Hua Hin

This past weekend a few of us decided it would be nice to take a trip to one of the many beaches in Thailand.  A couple of us don't start teaching until next week but even the ones that started this week did not have to teach on Monday because it was a national holiday.  This allowed us to make plans to travel to a beach that is about eight hours away from Bangkok, called Koh Tao.  We were all very excited to have a nice relaxing weekend.  Unfortunately, we got to the main train station in Bangkok early Friday morning only to find out that all of the buses to Koh Tao were sold out.  This was obviously a buzz kill and in most situations, our entire weekend would have been ruined.  However, this being Thailand with its abundance of beaches, we just picked at different beach and got a van there.  The beach we hastily settled upon is called Hua Hin.

It turned out to be a fantastic decision.  The trip was way shorter than it would have been if we had gone to Koh Tao.  The town was fantastic.  Very small and a little bit more touristy than many places but everyone was very friendly and constantly tried to make us feel at home.  When we first arrived, we checked out a few hotels but none of them really appealed to us.  Fortunately, we stumbled upon one, Pattana Guesthouses, that turned out to be outstanding.  It is a small, family run hotel with antique, teakwood furniture all over the place.  The best part about it was that it only cost 250 baht a night.  This is a little bit more than 8 dollars.

After getting settled into the hotel, we headed down to check out the beach.  It was a great stretch of beach with chairs and umbrellas available everywhere.  Like most tourist places, there were vendors all over the place.  If you managed not to let them annoy you too much, the place was everything you could ask for in a tropical beach. The sand was white as can be and the water was so warm it felt like a heated pool.  We had a very relaxing few days.

The nights were also a lot of fun.  As I said, it was very touristy so there were a lot of young people around.  We made friends with a group of people from the Netherlands and sang a lot of karaoke with them on Saturday night.  That was also the night that a few of us worked up the courage, with the help of some beers, to try fried grasshoppers.  Once you got past the idea of eating a grasshopper, it actually didn't taste too terrible.  The texture, more than the taste, was what I didn't like.  Needless to say, while I'm glad I tried it, grasshopper is not something I'll ever feel the need to eat again.

Our spontaneous trip to Hua Hin turned out to be a big success.  If all of my weekend trips turn out to be this much fun, its going to be a quick five months.

Move In

Last Tuesday, after riding around on elephants all morning, Orientation came to a close.  That afternoon we all traveled by bus back to Bangkok where we were each picked up by our School Coordinators.  My coordinator, basically the liaison between my school and the program that hired me, is named Pee Moo.  Moo isn't really her name but it is the nickname she goes by because she, like all Thais, has an extremely long name.  Thais use the term Pee before a name when addressing a superior and Nong before a name when addressing an inferior.  So she is Pee Moo to me and I am Nong Connor to her.  Just another interesting cultural difference to remember.  Anyway, Pee Moo picked me and the other teacher from the program who will be teaching at my school, Becca, up around five o'clock on Tuesday.  It took us about 40 minutes to get from Bangkok to our small town of Bang Bon.  I was actually really pleased that it was such a short trip because many of my fellow teachers were sent as far away as 8 hours from Bangkok.  On the way home we stopped for our "welcome dinner".... at KFC.  Its a very popular fast food place around here and I guess it was a very nice gesture for them to take us to an American place.  Either way, the food was good and I didn't have to eat rice for the 100th time that week so I didn't mind.

The neighborhood where I will be teaching is interesting.  As I already said, its proximity to Bangkok is a huge plus.  Unfortunately, there is not much in the form of entertainment very close to me.  There are many food carts around and a very big market only a short walk away but beyond that there isn't going to be much to do in the evenings.  I'm a little bit worried about this but I feel like once school starts, I'll be busy enough.  I guess its a good thing I collected all those movies before I left.

My apartment is actually pretty nice.  It basically consists of one huge room and a bathroom.  No real cooking area but that's ok because I usually just get dinner from one of the street vendors.  They charge about 30 baht, 1 dollar, a meal.  Living on a budget isn't too hard here.  Within my apartment I have the biggest bed I've ever slept in.  I don't think its quite a king size bed but its close.  However, between school and traveling almost every weekend I don't think I'll be spending too much time shut in my room.

As I said in an earlier post, school starts next Monday, November 1st.  I think that is when I'll get a better idea of what my daily life will be like here in Bang Bon.

War Bridges and Elephants

The final few days of orientation were fantastic.  I had the opportunity to get to know some great people who have been shipped to various schools all around Thailand.  Plans are already in the works to meet up on the weekends.  In addition to the classes we had during the day, we were able to enjoy the city at night.  Bangkok has a notorious nightlife so each and every night was fantastic.  One night in particular though, was more memorable than the rest.  The last night of our time in Bangkok about fifteen of us decided to travel to the "backpackers district" in the heart of this city.  This area has some of the best bars available.  We found an extremely large bar/club called The Gazebo.  It consisted of one giant room with live music and a few different bars and another room with a dance floor.  Only after being there for quite some time did I realize that the "ceiling" was actually a bunch of blankets and we were in fact on the roof of the building.  It was really cool.  The two live bands played almost exclusively American music and they were spot on in almost every song choice.  It made me wonder if the singers even knew what they were singing or if they were just talented enough to learn the words to a song in a completely different language. Either way, they were all extremely good.  Unfortunately, I was waiting for some Bruce to come on but didn't get so lucky.  At the end of the evening I saw one of the funniest things I've seen so far in Thailand.  Two girls got into a fight and one threw her shoe at the other one.  This would be amusing no matter where I was but it held special significance here.  For one thing, Thais never show anger.  It is one of the most socially inappropriate things to do.  It is commonly referred to as "losing face" and can ruin your reputation for a long time.  Secondly, and more important, the foot holds an interesting place in Thai society.  It is considered the lowest part of the body, both physically and spiritually.  Touching another person with your foot or even pointing your toes towards an image of Buddha is one of the highest forms of disrespect.  Knowing these two cultural attitudes made me understand just how much the shoe thrower wanted to disrespect the other girl.

On our second to last day of orientation we left Bangkok and headed west to the city of Kanchanaburi.  This is the location of the famous Bridge over the Rive Kwae.  The bridge was really cool.  It is amazing to think of the thousands of slaves and POWs (many of them Americans) who lost their lives in the Japanese work camps building the bridge.  The Japanese wanted a way to get from Burma into southeast Asia during WWII in order to continue their conquest of that area of the world.  One of the high points of the war for the Allies came when they were able to destroy the bridge that the Japanese so highly valued.  It was getting dark as we were at the bridge but I was able to get a few pictures off before it was too late.

That night we went to a really beautiful hotel on the river.  It was surrounded by mountains in every direction.  It was also my favorite night of orientation.  Everyone from our group (80 people or so) hung out at the hotel bar.  It really did feel like these people who I had just met a week before had become good friends.  I guess thats what happens when you spend every minute of an entire week with people and they are the only ones with the same language and culture as you. 

The next morning was one of the most unique I have ever had.  I got to ride an elephant.  It was awesome.  Each elephant carried two people and a driver.  Eventually, the driver got down and we were able to sit in the "driver's seat" (basically on top of the head).  It was a very cool experience and not one that I will soon forget.  Experiences such as this one make me glad I put off entering the real world for a few months.  Pictures of me and my buddy Chris with our elephant, Soon Kun, are below.

After the Elephant ride we went bamboo rafting.  It certainly wasn't white water rafting but it was very cool to ride down a river tucked deep in the mountains and enjoy the surroundings.  Inevitably, we all jumped in and floated down the river with the rafts.

Overall, orientation was outstanding.  I met some great people and was able to do some amazing things.  If this is any indication of what the next few months in Thailand will be like, it will be a great time.

The Grand Palace and The Temple of The Emerald Buddha

I know it has been a few days since my last post, orientation got very busy.  We spent much of the time learning Thai culture and language and various teaching methods.  However, we were also given the opportunity to go on a few trips around Bangkok and the surrounding provinces.  The first of these trips took place last Friday.  We went to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

The Palace is the most revered place in the entire country.  This is not only due to the immense admiration that the Thai people have for the Royal Family but also because the Grand Palace is home to the Emerald Buddha.  The history of the entire Palace is very long and intense so I won't bore you with it here.  In particular though, the Emerald Buddha, while very small, has a meaningful history to the people of Thailand and has been the object of various wars between Laos and Thailand over the past several centuries.  Unfortunately, it is so sacred that it cannot be photographed.  However, if you look closely at the picture below you can see the inside of the shrine that houses the Buddha.  He is in there in the distance where you can see the light.

Beyond the Emerald Buddha, the grounds of the Palace were amazing.  There were awesome buildings and statures all over the area.  The intricacy of the designs on these buildings is beyond belief.  I've included some pictures below and more will go on Facebook but I really think that they don't do justice to just how amazing these buildings are.

After leaving the Palace, we headed back to our hotel to meet our school specific coordinators.  I am teaching with one other participant and we were both a little bit nervous to meet our coordinator.  The meeting went very well though, she speaks fairly good english, and I learned that I will be teaching English at the M3 and M6 levels.  These are equivalent to freshman and seniors in high school.  I have 18 classes per week.  I will start teaching on November 1st and finish at the end of February.  Should be a quick semester.

I have more to share about orientation, riding elephants, and moving into my new apartment but my internet is about to run out so those will have to wait.  Look for more posts soon.

Orientation Begins

Today was the first day of orientation.  There were thirty or so of us that arrived a day early and today made me realize how lucky we were to have time to explore Bangkok and meet a few people before everything began.   The fifty or so people that arrived late last night seemed to be a little bit frazzled as they were quickly thrown into the swing of things.

This morning we met all of the directors of the program.  They all seem very nice and extremely organized and supportive.  Certainly a comforting thing as they will be our main lifeline in case of any sort of problem.  After the initial meeting we split off into two groups.  My group had our first Thai lesson.  We learned a number of necessary phrases and things such as proper behavior in restaurants.  I enjoyed learning about certain Thai customs that are different than our own.  For instance, Thai people don't use knives.  They use a spoon and fork with every meal.  Proper manners require you to use the fork to push the food onto the spoon and then eat off of the spoon.  Cutting of any sort is supposed to be achieved by using the fork and spoon to separate the piece.  I'll let you know how well this works out when I have my first steak.

After this lesson we had an outstanding, family-style meal.  All traditional Thai specialties, from Pad Thai to Sweet and Sour Chicken, were represented.  It was one of the better meals I've had in awhile.  Following lunch my group had a class covering teaching methods.  It was interesting but gave me the impression that I am largely on my own when designing lesson plans.  I think it will be a challenge at first but eventually I'll figure out what works and what doesn't work and how to effectively convey my lessons.

Following our second class for the day we had the opportunity to buy Thai cellphones.  The basic phone I bought cost me a whole 1,000 Baht.  This initially seemed like a lot but it was only 35 dollars.  The exchange rate is certainly a benefit in this country.

I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with a bunch of other participants in the program.  A few of us went to dinner at a local restaurant.  I've found that almost every time we all receive different meals than what we order.  However, without fail the meal that is put in front of us is outstanding.  An open mind, and a lack of fear at what you might be eating, can go a long way here.

Tomorrow should be an amazing day.  We have a trip to the Emerald Buddha Temple and Grand Palace.  I don't know too much about either of these places but from what I understand the Buddha Temple is one of the most revered places in Asia.  The day should certainly be one to remember.

Just Arrived

I arrived in Bangkok last night, Tuesday the 12th of October, around 8 pm.  The flights were very long but filled with a surprisingly large amount of available entertainment.  Various movies and TV shows were enough to get me through the boredom.

Bangkok is far bigger than I ever imagined it would be.  Even just in driving from the airport to the hotel that I will be staying at during orientation for the next week, I realized that the city is enormous.  That feeling was confirmed this morning when a few of us early arrivals decided to go explore the city.  It was a group of 22 and not one of us spoke any Thai.  We struggled trying to find the way into the heart of the city but eventually found a train heading in the right direction.  It turns out this was the least convenient method as it not only took us through some extremely poor areas but also dropped us in what seemed to be the warehouse district of the city.  After some intense map studying and many conversations in broken English, we managed to find our way to what can be considered the central section of Thailand.  It reminded me a lot of Times Square.  The whole area consists of giant shopping malls with every store you can imagine.  Because it is so hot here (around 90 degrees today), the malls provide a nice, air-conditioned, alternative to window shopping in the heat.  After exploring the central city for a bit we made our way home.  Fortunately, we realized that we could take the sky train (sort of like a raised subway system) home.  That was significantly more convenient than the train ride in.

Later this evening I had dinner with some people I met through the program.  There are 81 of us and most people arrived today so there were plenty of people to meet.  Tomorrow orientation begins at 8:30 am.  That should be the time that I meet most of the other participants in the program.  

I'll certainly post some pictures soon.