Posts
Hey y'all,
I'm back in Bangkok but I just wanted to let you all know that i put up some pictures on the last few posts. So if you get a chance, go back and check them out.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Breakfast With Monks
I was wandering down a little soi (street) taking pictures and roaming through nearly deserted temples when I passed a park on the river. A group of monks were dining in a little gazebo on the water. I crept closer, hoping to sneakily snatch a picture or two when the women traveling with them looked up and spotted me hesitating at the park entrance.
One of them waved to me and when I returned the greeting she gestured for me to come over. Hesitantly I complied, not wanting to seem rude and before I knew it I was seated beside the other women who were busily dishing me up food. They shared everything they had, from rice porridge with egg, to sweets and bread. They even gave me a new water bottle.
While I ate they tried to teach me Thai, pointing out dishes as they said the names and waiting for me to repeat them back. The monks, who ranged in age from about 6 to 16 watched me with open facination. They giggled at my attempted Thai, and one of the younger ones gathered enough courage to approach me, offering me a palm leafed wrapped sweet. From the looks on the women's faces, I gathered he did not often share.
As the meal finished up some of the older monks came up to me, gesturing to my camera they posed. I willing snatched a few shots, then posed in return when one whipped out his own camera.
While we took our pictures and the bolder young monks came up to me to talk asking about where I was from, and how long I would stay. The women were packing up the midmorning meal. When I turned back to them, they had already packed me a huge bag of sweets to take with me. And one of the more talkative monks offered me a water bottle.
As I bid them farewell so they could continue to the temple the Abbot approached me and gestured for me to take his picture. He handed me a calander with his email and invited me to visit their home wat in the north.
I still can't believe that they approached me like that calling out to a perfect stranger, an outsider even. You really do meet the most wonderful people when you travel.
One of them waved to me and when I returned the greeting she gestured for me to come over. Hesitantly I complied, not wanting to seem rude and before I knew it I was seated beside the other women who were busily dishing me up food. They shared everything they had, from rice porridge with egg, to sweets and bread. They even gave me a new water bottle.
While I ate they tried to teach me Thai, pointing out dishes as they said the names and waiting for me to repeat them back. The monks, who ranged in age from about 6 to 16 watched me with open facination. They giggled at my attempted Thai, and one of the younger ones gathered enough courage to approach me, offering me a palm leafed wrapped sweet. From the looks on the women's faces, I gathered he did not often share.
As the meal finished up some of the older monks came up to me, gesturing to my camera they posed. I willing snatched a few shots, then posed in return when one whipped out his own camera.
While we took our pictures and the bolder young monks came up to me to talk asking about where I was from, and how long I would stay. The women were packing up the midmorning meal. When I turned back to them, they had already packed me a huge bag of sweets to take with me. And one of the more talkative monks offered me a water bottle.
As I bid them farewell so they could continue to the temple the Abbot approached me and gestured for me to take his picture. He handed me a calander with his email and invited me to visit their home wat in the north.
I still can't believe that they approached me like that calling out to a perfect stranger, an outsider even. You really do meet the most wonderful people when you travel.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Today I had my first up close and personal experience with monkeys. Before today, I had suspected that they were a myth, having never seen them in the six months I've already been here. But when I went to the Phra Nakhon Historical Park and National Museum I was shocked to see hordes upon hordes of the furry beasts.
A tour guide informed me that there are over a thousand monkeys at the park, and another thousand or so out at the Khao Luang caves a few kilometers away. They travel in packs of 200-300 and each pack is distinguished by the letter tattooed on their chest.
They had claimed the trees, bushes, walkways, pavilions and shady picnic spots designed for humans. At first they seemed cute, harmless even as they lolled in the heat of the day lazily blinking their beady yellow eyes at you from the shade. They didn't even blink as I snapped picture after picture and seemed almost indifferent to my presence.
Then I made a critical mistake. I took the water bottle out of my bag. Instantly every monkey eye was on me. A particularly large and mean looking monkey charged me rising up on his hind legs to grab the bottle dangling in my hand.
When I didn't release it quickly enough he fixed me with his beady stare and revealed a mouth full of pointy looking teeth. Confronted with the option of either possibly contracting any number of diseases through a monkey bite or loosing the 10฿ water bottle I willingly gave it up.
It scurried away and with a surprising amount of dexterity unscrewed the lid in seconds drinking from the bottle. I spent the remainder of my time at the park surreptitiously glancing around as I took quick sips from my new (and highly overpriced) water bottle which earned me much laughter from the Thai I passed. Apparently, they don't find the monkeys particularly fierce.
A tour guide informed me that there are over a thousand monkeys at the park, and another thousand or so out at the Khao Luang caves a few kilometers away. They travel in packs of 200-300 and each pack is distinguished by the letter tattooed on their chest.
They had claimed the trees, bushes, walkways, pavilions and shady picnic spots designed for humans. At first they seemed cute, harmless even as they lolled in the heat of the day lazily blinking their beady yellow eyes at you from the shade. They didn't even blink as I snapped picture after picture and seemed almost indifferent to my presence.
Then I made a critical mistake. I took the water bottle out of my bag. Instantly every monkey eye was on me. A particularly large and mean looking monkey charged me rising up on his hind legs to grab the bottle dangling in my hand.
When I didn't release it quickly enough he fixed me with his beady stare and revealed a mouth full of pointy looking teeth. Confronted with the option of either possibly contracting any number of diseases through a monkey bite or loosing the 10฿ water bottle I willingly gave it up.
It scurried away and with a surprising amount of dexterity unscrewed the lid in seconds drinking from the bottle. I spent the remainder of my time at the park surreptitiously glancing around as I took quick sips from my new (and highly overpriced) water bottle which earned me much laughter from the Thai I passed. Apparently, they don't find the monkeys particularly fierce.
Monday, January 25, 2010
You Okay Get Off Now... Part 2
Ratachanburi. I pushed down the growing worry as I flipped through my guide book. I could handle this. I am a independent traveler. A little thing like getting off at the wrong stop shouldn't be a problem, it's not like I had a real plan anyways right?
But as the guidebook came up with absolutely nothing on the entire province. I started to get a little worried, but I pushed it aside and left the station, stopping briefly to check out the map provided by the ever helpful TAT (Thailand Tourism Authority). Nothing of interest.
At the very least i could get a meal, and I began to walk down the main street from the station. Silence. I only made it down two blocks of gated stores before the creepiness of being in a modern ghost town set in and I high tailed it back to the station. Rousing the sleeping train master, a tall Thai barely past adolescence, I bought a ticket for the next train.
With three hours to kill at a tiny train station I practiced the Thai superpower of sleeping in public places. Which worked for all of about fifteen minutes before the stationmaster woke me up to ask what train I was getting on. My attempt at sleeping I watched people filter into the station.
My curiosity peaked when a white robed nun entered the station a huge plastic sack in her hand. With a smile at my interest she sat across from me and emptied her sack spilling a mound of freshly picked plants between us. She didn't speak English, and I don't speak Thai but she managed with much pantomiming that the plants had medicinal properties. This one for her knees, that one for her stomach, etc, etc.
She kept me company until the train came. Throwing my bag over my shoulder I boarded the train with my bag thrown over my shoulder. Phetchaburi here I come, again...
But as the guidebook came up with absolutely nothing on the entire province. I started to get a little worried, but I pushed it aside and left the station, stopping briefly to check out the map provided by the ever helpful TAT (Thailand Tourism Authority). Nothing of interest.
At the very least i could get a meal, and I began to walk down the main street from the station. Silence. I only made it down two blocks of gated stores before the creepiness of being in a modern ghost town set in and I high tailed it back to the station. Rousing the sleeping train master, a tall Thai barely past adolescence, I bought a ticket for the next train.
With three hours to kill at a tiny train station I practiced the Thai superpower of sleeping in public places. Which worked for all of about fifteen minutes before the stationmaster woke me up to ask what train I was getting on. My attempt at sleeping I watched people filter into the station.
My curiosity peaked when a white robed nun entered the station a huge plastic sack in her hand. With a smile at my interest she sat across from me and emptied her sack spilling a mound of freshly picked plants between us. She didn't speak English, and I don't speak Thai but she managed with much pantomiming that the plants had medicinal properties. This one for her knees, that one for her stomach, etc, etc.
She kept me company until the train came. Throwing my bag over my shoulder I boarded the train with my bag thrown over my shoulder. Phetchaburi here I come, again...
You Okay Get Off Now...
In true university fashion I'm out of school for the university games. You have to love thebreaks school has here. And in true exchange student fashion I decided to take a trip south. And traveling, at least for me, involved catching a train at the Hua Lampong train station in Bangkok.
Traveling on trains in Thailand is always an experience, where one can expect delays and interesting (albiet mostly helpful) people. This trip was no exception. But instead of being approached by a helpful Thai, I was pounced upon by a American who demanded to be my seat partner so we could protect eachother from the farang (foriegner) robbing thai. I told her I had never had a problem, but she remained adament so I relented and we rushed onto the 3rd class car together to claim our seats. 3rd class trains have no seating assignements, it's first come, first serve and those commuter trains are always crowded.
The trip passed enjoyably and I learned just about everything about my new American friend, Maddie, 22, recent photography graduate, germ freak, food freak, cleanliness freak, bug freak, ect. (I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing in Thailand, a country known for problems with all of the above.)
And before too long the helpful lady food vendor person, whom I had refused to buy food from twice, told me that it was my stop coming up. Checking the ticket the timing was about right so I grabbed my pack, bid Maddie adieu and jumped off the train.
As it pulled away and I left the station a knot formed in my belly. In big black letters blazed the name Ratachanburi. This was not my stop...
To be continued...
Traveling on trains in Thailand is always an experience, where one can expect delays and interesting (albiet mostly helpful) people. This trip was no exception. But instead of being approached by a helpful Thai, I was pounced upon by a American who demanded to be my seat partner so we could protect eachother from the farang (foriegner) robbing thai. I told her I had never had a problem, but she remained adament so I relented and we rushed onto the 3rd class car together to claim our seats. 3rd class trains have no seating assignements, it's first come, first serve and those commuter trains are always crowded.
The trip passed enjoyably and I learned just about everything about my new American friend, Maddie, 22, recent photography graduate, germ freak, food freak, cleanliness freak, bug freak, ect. (I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing in Thailand, a country known for problems with all of the above.)
And before too long the helpful lady food vendor person, whom I had refused to buy food from twice, told me that it was my stop coming up. Checking the ticket the timing was about right so I grabbed my pack, bid Maddie adieu and jumped off the train.
As it pulled away and I left the station a knot formed in my belly. In big black letters blazed the name Ratachanburi. This was not my stop...
To be continued...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Another Lamentation
Another sad and frustrating fact about life in Thailand, the unreliable and incredibly slow internet connection. Don't even get me started on the link between the rainy season and internet outages. When it takes over a minute to load a page, you know you've hit a new technological low point in life. Kiss your streaming and downloading habits goodbye unless you're one of those people with unlimited time and patience on your hands. Sadly, I fail to fit either category.
For the most reliable internet hit an internet cafe on a major tourist street, but be prepared to deal with computers well past their prime. Many of which are hovering around a decade old. This is one of the few places in the world where the floppy disk is still sold.
For the most reliable internet hit an internet cafe on a major tourist street, but be prepared to deal with computers well past their prime. Many of which are hovering around a decade old. This is one of the few places in the world where the floppy disk is still sold.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Spirit houses
Thai spirit houses can be found throughout the country from tiny run down Soi’s to the main tourist districts. They vary from deceptively simple structures to elaborate miniature palaces and can be made from wood, concrete or brick. And can only be constructed by expert spirit house builders.
This elaborate spirit house is located on Rambuttri Lane
a major tourist destination in Bangkok.
Every detail in the spirit house is important from the color, which varies depending on the owners birthday, to the style and the number of figurines.
This older Thai spirit house has numerous dancing girl figurines and old offerings left around its' base.
These miniature dwellings offer shelter to the animist spirits that reside in and around the house or place. The two most common spirits worshiped are the Lord of the Land, and the Hindi guardian angle Phra Chai Mongkol.
Offerings are left daily to appease the spirits or to ask for good luck and small favors. Offerings include food such as chicken, duck, Fanta, fruits, as well as flowers and small figurines. Candles and incense are also lit and small prayers recited.
A frustrating fact about life
So there's this itty-bitty problem that has been driving me absolutely insane these last few months, my inability to log on to my groupwise e-mail account. And I thought that the fire ant infestation last semester was bad...
Apparently I can only log on to groupwise when the time zone on my computer is set to Washington time and not when it's Bangkok time. That's a huge time difference, like +17 hours. All the jumping back and forth through time and space has both me and my laptop frustrated. Sadly, the IT department who I've been furiously e-mailing this last week has no answers to my dilemma. Any suggestions out there?
The story so far...
It's my second semester at the prestigious Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand. For the first time I'm in classes at the Tha Prachan campus in Bangkok, which is a far cry from the remote Rangsit campus an hour north of the capital. It's exciting to now be in class with other foreigners, last semester it was only me and Adelie from France.
Unfortunately, I'm still stuck in academic limbo as the BJM and the BA office fight over which program is responsible for my registration and general well being. If everything goes according to plan I'll be able to take classes in both the journalism and Thai studies programs. If not, I'm going to have to play major catch-up and transfer back to the Rangsit campus.
Here's to hoping for the best.
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