See You Again

"The Crew"

Somehow, my time in Ayutthaya has come to an end. It's hard for me to express all that I've learned and how I have grown in my 8 months living in this wonderful city. It is such a unique part of my life: when will I ever again live in a guesthouse where I can call down the hall to get someone's attention, rally up my friends for a BBQ mere hours in advance, or dodge elephants while running through temple ruins? My 8 months here have been incredible due to the beautiful environment, supportive friends, friendly coworkers, and the ubiquitous warm smile that Thailand is known for.

who needs a trash can?

My past year, incredible growth, and countless memories are too hard to put into words, and in my last few weeks here I have even come to appreciate the things that I could hardly stand a couple of months ago. I embrace the free trash-throwing and unknowingness of when I will come across a wonderful or horrid smell,  happily wave at anyone who states the obvious that I am farang, and even find the cuteness in the mangiest and scariest looking dogs. The lack of information allows me to use my imagination, and wait in anticipation until I find the answer at the last second.

wearing the Northern Thai scarves Mon gave us after
he drove 6 hours to bid us farewell

But it's the people here who have really done it. My 8 friends, or as we call ourselves, "the crew," have been the lifeblood of my time here. From long weekends on paradise islands, to all getting sick together, to barbecuing in the rain with weird hats, to cramming as many of us into a tuk tuk as possible, the experiences we have shared are more than I could have ever imagined. Apart from my friends, the people of Ayutthaya have been incredible as well. My favorite food vendors, namely the Salad Ladies, who know my family and apologize profusely if they don't have my salads, and the roti couple, Nat and Nung, who have made us lunch and accompanied us to moo kata. Of course my coworkers, who have disciplined children, understood our frustration at the lack of communication, always have known when to  offer smile when we're ready to ring a student's neck, and the most touching, when our friend from last term took the day off work to drive 6 hours to say goodbye to us. And even though I give them grief: the students. Especially this past week, for telling me how I actually did make a little bit of a difference in their education, the never-ending hilarity, keeping me on my toes, understanding when I couldn't take any more of their shenanigans, and always offering me a smile.

Ayutthaya will always have a special place in my heart and I will never forget that anything can be fixed with a deep breath, a mai pen lie attitude, and, of course, a smile.

my incredible students

long weekend paradise trip

elephants heading home

being the only farangs in a club isn't a bad thing...especially
when the Thai whisky is plentiful

one night in Bangkok

food adventures are often the best adventures

my first Thai festival

smiles from everyone--especially lady boys making coffee--will be missed

Thai Cooking Class, Sky Bar, and Khao San Road

Erin and Jai ready to hit the market

I can't believe the weekend has already come and gone that my friends and I have been planning for months. We decided that one of our last weekends in Thailand we should take a Thai cooking course, so we can actually go home with some knowledge of the food, and go to the world-famous Sky Bar.
We began our touristy day at 9 AM at the Silom Thai Cooking School. The class began by taking us to the market and educating us on Thai ingredients. The essential Thai ingredients are extremely fragrant, with lemongrass and mint basil being my two favorites. There are a lot of ingredients that fall under the "essential" ingredients category, which means that if you don't have that ingredient, you can't make the dish. For some dishes there are only two or three essential ingredients, for some there can be 8 (curry pastes). The other ingredients are protein (tofu, shrimp, chicken), fillers (vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms, beans), and seasoning. It was nice to learn about what actually goes into my food, as I eat out almost every meal and have next to no idea what is actually going into it.

essential Thai condiments: fish sauce, coconut
milk, chili sauce, and condensed milk

After the market we were whisked away to the cooking school, which is adorably decorated by the incredibly flamboyant and sassy owner. Though most of our cooking consisted of throwing in already measured and cut ingredients into a wok, it was great for me to see how much sugar actually goes into every Thai dish (literally all 5 dishes we cooked contained sugar), and the joy of stirring hot oil around for a few minutes until magically all the delicious ingredients become one into a tasty Thai dish. We made tom yam goong (spicy shrimp soup, a Thai favorite), green curry paste, green curry, northern chicken salad, pad thai, and a very odd dessert that I will most likely never make again (it consisted of cutting up Thai turnips, soaking them in dyed syrup, coating them in tapioca, and then eating them in coconut milk). The prep work for all of the dishes was the longest part, and actually cooking the dishes only took about 2-5 minutes. It's no wonder street food is ubiquitous and so intrinsic to the culture: just have the ingredients prepped for what you know you're going to make and then whip it up when someone orders it. At the end of the course we got a cookbook of about 30 recipes, which I cannot wait to take with me to my local Asian market and make dinner for my friends and family.

Mike and I crushing chilis for the green curry paste

first Thai dish cooked: tom yum goong

Khaosan in the deserted morning hours

Once we had sufficiently stuffed our faces, we headed down to Khaosan Road, Asia's premier seedy backpacker street. I had never been before (which is fairly odd, as it is generally where budget travelers stay), and was glad to finally see it. It's a fairly short street filled with restaurants, bars, tattoo parlors, suit tailors, hostels, and lots and lots of shops. I stayed on the street parallel to Khao San in a single room that looked like it was straight out of a horror film. I knew I was only going to spend about 2 waking hours in it and it didn't have bed bugs, so I rationalized that you're only young once and that staying in a bare-bones room is all part of the Bangkok backpacking experience!

hostel? or insane asylum? 

Our day after cooking consisted of shopping, getting hair wraps, and then realizing that we actually only had about 45 minutes to shower and reconvene before heading to the Sky Bar. Obviously, we were not able to get there on that time frame, but we were able to get to the 64th floor of the 5-star Labua Hotel just before the sun went down. The bar is famous because it is the highest open-air bar in the world, and a couple of scenes of the Hangover II were filmed up there. The views were truly breathtaking. Bangkok is such a large sprawl with skyscrapers and high rises all throughout the city, as there is no downtown area. The bar itself is quite funny as it is just one small circular area beyond the dining area. The roof of the building is huge, but the bar-goers are confined to a small area. You have to walk across the dining area, but you are not allowed to stop on the steps or just outside of the indoor dining area to take pictures even though there was no one there. Though I felt a big claustrophobic at times squeezed between people around the bar, when I was able to get to the glass edge and look out over the city and the river, it really was magical and worth my $20 cocktail. It felt nice to get dressed up for the first time in months, though I did feel out of place knowing that I did not want to spend much money and that I would be returning to Khaosan Road promptly after for a cheap night out.

people crowding around the small bar at Sky Bar

When we got back to Khaosan around 9, the street had completely transformed. The racks of clothing that had only peeked out of stores now only left a small passage in the middle for pedestrians, the number of food vendors had tripled, and there were more than enough people to keep every vendor in business. Thinking back on the road earlier that day, it seemed like a ghost town. There were numerous seedy bars blasting terrible pop music. My friends and I found ourselves at a live music bar that played all the hits, including Zombie by the Cranberries (I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but Thai people LOVE that song. They all know the words. Just another example of how Thailand is a couple decades behind), before some of the taller gentlemen in the group got a bit rowdy and we decided (okay maybe they were almost escorted out) to leave for an establishment that would be more welcoming to our dancing and jumping. Thankfully, next door there was a club that served just this purpose. We danced the night away both on the incredibly crowded dance floor and the stage, that later in the night featured people dressed up as robots. But Matthias was the real show-stopper: towering at least 6 inches above anyone in his dandelion button down shirt and doing classic movies such as the sprinkler admist the rowdy, twerking backpackers.

Matthias (in his yellow shirt), me, Ben, Mike, and Jai at the Sky Bar

The next morning we all reconvened at 11 on the abandoned Khaosan Road. We could not believe that just 6 hours earlier the street was packed, and now the vendors were only beginning to set up shop. I am glad that my first experience on Khaosan was with my Ayutthaya friends (or "the crew" as we call ourselves). I am also extremely excited to be returning to the grunginess in a short month when my friends from university arrive...mainly so that I can get another hair wrap.

Bangkok and the Chao Praya River from the Sky Bar

Amphawa Floating Market

umbrellas of vendors leading to the market

The floating market is an artifact of the past, important to Thailand when the most effective mode of transportation was waterways and the best way to carry heavy things on land was an ox cart (which moves about the same pace as a walking grandparent). Nowadays, the floating market is a tourist attraction which focuses on selling things (mostly food) on the banks of a waterway.
The floating market I went to, called Amphawa, is about an hour from Bangkok and is in an area that is a tourist attraction all on its own. I chose this floating market because it is close to where two of my friends live, and they had been there and knew how to get there cheaply.

sitting on the banks of the river having lunch

To get to the water way, we had to walk through a densely packed market to get to the actual floating market. This is fairly common in Thailand, and quite smart on the vendors' part: set up shop in cheaper real estate and get the people you know who are looking to spend money. ca-ching!
We started our day at the market with a mid-day snack consisting of oysters, pad thai, and pork skewers on the steps leading down to the river and cooked in a boat. It was pretty amazing how these vendors have full menus and do all the cooking in a small rickety boat, barely moving to make the dish. A waiter comes up to you, takes your order, and then picks up the order in the boat and serves it to you. It's an impressive display of teamwork on the waiter and chef's parts, and an incredible act of balance on the cook's!

mid-day oysters

The rest of the day consisted of walking around, tasting various food (my favorite was a steamed dumpling with BBQ pork inside), and having beers while watching the boats and tourists go by. In the evening, we took an hour long boat ride, which enabled us to view the fireflies lighting up the trees. Some of the trees had so many fireflies it looked like flashing Christmas lights. It was very magical and completely worth the $2 USD, even though there was a moment where it seemed like our longtail boat was unrepairably (yes I just made up a word. gonna take my literary liberties with that one) broken down and we were a bit concerned about how we would get back without missing our last minibus....but that's a risk you always run when you do anything in Thailand.

cook in a boat

vendors next to the market

Tess and I on our way to see the fireflies

Koh Phangan: The Return

I couldn't believe it: I was returning to the island infamous for the biggest parties in Thailand. I had gone at the beginning of my time in Thailand, but did not expect to be returning

My first time in Koh Phangan consisted of staying in the party area of the island, which is built up and filled with bros in tanks and impossibly thin girls in neon crop tops. But the island as a whole is not filled with this questionable lot. In fact, only a minuscule part of the island consists of these ravers.

nice place for some bungalows

I had been lured down to Koh Phangan at the promise of reuniting with 3 of my study abroad friends and one of my teaching friends. Though a long journey for a 4 day weekend (about 18 hours each way involving buses, ferries, and a lot of waiting), it was worth it.

My first few days and 2 nights involved staying with my friend who now lives on the island. After a string of events, both good and bad, she ended up living on this island paradise and opening a raw foods restaurant after doing two months at a yoga school. Her lifestyle fully encompasses the go with the flow attitude, and has reassured me that everything happens for a reason. Of course, that's easy to think if life has plopped you on an idyllic island, but nonetheless, she is a true inspiration. We spent our first full day together doing yoga on the beach and exploring the island.

collecting urchins 

The area my friend Melody lives on is kind of yogi-center. Many yoga studios, including her school, and a beautiful beach just down the road lined with bungalows. It has a very quiet, laid-back feel, and even some healthy restaurants (I found BROWN rice...it was a big deal). Though the island is highly touristic, my friend lives far enough away from the beach that she has many Thai owned shops for the locals on the island, so even though there are a lot of Western options (that makes life so much easier), it still has the Thai feel.
On our drive around the island, Melody decided to go to Had Rin (home of the Full Moon Party), since she had yet to venture over to that part of the island. Between the music blasting from the hotel we parked next to, and the young men dressed in neon and covered in bandages from motorbike accidents, Melody realized she really was not missing anything and vowed never to go back. Not only is the area filled with party goers, but the set-up is crowded and dirty. It hardly feels island-y at all. Luckily, this is the only part of the island that has this vibe.

ad in Had Rin

We ended our exploring in the northern part of the island on a quiet beach that has a sand bar out to a small, undeveloped island. Out by the island we found locals with piles of sea urchins breaking them in half and cutting out the meat, and a vast array of dead coral.
I ended my day with an hour long massage in a bungalow on the beach with a sweet Thai woman named Ann. She told me that it was her first day back at work after a week because her friend had died in a motorbike accident. She told me that 3 years before she was in a crash on the back of a bike, where the driver died and she broke her leg. She has good karma and an angel on her shoulder, because even though she walks with a limp and her left leg is bow-legged, she is still alive and mobile. Though I stay away from motos as much as I can, it is sometimes necessary to hop on the back of a friend's or a motorcycle taxi. Also, sometimes the best way to explore an area is a motor bike. Though I am cautious and make my rides as short as possible, Ann's stories reminded me how dangerous these vehicles are. Unfortunately though, cars are just too expensive for most people in Thailand and motorbikes are the only option for transportation.

quite a nice place to practice some yoga with Melody

My last night in Koh Phangan involved the reunification of me with 3 of my British friends from when I studied abroad in Edinburgh. I met them when I lived in the dorms on my semester abroad and they were freshmen. Now, one of them has just finished a year abroad in Australia and him and his friends are traveling around SE Asia. Talk about everything coming full-circle! It was so incredible to see my long-lost friends and reminisce about the semester that made me realize I wanted to live abroad after I graduated from university.

reunited with good friends in terrible shirts

The night with my friends was the technical full-moon, but because it was a Buddhist holiday, the party was postponed to the day after I left the island. As much as I hate on Had Rin, I encouraged my friends to go down to the full moon beach since I had never partied there and thought I should get the experience once since I will most likely never go to a full moon party in my life.
In good full-moon fashion, we decided to have a "shit shirt night," which meant that you drew names out of a hat and whoever's name you got, you bought them a shirt and they had to wear it. This was the perfect activity in Had Rin, since there are numerous outfitters selling obnoxious shirts for Full Moon Party-goers.

farewell, Phangan!

Though not the real Full Moon Party, we acted as if it were: by drinking buckets (drinks served in a bucket, choose your alcohol, choose your mixer, then they add Red Bull), dancing, and going to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

It was an incredible 4 day weekend catching up with old friends and having a completely different experience on an island I had already been to. To travelers, I would highly recommend Koh Phangan, just not recommend staying in Had Rin.

Ode to 7-Eleven

7-Eleven: beacon of hope

It may seem silly to be writing about something as mundane as a convenience store that can be found in the U.S, but in Thailand 7-Eleven (or 7 as we call it) is a way of life. When I saw my first 7 I thought it was hilarious. Known in the U.S as a bad convenience store with one redeeming quality, Slurpees, most people I know have steered clear. I think I had only been in a 7 three times in my life before coming to Thailand, and now I find myself in one nearly every day.
Not only do I pass two 7's on my 15 minute walk to work, but it makes life so easy. Most of the packages have English on them, I can break my large bills that the ATM just outside dispenses, and it has air-con. What's not to love?
Farangs aren't the only ones who rely on 7 either, the Thais do as well. It's where people put credit on their phones and where many pay bills. I've become so dependent on 7, I feel lost if there isn't one nearby. When I was on Koh Phangan, there wasn't a 7 in sight of my accommodation the last night I was there. In my distress I cried,"What are we to do?!" to my friends who had just touched down in Thailand. They calmly directed me to a local convenience store and all was well, though I was a bit distressed about not getting my usual late-night toastie(a delicious little croissant sandwich that they heat up in a panini maker; my favorites are stuffed with ham and cheese and their "pizza" flavor) 5 minutes before crawling into bed.

because one is never enough

7 is a major part of Thailand that I feel doesn't get enough credit. They are just everywhere and oh so reliable. You know you're out of civilization if there isn't a 7 in sight, and you know you're really in the thick of it if there are 2 7's right across the street from one another. Just be warned: 7 is the worst landmark in Thailand, followed closely by temples.
The long of the short of it is: 7-Eleven, you did it right in Thailand and I (and everyone else who comes to or lives in this country) love you!

The Real Thailand

Being in Thailand for the better part of 10 months, I have seen some incredible things, but I have also gotten an insight into the real workings and oddities of the culture. As much as I love it here, there are some things that are just so strange or backwards. Most of my rant is out of love, but some of it is things that people do not know or notice about Thailand unless they have been here for a while.

Where's the Kool-Aid?

Me in my Friday shirt...and students in their uniforms

Sometimes, I feel like I'm on the fringes of an early 90s cult. You are encouraged to tell someone how beautiful they are, not expected to go anywhere alone, and have that one special buddy you're constantly holding hands with (Thais are not fans of PDA, but show friendship through holding hands and even sitting on laps). In addition to having your close confidants within the cult, there are the uniforms that unify everyone. From the ubiquitous navy and light blue school uniforms, to the different colors each day of the week is assigned, everyone who is connected to the government wears some sort of weird uniform. Even teachers will come into school wearing weird 80s style government outfits that correspond to the color of the week (Monday is yellow, Tuesday is pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday is your school's color, and Friday is blue).
Even non-government affiliated businesses have uniforms. When I was in the bank the other day, I noticed that every bank teller was a thin, attractive woman who had to wear a purple pencil skirt and blazer that made her look like an 80s flight attendant.

scout day uniforms

As weird as these uniforms are, it's kind of nice wearing my floral/Hawaiian print blue shirt every Friday because it is just about the only way I can attempt to fit in.

In The Land of Smiles....We have a lot to complain about
Thai people are always complaining about the weather. It's too hot. It's too cold (when it dips below 90). Oh, we need rain. Oh, I hate the rain. MAKE UP YOUR MIND PEOPLE! You live here, you think you would have at least gotten used to the heat!
This probably has to do with my students doing anything to not participate in class, but yesterday when we had our first real monsoon storm, they acted as if they had never seen anything like it. From screaming during the thunder, to sitting in front of the door and complaining they were getting wet, I couldn't believe all the complaints about this phenomena that they're now seeing for the sixteenth time.

We smile because we don't show our emotions
We found out last week that a student in our school died. Alex and Matthias both had to teach classes that day that were really close to the girl. No teachers in the school told us of the tragedy, which happened extremely suddenly: the girl was on a motorbike with two of her friends and got hit by a truck and died in hospital that same night. Our placement coordinator's assistant, who works in the school with us, found out and told us. Had it not been for her, we would not have known. She told Alex and Matthias because she was afraid those two classes might be sad and understandably not want to participate. After class, Alex told me it was quite the opposite: the students wanted to do work and not mourn the death of their friend. Though I know Buddhists go to temple for 3-5 days to mourn death, so mourning has its place, it still seemed odd to us that no emotions were shown from the students after such a shocking and tragic event.
The next day in one of my classes, I was taking attendance and one of my students told me that an absent individual was in the ICU in the hospital. I was shocked and saddened, and asked what happened. The entire class erupted in laughter at the change in my demeanor and told me that she was drunk on a motorbike through their smiles. I couldn't believe how desensitized these students were and how they treated such a serious event.

Corruption is the norm
In a classist society, money is everything. Very few things are based on merit. Though this is true in the United States, in Thailand, if you don't have money, you stay where you are. There is no chance of moving up. Even the police openly admit to collecting money from tickets.
I think a big reason why my school is the "naughty" school is because my students are poor and they know they are destined to be what many of their parents are: food vendors and factory workers. They can't afford to go to the better schools in the district (even though the public schools are entrance exam based,, if you pass the exams you have to pay a fee to go to the better schools).

Special Treatment
I can't really complain about being white in Thailand, but I'm going to. I'm either treated like royalty or avoided like the plague. I live a life where I have to constantly be incredibly patient, and it really bothers me when the people around me, whether they are vendors or students, don't take the time to try a little harder to understand me. Because amazingly, body language can do a lot of talking. And my Thai dictionary easily clears a lot of things up.
Back to the bank (a perfect example of this): I walk in, and am immediately escorted over to a busy teller who spoke English. I told her what I needed, and she told me there was a queue (of course) and that I had to wait (which I was going to do upon arriving to the bank). I was in the bank for about 45 minutes because no other teller could speak enough English, or just did not want to try to help me get a new ATM card (they say the word ATM in Thai....I think I could have been helped by anyone) because they knew I couldn't speak Thai.

How do I look?
I thought Americans were vain, but Thais take it to a whole new level. There are mirrors EVERYWHERE. in people's pockets, randomly in restaurants, behind the counter at a store. People (men and women) constantly look at themselves and apply makeup shamelessly.

Every day is Lazy Sunday

watching TV while our food is getting cooked.
Photo Credit: Costanza Ferme

Laziness is promoted in this society. Students are expected to regurgitate information, and shamelessly copy one student's homework and pass it in as their own (they don't have a word for plagiarism). Napping in the English office during downtime is accepted, and you often see tuk tuk drivers and motorcycle taxi drivers napping when they're waiting for customers. Televisions are seen in almost every restaurant and shop, with the employees watching when they have nothing to do. It is the exact opposite of anything we would do in America. And although it's nice that people are encouraged to relax and take it easy, it means that things can take quite a bit longer than you'd like.

The Most Romantic Time of My Life

Despite the frustrations I experience daily, there is also a huge advantage that offsets them: constantly being told how much I am loved. At times it is creepy, and for the most part it makes me uncomfortable. But hey, who doesn't want to be loved? Or told that they are loved?
Whether it be a random "I love you!" or "hello!" from a stranger, to a heartfelt, "Teacher I love you so much," there is rarely a day where I don't feel loved. I don't mean to come off as being narcissistic, but this may very well be the most loved I ever feel, so I'm gonna enjoy it! Last week I even had a student come up to me and spit a cheesy pick-up line: "I must be in heaven, because I see an angel." I'm going to be in for a rude awakening when I go back to the States and people don't shamelessly say weird things.