Insights and Sites to See

I have been inspired to start this blog with a list of Things That You See On A Sidewalk In Bangkok:

• frogs/toads
• rats/mice
• un-neutered dogs and pregnant partners... and what leads to this...
• motorcycles, scooters and cars/vans - all who will honk at the person walking if they are in the way
• smoothie stands
• street vendors who have tables and chairs for you to sit at and dine, who are also equipped with umbrellas and tarps so that they can stay open even if it rains
• children being bathed
• people sleeping
• cats sleeping

This was inspired by my walk to the market and video store.

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Life here has not been too exciting the past week, although I am quite surprised to say that we are already half-way done our trip!  As of last Tuesday!  And today marked the half-way point in our teaching itself.  Crazy!  This blows my mind since I feel like I'm only just getting my footing in my classrooms.  To give some idea as to how this has come about, I can best describe the experience of teaching in Thailand as being similar to learning to skate - at first you are completely unbalanced and fall and do the wrong thing a lot, but once you figure it out, it starts to feel really good.  The students help with this last part (the making you feel really good part) as they have a resilient love for you, and they are always excited to see you - even if two slots before that you made them cry.  Also, they tell you things like "Miss Amanda - you so beautiful" and give you cards that remind you that "You are a beautiful and pretty.  I love you."  (If you can't tell, today was a better day than previous days and I'm riding the high).

Other than that, no news to speak of.  Sam and I were both not 100% last week so it wasn't all that crazy in the evenings.  We watched Erin Brokovich (which I hadn't seen in ages - and was reminded why I loved that movie) as well as Pride and Prejudice (the new - short - one).  As a result, I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice after having finished Alan Quartermaine.  So far I'm enjoying the book, but since this is now the second book in a row that I am reading that stars British characters in an older century I have found that my internal voice has taken on a British accent and I am predisposed to using language that is less suited to the current century.

Friday night we returned to our (apparent) favourite Bangkok bar - O'Reilly's at Sala Daeng BTS.  It was amazing.  This time we actually got to sit downstairs so we could see the band and we were people watching.  I had a caesar salad and it was possibly the greatest thing ever.

Saturday, Lynne and I adventured down to Khao San to talk to a travel agent about going to Vietnam.  That plan was unfortunately kiboshed by the fact that it would be too expensive - coupled with the fact that we would not be able to fly out until the Saturday morning and would have to fly back on Sunday night to teach the following morning.  Not cool.  To pick up our spirits, we did a great amount of shopping and I am quite happy to report that we were successful in purchasing most of the gifts that we are planning to bring home.  No you don't get to know what you are getting:P  Also, since this is a particularly touristy area they have a Subway so Lynne and I indulged in sandwiches that tasted like home. mmmm.

Sunday was the touristy day for us.  We were picked up by Wes (the same guide that looked after our Bangkok Temple Tour) to go to Ayutthya - a previous capital of Thailand that was burned to ruin by the attacking Burmese in the 18th century after having stood since the 14th century.  The ruins still remain and are protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  

It blew my mind to try and imagine what the sites would have looked like in their glory days.  We could pick out where there had previously been buildings that no longer existed.

Also, the Burmese beheaded the most of the Buddha statues in the city as they burned it to the ground.  This is best highlighted at Wat Phra Mahathat, where a tree's roots have grown around the statue head of a large Buddha in the aftermath of the sacking.

Here there is also evidence of major looting on the part of the Burmese as they actually dug under the stupas to get at their treasure.  As a result, there are buildings and walls that are leaning because of the altered foundation they were built on.

This site was followed up by Wat Phra Si Sanphet - a temple that was situated next to the Royal Palace of Ayutthya.  Here the three stupas were rebuilt after their partial destruction when the Burmese sacked the city.  I cannot imagine what it must be like to see the pyramids in Egypt because even next to these stupas I felt pretty small and could not begin to fathom how exactly they were built the first time around.

The Palace grounds are now, for the most part, open green space with remnants of walls that once were much taller than us but now we can simply step over them and walk on them.  Here there is less evidence that the Palace even existed as you walk on the grass, although you occasionally come across what was a path or stairway.

Before lunch, we visited the outdoor reclining Buddha.  Although this Buddha is not as large as the one in Wat Pho, it was still imposing.  Personally, I prefered this one to the one in Bangkok as the stone statue draped in the golden robe felt a lot more realistic and earthly, as opposed to the golden statue.

We also made our way to one of the temples that actually survived the Burmese.  The reason for its survival was that it was situated where the  Burmese had set up camp - making it a more dangerous target in comparison to the rest of the city.

Following lunch we went to a Chinese influenced Buddhist temple on the other side of the river.  This temple is one of the temples that is part of the Theravada Buddhist pilgrimage that people wishing to reach enlightenment must follow.  It was really neat to see the Chinese culture infused into the Thai culture, as there seems to be a number of differences between the two (in my eyes).

Overall, a very informative day.  I had not really been exposed to that much of Thailand's history before our visit to Ayutthya, but now I would like to do some more reading about it.

I'll keep you posted about this week and weekend!  I'm quite excited for our camping excursion.  TTFN! - Amanda

Back To Kanch.

Sorry to keep everyone waiting... since there are so many of you... or I am delusional and imagine that this is a well followed blog...

Last week and weekend were pretty chill.  I will make this seem longer than it actually is by adding pictures of unusual size....

I got sick half way through the week which meant a day spent with the blinds closed, sleeping mask on and sound-reducing headphones on so that I could sleep it off and not screw anyone who was covering for me over for more than one day at a time.  This turned out to be a good idea because I recovered quickly and was able to prevent Lynne from having to cover my conversation class two days in a row... a hellish task, I assure you.  Other than that, I didn't do a whole lot that I remember - a trip to the Carrefoure which is now called Big C Extra (which is kind of like if WalMart bread with Costco) to get some essentials such as socks and water - that's about it.

The weekend was great - relaxing, which is what I think we needed at the half-way point in our trip.  Getting to Kanch this time was a lot easier than the last (see The Adventure That Was Kanchanaburi if you haven't already) - just go to the bus station and buy a ticket for the minibus.  We did see a funny sign that made me think of home on our way to the bus station in our cab... did you know that other places in the world also have confusion corners - they're just not so aptly named??

We also stayed in slightly nicer accommodations, which obviously cost a little more but it was totally worth it.  The beds actually had cushion to them (unlike the plywood box-springs provided by the school at our apartments), the bathroom was long enough to keep the shower completely separated from the toilet, and there was air conditioning (in contrast to the fan mounted on the wall at the Jolly Frog).  Furthermore, the hotel had a pool and the most amazing fruit smoothies - mmm, I can still taste them... raspberry, mango, peach and blueberry were the ones we tried.  Oh!! And it also had a western toilet that flushed (you do not realize how exciting this is until you have not had the luxury of getting it everywhere).  It was here that we spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before leaving - beside the pool, catching some rays and reading our various collection of books.  The goal of this weekend for Sam and Lynne I believe was to 'get some colour' and we actually managed (I think) without getting burned.

The adventure of the weekend was the Safari Zoo tour that we took on Saturday morning.  After a lazy get up we made our way down to the River Kwai where we found a guy who knew a woman who would take us to and from the Zoo for 600B total ($20 split 3 ways).  Once at the zoo, we got to pet a 2 month old and a 7 month old cheetah.  Overall, it felt kind of wrong because they were tethered to a table by a 2 foot metal chain, but they were very cute and I even got to hold the little one- who nuzzled into my chest and started purring so strongly that I could physically feel it.  We then paid for some food for the animals inside and hopped on the truck that was going to take us through, where we saw... LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS! OH MY!!

In addition to these clearly terrifying beasts, we also saw cheetahs, deer (so rare) and camels (who did not spit on us but stuck their lips out as if to kiss us so that we would give them carrots).

But the most amusing part of the safari truck ride was venturing into the giraffe pen. (And yes they are penned, otherwise I do not know how many zebras and giraffes there would be due to the lions and tigers and... cheetahs).

Please note that in the photos provided, the giraffes have stuck their heads into the truck in order to eat the carrots.  I am inclined to say by this behavior that they may not be fed as often as they should, despite it being the off season, but it may also be that they are just greedy buggers.

  What really emphasized how greedy the giraffes really were was that when we entered into the zebra pen and were feeding them, we found that our carrot supplies were magically disappearing - that is, until we turned around and found ourselves face to face with a giraffe whose head and neck entered through the other side of the truck!

As a result, I much preferred the zebras.  They may have been less intrusive simply due to their lack of height and long neck, but all the same, I enjoyed feeding them more.

That's pretty much all... Oh ya, I guess one big purchase I made this week is on my face in the pic - polarized sunglasses.  Sam showed me the magic of how much more you can see with them, especially when looking at water at the fish farm, so I decided to invest.

We also pampered ourselves a bit on Saturday night, getting pedicures and thai massages.  It was lovely, and we followed it up with a delicious Italian dinner (I had a great pasta with veggies and garlic, tossed in oil) and a glass of red wine.

All in all, a good weekend.  I'll try to be better about posting sooner about this coming weekend - it shouldn't be hard as we are not leaving for an overnight trip at all.  That's all for now.  Lots o' luv. - Amanda

Muay Thai and Hangovers...

This past week was definitely an interesting one.  During the week I was teaching - as is to be expected - but there were a few other events that really made the week a good one.

The first event was my introduction to Muay Thai.  A parent of one of my students is an instructor and so he offered to give any teachers interested in Muay Thai lessons at the University (right across from our apartments).  Before going to the first 'class' I had absolutely no idea what Muay Thai was but I was down for any really 'Thai' experience that I could get and it gives me something to do at night other than go to the store and sit on the computer... like what I've done tonight, along with laundry.  The classes start off with us running so that we warm up and therefore loosen up.  This is very important because Muay Thai involves a lot of kicking, and overall it uses your whole body to power the blows.  The first night (Wednesday) there were 4 of us and we learned the basics of stance, guard and blocking.  We also worked on some different punches, elbows and kicks.  Thursday we had a few more people in attendance so there was a little less one-on-one attention but it was still fun.  Lots of laughing at ourselves, and I'm sure that the Thai's who were playing basketball, volleyball and soccer were also laughing on the inside as they watched these farang trying to do this different type of fighting.

Here's a video of Muay Thai - turn off your sound for better appreciation of it.



After our Wednesday class, Judianne and I booked it back to the apartment to have the world's fastest showers and get dressed so that we would be able to leave with the rest of the people who were going to the movie theatre.  We were successful in doing this fast enough so we all caught a cab (actually 2) and went to the mall.  It was great because Wednesday is cheap nights at this theatre, so it was way way less than we pay at home.  As for the movie, we felt it was only appropriate that we see the Hangover II here since it is set in Bangkok and that is where we are.  The first one was surprisingly funny and this one lived up to its predecessor, despite my lack of understanding of how they could undergo the same type of shenanigans as the last time.  I'm not sure if the movie was so enjoyable because it was set where we are and so everything seemed so real, or because it was really just that funny.  Probably a little bit of both.  Either way, as we left the theatre we had an adventure of our own because we left through an unfamiliar exit that was sort of a 'back route' - leaving us to figure out how to get to the main road as we walked passed workers loading and unloading trucks of goods.  Clearly it all worked out for us as I am able to write this blog.

Believe it or not, this was just stuff that happened during the week.  On Friday I booked it home from the school to grab my already packed bag for the weekend and hailed a cab to take me to Wongwian BTS (Bangkok's Skytrain Station, closest to us) where I was meeting Sam and two others from Campus 2.  It took a while to get to the station but once I was there we got moving pretty fast and made it to the bus station to catch the 6:30 bus to Baan Phe.  We arrived there (after a slightly delayed start) around 10:30, at which point the ferries have stopped running to Koh Samet - our final destination or so we hoped.  An hour later we were getting on a speed boat in the pitch black along with two Americans who had shown up shortly after we were dropped off at the dock and shuttled to the hotel where we wanted to stay.  Unfortunately this weekend was the one weekend in down season when there was an event on the island so this hotel was full.  Most luckily, Thai people are the most gracious people you will ever meet in your travels, as the lady at Ploy Talay then makes some calls and walks us to another hotel where they have rooms for us.  AMAZING!  She even set aside her dinner to do all of this.  Sam and I were so exhausted that we just crashed in the queen bed that we had to share after killing the gigantic mosquitoes that were in our room.

The following morning it was pouring so we were slow to get out of bed.  In the end it was the philosophical statement 'Rain at the lake is better than rain in the city' that got us up and out for breakfast.  Here Louis found us and told us that he got us a room at a hotel on the beach for that night - so great of him.  We quickly grabbed our stuff out of our room and trekked down the beach to the new hotel that was made up of several buildings that climbed the hill right behind the beach.  A few stairs later we arrived in our room and it was beautiful - clean and air-conditioned and it even had a TV with an English channel!  After getting settled, or at least as settled as one does in a hotel in which they are staying for only a night, we went back down to the beach and found a boat tour that left in 15 minutes to go to 4 different islands and included snorkeling, lunch and a fish farm visit!

The snorkeling at the first island was pretty poor because the water was so choppy.  That is to say, we could not see a whole lot but the water was nice all the same.  This part of the tour was not enhanced by the fact that we did not anchor stern to bow into the wind, making the boat rock side to side instead.  Sam and I made sure we were some of the last people to get on the boat and I still almost tossed my cookies just because of the uncomfortable movement.

The lunch was delicious - pad kao = fried rice.  We then had a good chunk of time to explore the island that we were on, which had a number of trails to check out.  Sam and I walked to a cliff on the far side of the island (not even a km) where we got a great view.  We then made our way back and hung out on the beach a bit before having to get back into the boat and heading for the next island.

The snorkeling on the next island was way better than the first round.  We were dropped off the boat and we could already see the bottom of the gulf and that there was large amounts of coral there.  Once we got our faces in the water we realized that this particular reef was the home for several jelly fish who were so transparent that at first I thought that they were bits of plastic bag that had been dropped in the ocean.  These were quite small and harmless so I am glad to say that I do not have any stings.  We saw a number of other fish in the coral too - neatly coloured or fantastically camouflaged.  It was also really nice because once we had been dropped off the boat, we had to swim to a different location to meet up with it again - on the beach of the island, where I found a beautiful orange stone that had been polished by the ocean.

The last stop on the tour was a fish farm, as mentioned above.  This may sound bizarre and believe me, when you get there it is.  The boat pulls up to a grid whose unit is length of two planks in either direction (for one square) and the dividers are two plank widths wide themselves.  Inside each square there are different sea creatures.  We were given a pail of dead fish to feed these creatures and coax them to come up to the surface.  It was really cool, and my favourite part was the sea turtles.  There were also sharks of different kinds and one guy was actually sitting with his feet in the square that contained a leopard shark!  Sam and I laughed as we discussed how we would react if we were to fall in to one of these pens.  It was agreed upon that as soon as the other ensured we were ok, we had full right to laugh at the other.  Luckily, this dream scenario did not come to fruit.

Once we were back on Koh Samet we got ready and met Julia and Louis to go for dinner.  We went to Ploy (where we had tried to stay the night before) and ate dinner on the beach while watching a Fire Show.  If you don't know, as I didn't before attending, a fire show is when a bunch of guys twirl batons and other objects that are on fire.  This sounds like a weak premise on which to base a show but the athleticism and the acrobatics that came into play in addition to their talent for not burning themselves was pretty impressive.  We then made our way down the beach to a club where we danced and hung out for the rest of the evening.  This location also had a fire show but it was not nearly as impressive as the one at Ploy (1 guy vs 16 - he didn't stand a chance).

The following morning we learned a very valuable lesson.  Any sort of alcohol consumption is a bad idea when you did not hydrate enough during the day.  Sam and I lost track of how much water we were consuming because we were in the water!  As a result, Sunday AM was a bit of a write off but it was nice to have a chill morning all the same before commencing our journey back to Bangkok.

And we made it back all in one piece.  I am happy to say that we are now well hydrated and I should probably go to bed.  Good night for now!!  Luv you all.