Random Observations on the Land of the Thai

Note: The opinions expressed in this blog are mostly based on casual observation and are probably stereotypes that are not accurately reflective of the Thai people. Never the less, the observations have been made.

I’ve been in Thailand for some time now and I’ve found some thoughts about Thailand drifting in my head, so I thought I’d write them down.

Thailand is disorganized: My number one thought is how disorganized Thailand really is. It honestly amazes me when buses and planes take off near the time they’re supposed to. Even our university, which is supposed to be modeled in Western-style, is incredibly disorganized. No one ever seems to know where anyone is or where you’re supposed to go for something. You’ll often receive differing instructions on things from the same people. Businesses and roads seem haphazardly placed with necessity often overriding practicality, with frequently poor results. All in all, it seems like everyone has a general idea of how things are supposed to work, but they lack the abilities to execute on those general ideas.

No matter how much Thai you speak, every Thai person thinks they can sucker you: One thing I always figured was that, for the first few months, Thai people would try to abuse me and my wallet, scamming me (or at least attempting to), until they recognized that I have been here for a while and they’d back off. Not so. Despite being able to carry out most transactions in Thai and being capable of carrying on broken-Thai conversations with Thai people, I find that most people still assume that I’m fresh off the plane and ready to be scammed. I’m still finding taxi drivers harassing me despite being able to tell them that I don’t need rides. The stall owners in markets still try to overcharge me for everything even though I can negotiate prices in Thai to them. It was pretty fun for a while, but I wish lately that they’d just let me be. I recently took a survey in school for some kid’s class that asked me “how should tour companies improve” and I said “stop trying to get me to buy shit, I don’t have money either.” That should show you how frequently this problem occurs.

In MUIC, the school is mostly a joke: despite the prestige that surrounds MUIC, my college here, school is a silly distraction in Thailand. I’m doing well in my class despite poor attendance, as shown by my typically exemplary marks that I earned on all my midterms. Thai kids seem to struggle more, but I think the language barrier (all classes are taught in English) is the biggest cause of their problems. I don’t have any books for any of my classes. I barely go to one of them since the teacher never takes attendance and the midterm was easy enough that I honestly laughed out loud when I read the questions over. Thai kids are especially terrible. They’ll frequently talk while the teacher is talking and many of them never seem to do readings. Teachers never discipline the Thai kids either, which discourages me from putting in any effort, which is something new that I don’t really like. I honestly wish that I had gone to a different university here in the hopes of actually learning something, but with 2 weeks of classes left, it’s unlikely that can happen.

WAKE UP

Anthony woke me up at 8:30 and as soon as my eyes opened, I knew something was horrendously wrong. My head felt like it had been sledgehammered the entire night and my stomach felt even worse than that. Anthony invited me to go up another mountain with him to visit a temple, but I declined and buried my face into my pillow, hoping that any additional sleep that I might catch before I had to leave Chang Mai might take away the pain in my skull. But, once awoken, my stomach decided that sleep was not in the cards for me. Over the next three hours before I had to drag myself out of my room I was between the bathroom and my bed, throwing up horrendously and struggling to understand what the hell had happened to me. I knew that I needed to get myself in shape and get packing, so I tried my best to put aside how I felt and pack up my things and get out of the room. While packing, I kept forgetting what I was doing, losing my train of thought. I was incredibly, incredibly tired and it was hard to focus my eyes on any one thing for a long period of time.

Finally, I got the good sense to check the painkillers. My eyes instantly found the "overdose" section and, despite following the instructions to the letter, somehow I had had an adverse reaction to the painkillers and was now suffering from an overdose on them, or at least a very bad reaction. I somehow managed (in between throwing up any stomach acid that my body dared accumulate in my stomach) to get myself up and out the door. I handed in the key, walked down the street to the store where I bought some water and crackers, and headed to the Chang Mai airport. I sat on a bench with my eyes closed, trying not to look at any person, place, or thing for very long because it gave me an incredibly sick stomach if I did. Anthony finally arrived and I explained my horrid condition to him and he did his best to, once again, take care of me.

We used my leg injury as an excuse to get on the plane before the long line of people that had been standing waiting before us. I finally got some of the sleep my body so desperately craved. I got off the airport and after a long hobble, we got a taxi. I slept through the ride in an effort to not throw up in it, but mostly, it was a semi-conscious blur.

By the time I got back, I felt a little better. Good enough at least to go put some food in my stomach. I realized how thirsty and hungry I was when I ate, but I took it easy to make sure it stayed down. By the end of the night, I felt at about 70%. My knee hurt, my head hurt, and my stomach hurt after an abusive weekend, but I realized how significantly better I felt than in the morning and greatly appreciated that feeling.

I woke up Monday morning still feeling a little out of it, so I took the day and slept for most of it. By the time I got to moving again, I felt alert, awake, and recovered. Ready to take on the world again.

And thus, this concludes my journey to Chang Mai.

Climbing Down the Mountain...

One thing Anthony and I noticed as we walked through the village was the plethora of chickens. Everywhere, chickens roamed freely. No wonder bird flu is spreading so easily in this region, half of the kids went barefoot, presumably walking around with bird shit all over their feet.

There's never been a moment in my life where I've seriously contemplated killing an animal. Humans, maybe, but never animals. I really enjoy eating them, but I've never been one for slaughter and I'm more than content that other people kill the chickens that we press into dinosaur shapes and sell frozen in the stores. But, when my sleep was disturbed in the wee hours of the morning by the constant chirping, clucking, and cackling of the hundreds of chickens that constituted a significant part of the diet of the local villagers, I seriously considered leaving our little bedroom, walking outside, and chucking as many of those idiotic birds into the darkness of the jungle (where they would hopefully be devoured by hungry predators) as I could. I think, as a species, that chickens should have gone extinct eons ago. They're dumb, slow, they can't fly, and they make enough noise to attract every hungry predator within earshot. If humans hadn't discovered how delicious they were I seriously doubt that chickens would exist today.

After dragging myself off the floor/bed, I ate some toast and we began our trek. The skies had opened for the entire night and let loose torrents of hard rain, so the entire trail was slick and trekking was rough. Most everyone slipped at least once. Finally, after a hard, sweaty walk down the mud-soaked trail, we reached a waterfall. I was one of the last ones to arrive, having stayed with Rainey, a Peruvian who was struggling to keep up and falling frequently on the muddy path. At one point during our private trek, he fell and slid down a hill. As I was telling him in the best Spanish that I could muster that he needed a shower, I proceeded to fall myself.

Even with my late arrival, I was the first one to brave the waterfall. My God, was it awesome to stand in the falls. Gallons and gallons of water cascaded down over the cliffs into my back. It kind of hurt, but at the same time, it felt magnificent. The water was cold, no doubt, but the water helped me recover some of the energy lost from the hard trek and the lack of sleep. It was sad that the water wasn't deep enough to swim in, but I still enjoyed getting pummeled by the power of water and gravity.

Almost immediately after we left the falls, I decided to fall. My right leg slipped and a rock kindly caught my knee and broke my fall. My left knee cap begrudgingly took the entire weight of the fall and immediately swelled up and turned strange colors in response. Then I had to trek for about 2KM out of the jungle. Fortunately I had befriended Rainey because he stayed with me the entire trek, helping me get through rough spots. I was incredibly happy when we reached the white water rafting camp and even happier when Rony said I didn't need to go and could ride back in the truck he was taking. Once everyone got down river, we ate lunch and headed back to Chang Mai. Amazingly, I rode in the back of a truck and didn't puke.

Once I got back to the city, I followed everyone's advice and went to a pharmacy and got some painkillers. I was incredibly happy to have something that would take the pain out my hobbling and probably help me sleep well. I took a couple of the pills as the instructions said and finished reading The Things They Carried. After an hour with no improvement, I took a third pill, as the instructions said I could and, within 15 minutes, I felt very comfortable. Anthony and I chatted a bit, but soon the pillow beckoned me. I closed my eyes, not realizing that this would be the last time I felt pleasant for nearly 24 hours.

And so, the trek begins...

Trekking was quite the unexpected adventure. To say that Anthony and I were unprepared is an understatement. Essentially, we both expected an easy, touristy trek through some trees and then a campout at a village - the kind of stuff you find back in the States. Maybe some long walks, but nothing arduous.

We were wrong.

We left the hotel at 9:00 AM. We were introduced to several more travel companions. The group was a fairly respectable representation of the Western world - a Brit, a Dutch couple, a German couple, Anthony and I representing America, two Peruvians, and Rony, our zany Thai guide. We drove to the base camp, which took a little more than an hour. We were sitting in the back of a truck and naturally, I got very sick and threw up out of the back of it. I can't handle Thai vehicles very well.

When we got where we were going, we discovered that we started the trek with an elephant ride. I rode with Daniel, the Brit, and we fed the elephant some of the apple I had in my pocket and talked for a bit. He was a very likable guy, as I have found most British people to be. Never complained about America or our President or our politics. Just kept it friendly. The seat on the elephant was a little wobbly and I had to resist the temptation to hurl.

I decided to push through the feeling and bust ass up the mountain. I decided to chat it up with Rony and was very glad I did. He told me some stories (WARNING: NOT FOR CHILDREN. SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH). He told me many stories from his 47 year life. Rony loved sex more than most people loved breathing. His sexual appetite was insatiable and he claimed to have had sex with "at least 1000" different women. His personal preference was for light-skinned 16 year old girls (which, as disturbing as that may sound, is legal under Thai law as the age of consent is 15 in Thailand) for reasons I won't get into. Despite his preference, he wasn't picky and had even been with a few ladyboys, "but only when drunk," which apparently makes him in the clear, or something. Rony knew every club in Chang Mai where a man could fill his lonely hands and the cost to fill those hands in each club. Most of the time, when I hear stories like that, I take them with a grain of salt, but as far as I can tell, Rony was as close to a real-deal man-slut as possible.

Rony was an experienced trekker. Keeping up with him was harder than I thought it would be. We eventually got to a little hut in the middle of a corn field. Everyone continued on, but I stayed behind and relaxed. I twas incredibly peaceful, despite the strange flying bugs and my vomiting (at least 7 times so far in the Chang Mai trip!). I then made my way slowly up the trail to the village, going at my own pace and taking lots of time to take in the sights of the surrounding, beautiful area.

Once I got to the village, I took a cold, incredibly refreshing shower. Anthony and I explored a bit and got involved in a game of soccer with some locals. They were much better than me, but that's not surprising. We walked through the village and I felt like an American G.I. in Vietnam, wandering through an incredibly strange and foreign place. Then a little girl jabbed me with a stick in the leg and I snapped out of my daydream.

We went back to the hut where village ladies gave us incredibly cheap massages. We then ate a feast of chicken with yellow curry and rice. Rony played some games with us, but by that point, we were all ready for bed. We set up our mats on the hard floors of the hut and settled in for what promised to be a rough night. I fell asleep fast, but I would awoken soon...

The Second Day in Chang Mai...

Anthony and I had originally intended to trek on our second day in Chang Mai, but that just didn't happen. We had stayed out far too late and were exhausted when we awoke at 8:00 AM to get ready. I was also INCREDIBLY HUNGOVER. On pure desire to not have to trek with my hangover, I somehow managed to run to the hotel's reception area, muttered something about being sick, and got the trip postponed. This was an incredibly feat considering that once I successfully disrobed and snuggled back into my bed, I didn't really get up until 2:00 PM (except to get sick five times). Anthony fortunately went off and explored the city on his own and I didn't feel as bad as I would have if he had waited for my recovery.

By around 4:00 PM I had managed to get a shower in and put clothes on. I was pretty hungry, so Anthony and I went out to explore and I bought some lackluster French fries to hold me over. We took to the streets, crawling through book stores and stumbling into strange happenings. We found some guys practicing Thai boxing and watched them spar. Then we noticed the roof of a nearby mosque and decided to check that out. After wandering through alleys and struggling to find it, we finally made our way in for a very short trip. We felt very disruptive and, unlike the Buddhist temples which are either incredibly welcoming or incredibly vacant, there were men walking through them and they didn't appear to be particularly happy to see us, so after making a small donation, we got the hell out of there.

For dinner, we ate Indian food that left us very full and satisfied. I've only ate Indian food twice now, but I can safely say that I like it more than Thai food. It's got more substance, more flavor without being spicy, isn't all about rice (which I'm sick of at this point), and leaves you feeling like you actually ate (I find I'm never very full after Thai food, just tired of eating it). We continued walking through Chang Mai and as the bars opened, more and more Thai bar girls started cat-calling us. Instead of going out, Anthony and I decided to spend the night in reading and relaxing before our trek in the morning.

Anthony and I decided this week to head up north to Chang Mai...

Arriving in Chang Mai after a hunger-filled plane ride, Anthony and I thought we would be smarter than the average farang and cheat the taxi drivers by asking to go to a temple that was near the hotels we were interested in. We thought we were getting a good deal and saving some baht, but it turns out there are two temples with the same name in the city. We picked the wrong one and ended up in this massive forest monastery on the outskirts of town. We explored it a bit since we were there, but were starving at that point so we found a little place to eat near the monastery. The food was good and amazingly, for the first time in all of Thailand, we were undercharged for something. Impressive, to say the least. So, we consulted the Lonely Planet and found another temple that was near the places we wanted to say and asked a Tuk-Tuk driver to take us there and we were off on another adventure.

We got out and tried to get our bearings. Once we had an idea of where we wanted to go, we started on foot...but in the wrong direction, unknown to us. We wandered lost and bewildered through backroads, going through countless streets and alleys trying to find a landmark to figure out where the hell we were. We didn't really succeed, but we eventually found a guesthouse mentioned in the Lonely Planet and asked for directions. Turns out, there were also two guesthouses with the same name in Chang Mai, and of course, this was the incredibly expensive one, but the lady was friendly and gave us directions to the cheap one. We finally found the real "Smile House" and got a room for 1/3rd the price of the "fake" Smile House.

That night, Anthony and I went to eat dinner at a Thai place we chose simply because we looked at an outside menu and the workers setup a table for us and we felt awkward. I had spaghetti in a delicious Thai style. Then we grabbed some Beer Chang and headed for the Night Bizarre to haggle drunkenly for things that we didn't really want. Many of the vendors were fun and many more appreciated the Chang in our hands. After buying things, we headed back to the Smile House. Along the way, I saw a "club" full of Thai hookers, so once the Tuk-Tuk stopped, I ran back and took a picture despite the crowd of hookers and their pimps screaming "NO!" at me. After that, I sprinted away in a drunken, terrified haste.

Once we were all-together, Anthony and I headed into the Tiger, a bar near our hotel. Darts, a live band, and pool seemed like a nice way to spend a Wednesday night. I proceeded to drink my third bottle of Beer Chang on the evening. It only takes 2 to get me drunk, so by this point, I was DRUNK.

Anthony and I soon grew tired of the bar. No one was particularly friendly and when the band stopped, the offered to play some Jay-Z for us, but then couldn't find the CD. We left and headed to a 7-11 to get water and at this point, the heavy consumption caught up with me. As we walked back, I began puking. Not normal puking, the type of puking where you're so drunk you don't even stop to acknowledge that what you're doing isn't normal. I just continued walking and carrying on a conversation with Anthony, using the time where I was supposed to listen to what he was saying as pauses to puke as I walked down the street.

Not a pretty image, but my first day in Chang Mai was an adventure, to say the least.

Adventures on Ko Sichang

Anthony and I decided that it was time to take a break from our busy coursework – right now, I’m listening to my iPod, Anthony is playing his DS, and our most taxing decision is whether or not to watch a movie tonight or an episode of 24 – and head to an island for a weekend of relaxation. We decided to take a break from big islands like Ko Chang, where we’d previously gone, and head to a small island a bit closer to Bangkok. We decided we’d also be a bit more sociable and headed to the island with two of the guys in our house, Big Justin and Canadian Justin.

We arrived at the bus station a little later than we thought we would and ended up on some random bus heading in the same direction. We had no idea what was going on and signs weren’t good when the bus pulled over so that one of the employees could get a beer and a smoke break in ten minutes after we had left the bus station. Fortunately, Big Justin also needed a beer break and proceeded to purchase three BIG Beer Chang and for the rest of the trip got hammered on the bus because you can drink anywhere in Thailand (except on the SkyTrain, which is classy). This bus wasn’t quite all-together. We stopped for a bathroom break and due to some difficulties in understanding the logistics of a squatter on my part, I took a bit longer and the bus nearly left without me.

After many unnecessary stops and lots of loud horn honking (with not one, but two horns), our bus made it to Siracha, the port town that would bring us into Ko Sichang. Unfortunately, we had missed the ferry. Fortunately, Big Justin was drunk enough to be committed to the idea of getting to the island that night and not partaking in the nightlife of Siracha. Instead of finding accommodations there, an idea I found perfectly fitting given the apparently exciting nightlife of the town (judged by a massive club called “Website” situated in the center of the town and tons of Thai people scurrying about), we wandered down to a pier looking for a boat.

An incredibly sketchy, very greasy Thai fellow offered us a ride for the extraordinary price of 2000bh, which roughly comes out to about $80 USD. We weren’t having that, so Big Justin started yelling at random fishing boats and holding up 1000bh, but they weren’t interested. It looked like many of them wanted to give us rides, but they all seemed to live in fear of the grease man, who might have been Thai mafia, given the location, his dirtiness, and the fact that he proudly proclaimed that he owned “all the boats” on the pier. Finally, he gave in and sold us a ride for 1000bh, and Big Justin made sure to inform him that if anything went down, he would come back and hurt the fellow.

We made good time to the island, though we spent the better part of the ride fearing that the boat drivers were going to shoot us and rob us and throw our bodies in the Pacific Ocean and no one would have any idea where we were or where to even begin looking for us. When we finally got there, we wandered around aimlessly without any idea of where to go to stay. We found a group of random guys on motorcycles with whom Big Justin decided to haggle room prices, despite the fact that they were clearly not involved in the hotel business. We finally did find a place to stay for a reasonable price at first, though we later realized that the accommodations weren’t very suitable (mostly by the bug bite Canadian Justin and I got from bed bugs).

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed into town to hunt for motorbikes. We rented some rather nice hogs for the low price of 300bh ($10) and explored the island. We found a very nice place to stay, but the price was way too high, so we ate lunch at a very scenic hotel built on a cliff overlooking the water and then headed off to the beach, putting off finding a room until a later time. We enjoyed the beach. Anthony and I found a piece of bamboo floating in the water, which we proceeded to jam into the ocean floor and climb up until it lost balance and fell over, which caused us to splash down into the water. The water was incredibly warm and for the most part, rock-free. But, if we strayed too far from the beaten path, the sea floor became incredibly rocky, as the cuts on my feet clearly demonstrate.

After that, we explored a bit more of the island. We found a very remote corner of the island were we sat on some cliffs and took a lot of really spectacular pictures. The day was remarkably clear and the water was a brilliant blue. It was really relaxing, peaceful, and serene. We then headed up a massive hill and found a monastery that was supposed to be open, but no one was around. We respectfully explored and found an amazing view of the developed potion of the island. We also discovered some monkeys roaming around the monastery.

Continuing our productive day, we headed to another monastery, where we got a tour from a nun who spoke remarkably fluent English. She was very polite and showed us the entire monastery without any expectation of compensation. She told us many stories about Buddha and the founding of their particular monastery. She was even patient with my inexperience and taught me the proper way to show respect to Buddha. At the end of the tour, Canadian Justin and I made arrangements to go back to the monastery next weekend to study and get a feel for the life there. I think it’s going to be a great experience.

We then decided that we needed to find some food and get a room. We found some bungalows and negotiated a decent rate for two nice, big air-conditioned rooms. Then we headed out to Pan and David, a western-style restaurant that was very polite, served delicious food, and was very happy to see us pay our huge bill. We needed a lot of garlic bread and French fries though. You just don’t pass up those opportunities here. Unfortunately, we picked the worst time to go. Having spent a weekend in Trat and Ko Chang, I learned that, when it starts raining, it usually doesn’t stop, and convinced everyone to drive in the rain because I honestly didn’t think it would get any better. It stopped raining as soon as we got to the island and never rained again. I was very wet and felt silly.

We filled our stomachs as far as they could and then we decided to explore the island a bit more. We went down a strange road that seemingly went to nowhere, and in fact, it did go to nowhere. It just suddenly ended into a field which offered a view of the mainland. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to take my motorbike off-road, which was equally impressive and fun. Once I had my fill, we headed down another road, which turned out to lead directly into a Thai garbage dump. It smelled absolutely terrible and there was garbage strewn about the roadway. Anthony, Canadian Justin and I all stopped to turn around, but Big Justin was simply too drunk and crashed his motorbike into the back of Canadian Justin’s bike and fell. I’m never going to forget in my entire life the look on Big Justin’s face as he futilely attempted to steer his fallen bike while his head and arm were dragging against the pavement. He was okay, but his bike required about 300bh worth of repairs.

After that, Anthony, Canadian Justin and I were more than content to just chill out the rest of the night. Big Justin had bigger plans and brought back some sketchy Thai guys to drink in our room. It was kind of cool, speaking broken Thai and broken English back and forth, but they were pretty random guys. Big Justin wanted to go out to bars, but the rest of us weren’t really down, and after some incessant nagging, the three of us just eventually left and went to some cliffs and spent an hour or two just talking. We came back to the room and Big Justin was sleeping soundly. We watched a bit of Thai television and then all of us went to bed ourselves. We planned to wake up early, but Anthony was the only one who did and the rest of us spent the last few hours of our time in Ko Sichang comfortable in our individual beds.

We returned out motorbikes, headed to the pier and went to a surprisingly unfriendly Thai restaurant for lunch. We got on the boat, then we landed and rode a Tuk-Tuk to the bus station, climbed on a bus, got into Bangkok and headed onto the SkyTrain, and then into a taxi back to Salaya. It was a lot of vehicles in one day. I was pretty happy to head back to the house, but I can’t wait to head back to the island.

In other news, Thai Sizzler is awesome. Every Wednesday, we have “Sizzlin’ Night” where we go to dinner at Sizzler and get authentic western food and take in a movie. It’s something to look forward to, for sure, and the Sizzler is absolutely delicious. It’s more pricy than Thai food, but it’s excellent and it’s nice to have some comfort food.

Koh Chang and being hungry in Thailand

So, I've been in Thailand for a while now, but this weekend was my first travel weekend.

Anthony and I headed to Koh Chang, which as I understand it is the second largest island in the magnificent Kingdom of Thailand. It's a massive island that is reasonably underdeveloped. There are a few touristy areas, but no where near to the scale of Virginia Beach or even Lake George. The island is mostly mountains, jungles, and a few scattered beaches.

Anthony and I left Bangkok on Thursday at 4:00. We thought the bus to Trat, a province in Thailand, left at 5:30, but there was another bus that left at 4:00. We actually had no idea where the bus was going, but we trusted the Thai bus people enough to get on and go. After about 5 hours of mixed review (the bus was old and there was a little Thai girl with a nasty habit of kicking the seats of people that were sleeping and no one stopped her, father included), we arrived at the Trat bus terminal.

After using the bathroom, we found a lady who took us in her truck to "her place," which was a nice enough bungalow place for only about $7 a night. It rained harder than I've ever seen that night. The next morning, her staff drove us to the ferry along with a lot of French tourists and we went off to Koh Chang. On the boat, some Thai lady sold us rooms on the island, which for two nights cost us about $19.

It had rained a lot on Koh Chang too that night, because everything was wet and many roads were flooded. Right after we got off the ferry, I convinced Anthony that it was a good idea for the two of us to rent motorbikes and travel to the hotel, despite the fact that we had no idea where we were going. He eventually listened to me and we rented motorbikes for two days for $7 each. They were old, but they moved well and got us around the island quickly, as walking was not an option and public transportation was incredibly limited.

We drove around Koh Chang for a while until we found our hotel. We ate at the restaurant there, were a nice ladyboy served us our meal. Then we explored a bit of the beach and relaxed in the room for a while. The accommodations weren't all that spectacular. Let's just say, Anthony and I need to be taught how to flush a toilet without a handle on it.

We decided to explore Koh Chang. We found a road with a sign that said "Jungle Way," which we figured meant there were a scenic jungle road to explore. We road our motorbikes down the road, which gradually became less of a road and more of a "work in progress," so to speak. The road would be very nice, and then a stream, and then road again. We tried to get through, but eventually Anthony crashed his bike in the mud and I got mine stuck in a ditch and had to pull it out. Inevitably, we both ended up barefooted as we lost our shoes to the mud of the jungle. It was a horrendously hilarious situation. Anthony ended up having to buy new sandals and I had to buy a new shirt, as mine was covered in mud. Somewhere during this experience, I popped my tire, but continued to drive on it anyway for the rest of the trip.

That night, we tried to find a mythical "party beach" that we never actually ended up on. Anthony's light broke on his motorbike, so we looked around for a shop for a while, but everything was closed. Except bars. We drove by a couple of them and ignored the ladies yelling at us to come in, but finally we were suckered in to the Ting Tong bar (appropriately named, Ting Tong means crazy in Thailand).

We stayed there for a long time, until they closed actually. We talked with the girls there, drank a lot of Thai beer, and played board games. I especially enjoyed the Thai version of Jenga and playing Connect 4. Whenever conversation subsided (which was surprisingly infrequent as Meaw, the girl I was talking to for most of the night, spoke very fluent English), we'd play a game. It was a lot less boring than quiet bars in the states. Meaw tried to teach me Thai, but I couldn't remember any of it because Thai is (a) one of the most confusing languages on the planet and (b) Thai beer has more alcohol in it than American beer, and I got very drunk that night. I made the rather poor decision of riding my motorbike while intoxicated back to the hotel. I didn't get hurt and nothing bad happened, but blacking out and not remembering driving home is scary enough that I'll never do that again. See, I am learning in Thailand. I also have now gotten sick in two oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic. It is my goal to one day throw up in every ocean.

The next day, Anthony and I went to this wonderfully impressive waterfall that the island is known for. It must have been a fifty foot drop into a crystal-clear pool of water below. I was incredibly hungover, and maybe still drunk as I didn't really sleep all that well, but sitting at the waterfall and just listening to nature and the sound of water crashing down was really nice.

After the waterfall, we met up with our bar friends and went swimming in the ocean. Meaw bought all of us beers and we sat by the Pacific Ocean, watching the sun move through the sky, listening to the waves, and discussing life in Thailand and America.

That night, we went back to the Ting Tong bar and I drank more again. Anthony and his friend, who's name neither of us remember because it was very Thai, went off to go to the ocean. Meaw decided to show me around Koh Chang and give me a taste of the nightlife, which meant hand me a beer while she drives me around Koh Chang and I drink. She took me to a nightclub where we danced for a while, and then we went back to the ocean.

The next morning, Meaw came to say goodbye and welcome me back to the island. I'll be taking her up on the offer. I liked Thailand while I've been here so far, but I fell in love with it last weekend. Koh Chang was one of the best experiences that I have ever had. It was honestly a paradise and if I had to envision a heaven right now, Koh Chang was very close to it. It was so laid back, relaxed, and carefree. Never in my life have I ever felt more comfortable somewhere. If I had had more money with me, I'm honestly not sure if I'd be in my room typing this post right now, I probably would have stayed in Koh Chang for another day or two. I've been to a lot of places, but I've honestly can't recall a time in my life when I felt so at peace with myself and my surroundings. Every worry and fear that I have seemingly evaporated as soon as I stepped foot onto that island.

And what now? I don't know.

Now, as for the rest of my Thai life, I realized the one thing that I am missing besides all of my friends and family while I'm in this crazy country: food.

I have not yet found a single Thai dish that I love. Granted, I haven't tried nearly everything, but I've had a lot of varieties of chicken and noodles and rice and pork, and nothing is mouth-watering for me. Anthony has his favorites, but I just don't feel it, and that makes me miss food from home all the more. I'm also out of my favorite candies until the package from home arrives.

The day I get home, I am having an enormous feast. I am going to eat a ridiculous amount of food as soon as I get back.

Planned consumption:

- Wendy's Chicken Nuggets, Fries, and Chili
- Mr. B's Roast Beef Sandwich and Potato Nuggets
- A big turkey sandwich with cheddar cheese, bacon, and mayo
- Spaghetti with Hunt's Meat Sauce and meatballs
- Domino's Pizza, only pepperoni and sauce
- Pizza Hut bread sticks
- Outback Stakehouse's ribs and garlic mashed potatoes
- Taco Bell potato burrito with beans, beef, and spicy chicken
- Cereal with milk on it. Lots of it.

And more. A lot of people give me shit here because I order Western dishes when we go out, but for some reason they seem to forget that when they're home, they eat a variety of dishes, not just the same type of food every day of the week. I mean, yeah, when I was broke at the end of the summer (financially and otherwise, summer-issues included), I lived off spaghetti and pizza, but those were hard times. When you have options, why would you eat the same spicy chicken dishes every day? It gets boring.

So, while I'm firmly in love with Thailand now and am already dreading going back to the cold misery of the barren and isolated Oswego, a big part of me (my stomach) wishes every day that it were back in the states.

Classes at the illustrious Mahidol University International College

Believe it or not, I'm actually in Thailand to study. I know that sounds positively ridiculous that when studying abroad, you have to do work, but the sad truth is, you have to go to class. It's incredibly disappointing.

I did come to Thailand to study though. I mean, I don't really like it, but I do it. I find that it's very hard to study here, though. There are so many potential distractions. In literally 15 minutes, I can be in the middle of one of the most populated cities in Asia and the possibilities of entertainment there are absolutely endless, not to mention the rest of this very distracting country.

My first class, which is at 8:00 on Monday/Wednesday, is Poverty and Rural Development in Southeast Asia and is, by far, one of the most boring classes I have ever attended. I like the teacher, he seems to have a lot of experience in the region and I think if we can get him to open up he'll have some bizarre stories to tell us, but instead he spends the entire class trying to understand how to use PowerPoint. Once he figures that out, he reads the slides to us (that he already printed for us) for two hours. I have never doodled so much. If he didn't have an attendance policy, I would honestly not go and just teach myself through the slides, because after three classes now, he has not told us a single relevant fact that wasn't listed on the slides.

My second class, which is at 10:00 on Monday/Wednesday, is Economic Problems in Southeast Asia. I like the teacher in this class too. Not that she could ever replace him, but she reminds me a bit of Dr. Warkentin in her teaching style, emphasizing discussions on readings more than lecturing, though she does lecture a lot more than Dr. W ever has in the four classes I've taken with him. The readings are very interesting, if not a little redundant. We talk a lot about the causes of problems, like corruption and culture, which I find to be an interesting angle. We spent a great deal of time talking about farming techniques and deforestation and I actually found myself a lot more interested than I ever thought I would be in either.

My third and final class is a Tuesday/Thursday class at 12:00, Political Systems of Southeast Asia. The professor is an American and has the best ability I have ever seen of a college professor in nearly four years of schooling at getting people to talk in class. It's not even awkward, "well, no one else is talking so I should say something or we're sitting here in silence for five minutes talking" like I found a lot in some of my other political science classes (particularly History of Political Thought, which I absolutely loved but apparently no one wanted to ever talk about it). Everyone seems generally enthused and he likes to pose a lot of hypothetical questions that push people to think about things. I mean, I've been asked "what is citizenship really mean" before, but for some reason it's exciting to hear other people respond to what they think about it, especially because the class is mostly Thai and they all have very different outlooks than I do.

One thing that I have noticed that I'm not particularly enthused about myself is the fact that Thai people in my classes often make casual references about the evils of America, but I don't feel that I can politely say anything about Thailand's ills. I mean, I love this country, but there are problems here too, just like in America. I'm not going to be rude about it or anything, but I just honestly don't feel comfortable at all voicing my opinion on Thai politics and culture, which is quite a change for me. I mean, half of the discussion in most of my political science classes thus far is generally a current events critique framed around whatever we're studying. But, because of the laws here, I think more people are apt to keep their mouth shut about the problems. I don't really have all that many observations anyhow, but I would like to feel more comfortable voicing my opinion as an outsider.

I thought the reason that people went to other countries was to give their input, but apparently not in Thailand. In Oswego, I would have no problems having a friendly discussion with an exchange student about American political life and I think I would enjoy hearing their opinions on politics in the states. It's almost like at work at the movie theater: if I have a problem with a projector or a film build, I call in an outsider to point out what I'm doing wrong and offer suggestions. Maybe things are different on other foreign exchange programs, but I'm not sure. I read in one of my travel guides to Peru that it's also considered very rude for foreigners to comment on politics in Peru.

I don't know if that's really true or not, but it makes me appreciate the high levels of freedom of speech that we do have in the United States. A lot of people may disagree with me, but at least in the United States you can say you hate George W. Bush's politics and not have to worry about being kicked out of the country. I know that I'm probably biased in saying that and I'm sure there are lots of Thai's that would love to discuss things with me, but I feel like I can't with the average person. I even had a discussion with a Thai girl I met on Koh Chang saying how much I respected His Majesty The King of Thailand, and she told me that I shouldn't talk about him (I was saying that I wanted to get a yellow shirt to show my respect for the country, as millions of Thai people wear yellow shirts to celebrate him). It's strange.

But, I guess that perhaps one of the best reasons for studying abroad is gaining a new appreciation of where you come from and who that has made you. I feel like I have a stronger love for life in America now that I have seen another part of the world that is very different. And that doesn't even relate to the simple things like toilets that all work the same way or food that I miss, just daily life in general. I mean, I don't ever stop and think about how incredible it is that, in America, there are thousands of nice, reliable roads to drive across. That there is electricity everywhere. Clean water is abundant. I can literally go anywhere and find high-speed Internet access. Yeah, America isn't perfect, but there are a lot of great things there too.

One thing that I have decided from this whole experience is that I want to be more friendly to foreign exchange students in Oswego. I don't know how I'm going to go about that, but I want to make a positive effort to at least say hello to them. I mean, I have Anthony here and that's a tremendous help at getting past homesickeness (one girl already left and went back to the states), but there are a lot of foreign exchange students who come to Oswego that have no one, no transportation, just their dorms and their (probably) American roommates that probably don't spend all that much time with them.

I used to joke that they all the foreign exchange students clustered around each other and didn't seem to get involved with Americans, but I do the same now and it's simply because it's incredibly intimidating to go up to someone and say hello when you're 12,000 miles away from home and probably don't speak the other person's language very well. Considering all I can say in Thai is "hello," "thank you," "yes," "no," "kiss," "Thailand," "Thai person," and "too expensive," I have a hard time imagining that I'll have a whole lot to say to the average Thai person. But, I suppose all of this is more incentive to learn some more Thai (which I can't remember as each word can be said five different ways, depending on the tone of your voice) and get out there and meet people.

One of the things about Bangkok that's important to note to all travelers considering coming here is this: intense heat and humidity takes a lot out of you very quickly, especially if you come from places like upstate NY where you rarely have to deal with it. Even on days when I don't do too much I'm still exhausted and I mostly blame the intense, sweltering heat.

Anyhow, Anthony, Dennis and I all went into Bangkok to watch some sweet Thai boxing. First we decided to find dinner some where and we stumbled across a random deck with some white people eating on it, so we figured it was a safe, farang friendly place to eat, so we decided to go there. However, this place was not that friendly. The people of course were nice (as all people are in the Land of Smiles), but the meal itself was not "normal" to our Western sensibilities.

The restaurant was a raw-meat buffet. Instead of cooking the food for us, they gave us this strange iron stove thing that we cooked the meat on and boiled our noodles in. We were allowed to take plates up and gather the meat we were interested in and then cook it ourselves. We had no idea what we were doing. At first, they handed us chopsticks to manipulate our meat with, but after failing with those, they gave us forks, and after still not doing very well, they finally handed us tongs. The employees literally babysat us silly foreigners. It was kind of embarrassing. The food itself wasn't bad. We had lots of noodles until Dennis ruined them by adding in spicy noodles that made everything way too spicy. The chicken and pork were great too. I also tried Thai bacon, but I'll fill you in on that story a bit later in this entry.

After that, we decided to take in some Thai boxing. At the doorway, we were harassed by an employee to buy first-class tickets, but we insisted on the third-class tickets where the Thai people get rowdy and gamble. We got good places to stand and watched for five or so matches as jacked Thai people beat the crap out of one another. The crowd was going absolutely nuts, flipping out and screaming and betting. The matches were much more interesting than American boxing because instead of just punching once and then hugging each other for five minutes until the bell rings, the boxers here punch, kick, knee, and elbow each other. Hard. In every match, someone bled. It was great.

The next morning I woke up in intense stomach distress. I'm pretty certain the Thai bacon ruined my stomach, because no one else here had stomach issues and that was the only thing I ate that they didn't. I took some antibiotics that the doctors gave me just in case I had issues and everything resolved itself after a day of rest and lots of fluids. Besides the frequent bathroom stops, it was actually kind of nice just to sit around the room and relax for a day.

However, one day was enough. The very next day, Anthony and Dennis and I traveled into Bangkok to visit a giant mall and get me some good-old-fashioned American cuisine - McDonalds. The McDonalds was rather bland. I'm not sure if it was because I'm so used to spicy food now or what, but I was disinterested in my nuggets. The fry serving was bigger than an American serving, which I found rather interesting.

Next we headed into a massive mall so Anthony and Dennis could buy cellphones. This mall was five stories tall and full of Hello Kitty stores and cell phone shops. I want to explore it one day, but we were getting tired and decided we needed massages, so we went to Khao San Road and found some shady Thai massage parlor and got an hour long massage for about $6. They kept offering us hot oil massages, which is slang for "the massage with the happy-ending" but we weren't buying it. After that, we got dinner and barely escaped Bangkok before monsoon rains poured down from the heavens.

The next day, I loafed around with health issues once again. The Bangkok air destroys my lungs. I've used my inhaler here more than I have at home in a year and I've only been here a week. I was up most of the night coughing, as the caustic Thai air irritated my lungs, so I spent most of the next day sleeping and drinking more. I never wanted cough drops more in my life.

But, much like Jesus, I rose again. Today, Dennis and I woke up early and he bought one of the sweet Thai bikes that Anthony and I already purchased. Then we rode our hogs down to Western Union and I picked up the money my parents sent me and also received a sweet bowl as a lovely parting gift. After that, the three of us got lunch at the pool and then rode bikes everywhere. We first checked a random train station to see if we could get to a boss temple where they filmed Mortal Kombat at, but we couldn't get there from there. Then we rode out bikes to Buddha Monthon, the sweetest park I've ever been to in my life.

This park is absolutely huge. It would take hours to walk from one end to the other. The park was absolutely beautiful and peaceful, despite there being a huge highway just nearby. There were tons of ponds and streams and animals abound. At one part of the lake/river that runs through the park, a Thai man was tossing food into the water and hundreds of catfish were fighting for bits of it. It was incredible. I can't wait to go there to read my coursework in just a few days. Pictures cannot do this place justice.

Thai Rose Garden and other Thai happenings

Well, we had orientation. They bombarded us in typical education-industry style with too much information all at once and no one could retain anything. I got some information out of the session, but not all that much that was really helpful. I picked out my classes and hopefully I get what I want. Three political science classes, just like back home. I'm going to take (again, hopefully) Political Systems of Southeast Asia, Economic Problems in Southeast Asia, and Poverty and Rural Development in Southeast Asia. All depressing classes, all about Southeast Asia. Hopefully by the end of this semester I'll know something or another about Southeast Asia. At least the bad parts.

We went to this giant park yesterday known as the Rose Garden Country Resort. It was a lot like the American Indian cultural displays back in the USA. I'm sure the presentation on rural Thailand was probably offensive and stereotypical. Still, I got to ride an elephant with Ninja, a German girl that lives with us, and I haggled down a sweet box that I now store all my baht laundry coins in from 150bh to 120bh! It was my first time haggling and I enjoyed it. I got a lot of cool pictures there. One of the best sites in the park was the "butterfly garden" where swarms of butterflies were chilling out on flowers. When you walked near them, they all flew away. It was a lot like the pigeons in Bangkok, but less scary and shitty.

I was exceptionally tired (I figure the intense heat of this place combined with walking around and generally eating less food makes me more sleepy) and fell asleep rather awkwardly at 9:30, spread out sideways on my bed with my legs on my chair and my laptop on my stomach. After Anthony kindly woke me up, I went to bed early.

Anthony and I keep waking up really early, but today was through no fault of our own. Our air conditioner stopped cooling in the middle of the night and we woke up HOT. We're doing great with the time zone change, but man, the heat is something else here. Today, it must be like, 95. And humid. For a place that supposidly is in a rainy season, this shit is not raining. I haven't even seen the scattered thunderstorms that are predicted everyday in the weather report except for our first night in Bangkok. I even have tan lines on my feet from my sandals.

Last night, we went down to the pool and hung out there drinking again for a long time. Pools in this heat are exceptional and it's a great way to get to know everyone. Just making jokes, telling stories about life at home. We all come from different places and mesh together really, really well. Some of the guys are crazy and it's great. I really like everyone and my biggest fear, that I would be surrounded by assholes is gone.

Today we had to walk into town to run some errands. It was exceptionally hot and there are no shortcuts to campus to make the walk any faster. We walked through the blazing heat (mind you, it was only 9:00) into Salaya. We went to a Kodak shop to get pictures taken and some photocopies made. They made sure we looked exceptional in the pictures. I have cleaner, clearer skin than I had when I was born in these pictures. Anthony said if I ever put up a personal ad that I have to use these pictures. After we got our pictures, we dropped them off to Coco Pan, the Chinese lady on our campus who keeps track of us and then explored the "Friday Market," a weekly shopping event on our campus where tons of vendors come out and sell goods. We bought bike locks and a power adapter for US appliances, but couldn't haggle the prices down.

After that, we went to a bike shop and bought sweet Thai bikes. These things are incredible and only cost 1900bh ($60 USD). It didn't feel nearly as hot as we were peddling through the streets of Salaya on the Blue Rocket (Anthony's) and the Black Dragon (mine). They even have bells. I'm going to be sad to leave it behind. I'm going to look for a way to get it home, it's totally sweet.

The power adapter didn't work, so Anthony and I are still without our DSs. We keep looking for things and people keep trying to sell us or give us the wrong things, despite what we ask for. We're going to look in Bangkok this weekend hopefully and get the right converters. Then hopefully on Monday we'll be able to get to an island and spend a few days on the beach before our classes start. It's weird to be on a vacation of sorts while all of our friends are doing homework.

Oh, and I ate an egg on a hamburger today. That was an interesting experience.

Anthony and I are off to Bangkok with Dennis, a German, to watch some Thai boxing and get some dinner. It's going to be great. Hopefully someone gets kicked in the head and it isn't me.

Today, we went everywhere in Bangkok. Anthony and I are on a mostly Thai schedule already. We woke up at 6:30 today, but only by accident because we thought we had orientation and had set a clock wrong.

We met a lot of the kids in our house. Most of them are pretty cool. There are two or three people from Germany, a handful of Americans, one Brit, and a few Canadians, plus some others that I don't really know. One girl was more familiar than us with the city, so she showed us around the immediate area of Salaya, the town we're living in, plus showed us which bus to take into Bangkok. Bangkok is an amazing city, with magnificent temples juxtaposed with slums.

We went to breakfast at a European style restaurant that also served Thai food. I got French Fries and also Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashews and Peppers. The food is not bad at all. The chicken was very good and so were the cooked cashews. The peppers weren't even bad at first, but the forth one that I ate was extraordinarily hot and ruined my mouth. I literally started sweating and my mouth felt like I had ate something that was too hot (temperature wise) and burned my tounge. Fortunately, the ginger ale I had cooled my mouth enough to finish the meal.

Then we went off an explored some amazing temples. There was one with a giant Buddha that was known as the "Reclining Buddha." He was 50 feet long and laying down. It was neat. Then we saw another couple of Buddhas, then we got Thai Massages. It was $8 for 1/2 hour and it was intense. The massages aren't like ours. They dig their fingers into your muscles and they do it hard. They also help crack your back and your fingers and toes. It hurt sometimes, enough to make me recoil. But it was nice afterwards, I felt very refreshed.

Then we visited some more temples, but to get there we had to cross the main river that Bangkok is situated around. Never in my life have I seen a river so brown. It looked like chocolate milk. At the temple, we had to climb up some nastily steep stairs to get to the top, but the view was gorgeous. It was a shame that I forgot my memory card for my camera and couldn't take any pictures.

By then we were tired, so we all decided to head back to Salaya. We had to walk through these pigeons. Thai people sell bird feed to people, but to slow them down so you don't ignore them, they throw feed to scores of pigeons and then basically put the feed in your hand, and then chase you insisting that you pay.

We got on the bus, which was super crowded and very hot. This whole place is incredibly hot, but made worse by constant humidity. I did get a seat on the bus though, eventually, which is nice because it's a 45 minute ride. We finally made it to Salaya and went to this giant, super outdoor open-air market that sold all kinds of stuff. I bought some chicken and Pringles potato chips there. Anthony bought a weird fruit with like, green hairy arms coming off it. They sold everything you can imagine there, all sorts of weird fruits and bizarre meats. You could even buy live snakes.

I've never been happier though to get back to the room. It was freshly cleaned by our maid person and nice and cool thanks to the gargantuan air conditioner. Now, I'm just eating this chicken and contemplating a shower. It was a good day, but I'm tired. So far, the food hasn't made me need to use the bathroom, but I might just be hesitant to because you can't just throw your toilet paper in the toilet, you have to wipe and then put it in a garbage can. It's silly and confusing and kind of gross that a bag of poop rags sits in our bathroom. Oh well. When in Thailand, do as the Thai do.

Welcome

So, this is my blog to chronicle my experiences while studying abroad in Thailand for the next four months of my life. I have other blogs, but I figure this is easier to access and should hopefully be free of drama, just telling everyone that takes a second to actually check it a little bit about what I'm doing on the other side of the planet.

Just a brief introduction to the whole thing:

Anthony Karge, my best friend for the last five or six years of my life and I applied and were accepted to the SUNY Brockport Thailand program, administered by Mahidol University International College, which is about 15 minutes north of Bangkok, as I understand it. We will be living in dormitory buildings that are quite like the ones we live in in Oswego, only they look a hell of a lot cleaner and nicer from the photographs that I've seen so far, which isn't a surprise because most of the resident buildings in Oswego are awful.

I have no idea what classes I will be taking. We get to pick out our classes a couple of days after we get there. I'm hoping that I can take three political science/international politics classes while I'm there. Specifically, I'm looking to take a class they offer on Human Rights, another on Cultural Studies, and then finally one on Southeast Asian Studies. I think those will all be interesting experiences and I think I can learn a lot and hopefully get credit back, too.

So now, I'm starting to back up and get prepared for leaving the United States for the first time in my life and traveling across the entire world and living there for four months. It's going to be a unique experience and hopefully this blog will be filled with those experiences. I'll try my best to write an update when we touch down in Thailand on Monday evening (Monday morning here), but after a 17 1/2 hour non-stop flight from NYC to Bangkok and literally an entire day spent traveling to and from airports, I'm not sure I'm going to be in the mood for much of anything.