Back in Bangkok

Yesterday afternoon I caught the night bus up to Bangkok. The TESOL Institute is putting us up in a sweet hotel for the 2 weeks we are here finishing up our course. The room has hot water, air-con, a nice bed with pillow, tv (English shows like House were on when I flicked through some channels), towel and soap! It may sound like a normal hotel, but after where I have been sleeping for the last few weeks it is amazing!

I got into BKK at 5 am this morning on Kho San Road (the touristy area). Our course is taking place on the other side of town, so I hopped in a cab and maybe 20 minutes later arrived. This is a huge city! I was tired enough to sleep, but too excited and wanted to see the area. There are a few big malls around, food stands every two feet serving anything you could want, tons of shopping and things are more authentic. It’s much harder to find words in English, but there are plenty of local American chains so I don’t feel far removed from western culture – Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, Auntie Ann’s Pretzels, 7-11, Dunkin Donuts, and more chains. The cinema and bowling alley are only 2 blocks away. In the supermarket I found everything I could possibly ever want – Tim Tams, Goldfish crackers, Nutella, peanut butter, honey, Campbell’s tomato soup, avocados, M&M’s, cheddar cheese, tortilla chips, Fruit Loops and soy milk, cream cheese, seaweed and wasabi snacks in every form, and more. Everything I thought I might miss as far as the food goes is here….and more. I didn't buy any of it, but knowing it's available is comforting.

I found out a little bit more about the position. I’ll be teaching Biology here in the city. I still don’t know exactly which  school, but I know I won’t be leaving bkk. (I have mixed feelings about that. I was hoping for a smaller town, but it is what it is.) I’ll be teaching biology for most of the classes and also health and physical education! I sooo want to ‘teach’ Frisbee! The biology student will be in grades 10-12, know English well and the class sizes will be small. All of that is great news, especially the small class bit! Oh and one of the things I’ll get to cover is astronomy =)

I don’t know many of the details, but as I find out more I’ll continue blogging. I have to catch up still on Krabi and Tonsai – both awesome places to visit! Nap time and then I have to start studying up on anything biology related.

My Happy Place

I definitely have a few happy places around the world, but this is my new one here in Thailand. When I was riding my motorbike around the island I randomly stopped at this beach, found the swing and fell in love. I was back the next day and plan on spending a few more there before I leave this wonderful country.

Full Moon Party 2011

After a few days in Bangkok, Tyler and I took a night bus down to Koh Pha Ngan to meet up with Melissa and Amber. We arrived just in time for the November Full Moon party. I was honestly not in the mood to stay up all night drinking and dancing. After visiting and hanging out with friends and family in the states for the last month before arriving here, I was worn out and ready to just relax. But I went to the island with them anyway while trying to convince myself I would just go to bed early. 

We left early for the beach and immediately got buckets, beer and started painting. It started off slow but within a couple hours the beach was packed. I have no idea on the exact number of people who made it out there but prob right around 10,000. No joke. This is a serious beach party and people around the world know about it. The music was blaring from every beach bar. There was a fire jump rope (I had to do that right away!), dancing, and more buckets than I have ever seen in one place!

 

I had heard before I went that often there were just too many people making it far too easy to get separated from the friends you arrive with. By 11ish the girls were gone (and it turns out they ended up going home shortly after). Tyler was missing by midnight.

If you have not made it over to SE Asia yet I'll explain a bucket. They come in any color and are full of booze (cheap whiskey is my usual), soda (usually coke or sprite) and then they top it off with red bull or another highly caffeinated substance. Since I don't drink things with caffeine very often I end up getting hyper drunk off the buckets and they usually keep me awake till I can get a sunburn.

Even though they disappeared, it was super easy to make friends and that's what happened for the rest of the night! There was a lot of dancing and bucket drinking with people from all over the world. I met a really nice German dude and we enjoyed some 4am shakes and watched the sunrise from the Kangaroo Bar at the end of the beach. Great view overlooking everything and slightly more mellow.  

Once the last bucket was gone  we went down to the beach and helped out a few passed out people, danced in the daylight and both decided to call it a 'night'. I had a quick croissant with some nice French dudes then started walking home. It was hot and I had a 5 mile walk so I got some ice cream. An Irish guy on a motorbike offered me a ride so with an ice cream cone in hand I hopped on. I walked up to our place at 9:40am! It was a fun night out!





This is me jumping rope!

Halloween 2011

 

 

Khao San Road

It’s great to be back in Thailand. I only spent a few days in the city back in 2008, but I feel right at home. I love this place! I have been staying in the touristy section of town just off Khao San (on a much quieter street) in the Guesthouse Merry V. It’s basic with only a bed, ceiling light and fan in a room with paper thin walls. There is not even an outlet. There is a cold shower and toilet down the hall (porcelain throne, not a squat toilet!). It’s as basic as you can get, but for $5 a night I love it! It does have a nice view from the balcony. Honestly, after living in a proper apartment for an entire year I am really enjoying the simplicity of it all. I am not used to the heat and humidity yet, so a cold shower is perfect. (def not something I can say very often)

I arrived at 3 am a few days ago and met some friends on the plane. We had a few beers to celebrate our arrival. (It was 72 hours from Tampa) I needed some pad thai (yeah you can still get street food at 5:30am) before heading back to the guesthouse. It was delicious! Somehow better than I remembered. Since I was already awake I decided to stay up a little longer to watch the sunrise over the city from the balcony. It was really peaceful with the birds chirping, locals sweeping the street, and an occasional rooster call. The balcony overlooks the more traditional thai buildings, a wat, the street and then the modern huge skyscrapers are in the backdrop, way off in the distance. I was able to watch the monks collect their morning offering, drunks stumble home, stray cats and dogs wandering, a squirrel collect some food from a tree and vendors start to set up their stalls for the day. It was like an episode of Sunrise Earth from the Discovery Channel. But the moment was all my own.

View from my balcony

Over the last couple days I have done very little. This is the first time in a long time that I have had nothing to do and can just relax. I’m not even sure how to do it anymore. I always have a million things to do and now I have to just wait. In case I forgot to mention it, the night before I started traveling the company let me know the course was pushed back 3 weeks. Too late to make any changes without buying a whole new ticket so here I am. I have gotten out to see some of the flooding right behind the guesthouse, I got a thai massage, ate at my favorite restaurant in the world – May Kaidee, have been running even though it feels like a sauna here, and got some books because I’m off to the beach. I have been too busy to read lately and I cannot wait!

Oh, I was responsible today. I bought some contacts! The contacts I have been wearing expired in 2007 which means they actually were expired last time I was in Thailand back in ’08. In Thailand you can just walk into any eyeglass store and tell them your prescription and get contacts for next to nothing. (Just how it should be =)

My new friends have guilt tripped me into going down to the islands with them for the Full Moon Party, so I’m on the night bus heading there right now. I don’t know if its jet lag, the heat or all the crazy nights these last couple months but I don’t feel like partying all night long. Don’t worry…. I will and it will be awesome, but I can feel myself getting older. After the full moon party (and all the after parties) I am planning on reading in a hammock overlooking the ocean, playing frisbee, swimming, snorkeling and hiking to some waterfalls. You may not hear from me for a while =)

Bangkok Flooding

This is why it will be a few more weeks till I start teaching

This is 2 blocks from my guesthouse

Kids playing in the park/river

The river keeps rising