam and went to the Siam Paragon (look it up. AMAZING, I fell in love), grabbed some Peri Peri chicken and fries for lunch (not very Thai but the damn spiciest burger you’ve ever had) and wandered around shopping for bits and pieces. Then the torrential rain hit (rain that we in Adelaide would go to war for), the streets flooded and everything was soggy and even stinkier than before. Lovely.
On the way back home, we were crammed onto the bus like sardines or cows being herded to slaughter for an hour. Yes, an hour. Standing. After walking around Bangkok for nearly 10 hours. We finally made it back to our dorm only to discover my mobile phone had been stolen right out of my handbag. I tried calling it frantically (those who know me well know my attachment to communication abilities), made several almost tearful Skype attempts home, and then decided that at least I still had my purse, my cards, my cash and my fabulous ipod and headed downstairs to discover new dorm mates! 3 more girls from America and one from Australia!! Picked me right up! Finally, an Aussie!!! And she gave me a tiny tub of Vegemite!
So tomorrow its off to Tesco Lotus (the supermarket) to stock up on food for the week, hopefully get some fresh fruit, new pillows (ours are enormous, too big to sleep on) and food that doesn’t come from the 7/11.
So far, it’s been a pretty interesting introduction to Thailand. Stolen phone, heat, humidity, but seemingly awesome dorm mates!!
I will upload photos when I have some more and will not ramble half as much next time!!!
I miss and love all of you back home!!! Feel free to shower me with emails, facebook messages etc to make me feel a little better about the theft until I manage to get a new phone!! xoxoxoxo
So I left Adelaide yesterday (was it only yesterday???) accommpanied by much fanfare from my family. Totally embarrassing and I thank you all for that. I arrived in Sydney, had a while to spare and then caught the long flight. For those of you who don’t know, I hate to fly. HATE IT! So the idea of a 9 hour flight was less than appealing. And at Sydney airport, I got one of those “holy crap, what am I doing” moments. It passed when I realised I got the aisle seat I had requested and found that I was in a row of 4, with an older guy on the other aisle and no-one in the two middle seats. Score! And then down the aisle comes the lady….with the baby. Great. 9 hours + 1 screaming baby = suck-fest 2009. Needless to say, I was stoked when she asked to move to another seat. About 4 hours into the flight, I realised that older guy in the aisle seat was a nose-picking pervert. I would look over at him to see him either staring at me or digging for gold. Nice.
I arrived in Bangkok after my not-so-fun flight around 11.15pm local time, tired and smelling like airplane and with no idea where to go. Eventually I found my driver (not dressed in a safari suit as I had been promised), 2 Canadian girls, 1 Canadian boy and an American girl waiting and we were ready to go! Stepping out of that airport was like being slapped in the face by suffocating heat. We all looked at each other and just cracked up. I seriously did not realise the heat would be like this! It’s terrible. Everytime you move, you sweat. Meanwhile the Thai people look fresh as daisies.
It turned out I was the only one who had been picked up at that time that was staying at my dorm (Green Park Home) and I was dropped off first. The driver didn’t speak any english and neither did the security guy that greeted me with a bow, handed me a key, let me up three flights of stairs, opened my bedroom door, bowed and walked away. Welcome to Mahidol University International College! Thank god I scored my own room and don’t have to have a roommate. And I will thank every god throughout history that my room is airconditioned. Even if it will end up costing me a small fortune in electricity charges.
This morning I met some of my dorm mates, Danielle from Canada and Isabel, Svenja and Regina who are all from Germany. Danielle’s dad is over here to help settle her in and do some business so she spent the day with him and the German girls and I decided to take the bus into Bangkok, which is about an hour away by bus. We caught the sky train to Siam and went to the Siam Paragon (look it up. AMAZING, I fell in love), grabbed some Peri Peri chicken and fries for lunch (not very Thai but the damn spiciest burger you’ve ever had) and wandered around shopping for bits and pieces. Then the torrential rain hit (rain that we in Adelaide would go to war for), the streets flooded and everything was soggy and even stinkier than before. Lovely.
On the way back home, we were crammed onto the bus like sardines or cows being herded to slaughter for an hour. Yes, an hour. Standing. After walking around Bangkok for nearly 10 hours. We finally made it back to our dorm only to discover my mobile phone had been stolen right out of my handbag. I tried calling it frantically (those who know me well know my attachment to communication abilities), made several almost tearful Skype attempts home, and then decided that at least I still had my purse, my cards, my cash and my fabulous ipod and headed downstairs to discover new dorm mates! 3 more girls from America and one from Australia!! Picked me right up! Finally, an Aussie!!! And she gave me a tiny tub of Vegemite!
So tomorrow its off to Tesco Lotus (the supermarket) to stock up on food for the week, hopefully get some fresh fruit, new pillows (ours are enormous, too big to sleep on) and food that doesn’t come from the 7/11.
So far, it’s been a pretty interesting introduction to Thailand. Stolen phone, heat, humidity, but seemingly awesome dorm mates!!
I will upload photos when I have some more and will not ramble half as much next time!!!
I miss and love all of you back home!!! Feel free to shower me with emails, facebook messages etc to make me feel a little better about the theft until I manage to get a new phone!! xoxoxoxo
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Should I be packing instead of blogging??
A simple question really. The answer, much more complicated. Only room for 3 pairs of shoes. 1 pair of sneakers, 1 pair of school shoes and 1 pair of thongs. Uh oh... For a girl with as many shoes as I have, this could be a problem!
Monday, September 7, 2009
3 More Sleeps!
So... With just 3 sleeps to go, I've decided to blog about my adventures (or lack there of). If I can work out how to blog, and if I don't lose enthusiasm for this whole blogging thing!!
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