Honestly, now.

I didn’t go to work today.  Instead, I stayed prone on my bed and it was nice.

I must look rather friendly.  Or at least non-threatening.

I was riding the subway last weekend.  I noticed a little girl (maybe 5 or 6) wearing a bright pink coat.  She was tugging at her mom’s sleeve and looking at me.  Her mom bent down down and the little girl whispered something.  The mom nodded and the little girl came over to me.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hello,” I replied.

She grinned and walked back to her mom.  A moment later, she was back.  The little girl and her mom were getting ready to get off the train.  Holding her mom’s hand, the girl grinned at me again and took my hand.  I blinked.  I looked at the mom, who shrugged and looked away.  I couldn’t help but think what an odd little temporary family we must appear to be.  It lasted a few minutes (until the next stop), then she let go of my hand and got off the train.

Something similar happened to me in the store today.  I was shopping this evening when a boy of about eight walked up to me and took my shopping list.  He wasn’t particularly rude about it; he just took it.  He studied it for a little while, returned it, and then disappeared.  I was perplexed, but continued with browsing.  He was back a few minutes later with a stapler, which was on my list.  He examined my list again and left.  This time he returned with tape.  He got stuck at the pencil sharpener.  He asked me what it was and I showed him.  He disappeared again.  He came back witha  pencil and paper.  He took my list and crouched on the floor, carefully copying the words “pencil sharpener.”  He returned my list, thanked me, and went on his way.  And that was that.

Odd, but kind of nice.

I’ll leave tonight at 6pm.  I’m leaving my phone in Phuket (since I just borrowed it from a friend) so I’ll be hard to get a hold of for the next few days.

First things first.  I’m alive and well.  Nothing remotely bad or scary has happened to me.  My travel plans went from simple to stupidly complicated, but things should work out alright.  I was supposed to fly from Bangkok.  Obviously, not going to do that.  My flight was canceled and then re-booked.  However, I’m flying out of Chiang Mai.  Meaning I have to get to there.  Tomorrow evening, I’ll hop on a bus sit there for 12 hours on my merry way to Bangkok.  Hopefully, I’ll get to sleep through most of it.  Then, Monday morning, I’ll catch either another bus or a train from Bangkok and chill for another ten hours on my way to Chiang Mai.  I’ll arrive just in time to find a hotel, crash, wake up, and get on the plane.  I’ll fly to Taipei, transfer, and then on to LA.  After that, it depends on how well I can butter up the airline staff into changing my ticket.  I’m currently flying into New Orleans.  However, with all the current muck, I’d rather just come home.

That’s the plan, anyways…….

The current situation is rather icky.  Basically, a lot of people want to get rid of the Prime Minister because they feel that he’s just a puppet of the old government that they overthrew last year (they are also very much for the king-but that’s almost never mentioned).  Demonstrators have taken over all of the government buildings.  The Prime Minister is planning on bringing is the police.  This part I’m sketchy on.  A few months ago, something similar happened.  However, when the Prime Minister ordered the military to pitch in, the military did……….nothing.  There’s a lot more, but I’m still confused by it all.

That’s about all I know right now.  Most of my information comes from either Thais or the foreigners who can read Thai.  I find myself getting more and more annoyed with the Western reporting on the situation.  There’s a whole lot of focus on the  tourists.  One article even went so far as to say that they were “hostages to a deepening political crisis.”  Yes, it sucks that this is such a mess, but hostages?  For me the word “hostage” implies that someone is sitting there, trembling and helpless, with a gun to their head.  Okay, people might be trembling, but aside from a very small percentage of cases, people aren’t helpless.  There are dozens of routes to get out of the country.  Yes, people will have to do some legwork, but if you’re sweet to the locals, they’re more that happy to help you out.  I feel for the people who have limited mobility of other health problems, but I’m increasingly annoyed with everyone else.  Sure, it stinks for the tourists, but what about the people who say that their not afraid to die for their cause, that they will not back down, and they are willing to be human shields.   Isn’t that information a little more pertinent?

P.S.  I passed my CELTA.  I’ll have to wait a week to receive my final grade.

Heyla.  Got a phone set up in Thailand, so feel free to give me a call via my Skype number.  Best time is between 6pm and 8pm (Thai time).  Other than that, I’ll either be swimming, in class, or studying.  Weekends are also good.

Class is keeping me busy and it’s only day two. Yikes.

Creative title, I know.

Today was supposed to be spent getting up early and going to the beach.  Although I woke up early, I didn’t get started early.  I decided to just stay in bed a bit and listen to whatever was going on around my apartment.  Which was, it turned out, a pretty good way to start the day.  After ambling downtown to find some grub, I vetoed the idea of going to the beach.  I didn’t have the time, especially since I was meeting Nahn for dinner.  Instead, I made use of the pool (which doesn’t smell like chlorine) by the complex.  I spent a few hours swimming and reading.  I even met of few of the tenants, which was nice.

Later, Nahn and I met up and wandered around the night market for a while.  She bought things for supper (we ate at a lovely British couple’s house).  It was a relaxing evening.  Except that I had to pay very close attention to everything everyone said.  It took me a while to get used to all the accents in the room.

Well, I’m off to bed.  Enjoy the updates while you can.  Next week, I expect to be frightfully busy. 

And, as always, click on the photo below to get the link to the rest of today’s photos.

Phuket Day 4

Due to admirable weather, I scratch my plans for the zoo and aquarium and decided to hit the beach.  This time, I chose Karon Beach.  After hopping on the bus and giggling at the killer cow (this cute little Holstein will shoot you if you light up, so be warned), I settled in for another 45 minute ride to the opposite side of the island.  Along the way, I saw the largest Buddha in Phuket, logging, and some development sites.  I finally arrived at Karon Beach.

Ahhhh…….After Patong, Karon Beach was amazing.  There were the perfect amount of people there and not only that, but they were the type of tourists that I throughly enjoy enjoy being around.  Namely, older couples and families.  Don’t ask me why.  I just like them around.  Most everyone was European, which might have also had something to do with it.  Americans (and I’m guilty of this as well) tend to be loud. Too loud, too often.  I appreciated the murmuring.  I swam for a while and then spent another few hours just walking along the beach and thinking nothing for a while.  Not a lot to say about it. 

Pretty soon it was time to go meet Nahn (I’m probably butchering her name, but it’s pronounced the same as the flat bread from India).  Nahn is the Thai woman that owns the restaurant where I eat breakfast every morning.  She’s very chatty and her English is pretty good.  We agreed to meet up for a movie.  The theater was in a part of town that I hadn’t wandered to yet and I was grateful to be shown around.  We purchased our tickets and then went for Thai food (what else?).  The meal was lovely (I really like omelets made with pork) and after a quick detour through the department store (I needed a watch), we went and watched the movie.

Queens of Langkasuka was a little long, but considering how complex the story line is, that’s forgive able.  The movie had subtitles in English, for which I was thankful.  If you can’t decided on either pirates or ninjas, this movie has both!  However, the ninja’s only have one scene.  I have a feeling that there’s a lot of subtext going on in the movie that I missed out on.  Even so, there’s a lot of things that are pretty obvious (influence of foreign countries, power struggles, the importance of loyalty, etc.).  Be prepared to suspend your disbelief, but it’s worth it.  (There was only one point in the movie where I thought, “What?! No way!”)  The fight scenes are fun and there’s a love story thrown in for the ladies, albeit an unrequited one.  If nothing else, watch it for the costumes.

And have a good (and safe) Halloween.  I’m off to bed.  Click the photo below for the rest of the pictures I took today.

From Phuket Day 3

Phuket Day 3

Not suprisingly, it rained again today.  However, I was not about to let this flag my enthusasim.  I woke up and went out in search of breakfast and the bus stop.

I’ve found that it’s always a good idea to bring something along to amuse yourself if your travel plans do not go according to how you….well….planned.  During breakfast, the waitress expressed her sympathies that the weather was so rotten (it had just begun to drizzle).  I shrugged and responded, “It’s not winter. I can deal with the rain.”

From Phuket Day 2

And rain it did.  I’m glad I brought a book with me.  Of course I have refused to purchase an umbrella because it galls me that I have three in Korea.  At least the rain isn’t cold here.  So I waited and read.  And read.  I actually finished the book, which is good because I needed to do that for class.  I looked up  and the scene still looked like this:

From Phuket Day 2

I thought that I just might not go the the beach today.  But eventually I did lighten up.  So while I decided not to go swimming, I would try out the island’s bus system.  No problem.  I made it to Patong Beach (it’s the largest one) and spend the rest of the day wandering around between the shops and the beach.  I did purchase a new swimsuit.  I was told that my one-peice is contructed of kevlar, so I picked up another one before I went to Cambodia.  That one, turns out, was very reminiscent of tissue paper.  I think I found a happy medium.  I’d like to pick up some board shorts, but we’ll see if I get around to it.

The beach was pretty empty, due to lack of sun.  So I walked up and down and looked at everything that had washed to shore.  Some of it was interesting: bits of coral, dead fish, and sea shells.  However, I was depressed by the amount of garbage.  I saw everything from plastic cups to a pregnancy test.  I know that I’m running the risk of sounding like one of “those travelers,” but the more I travel the more that the presence of Western culture is off-putting.

From Phuket Day 2

I know that Westerners bring in scads of tourism dollars.  But it’s difficult to NOT have your stomach turn at the sight of Ronald McDonald doing the Thai greeting.  It’s just sad creepy.  Not to mention the deterimental effects that Western culture is having on pretty much everyone.  (Here’s my plug for In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  If you get a chance, pick it up and read it.  If you don’t, then you should make the time to pick it up and read it.  It makes you think long and hard about the dietary decisions that you make every day.  Not to mention how it casts doubt on everything that so-called authorities say.  It’s disturbing to realize how much of your life and beliefs were created by a committee.  And while I’m at it, read The World Without Us.  If that doesn’t make some part of you want to run away and live in the woods, then you didn’t read it carefully.)

Okay, back to the beach.  I learned an important lesson today.  Most of the buses in Phuket don’t run past five in the afternoon.  Learned that one the hard way.  Tomorrow, I’m either going to go to the Phuket Zoo or the Phuket Aquarium.  I don’t think there’s a bus to the zoo.  I know there’s one to the Aquarium.  So it’s a toss up.  Hike the four miles to the zoo or take a bus to the aquarium.  I’d also like to walk to Phuket Bay, but we’ll see if I get that done.  I’m in no hurry.

To see the rest of my pictures, click on the photo below.

Phuket Day 2

After sleeping for about 12 hours and putting around my hotel room for a while (unpacking, reading on the balcony, etc.), I finally got around to geting out doing some exploring.  I had my camera with me all day, but I kept it in my pack because it would occasionally pour water from the sky.  I didn’t think to pack an umbrella or a poncho, so I took refuge under whatever awning I could find, got comfortable, and read until the rain lightened up.  First thing, I found the training centre.  It’ll take me about thirty minutes to walk there so I’ll be building in some exercise.  Between that and the pool, I think I’ll be alright.  Next, I found a place to eat.  Now this might be in part to my imagination, but everything tastes better here.  The fruit is understandable.  After all, all the fruit in Korea either is imported or grown in greenhouses.  However, even the eggs taste better.  I only had two meals today: brunch and dinner.  It’s amazing to be able to get such cheap, delicious food.  I had muiseli with yougurt and fruit, coffee (strong, take the roof off of your mouth coffee), and scrambled eggs.  All for a $1.80.  Dinner was two Thai dishes.  One of spinich and tofu.  The other of eggs, chicken, peppers, and a few things I couldn’t identify.  Both were served over rice and with sides of cucumber and something that looked suspiciously similar to the leaves of a Christmas cactus (tasted odd, but okay).  There was a lot of food and I doubted my ability to finish my plate.  Luckily, that wasn’t a problem.  That meal set me back $1.16.  I think eating with be one of my new hobbies here.

Like I said, I didn’t take many pictures.  Four, to be exact.  And it shouldn’t suprise you that two of them are of birds.  I’ll like to return to the bird shop.  Unfortunately, I walked by it when I wasn’t really sure of my location.  Not “lost” exactly.  You can’t be lost unless you’re trying to get somewhere.

The other pictures are of my hotel room (which is fully twice the size of my apartment in Korea) and some random flowers.

On a tangent, I like the change in scenery, but I also like the change in scents.  Phuket smells like incense, fruit, earth, rain, and food.  Granted, there are also smells like garbage and sewage, but they didn’t occur that often.

Anyways, I’m going to bed.  I want to get up early and not waste any daylight.

This morning I woke up the fervent desire to not move from my bed.  The only delight in waking up was the fact that I woke up three hours before my alarm and (if I could ignore the headache) I could return to my blissful comatose state.

I was supposed to go hiking.

The night before, I had been out and about with Roopa (the troopa) and Gitte.  We had a pretty good time.  Roopa and I got a chance to employ our creative writing skills.  Neither one of us really felt like speaking, so we took turns working on a short story in which two characters that bore striking resemblence to Roopa and myself took turns beating up a third character that is oddly similar to our dear Australian friend.  Purely coindidence, I swear.  Turns out, if your writing anything in a bar, people take notice and think you’re trying to be “deep.”  This lead to a few interesting conversations and some free beer.

So I wake up and I’m pretty sure that I’m not going hiking.  Not only because of the fact that my body certainly doesn’t like the idea, but because I’m also managing to move at negative speed.  I tried to call and punk out, but it turns out that everyone else was having the same locomotive problem so my excuse went out the door and so did I.  An hour into transit and an hour spent haraguing myself for being late, I look up and notice that a bunch of my friends are getting on the same car.  Turns out, my timing was dead on.

(Click on the photos for a link to the rest of the pictures I took that day.)

So up the mountain we went.  I’d say who “we” were, but I didn’t know everyone there and I’m pretty sure that I can’t remember everyone’s names, but we were still a happy group.  The weather was nearly perfect and the leaves were just starting to change.  It was a little challenging at times.  Most “climbs” in Korea just mean that you’re walking up an endless staircase.  This one was complete with ropes over boulders, so I have some lovely rope burn on my hands.  I’m hoping it’ll callous and I’ll be ready for kayaking (because that’s on my list of fun things to do in Thailand).

Everyone brought food and shared for what ended up being the best meal on top of a mountain that I’ve had in a good long while.  Kia outdid herself (she brough apple cake) and there was even a guy selling ice cream at the top.

Anyways, good times, good friends.  I’m glad I got out of bed this morning.