Bug eating

I promised a few days ago that i would post videos of bug mastication and deglutition and here it is:

Ayuttaya

Walking up the staircase wasnt exactly hard, it just took more concentration than your average staircase. To start with, these stairs were definitely not to code, they were much to skinny and steep. Also, they were very uneven, the bricks having been worn down so that there were concave dips between the mortar, and lastly, it was hard not to be distracted by the fact that we were climbing ruins that were built before Jesus was born. We were in the ancient city of Ayuttaya.

Steve, Jennifer, and I started the day by taking the ferry to the train-station. Unfortunately, we got kind of a late start and had to wait an hour for the train, since someones digestive problems were slowing the group down, and we missed the first one.
The train ride took 2 hours to get to Ayuttaya. The bus would have been quicker, but that cost over 100 baht per person, and the train was 15 baht per person. It was not an air conditioned train, but luckily we were able to open the windows and it was rather nice. During the ride people selling food and drinks would wander up and down the cars with their products.
When we got to Ayuttaya and exited the train station we saw bunches of tuktuks, and minibuses calling out prices for people. Assuming that this was not the best deal we could find we just started walking the the direction that all the tuktuks were heading. We stopped by a fancy hotel that I would never be able to afford to pick up a tourist map, and then crossed the bridge into the city.
When we were in the city we were approached by a tuktuk driver who offered us a 4 hour tour for 800 baht. He promised us no shopping stops (like bangkok tuktuk tours like to do) and had a book of customer testimonials. He brought out his little book and showed us a entry dated 1999 that showed that he still charged the same rate back then. We talked him down to 700 baht and hopped in.

We first asked him to take us to a restaurant for some food. Either he has a deal with that restaurant, or hes just never eaten there before. The food was bland and overpriced. The resturant had a chance to redeem itself, for it served mangosteen liquors. Mangosteen juice is both mine and steves favorite fruit juice so we both ordered one.
Utterly disappointing. It just tasted like grain alcohol. I didnt take more than a sip.

Well, after that it was time to go to our first ruin, which did not disappoint.
The ruins had hundreds of Buddha images, the most popular being the Reclining Buddha. This one is about 1/4 the size of the one i saw at Wat Pho. We spent about 15 minutes at this ruin, but it was an active temple so it was in decent shape and kind of busy so we went to our next stop: Wat Mahathat.

The temples of Ayuttaya were reduced to ruin when the Burmese invaded. Despite the disrepair that the temples and Buddha images are in, they are still sacred and the Buddhas are shown the greatest respect. (even the headless ones)

I really am finding it hard to describe the epic and ethereal feeling that being at these ruins had. Many times there was no one else in our direct vicinity, making us feel like we were the lone people experiencing the ruins.


Ayutthaya is also an area known for its elephants, so our driver took us to see some elephants. The cost to ride the elephant was a bit steep, but we had enough fun petting and feeding them.


The next site that we went to had some very tall chedis and prangs. A prang is a tall structure with a stairs and a small area for prayer at the top. A chedi is mostly just a spire. Needless to say I prefer prangs because you can climb up them. These ruins were actually the remains of an ancient palace, and the prangs provided wonderful vantage points to look at the former groundplans (not to mention places to sit that were most definitely not mother approved).


We spent a while hiking through these ruins, as they were quite atmospheric and beautiful.



There was an definite air of peacefulness to the area. Part of that was being outside of Bangkok, and part of it was just these hand man monoliths that stand after years, wars, and weather.


We went to another ruin that was a small working monastery. For some reason there were many statues of rooters. I tried asking the monks, but none of them spoke English. We didnt spend much time at this ruin as there wasnt all that much to see. We next went to another reclining Buddha. This one was almost as big as the one in Wat Pho.

While we were here a lady keep encouraging us to pray to Buddha and tried to sell us incense and flowers as offerings. When we declined she brought out a selection of Buddhist amulets that bring the owner luck. Remembering that our professor, Parker, had asked us to see if we could bring something Buddist back for him we inquired as to the price. She started with an asking price of 200 baht, but we were able to bargain her down to 80. Buying an amulet in front of a Buddha image is, im sure, considered even more auspicious and lucky.

We again hoped into the tuktuk and our driver surely saved the best for last. He took us to a temple, that was modeled on Angkor Wat in cambodia. The ruins seemed to have avoided much harm throughout their existence. We got there at just before sunset, so the light was hitting it at the most perfect angle.

We could see and hear hundreds of birds coming to nest in the homes that they had made in the ruins.



Jennifer and I climbed up the river side of a Prang to admire the river veiw,

While we were up there a dog started to climb the steep steps up towards us. (Stray dogs are everywhere in Thailand, especially the temples, but temple climbing dogs were new to me). As he climbed he seemed to stop every now and then to admire the view.

Upon making it to the top he sat on a ledge next to Jennifer.

We were worried about his ability to climb down, but he seemed to be a veteran of the stairs as he nimbly hopped down them when he was done. The dog walked towards the river and steve followed him. The dog looked back, and up at one point and steve went to catch this dogs eye veiw of what he looked at:


As the sun dipped behind the temple, it was time for us to return to the trainstation.
At the train station we went to grab some Pad Thai from a vendor across the street. At the stand we meet Dwight Worker, a professor of history at University of Indiana Bloomington, who explained to us that he was biking from Bangkok to Saigon. You just never know the interesting people you meet in Thailand.
The day was exhausting, but definitely amazing

This is Thai Culture

On Sunday Jennifer and I joined the Thai family we meet for their trip to the market. I did not catch the father and mothers names, but their daughter is Aom and their son is Tii. For the sake of this post ill refer to their father as "Ajan", which means teacher.
They picked us up from the end of our Soi (side street) and drove a good deal into the country side. Parts of it just looked like areas of Florida. Ajan was very keen on pointing out different things on the way and Aom and Tii were able to answer almost any question Jennifer and I had about Thailand.

When we arrived at the market, their dad was quite excited. He definitely took us to a Thai market because i think i saw only one other white person there, and he was with a thai person himself. Durring the entire time there Ajan would point around generally, or to specific things and say "this is thai culture" he was a man proud of his heritage and country.

Upon entering the market we saw a man who made snacks out of sugar. But these werent merely candy, they were art. He took the sugars, and created animal figurines out of them. Ajan bought Jennifer a monkey that had caught a fish.

This market probably had more fresh food in once place than i had ever seen. There were piles of fruits, and cauldrons of meats cooking.

Ajan and his family selected some of their favorite foods to share with me and Jennifer. The sales people were all so nice and often gave us free samples.
If we responded positively to a food, Ajan would buy enough of it for the whole family and us. We were going to eat it all on a river cruise. It was hard to get Ajan to NOT buy food if we looked at it too closely.

On the boat, I realized that Tii and his Mom had also been buying food for lunch. The family set out a Thai feast before us and all 6 of us went to town as the boat pulled away from the market.

I'm not even sure of everything i ate, it was really just an explosion of flavors, after flavors. My favorite had to be the fish/coconut mash that was cooked in banana leaves. It was just phet (spicy) enough to make me need rice (sticky rice works better than water at making the mouth feel better), but not too phet to make me freak out.
My least favorite had to be the corn. Coming from Wisconsin and going to school in Nebraska, I know what i like in corn, and Thai corn was just bland. However, that was the only item of the day that I did not enjoy.

The river was as beautiful as expected. Along the banks the houses would switch from poor thai villages with tin roofs, to western style mansions, to traditional thai houses.


Near the end of the voyage a long boat pulled up alongside us and threw a rope aboard. Was it pirates?! Where they holding up the boat?! No, it was just the friendly neighborhood icecream boat.
They served up some wonderful coconut ice cream, and then went on their way.

Our voyage ended, and as we left through the market Ajan still bought fruit for us. He had me try a Thai orange. I told him earlier than i hadnt had any Thai oranges because we have oranges in the USA and I wanted to try new things. Well, the Thai orange was the best tasting orange i have ever had. In fact this trip to the market was like my tongue learning how to taste for the first time. It was like that part in The Giver when he first sees color.

On the way home, Ajan and Tii continued to give us advice about thailand, and Ajan continued trying admirably to pronounce my name. (the sh sound is very hard for thai people. they seem to prefer to call me jack). Ajan said we should visit him again sometime and we promised to do so.

Picture Post 2

Well today was a very eventful day, and I shall soon write a lengthy post on it, but I need to give you all pictures to feast your eyes upon and live vicariously through.

This is Jennifer, who you will probably be hearing more about as she makes a good travel companion. Shes always up for adventure, and when i asked her why thailand she gave my favorite answer: "culture shock".

One of the many saffron robed Buddhist monks who live in the city.

You really can buy anything here. This denture salesman is just a 3 minute walk from my classes.

Food stands abound here (which may be my favorite part of the city). These meats are not yet cooked, they get cooked right when you order them. They are then dipped in the cauldron of spicy goodness before being put in a bag for you to carry around as you eat them.

Nuns wear white robes and like the monks also have to shave their heads every full moon. Like laywomen, Nuns are also not allowed to touch monks or hand anything directly to them.


I get pretty excited when im about to eat at street restaurants.

I have a new appreciation for the musical urine town after a few times where i really needed a "haang nam" and had to pay to use it. ("haang" means room, "nam" means water)

Jaywalking (and other travel)

You may have noticed that my blog title is no longer "Bangkok Bound". I figured that now that I am here I am no longer bound, and I should make it something more cultural and less cheesy.
But why "Jaywalking Through Bangkok"? Well simply put, that's what we do. The Thai people seem to be experts on making their way through heavy traffic. Jaywalking, is almost an institution here, we do it on every road, right in front of cops.

Other ways that people navigate Bangkok is by the motorcycles for hire at the ends of most good sized Sois (Side roads). These people wear orange vests to differentiate themselves, and charge around 20 baht for a 5 minute ride.
Before comming to bangkok i had never actually rode on a motocycle before. Needless to say it was quite a harrowing experience. I bargain with the driver as to the price and destination. I then get on the back and hold on for dear life. It is important to remember to keep knees close to the cycle. At every stop light it looks as if there is a huge motorcycle gang. This is because the motorcycles operate under less traffic restrictions than a bicycle does in the USA. During traffic jams the bikes weave in and out of the cars, drive down the lane lines and even on the sidewalk.

Driving just as daredevilishly as the motorcycles is the tuktuks, although they are more challenging to bargain with. Tuktuks are the 3 wheeled bastard child of a motorcycle, taxi and a golf cart. Tuktuk drivers are notorious for the scams that they run. Amusingly the tuktuk drivers are very open about it if you call them on it and will talk to you at length about their business. The tuktuk drivers try to take their costumers to suit shops, gem stores and Travel Authorities. They often take people on a 'tour' of different temples and insist on taking the costumer to a shop that has a deal on this day. If a costumer stays in a shop for 15 minutes the tuktuk driver gets a gas card. Some tuktuk drivers who work with a shop for awhile will get up to 20% commission. They often work with a partner who is good at English to convince people to get in the tuktuk, often by standing outside of a tourist attraction and telling people that it is closed.

Other transportation in bangkok is taxis (always make sure that they turn on the meter, they try to charge a flat rate that is usually too high), the buses (that dont run on time, and i still have yet to figure out the routes) and water taxies (which i take across the river to school every day) and the sky-train which I take to the mall.

Buddah and Hospitality

Today, while Steve was in Islam in Thailand class (which he tells me has a smart, but boring professor, who is a Thai Islamic himself, active in the community), I took the opportunity to go out on my own. (dont worry i stayed in touristed areas that i knew to be safe). I wandered around the areas of the royal palace (i didnt go in because it was 350 baht, but i heard we get in free if we are in thammasat uniform) and Wat Pho (more on that later), I then go lost in a Wat and pet some kittens (there are a crazy amount of stray cats and dogs in bangkok, all incredibly well tempered, i havent had one growl, bark or threaten me in any way) and was able to ask a monk, in thai were to get back to the university.

Back at the the university, i met up with Jennifer and we decided to go adventuring together. We first went to Wat Poh. I forgot my camera, so when i get pictures from Jennifer ill have a whole photo essay of that place to share with you.
Wat Pho is a very large and famous Wat. Its fame comes from the massage school that it houses and the Reclining Buddha. The Buddha, is said to be very large, and hard to explain how big it is. I thought that most descriptions of it were rather hyperbolic. As Jennifer and I approached the buliding that houses this gargantuan Buddha, I had to make sure to censore myself from exclaiming "holy shit!". By way of comparison, The buddha was at least the lenghth of a basketball court and twice the height of the top of the backboards. The footprint was nearly the size of an average bedroom.
This was merely the centerpeice of a Temple complex full of hundreds of Buddhas, and intricate paintings, mosaics and archetecture.
After Wat Pho, we continued down the street, and ended up in Bangkoks famous flower market. I must say that we were to awestruck by the amount of color and blooms that we forgot to take pictures. It doesnt matter, because the picture would do it no justice.
When we neared a bridge over the river we saw a large white Chedi (spire) and headed towards it, to see more Wat architecture. We stopped in a beautiful park on the way to have a drink and relax our legs. From this point until we got back to the Appartment, we saw no other white people.
At the Chedi we heard the sounds of a band playing. We investigated and saw a middle school aged marching bad practicing (wats are often the center of their community, like early churches were. at Wat Pho we had seen a daycare learning center with students haveing a water balloon fight).
Continuing on we saw the Cross on top of a church. Haveing seen no other Christian Church in bangkok before, we went to investigate and found ourselves on the grounds of a catholic grade school. The Children were quite welcoming to us and invited me to shoot basketball with them (which i proceeded to embarass myself without hesitation) and later they brought out an MP3 player so we could have a dance party (i taught them the moonwalk and robot). They were all eager to teach us thai words and practice thier english. We probably sayed with them for a half hour.
We gained our bearings and found that we were actually on the road that we lived on, Auranamerin, but a few miles away. We started walking to see what the road had to offer. Among the intresting sites was some very inexpensive, and always delicious street vendor food. We also found that the areas under bridges were being put to good use. Bangkok was originally much like venice, Italy, with many canals. Now many are paved over, but there is still an abundace of waterways, so there is a plethora of bridges. as the bridges rise to a height tall enough for boats to pass under, the space between the bridge and the ground is put to good use. There are shops, playgrounds and a Muy Thai boxing gym under the bridges.
As we walked on, Jennifer and I stopped at a street restaurant (Which is a sit down restaurant that is under a tent) to eat. Here we had some delicious food, which i dont recall the name of. We were handed a menu in english, but i noticed that the thai people had much more extensive menu options to choose from. In thailand learning the language pays off.
We payed for our meal, which cost no more than a small dish from a street vendor in the more touristy areas, and went on our way. As we walked on we said hello to a thai family who were just starting to eat thier meal on a table they put on the sidewalk next to thier house. They invited us to join them, but haveing just eaten we declined. Further on, a gentelman of about 55 stoppped us to say hello and practice his english. We talked with them for a good lenghth of time. I find that Thai people are amused when i tell them in Thai that i cannot speak thier language, and it is often a good ice breaker. He told us good advice such as that the streets start to become a bit sketchy at 9pm. He then invited us to come by for dinner sometime, and called his daughter, Aom, out of the house (she is 25 and enducated in england) to exchange contact information with us. We will hopefully dine with them on sunday.

At this point it was around 8 and the streets were not as busy as before so we hailed a cab to take us the last few kilometers to the appartment. At the appartment i met back up with Steve and tagged along with him, Johnny, and some other people to Khao San road to get some Indian food. Needless to say my high metabolism is being put to good use in this country. I feel like i am always eating, and i like it that way.
Unfortunately i did not notice my camera slipping out of my pocket in the cab to Khao san. Luckily i know where to buy stolen goods in this town (okay, i dont know if they are stolen for certain, but the fact that the vendors have a limited and random supply and only come out at night is a bit of a hint). Upon returning to the appartment, i headed up to the roof with some guys and we shared Whiskey and Coke, bullshitted, and admired the Bangkok skyline untill we were ready to head to bed.

Buses dont have scheduals

Yesterday we had orientation, most of the things covered i already knew, but some was interesting. The issue with orientation was how late it ran. As most people know, I value punctuality, and as we were waiting for a keynote speaker at the orientation, a professor, Ajan Edward (Ajan is the thai title for teacher) explained to us Thai time. Its quite a bit more relaxed than American. I suppose it will be useful for if I am late to class, but I dont know how well I shall adjust to it. In the packet they gave us there was a phrase that summed it up: Thai Buses dont run on scheduals. Apparently they just drive their route and get to the stop when then get to it.
Thais also have a phrase that is pronounced Mai Ben Rai. It roughly means "it doesnt matter" or "nevermind" and it often used when things go wrong or as a way of saying "its okay" after someone appologizes to you or "dont mention it" if someone thanks you for something.

After orientation was finally done Steve and I hopped on the water taxi with some friends we had made, Pacco and Jennifer, and made our way to the train station where we road the train to the mall again. Apparently on wednesdays they have muy thai exhibitions, and i hope to go just to see those.
Our mission at the mall was bedsheets. Steve and I just moved into a 1 room apartment, and needed sheets for the bed. We also realized we needed toilet paper. We were able to pick these up at the mall. Jennifer went to get a phone (I should get one, but my isep stipend wont be in till tomorrow). The intresting thing about buying cellphones is that you almost always get a pay as you go cellphone. You can choose from a selection of new and used phones, and can choose from a selection of numbers. Numbers with lots of 9s can sell for more, because it is an auspicious number in Buddhist culture.

After spending a good deal of time in the mall, we were ready to head back to the appartment building (we all live in the same place). We then found that Taxi drivers do not want to drive out to our building, because it is in a different section of the city were they do not usually drive and they dont think that they will find many passengers. So far i havent found out how to convince them go to there (besides giving in to their high monetary demands). With every taxi we try to talk as much as our broken thai and their broken english will allow. We finally flagged down a taxi for 300 baht and chatted him up about the business (since i am on the outlook for a summer job). Apparently with costs subtracted the taxi makes only 300 baht a day. His sister drives a tuktuk and says that they make more money. Ill write about about how a tuktuk scam works later.

Upon arrival at the Amarin Mansion apartment complex, we went up to the rooftop to join a bit of a party going on. We meet some people, including a guy named Johnny who decided that he wanted to come to Angkor Wat with us when we make that trip. In case you are wondering the parties here are fueled by cheap Asian beers; Singha, Chang, and Leo. They have a higher percentage of alcohol than American brews. I think I can honestly say that this was the first college party I have been to where all of the drinkers were legal.

Just moved into our new digs

Today we checked out of our Guesthouse and made the daily trek to campus for our houseing tour. Luckily, this ended up being much easier than it had been made to sound. We now have a 2 bed apartment with hot water and air conditioning for about $117 a month plus utility. It is accross the river from Thammasat University, but the river ferry is only 3 baht per ride. While figureing out houseing i meet alot more international students, and some thai students, so i think ill be able to make some friends. Many of the Int'l students live in the same building as Steve and I, which has roof access to give a nice panoramic view of the city.
Steve and I found out we werent the only ones who were rather in the dark about how things are working around the University, we did find that we had gone on more adventures in the city than most of the other students, so that made me feel cool.

we found out that Tomorrow we have Basic Thai class at 9am, and then registration at either 1pm or 3pm (we heard both) and orientation at 4pm.

We meet a pair of girls who both go to school in Wisconsin (one goes to edgewood in madison, and the other eau Clair) and we tagged along with them to the mall. They had been spending the last couple of days at a really nice hotel in downtown bangkok. We hired a tuktuk to go there from the university, since they had not had the joy of riding in one. It was unfortunately durring rush hour so the ride was very long. When we got into the downtown area, they taught us how to use the SkyTrain in downtown to go to a mall in bangkok.

Malls in america, for the most part have vaulted ceilings, and wide walkways. The mall in bangkok was 8 stories of densely packed shops. It was like many street markets stacked on top of one another. However, EVERYTHING is for sale there. I saw pirated copies of movies (avatar anyone?) and software (operating systems and the adobe suite) and they have normal mall stuff like shoes, clothes, housewears, two food courts, and purses, including Goach, a knockoff of coach.

For now we are chilling in our new room, hopefully we will get a nice rest for our first class tomorrow, which i have no doubts we will since this is thus far the nicest place we have stayed here.

"You can cry if massage hurts" She said to us

Last night we crashed at about 7pm, Jet lag and culture shock will do that to you I suppose. We awoke, showered and got going at around 8. The mornings here are pleasant, its relativity quiet and very few tourist or street venders are out before 10. Our plan was to first find a wifi hotspot to use since it costs 40 baht per hour to use the internet here at the guesthouse. We had seen a starbucks on Khao San Road, so we hit that up first. No luck, we needed to subscribe to a service in order to get it there. At almost any spot in Bangkok wireless is available…for a fee. Later in the day a Thai man named Bee told us that the only things free in Thailand are Smiles, Friendship, Smells and Air. Upon giving up on our search for the wifi (I only pray that we get free internet at the university), we bought breakfast at a street vendor. I had an omelet on rice. Then, from the neighboring street vendor we bought fresh Papaya. Fresh fruit is in abundance here, and is very cheap.

We next decided to try something that Thailand is famous for: Thai Massage. We both ordered half hour massages, and it was an interesting experience. The massage is very much based on applying pressure on different areas of the body. We started laying face down, but during the massage we were moved to face up and sitting positions depending on what part of the body they were working on. At times there was a bit of pain involved also. As she dug her elbow into Steve’s back his masseuse quipped “Thai massage like thai boxing”. I couldn’t help but agree. However, upon completion I was standing up straight and felt very good.

When we went to grab lunch later in the day there was a drink special called a New Years Bucket. Curiosity got the best of us and we decided to split on. A New Years Bucket is a sand pail, filled with Rum, Red Bull and Cola. It was interesting, but I loved the novel way that it was served.

The area that we have been staying in is a historical area of the city. However Bangkok is a sprawling metropolis, and we kinda wanted to just go through the city and see what it was all about. So we hired a Tuktuk driver to take us to the only skyscraper that I knew the name of, The Robot Building. This took us on about a 15 minute drive through the city. I love tuktuks by the way. I feel like I’m on the Mountain Road level in MarioKart. When we got to the Robot Building (I know you are all wondering why it is called that, so I’ll spill the beans--Its shaped like a robot kinda), we took a look at it, and decided that we wanted to go again to the complete other side of the city again and see the Rama VIII bridge. This bridge dominates most views of the river and is a rather epic suspension bridge. Another exciting 15 minutes later we were there eating more fresh fruit, for there was a vendor at the base of the bridge, admiring the view from the middle of the river. When we were done with the bridge we found our driver waiting for us and he offered to take us to where there are boat tours. We thought that sounded like fun so we said sure. When we got there they asked for 600 Baht to do the tour, which was a bit much so we declined and from there we could walk back to our Guesthouse.

When we got to the Guesthouse we sat down in the lobby next to a German gentleman who we started chatting with. His name was Thomas, and he was touring Asia for the next few months with his Indonesian lady friend. Thomas, a widower with grown children, works 7 months of the year in Germany as a property manager, and then uses the other 5 months to travel the world. He has spent more time than us in Bangkok and told us that we were continually getting ripped off by tuktuks and that we had to learn to bargain them down. He and his friend (who’s name I regrettably did not catch) mentioned that they were interested in seeing the Chinatown district. Well, we hadn’t been there yet, so we offered to share a cab.
Getting stuck in Bangkok rush hour is not all that unpleasant in an air-conditioned cab with interesting company. We explained to Thomas why we were in Bangkok and he told us stories of him and his late wife getting arrested when he visited America. In china town we sadly parted ways. However, china town held the highlight of my day.

As we wandered the food markets and busy alleyways while snacking on Dimsum we turned down an alley to find the Leng Buaia Shrine. Now, I have no idea what the shrine was for, only that it was Chinese in its architecture. What grabbed my attention was the game being played in front of it. I later looked it up and found out that it is called Takraw. Its played on a hard surface the size of a volleyball court, with the net at about half the level it is at in volleyball. There are three players on each side and a woven rattan ball is hit from one side to the other, much like volleyball. However, with the lighter and smaller ball any move that is allowed in soccer is allowed in takraw. This leads to some very impressive looking kicks. The knees and head are also used a lot.
The most exciting part came when me and Steve were invited to play. It was the most enjoyable and beautiful part of my trip so far. They spoke no English, and I spoke about 4 useful phrases of Thai, so we were communicating mostly through hand signals, but they succeeded in teaching me and Steve the game, and it was great fun. We all laughed at Steve and my lack of talent at the game. I’m not sure how many points we played to, but we decided that the losing team has to do 10 pushups. I sorely regretted not having my camera ready to take a picture of Steve doing those pushups. After the game we were both handed a glass of Thai beer to cool down with.
Afterwards we wandered through the rest of China town, and eventually made our way to a Thai boxing stadium. The ticket prices were a bit steep, so we decided not to spend the money that day and see if we can find discount prices at some point. We then caught a tuktuk back to the hostel.

We decided to walk to Khao San road to get some food to eat, and ended up going to the last night of the New Year Festival, which was a short walk away from the road. It was odd that there were not many westerners here. It had everything an outdoor festival should, from music, to bumper cars (tuktuk training, I think) to carnival games and lots of food. We bought a plate of spicy noodles, with greens for a little over a dollar for both of us.

Tomorrow school should be open, so we are going to head to campus to see what is like and meet with the international coordinator.

Packed

5 months in another country = 2 bags.
My carry-on luggage and my backpack. And neither are exceedingly heavy either. Now the question is just, what did I forget? Which undoubtedly will only be answered when I actually need said item.

Tomorrow is my last dinner at home. Then I'll spend Wednesday night at Steve's before departing on Thursday. Needless to say, we will be eating good tomorrow night. Dad is cooking us up some steaks, and there is blue moon ice cream (my favorite and it should be yours too) for dessert.

At this point I am wondering what I'll miss most about America, and I'm not quite sure. I feel as though I will have most of the 'comforts of home' over there also. English, i think is what I will miss more. At this moment, I speak about 5 phrases and 5 random words of Thai. I like the game charades, but I have a feeling it will begin to wear thin on me if it has to be my main way to communicate.

5 Things I Won't Do in Thailand

Many people ask me what I will do in Thailand. I can really give nothing more than a general idea, since I will figure most of it out when I get there. However, there are certain things that I will not do.

1. Say bad things about the King
The Thai government is a constitutional monarchy, similar to that of Britain. However, in the Thai tabloids you will not find scandalous stories about the royalty. The royal family his held in utmost respect and insult leveled at them is committing the crime of lese majeste.

2. Use my feet to point at anything.
The feet are the filthiest part of the body, and it is quite the insult to point my feet at someone or something (especially the soles), or to have feet at a higher level than a statue of Buddha, the king, or a monk.

3. Get in a yelling match
Thailand is often known as the land of smiles. This is because thai people rarely show anger or annoyance, and instead smile in most situations. It is considered a great loss of face if you are to show frustration.
(should be a good lesson that i can put into practice in the theater)

4. PDA
The most you will see in regards to Public Displays of Affection in thailand in holding hands, and even then it is more accepted if it is two same gender friends rather than a couple.

5. Walk Around Shirtless
Hmm, I may have trouble with this one, but apparently Thai's tend to dress modestly, and only a westerner would be caught in public shirtless. Although I am a westerner, I am trying to learn about the culture.