Staying In This Weekend... in town that is.

This weekend we decided to stay in Bangkok since we had had our first full week of teaching and we were not sure how it would affect us.  In the end I'm not too sure if it was the week or the weekend that did me in but Sunday night I was exhausted and did not want to get up this morning for school.  Thank goodness that Sam forgot to turn off her alarm before getting in the shower so it was a constant reminder that I should be getting up too.

The weekend started on Friday (if you are unfamiliar with the days of the week) when we left the apartment to go to Old Bar - the Lertlah after-school hangout for staff where you can get good food and enjoy Leos at a reasonable price.  My Khao Pad Guy (chicken fried rice) was delicious.  We then met up with Nick at the bus stop on the other side of Phetkasem (the street we live on) and squished 5 of us into a cab, going to Sala Daeng Station.  Here it was our goal to find..

an Irish pub in Bangkok Thailand that had a Thai cover band of a British Band

... a funny enough combination but they were actually quite good.  They call themselves the Betters in place of The Beatles and it's almost accurate, although I don't think I could ever say that they were actually better.  Unbelievably close though.  Here they also had fantastic North American style pub food.  Christie had a quesadilla that came with guacamole and real sour cream, Sam, Lynne and Nick had burgers that were very tasty and I had fries that came with mayo and ketchup.  Very satisfying.  The Chang pints were huge!  And a fairly reasonable price.

Despite all of this adventure, we were back by (I think) around midnight so that we could get to bed and get up for our tour the following morning at 9am.

I was very excited to get up at around 7:30am on Saturday and actually made it out for a run in the morning before we left for the Temples.  This was great because if I had left it for later I would not have followed through - it was over 35 degrees on Saturday!  As it was, we sweat our way through the tour and thoroughly enjoyed the air-conditioned restaurant we went to for a late lunch.

The first temple we went to was Wat Prah Kaew - attached to the Grand Palace.  This temple and palace have become more of a tourist destination as the royal family does not live there and most of the buildings that surround the center temple are closed to the public.  The central temple is open to the public and is a major draw, since it houses the Emerald Buddha - an approximately 45 cm Buddha statue carved out of Jade.  It was beautiful but it was set atop a tall structure so we did not get a great look at it (and cameras are not allowed inside this temple so we could not even zoom in).

from outside the temple

The surrounding buildings and the variety of stuppas were amazing to look at.  Judianne best described it as having her breath taken away as we turned every corner.

 What I found most interesting about this temple was that it combined so many different styles within the Buddhist architectural circle instead of just being one particular style.  For example, in the picture you can see Chinese, Thai and Cambodian influences in the different stuppas.

 The beauty of these structures was enhanced greatly by the fact that the sun was so bright and there is a lot of gold on them, as well as glass.  This made them really sparkle and seem almost other-worldly.

The Grand Palace was also impressive.  It was absolutely massive.  Also, somewhat odd, the Grand Palace had hints of European architecture even though Thailand was never colonized. It seems to be such a waste to not have anyone living there but the buildings here are still functional and are used infrequently.  The lawns were also well manicured.  The trees made me laugh because they made me think of Nintendo.

 

The next stop on the tour was Wat Pho.  Here we went in search for the Reclining Buddha (so named for his position, representing death).  Luckily, the Reclining Buddha is about 46 m (NOTE: Not 46 cm like the Emerald Buddha) so it was relatively easy to find.

This temple we were (clearly) allowed to take pictures in.  You may notice that I am not in any pictures with Buddha behind me.  This is because the act of posing with Buddha is considered extremely disrespectful.

As you may have guessed, this statue has a miraculous effect of making you feel extremely insignificant.  Along the backside of the Buddha there are many pots that you can pay to put money into.  This is done to promote concentration as you are supposed to count the number of pots there are as you put one coin in each.  We did not do this but I can see how it would be effective.

There were many other Buddhas in the buildings surrounding the Reclining Buddha who are in different positions and/or are from other places and time periods.  Each Buddha's position represents a different message and/or part of the Buddha's history.  I found out today that you are supposed to own the Buddha of the day of the week you were born.  I was born on a Sunday so that is what I'll be looking for.

enlightened buddha

Peace Buddha

Meditating Buddha

 

Wat Arun

Model of Angkor Wat at Wat Prah Kaew

Following Wat Pho, we walked down to the ferry boats and took one for 3 baht (pennies) across the river to Wat Arun.  This temple was very different in appearance to the other two, which were predominantly in the Thai style.  Instead, Wat Arun is done in the same fashion as Angkor Wat (to be visited at a later date). 

We weren't able to go inside this temple but we could climb it and did with some hesitance.  The stairs were so big and steep that I was a little scared going up wearing flats that had absolutely no grip, and terrified going down to the point where I was clinging to the railing (thank god it was there) with both hands.

These weren't even as steep as the next set (behind me as I took this)

Lunch was much needed after these three temples, even if we did have mango after leaving Wat Pho, so we hopped in the van and headed for a sit-down, air-conditioned restaurant.  We ended up going a little further than necessary so that we would go to the Gem Gallery (certified by TAT - so it was credible) after eating.  As it was, the food at the restaurant was fantastic and it felt so good to sit down for a while after being on our feet for a number of hours.  

As for the Gem Gallery, it was great because we got free pop when we walked in!  Lol.  The tour of the place started with a video that introduced us to the gem culture in Thailand - did you know they're best known for their rubies and sapphires?  We then walked through an area where a number of smiths were making the settings for the gems and actually setting them.  We were then funneled into the showcase room where we had our own Thai staff following us to whip out anything we looked at for too long in the case so that we could examine it more closely or try it on.  The gold was a little pricey - especially since we had not planned on going to anything like this when we left the house this morning - but I did get a blue topaz pendant to put on a chain - set in silver.  It's really understated but that's the way I like it.  I didn't even know that there was such a thing as blue topaz!

Our final stop on the tour was Wat Samek and the Golden Mount.  By the time we got there it was just after 5 and it closes at 5:30pm so we skipped the actual Wat and booked it up the stairs of the man-made hill atop which sits the Golden Mount building.  Here we got a great view of Bangkok and on the roof there was a large Gold stuppa (hence the name I guess) and a Buddhist Monk's chant was being piped through the speakers.  It was a very calming place to be, even though there were a number of people around.  A great way to end the tour.

Sunday was a little more chill.  Sam, Lynne and I jumped on a bus, then the Skytrain to go to the MASSIVE weekend market in Bangkok known as Chatuchak.  As we approached the stop to get off at in order to go to the market we saw a vast sea of small shops, covered in varying conditions of corrugated metal roofing.  Words cannot describe how vast this market was.  To give you some appreciation, we walked through it for 2.5 hours and barely scratched the surface.  Pretty crazy if you ask me.  We made a lot of great purchases for minimal cost and had Pad Thai for lunch at a place that actually was able to make Pad Thai for Lynne without her having an allergic reaction - very exciting!

On the way back we stopped at the Mall Bangkae to pick up a couple of things, including Dairy Queen blizzards.  Then we got back on the bus and came home.  Overall it was an early night with not a whole lot done.

Like I said, I'm not sure if it was the week or the weekend that took a lot out of me but I'm still tired.  I'll probably read for a bit before crashing tonight so that's all I've got for now.  Luv.  Amanda

Teaching in Thailand - an Introduction

As you may (or may not) know, this past week was the first week where we were at the school for all 5 days of the week and the kids were also there for all 5 days.  Needless to say it was an adjustment from the first three weeks here because we had not had a full week, never mind having kids there really.

This adjustment, of course, coincided with our need to adjust to teaching in a different country, with students who's first language is not English.  For those of you who do not know, I am teaching Physical Education, Swimming and (starting next Wednesday) Conversation.  This may sound like I am set up to coast but I am on a steep learning curve in terms of what the students know and don't know with respect to the content, in addition to figuring out how much English they actually understand.  For example, I am teaching all of the kindergarten levels (there are three) which contain students starting at 2.5 years old up to 5 years old.  These kids barely understand a word I am saying, so it is very difficult to play any games really.  Alternately, the P2 kids do understand me (more than others for sure) and they keep asking to play these games that I've never heard of.  This may be due to my lack of PE training, but I wonder if this always happens to new gym teachers at schools - they go in and the kids ask to play a game that was invented by their previous teacher so the new one has no idea how to play this game.  As it stands, I asked them to teach me what the rules were so that we could play.  It was interesting and I'm sure I'll use it again here.

Overall, the kids are great.  They are quite friendly and love to say hello to you in the hallway.  It was funny on Friday because I was not teaching due to ethics camp for the primary students so I actually got to wear my hair down and do my makeup.  I was going up the stairs and said hello to one of my students and he didn't recognize me without being covered in sweat/water and having my hair up or in a swim cap.  He needed me to show him the tattoo behind my ear before he knew who I was.

I was overwhelmed this week by the students' enthusiasm in the pool so that threw me for a loop - in addition to how much they already knew or didn't know about swimming.  As such, I felt a little frazzled.  This week I think I have a better handle on it and will be ready.  We'll see if I'm right...

I'll keep you posted on if they have eaten me alive yet.  555. For now, luv you all - Amanda

The Adventure That Was Kanchanaburi

Well another weekend has passed and we had another adventure to go with it.  This one was a little bit more real than the previous somewhat controlled adventures because it was just us - organizing it ourselves.  This made it more interesting.

On Friday, we packed as quickly as we could the last of the things we thought we might need for the trip to the city described as paradise by a number of people that we had talked to.  We caught the 81 heading out of town in front of the 7-11 just down the block.  Once we were on we were asking if we had the right bus, just to confirm since we had been told that this was the bus to take.  The woman did not speak a word of English so I made my way to the bus driver.  He tells me we are not on the right bus and he points at the bus in front of us (an 88) - which looks like the bus described to me by Tiffany.

So we get off and run onto this other bus and ask if it's going to Kanchanaburi.  The one guy says yes but then this woman on the bus comes up to us and tells us that it is not the right bus.  They will tell us when to get off so we ride the 88 for a bit and then get off in the middle of nowhere.  What you have to understand about the middle of nowhere in Thailand is that it still looks like you are somewhere if you are on a main highway because there are stands and bus stops and pedestrian overpasses.

Now we are at this bus stop and we see an 81 coming so we figure that we are going to catch this one and it will all be ok.  As we're getting on the person on the bus says that it is the right bus but there is a girl at the stop that says that it is not.  We get on and ride for quite a while.  In the end we do not take the right exit and I realize we are now in the city of Nakhom Pathom.  I ask the lady again about Kanchanaburi and she tells us to get off at the next stop.

We get off and there is no sign of another bus.  In addition to this, there is no sign of a taxi to fit the 5 of us - just motor taxis.  We ended up wandering this town for around 45 minutes.  Some people didn't understand any English so they could not help, but I cannot say enough about the people who could understand our English and sign language.  They tried so hard to help us and in the end we made it to the edge of town and caught a minibus to Kanch. that agreed to take us directly where we were hoping to stay.

The Jolly Frog Restaurant was pretty much empty by the time we got there but they made us some sandwiches that were really good - either because we were that hungry or because they were that good... perhaps a little bit of both.  We got rooms here as well - cheap cheap.  Granted, the sheets had cigarette burn marks in them and the bathroom was an afterthought whose drain was a hole at the bottom of the wall, but it was quaint and served the purpose.  As it was we didn't spend much time there.


The next morning we had to be up for a tour we had booked via phone the evening before so we ate breakfast at the Jolly Frog.  At 8am our van picked us up, followed by a few other stops - adding more people to our tour.  The first stop of the tour itself was at Erawan National Park, approaching the Myanmar boarder.  It was absolutely beautiful.

The hike to the top of the 7 levels was way easier than the hike we went on in Hua Hin and we had been ready for a hike like that so it was kind of a nice surprise.

We ate lunch at the park then left for the elephant ride and bamboo rafting.  Both were pretty cool

Finally we went to Death Railway.  I didn't really know that Thailand had been touched by World War II but in fact the Japanese had occupied it in order to make a connection through Burma to India.  In building this railway, several prisoners of war as well as Thai's who were enslaved lost their lives. 

We rode the train back toward Kanch then got back in our minibus to go to the Bridge Over the River Kwai.  You may have heard of it?

At the end of this day we were pretty beat, and very hungry so Lynne, Sam and I were heading straight to dinner.  As we turn to go to dinner we spot this massage parlor that has Thai massages for 150B (1 hour).  This has been a topic of conversation for the passed few weeks, and I was really iffy on it because apparently they crack every part of you.  (Yes - I realize that I do this to myself but it is different).  Because the day kicked our butts, it was the perfect opportunity.  In fact, it was amazing.

After being pressed on and moved like a marionette - and walked on in Sam's case - we set off to find dinner and ended up at an Italian restaurant because it just smelt soo good.

The next day was pretty chill.  We woke up late and made our way to the Allied War Cemetery a few blocks away from where we were staying.  I always find that going to these commemorative places is a humbling experience and this was definitely not an exception.  It was so heartbreaking to see the graves of all of these people who died so very far away from home.  Furthermore, I was surprised to see that in addition to the number of Christian graves, there were also a number of Jewish graves.

So as you can see, it was quite the adventure.  Getting home was a lot easier than getting there - walk to the bus station, get on the bus, take it to the Bangkok bus station then take a cab to the apartment.  I will keep you posted about this week!

In the mean time, I luv ya:)  ~ Amanda

Cooking the Thai... Way

Because it has been ages since my last post, I thought I would update you on what I have been doing for the last... 3 days.  lol.

We arrived back in Bangkok on Sunday night from Hua Hin a little worse for wear in terms of energy but not spirit.  With our [new found] sense of daring, Sam and I set out the next morning, after much putting around and appreciating being 'home' for the bus stop with the following plan: get on a bus and see where it takes us.  We ran into Chris and Steph at the bus so they joined us on our endeavour on the 80.  Here we met a man that barely spoke a word of English and who, while looking at Steph's new bracelet from Hua Hin, ties it on his wrist then proceeds to get off of the bus.  Perhaps this was not such a good idea...



Getting off the bus, we got a little disoriented and went the wrong way to get where we wanted to go.  Unlike the bracelet incident, this mishap worked out quite well because we found ourselves in a park on the river and we were offered a longboat ride.  This was a really neat experience, going through the canals in the center of this huge city.  It was like the Asian version of Venice - for way less and the boat was motorized.

After an hour on the water, it was a little weird at first walking on land again - not swaying and bouncing with the ripples and waves.  From here we went to Khao San Rd - where we meant to go in the first place.  This road is the place for backpackers in Bangkok so there were a lot more foreigners here in comparison to where we are living, far from anything really touristy.  Here there were a lot more markets and tuk tuk drivers waving us down to be driven around.  Little did they know that this was where we wanted to be.

Walking through all the shops was pretty cool but the gem that we found was the tourism agency that we found.  It is through this agency that Sam and I booked our cooking class which turned out to be an amazing experience.  (After Khao San Rd we walked to Little India, followed by Chinatown which was really neat because the market stretched for over a kilometer).

The cooking class experience:

After getting a little nervous that we got taken because at 9am there was no one at the agency where we paid for the class, a woman showed up at just after 9 to take us to the market to buy the ingredients we needed for the four dishes that we were going to prepare.  Our group consisted of 2 women from Japan and a woman from Wales.  The market was a really cool experience because it was unlike any that we had been in so far.  All the markets in our area smell heavily of fish because there is a lot of cooked food being sold.  This market was all fresh ingredients.

We then proceeded to the cooking school where we all had a station for chopping around a table and our own wok to cook in.  The two people who ran the school were fantastic.  They realized that we were all tourists so they stopped at appropriate times to take pictures and offered to take pictures of us, but they did it in such a way that they didn't make us feel like idiots or aliens... or both.  Before getting started, they gave us each a copy of the recipes we would be preparing (in English) - so exciting!

We made the following dishes:

1. Green Curry Paste for Green Curry with Pork

2. Tom Yum Kung (Sweet and Spicy Shrimp Soup)

Tom Yum in the foreground

3. Pad Thai with Chicken

4. Cooked Pumpkin in Sweet Coconut Milk

I know this last one looks kind of gross but it was amazing.  Even though we had already eaten 3 dishes we managed to cram it into our stomachs.  What is more exciting is that instead of pumpkin you can use banana or sweet potato!  I can't wait to make it at home.

Overall this was a really cool experience because we learned so much.  It was amazing how fast everything cooked on the gas stove once you had all the ingredients ready - I want one!  Sam and I have both decided that we need woks and mortars and pestils so that we can do this for ourselves when we get back.  I'm sure the hardest part of it all will be finding all of the ingredients.

For those thinking about going to Bangkok - I highly recommend taking a cooking class:)

Hua Hin Adventures

I'm BACK!  After three days of being in a town situated on the Gulf of Thailand I have returned to Bangkok to explore my temporary home a little more and familiarize myself with this city that is so much bigger than home.  Hua Hin was a lot of fun, and we had a really good time.

We left Bangkok in vans at 5:30pm on Thursday night and got to Hua Hin at around 8:30pm.  We made one stop on the way at a 7-11 (of course) and it was my first encounter with insects and such to any major extent.  There were wasp/stingy things everywhere outside the 7-11 as well as inside so I looked like my usual maniac self as I booked it into the shop, grabbed whatever looked safe to eat, paid as fast as possible and ran out the door so to avoid drawing attention to myself.  As you might imagine, this behaviour had the opposite effect but that's alright because I did manage to remain unstung, just looked like a fool in the process.

Once in Hua Hin we threw our stuff in our room and headed a block down the street to the night market where we did a large amount of shopping in a short amount of time.  I got some gifts for you at home (not telling what they are:P) as well as some pants for myself.  Fisherman pants and these pants that we have dubbed 'MC Hammer' pants.  Both are quite comfortable and I wore them over the course of the weekend.  At the end of the night market, there was a Railway Restaurant so we sat down and hung out there for a bit.  Chelsea ordered a drink and ended up getting a beautiful tna glass.

The next day was pretty chill, as we were left to our own devices.  Sam and I met up with Will and we set off exploring toward the beach and looking for breakfast on the way.  We made it to the beach and were walking along when a guard came walking out and shoo-ed us toward the street.  Turns out we were about to walk onto the stretch of beach attached to the King's home in Hua Hin, which is not allowed.  (For those of you who don't know, the King is loved by most Thai's and must be shown the up-most respect).


Our detour lead us to a grocery store with a public toilet beside it (thank God).  Here we found a wonderful banana cake so we ate that... well, Will ate most of it.

  

After our break we preceded to find our way back down to the beach (once we had walked around the square km that protected the King's home).  We walked and talked until we realized... where the hell are we?  We had actually walked out of the town all the way to the airport!  So we obviously had to turn around and then next challenge was finding a place to cut through in order to get back to the main road.  After being yelled at by a security guard who then followed us onto the next property we made our way farther down the beach and cut through an access point for a resort that did not require that we walk through  the resort.  From here we gained access to the highway.  Since we were on the edge of town, it was somewhat challenging to find a cab driving into the city, and ended up settling for a tuk tuk.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent by the pool, where we got a little too much sun.  What was really nice was that the pool water was actually cool, while the gulf had felt like a bathtub (not very refreshing).  That night we went for dinner as a group - the Lertlah practicums - to BamBam's.  It was delicious.  In fact, it was so good that we tried to go there the next night but we had run them ragged the night before (or so it would seem) and they were closed!

Before our hunt for dinner (in the rain I might add), we did a couple of crazy things.  Sam and I started our day after breakfast by going down to the fishspa not even a block from our hotel.  Here we stuck our feet in these pools with fish in them who feed on flesh.  To answer your question; no they were not piranhas.  This was done with some screaming by Amanda at first, but once you get used to it it really isn't that bad.  The small fish felt like bubbles and the bigger fish felt like a cat licking your foot.

Our other adventure was taking a taxi to a national park near by (relatively) and climbing up a section of the waterfalls.  There are 15 levels that make up the waterfall - we made it up to 6 or 7.  Factors affecting success:

• inappropriate footwear as we didn't know that it was a hike beforehand
• it started to rain which made the rocks quite slippery
• the trail disappeared as did all the people
• other unpreparedness

As it was, we did get to see a beautiful landscape.  Also, this coming weekend we are planning to go to Kanchaniburi where there are other waterfalls to climb.  This time we will be ready, plus it is only 7 levels to climb instead of 15!

Yesterday was a chill day consisting of going to the beach and lying by the pool before needing to catch the train back to Bangkok.  Taking the train (3rd class) is an interesting experience and I would recommend doing it over a short journey, just once.  It was absolute chaos trying to get on while people were getting off and other people on the platform were throwing bags through the windows to claim a seat and/or people were climbing through the windows to grab a seat.  Sam and I got separated from the others but were able to get seats so it was all good.  We had been warned that the trains tend to run late here but it was actually on time in terms of the estimated time of arrival based on the late departure.

5 short hours later we arrived in Bangkok and took cabs home.  All in all an interesting weekend with several of what we have dubbed 'experiences'.  Fresh air is exhausting.  Love you lots and I'll post again soon.