Aimee’s World Tour

I was so ecstatic to write to you about everything I’ve been experiencing since my last blog but there’s been a bit of a damper on my excitement.  Jen (Brundage – old PA roomie and dear friend) just send me an email regarding one of our closest friends.  Jen – thank you for your email.  It is with much saddness that I have to relay the news of the passing of Susan’s father.  Apparently he had a heartattack a couple days ago and did not survive it. 

Susan – I cannot imagine how you are handling this.  There were tears in my eyes as I read Jen’s email.  I don’t think I’m even going to try to make things better with my words.  Instead know I am praying for you and your loving mother and the rest of your family.  Even more than being home for Christmas I would have liked to be home with you right now.  I don’t know how but please hang in there.  I know there are so many people who love you and upon any of them you may rely.  Know that I’m there in spirit for always.  I love you.  ~Always, your Aimee.

On a happier note, though I cannot write with the same enthusiasm as when I first walked into this pc room, Thailand is an eye-opening experience.  Staying in Surat Thani I’ve been able to get a taste of the non-tourist side.  The house I’m staying in is wide open. There are no walls or doors on the front of back of the house.  Simply a gate in front.  The house is surrounded with intenses greenery and P E calls it her jungle house. 

I must admit my bathing and excreting experiences were rather unique.  Now I’ve been on a squatter twice in Korea but I had the pleasure of using it again.  It literally is a hole in the floor… kind of like a very flat toilet with no seat.  I was really dreading the squatter because your legs can get awfuly tired if you have to deposit anything above a number one.  The trick is to do a low squat.  Like all the way down so that your butt almost touches the floor.  It is much more comfortable this way.  My guest house in Bangkok had a toilet but I’m guessing the squatter is quite common.  I had been avoiding the toilet has I had to drop off some brownies but you can’t put that off forever. And so I crawled out of the mosquito tent over our bed (which is pretty cool actually) and prepared for the big squat. 

 

I am about to get into a little more detail here so if you’re someone like Lauren Kidd (haha sorry lauren!) you may want to skip the rest of the paragraph though it’s really not so bad.  We all do it.  Poop that is.  Shit. Excrete. Make a bowel movement.  Koop – kah as they say in Poland.  And so I did. 

 

I encountered a bit of a problem flushing it down.  It wasn’t that the handle broke.  There is no handle, no button to push.  You just grab another bucket of water and dump it in.  Unfortunately my poop wasn’t moving and I finally resorted to grabbing some TP and picking out some chunks and disposing of them in the trash which is where you have to put the TP anyway.  I motioned to Melissa to join me by the toilet because I feared one was still lodged in there but she assured me it was all good. 

Now for the shower. 

Do you ever have low water pressure or your water is luke warm?  Maybe never quite heats up?  Does your shower curtain ever accidentally go outside the tub and water covers the floor?  Perhaps your shower has even stopped working altogether and you have to use a friend’s shower or just wash your hair in the sink?  Oh poor poor babies.  Oh how spoiled we are back home and even in my Korean apt. (mind you I live in a rich area).   

Basically you have a hose and a bucket.  You fill the bucket with the water, which happens not to be heated, and dump it on yourself.  Tah dah.  Thai shower.  Melissa told me that you just have to psyche yourself up before you go in and it won’t be so bad.  Luckily there was a second place that the water could come out of the hose and it just poured out onto the floor.  I decided to just stick my head under that light stream of water and then splash some water on the rest of my body.  Melissa did have some really nice shampoo I must admit and I’m seriously considering buying some for Korea.  My hair has been having serious issues over there.  Melissa and Mike – I know how proud you are of me!  Natasha – I can’t believe you did that for six months in your crappy Korean apt. and I now see how much you must be loving where you live now.  Though I must say it is quite the adventure. 

Back tracking, Mike took me on a mini tour of the area yesterday.  We went to see some shrine/structure honoring the king or Buddah – not quite sure.  It’s the first time I’ve had to take off my shoes to walk around outside at a historical site.  (I did have to take my shoes off for certain parts of palaces in Korea and also when I went inside the Emperor’s Palace.) 

 

I decided to get a little wooden elephant as I had left Cedric back in Korea.  You know, my traveling knome, of whom I must post more pictures.  (Sorry Britskys!  I guess he’s just a Korean knome.)  Elephants are sacred out here and there are many little elephant statues.  If I’m correct, the elephant is also good luck in Poland~ Mom, Agnieska?  My little wooden elephant, which I named Mike after my new friend, was hand carved by Buddhist monks.  Supposedly the monks can only do certain crafts to earn money and making wooden elephants is one of them. 

Mike and I continued our stroll down the river and I got a very good idea of how the Thai people live.  We met Melissa after work at this mall which was jam packed with mini shops.  A lot of the stuff reminded me of Korea.  Prior to meeting Melissa I bought a kit kat and it was the real thing.  So delicious.  We went shopping for at least an hour and I was quite disappointed that this John Wayne t-shit didn’t fit me but luckily it fit Mike so he got to take it home.  I had been hoping to maybe find a summery shirt/tang top for New Year’s because a regular t-shirt is a bit too much fabric for the humidity out here.  No such luck. I did end up getting THE COOLEST PANTS EVER.  Had Melissa not been so enthusiastic about me getting them I don’t think I would have even considered it.  They are multi-colored and the waist is huge yet they can fit anyone.  You simply fold over the extra fabric and tie the string.  They are truely THE traveling pants and I’m now in the sisterhood.  (That’d be a book/movie reference.)

After shopping we each got a Thai beer and sat along the river to watch the sunset.  We walked a little further down the “boardwalk” and had dinner.  I went with the pad thai since I was in Thailand.  Not American made pad Thai but small Thai vendor on the street pad Thai.   Delicious. 

As we were leaving Melissa asked a group of guys where they were from.  France.  I’ve been wishing I was in France since I got to Korea and now I found myself speaking a really rusty version of their language.  Hopefully the video will get posted up here.  “Merry Christmas Maman Aimee.”  Yup – that one’s for you mama. 

We proceeded to the italian restaurant across the street hoping we could just walk in and use their toilet.  Our plan worked.  Well it wasn’t much of a plan but a toilet is golden out here.  It flushed and everything!  haha.  I haven’t taken notice of which way the water goes…

I must say that Mike and Melissa know a lot of Thai culture and can actually speak a great deal for only having been here several months.  They taught me many phrases and I think I’ve just about caughten up to my Korean vocabulary.  Kap or Kup-koon-kah means thank you. 

I really want to encourage all of you to get out there and see the world.  I know there are a million excuses not to and some good ones but life is short and you must make time to explore.  We’re but a tiny dot on the globe and many of us never leave that speck.  It’s not just about going on vacation and having fun.  It’s about experiencing other cultures and opening your mind.  Some places may make you envious and other grateful for what you’ve got.  However it is true that you don’t know what you’re missing until you try it.  I feel that Thailand has brought a change in me even though it’s only been a couple days. 

When Melissa gets home from work we’ll probably get some food and then try to catch a boat to Kah Samui where we’ll stay until New Year’s Eve.  After we pick up Gen (another of Melissa’s friends from NJ) we’ll head to Kah P… for a New year’s extravaganza.  I’ll take the night boat back to Surat Thani on New Year’s day and then catch the day train on the 2nd with enough time to make it for my flight that night. 

May you all be happy and healthy this coming year and always.

Love,

Aimee

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