A lot has happened in the past week, but right now, I just feel like writing about the air filter. Ann and I are sick because our air filter is filthy. It needs to get changed, and hopefully that will happen today. Last night we turned the air conditioning off while we slept and kept our front door and our balcony door open to circulate the air. Woke up this morning and there's an ant invasion in the bathroom. I'm so SO mad.

MONKEY MOUNTAIN
this is a short clip but it's still adorable

muay thai
15 septembre

Muay thai fighting is pretty scary. Especially when one of your friends is involved in a fight. Jamie has been training in muay thai ever since he arrived in Thailand. He has been doing karate most of his life and started doing some Thai boxing in St. Louis before he left. He trains at Grand Sport and has an instructor that speaks only a few words of English. This past Friday was Jamie’s first fight. There is a fight every Friday at Grand Sport, and there is always a flyer to accompany it. Jamie’s flyer had an intimidating picture of him on it. Above his picture, it reads “BOXER FORM USA” vs "BOXER FORM THAILAND” and it claims that Jamie has been in 6 fights and hasn’t lost a single one. Underneath his picture, though, it says his name is JIMMY not Jamie. Jamie says that the people who work there are unable to pronounce “Jamie” so they call him “Yimmy”. It also says “Jimmy” weights 72 kilograms, which is also incorrect, because Jamie weighs a little more than that. The flyer is full of lies and that is why it’s hilarious. I need to scan it and post it on here.

Several students from Webster came out to see his first fight, even though the cost was 350 baht (which is a lot here). There were 4 fights preceding Jamie’s that involved boys as young as 13 years old. There was also a girl boxer, who kicked her male component’s ass. It was awesome. Seeing all of these aggressive fights made us, Anne and I especially, worried about Jamie. Has he trained enough? Does he even know what the hell he’s doing? But then he came into the ring and did such a great job. He won the fight within, probably 5 minutes. The guy he fought against was short and stocky and didn’t look remotely like any of the other Thai boxers. They tend to be small, lean, and void of any fat. Jamie doesn’t really look like the normal Thai boxer, either, but he did really really well.

There were a couple fights after Jamie’s and then we all left. Jamie was in the greatest mood of his life and was skipping around town, dodging cars, nearly getting himself killed.

I love muay thai!

Jamie’s next fight – September 29.

koh tao
8-10 septembre

This weekend was the full moon festival in Koh Panghan. Instead of going to that area of Thailand, Anne Jamie and I decided to go to Koh Tao.

Koh Tao is a small island and popular tourist destination. I would recommend this location to honeymooners.

We paid 850 baht for a one-way bus + boat ride to the island. Our bus departed at midnight on Thursday. A punk rock family from Switzerland was waiting for the bus along with us, but we did not talk to them much. They were very interesting. The guy, who could not have been more than 25 years old, had a Mohawk, tattoos, and septum piercing. The girl, around the same age, had bleached hair, a septum piercing, and tattoos. They had a son, who was probably 5 or 6 years old. They were the cutest little family I have seen in a long time.

Anyway, the bus trip was 4 hours long. We made a pit stop halfway between and got some roasted bananas. I dozed off a few times on the bus. Jamie tried. And Anne couldn’t sleep at all so she just stayed up and listened to music. There was a television in the bus, but it was turned off since everyone was sleeping. There was also a foul-smelling bathroom.

We arrived at the boat dock around 5:30am and had to wait around until 7am to sail off to the island. The boat we took is called a Catamaran. I called Brian while we waited, it was 5pm for him and he was just getting off work. It was really nice to hear his voice after not being able to talk to him for 2 weeks. And then my phone card ran out of minutes.

I fell asleep on the boat while everyone else watched the featured movie – Bruce Almighty. A very random choice of movie. The closer we got to the island, the clearer the water became. I couldn’t believe we were going to spend the weekend in such a beautiful area. After we got off the catamaran, the three of us went out to look for a bungalow. We were in the Mae Haad Village section of Koh Tao. Soo Yun (the woman that helps students at WUT with most everything) suggested that we stay at the Queens bungalow. She drew us a little map and finally, after dodging several taxi cab drivers that kept yelling at us to use their services, we found it.

The Queens bungalow sits on top of a small cliff, above a bunch of boulders, overlooking the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. We got a room with a bed for Anne and I to share. Jamie said that he could either sleep in the hammock outside the room, or the hard floor. The hammock was very dirty and very high up. If you fell out of it, you would get critically injured. Underneath it, about 15 feet, is where the boulders were. Despite this, Jamie climbed into the thing and almost fell asleep. I got a couple pictures of that.

So, we got in the room, turned on the AC, and changed into our swimsuits. We headed for the beach, only a few steps away. We swam and climbed boulders for about 2 hours. It was kind of like being at Johnston shut-ins, but not really, because.. well.. it’s a beach. And because we couldn’t jump off the rocks, which was a letdown. Water shoes would have done us a lot of good because there was a lot of coral on the ocean bottom. We cut up our feet a little, but not bad. Jamie sat on the rocks most of the time and was deep in thought. We obtained a great collection of seashells. Eventually we got really really hungry.



Food prices in Koh Tao are much more expensive than in Hua Hin. We went to Café de Sol and got some non-Thai food. It was good. Anne got a Mai Thai, I think. There were a lot of little shops around the town, but we didn’t shop much because we were getting really tired and cranky.

Oh, I forgot to add that Koh Tao is also known as Turtle Island. Not because there are turtles on the island, but because the island is shaped like a turtle. I saw the map of the island and I don’t really agree, but whatever. Maybe a turtle with an abnormally small head and huge feet and a big old lumpy shell.

Anyway, before we started to get even crabbier with each other, we went back to the room and took a nap. Jamie fell asleep sitting up in a chair, I think. We all woke up a couple hours later. I was the last to wake up. I found Jamie and Anne sitting on the boulders outside, watching high tide. It was so beautiful. The rocks were sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean. The sun was going down. The weather was gorgeous. I wish I could experience that every day.

We went out to eat again, this time to La Matta (obviously another non-Thai place). I must add that we could have gone to Farango’s Pizzeria, but didn’t, because the word Farango is a play on the word farang, which means foreigner, and by going to that restaurant, we would kind of be making fun of ourselves. I dunno. We thought the name of that restaurant was completely ridiculous.

La Matta was a really great place. Jamie and I got the best Greek salads of our lives. We sat on the upper level of the restaurant, on mats on the floor. It was dimly lit and had no windows so the breeze would come in and out. I got a screwdriver and Anne got another foo-foo drink. The three of us had really good conversation.

Afterwards, we took a truck-taxi to the Sairee Village part of the island. A truck-taxi is where you sit on seats that are built into the back of the truck, and the driver drives as fast as he can and scares you to death every time you go over a bump. Riding in one of these taxis was scary at first, but we did it several more times on the island and we eventually got used to it.

We thought something would be going on in Sairee, something fun, since the Full Moon Festival was the night before. But we think everyone was worn out from the previous night’s festivities so the nightlife wasn’t really that great. We went to the Dry Bar, which is this really awesome place to just sit on the beach on mats with candles and Christmas lights and talk and listen to the ocean. And music. It was very intimate. It’s the kind of bar I’ve always wanted to go to, but never thought existed.

After the Dry Bar, we went to another bar. Just a regular old one a few buildings down. Anne and I played pool with 2 Thai guys that didn’t really speak any English. Jamie fell asleep sitting at the table. After the first game of pool, 2 creepy older guys started playing with us. I didn’t like them. One of them looked Anne up and down, head to toe, in a really creepy way and that really disturbed me. We left.

We got back around maybe 12:30 or 1am. I thought it would be a really good idea to go swimming in the ocean. So I did. I was alone, but Anne was on the balcony making sure I didn’t drown. The water was warmer than the air. The moon was full. I laid half in the sand, half in the water, and looked at the sky for a while. I swam a little, but didn’t go too far out for fear of getting stung by a jellyfish. And then I did get stung.




Just kidding.

Swimming in the ocean at night is one of those things I’ve always wanted to do, but never really got to do. I mean, I’ve been to the ocean before but it’s just always been during the day. It’s a completely different experience at night.

Eventually I went back to the room and fell asleep. When I woke up there was sand stuck to my scalp. I thought that was pretty funny.

We woke up around 9am. We all got ready and met Kelsey, VJ, and a couple other girls whose names I forgot at a restaurant for breakfast. The restaurant was in Sairee Village. I had the best banana pancake of my life. The restaurant was filled with people about to embark on scuba diving trips. They were having pre-dive meetings and were preparing all their equipment. It’s a shame we didn’t get to go scuba diving. There just wasn’t enough time. We went snorkeling, though.

After breakfast, we swam a little and Anne and I met a cute little Thai boy who kept yelling “Superman!” and burrowing in the sand. He enjoyed having his picture taken and he wanted to steal Anne’s sandals.

We left Sairee Village, bought goggles and rented flippers, and went back to the beach by our bungalow. I much preferred our beach over the one we were at in Sairee. It’s much more entertaining. Especially when there are topless women walking around. It was kind of shocking at first, and then you get used to it. I had to fight back my laughter. I mean, the women were attractive and I wish everybody could be as self confident as they appeared to be, but still.. it’s not the norm, therefore, it’s funny. One of the women looked French.

We went snorkeling. With the flippers, we didn’t have to worry about cutting our feet on the coral. We took turns with the gear because we could only afford one set. I took pictures with a disposable underwater camera. I can’t wait to get them developed. It’s really hard to describe the things I saw without having a picture as a reference. So for now, I’ll just say that snorkeling was really beautiful and I will post pictures when I can.

After snorkeling, we washed up and went out shopping. I bought some souvenirs for people. And the bootleg 3rd season of the OC. And I also bought bootleg The Beach and The Descent. All DVDs here are bootleg, and therefore much cheaper than regular DVDs. It sucks, though, because the picture quality, of course, isn’t as good and sometimes the DVDs just don’t work. So you have to put a lot of trust in to the people you buy the DVDs from, and that’s really hard to do. Sometimes they will play the DVD on their player before you buy it, so that you are assured it works. Sometimes, even if it works on their player, it doesn’t work on theirs. Believe me, I know this. It has happened twice now. I hate it and I swear I’m never buying another bootleg DVD again. But let’s get serious.. I probably will.

One good thing about bootleg DVDs is that sometimes the quality is just as good as a regular old DVD. It is only the really new movies that have the bad quality because they are taped from inside the movie theatre. The older movies, the ones that are at least a year old, have a decent picture. And they are more likely to work.

We ate at a really good café. I got a tofu sandwich. Anne got pad Thai. Jamie got an egg sandwich. Then we met Xavier, Jake, Caleb, Hannah, Hannah’s boyfriend, and some other people who came to Koh Tao from Koh Panghan to hang out. They had been at the Full Moon festival and were recovering from their 3-night alcohol/drug binge. But their drug use didn’t really stop in Koh Tao.

Anne and I didn’t want to pay for another truck-taxi so Jake agreed to let us ride with him on his motorbike. Those things can fit a family of four, so the three of us (and Jake is really skinny) fit comfortably on the thing. I sat on the back. Jake was sober so I wasn’t worried about him driving recklessly. It was my first time on a motorbike, though, so it was still quite scary. But we each got there in one piece. It was really a lot of fun.

Everyone else who wasn’t on a motorbike was on a truck-taxi, following our bike. Jake led everyone to believe that we were going to a place called The Lookout, which is a bar/restaurant overlooking the city. Jake has lived in Thailand for 6 years now and is pretty familiar with several different areas of the country. He did not take us to the Lookout. Instead, he led all 10 of us to a bar/drug house so that he could get some shrooms (which they grow in the back of the building). Everyone was pretty pissed off that Jake took us there. To make up for it, I think he paid for a taxi to take everyone to the Lotus Bar, which was about 5 minutes away.

The Lotus Bar was kind of boring. I didn’t feel like drinking or socializing much. Jake and a couple other nameless people got messed up on shrooms and disappeared. We saw the two creepy European men from the pool game the night before. It started raining. There was a fire dancer guy. He was cool. I just wanted to go to sleep. So Anne, Jamie, and I went back to the bungalow. And went to sleep.



And that’s pretty much sums up the Koh Tao trip. We took a catamaran back to the bus station and a bus back to Hua Hin. The feeling of “being home” felt strange to me. I didn’t realize how comfortable I’d become until we returned “home” from the island. It was a good feeling. The kind of feeling I hope to have when I go back to St. Louis.

i have been very delinquent in my communication with people back home. it's always on my mind, and i feel bad.

:(

good news - term 1 is half over.

things i STILL need to write about:

the Koh Tao island vacation

mine and jamie's amazing Monkey Mountain adventure

jamie's first muay thai fight at grand sport.. which he won!

a note on the bathrooms in thailand:

if you are a female in thailand, i would advice you to carry kleenex with you everywhere. you never know what kind of bathroom you will get when you are out and about. some actually have toilets with a flusher and toilet paper. but most are merely squatters with no toilet paper. how do you flush, then? well you fill a bucket up with water from the water hose that is in each stall, and you dump the water in to the hole, and this flushes it. and the no toilet paper thing? well you are supposed to clean yourself with the water hose. the bathroom floors are usually wet with either water or urine, who knows.. and it really sucks when you have to go in to a place that doesn't allow shoes, and then you have to use the bathroom, and walk on your bare feet. serious athletes foot right there.

i really don't understand it. and i'm pretty fed up with this whole bathroom situation. mais, c'est la vie en thailand.

remember..

i won't be posting many pictures on here..

so...

look here

Koh Tao vacation - coming soon

Field Trip - Sena homestay and Ayutthaya temples
(this is a paper i wrote for a class, but it is revised with some extra notes for this blog)

Our journey to historic Ayutthaya began with a semi-frightening van ride with a driver who spoke only a few words of English. He drove wildly and was always smiling. We suspect he was drunk. After stopping at a gas station for some American food (aka hamburgers and fries) at a gas station and running over a stray dog, we reached the Sena countryside, where our homestay was located.

A note on the stray dog incident - it was horrifying. He was driving so fast and I saw the dog run out in the middle of the road. He pressed on his brakes slightly, but not enough. The dog was frozen in fear. A moment later I felt a bump. I covered my eyes and was about to cry. Then everyone else in the van assured me that we did not run over the dog and they saw him run into the woods, unharmed. I think they said it just to calm me down. I don't believe them.

what is a homestay? A homestay is a traditional thai home that allows tourists to stay 1 or 2 nights. dinner, breakfast, a boat tour, and thai dance is included. basically, it's an immersion in to thai culture.

I had originally thought that our homestay was going to be in Ayutthaya, but it was actually just outside the city in a charming area that was crawling with wildlife, small dirt roads and houses on stilts. In other words, it was an extremely photogenic place, mostly because I am not used to being in areas so underdeveloped and natural.

We took our belongings inside the house and got introduced to our hosts. It was somewhat unclear if our hosts were actually related and all lived in the house. One of the hosts, a woman named Thim (whom we didn’t meet until later), spoke enough English to communicate with us. The other hosts, an older woman who stayed in the kitchen and a man named Thom, did not speak English at all. Fortunately, the hosts were prepared for the language barrier and did not become upset or overwhelmed. A couple people on the trip were able to speak thai and translated back and forth between the strictly English speakers and the strictly thai speakers.

My first impression of them was very positive. They smiled a lot, helped with our bags, showed us the restrooms, and made us feel comfortable in our new environment. Based on the location of their home and the general appearance of it, I concluded that our hosts do not need much to get by. There was no television or air conditioning. They had a radio, but didn’t use it often. In an area like Sena, fishing and gardening are large sources of income. In one corner of the dock and hanging on various trees, I saw plastic bags filled with dirt. Jutting out of each plastic bag was a stick, the beginning of a tree. We all wondered what the purpose of these bags were and we found out they sold trees as one source of income. Such an occupation, in addition to conducting the homestay project, probably gave them a stable economic status. The woman, Thim, was also a school teacher. Whether or not she is a member of the family is unclear, but since she helped conduct the activities at the house, I included her as part of the family.

After we became acquainted with the house, me and a couple other people went off to take some pictures. From a distance, we heard children singing. We decided to follow the sound and the man, Thom, helped guide us. The paths around the area are worn and narrow. The whole situation reminded me of a scene out of a movie and was somewhat dramatic. We came upon a schoolhouse full of children ages 4 to 11 (approximately). They were all sitting on the floor and had just finished singing when we walked up. We were introduced to the children and then the children that could speak English asked us questions about ourselves. It was really great being able to meet the children and see what a small rural elementary school is like. I took some great black and white film pictures, but no digital. so you all will have to wait till i get back to see the school children.

Going on the river tour really gave us a taste of what Sena is like. Three of the children from the schoolhouse showed up at the homestay along with the teacher, Thim. We ventured along and saw houses and families along the way. Most every neighbor that noticed us was very friendly and waved. And then something slightly awkward happened. A woman was bathing in the river. When she saw this boat filled with a bunch of people, she quickly ducked under the water. It was pretty funny.

During our river tour, we stopped at the village temple. It housed a large Buddha statue that we all sat in front of. Those who practiced Buddhism knelt on the ground and prayed to the structure. One of the schoolchildren, a boy who spoke English very well, got a can of long, numbered sticks and told me to shake it. The first stick to fall out of the can would correspond to a fortune I would receive. I got number 7, so the boy got the number 7 sheet of paper. I couldn't read it so somebody else tried to read it for me. Apparently, it was a good fortune. It reminded me of chinese fortune cookies, the way your luck is based on chance.

After the river tour, we had a traditional thai dinner. When me and the other two vegetarians saw that there were not any vegetarian dishes available, I was amazed at the hospitality of our hosts. They promptly went outside, picked fresh lotus, brought it back and cooked the stem for us. They also made one other vegetable dish. At first I was a little worried about the cleanliness of the dishes since they were just picked out of a river and cooked within 10 minutes. After tasting how good they were, though, I had no complaints.

A note on the food - it was really delicious. Who knew that lotus stems that, 10 minutes prior, had been sticking out of the ground could taste so great.

The remainder of the night was spent watching a traditional thai dance and being taught how to make a thai desert involving banana leaves, sticky rice, coconut milk, banana, and black beans. The dance was awesome. It was a young girl and two young women.

I woke up at 4am even though 5:30am was the official wake up time. My early rising gave me the chance to see the sun come up and watch the sky change into different purples and magentas. Slowly, the neighbors across the river began waking up and starting their daily routines. At around 6am, a monk paddled up to the dock on his canoe and collected 14 plates of offerings. The offerings included candles, a flower, incense sticks, rice, and water. We had been told earlier not to look a monk in the eyes, so when it was my turn to transfer the offerings from the glass plate to the monk’s metal tin, I was very careful. I don’t understand certain rules that the monks follow, but I try to do my best to follow them. I was curious what the monk was going to do with all the food that was being given to him. I figured he would share it among the other monks. I didn’t realize that they would have to eat the food before noon or else give it away. The rule of not eating after noon but being able to drink fluids confuses me and I have yet to learn the reason behind this. I suppose it could be partly teach that contentment is obtained through discipline and restriction.

Get rid of all attachments, end suffering.

Everyone was worried for awhile that we would not have a tour guide for visiting the temples. As it turned out, Mr. Pok came to the rescue and used his knowledge and charisma to teach us about the three different locations. Mr. Pok was definitely an interesting individual and I think everyone really enjoyed having him around. He had a mole on his face that sprouted a long tusk of gray hair. This was his most disarming quality. haha.

The first temple we visited was called, according to the ticket, Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, which means The Great Temple of Auspicious Victory. Dating back to 1357 A.D., this monastery was built by King U-thong so that the monks could use it. The most popular structure at this particular temple was the reclining Buddha. As we walked further, we came upon a temple where people were giving offerings and praying. As always in these situations, I feel a bit uncomfortable because I feel like I should be showing my respects instead of just standing and watching. Since I don’t practice, Buddhism, though, it would be hypocritical of me to pray to something I don’t believe in. I watch how the followers kneel so low to the ground, almost laying down, and it is amazing to me how important Buddhism must be to them. I never grew up practicing a particular religion so witnessing people practicing a particular religion is always interesting to me.

Next, we visited the old monastery, Wat Panan Choeng. The most popular attraction there is Luang Po To, the largest ancient Buddha image, which dates back to 1344 A.D. The Buddha is normally bronze covered in goldleaf but, unfortunately, it was being renovated while we were there. Our tour guide explained to us that the Buddha image was created out of an ancient myth involving a Thai Prince and a Chinese Princess. Apparently, the prince and princess were in love and the prince promised to meet her one day. He never showed up so she killed herself. Mr. Pok asked us females if we would do the same if our boyfriend stood us up. I said, "No man is worth killing myself for." All the girls thought the same thing. Anyway, after the suicide, the Prince built the Buddha statue to symbolize the princess. I do not know if there’s any truth to this, but it makes an interesting story nonetheless. The Buddha was black and hard to see, even when you tried to look at it from different angles. I feel embarrassed saying this, but at first I didn’t even notice that there was a Buddha statue there until I looked a little closer. It was almost camouflage. I witnessed one ritual that was particularly interesting. People praying to the Buddha would give money to have a robe thrown down to them. The robe was orange/yellow, the same color as the monks’ robes. Several of these robes would extend from the Buddha to the ground below. The people praying would cover themselves with the robes and pray. Afterwards, a monk sprinkled water on them. Without twitching, the followers would have water rained on them as a blessing. And it wasn't just a little bit of water. It was a lot. They basically got a shower, just for praying.

The last place we visited was Wat Changlom, which was characterized by brick architecture, ancient ruins, headless Buddhas, and the tree with the Buddha’s head carved in to it. One of the rules at Wat Changlom was that if you were going to photograph the tree carving, you had to get low to the ground and not take the picture standing up. Since the carving is close to the ground, they do not want a photograph to be shot from above, creating distortion. It’s the same at art museums - if you are allowed to take pictures of the art, you are not allowed to use a flash because it will distort the image.

It was a wonderful, amazing trip.

i love asia, but i miss america. a lot.

anne and i were walking in town today, trying to find a travel agent who would get us bus and boat reservations to koh tao. map in hand, trying to find out where the heck we were, we came across a man who offered some help. he actually didn't help at all. he just wanted to flirt with us. he said he loved americans. and he invited us to his beach bar and said if we went, we'd get free drinks. yeah right. i bet he says that to all americans. 100 americans a day.

i really want to go to elephant village. but, since i'm bored, i went to peta.com and looked up "thailand elephant cruelty". apparently, for tourism purposes, baby elephants are dragged from their mothers and tortured in order to satisfy tourists who want to ride the elephants and whatnot. i don't want to be one of those tourists. i think peta, at times, has the tendancy to overreact. and sometimes what they say is completely legitimate. they have done so much good for the sake of animals and i hate to say anything bad about them. but damnit, i really wanted to go to elephant village. and now, after reading their article on elephant cruely, i probably will not go.

this supposed elephant cruelty really surprises me. and i shouldn't say supposed cruelty because i actually saw pictures of it. from what i've learned so far about buddhism (and most of the people in thailand are buddhist), it is anti-animal cruelty. anti killing. some monks are vegetarian for this purpose. but many aren't as well because if someone gives them an offering of meat, they are kind of obligated to eat it and not waste it. but the meat cannot be killed with the intention of giving it to the monk. because then the monk is held responsible for the killing. but animal cruelty happens anywhere you go. can't really escape it.

maybe when i visit africa i'll be able to see elephants in their natural habitat and not in some trendy tourist locale.

(not that i'm going to africa anytime soon)

right now, it's about 11pm on Wednesday. tomorrow at midnight me, anne, and jamie are boarding a bus to koh tao. it's about a 5 hour ride. after the bus, we are getting on a boat. koh tao is an island, known for great scuba diving and snorkeling trips. when we get off the boat, we are goin to find a cute little bungalo and spend the rest of the time on the beach. i need to buy a disposable underwater camera. the full moon is going to take place while we are there, so even though we won't be in koh phangon (where all the parties are), we'll still get to experience it. i'm really excited about this trip. we're going on vacation!

it's taking me forever to write a blog about my recent field trip to ayutthaya. but i've been having some bad internet connections keeping me from updating. i have to write a field trip report on the whole thing so i'm just going to post that when i'm done writing it. it's due tomorrow and it's not hard at all, today has just been a bad day and i don't want to write anything even though i'm writing something now and um. yeah. rambling.

a bunch of people are going to Koh Phangan for the full moon party dance festival thingy. i want to go, but i anne, jamie, and i are going to plan something else to do this weekend. it will be nearly impossible at this point in time to get a room anywhere near the festival. and the whole thing is just going to be glow sticks and drugs drugs drugs. we might go to Bangkok. i want to go shopping on Kao San Road. i'm getting sick of the sight of my clothes and i need some new ones.

everyone here drinks like they are high schoolers who just broke in to their parents' liquor cabinet. and every social outing is a photo shoot.