Songkran 2

Oh man. I’ve really let this blog collect some dust. I wanna get you all up to speed on my life and Thai life in general but it’s gonna take a little time. I should start with a recount of the World’s Greatest Holiday: Songkran. I traveled to Chiang Mai just as I did last time around and ended up staying in the same radical guesthouse. This was the guesthouse that organized the group trips and activities throughout the 3-day holiday. I was bummed when I got there early morning on the 13th and found out I had missed the excursion into the quiet near-by village for some stories and authentic Thai desserts. I quickly got over that as I stashed my things in the room and went out into the city to find Ryan who had gone up a day earlier and was staying somewhere within the walled city. (Side note: the traffic flows pretty freely during Songkran except for the streets surrounding the wall where it’s a standstill. To cross this war zone into the old town requires incredible bravery. There’s no bigger bulls-eye than a solitary farang sitting in a convertible tuk-tuk that’s inching its way down a crowded street.) Our group was considerably smaller than last time. It was Ryan, a couple cool folks he had met traveling, and me. We also kept running into these two Dutch guys everywhere which was always fun. The three days were great. Day one was spent preparing for battle and trying to connect with the others. Cell phones are the first tragedy of water war so there was a lot of running and retreating to dry areas to try to answer a call before a hang up. We eventually got together and made the most of it. We were able to safely maneuver our way back to Ryan’s hotel which became our base of operations. There was a Thai tourism agency open across the way and they were delighted to host four wet farangs as they themselves were big fans of the Songkran festivities. Days two and three are pretty similar. Not a whole lot of riding in trucks this year although we did make it down to the main gate where all the concerts and events were going on. Once we got there we would set up at a good water station (hose, 50 gal. drum, large ice block) and proceed to soak all comers until it was time to move on to the next one. You never know what else is out there!

What was nice about Songkran this year was that after the holiday I still had 4 more days off. We decided to spend an extra day up in Chiang Mai and see some of the sights. We took a trip Wat Doy Suthep (I think that’s the name) which is a large temple on the top of a mountain with a beautiful view of the city. We spent a good portion of our afternoon there just walking around and taking pictures. Then we made our way to the Chiang Mai zoo. There was a lot to see there but we made sure we got to see the main attraction, Lin-Ping the panda. This panda cub was all the rage when it was born even getting it's own 24 hour panda channel (basically a live feed of the panda pen). By the time we left the zoo, it was just about time to get down to the bus station and head back to BKK. What really surprised me, as we went back to town, was how suddenly the Songkran holiday had ended. I expected some residual water fighting or at least a clue or two as to the bedlam of the days before but there was nothing. Not a soul was standing on the corner of the moat where hundreds had taken place in a water melee just 24 hours prior. Weird.

That’s just about all to report on this Songkran. We made it back to Bangkok just fine and had plenty of time to readjust to normal, dry life. Sorry for the major gap between posts. I really wanna get this post up so I can get to what’s going on in Thailand right now: Elections! It’s time for the special elections that were promised after the disastrous protests in April/May ’10. Election day is on Sunday and I’m sure no matter what happens, there’s gonna be somebody who is upset with the outcome. Stay tuned!

Much love
j

Wild Weather

I’m not sure how much Thai news makes the pages of the Farang papers but I’ll give you a quick little update. The most recent headline is that the UDD (Red Shirts) is up to their old tricks again, but I’ll get to that later. What was strange and totally unexpected was the weather in Thailand this past month. Around the same time as the earthquake in Japan and the ‘supermoon’, the temperature here plummeted and it started to rain regularly. Just to be clear, Thailand has three seasons: Hot, Cold, and Rainy. We were right in the middle of hot season and it was anything but. I know lows of 15c are far from bone-chilling and I’m not asking for your pity (in fact I loved it) I’m just saying it was bizarre. It would be like having the coldest day of the year in late June. The weird weather struck the whole country too. Heavy rains led to devastating flooding in the south that they’re still recovering from. Andrew had a friend from there visiting when it all went down and she’s still here ‘cause her home is drying out. And while the south had too much water, there was also terrible drought up north. Weird times. The Bangkok weather has since returned to normal and the past couple days have been full of the oppressive heat and humidity that I associate with mid-April. That’s great news because we’re rapidly coming up on Songkran!! The greatest holiday on the planet!! Songkran is the celebration of the Thai New Year and consists of a three-day nation wide water fight. I’m heading up to Chiang Mai tonight to spend the holiday there and come home next week. I’ll give you all the details of my adventure then. The Red Shirts are once again holding giant rallies in the city. As far as I can tell they’re just holding them to commemorate those killed last time they had a giant rally in Bangkok. No one knows whether they’ll be in-and-out or if it’ll drag on as long as it did last time. I don’t think we’ll see anything close to as bad as the violence from last May but you never know. For now, just know that I’m safe and having fun in Chiang Mai for the next several days.

Happy New Year!

much love,
j

Alumni Affairs

Clark University, my alma mater, has appointed a new president. Part of the first-year president’s job must be to travel the world and meet the alumni scattered across the globe because he’s coming here tonight. There’s gonna be a banquet and some mingling which should be nice. Actually Clark has held functions here before. About a year and a half ago one of my old professors came to give a lecture on the future of China and I got a chance to meet the Clark alums in the BKK area. I was excited to go then thinking I might meet someone I recognized from my time in Worcester but I was mistaken. I must’ve been the only one who graduated after 2000 and was for sure the only farang. This time, knowing what I know now, I’m gonna see if I can rub shoulders with some of my fellow alums and see if there's any job opportunities cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching. It’s fun and rewarding it’s just not something I want to do forever. So we’ll see what’s what tonight and if there’re any opportunities out there for me. I’m going straight there from work so I’m gonna have to wear my nice pants all day. No problem. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Much love
J

ps Clark University was able to reach me through the mail which means that there’s no conspiracy to withhold my mail as I previously assumed. If anyone out there sent anything my way earlier, I’m very sorry but it didn’t make it. Thanks so much for the consideration! xoxo

Koh Larn

The trip to Koh Larn was great. I had been there once before but forgot just how little of the island I saw. The first time (back while still at Languagecorps) my group went over on the morning ferry, hung out and swam for a few, then left in the afternoon. That's pretty much the M.O. for everyone who goes to Koh Larn which is why it was so neat to spend the night there. Despite being right across from Pattaya harbor(mega-farang destination) there were no overnight tourists. I don't think I saw another non-thai person on the island after the last ferry left. Dinner that night was at the hotel restaurant on the beach with a nice sea breeze blowing in. We were digging the fresh seafood. Day two was a lot like day one: motorbiking around the island, swimming around in some crystal blue water and some lazy lazy relaxing. We caught the last ferry off the island and were back in the city by dinner time. Not a bad place to get away to. At all. Koh Larn has definitely jumped Koh Samet as my weekend get-away spot and I look forward to going back soon.

That's about all for now. My Dad flies in tonight from India. He's out exploring the world again and his trip leads him back to my neck of the woods. Not too much planned for his visit but it'll be really good to see him.

much love
j

Chinese New Year

Well it's Chinese New Year again. Technically today is the day it switches over (to rabbit, I believe) but the Thai people got things going early with some nice firework displays last night. I really want to get down to Chinatown tonight to see the festivities but I have to work till late. Traffic is always terrible no matter what, so I can only imagine what it'll be like. A lot of my students (and a majority of the upper-class Thai) are Chinese-Thai so it'll be interesting to see who shows up and who doesn't. That's really all the news from here. I'm sorry I haven't been writing more. Ryan's here for a few more days before he goes on his trip up into Isan province and eventually over to Northern Vietnam. I think there will be a temporary-farewell dinner for him this Sunday which should be fun. Then on Monday I'm heading to Koh Larn with Songtai for a quick vacation out of the city. There's even a chance I could watch some of the Superbowl like I did a couple years ago, but I think we're leaving pretty early Monday morning. This trip will be great because I'm dying to swim in some salt water and see some stars at night. I'll let you know how it goes!

Much Love
J

Recent Days

The wireless internet at work died early last week. I haven't been very connected but that hasn't stopped me from doing stuff around the city. My buddy and former roommate Ryan arrived in Bangkok last Tuesday which is great. He's gonna be here for a few months traveling around but has set up base camp at the Villa Suanphlu. He started taking private Thai lessons which has really reenergized me into learning more. My girlfriend speaks better English than I do so when we speak Thai it's more of a novelty and I haven't made much progress recently. Now I'm slowly learning more and more vocab. My favorite new word is mang moom. It means spider and literally translates as "corner bug". Ryan's school where he learns is a pretty groovy bunch and last night they organized a bowling night for everyone. My bowling experience in America is pretty much limited to dilapidated candlepin lanes so it's always strange when the place is part bowling alley and part wild rave club. When I think of a night of bowling, black lights and booming bass are not what immediately jumps to mind. That said, it was very fun and I look forward to hanging out with that group again some day. Maybe even lessons of my own..? We'll see. For now I can get better acquainted with my Thai for Intermediate Readers book. I sure have enough down time at work with that wireless router still out.

Much love,
J

Happy New Year!

Well I'm back after a nice nine-day break. I decided to stay in the city for the holidays rather than leave for a beach or jungle but it turns out it was the city that left around me. New Year's (and really most holidays) are a big time to be together with family so a lot of Bangkok's citizens return home. This meant that all of my favorite food vendors were closed at one time or another leaving me to survive on large chain restaurants instead (pizza company). This also meant that my go-to internet cafe was closed which is why i've been incommunicado for the past week. I didn't do a whole lot with my days off. Spent most of them catching up on my reading and lounging by the pool. New Year's Eve was fun though. Andrew, Vanessa, Songtai, and myself were debating about whether to go to Siam Square countdown (the Times Square equivalent) or to the Suanlum Night Bazaar where I had gone a couple years before. Well the Siam idea was quashed as being way too crowded and the Bazaar was being bulldozed to make way for a new mall (bummer) so we decided to go to the little blues bar we love so much. It was really jumping. We could just barely fit in the door. We stayed there and did our own mini-countdown and then made our way to Khao San road where we played some pool and danced a bit. Songtai had to work the next day (1pm) so we didn't stay out too too late. The rest of my time was pretty low-key. My New Year's Res is pretty much just to take better care of myself so I've been going to the gym and I even bought another basketball. I went down to the courts last Tuesday to play in the weekly pick-up games. It's a lot of fun, but running around in the Bangkok air tires you out very quickly. Hope everyone had an awesome new year! Let's make it a good one!!

much love
J

ps. Happy 100th post! Here's to 100 more!