4: Mommy...Close Your Eyes For This One...

This past weekend was a doozy! Friday night about ten of us farang girls went into Bangkok to see Sex and the City (with Thai subtitles naturally) at the EGV Theater in Siam Square. Afterwards we met up with the boys on our trip to watch Italy versus Romania on a big screen TV. The world cup qualifying matches are really big over here, so on Saturday afternoon we all went to see the Thailand versus Japan soccer game in Bangkok at the Rajamangala National Stadium. The game was a ton of fun and we got a lot of funny looks for being white people in Thailand Jerseys, but unfortunately Thailand isn't very good and lost 3-0.

Saturday to Monday, I traveled by bus and ferry to an island in the Gulf of Thailand. Koh Samet is a tropical island, and is almost entirely National Forest (cost a pretty penny to get in) (and by pretty penny I mean like 200 baht) (okay, so that's like 6 dollars but still). Regardless, after arriving on the island through an absolute monsoon in the Gulf, Lauren, Alana, and I ate some lunch (gai mamuang for me), and then the three of us rented two motorcycles for the day. That's right: Motorcycles. I know my mother is crying right now, but don't worry, I was completely against it in the beginning. As it turned out, I was the best driver of all of us. After renting a little bungalow for the night called the Ao Phai Hut (named for the specific beach we found, 400 baht total), the three of us went cruising on the motorcycles (with helmets, like no one else we passed). The craziest thing about the adventure was that we didn't have a map and that the roads were unpaved. Regardless, we rode all the way to the other end of the island and saw some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. We were even back to our Hut by nightfall so we could enjoy some Pena Coladas in the white sands. We sang Karaoke at a Reggae Bar we found (we were the only people there besides the staff so we went crazy with Madonna's "Like a Prayer" and Destiny Child's "Survivor"). There was another soccer game scheduled that night, but instead of watching that, we challenged three European boys to a soccer match in the dark on the beach at midnight.
Editor's Note: the girls royally kicked the boys' tails.
The next morning, hungover on the white sands of Koh Samet, I enjoyed an amazing half hour Thai foot massage practically with my toes in the waves. Heaven. After all the fun was had, the three of us girls ended up making it back to Tecno Thon Buri just in time for our Intensive Thai Language Course on Monday night from 5-7:30 pm. Here comes another week of class...!

Also, I wanted to send out all of my love and respect to my extended family at home as we grieve the loss of my grandmother. Winnifred Nicholas was an institution, and I wish I could be with you all right now. I attribute a lot of my compassion, independence, and affinity for acting to her. Thanks for all the support you all have given me from overseas as well. We love you Weo.

3: Hear Ye! Giant Banana Storms Gulf!

For our first big weekend since we’ve settled in, and with the long awaited arrival of our professor from UNC, it was time to go to the beach. Our professor, Dr. Rich Kamens (or as we call him, Ajarn Rich) took us on several different buses to the province of Chon Buri, about 2 hours away (not to be confused with Thon Buri where I live). Ajarn Rich lived in Chon Buri during his stint in the Peace Corps in the 1970s and he says things have obviously grown up around where he said was once a landscape of dotted rice paddies. The beach we went to was Bang Saen, and since we are mostly travelling and living in areas that are not tourist-heavy, we stand out like sore thumbs. I had not been to the beach since Pop’s boogy board accident two summers ago, so it was nice to swim in the Gulf of Thailand where waves were not the standard. However, for about 100 baht each, six of us jumped on the back of a giant Banana Boat and toured the Gulf by way of a jet-ski tow. We were slung off several times but it was great fun (don’t worry mom: life jackets). Let it be known however, that Thai people do not swim in bathing suits. If they have them on, even when swimming, they are wearing a t-shirt and shorts on top because conservative dress is the norm in non-tourist areas. Farmer’s tan, here I come!

A relaxing day at the beach was followed by a night of shooting pool, drinking Singha, eating frog, and enjoying some home-made non-dairy coconut Thai-style ice cream. The Kingdom of Thailand is a Lactose Intolerant’s dream. The milk is all rice or soy, and the ice cream is all coconut milk, so my digestive system could run circles around my fellow Intolerants roaming the States aimlessly.

The following day we visited three destinations before returning back to campus in Thon Buri. First, we stopped by a little area that was known for crafting stone mortar-and-pestles, and although I did not buy one, I got some other nifty gifties for my American counterparts. Secondly, our group went to a Chinese Buddhist Temple in Bang Saen that was absolutely phenomenal in scope. I had never seen anything so intricate and beautiful, especially with the communion-like water ceremony we witnessed. The pictures are in the slideshow. Our third part of the day, which was the most moving experience I have had in Thailand, was our visit with Thai Buddhist Monks on a secluded part of the Bang Saen coastline. Deep in the forest of eastern trees and flowering plants, these monks live together, worshipping Buddha, eating only one big meal a day that they gather in one big pot each from the villagers, studying, and meditating. I had the honor of being able to experience and partake in a meditation session in a small temple in the woods. We lit incense and the monk, translated by our friend Pai, described the exact way to meditate and properly center yourself in any situation. Spirituality is the basis of the monk’s life, but almost every Thai male spends at least three months as monk in his mid-twenties, so meditation and self-guidance plays a big part in every Thai’s life. Although I have never been a very spiritual person, this experience was very soothing and meaningful to me, allowing me as well to reflect on my love of my grandmother Weo. The peace of the temples was exquisite, and I know I will return to others. That particular temple extended the invitation to stay with them for however long I liked to live as a monk, and although it was tempting offer, I am but a college student.

2: Heeeeeere's Johnnie!

Apparently in Thailand, the liquor of choice for every single bar is Johnnie Walker Whiskey.

Yesterday was our first day of graduate school classes in the JGSEE (Joint Graduate School for Energy and the Environment), so my friend Sarah and I attended a class on Environmental Pollution Control. Unfortunately the class was cancelled, but curiously, the next day’s afternoon classes were cancelled as well. Apparently cancelled classes are very common at KMUTT, but for us Americans with no assignments yet, we’re yearning for academic stimulation! In the drought of class, we taught Pai and A to play Ultimate Frisbee which has been a wonderful heated workout under the equatorial sun. I also purchased a soccer ball for 99 baht, but after kicking it around for about 15 minutes… it exploded magnificently. I’m going to buy a more expensive brand-name ball in Bangkok. The picture of feet in the slideshow below is what the girls in my room looked like after removing our shoes and socks after a day of Ultimate Frisbee in the dirt. We are really tan and still wearing socks, we have horrible tan lines, or that’s red mud.

Last night at dinner at a restaurant called “Bang and Earn” which essentially means “By Chance”, we met three other white people (a lovely rarity). One of them, named George, works on our campus in a building called the Innovative Learning Center where, as a Senior from Radford College in Virginia, George teaches chubby wealthy preteens how to paint in a Montessori-type middle school. He’s here for the summer and we all exchanged Thai cell phone numbers.

My American crew over here (who you’ll hear a lot about: Sarah, Kevin, Angela, Brock, Dan, Elizabeth, Ruby, Lauren, Alana) had our first class today. “Energy and the Environment” is taught by Ajarn Savitri and it looks like it will be good. Tomorrow we have “Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology”. A lot of beer tonight at this bar/restaurant Bud was a ton of fun, but my food was an absolutely inedible soup called Tom Yum with Coconut…it was essentially whole shrimp in a pool of butt-burning red chilies.

I've discovered a really sweet Som Tum place over near a park that I can't wait to take my family to when they visit. Sticky Rice (Kao neao) is the tastiest.

Also, incase you were wondering, Thai people have never seen or heard of a Frisbee. We've been playing Ultimate Frisbee as a group every single day for a couple of hours but the Thai kids we play with are getting better every day.

1: Goodbye Toilet Paper... Hello Thailand!

It’s my second full day in Thailand, and it’s been a wild ride so far. The sixteen hour flight from New York to Hong Kong was an exhausting test of will. Sandwiched between two Chinese women in the center section between two aisles on a Boeing 777, things were going fine for a while. I watched Charlie Wilson’s War, 27 Dresses, the E! True Hollywood Story: Amy Winehouse, Dan in Real Life… the best that Cathay Pacific had to offer, then I took a narcotic around 11pm to aid some sleeping since I’d been on the plane for 8 hours. I was able to sleep for about 4 or 5 hours, and then I was blessed with nausea for the remaining 7 hours. I threw up several times in the airplane toilet, so I was effectively out of commission for a long while. I’ve never been airsick before, so I think it was a combination of the narcotics and remembering how seasick I got last week in Key Largo.

Our assistants here that have been taking us around and are our only Thai friends thus far are Pai, Ngh, Aa, and Dee. They picked us up the airport, have eaten meals with us, and taken us around Thonburi and Bangkok. The biggest issue we’ve been having is that all of the restaurants, even at the bottom of our dorm, is that everything on the menu is written in Thai (which we cannot read). I ate kao paed jay for lunch yesterday which is vegetarian fried rice.

The classes I have signed up for: Life Cycle Assessment which meets 1:00 on Fridays, Energy and the Environment which meets 1:00 on Tuesdays, Environmental Chemistry which meets 1:00 on Wednesdays, and I will be doing a 6 hours Capstone Research assignment throughout the semester. Each class meets 1 day a week for 3 solid hours and I am looking into picking up another course (perhaps Climate Change and Ecosystems or Environmental Pollution Control). The website for my graduate school (JGSEE at KMUTT) is pretty sweet.

Yesterday we went to downtown Thonburi by bus to get dorm supplies as the Tesco. I bought a laundry hamper, shower caddy, 2 towels, detergent (a ton of stuff) that ended up being 608 baht that I put on the credit card. That was all my school stuff for about $19 US. I haven't been able to get my debit card to work yet, but I'm going to check it out at a bank. We have an all night snack store open 24 hours a day at the basement of our dorm. It's a 7-11 that sells only thai things.

As our first full day today, I got 12 hours of sleep last night (8pm to 8am) so we went into Bangkok today to get our cellphones. Everything works perfectly and is very cheap. The phone was 900 baht ($30 or so US). We saw a huge procession in Bangkok for the Prince's Ex-Wife which was hilarious. We are nothing without Pai leading us around. We are going into Bangkok tonight for the Som Tum Festival (papaya salads and things) and to go to a bar with our Thai assistants/helpers/friends.

Mom and Pop: I'm keeping track of all of my spendings. Pop: The google homepage is in Thai over here! Clay: tons of bikes but a lot of crusty stuff I've seen so far. Andrew: sometimes I feel like I'm just in a packed part of New York City and that I could turn a corner and see your apartment.

That's all for now...jetlag is over, its hot as hell, dresses every day. We don't show our shoulders or wear shorts but it's all good. I think we're going to take a Thai language class 5-7pm every day. A lot of questions will be answered when Ajarn Rich arrives this week and we get our Student ID's on Friday.

And We're Off...

I'm all packed up and getting ready to leave in about, oh I don't know, exactly 12 hours? I'm flying from RDU to JFK at 8am, then I've got a 16 hour flight to Hong Kong. Another layover, and then it's a hop skip and a jump to Bangkok. My classes start Monday with the beginning of June, and I have no idea what classes I'm even taking! I'm so ready that it hurts, bring it ON!

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