Alright baby! I'm super motivated to catch you up on my adventures, because so may more are coming! Also I'm jacked on caffeine and sitting in an airport, what else am I going to do?
So where did I leave us? Karthick and I boarding a ferry for the legendary koh lipe island in Thailand? Before we board I find a Starbucks, and can't resist my favorite soy green tea latte, just because! We have to go through immigration before we board the ferry . I pass through with ease, but I realize Karthick hasn't made it through yet. I go back to the gate and they won't let him through because of his Indian passport. So we say an awkward goodbye and I head down the ramp to board the ferry. As I'm about to step aboard someone grabs my arm, it's Karthick! He made it! They finally let him go yay! We sit aboard the vomit comet and watch the movie shooter in Thai, as everyone around us pukes into plastic bags. I'm grateful for my lack of smell and iron stomach!
A few hours later it's koh lipe! And I am on island time! Usually we book accommodations ahead of our arrival but we were sure we'd find something so we didn't. After a beautiful long tail boat shuttles us to shore we start trying to find a room. Everything is super expensive or booked. We hike up and down the shore in the hot sun, to no avail. We eventually take up a guys offer to let us stay in his massage shop for five hundred baht a night. Well take it! And it makes for a good story! We hop on another long tail to go snorkeling, the water here is faerytale Thai island water. Clear as vodka and blue as a bottle of gin, not that I'm an alcoholic or anything. I have dreamt of an island this beautiful my whole life and being here is stunning and startling and I feel triumphant! So we cut across this sea to another island and pull up beside a lot of other long tails to snorkel. Remember in my last post when I said ko rong had the best snorkeling is ever done? Scratch that, it's koh lipe! Clown fish creep out of coral everywhere a new fish a new color, just addictive to swim and watch in wonder. Best snotkling ever and I can't wait to dive here!
We return to the soft sands of koh lipe, Karthick arranges his travel back to koh samui the next day. I play uke with the owner of the massage shop and chill at the bar next door. We get a foot back and neck massage. Best one so far and it puts Karthick and I in this very spacy blissed out mood. Which leads us to going to an Italian restaurant and ordering a pizza, each. I eat an entire pineapple pizza that's fantastic! Afterwards I leave Karthick to walk solo down the sands in the company of the full moon. I hang upside down on some rocks watching the moons reflection bob and ripple in the waves. Then I retire to the open air massage shop mat and hose myself with Insect repellent. I still get devoured by Mosquitos. Karthick leaves the next morning and I am finally traveling solo!
I'm ecstatic! I can do whatever I want! I check into my hostel and sit in the aircon trying to talk my friend elysse into coming to thsiland! I only had one day at the hostel so I set out to scour the island for cheap lodgings. I walked most of the island until I ran out of tourists. I sat alone on the beach gazing out at koh adang across the idyllic andaman sea. I took random trails back to the hostel and came upon a place with nets to rent for three hundred baht a night! I guess I know where I'll be staying! Strolling with my uke I talk to dive shops and sign up for a two dive discovery scuba tour.
Up early to the beach packing my bag an heading to the dive shop. We hop a long tail out to the proper dive boat and start churning the waters heading on to the faraway islands( yeah that's what they are actually called). I meet Pasquale, my heavily French accented dive instructor for the day, he's kooky, hard to understand but full of pep. I suppose the diving is probably easier than it sounds. An hour later I'm suctioning on a wet suit, strapping s tank to my back and jumping in the ocean. It's pretty easy this scuba thing. I didn't see to much spectacular on my first dive, but on the second I saw huge puffer fish, giant morey eels, lion fish, star fish, the entire cast of finding nemo. Okay I'm hooked scuba diving is great. I think I'll have to get my certification,someday when I have more money.
The next morning I ferry away from koh lipe, I sit on the front of the speed boat with the other backpackers who wipe away tears as they say goodbye. It's a choppy ride past deserted islands. We stop for more passengers in turutao national park. There's an entire ferry boat of monks that smile and
wave. Six hours and a minibus later I'm in krabi town gabbing with two sweet Canadians in my dorm room. I tell them my plans to go climbing in railey beach. Oh really? Their cute dreadlocked Austrian
friend loves climbing! So the next morning I head out with the boy and I climb the faerytale
limestone crags of railey beach! It's exhilarating with dramatic ocean view at the top! I love climbing it's difficult but so worth it! My buddy heads back to krabi town and I watch the sunset into the ocean. I'm staying in the hippie rasta part of town called tonsai beach. I can't walk there until the tide goes down. It's well dark by the time I get there and I can't find my guesthouse. No one seems to know where it is either. My gps is leading me into the middle of nowhere. After questioning a half dozen people I find it, tucked way back in the woods up the mountain. Okay they lead me to my room, oops there's someone in it! They give me a different room instead. It's filthy there's huge dead cockroaches in the bathroom. But I'm a trooper I just want to shower the sweat off. The shower doesn't work, oh well, I'll shower with the butt sprayer, I have no pride. Once my hair is soaped the lights go out. Okay that's the last straw! Naked and covered in soap in the dark I wrap myself in a blanket and go outside, none of the staff are around and the other guests ignore the crazy half naked American, sigh, I return to my room. I find my headlamp and finish showering, the water stops working, luckily I'm rinsed. I lie on my bed in the dark and write ukelele songs about how sucky this room is. It's early but I'm in no mood to go out so I wrap the mosquito net around my bed and go to sleep. I have the weirdest dreams ever and escape to the beach early the next morning.
There's not much to do, I swim stare at the gorgeous limestone peaks, play uke, people watch. I discover that there's another beach voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I walk through cavey stalactites to get there, it's an incredible beach, densely populated. There is a cave of carved wooden penises in every conceivable shape size and color! I'm not making it up! Do patently it's some ancient offering to the legend of some sea goddess or some such thing all I know is that it's a fun spectacle in usually bashful thsiland. On the walk home I see a sign that says lagoon with an arrow piointingbup a steep climbing slope covered in ropes and vines and branches, yeah I wanna go! It's a fun climb up and a gorgeous view of the railey peninsula. I meet an incredible traveller there named Op and together with a bunch if young English people we trek down a steep slope into the lagoon. It's breathtaking, the loud sounds of construction on the beach left behind. We are sheltered in
this cave, the water a cloudy brackish blue. I jump in and float out to the middle, I feel tiny and
ancient. The opening to the sky is shaped like an eye and puffy clouds drift by on the sky blue sky. It's a great memory and I wish you could have come with me. I climb and walk home I sing Ecuadorean traditional songs with a gal on the beach. I book my trip to go deep water soloing the next day. That means I sail out to an island and free climb with no equipment over deep water, so when I fall I'm caught by the ocean, awesome! Can't wait! Back at my lovely room they make me move into my bungalow, it's actually a move up, though the mattress is beyond broken down and I sleep in a funny ball. It was a weird day full of Beauty and emotion.
I eat muesli the next day and meet a pleasant Oregonian uke player before I head for the boat. I meet more Americans on my climbing trip today than I did in my entire travels up til then. as always the boat trip is amazing, the view of islands breathtsking! We anchor by the cliffs we climb rope ladders to. I don't do anything too dangerous, but live jumping into the water from a good height! It's fun to watch the good climbers go scary high and jump I the sea! Weeeeee! After a few hours we pull to a private cove and enjoy lunch before going on to our next rock walk location, this one is more challenging but ivves scaling a huge stalactite before jumping off! I feel like a badass though I am admittedly a novice! It was an exceptional day! I hop a boat to so nang beach and climb in a pick up truck buss that winds me through the krabi romantic road back to krabi town as a Swiss man talks to me about life. That winds up my this ocean adventure and it he next day I fly to northern Thailand, Chiang Mai!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
How can I koh rong? Cambodia to Malaysia and back to thailand
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!
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!
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
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Accidental Guru
Good afternoon!
Well I am sad to announce that my stint at the Anuban Tapraya school is nearing it's end. I have enjoyed being a teacher here so much! It has had it's challenges for sure and tested me in all the ways that I knew it would. Some tests I didn't quite expect but have done my best to face them. This week with Kru Su gone I have been teaching the lower level classes that used to be hers! It is so much more fun! I get to sing the abc's on my ukulele and talk to them with hand puppets, mine is this big stuffed fluffy kitty puppet, named miss kitty. They get to talk back to me with a Garfield puppet, that they love! It's so much easier than the higher grade levels and the hour goes by so fast!
I've taken to arriving at school early I the morning so I can play uke with the kiddos and talk to them a bit. I taught them how to do the hokey pokey. Why did we ever stop doin th hokey pokey? I want someone to remind me to do the hokey pokey more often when I get home! Like patty cake I think it's a game that shouldn't stop being played just because were adults! What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about? That's my deep wise ponderance for all of you out there!
After all, I am a guru! You didn't know? Well, I always said that you don't need to follow a guru that you are the guru! I didn't know how true it was until last week when Kru Thavee told me that the word Kru is actually derived from the Sanskrit word guru! So I am guru miaw! We were having a conversation about how respectful the students are here of the teachers. He said it is because to them they look at teachers as having all the answers. The respect that is displayed by students is awe inspiring, if the student has to approach the teacher, say to have them sign a paper, the student waits on their knees with their head bowed. Students here are so much better behaved than in the states. I love the idea that all teachers are gurus, not just spiritual teachers.
I've been going on bike rides through the countryside. Just chilling I the left side of the road and smiling at everyone who stares as I pass by. I rode a few kilometers to a smaller town near Tapraya, at random I turned down red dusty streets and caught dogs licking the insides of ice cream wrappers, houses on stilts, more chickens and roosters than human beings. I take a back road peddling furiously past electric green rice paddies, past the smelled irrigation channels, until I come to a Thai temple out in the middle of nowhere, the extravagance of it's red and gold spiked roof so appropriately out of place among the brown plowed up fields of powdery earth. I reached a cross roads to turn around and a man speeds by on his motorbike, he turns around to smile at me and I catch a glimpse of 2 fat piggies as clean and shiny as charlottes Wilbur ready for the state fair. They were crammed inside of a bamboo cage and speeding away in a motorbike, it was a sight that struck me and will stick with me. Old ladies sit on raised open air platforms, families gather around street vendors roasting skewers of everything imaginable. I love biking, it's faster than walking but you can still take in your surroundings.
Another reason I love Thailand: I FOUND MANGOSTEEN! Walking through the Sunday market my head picked the fruit out of the craze of abundance spread on the market tables! I filled a bag for about sixty cents! I went home to test them out and are the entire back in one swell foop! So I went back and bought another huge bag! In the states, if I could have found them at all, I would have paid around twenty bucks for them. Here? About two dollars! MANGOSTEEN HEAVEN! Well worth the thousand dollar plane ticket right? I think so!
Sorry I haven't written in a while it's been a pretty mellow week just , teaching and hanging with the students, and doing the routine life stuff.... In Thailand! I did have the Oys swing by the other night and they brought me dinner and took me to Kru berns house to watch her make popcorn. They have this Thai version if kettle corn that is a lot sweeter! It was fun to watch her make the batches with her little popcorn machine. It was a fun little unexpected venture. Guess where her popcorn comes from? The United States. I told her I'd be her popcorn broker!
Just so you know that my trip isn't always rainbows and sunshine, yesterday I felt awful! No real explanation, just Ina terribly crappy mood and went home straight after class and locked myself in my little room an spent all day reading this cheesy Nicholas sparks love story that anothe volunteer left behind. I didn't do anything but read and eat Thai popcorn and sit with my crappy mood knowing that I would feel better tomorrow. Kru Oy nimber two came by and. Brought me a tasty dinner Again and some tasty sweet roti treats. It perked me up a little! I discovered a bunch of enya on this iPod a dear friend gave to me. I haven't ever listened to enya, but as I lay drifting off to sleep it was awesome! Oh dear it feels strange admitting that. Okay most boring blog to date but I head off to Cambodia next week and want to keep you up to date!
Well I am sad to announce that my stint at the Anuban Tapraya school is nearing it's end. I have enjoyed being a teacher here so much! It has had it's challenges for sure and tested me in all the ways that I knew it would. Some tests I didn't quite expect but have done my best to face them. This week with Kru Su gone I have been teaching the lower level classes that used to be hers! It is so much more fun! I get to sing the abc's on my ukulele and talk to them with hand puppets, mine is this big stuffed fluffy kitty puppet, named miss kitty. They get to talk back to me with a Garfield puppet, that they love! It's so much easier than the higher grade levels and the hour goes by so fast!
I've taken to arriving at school early I the morning so I can play uke with the kiddos and talk to them a bit. I taught them how to do the hokey pokey. Why did we ever stop doin th hokey pokey? I want someone to remind me to do the hokey pokey more often when I get home! Like patty cake I think it's a game that shouldn't stop being played just because were adults! What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about? That's my deep wise ponderance for all of you out there!
After all, I am a guru! You didn't know? Well, I always said that you don't need to follow a guru that you are the guru! I didn't know how true it was until last week when Kru Thavee told me that the word Kru is actually derived from the Sanskrit word guru! So I am guru miaw! We were having a conversation about how respectful the students are here of the teachers. He said it is because to them they look at teachers as having all the answers. The respect that is displayed by students is awe inspiring, if the student has to approach the teacher, say to have them sign a paper, the student waits on their knees with their head bowed. Students here are so much better behaved than in the states. I love the idea that all teachers are gurus, not just spiritual teachers.
I've been going on bike rides through the countryside. Just chilling I the left side of the road and smiling at everyone who stares as I pass by. I rode a few kilometers to a smaller town near Tapraya, at random I turned down red dusty streets and caught dogs licking the insides of ice cream wrappers, houses on stilts, more chickens and roosters than human beings. I take a back road peddling furiously past electric green rice paddies, past the smelled irrigation channels, until I come to a Thai temple out in the middle of nowhere, the extravagance of it's red and gold spiked roof so appropriately out of place among the brown plowed up fields of powdery earth. I reached a cross roads to turn around and a man speeds by on his motorbike, he turns around to smile at me and I catch a glimpse of 2 fat piggies as clean and shiny as charlottes Wilbur ready for the state fair. They were crammed inside of a bamboo cage and speeding away in a motorbike, it was a sight that struck me and will stick with me. Old ladies sit on raised open air platforms, families gather around street vendors roasting skewers of everything imaginable. I love biking, it's faster than walking but you can still take in your surroundings.
Another reason I love Thailand: I FOUND MANGOSTEEN! Walking through the Sunday market my head picked the fruit out of the craze of abundance spread on the market tables! I filled a bag for about sixty cents! I went home to test them out and are the entire back in one swell foop! So I went back and bought another huge bag! In the states, if I could have found them at all, I would have paid around twenty bucks for them. Here? About two dollars! MANGOSTEEN HEAVEN! Well worth the thousand dollar plane ticket right? I think so!
Sorry I haven't written in a while it's been a pretty mellow week just , teaching and hanging with the students, and doing the routine life stuff.... In Thailand! I did have the Oys swing by the other night and they brought me dinner and took me to Kru berns house to watch her make popcorn. They have this Thai version if kettle corn that is a lot sweeter! It was fun to watch her make the batches with her little popcorn machine. It was a fun little unexpected venture. Guess where her popcorn comes from? The United States. I told her I'd be her popcorn broker!
Just so you know that my trip isn't always rainbows and sunshine, yesterday I felt awful! No real explanation, just Ina terribly crappy mood and went home straight after class and locked myself in my little room an spent all day reading this cheesy Nicholas sparks love story that anothe volunteer left behind. I didn't do anything but read and eat Thai popcorn and sit with my crappy mood knowing that I would feel better tomorrow. Kru Oy nimber two came by and. Brought me a tasty dinner Again and some tasty sweet roti treats. It perked me up a little! I discovered a bunch of enya on this iPod a dear friend gave to me. I haven't ever listened to enya, but as I lay drifting off to sleep it was awesome! Oh dear it feels strange admitting that. Okay most boring blog to date but I head off to Cambodia next week and want to keep you up to date!
Saturday, January 25, 2014
My heart dose go on ... And on!
Nope, it's not one of my usual iPhone auto correct induced typos, I really do hope the dose of love my heart has been receiving goes on and on and on.... So actually it's a bad English translation typo that was on the karaoke machine from last nights session. I thought it was pretty funny, but couldn't explain it to anyone so I chuckled to myself, another favorite from the same song was: you're here, there's nothing, I'm fear. Am I easily amused? Another great one that I forgot to mention was from a menu: pork shop with blown sauce. The last thing I want on my pork shop is blown sauce, let me tell you!
Well as seems to be pretty standard, life in Thailand is incredible! Friday was Kru Su's last day at school, it was bitter sweet. We arrived to school early and I played uke outside for the kiddos, I played my Jessie J, price tag song for them and there were a couple of student who knew it!Su teaches the lower levels, grades one two and three. I joined her for her last two level three classes. We played alphabet games and did some matching, Su handed out pencils as a goodbye present and I helped with the games. During lunch time, Kru us said goodbye to all of the students and she sang them " you are my sunshine" while I backed her up on uke. The students were so sad I see her go an they crowded around her and cried and hugged and asked her if she would come back. I was happy than it wasn't my turn to say good bye though unbelievably it is right around the corner, only ten days left at Anuban school. It will be a busy week and a half because I will take over Kru Su's classes.
After lunch we were invited to Kru Oy number ones classroom. I thought we were just going to watch ramwon(traditional Thai dancing) practice. We arrive and are introduced to Noom, who dresses us in traditional clothes and and proceeds to do our hair and makeup. He puts this yarn donut on my head and starts back combing and hairs praying and gelling and pinning my hair into this , big sleek beehive, bride of Frankenstein up do. The he tops it with a bright shiny gold, crown drizzled with dangling mirrors. Like a little temple just for my head. I have I admit that all of his was quite unexpected and amazing! I had been so curious about the ramwon costumes and secretly wished I could adorn mysel in such a way! Wish granted! Noom was efficient with my hair, and went right along pinning up Su's hair and topping it with a temple as well. Then the makeup, but first, he shaves my eyebrows! Thank god not completely off! I've always been lassaiz faire with my eyebrows, so I was a little worried when he started hacking at them with a straight razor, but he's an expert, and I'm in for the ride so, shave away Noom! Anyhow what could I do? I couldn't remembers Thai phrase for " please don't shave off my eyebrows". He expertly applied all of the makeup, an d another first for me, false eyelashes, equipped with bejeweled bling! I could hardly open my eyes to look in the mirror, and all I could do was laugh at this farang girl all thai'd up, staring back at me. I felt super silly in my get up but everyone insisted: suaui mahk mahk!" Or very very beautidul! Oh did I mention that after I opened my eyes all of my students were there! Ha nothing like sixty kids watching you get dolled up! The ramwon dancers came and surrounded me like bridesmaids and coated me with gold bracelets, armbands, the ear wings, and other shiny gold accoutrements. After Noom completed his " masterpieces" it was time for us to learn ramwon! It was fun, and I tried the best I could! The dancers are so graceful and precise! I felt like a big clomping vulture next to a bunch of sleek swans! They are so absolutely good to us and do their utmost to see that we are having an amazing experience! Which I am! This is definitely the experience of a lifetime! Learning to dance was great, but I enjoyed watching the girls practice their dances. We undressed and my flurry of handmaidens came to undress me and brush out my stifhair, I don't think I've ever been so delicately tended to in all of my life!
Su and I retired to the staff room where we proceeded to have the best Thai dance party ever, we watched Thai pop music videos and tried to copy their dance moves, such a workout! We were I. Hysterics dancing with the other teachers! I made a dancing fool of myself as is typical, just wait until I bring my new skills back to the U.S.! We enjoyed a quiet dinner with Kru Kung and Kru phun, mmm pad pak(fried veggies) and rice! We joked about new " Thai" women, who are independent an never get married and have lots of boyfriends.... Hey, I'm new Thai!
Saturday was our day off and Su's last day in thsiland. We headed to the market and bought ourselves some pineapple. Seriously I'm living on pineapple while I'm here. Anyhoo, we also browsed market stalls am I discovered where I can get fresh codonuts! Or doconuts, which pun is better? We headed to the school to get wifi and Kru Kung and O pull up on a motorbike to tell us we are coming with them to Aran to the rong kleua market. Okay, well there goes our day off, let's adventure! We wait and Kung comes back to fetch us with Her car. We listen to pop music on the way to Aran and I take on the usual sights of motorbikes and sugarcane fields. There's a big traffic jam on the way to the market but we make it and are greeted by three mascots in the street! The market is huge it's something like fifty football fields. Second hand everything, clothes, toys, stuffed animals stacked to the stall rafters, close wrinkled from being packed so right into plastic bags and shipped around from who knows where. Objects burst and spill from bags and shop stalls in every direction. We decide to look for puppets for the children so we paw through mountains of used stuffed animals. In the end we got a stuffed kitty puppet, a Minnie Mouse, a Garfield and a puppy. Giant wedges and stacks of salted dried fish. People wheeling around carts of food and simultaneously cooking it. Ramshackle carts made of logs and held together with anything are piles impossibly high with loot and being pushes and pulled around the market. It seems that these carts could collapse at any moment. And some have, abandoned with the weight of their load crushing them to a halt on the side streets. It is an amazing scene of people warching. Pots pans spoons woks kitchen implements of all shiny metal varieites glint I the hot sun. It's dusty and smells like petrol, everywhere people wear dusk masks. It's overwhelming and I'm happy to tuck into a restaurant for some fried rice with a ridiculous amount of chillies yum!
We head away from Aran and rong kleua and I'll be happy to skip it on my way out to Cambodia in a little over a week, oh yeah I'm going to csmbodia, did I tell you? Well you were bound to find out eventually. More countryside, we are heading to Kru O 'a school. Or so we think, due to the language barrier su and I often are unaware of what plans are acrually being made around us. After an hour of driving we arrive at a breathtaking reservoir with a mountain backdrop. The shore is spotted with thatched roof huts protecting diners at picnic tables from the sun. We are greeted by more teachers who join us at a table by the waters edge. The teaches all gab in Thai. I'm happy to look about over the waters rippling, children play and swim with inner tubes, boys fish from the shore and I smile. It's a supremely relaxing afternoon with a gorgeous setting. We driver more and I watch flooded rice paddies whiz by. At another reservoir I play the uke and watch fishermen paddle to shore. One of the teachers looks at me and says" dream dream dream" and I start singing, I don't know how this sing became so popular in Thailand, but I'm glad I know it.
At sunset they drive us far into the wilderness, trees are thick and covered in vines that explode into thick lilac colored flowers, Kung keeps pointing to them and telling me how much she loves them. The sun is just setting we arrive right on time. The clear water laps the shore and the sun deepens itself into orange. I've never seen a sunset where the sun actually has stripes of color, but this one did, it's beauty so new and appreciated. I sat in awe as I watched it slowly slowly duck it's head behind the mountains leaving us all I the remnants of it's light.
A sleepy dart ride back to Tapraya, and I informed when we arrive that we are having a karaoke party! Oh okay! The Thais surer know how to pack in a full day! The kids are so excited when we pull up and I munch odd snax, coated peanuts weird flavored chips, and just like in America we are all on our cellphones ignoring each other! We karaoke it up! They insist I sing I will survive, by Gloria gaynor. So I. Ibutcher it and you're just to good to be true! I receive someone Thai pop dance lessons . I play the little girls uke ! Ike's are wverywhere! And I retire home , I'm wired on coco cola and so I read my lonely planet, fantasing about my upcoming island adventures! Where shall I go? Any requests/ suggestions? Lovely loves to you all!
Gretchyn
Well as seems to be pretty standard, life in Thailand is incredible! Friday was Kru Su's last day at school, it was bitter sweet. We arrived to school early and I played uke outside for the kiddos, I played my Jessie J, price tag song for them and there were a couple of student who knew it!Su teaches the lower levels, grades one two and three. I joined her for her last two level three classes. We played alphabet games and did some matching, Su handed out pencils as a goodbye present and I helped with the games. During lunch time, Kru us said goodbye to all of the students and she sang them " you are my sunshine" while I backed her up on uke. The students were so sad I see her go an they crowded around her and cried and hugged and asked her if she would come back. I was happy than it wasn't my turn to say good bye though unbelievably it is right around the corner, only ten days left at Anuban school. It will be a busy week and a half because I will take over Kru Su's classes.
After lunch we were invited to Kru Oy number ones classroom. I thought we were just going to watch ramwon(traditional Thai dancing) practice. We arrive and are introduced to Noom, who dresses us in traditional clothes and and proceeds to do our hair and makeup. He puts this yarn donut on my head and starts back combing and hairs praying and gelling and pinning my hair into this , big sleek beehive, bride of Frankenstein up do. The he tops it with a bright shiny gold, crown drizzled with dangling mirrors. Like a little temple just for my head. I have I admit that all of his was quite unexpected and amazing! I had been so curious about the ramwon costumes and secretly wished I could adorn mysel in such a way! Wish granted! Noom was efficient with my hair, and went right along pinning up Su's hair and topping it with a temple as well. Then the makeup, but first, he shaves my eyebrows! Thank god not completely off! I've always been lassaiz faire with my eyebrows, so I was a little worried when he started hacking at them with a straight razor, but he's an expert, and I'm in for the ride so, shave away Noom! Anyhow what could I do? I couldn't remembers Thai phrase for " please don't shave off my eyebrows". He expertly applied all of the makeup, an d another first for me, false eyelashes, equipped with bejeweled bling! I could hardly open my eyes to look in the mirror, and all I could do was laugh at this farang girl all thai'd up, staring back at me. I felt super silly in my get up but everyone insisted: suaui mahk mahk!" Or very very beautidul! Oh did I mention that after I opened my eyes all of my students were there! Ha nothing like sixty kids watching you get dolled up! The ramwon dancers came and surrounded me like bridesmaids and coated me with gold bracelets, armbands, the ear wings, and other shiny gold accoutrements. After Noom completed his " masterpieces" it was time for us to learn ramwon! It was fun, and I tried the best I could! The dancers are so graceful and precise! I felt like a big clomping vulture next to a bunch of sleek swans! They are so absolutely good to us and do their utmost to see that we are having an amazing experience! Which I am! This is definitely the experience of a lifetime! Learning to dance was great, but I enjoyed watching the girls practice their dances. We undressed and my flurry of handmaidens came to undress me and brush out my stifhair, I don't think I've ever been so delicately tended to in all of my life!
Su and I retired to the staff room where we proceeded to have the best Thai dance party ever, we watched Thai pop music videos and tried to copy their dance moves, such a workout! We were I. Hysterics dancing with the other teachers! I made a dancing fool of myself as is typical, just wait until I bring my new skills back to the U.S.! We enjoyed a quiet dinner with Kru Kung and Kru phun, mmm pad pak(fried veggies) and rice! We joked about new " Thai" women, who are independent an never get married and have lots of boyfriends.... Hey, I'm new Thai!
Saturday was our day off and Su's last day in thsiland. We headed to the market and bought ourselves some pineapple. Seriously I'm living on pineapple while I'm here. Anyhoo, we also browsed market stalls am I discovered where I can get fresh codonuts! Or doconuts, which pun is better? We headed to the school to get wifi and Kru Kung and O pull up on a motorbike to tell us we are coming with them to Aran to the rong kleua market. Okay, well there goes our day off, let's adventure! We wait and Kung comes back to fetch us with Her car. We listen to pop music on the way to Aran and I take on the usual sights of motorbikes and sugarcane fields. There's a big traffic jam on the way to the market but we make it and are greeted by three mascots in the street! The market is huge it's something like fifty football fields. Second hand everything, clothes, toys, stuffed animals stacked to the stall rafters, close wrinkled from being packed so right into plastic bags and shipped around from who knows where. Objects burst and spill from bags and shop stalls in every direction. We decide to look for puppets for the children so we paw through mountains of used stuffed animals. In the end we got a stuffed kitty puppet, a Minnie Mouse, a Garfield and a puppy. Giant wedges and stacks of salted dried fish. People wheeling around carts of food and simultaneously cooking it. Ramshackle carts made of logs and held together with anything are piles impossibly high with loot and being pushes and pulled around the market. It seems that these carts could collapse at any moment. And some have, abandoned with the weight of their load crushing them to a halt on the side streets. It is an amazing scene of people warching. Pots pans spoons woks kitchen implements of all shiny metal varieites glint I the hot sun. It's dusty and smells like petrol, everywhere people wear dusk masks. It's overwhelming and I'm happy to tuck into a restaurant for some fried rice with a ridiculous amount of chillies yum!
We head away from Aran and rong kleua and I'll be happy to skip it on my way out to Cambodia in a little over a week, oh yeah I'm going to csmbodia, did I tell you? Well you were bound to find out eventually. More countryside, we are heading to Kru O 'a school. Or so we think, due to the language barrier su and I often are unaware of what plans are acrually being made around us. After an hour of driving we arrive at a breathtaking reservoir with a mountain backdrop. The shore is spotted with thatched roof huts protecting diners at picnic tables from the sun. We are greeted by more teachers who join us at a table by the waters edge. The teaches all gab in Thai. I'm happy to look about over the waters rippling, children play and swim with inner tubes, boys fish from the shore and I smile. It's a supremely relaxing afternoon with a gorgeous setting. We driver more and I watch flooded rice paddies whiz by. At another reservoir I play the uke and watch fishermen paddle to shore. One of the teachers looks at me and says" dream dream dream" and I start singing, I don't know how this sing became so popular in Thailand, but I'm glad I know it.
At sunset they drive us far into the wilderness, trees are thick and covered in vines that explode into thick lilac colored flowers, Kung keeps pointing to them and telling me how much she loves them. The sun is just setting we arrive right on time. The clear water laps the shore and the sun deepens itself into orange. I've never seen a sunset where the sun actually has stripes of color, but this one did, it's beauty so new and appreciated. I sat in awe as I watched it slowly slowly duck it's head behind the mountains leaving us all I the remnants of it's light.
A sleepy dart ride back to Tapraya, and I informed when we arrive that we are having a karaoke party! Oh okay! The Thais surer know how to pack in a full day! The kids are so excited when we pull up and I munch odd snax, coated peanuts weird flavored chips, and just like in America we are all on our cellphones ignoring each other! We karaoke it up! They insist I sing I will survive, by Gloria gaynor. So I. Ibutcher it and you're just to good to be true! I receive someone Thai pop dance lessons . I play the little girls uke ! Ike's are wverywhere! And I retire home , I'm wired on coco cola and so I read my lonely planet, fantasing about my upcoming island adventures! Where shall I go? Any requests/ suggestions? Lovely loves to you all!
Gretchyn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)