Friends, all I can say is that life is good! After a monumental temple experience at Angkor wat, we booked a six hour bus ride to sihanoukville Cambodia on the coast. Twelve hours later we arrived after a short ukelele playing stop in Phnom Penh to switch busses. The roads in Cambodia are a bit bumpy and take great care to maneuver, glad I'm not driving. We arrive after dark and negotiate our tuk tuk driver to our guesthouse. For those ho don't know tuk Turks are like rickshaws pulled by motorbikes, at least in Cambodia in Thailand they are a bit different. They are like little taxis and they are everywhere and you at always being offered one! Tuk tuk abundance overflows! We checking and head for the beach. Sihanoukville is a smelly bad spring break vibe shithole in my humble opinion. I'm feeling a bit worried that the island won't be that great. We shoot some pool and watch some fire spinners. I refuse free shots a nearly topless girl is pouring out of a tea kettle. We buy our tickets to the ferry and go to bed.
The ferry to Koh Rong is a big diving boat with a shaded empty platform up top and I sprawl out and draw pictures. Karthick plays ukelele and the sea unfolds endless blue depths all around
us. I had no idea what koh rong had in store for us. After about two hours we reach the pier, the water is electix turquoise the sand is blindingly white and the jungle lush and pristine. Wow, traveling serendipity,
thanks for takin us to the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
We wander the shore in search of a place to stay, we were hoping for a treehouse bungalow on stilts overlooking the ocean, but they were all booked, dang! So we wandered til we found a local csmbo owned room right on the beach. They had a restaurant next door that made me my favorite, mussaman curry! Okay I'm in heaven! We stroll the gorgeous sand. It's so soft and so clean and so
fine that it actually squeaks when you walk on it! We jboth plop ourselves in the cerulean majesty of rhe gulf of Thailand as quickly as we can. Floating in this luxurious paradise I am so amazed! After a uke concert on a big rock in the sea we continue to stroll the beach until it turns into fun stones to climb over. It's so fun! We reach the next beach, somehow it's more breathtaking and there's nothing over there but a bunch of spaniard topkess hippies playing melodica. They call us over and we jam a bit. They invite us back in the evening for a campfire. Okay! It was a lovely evening on a deserted beach the sky gleaming with stars, chatting with excited travelers from all over the world.
I woke with the sun the next day and we hired a boat to take us "snookling" so the sign said. Ukles snookling trips. Almost ukelele! We puttered out to a tiny island off the shore and I did the best snorkeling of my life! I've snorkeled Catalina, Costa Rica, Mexico,and the Bahamas, but nothing comes close to this. Shocking coral in geometric fractals! Fish in such electric patterns that it would make an acid trip jealous! Feeling so lucky and so grateful! On the island I see a staircase, of course I'm going to take it! The bannister if the staircase is a huge snake that stretches all the way uphill to the peak of the island. There are several shrines and a temple, oh yeah, and one stunning view! My backside is fried from do much time in the water so we head back to shore with big shit eating grins on our faces. Another magically mellow evening in paradise!
The next morning we take a yoga class on the dock, fun asanas practiced with waves of sound beneath the hard planks of wood. Afterwards Karthick and I meet Bara from the Czech Republic, and we agree to meet up for done acro yoga play, if you don't know what this is, YouTube it! We plan the next leg of our travels, we are both sad that we had already booked our flights to Malaysia, we didn't know koh rong would be so perfect! We heard that there was another beach called long beach, and there's a hike in the jungle to get there and you have to watch the sunset! So we trekked into the thick cambodian jungle, machetes in hand ready to toil with anacondas
and yetis...... Okay there was a nice clearly marked trail, though we did have to repel over some boulders! The beach is stunning there's only one restaurant and bungalows. Other than that it's the most pristine untouched stretch of beach I've ever seen, it just goes on and on! I always dreamt of finding an island like koh rong, and I can't believe I found it within three days of my travels! Unfortunately all the plans for developing resorts gold courses, etc are all in the works and within a few years it will be another crsppy typical island for rich a holes, do go see it now, please, I beg you!
The sunset is unspeakable in it's beauty and we pay a boat two dollars to drive us right to the front door of our bungalow on the other side if the island. One more bowl of mussaman curry before I go! We see Bara at dinner and play acro yoga a bit, much to the delight of other diners, and the curious cambodian restaurant owners. A great night topped off by mediocre Spanish reggae dancing. The next morning brought goodbye, I spent it eating muesli and playing uke with some local kids. Oh yeah and drinking strong coffee with sweetened condensed milk in it,yeah! That made for an excellent boat
ride, I could not stop smiling as I watched ko rong disappear, I promised myself, I'd be back!
Another great cambodian bus ride to Phnom Penh where we checked in to our unusually smelly guesthouse. We strolled the cambodian streets along the Mekong river. We had good Indian good and an hour long foot massage. Life is grand. Up early we took a tuk tuk to the airport and took off for Malaysia! A nice nap later and we are there! We transfer via taxi to another airport that flies us to the jewel of kedah! Otherwise known as langkawi island!
So ko rong was a bad way to start my island adventure because it made langkawi a big letdown,
it was okay, not really my kind if a place. I love the culture change to Malaysia though, after Buddhist thsiland and Cambodia it's nice to see the Muslim and Hindu influences here. Especially in the food! Oh we ate so much roti and Dahl, I loved it! Best part of Malaysia I think! Oh and we rented a motor scooter, Karthick loves them! The next day we drive all over the island, found a magical Hindu temple in vibrant colors, a nice change from the guildedThai style temples. I wanted to see the seven faerie wells waterfall. It was an intense bit of stair climbing! At the tile were seven pools and a view of dense trees in a valley looking out to the sea. You can use the rocks like a slide here and slip from one pool to another, wonderfully fun! But we are bored and decide to leave langkawi early and head back to thIland to koh lipe. Travel is so easy here, there are travel agencies everywhere that will pick you up from your room and arrange all your transport. It's amazing, so we book out ferry to koh lipe Thailand! We eat more roti and Dahl! And pack for Thailand! Woo hoo, from the gulf of Thailand to the andaman sea, and three counties in three days! I have south blogging to catch you up on hope you're still enjoying, I sure miss you all!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
I'm in ruins!
I'm so sad about leaving my school that I am in absolute ruins! The ruins of Angkor wat an the surrounding temples! Perhaps you've heard of it? It's a UnESCO world heritage site, also one of the seven wonders of the world! If this still isn't ringing any bells, there was a movie called tomb raider where Angelina Jolie is running around the most beautiful place you've ever seen? Yes that's where I went today, wow!
I said good bye to my tiny house and the dirty streets of Tapraya. I drove with
Kru Thavee to Aran, as we talked about how dangerous Cambodia is, and I'm very brave to go there alone, and how unfriendly Cambodians are. Great I'm trying to be calm about my border crossing to Cambodia today. I've read about it online and they make it seem like it's super awful. They'll. be scams and beggars and touts trying to trick you and pickpockets and casinos an loose women! So Kru Thavee wasn't doing much to put my mind at ease. He dropped me off and I thanked him for everything and said goodbye with an American hug! Smooth as silk i crossed the street and walked toward the sign that says "departure" I followed it and the following sign that says "foreigner" yep thats me. I saw two people doing a bike trek as we were pulling up to the border, I see the same bikers in line. Where are you from i ask? England! Awesome, how long have you been riding? We left England a year ago and have gone overland the entire way here. What? Oh my, the adventures that people go on are astounding, and make my trip seem like such a baby adventure! I get stamped out of Thailand, I walk out, I find my way to the right side of the road (yep back to driving and biking on this side of the road, the currency in Cambodia is also the US $). I fill out my form, pay my $20 visa fee and head to immigration. In about 30 minutes i was through the "Border nightmare" that i had been reading about for weeks. I am finding that most things in life are not as scary as they are made out to be, or i got lucky.
I found a taxi share to siem reap, the town that is a few kilometers outside of the temples. I rode in the taxi with two korean businessmen from Bangkok. One slept while, the other one drank red wine out of a plastic bottle and talked my ear off. Did i mention its 9:30 in the morning? Ah well, it made the ride pass easily, and he gave me a bag of peanut M&M's. If i were in the U.S. under no circumstances would i probably eat this candy, but I'm in Cambodia and it seems like its my duty (and my Korean friend seems to think it is too) to eat them. So I do and enjoy the sights of busses passing strapped with goods like a cartoon car, towering high into the sky, with a guy sitting on top. Taxis and busses pass by like third world clown cars crammed with Cambodians. was that too many C words in a row? We arrive in Siem Reap the taxi drops me off at my hotel (according to the internet another rarity, they supposedly try to hand you off to a tuk tuk driver). I'm happily greeted and shown to my room where I smile and play ukelele and await the arrival of my friend Karthick.
Besides my new Korean taxi friend, I haven't' had too many english conversations lately. I can't tell you how nice it was to see a familiar face and chat and chat and chat! I met Karthick a year ago when i went to stay in a yoga ashram in Virginia for a month. It's great because we know all the same yoga chants that we learned there, and can catch up on the folks we met.
He wants to check out a temple for sunset. We grab the bikes provided by the hotel and hit the streets. Flowing with the traffic, dodging tourists, the occasional monkey and my desire to look around and not at the road. Entering a thicket of trees with a small stream flowing alongside the road, we take in tourist stands, people selling gasoline in recycled coca cola bottles, ancient trees and so many foreigners. We arrive at Angkor Wat and try to convince a policeman to let us past without a pass. He won't, so we turn around and buy a 3 day pass to the temples, ride our asses off to the temple and make it there, 4 minutes after they closed. Ahhhh well, there's a greater purpose perhaps? And if not it at least makes us feel better thinking that? We sit among the hoards of tourists resting and refusing the offers to buy silk scarves. I spy my first elephant being slowly ridden up a hillside. We ride our bikes home and are excited to shower and go off to dinner. However, theres a problem with the water at the hotel, there isn't any, great well we will wait it out. I teach Karthick some ukelele chords and we wait, and wait. So the water is still not fixed we decide to hit pub street. Pub street is a big downtown tourist area with lots of bars, restaurants and shops. Very colorful, very loud.
Everyhwhere there are tanks full of fish and people paying two dollars to put there feet in and let the
fish eat their dead skin. It includes a free coke or beer. If you ask me it sounds awful, but if i were drunk maybe i'd do it, just to say i did. We find a mexican restaurant and say yes to that! I drink a lemonade, and eat a chimichanga. This is the first time i've had cheese on this trip, its incredible! I don't really feel like I'm in another country, it is such a tourist place here!
Well nine days later and I still haven't finished the post! The next day we rose at four am and hit the streets on our bikes to Angkor wat for the legendary sunrise! It's pitch black the stars are clear and bright, the roads are empty. As we walk into the temple, we are approaches by coffee vendors with
memorable names like, harry potter and Rambo! The reflecting pool outside the temple is already drawing acrowd. We decide to go into the temple and meditate and practice yoga. So there we are completely alone in this ancient ruin, surrounded by darkness and the gleaming night sky! Karthick saw a shooting star! It was so amazing to salute the sun as it rose above the crowns of the temple peaks! We wander out and view the spectacle of thousands of people facing us flaming pictures, okay we are famous! Or maybe they are taking photos of the temple! So many cameras in the air at the same time! The sight of the sunrise behind the temple is glorious! The day before Karthick an I enjoyed some fresh pressed glasses of sugar cane juice! He told me a story about drinking the nectar from palm trees. on the walk out of the temple I see a man shimmying up a tree and attaching curious objects to it, then there's a man with bamboo cylinders that he's pouring into plastic cups. I ask Karthick if that is palm nectar! It is! We drink two glasses it is delicious! And tapped from the trees of one of the seven wonders of the world! How cool is that!
The rest of the day is full if biking to temple after breathtaking temple. Climbing stairs to look out over lucious jungles, riding through tree lined forest roads, drinking coconuts, eating pineapple, running your fingers over ancient engravings, feeling lost in the magnitude of these temples and
wondering at there colossal consteuctuon. Everyone reading this must go! Go! Go! By twelve noon
we are back in our rooms, mind you we woke at four am. I yet to blog but I fall asleep instead. We wake up and I discover a local cambodian run vegetarian restaurant, so we go hit it up! The restaurant is outdoors with all these wooden bungalows with short tables and cozy mats on the floor. Interesting menu items, and soooooo cheap we order a feast! We just stuff ourselves to the brim and wander back to pub street. Despite our level of fullness Karthick insists I try a banana Nutella roti (it's a little like a crepe)! Topped with sweetened condensed milk of course! Then we get an hour long foot massage for four dollars. We play pool and watch some open mic in a pub. Then we head to the temple night club for some dancing to bad American pop music, I am so stoked just to dance! What a day! I'm grinning as we walk home and find the water is on at the hotel, yay!
And then there's day two! After a little ukelele playin in the courtyard, it's time to bike agsin, gee my ass is sore butt let's do this! We go to the sunset temple in the morning, it's deserted excellent! We walk and try to remember what the other wonders of the world are, at the temple two women approach us and ask us what the seven wonders of the world are! We laugh at the councidence! And make new friends! They tell us the story of how they met in se Asia thirty years ago. One woman from Australia the other from Canada. When the Canadian returned home he told her family about the lovely Aussie friend shed made, only to find out that her sister had met the Aussies sister the previous year while traveling in se Asia as well! How's that for travel magic? Wel bid farewell and after a few meters I realize my front tire is flat! We walk the bike to a bike repair stand on the roadside. I strum uke and watch the leaves drift slowly form the towering trees. I tell Karthick that after the. Story of travel maxi that I bet we are going to meet someone really cool because of our flat tire delay....... Lo and behold hours and many temples later we meet a sweet
swede named Madeline. She's traveling alone so we invite her to bike along with us, she's great and speaks English wih a Canadian accent. We see some Cambodians on the roadside with some palm
fruits, we ask if they have palm nectar, they don't but they bust open the palm fruit, and peel them for
us revealing these half dollar suzed white waxy discs, you pop them in your mouth and they explode
with water that dribbled down your chin. Such a cool experience! I play uke for them as they carve us more palm fruits. Back on the road we spy water buffalo. And we visit our last temple, pink sandstone and the sun setting behind it. We make our long bike home, passing by the Angkor wat mote and watch the sun set in it's water.
We meet up with Madeline for Indian food and talk of travels. We mentioned we were heading to sihanoukville to go to otres beach. She went there, but to ko rong island. How was it? Oh it's the best beach she's ever seen. So we alter our course and make plans to head there instead. After dinner Madeline convinces us we need to have our feet chewed on by fish, you know that activity I mentioned. Not wanting to do earlier? Well now it's peer pressure and I succumb, It was worth it just for the amount of laughter, those fish tickle, it's the creepiest feeling ever and I can't keep my feet in without fits of laughter! Though after ten minutes I get used to it. So there's a day of new experiences!
The next morning we rode the bus, twelve long hours to sihanoukville. We stYed in a dirty guesthouse, walked through the dirty seaside spring break atmosphere. An d bookie our tickets to the ferry the next morning. I must say that sihanoukville showed no promise as to the glory that awaited us on koh rong island..... Let's blog that another day I've just arrived in langkawi Malaysia and I'm tired! Love and missins to y'all!
I said good bye to my tiny house and the dirty streets of Tapraya. I drove with
Kru Thavee to Aran, as we talked about how dangerous Cambodia is, and I'm very brave to go there alone, and how unfriendly Cambodians are. Great I'm trying to be calm about my border crossing to Cambodia today. I've read about it online and they make it seem like it's super awful. They'll. be scams and beggars and touts trying to trick you and pickpockets and casinos an loose women! So Kru Thavee wasn't doing much to put my mind at ease. He dropped me off and I thanked him for everything and said goodbye with an American hug! Smooth as silk i crossed the street and walked toward the sign that says "departure" I followed it and the following sign that says "foreigner" yep thats me. I saw two people doing a bike trek as we were pulling up to the border, I see the same bikers in line. Where are you from i ask? England! Awesome, how long have you been riding? We left England a year ago and have gone overland the entire way here. What? Oh my, the adventures that people go on are astounding, and make my trip seem like such a baby adventure! I get stamped out of Thailand, I walk out, I find my way to the right side of the road (yep back to driving and biking on this side of the road, the currency in Cambodia is also the US $). I fill out my form, pay my $20 visa fee and head to immigration. In about 30 minutes i was through the "Border nightmare" that i had been reading about for weeks. I am finding that most things in life are not as scary as they are made out to be, or i got lucky.
I found a taxi share to siem reap, the town that is a few kilometers outside of the temples. I rode in the taxi with two korean businessmen from Bangkok. One slept while, the other one drank red wine out of a plastic bottle and talked my ear off. Did i mention its 9:30 in the morning? Ah well, it made the ride pass easily, and he gave me a bag of peanut M&M's. If i were in the U.S. under no circumstances would i probably eat this candy, but I'm in Cambodia and it seems like its my duty (and my Korean friend seems to think it is too) to eat them. So I do and enjoy the sights of busses passing strapped with goods like a cartoon car, towering high into the sky, with a guy sitting on top. Taxis and busses pass by like third world clown cars crammed with Cambodians. was that too many C words in a row? We arrive in Siem Reap the taxi drops me off at my hotel (according to the internet another rarity, they supposedly try to hand you off to a tuk tuk driver). I'm happily greeted and shown to my room where I smile and play ukelele and await the arrival of my friend Karthick.
Besides my new Korean taxi friend, I haven't' had too many english conversations lately. I can't tell you how nice it was to see a familiar face and chat and chat and chat! I met Karthick a year ago when i went to stay in a yoga ashram in Virginia for a month. It's great because we know all the same yoga chants that we learned there, and can catch up on the folks we met.
He wants to check out a temple for sunset. We grab the bikes provided by the hotel and hit the streets. Flowing with the traffic, dodging tourists, the occasional monkey and my desire to look around and not at the road. Entering a thicket of trees with a small stream flowing alongside the road, we take in tourist stands, people selling gasoline in recycled coca cola bottles, ancient trees and so many foreigners. We arrive at Angkor Wat and try to convince a policeman to let us past without a pass. He won't, so we turn around and buy a 3 day pass to the temples, ride our asses off to the temple and make it there, 4 minutes after they closed. Ahhhh well, there's a greater purpose perhaps? And if not it at least makes us feel better thinking that? We sit among the hoards of tourists resting and refusing the offers to buy silk scarves. I spy my first elephant being slowly ridden up a hillside. We ride our bikes home and are excited to shower and go off to dinner. However, theres a problem with the water at the hotel, there isn't any, great well we will wait it out. I teach Karthick some ukelele chords and we wait, and wait. So the water is still not fixed we decide to hit pub street. Pub street is a big downtown tourist area with lots of bars, restaurants and shops. Very colorful, very loud.
Everyhwhere there are tanks full of fish and people paying two dollars to put there feet in and let the
fish eat their dead skin. It includes a free coke or beer. If you ask me it sounds awful, but if i were drunk maybe i'd do it, just to say i did. We find a mexican restaurant and say yes to that! I drink a lemonade, and eat a chimichanga. This is the first time i've had cheese on this trip, its incredible! I don't really feel like I'm in another country, it is such a tourist place here!
Well nine days later and I still haven't finished the post! The next day we rose at four am and hit the streets on our bikes to Angkor wat for the legendary sunrise! It's pitch black the stars are clear and bright, the roads are empty. As we walk into the temple, we are approaches by coffee vendors with
memorable names like, harry potter and Rambo! The reflecting pool outside the temple is already drawing acrowd. We decide to go into the temple and meditate and practice yoga. So there we are completely alone in this ancient ruin, surrounded by darkness and the gleaming night sky! Karthick saw a shooting star! It was so amazing to salute the sun as it rose above the crowns of the temple peaks! We wander out and view the spectacle of thousands of people facing us flaming pictures, okay we are famous! Or maybe they are taking photos of the temple! So many cameras in the air at the same time! The sight of the sunrise behind the temple is glorious! The day before Karthick an I enjoyed some fresh pressed glasses of sugar cane juice! He told me a story about drinking the nectar from palm trees. on the walk out of the temple I see a man shimmying up a tree and attaching curious objects to it, then there's a man with bamboo cylinders that he's pouring into plastic cups. I ask Karthick if that is palm nectar! It is! We drink two glasses it is delicious! And tapped from the trees of one of the seven wonders of the world! How cool is that!
The rest of the day is full if biking to temple after breathtaking temple. Climbing stairs to look out over lucious jungles, riding through tree lined forest roads, drinking coconuts, eating pineapple, running your fingers over ancient engravings, feeling lost in the magnitude of these temples and
wondering at there colossal consteuctuon. Everyone reading this must go! Go! Go! By twelve noon
we are back in our rooms, mind you we woke at four am. I yet to blog but I fall asleep instead. We wake up and I discover a local cambodian run vegetarian restaurant, so we go hit it up! The restaurant is outdoors with all these wooden bungalows with short tables and cozy mats on the floor. Interesting menu items, and soooooo cheap we order a feast! We just stuff ourselves to the brim and wander back to pub street. Despite our level of fullness Karthick insists I try a banana Nutella roti (it's a little like a crepe)! Topped with sweetened condensed milk of course! Then we get an hour long foot massage for four dollars. We play pool and watch some open mic in a pub. Then we head to the temple night club for some dancing to bad American pop music, I am so stoked just to dance! What a day! I'm grinning as we walk home and find the water is on at the hotel, yay!
And then there's day two! After a little ukelele playin in the courtyard, it's time to bike agsin, gee my ass is sore butt let's do this! We go to the sunset temple in the morning, it's deserted excellent! We walk and try to remember what the other wonders of the world are, at the temple two women approach us and ask us what the seven wonders of the world are! We laugh at the councidence! And make new friends! They tell us the story of how they met in se Asia thirty years ago. One woman from Australia the other from Canada. When the Canadian returned home he told her family about the lovely Aussie friend shed made, only to find out that her sister had met the Aussies sister the previous year while traveling in se Asia as well! How's that for travel magic? Wel bid farewell and after a few meters I realize my front tire is flat! We walk the bike to a bike repair stand on the roadside. I strum uke and watch the leaves drift slowly form the towering trees. I tell Karthick that after the. Story of travel maxi that I bet we are going to meet someone really cool because of our flat tire delay....... Lo and behold hours and many temples later we meet a sweet
swede named Madeline. She's traveling alone so we invite her to bike along with us, she's great and speaks English wih a Canadian accent. We see some Cambodians on the roadside with some palm
fruits, we ask if they have palm nectar, they don't but they bust open the palm fruit, and peel them for
us revealing these half dollar suzed white waxy discs, you pop them in your mouth and they explode
with water that dribbled down your chin. Such a cool experience! I play uke for them as they carve us more palm fruits. Back on the road we spy water buffalo. And we visit our last temple, pink sandstone and the sun setting behind it. We make our long bike home, passing by the Angkor wat mote and watch the sun set in it's water.
We meet up with Madeline for Indian food and talk of travels. We mentioned we were heading to sihanoukville to go to otres beach. She went there, but to ko rong island. How was it? Oh it's the best beach she's ever seen. So we alter our course and make plans to head there instead. After dinner Madeline convinces us we need to have our feet chewed on by fish, you know that activity I mentioned. Not wanting to do earlier? Well now it's peer pressure and I succumb, It was worth it just for the amount of laughter, those fish tickle, it's the creepiest feeling ever and I can't keep my feet in without fits of laughter! Though after ten minutes I get used to it. So there's a day of new experiences!
The next morning we rode the bus, twelve long hours to sihanoukville. We stYed in a dirty guesthouse, walked through the dirty seaside spring break atmosphere. An d bookie our tickets to the ferry the next morning. I must say that sihanoukville showed no promise as to the glory that awaited us on koh rong island..... Let's blog that another day I've just arrived in langkawi Malaysia and I'm tired! Love and missins to y'all!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
When I die won't you bury me deep, way down on ol jirawat street
Oh my dears, I knew it would come, and I tried not to think about it but, here I am a sad little Kru miaw. Saying goodbye is a drag. I took my last bike ride at sunset, children on the road waving and smiling and saying" hello Kru miaw!" " good afternoon!" The ride I discovered last week through the farmland has become my favorite ride. The houses out there are where most of my students reside. They just light up when they see me on my bike and wave! My heart is full of little moments like that. My time here has been remarkable and I am so glad for this experience.
I will miss my little home on jirawat street. Which. Kru Su nformed me means pimple in Malay. I have no idea what it means in Thai. It has been a lovely container for all of my memories here. It really doesn't seem like to long ago that I first shut it's door behind me and jumped around like a maniac because I was so overwhelmed by it's quaint adorableness! Last night I started packing up all my goodies into my tiny little baxkpack, slightly melancholy but anxious for the next phase of adventure.
Yesterday was my last full day of classes. I taught colors and shapes to level one with silly bingo and kitty cat puppets. After class Kru Kung told me that I would be teaching my level one and two classes on my own as she had to go to a meeting. So far all of my classes have been in the English room, but today I had the lovely fortune of teaching to them in their home classrooms. I had time before class so I went down to the playground to strum my ol uke and practice the fun new song I've undertaken: don't worry be happy! A good motto for me on my journey and the kids all know the word happy! Before I knew it I had also undertaken the company of about thirty kindergartners! We literally got in a battle for my uke and I had to rescue it, quite funny actually. We hokey pokeyed and I taught them the bunny hop! They lived my abc song, don't worry be happy, you are my sunshine, and ol. Max Donald's farm. Super way to spend the afternoon, I don't know hey I haven't spent more time with the kindys!
Level two was awesome, I like their home classroom, it's more open and homey, smaller desks, the english room is like cubicles! The kids were stoked to have me too! There's this one girl who is really smart and talks super duper loud, she nearly screams everything! It's beneficial because it makes the rest of the class less shy! I taught them numbers 13 to twenty four and played teams of matching games. It's fun to have no idea what kids are saying to you, but you get the gist and they get the gist somehow! Although in the older classes I'm sure the kids are so lipping off to me sometimes, but the great thing is I don't really know so I can't really care! Well it wa my favorite class ever and the students really seemed to start remembering the numbers in their own, well most of them. I ended class with a round if hokey pokey, why not! My other class looked a little more like mayhem! I had to beat the desk with a ruler an make angry faces and be a jerk, all without Thai, well it didn't do much good but I eventually got most of them to listen to me and settle. More bingo and dances and songs and alphabet. I really just floated through the day and enjoyed all the sweet moments. After class I watched the students practice their cheer routine for next weeks sports day, too cute for words! Super special way to end my experience. I really felt like a teacher yesterdsy. Ido see improvement in their speaking ability!
Today oh dear just gloomy in general, the usually sunny sky overcast and gloomy. Knowing it's my last bike ride to school. Mt. Thavee brought me out to say goodbye at the assembly and it was so hard not to cry! I enjoyed my last breakfast and cofffeeeeee. I've been getting little gifts from the teachers, a knit kitty Cat key chain, a bag woven from reeds, a bookmark, sweet little things. I think the best was saying goodbye to Kru ya, Oy 3, and Kru gai, we talked in broken English and took photos! They made me feel very appreciated and loved! The teachers here have been so good and like lovely family! I will miss them allllll! I will miss the dirty streets, my corner store and supermarket where the cashiers taunt my lack of Thai. The homes that line the main roads, that double as stores, the fronts roll up like storage lockers, the huge pots of roses that line my driveway ,the three dirty golden retrievers who sleep just beyond my driveway, the morning rides by charcoal pits of meaty searing breakfast stands, my fruit vendors rainbow of cheap juicy delights, the huge golden framed
pictures of th king and queen, the kids sweeping the school grounds before class, the nervousness that flits around before class, the sweet smiles and nervous laughs that surround our blocks to communication and connect us in our similar humanity. Thank you Tapraya thank you Anuban school thank you life for bringing me here and all
Of you who have helped me arrive!
I will miss my little home on jirawat street. Which. Kru Su nformed me means pimple in Malay. I have no idea what it means in Thai. It has been a lovely container for all of my memories here. It really doesn't seem like to long ago that I first shut it's door behind me and jumped around like a maniac because I was so overwhelmed by it's quaint adorableness! Last night I started packing up all my goodies into my tiny little baxkpack, slightly melancholy but anxious for the next phase of adventure.
Yesterday was my last full day of classes. I taught colors and shapes to level one with silly bingo and kitty cat puppets. After class Kru Kung told me that I would be teaching my level one and two classes on my own as she had to go to a meeting. So far all of my classes have been in the English room, but today I had the lovely fortune of teaching to them in their home classrooms. I had time before class so I went down to the playground to strum my ol uke and practice the fun new song I've undertaken: don't worry be happy! A good motto for me on my journey and the kids all know the word happy! Before I knew it I had also undertaken the company of about thirty kindergartners! We literally got in a battle for my uke and I had to rescue it, quite funny actually. We hokey pokeyed and I taught them the bunny hop! They lived my abc song, don't worry be happy, you are my sunshine, and ol. Max Donald's farm. Super way to spend the afternoon, I don't know hey I haven't spent more time with the kindys!
Level two was awesome, I like their home classroom, it's more open and homey, smaller desks, the english room is like cubicles! The kids were stoked to have me too! There's this one girl who is really smart and talks super duper loud, she nearly screams everything! It's beneficial because it makes the rest of the class less shy! I taught them numbers 13 to twenty four and played teams of matching games. It's fun to have no idea what kids are saying to you, but you get the gist and they get the gist somehow! Although in the older classes I'm sure the kids are so lipping off to me sometimes, but the great thing is I don't really know so I can't really care! Well it wa my favorite class ever and the students really seemed to start remembering the numbers in their own, well most of them. I ended class with a round if hokey pokey, why not! My other class looked a little more like mayhem! I had to beat the desk with a ruler an make angry faces and be a jerk, all without Thai, well it didn't do much good but I eventually got most of them to listen to me and settle. More bingo and dances and songs and alphabet. I really just floated through the day and enjoyed all the sweet moments. After class I watched the students practice their cheer routine for next weeks sports day, too cute for words! Super special way to end my experience. I really felt like a teacher yesterdsy. Ido see improvement in their speaking ability!
Today oh dear just gloomy in general, the usually sunny sky overcast and gloomy. Knowing it's my last bike ride to school. Mt. Thavee brought me out to say goodbye at the assembly and it was so hard not to cry! I enjoyed my last breakfast and cofffeeeeee. I've been getting little gifts from the teachers, a knit kitty Cat key chain, a bag woven from reeds, a bookmark, sweet little things. I think the best was saying goodbye to Kru ya, Oy 3, and Kru gai, we talked in broken English and took photos! They made me feel very appreciated and loved! The teachers here have been so good and like lovely family! I will miss them allllll! I will miss the dirty streets, my corner store and supermarket where the cashiers taunt my lack of Thai. The homes that line the main roads, that double as stores, the fronts roll up like storage lockers, the huge pots of roses that line my driveway ,the three dirty golden retrievers who sleep just beyond my driveway, the morning rides by charcoal pits of meaty searing breakfast stands, my fruit vendors rainbow of cheap juicy delights, the huge golden framed
pictures of th king and queen, the kids sweeping the school grounds before class, the nervousness that flits around before class, the sweet smiles and nervous laughs that surround our blocks to communication and connect us in our similar humanity. Thank you Tapraya thank you Anuban school thank you life for bringing me here and all
Of you who have helped me arrive!
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Rides on the left side
Happy belated Chinese New Year!
It's not really a big holiday in Thailand, but I did get scared by a few rounds of fireworks during the day. Last year on Chinese New Year I was in this psychedelic Mardi gras riverboat cruise in the Pacific Ocean. I was having an epic time dancing with my Eileen, but kept tripping on these popped balloon pieces. I was repeatedly looking at the floor trying to dance around them, I see a bill lying on the floor, I pick it up, I think it's a dollar, I move my thumb, it's a hundred! I took it as an auspicious sign that it was going to be an extremely lucky year for me, and it was! This year I was riding my bike, I rode it out past the police checkpoint. Beyond the fields of coconut palms and rice, swinging the curves of the road marveling at the sky, a wash in the peace of the silent road leading out if the city. I just kept riding and riding, the air became cool and sweet and the forest rushed in to surround the road. Filtering soft late afternoon light through the layers of leaves. I rode so far that I ran into Cambodia, I like being able to inadvertently almost wind up in another country. I looped my bike back around and traced my path back to the city. When I arrived I stopped to buy a green tea, I've become addicted to these genmaicha green teas they sell here, I reach in the pocket of my goofy assed red white and blue golfer plaid shorts searching for my money..,,, and there's nothing to be found! Doh! So this year on CNY I lost a hundred baht note, the good news is that that's only about three dollars. So I don't know what that's an auspicious sign of!
What I do know is that this morning I followed my intuition and started turning down random streets on my bike, I rode out past a small reservoir I followed a motorbike with mother driving and daughter sitting side saddle, off the paved road and onto the dirt. I'm off off off off the beaten path, people look at me the same way I'd look at Thai person riding their bike down Andrew county road 337. With a sense of funny wonder, they kinda smile and shake their head. There are cows in the road, chickens , ducks, and turkey's play seek and eat in the red dirt. I'm just enthralled, I decide to get lost in it and find my way back out eventually. I just turn and turn down these roads, now there are the most green rice paddies to date that are flanked on either side with the Martian red earth road twisting into the horizon. More tapioca fields and motorbikes, there will always be motorbikes. Though mostly I'm alone in the farmland. At some point I glance behind me to see a man on a bicycle. The voice of mother clicks on in my head, something like " what are you doing out here in a foreign country all alone, and now some man is following you on a bike, anything could happen to you!" I pondered the odds of that being the likely case. I turned around and smiled at him, he rode right on by. I find a cozy spot in the shade and break out my uke and a mangosteen. I strum chords enjoying the stellar views the paddies offer me. I'm strumming and humming and thinking if just how lovely this day is, I glance at the ground, four leaf clover. They've been following me around this year, this makes number four. I don't look for them either, I just turn around and they're there! I always take it as a little wink from the divine.
Folks stare at a farang playing a yellow uke in the middle if the rice paddies as they ride by doing there daily activities. I decide to ride on. I just keep going and going and I sort of think I know where I am, an it hits me! I have no idea where I am! Awesome panic! But I turn right and find I'm right where I need to be, back at the reservoir. Mmmmmhmmmmmm Thailand I love you! I am enjoying all the rural small town goodness as I know I will soon rush headlong into the tourist circuit of Cambodia and who knows where! Hey guess what? I got you in my pocket! Let's adventure! Lovins to ya!
Gretchynfetchynling
It's not really a big holiday in Thailand, but I did get scared by a few rounds of fireworks during the day. Last year on Chinese New Year I was in this psychedelic Mardi gras riverboat cruise in the Pacific Ocean. I was having an epic time dancing with my Eileen, but kept tripping on these popped balloon pieces. I was repeatedly looking at the floor trying to dance around them, I see a bill lying on the floor, I pick it up, I think it's a dollar, I move my thumb, it's a hundred! I took it as an auspicious sign that it was going to be an extremely lucky year for me, and it was! This year I was riding my bike, I rode it out past the police checkpoint. Beyond the fields of coconut palms and rice, swinging the curves of the road marveling at the sky, a wash in the peace of the silent road leading out if the city. I just kept riding and riding, the air became cool and sweet and the forest rushed in to surround the road. Filtering soft late afternoon light through the layers of leaves. I rode so far that I ran into Cambodia, I like being able to inadvertently almost wind up in another country. I looped my bike back around and traced my path back to the city. When I arrived I stopped to buy a green tea, I've become addicted to these genmaicha green teas they sell here, I reach in the pocket of my goofy assed red white and blue golfer plaid shorts searching for my money..,,, and there's nothing to be found! Doh! So this year on CNY I lost a hundred baht note, the good news is that that's only about three dollars. So I don't know what that's an auspicious sign of!
What I do know is that this morning I followed my intuition and started turning down random streets on my bike, I rode out past a small reservoir I followed a motorbike with mother driving and daughter sitting side saddle, off the paved road and onto the dirt. I'm off off off off the beaten path, people look at me the same way I'd look at Thai person riding their bike down Andrew county road 337. With a sense of funny wonder, they kinda smile and shake their head. There are cows in the road, chickens , ducks, and turkey's play seek and eat in the red dirt. I'm just enthralled, I decide to get lost in it and find my way back out eventually. I just turn and turn down these roads, now there are the most green rice paddies to date that are flanked on either side with the Martian red earth road twisting into the horizon. More tapioca fields and motorbikes, there will always be motorbikes. Though mostly I'm alone in the farmland. At some point I glance behind me to see a man on a bicycle. The voice of mother clicks on in my head, something like " what are you doing out here in a foreign country all alone, and now some man is following you on a bike, anything could happen to you!" I pondered the odds of that being the likely case. I turned around and smiled at him, he rode right on by. I find a cozy spot in the shade and break out my uke and a mangosteen. I strum chords enjoying the stellar views the paddies offer me. I'm strumming and humming and thinking if just how lovely this day is, I glance at the ground, four leaf clover. They've been following me around this year, this makes number four. I don't look for them either, I just turn around and they're there! I always take it as a little wink from the divine.
Folks stare at a farang playing a yellow uke in the middle if the rice paddies as they ride by doing there daily activities. I decide to ride on. I just keep going and going and I sort of think I know where I am, an it hits me! I have no idea where I am! Awesome panic! But I turn right and find I'm right where I need to be, back at the reservoir. Mmmmmhmmmmmm Thailand I love you! I am enjoying all the rural small town goodness as I know I will soon rush headlong into the tourist circuit of Cambodia and who knows where! Hey guess what? I got you in my pocket! Let's adventure! Lovins to ya!
Gretchynfetchynling
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