Now Bree, I hear you asking, it's been awhile since you updated, we need to know what you've been up to.
The answer, sadly, is not a whole lot. It's still raining from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed. There are no boats running to the island. We haven't bought a ticket for Taiwan (partially because the weather there will be just as bad as the weather here). We've gone to the mall once and the market once, but I'm not that awesome on the back of a scooter, Kat's not that awesome at having a passenger on her scooter, and it's damned unpleasant to ride in the rain.
I've only taken one picture, because they'd all look the same right now. Gray skies and puddles. Lots of puddles.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Phew
Greetings from Chumphon (pronounced Chew-pon apparently)! My travel is, for right now at least, over. When I last wrote my message in Bangkok, I think I was still feeling the effects of 23+ hours of travelling. And no sleep. The first few days here were rough on my system, what with the 11 hour time change. When I said I had over 20 hours of daylight, I meant it. I woke up in Columbus, Ohio at 7am. I can't recall if the sun was already up then, but if not, it rose not long afterwards. I left Columbus at 10am, landed in Chicago at 10am their time, took off at noon for Korea, and landed in Korea at I think 2pm, then took off for the last leg of my journey. When I was finally able to leave the airport at 11pm in Bangkok, the temperature was a mild 81 degrees. The locals were all wearing long pants and light jackets as I was shedding every outer layer possible.
After catching a supremely expensive cab (30$ american), the cabbie dropped me with all my bags on Kaosarn road. If any of you have ever seen The Beach, this is the busy, touristy little road that Leo started on. It's a little disconcerting, and I was, for the first time in my life, a little concerned about being robbed. Luckily, I found a very nice Hostel with individual rooms, free wifi and free coffee in the morning. I booked the room for two days. Each night was 600 baht, or roughly 15$ american. I could have found a place much cheaper, but frankly I was tired and needed somewhere to drop my stuff. I'd noticed some nice looking little bars while strolling through the night market and I needed to do some important research on Thai beer.
I strolled down the road, drinking my new Singha beer (in Bangkok, a 40oz costs 80 baht, in Chumphon, 35). I bought a bag that I was hoping to send back to my mother eventually, a skirt, a second beer and a dress. Finally, the toll of 23 hours of travel, one sleeping pill that had no effect as a three year old was kicking my seat for 13 hours and two beers took over. I sent off a couple quick emails letting people know I arrived safe and somewhat sound, then crashed.
Only to wake up at 6am! Sigh. Stupid body, telling me I shouldn't sleep till 7pm. Well, not one to waste time, I got up, had some coffee, chatted with some people on facebook and hit the streets. I wandered long enough to find a 7-11 to get some drinking water, found a temple type thing, then caught a taxicab over to the school. I guess it was a busy day there, so I signed my contract, they took me over to open up a thai bank account, told me where to go to get a phone and bailed. It was all very exciting. The girls at the store spoke no english whatsoever, but very thoughtfully set up the phone I paid them for, put in minutes and handed it to me, and I was off again. Bought a train ticket for the next morning, got on the subway over to an IT mall, and picked up a cable for my computer.
I have been told that this sort of behavior right off the plane from halfway around the world is impressive. Honestly, I just took people at their word. The head of HR here is from Turkey and he told me that this is the safest place he's ever lived and the people here are really really nice. Kat explained to me that the thinking is if a white person goes to their store or restaurant, it means that a Thai person told them about it, and that they will tell all the other white people to go there. It's like a good luck charm. They're very superstitious. When I bought a skirt the other morning, I was the first sale of the day, so the shop keep rubbed the money I gave her all over the merchandise for luck that day. Very fun.
The train was somewhat less fun. It probably would have been beautiful scenery, but I've done so much traveling. And I didn't have a window seat. And my neighbor was a really weird german guy who kept insisting that we had gotten on the wrong train. I almost missed my stop, too. They don't announce which stop they're at, but I happened to be on the phone with Kat and I was going to tell her where I was to better plan when she should meet me at the station. In the rain. Sigh. It's supposed to rain till wednesday. Right now it's just spitting, but we can't really go anywhere because her scooter has a flat tire and won't be fixed until tomorrow. Not much to do but drink some beer, sing some karaoke and hopefully dance a little bit. No sense in going to Koh Tao until it's a little bit nicer. On the upside, the Taiwan trip might be back on. With luck I'll be able to get my visa there and put another stamp in my passport. And, you know, understand a little bit of the language. Around here I can say hello, thank you and no, I don't want that. These are important phrases to know, though.
After catching a supremely expensive cab (30$ american), the cabbie dropped me with all my bags on Kaosarn road. If any of you have ever seen The Beach, this is the busy, touristy little road that Leo started on. It's a little disconcerting, and I was, for the first time in my life, a little concerned about being robbed. Luckily, I found a very nice Hostel with individual rooms, free wifi and free coffee in the morning. I booked the room for two days. Each night was 600 baht, or roughly 15$ american. I could have found a place much cheaper, but frankly I was tired and needed somewhere to drop my stuff. I'd noticed some nice looking little bars while strolling through the night market and I needed to do some important research on Thai beer.
I strolled down the road, drinking my new Singha beer (in Bangkok, a 40oz costs 80 baht, in Chumphon, 35). I bought a bag that I was hoping to send back to my mother eventually, a skirt, a second beer and a dress. Finally, the toll of 23 hours of travel, one sleeping pill that had no effect as a three year old was kicking my seat for 13 hours and two beers took over. I sent off a couple quick emails letting people know I arrived safe and somewhat sound, then crashed.
Only to wake up at 6am! Sigh. Stupid body, telling me I shouldn't sleep till 7pm. Well, not one to waste time, I got up, had some coffee, chatted with some people on facebook and hit the streets. I wandered long enough to find a 7-11 to get some drinking water, found a temple type thing, then caught a taxicab over to the school. I guess it was a busy day there, so I signed my contract, they took me over to open up a thai bank account, told me where to go to get a phone and bailed. It was all very exciting. The girls at the store spoke no english whatsoever, but very thoughtfully set up the phone I paid them for, put in minutes and handed it to me, and I was off again. Bought a train ticket for the next morning, got on the subway over to an IT mall, and picked up a cable for my computer.
I have been told that this sort of behavior right off the plane from halfway around the world is impressive. Honestly, I just took people at their word. The head of HR here is from Turkey and he told me that this is the safest place he's ever lived and the people here are really really nice. Kat explained to me that the thinking is if a white person goes to their store or restaurant, it means that a Thai person told them about it, and that they will tell all the other white people to go there. It's like a good luck charm. They're very superstitious. When I bought a skirt the other morning, I was the first sale of the day, so the shop keep rubbed the money I gave her all over the merchandise for luck that day. Very fun.
The train was somewhat less fun. It probably would have been beautiful scenery, but I've done so much traveling. And I didn't have a window seat. And my neighbor was a really weird german guy who kept insisting that we had gotten on the wrong train. I almost missed my stop, too. They don't announce which stop they're at, but I happened to be on the phone with Kat and I was going to tell her where I was to better plan when she should meet me at the station. In the rain. Sigh. It's supposed to rain till wednesday. Right now it's just spitting, but we can't really go anywhere because her scooter has a flat tire and won't be fixed until tomorrow. Not much to do but drink some beer, sing some karaoke and hopefully dance a little bit. No sense in going to Koh Tao until it's a little bit nicer. On the upside, the Taiwan trip might be back on. With luck I'll be able to get my visa there and put another stamp in my passport. And, you know, understand a little bit of the language. Around here I can say hello, thank you and no, I don't want that. These are important phrases to know, though.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Overseas advice
Oh my lord. Bangkok is a crazy crazy city. And Kaosarn is a crazy crazy little road.
This is pretty obviously where the backpacking kids stay when they're going through Thailand. Rooms are cheap, they have wi-fi, there's a night market, a McDonalds and a lot of bars. Street vendors shilling buckets of beer. Trinkets. Clothes. Crazy taxi drivers. Seriously, if any of you ever come to Thailand, I implore you: If you value your sanity, do not rent a car.
Last night while I was writing an email on the patio of the hotel, some guy in a purple dress came walking by with light sticks on strings. Today I got dragged into an alley by a yogi who wanted to read my palm. The beer is cheap and the people are many. Last night while I was walking, I got called Teacha a couple times, a few people wanted to ask about Obama, and three or four said "Coffee Americano!" Oh, and clothes here are often labeled "F." I can only assume this means fat, as a couple of people called me a fat american. You get over it.
Let me see, I think that's most of the rundown. Oh, and same same. Everyone here says it all the time. It could mean "these things are exactly the same." Or it could mean "these things are similar." Or it could mean "I have no clue, but I think this is what you're looking for." Oh Thailand, you so crazy.
This is pretty obviously where the backpacking kids stay when they're going through Thailand. Rooms are cheap, they have wi-fi, there's a night market, a McDonalds and a lot of bars. Street vendors shilling buckets of beer. Trinkets. Clothes. Crazy taxi drivers. Seriously, if any of you ever come to Thailand, I implore you: If you value your sanity, do not rent a car.
Last night while I was writing an email on the patio of the hotel, some guy in a purple dress came walking by with light sticks on strings. Today I got dragged into an alley by a yogi who wanted to read my palm. The beer is cheap and the people are many. Last night while I was walking, I got called Teacha a couple times, a few people wanted to ask about Obama, and three or four said "Coffee Americano!" Oh, and clothes here are often labeled "F." I can only assume this means fat, as a couple of people called me a fat american. You get over it.
Let me see, I think that's most of the rundown. Oh, and same same. Everyone here says it all the time. It could mean "these things are exactly the same." Or it could mean "these things are similar." Or it could mean "I have no clue, but I think this is what you're looking for." Oh Thailand, you so crazy.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Leavin on a Jet Plane
This must be what it feels like to get married.
You spend months, or sometimes a year planning the big event, and then when the day actually comes up you say 'huh?' It's not quite real. I imagine it will become quite real at some point in my 12 hour flight from chicago to korea. Likely realer than real.
But right now, sitting in the Columbus airport staring at the grey skys alone, all I can think is how much I'll miss everybody.
You spend months, or sometimes a year planning the big event, and then when the day actually comes up you say 'huh?' It's not quite real. I imagine it will become quite real at some point in my 12 hour flight from chicago to korea. Likely realer than real.
But right now, sitting in the Columbus airport staring at the grey skys alone, all I can think is how much I'll miss everybody.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Final Countdown doo dee doo doo
So, here we are, up at my parent's place in Columbus. My bags aren't yet packed and I still don't have a bathing suit, but I think stuff-wise, I'm about as ready as I'll ever be. Man, I can't wait to go shopping when I get there.
Six days left to consume as much opera cream, gravy and cheese as possible. If I still ate red meat, I'd be on a serious cheeseburger binge right now.
Six days left to consume as much opera cream, gravy and cheese as possible. If I still ate red meat, I'd be on a serious cheeseburger binge right now.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
T minus 17 days and counting...
...and I still don't know which school I'll be placed at! I got an email last night letting me know that there's a good possibility I'll be placed close to Kat.
In my discussions with the school I'll be working with, I asked, reasonably I think, if somebody from the school would be able to meet me at the airport. The response I got was that I need to get a taxi, and they gave me Thai instructions to print out and give to the driver.
Babelfish tells me this is an address. An address to what, you ask? I don't know, they didn't tell me!
White slavery? The U.S embassy? The school? A hotel? Jail? I'll report back when my behavior is good enough to allow internet access after my nightly gruel
That's just a joke, guys, I'm sure the address is for the school, they want to help set me up with a bank account before unleashing the crazy tattooed woman on Bangkok. :)
In my discussions with the school I'll be working with, I asked, reasonably I think, if somebody from the school would be able to meet me at the airport. The response I got was that I need to get a taxi, and they gave me Thai instructions to print out and give to the driver.
ซอย รัชดาภิเษก 29 ถ. รัชดาภิเษก แขวงจตุจักร เขต จตุจักร กทม 10900
โทร.081-3599781 ( โอม)
Babelfish tells me this is an address. An address to what, you ask? I don't know, they didn't tell me!
White slavery? The U.S embassy? The school? A hotel? Jail? I'll report back when my behavior is good enough to allow internet access after my nightly gruel
That's just a joke, guys, I'm sure the address is for the school, they want to help set me up with a bank account before unleashing the crazy tattooed woman on Bangkok. :)
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