Where did the trees go?
Tomorrow is Friday and I am absolutely shocked that it’s hasn’t even been a week since I left Phuket! It’s been a full few days, and I’ll try not to ramble on too much (though in typical Allison fashion, I will)…
Myself and the four remaining group members embarked on a 13 hour bus ride to Bangkok last Friday night. We’d bought tickets for the “VIP” bus ($30 each) and figured it’d be a nice, comfortable overnight trip. The bus was extremely nice, a double-decker charter bus with TVs, fully reclining chairs, pillows, blankets, snack service – and we got the very front seats, which meant the very best view and the most leg room! About 15 minutes before departure, it started…Thai music videos with the sound at the most ridiculously uncomfortable level EVER. If you’ve never heard Thai pop music, consider yourself blessed – it’s like the worst Mexican music that you’ve ever been exposed to, with some nails-on-a-chalkboard thrown in. It isn’t helped by the fact that the film and wardrobe techniques all come straight out of 1993!
We figured that it was just to kill time during the boarding process, but noooo…it kept on, and on, and on. Finally it stopped, only to be replaced by some strange, Nickelodeon-in-1993 game show type thing, still at a sound level you might find in a sports arena. Sitting in the very front seats meant that we sat directly under the TV, and the speakers. I did what I could with my ipod (I can’t BELIEVE that I even considered coming without it!) and finally, after about two hours, the lights went off and a movie started. My ipod could handle masking the movie, and once it eventually ended around 10:30, it was easy to recline back and drift off to sleep…
Until midnight of course, when out of nowhere, every single light in the bus comes on and that music starts BLARING again! The five of us just looked at each other in amazement, wondering if the bus drivers were just screwing with us and keeping themselves entertained. It turns out that it was the signal for a rest stop, which we pulled into about 10 minutes later.
We had 20 minutes and I got off that bus and far away from the music as possible! A “rest stop” is actually a massive pavilion full of hundreds of vendors, millions of food options and rows and rows of squat toilets. I bought something in a banana leaf that was delicious but unidentifiable (egg? Chicken? Horse? Who knows??) then got back on board at the last minute. Luckily the music was gone and the rest of ride was dark and quiet…
We got into Bangkok around 6 a.m., and the first thing I noticed was that they have street sweepers on all of the overpasses and highways…literally, a person with a handmade broom, sweeping amid the traffic! We waited around at the bus station a bit but were soon picked up by Aron, the director of the English programs the TTC school group and my direct boss. He’s a great guy to know – he’s from New Orleans but has been in Bangkok for 11 years, has a Thai wife, speaks fluent Thai, and absolutely loves to help everyone…he’s an inexhaustible source of insider tips and advice.
We dropped off Chris and Tim at their school so that they could meet with their supervisor and be taken to their housing. Joe, Jim and myself were then taken to our new home, Rattanakorn Mansion. It was described as “dorm-style” accomadations, and it certainly is – aside from the fact that I don’t have to share a room, I more or less feel like I’m back at Smiley Hall in 2002!
The “lobby” is a small room with four washing machines, the elevator and stairs. We are on the sixth floor and each have a single room with a double bed, table, chair, wardrobe, bathroom (toilet and shower head, no sink and no hot water) and a balcony, which is a small square that would be nice to have if it weren’t for the huge A/C fan that was placed on it. So it’s possible to sit on the balcony, but there is no way to stand on it! The first few days it was all a bit uncomfortable (largely due to my paranoia about the huge roaches that supposedly will crawl up through the bathroom drain at times…I’ve been lucky so far, but the rainy season has yet to begin!) but it’s starting to feel a bit more like “home.” We immediately went to Tesco and bought a TON of stuff – bedding, towels, cleaning products, mirrors, all of that first-year-of-college stuff. We had to take two taxis to get back with all of it, and have made multiple trips since, but it is extremely cheap here and it doesn’t bother me that I have to part with it all in a few months.
As I wrote the other day, we are finally in Thailand. I’ll be honest, after a week in Bangkok I am already itching to get away, see a tree or two. It’s a shock after living in a place like Phuket for a month! We are most certainly the only foreigners in the vicinity and most people here don’t even know the word “hello” in English. The first day or two was an adjustment, getting used to being stared at, having no idea how to order food (unless it was pointable) and wondering how on earth I could possibly go running here. I’m steadily getting more and more comfortable, and liking it more and more. I certainly wish there was a bit more green (okay, a LOT more) and a convenient way to “get away,” but this is certainly a neat experience.
First of all, it is cheaper than cheap and the food choices are dizzying! Food options are pretty much limited to street vendors, the huge fresh market down the street (hundreds of fruit/vegetable/clothing/household goods/anything you could ever want vendors), a few open-air “restaurants” and 7-11. Our entire road turns into a huge night market after dark – just when you thought there couldn’t be any more food choices in one area, the number doubles! I’m quickly finding favorites – the two girls who have a pad thai cart around the corner are amazing! They have a big wok on a cart, one of them throws in the noodles, vegetables, tofu, peanuts, shrimp and chilies into the pan, the other quickly tosses it around in a bit of oil and egg, they bundle it up in some paper, put it in a bag with lime, onions, sugar, a pack of red peppers and give it to you in exchange for 25 baht – about 80 cents. It’s enough food to last me two meals and is PHENOMENAL.
Then there’s the tea lady… she mixes boiling water, powdered iced tea mix, sugar, powdered milk, lots of sweet condensed milk and then pours it into a plastic bag full of ice, sticks a straw in it and hands it over…it is heaven in a plastic sack! This sort of magic is replicated at every one of the hundreds of food vendors, and most meals are 10-20 baht.
People are beginning to recognize and know us, so while there’s still plenty of staring, there’s more and more waving and smiling every day. Everyone will ask if I am ‘ajarn’ (teacher), which earns me instant points, and I see my students all over the place. The biggest thing is just getting over myself and doing what I can to communicate – Thai are very helpful and if you look lost or unsure, they figure out a way to help you get your point across (enabling you to buy something from them!).
I actually think that Thailand has been easier for me to figure out than Europe was – things are very straightforward, there is always someone wanting to help, and it’s glaringly obvious that I am not from here. In Europe I would have people ask me a question or jump into a conversation in German, Czech, French, whatever – they had no idea that I was from the U.S. and weren’t expecting the confused look that I’d respond with.
It’s (finally!!) Friday and I need to get to school, but I wanted to at least get this posted up…I will write about the important stuff (teaching) as soon as I can, probably Sunday. Check back!
Tags: Travel
allisonrae
June 6th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Hey A –
Send pictures when you get a chance….I’m dying to see Bangkok, your room; even your bathroom. Would love some night pictures of all of the steet vendors.
Love ya; miss ya,
Mom
June 8th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Allison!
You are such a great writer! I’ve looked forward to every post and haven’t been disappointed!
Glad you are finding plenty to eat. I’d like to try some of the things you describe.
Look forward to some more pictures!
Keep having a great adventure!
John
September 12th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Man, its just like Bolivia: the street vendors, street sweepers, and open air markets. Listening to your discriptions of the food makes me hungry and dissapointed that I bought that beef bowl from the cafeteria. 🙁
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