Home Again

I have to admit I got really lazy with this blog, and I’m not sure why. I think there was just so much going on that I didn’t have time to process and write about all the stuff that was going on. I went to Cambodia, Vietnam, southern Thailand for a beach holiday and I was all over Bangkok nearly everyday (a city I grew to love so much).

Heading home made me really sad and I knew I’d miss the excitement, the people (especially the women) and the weather. I’m glad to be back with my family, but I still think of all the stimulation I got in Thailand compared to Upstate New York. Still, as we drove from New York City to South Glens Falls, I remembered how beautiful my home area can be with the snow, the mountains the old-fashioned houses. I didn’t realize it, but I really did miss it.

Next on my agenda is a trip to South America for a month sometime in late spring. Thanks for reading.

Last Oswegonian Column

The Oswegonian, my campus paper, is going on break until next semester. Here's the last column I wrote for them.

Getting Around in Thailand

There’s a reason why Thai taxi drivers have shrines on their dashboards. The Buddha figurines and lotus flowers are believed to protect against the drivers’ death-defying maneuvers. Two lane highways are turned into three due to chaotic stream of aggressive traffic. It’s not even that rare to get in a soup-ed up cab, complete with a turbo and custom designed steering wheels. It seems like The Fast and the Furious was a hit here. One particularly ballsy driver would rub an amulet whenever he’d make a move. In a half hour taxi ride, he rubbed the amulet at least a dozen times.

Taking a taxi is the quickest way to get around Thailand, barring horrendous traffic jams, but taxis can be found anywhere in the world. The Kingdom of Thailand has several unique modes of transportation that prove much more exciting, although not as practical.

The most prevalent vehicles in tourist areas are the tuk tuks. These hellish contraptions are essentially three-wheeled rickshaws with no windows. They spew out black smoke and the roofs make it impossible to see all the surroundings. Still, this is the transport of choice for most tourists and the drivers do their best to take advantage of the naïve farangs (foreigners). Any price that the driver says should immediately be cut in half through the art of haggling. Don’t stop at his “friend’s” shop, which pay the driver a commission for tourists being carted to their business. One trademark of the tuk tuk driver is the questionable things he offers. He (I have yet to see a woman driver) begins asking a passerby if they want a tuk tuk ride, and the answer is usually no. Next, he asks if they want to go to a massage parlor. When that fails, he casually offers “boom boom.” I wonder how many people go for that offer.

A relaxing way to get around Bangkok is the express boats floating on the Chao Praya. About 50 cents can get a person from the northern end of town to the Sky Train connection in the south. The temples along the ride are breathtaking. The dirty brown water and the river-front shacks are not.

Outside of Bangkok, taxis and public buses are almost impossible to find. Instead, songtaews take their place. Think of these as redneck taxis. Two benches are set up behind a covered pick-up truck, and anybody can hop on. The most intimidating aspect is the fares. You don’t pay until you reach the destination, but the fare depends on how many people get on the songtaew during the trip. If several people get on, the fare reduced. It’s an interesting approach, but it makes getting to the proper destination require some luck and patience.

Finally, there are the motorcycle taxis, which might as well be called kamikazes. Stick your knees in while riding on the back of the motorbike because the drivers come inches from other cars. The motorcycle lane is pretty much in-between all the other cars, and so far I’ve seen one casualty, in addition to some minor accidents. Still, the thrill of the ride and the cheap price makes it my main way of getting around. The only time I feel Asian is when I’m sitting on a motorcycle in my school uniform. At all other times I’m just another farang.

Top of the World

An insect larva tastes as horrid as it sounds. Matt and I were in Chiang Mai (in the far north) and signed up for a 2 day, 1 night jungle trek. The first thing our group of eight did was stop at a market. I stocked up on delicious sticky rice with custard and then I saw the insect food stall. There were crickets, beetles and the larvae. I picked the larvae because it looked the least disgusting and it didn’t have creepy eyes like the other choices.

When I first put it in my mouth after much hesitation it wasn’t that bad. When I bit it, the goo burst all over the inside of my mouth. The only way to describe the flavor was that it tasted as bad as insect larvae looks. I ate another just to confirm its vileness, and it wasn’t any better. The sweet sticky rice got rid of the taste. Nobody in my trekking group wanted the rest of the larvae. Even the tour guide, Rony, said they were disgusting and refused my offer.

We rode from the city of Chiang Mai to Doi Inthanon National Park in a songthaew. If you’re not familiar with these contraptions, think of them as redneck taxis. Two rows of benches are lined up in the back of a covered pickup truck. These serve as the main mode of public transportation in most of Thailand. Our tour guide’s truck had a Bob Marley banner on the front, which summed up his pleasantly insane personality quite nicely (more on that later).

We arrived at an elephant camp where we were greeted by several pachyderms managed by members of the Karen hill tribe. Matt rode with a cool British guy, two Spanish guys rode on another, while a nice German couple rode a third elephant. The elephants had small benches for two people strapped on their back, and a Dutch couple rode on the biggest elephant. That means I didn’t get to seat and had to sit on this huge elephant’s neck. It was a terrifying experience due to the sudden jolts and the disobedient nature of the male elephant, but I quickly grew to love it. I felt a unique connection as my legs rested behind his neck and we walked on narrow ledges overlooking deadly cliffs.

After, all of us rode a crazy zip-line-carrying-a-cage device over the river and began what constituting the bulk of the trip: ol’ fashioned hiking. This is where Rony’s quirky personality came through. He was a hilarious guy that was always telling jokes, usually involving Thailand’s famous ladyboys. He also boasted to Matt about his many sexual conquests, which I won’t get into now. Matt will probably talk about that in his blog. We hiked for a good several hours and the landscape was breathtaking. Bangkok is mostly flat, but this region was full of untamed wilderness and misty mountains. In the distance, some hill tribe villages were visible. After the exhausting amount of foreigners in Chiang Mai, this unspoiled beauty was one of my favorite sights I’ve seen in Thailand.

Eventually we reached the top, where the village and our home (a bamboo hut) were. We were all worn out after a somewhat arduous trek and felt great to be done hiking for the day. The villagers weren’t exactly cut off from the world. Despite their meager bamboo homes, they have some TV access thanks to new solar energy panels. A lot of the kids had Pokemon t-shirts. Still, their access to the outside world is limited. Most didn’t even speak Thai, let alone English.

I played a pick-up game of soccer with a bunch of hill tribe children. These small kids were fast, and I got the feeling that the only TV they watch is soccer. They could speak English when it came to penalties and shouting out the score. Running around and dribbling the ball with these kids was amazing, especially considering the beautiful atmosphere. We were surrounded by mountains and the sun shined down on us. I’m convinced that soccer can unite the world. So many people I’ve met, no matter what nationality, ask me what teams I like. If only Americans can watch more soccer. World peace would be achieved in no time.

Sleeping in the bamboo hut on the floor wasn’t as pleasant as the soccer game. We had mosquito nets and a bunch of blankets to combat the surprising cold, but the floor was hard and creaky. At 2 a.m., the entire rooster population of the village decided to perform in a chorus of ear-splitting shrieks. They didn’t stop all night. Fortunately, the breakfast was good and I was plenty excited to continue the trek.

The conditions in the morning were horrid. Hard rain plus a steep downward muddy path isn’t exactly ideal, and the rushing stream/river that we had to cross at least ten times makes things even more difficult. I came dangerously close to falling in and Wadleigh busted his knee up after falling on a rock. The best part was an enormous waterfall that we all waded in. The water was fierce and cold, but we all swam around for 30 minutes. After more hiking (in Wadleigh’s case it was more of hobbling), we did some whitewater rafting, floating down a lazy bamboo raft and then came back to Chiang Mai in an crowded and freezing songthaew. The conditions weren’t ever luxurious, but it was the best $40 I’ve spent in a long time.

Island Life

Update: I now have pictures of the island.

We think the guy that set up our boat trip to Ko Si Chang was a gangster. When we arrived at the pier at about 10:00 p.m., the last ferry had left and we were desperate to make it to the island that night. Big Justin refused to even consider staying on the mainland for the night. The gangster, with unkempt hair and a pompous authority, offered us a ride for 2,000 baht, or 60 dollars.

“All these boats mine,” he said as he pointed to a dozen speedboats as if he were a king.

Big Justin, Wadleigh, Canadian Justin and I refused to split such a ridiculous cost, so we tried communicated with the dozens of fishermen on their boats. We flashed 500 baht and told them our destination, and the fishermen were definitely interested. They kept glancing nervously at the speed boat guy. They looked terrified of him. We haggled fruitlessly for 15 minutes before one of the speed boat guys’ lackeys told us they found a boat for 1000 baht. We decided to go for it.

The possible gangster wanted his money right then, but we didn’t trust this slick-looking man. Fortunately, he thought it was acceptable to let us pay half now and half later. The four of us hopped on top of a slow-moving ferry and hoped that we wouldn’t be killed. Forty minutes later we arrived on the island after being driven through gentle waves, fierce darkness and dozens of large freighters. We were still alive.

Ko Si Chang isn’t the same place as Ko Chang, which I went to a couple weeks ago. It’s only a couple hours from Bangkok, and unlike Ko Chang, it isn’t too developed with tourism. There’s only one really nice beach, and there isn’t much of a night life. Still, the atmosphere and cultural sights are the main reason people go. The island seems mostly under the radar to most farangs, although there were a handful on the island.

There are cliffs and mountains all over the island, whether on land or leading into the tumultuous ocean water. The perfect water and vibrant plant life is so photogenic, as are some of the main sights of the island. The sprawling Wat Tham Yai Prik is built on a large hill, and there are also some caves used for meditation. An adorable nun gave us a tour and spoke excellent English. Canadian Justin is a Buddhist and already knew lots of stuff she was explaining to us, but I really appreciated all the things she taught us. I always felt terribly out of place whenever I visit a temple, although not so much anymore. Another great attraction was King Rama V’s old palace. The palace grounds are enormous and built on hills overlooking the ocean.

One of the most stunning places wasn’t even mentioned in any guide books. Next to a Buddha statue on a lonely, steep road was a somewhat obscured gate welcoming visitors. It must have been a small monastery because we saw some monk robes, but no monks. It was beautifully quiet, and the whole place was built under trees. When in Thailand, shade is a precious commodity. There was a short path that led to a steep cliff overlooking the entire island, and on the other end of the path was a stunning cave with a Buddha statue inside. The only living thing we saw in this place was an enormous monkey. I’m ashamed to admit it, but that was the first monkey I’ve seen in Thailand. They’re more elusive than I thought they were.

What we saw of the island life seemed really pleasant. We drank with some sketchy-looking yet friendly Thais in our bungalow, and as usual, we enjoyed renting motorbikes to get around the 5 kilometer long island. One night, Wadleigh went to the convenience store and received an interesting offer. Two ladyboys were sitting outside and as Wadleigh was paying for his food, their friend asked “sex?” to which Wadleigh replied “peanuts?” From what he told me, they seemed disappointed. After spending two weekends on different islands, I wonder if I’d be able to live someplace like that. Sometimes I honestly think I could.

The King and I

Thailand isn’t just a country- it’s also a Kingdom. The Royal Family, particularly His Majesty the King and his wife, are institutions of Thailand. The King’s real name is Bhumibol Adulyadej, and he also goes by His Majesty the King and Rama IX. Everywhere in the country there are signs of the people’s love for him and his family. On Monday, the crowds of people become seas of yellow, which is the King’s color. Many men wear lavish gold necklaces with the image of the king and a good majority of vehicles have window stickers expressing their love for him. Photos adorn practically every shop.

In my Thai Language and Culture class we had a discussion about Thai people and the King. The professor, a young Thai lady, said that the King is seen as the center of the country, and also the father. It’s no coincidence that Father’s Day and Mother’s Day in Thailand fall on the King and Queen’s birthdays. Since he is the father of the country, insulting him is seen as insulting the entire country. Every Thai resource I found before my departure specifically said not to insult the king. However, I’m fairly certain that there are laws with harsh penalties enforcing this taboo.

I was a little disappointed when I heard that the love for the King isn’t exactly 100% natural due to the law enforcement, but it’s still easy to be moved by all the adoration for the king. Book stores sell CDs of jazz music composed by the king, which he says to do to show his love for the people. Although he rarely interferes with politics, he does so in the time of crisis in support of the common people.

By far the most touching tribute is at the cinema. After half an hour of commercials that begin when the film should be actually starting, a short film on the king begins. Everyone in the crowd rises, and then a beautiful orchestra piece with a choir begins. Pictures of the king hung up in all aspects of Thai life, from country homes to city stores, are shown. We see the King as a photographer, newly crowned at the age of 23 and recent photos of him approaching his 80^th birthday, which is this December 5^th. At the end of the short film, the crowd nods their head in respect. It’s impossible not to be moved, but the following loud commercial which advertises an energy drink takes away from the effect.

Birthday Parties

Tuesday was my birthday (22 years old), and it was the first one I’ve ever spent abroad. On the 25^th, Wadleigh took me out to eat at the reasonably nice restaurant up the street. That’s where the drama unfolded.

Wadleigh was full already, so he ordered some fried rice, which is usually not enormous in size. At this place, things were different. His plate was almost overflowing with rice and chicken. After just a few huge spoonfuls he couldn’t take another bite, and the pile of rice remained. I ate through my pad Thai, and soon, the staff began to look at Wadleigh and whisper. Several of them began pointing and he began to feel very awkward.

A few minutes later, a lady came out and spoke in English.

“Is everything ok?” she asked.

“Yes, this is great, but I am too full,” said Wadleigh, gesturing to his stomach.

“Did we give wrong food?”

“No, no, this is great.” At this point, nearly everyone in the crowded restaurant was staring.

“If something wrong then tell us.”

“No, it’s great, I just ate too much. Too much food,” he said while expressing with his hands the “too much food.”

She was hesitant, but satisfied with this answer, and bagged up the food to go. We awkwardly left.

The thing that I like a lot about a birthday in Thailand is that everyone in the house wishes me a happy birthday and whatnot, and then when I’m going to bed, all my friends from the States are just starting to wish me a happy birthday. Two days for the price of one.

I also had a third birthday on Thursday, when I went out with a bunch of people from this and the other international house to celebrate properly. We went to this upscale mall with a bowling alley and karaoke. I got some free drinks, and then my German friend Stephan won an entire case of beer for getting the highest score of the alley for that hour- a meager 140. I guess some Thais aren’t that serious about bowling. As the night went on, we all got obscenely drunk and went to a club in Bangkok, and things get hazy from that point on. Still, I had a great time despite somehow spending nearly $30.

My Oswegonian Column

To keep my writing sharp, I'm writing a column for The Oswegonian, the campus paper at SUNY Oswego. Here's my first piece, which was published last Friday. Some of the themes are stuff I already touched on, but hopefully you'll find some new things interesting.
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If Johnson Hall can be considered a hotel, then my home in Thailand this semester can be considered a resort. Chaiyapruk Village, a gated community outside of Bangkok, has a swimming pool, a restaurant, and lavish houses that obviously belong to some of Thailand’s most prosperous. Security guards watch the entrances nonstop, and the international house also has its own security guard. I already feel myself getting spoiled by the lush greenery throughout the neighborhood and the free satellite television. Of course, things aren’t so glamorous outside the golden gates of Chaiyapruk Village.

Just a few hundred meters up the bumpy road is a line of shacks next to a polluted canal. With rusty roofs and floors of rotted wood, these aren’t exactly deluxe waterfront properties. Children swim in the stinking canal without a care in the world in order to beat the ridiculous heat. Across the road, a small development of shacks was built almost overnight in a field. A dozen laborers work here. One sorry sight is all the stray cats and dogs wandering not only in this area, but all over Thailand.

The division throughout the world between rich and poor isn’t breaking news, but the division in Bangkok is even clearer. Downtown Bangkok rivals New York City and Berlin in modernity. The towering shopping centers and pristine fountains almost made me forget about the horrific smog. In other parts of capital, small villages of hastily constructed slums can be seen from the powerfully air-conditioned elevated metro system.

With such conditions, the tourists’ money is necessary for many Thais. Visitors to the kingdom are always harassed to varying degrees to buy suits and random trinkets, in addition to some seedier things. Still, these hawkers aren’t the norm, and the average Thai is helpful and friendly despite the language barrier. Thailand is nicknamed the “Land of Smiles,” and although those smiles might be out of awkwardness and confusion of most foreigners, it’s still a great gesture that helps make things easier.

Getting around is quite possible, but there are some difficulties. First, the Thai script is incomprehensible to many foreigners, so even recognizing a location on a train timetable takes lots of work. The same problem arises on many menus, although it’s always a safe bet just to ask for Phad Thai. The national dish consists of noodles, fried eggs, chopped nuts and meat. The squid on a stick, cow intestines, and live snakes sold at the markets are much more intimidating than the noodle dishes. Another thing that takes getting used to are the seemingly out of control mopeds and the equally aggressive taxi cabs. Even though the traffic is awful, I still hear less angry horns than I do in New York City.

Despite the culture shock, it’s impossible not to appreciate the beauty of Thailand. Just ten minutes from Chaiyapruk Village is a 1200 acre Buddhist park with an enormous statute, thousands of fish and the occasional four foot lizard. The ancient ruins in the former capital city of Ayutthaya are also a sight to behold. The weather is sometimes unbearable, but there’s nowhere else I’d rather be this semester.