Going where I’ve never been

Some very good things happened this week!

First and foremost, Gabe returned to civilization and after two days of failed attempts (bad internet connections, “international” phone cards that aren’t international on top of a 14 hour time difference) we managed to get ahold of each other and talk. It was so good to hear from him, know that he made it safely out of the Grand Canyon and realize that he’ll be here in just a little over a week!

Secondly, after my little rant about the terrible running here, I decided to cross a street that I don’t normally cross and discovered that my short path actually extends for quite a long way! I’ve had 60-90 minute runs for the past few days, in a much nicer and less congested area and feel so much more balanced! Aron also told me that he knows a way to get to the parks on foot, but that it’s impossible to explain…he’s going to walk it with me one day this week so that I can run it. These sound like such small things, but to me, running conditions play a MAJOR part in the way that I feel about a place.

Due to running a new route, I discovered an actual sit-down restaurant with an actual indoor dining area and an actual patio with actual greenery and actual menus! You’d be amazed at how hard that is to find in our neighborhood…I love the eating options here, but every once in awhile it’s nice to have a place to go and sit down at. Raina and I took a walk there the other evening and it was wonderful – delicious food (still extremely inexpensive), really friendly waitstaff, and an atmosphere that almost made it possible to ignore the incessant traffice roaring by.

The entire past week was test week, which essentially means that I did not have to do anything. I have several tests on Monday as well, so the past week was just spent reviewing, something that actually gets these kids to be quiet! Monday is also payday which I am anxiously awaiting – it’s been two months since I’ve had any income and I’m getting a bit tired of it! We get paid in cash – I’m making about $1000/month and I’ve spent roughly $300 (this includes setting up a room and several trips!!) since I got to Bangkok a month ago. At this rate, I shouldn’t need to go to an ATM again until at least Christmas!

Last night was pretty low-key and I was planning to just hang around here, as we have several friends coming into town tonight and I don’t need two nights out. I went to a payphone down the road around 9 to give Gabe a call, and as I was walking back I passed some of the street vendors next to our place, all sitting at their little plastic table as they do at all hours of the day.

One of the women waved me over saying “come sit, come sit!” I grinned and walked over, one of the women gave up her seat, insisted I sit and then went to find another stool. The woman who had called to me spoke very good english and handed me a glass of whisky and soda water, asking “Thai whiskey okay? You have!” I couldn’t turn down such an offer, of course, so I accepted and we did introductions.

Mao (which coincidentally means “drunk” in Thai) was the english-speaker, and she works in a hotel nearby, which explains the language skill. She introduced me to Goy, a little man with a huge, permanent grin who apparently owns the mechanic shop we were sitting in front of. She listed off the names of the four others, but I honestly couldn’t repeat any of them.

Mao told me that she works very early during the week,  going to work at 4:30, but that on weekends she always comes to this corner to visit her friends and have a drink. She made me promise that we would stop and have a drink on weekends whenever we could, and that if “you need any help, I help you. The Thais, they think you tourist so they not always tell truth to you.” I practiced some of my Thai on them, making sure to tell the tea lady that her tea is “A-rroi mak-mak!” (delicious) – they loved it and one way or another, I was able to spend an hour “conversing” with a group of people who can’t even say hello.

This morning when I went out to run around six, the tea lady and two other women were still out there. She yelled “Hello! A-is-on!” and raised her beer bottle to me. Yes, at six a.m. I laughed and pointed at the rising sun, she just shrugged and laughed then took a drink from the bottle.

I will certainly be back to visit with them, and things like this are starting to change my opinion of Bangsue. The longer we’re here, the more smiles and waves there are – people are getting used to us and realizing that we’re not obnoxious tourists flashing our money around and knocking stuff over. You have to remember that this is a pretty low-income, low-educated area and it’s always tough to be different in such a place. These are people who are making about $200 a month and who will most likely never even leave Bangkok, much less Thailand.

When I put it in perspective and then think back to the all-too common view in America that “if you don’t speak English, don’t come here,” it’s absolutely amazing how much these people work with us. I’m in Thailand, working in a Thai school, barely qualified, making seven times what a Thai teacher makes and I hardly speak a word of the language – somehow, people remain extremely friendly and helpful.

At home, so many people are so vehemently opposed to the Mexicans (or whoever else) who show up wanting to work, yet don’t have a good grasp on English.  They’re wanting to work jobs that most of us would refuse and they’re told to “go back to where you came from!” I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to live and work here for awhile, as it is opening my eyes so much more than a vacation ever could!

I spent last Wednesday and Thursday at “camp,” just outside of Lopburi, yet another former capital of Thailand. We had the option of joining 400 students for the two hour bus ride or pitching in for gas and riding up in Aron’s car. Naturally the gas money was well worth arriving with our sanity in tact, so all five of us crammed in early Wednesday morning and enjoyed a quiet car ride to Lopburi. We stopped along the way for some coffee at a place specializing in beans from the northern hill tribes. For the most part, coffee in Thailand is of the instant, pre-creamed and pre-sweetened variety, a horrendous product created by NesCafe. The coffee that I received at the road stop was a pleasantly shocking surprise – dark, rich espresso served in an American-sized coffee cup! It was delicious, and I think that my heart rate stayed noticeably elevated well into the next day! Yet another reason to look forward to northern Thailand…

We got to camp around 10 and checked into our rooms at an on-site guesthouse (another thing that we easily agreed to pay for!). I opened the door and was greeted by things that have only existed in dreams lately: a bathroom with a sink, hot water, a refrigerator, a tv AND a bed that didn’t feel like a tabletop! I wanted to just shower and go to bed right then, but camp obligations and the coffee prevented it. We actually didn’t have many obligations; we hung around for a bit as things got going, meaning that all the kids had to sit in lines and sing stupid camp songs (like ‘if you’re happy and you know it” in Thai, 20 times), play stupid games and do other annoying orientation-esque activities. It went on and on, but luckily lunch wasn’t too far off.

The meals at camp were FANTASTIC. As much fun as I’m having eating in Bangkok, the freshness level of food made out in the country was incredibly nice. I got to try quite a few new things, and learned HOW to eat certain dishes the correct Thai way. After that we took off to sightsee a bit, coming back in time for dinner. That night there were “campfire” presentations, though there was not actually a fire. All of the groups had put together small shows and acts during the day, and spent all evening presenting them. As a department, we also had to do a short presentation, so we took the opportunity to have 400 Thai kids making animal noises and acting like pigs/dogs/frogs/elephants. It was fun (due in no small part to the flask of scotch that Joe and I shared beforehand), and so strange to hear how differently Thais interpret animal sounds!

I enjoyed an unnecessarily long shower, savoring every drop of hot water that came out of the faucet! I then had the best night sleep I’ve had since arriving in Thailand – Thais like hard beds, and mine in particular is full of coconut skin. No springs…just coconut skin. I would do anything to find an eggcrate pad, as I am not sleeping well at all in Bangkok, but I’ve had no luck yet. I can only find high-end tempur-pedic type things that I can’t justify purchasing for 3 months of use. Anyways, I couldn’t believe that I only had to shell out $7 for a night in a bed like that…it’s the small things!

The next day we ate breakfast, killed some time, ate lunch and then headed out. Our job (which was basically just showing our faces on occasion) was over! We stopped at the monkey temple on the way home, which you may have already seen on my Flickr site. It was so neat – there are hundreds of monkeys in Lopburi, and you can pay a dollar to go inside one of the ruins areas where they all congregate. They will take your things from you, so it’s wise to leave your bag behind. They were fascinatingly human-like! One of them snuck up behind me and jumped onto my leg, grabbing hold of it. I kicked him off, as the last thing I wanted was a monkey bite, and I swear that he laughed at me, quickly raised his eyebrows twice in an “I’m gonna get you” sort of way and did it again! It turns out this is the way they get people to drop things – I can only imagine the collection of stuff they’ve got hidden inside those ruins!

That part was neat, but the most fascinating thing is that the monkeys aren’t held captive in there or anything. They run all over the town, so you see monkeys on top of buildings, running on telephone wires, sneaking up behind unsuspecting food vendors. There was a lot more to see in Lopburi in terms of ruins, and luckily I discovered that it’s a 2 hour, 15 baht train ride away. I will return soon!

On Friday there were very few students who showed up, so it was a pretty relaxed day. That evening I went and enjoyed a really long run in a nearby park. It is so frustrating as there are three beautiful parks full of trees, paths and other runners less than two miles from here, but there is no way to get to them on foot. My only option (aside from running on a freeway or across a railroad bridge) is to take the subway, which just isn’t practical on any sort of regular basis. As it is, I’ve been stuck running here, which I really dislike. I spend the first ten minutes on my road, which is packed with traffic and food vendors and people waiting at bus stops (even at 5 am), then get onto a path that runs next to a canal on the next road.

The path is nice to have, as it’s too small for food vendors to set up on, but it still passes a lot of cross streets that have motorcycles flying off of them and goes through the middle of more than a few bus stops. I run until I hit a highway and can go no further, which gives me about 45 minutes roundtrip. If you know me, I consider that a warmup. Plus I spend that entire 45 minutes dodging vehicles, potholes, people and stares. However, it’s what I’ve got, so I use it (though my running has been far less than consistent since I arrived in Bangsue). It is just maddening to know that such a great park area is SO close!

Okay, back on topic. I had a great run, with other runners, and luckily recognized the King’s Anthem when it came on over the park’s loudspeakers. This anthem is played before movies, sporting events and at other random times in public areas. When it comes on, EVERYONE must stop moving, be quiet and wait until it is over. Not doing so is considered disrespecting the King, an offense that can actually land you in Thai prison! I’m sure that one of these days I’m going to zone out as I usually do when running and just keep right on going through the song!

Saturday was very refreshing! I had an early run then decided to go explore by myself for the day. It’s been wonderful having a group of friends here, but it’s also nice to go out alone and not be part of a big “pack” of foreigners. I discovered that the river is only a 20 minute walk from here, so I boarded a riverboat for the first time. These function just like a bus, but there’s no traffic, the breeze is cool and the scenery is great! For the first time I really felt as though Bangkok is a nice place to be! There’s a whole other type of life that goes on along the river, and the number of incredibly ornate wats (temples) is pretty mind-blowing. The boat cost a flat 15 baht fare and stops at every pier, you just get off when it’s your stop.

I rode to the end, about a 45 minute trip, then got off and boarded the skytrain, another ingenious form of transportation. The skytrain is basically an above-ground subway that runs way above the roads. I took this to a random stop, getting off at the Silom area and then did some exploring for a few hours. Two South African guys said hello to me at a crosswalk and when I said hello back, they grinned and said how nice it was to find someone who speaks some English! They were looking for a big day market in the area and I was just wandering, so I walked with them for awhile. I told them about Chatuchak and they seemed really excited and planned to go the next day. They asked where I was from and when I said Texas, they couldn’t believe it due to my lack of an accent. One of them said there’s no WAY I could be from “cowboy land” and then did his best impression of Texan-talk…he was better at it than I am! We came to Lumphini Park and I parted ways with them, but it was nice to have company for a bit!

Lumphini park is also huge and beautiful, full of trees and fountains and benches and playgrounds and outdoor gyms and big lizards that run around. I strolled around, sat on a bench and people-watched, just enjoyed the afternoon. I finally decided that I needed a drink (it was scorchingly hot!) and began the long search for the gate that I had come in through. As I was walking an elderly-ish Thai man, who looked like a park maintenance worker, came up beside me and said “Good afternoon!” That’s an odd phrase to hear from any Thai, as even the people with good English aren’t usually good enough to know alternative phrases for “hello.”

What I have noticed is that if a Thai person cannot speak English, they will avoid interacting with you/serving you unless they have to. If they can speak English, they’ll want to talk all day long! This guy knew his stuff, and asked if it was my first time in Thailand, if I liked it, how long I was staying, if I enjoyed teaching. He asked if I was from England and I said no, America. He then asked “Whereabouts in America?” which was so strange to hear out of a Thai person’s mouth, so I answered “Texas.” He goes “oh, Austin Texas?” He then told me how excited he is that we will have a new president soon, and that he “wishes for Obama, much better for your economy, much better for whole world!” I soon had to part ways with him as well, but thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. It’s really nice to go out alone sometimes!

I found some great street food then headed back to Bangsue by way of the subway, marveling at the wonders of public transportation. I was exhausted, but went out that night with Raina, who had attempted to go to a tiger temple that day but gotten on the wrong bus and ended up at the border of Cambodia. Needless to say, she did not see tigers and after 8 hours on a bus, she needed a drink! We met up with our friend Tim and some Thai girls that he has befriended, which was a whole new experience! These girls are extremely well-off and are of the ‘socialite’ variety, but they were really cool and all speak perfect English. They took us to some private party at a hotel, and I was blown away at how much cheaper things are and how quickly you get served when you’re hanging out with Thais! We got home extremely late and I (finally) had a good night sleep on my coconut-stuffed bed!

On a final, super-exciting note…Gabe gets here two weeks from tomorrow! I can’t believe the time is finally going to arrive…

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