Songkran (Thai New Year)

It was a busy week.  It is Songkran now and everyone is in a festive mood.  I went to see another temple.  It was the scariest one I've been too. The steps go straight up.  It had a great view from the top but it was very scary coming down.  It took me a while to take the first step down. There were a lot of children monks at the temple.

On my birthday I left for Chiang Mai, a city 10 hours north of Bangkok.  I went with one of my Thai friends.  7 of us rode in a car with 5 seats and I sat in the very back.  It was a long trip, but was worth it.  Songrkan is usually 3 days, but here they celebrate it 7 days.  A canal surrounds the city.  People drive cars walk around the canals and throw water at each other.  It was alot of fun, but the water was a little dirty.  There were also parades and other things.  The tradition of Songkran is washing people with water to cleanse them for the new year.  The Thai people love spraying foreigners, so I got very wet. Also in Chiang Mai is the highest point in Thailand.  It is at a temple on top of a mountain and we visited there one day.  We went home for the last day of Songrkan in Bangkok.  We went to the main Thai area and there were not many foreigners.  In Bangkok, they throw water but also put powder on each other's faces.  I had powder and water everywhere, but it was a great experience.


The red shirt saga has gotten alot more serious.  The protests used to be almost like a tailgate for a sports team.  Everyone was hanging out and having a good time for a cause.  It was a very festive mood.  However, it got very serious on my birthday.  The red shirts fought with the police.  25 people were killed and many were injured.  The next day the red shirts paraded the bodies through the street.  The people of Thailand seem to be mad at the red shirts for causing all of this.  They are costing the city and country millions in tourism.  Three of the biggest malls are shut down.  It was calm during Songkran, as everyone was focusing on that. But it is a very serious issue now, that is hurting Thailand, and no end is in sight.


I have been saying goodbye to alot of friends.  I went to the basketball courts last night and said bye to all my friends there and also to the places I go eat at night.  I am going to the school later to see my friends there and to the city tonight to eat with other friends.  It is kinda sad and I am also not looking forward to the plane ride home, but I am looking forward to good food, air conditioning, and a hot shower... Oh yeah and family

Temples and Red Shirts

I have been hanging out in Thungkru the past few days.  One day I did a little sight seeing and visited a couple of the temples.  One of the temples was at the top of a hill; it used to be the highest point in Bangkok.  It had a great 360 degree view from the top. We then took a river taxi, a long narrow boat on the canal, too another temple.  This one had a golden Buddha inside.  It also had a giant swing outside.  It is no longer used, but monks used to swing on it to show their faith.  Unfortunately, many monks were injured or killed while swinging on it.  We walked around afterwards and somehow ended up near the red shirts.  They were having a rally and government officials, who they were protesting against, were on the other side of the street.  It was very peaceful, but an interesting experience.

I also got asked to play in a basketball tournament.  The guy who asked me, named boy, does not speak English.  He got his friend to call me and I met him outside of the 7-11 at 12, an hour before the game.  He showed up with his girlfriend and we got in a taxi, with having no idea where we are going and no way to communicate.  We stopped about 10 minutes later to pick someone up.  It turned out to be one of Boy's friends, who was an English major.  He had asked her to come to be my translator.  We stopped 5 minutes later and picked up 2 more girls.  So we had 6 people, plus the driver, in the taxi going to play basketball.  We ended up at a school in Chinatown were the tournament was.  I was the only non-Thai person in the building.  I looked at some of the team names.  2 teams were named KKK and one team was named God like, all the rest were in Thai.  I got a jersey and started to meet my team.  There were 8 teams left in the tournament and the teams were fairly good.  3 guys on my team could dunk.  I got to start.  On the first series of the game, I got a pass and got fouled underneath on a shot.  When they blew the whistle, I heard a cheer from the crowd.  It was unexpected, but I later found out most of the fans were Boy's friends, and therefore our fans.  I had a pretty good game, scored about 20.  We won by 40.  We stayed around and watched the other games. The other quarterfinal games were won by 1, 2, and 6.  During this time Boy also went and got me, and the rest of the team, dinner.  I felt like a hired player.  It was alot of fun.  My translator had already left when Boy, his friends, and I went back home.  I rode in the car in silence until we got home and thanked him.  Of course, he paid for the taxi too.  I was supposed to meet him the next day for the semifinals.  However, I got a call that night from Boy's friend saying the tournament officials had asked that I not come back.  I think the combination of being a farang and playing was the reason for this.  My friends said they thought the officials were scared our team was too good.  I was disappointed to not play anymore, but it still was alot of fun.

I am leaving for Chiang Mai Saturday for Songkran and will be there for almost a week.

Koh Chang.

Shaun and I went to the beach for a few days to island Called Koh Chang.  The bus left at midnight and we got there about 430 am and waited for the ferry.  We found a hotel for about $10 a night across the street and rented motorbikes for $5 a day.  We spent time riding around and checking out the different beaches.  The roads were extremely hilly and curvy.  It was scary riding and I took my time.  The beaches were very nice and the water was warm.  It was relaxing.  It was very touristy though and food was somewhat expensive.  It was a good three days though.

The motorbikes were and interesting story. My motorbike was fine, but Shaun's had a leak in it.  We filled up at the same time and his gas ran out while mine was still almost full.  We took the bike and they didn't have anymore so the owner took Shaun on my bike (with gas that I paid for and during the hours I rented it) to get another bike from his brother's shop. It was very frustrating.  It started to rain hard the morning we left.  We went to pay for the room and the second day of using the bikes.  The owner told us we had to go to another place to pay for the bikes (even though I paid her the first day).  I asked her if it was the same price and she said she didn't know, that we had to pay a foreigner price.  I thought that was crap.  So we took our bikes, in the rain, with all of our bags, to the other place.  Shaun went and paid for his bike because they had his ID and he paid almost double.  I left the key in the ignition and jumped on a taxi.  I tried to pay for the bike, but there was no way I was paying double.

We got on the bus for an the ride back to Bangkok.  The bus was "leaking" from the rain.  Shaun's seat was already wet and they moved him, but made someone else sit in his seat.  About 1/4th of the bus had a wet seat.  Also, every time we stopped, one of the bus drivers would get out of the bus and tighten something with a wrench.  This was not reassuring.  We made it back to Bangkok, but they dropped us off near the "red shirts" protests.

It was a very frustrating last day, but a good trip.  It was fun to see another island.  I am going to do some things around Bangkok the next couple days and just relax.

I'll be at the beach 'til Saturday.  I'm have a 5 hour bus ride leaving at midnight.  It should be terrible, hopefully our driver doesn't get arrested this time.

We just got back from another good camp. We went to another resort in the hills. It was alot of fun. We did most of the same things. We played games and did the fashion show again. One of the models was the statue of liberty. We also went to a big dam on our way back that was a park. One of the girls bought me a monkey as a gift there. There were some interesting kids there. One of the Muslim girls is a break dancer. Also some groups consider themselves in "gangs" but is more like a group. They go to movies and do different stuff together. One of the groups was named jigkapomp meaning gecko. I also learned to play Thai paper, rock, scissors. They play it as a handshake type game.

We got to watch a little TV while we were there. The news was all about the "red shirts". They went through with their plan and dumped blood all around the Prime Minister's house and Parliament. Most of the Thai people we asked don't like to comment on the whole situation. However, we did make fun of it in a skit at camp. The kids, the "red shirts", overthrew me, the prime minister, and threw blood on me so that they could become the teachers. It is a really bizarre situation and bizarre protest.

The last night there, I stayed in the boys' cabin. We played Uno for a while. Then we got into talking about Muslim culture. They were wearing their sarongs and wanted me to try on one. The camp was alot of fun and I learned alot. Shaun and I are looking into going into the beach or into Chang Mai this week.

I have had the last few days to hang out in the place where I live by myself. I go to play basketball every night and then go to the fruit market. I have developed a strong relationship with one of the kids from camp. All the kids are from underprivileged situations, being orphaned or poor. This kid, named James, mom died a few years ago and his dad is only home for about 1 week a month because of work. I took him to dinner one night after basketball. When his dad got back in town, he took me out for a couple of dinners and asked me to watch over James. It is a neat experience, but I feel bad I will only be here for a month.

Also at the basketball courts I got hit on, by a guy. It has happened a few times, especially in Thailand, but never playing basketball. The way they hit on you is Junior High style. Thai people are very shy, so they send a friend to tell you that they like you. I had to polite-fully tell him that I like girls.

Thailand is also having protests again like last year. I am safe, but I must tell you this interesting story, so DON'T WORRY. There are a group of "red shirts" that support the former Prime Minister Taxin. He was corrupt and made alot of money during the time he was prime minister. He has been banished from Thailand, but still has an influence. The "red shirts" are paid by him over $100 a day to protest, which is a good weeks work in Thailand. The Thai government has suspended Taxin's assets and the "red shirts" are protesting this. Over 100,000 have surrounded the Parliament House (where the new Prime Minister is), while 40,000 troops are there. They have threatened that if the money is not released or the Prime Minister doesn't resign, they are going to cut themselves and spread thousands of liters of blood around the Parliament building. It sounds almost like a movie from Biblical times. But we are safe as long as we stay away from that area, and our camp is leaving tomorrow to a resort away from Bangkok. I will be back from camp on Friday.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/171623/udd-next-move-scatter-blood

I have had alot of time to relax after camp. We were going to see a Muay Thai fight, but it was $100, so we decided not too. I have been going to see a few movies. I pay about $6 for the movie, popcorn, and a coke. I saw Avatar (liked it), Book of Eli (didn't like it), and Up in the Air (absolutely loved it). I have been just hanging around the apartment the last few days, catching up on tv shows and watching some dvds. I survive off ham and cheese sandwiches from the 7-11. Every time I see kids there, they stare at me, and motion at how tall I am with their jaws dropped in amazement. At about 5:30 every night I go and play basketball at the local park. The basketball is ok, 3 of the players from the Thai national team play there. But I'm a giant there and everyone is always amazed at how tall I am. I then go to a night market to eat. I go to a fruit stand and get a pineapple for about $1. There are always a group of children there who talk to me. I went into Bangkok 1 day using public transportation. It took about an hour to get there, but only cost about $1. The bus is miserable with no air conditioning and it was very crowded, but it was an interesting experience.

Today I went to the US embassy with the school. They had invited me to go after camp. They were going to have a video conference with students from China and Mongolia. They each at prepared a presentation about their cities (Chicago, NY, and San Francisco) to share with the other students. I thought I was going to just observe. However, I ended up moderating the event.

The other countries were using representatives from the embassy to do this. But the guy from the Thai embassy didn't want to do it, so i filled in. I was a little nervous but it turned out fine. The teachers from the school were really appreciative of me being there. It was interesting to compare the kids from different countries. The Chinese kids' English was terrible and the Thai and Mongolian kids' English was much better.

The leaders of the English program at the school took good care of me. Everyone had a traditional Thai lunch, but they had gotten me white rice and omelette. Then they took everyone to dinner, which people was lasagna and steak for us, while the kids ate at a buffet. It was a really cool experience to see the Embassy and to be apart of this conference. The school has also asked me to help coach their basketball team for a tournament next week. So I am off to go there and then play basketball tonight. I'll write again in the next couple of days or after the next camp.

ICT Camp

I spent the last few days at camp for ICT (Islamic College of Thailand). We took a bus to a resort about 3 hours away from Bangkok. It was a really nice place up in the hills and on a river. It had a pool and we had a buffet every meal. I couldn't eat alot of the food so they had a special menu for me. I usually ate an omelet with white rice, fried rice, or chicken wings. We also got a free massage while we were there.
This year we introduced American culture through pumpkin carving and making S'mores. The kids really enjoyed this. They are really into art and fashion so we let them do a fashion show where they made clothes from scrap supplies. However, it turned into a ladyboy show. We also did the silly Olympics. We did an eating contest, egg toss, and other things, but their favorite was the dizzy bat relay. They had never done it before and almost all of them fell down when trying to run after spinning.

I also learned alot about Thai and Muslim culture by talking to the kids. They all were calling me fat. So I told them they were too dark and that they had small noses, both big disses in the Thai culture. However, in Thai culture you can say these things and no one cares. Everyone just laughs and no one takes it personally. Also, one of the kids asked me if I like Obama. She said she didn't like him because he converted from Islam to Christianity. She said she didn't like Christians and so I told her I was Christian. She then said that "they are so-so" and started laughing. Constantly I'm told how beautiful I am. The kids are always staring at me and if I look back at them, they start giggling.
It was a really fun camp. I am looking forward to the next one. I have a couple of weeks off. I am going with the school to the embassy to have an English conference call with Mongolia. The academic administrator always takes care of me and refers to me as her son. She always jokes with me about how I eat. We are going to Bangkok tonight to see a Muay Thai fight.

Good to be Back

I arrived safely after a long day of traveling. I got in around midnight and went straight to sleep. The next day I spent checking out the surrounding area. I am living in Thonburi, just a little outside of the Bangkok. It is not as commercial and I am one of about 5 white people in the area. The University here just got out of school and there was an end of the year festival. There was alot of food and games and many, many people were at the festival. My apartment is nicer than the one last year, but it has no hot water, so I am getting used to taking cool showers.

Today a woman from Georgetown, where my boss got the grant, came to check on what she was doing. They had meetings in the morning and I met them around noon. I walked into the school and everyone was staring as usual. Many of the kids would wait til I passed by them and then yell "hi teacher". They were scared to do it when I was looking at them. Back to rock star status. I also recognized some of the students from last year. The rest of the day a van from the Embassy and the leaders at the school took us around to different areas. We went to a museum that featured a huge 3 headed elephant. It is there for good luck. Inside was very interesting. It had 4 pillars, 1 for Thai Buddhism, 1 for Chinese Buddhism, 1 for Hinduism, and 1 for Christianity. I have no idea what it meant. I was giving some flowers to put in front of one of the Buddha statues and then given a lotus flower to release in a river for good luck. We then went to this big park/museum called the Ancient City. It was a replica for all of Thailand. We had to drive around the park to see it all in about an hour. There were many replica statues and temples. I learned alot about the history of Thailand. Also why we were there we saw a huge lizard, that looked almost like a crocodile.
Next was where the day got really interesting. Somehow we ended up on the gulf of Thailand, which I had no idea we were near. We were handed a coconut with a straw to drink the coconut milk and a basket of chicken jerky. This jerky was for feeding the hundreds, of seagulls on the boardwalk area. It was somewhat cool but also scary. After spending time there we went and ate dinner at the end of the boardwalk. It was all seafood, YUM! I got teased by everyone for ordering chicken fried rice, no vegetables. I have mentioned before that in the Thai language, different tones mean different things. Today was the best example of that. Fidelia, my boss, was asking about a soup, and asked if there were fish eggs, or in Thai "kai", in it. The Thai people we were with all started laughing. They told us that she has asked if "the male reproductive organ" was in the soup. She did not use the right tone. So fish egg and male reproductive organ are the same word with a different tone. Thai is a difficult language. We had a great meal with a lot of laughter as we watched the sun set over the ocean. A great way to end a great day.