Thailand: Weekend Excursions

This weekend was very interesting. It was essentially all the time I had to pack in as much sight seeing as possible. Of course, the rushing and unplanning resulted in some pain. Saturday started off a bit slow. I made arrangements to leave with some students at 10:30 to get a massage. I woke up at 4:30 and the wait until 10:30 began to work on me a bit. But, the massage was amazing and it was great to have my student there who lives in Thailand. She was able to tell me what to expect and how to respond to some little oddities.
After the massage I went on my way in search of Khao San Road. Another student mentioned some good things about this place so I thought I would check it out. Sadly, it turned out to be quite horrible. Tourists from around the world behaving badly gave me a glimpse into how the rest of the world must see us. As I stood next to an American college girl wearing extremely short shorts that were turned down at the waist in order to expose the maximum amount of skin, I felt embarrassed. I decided to head to the ferry and take the river down to the Chinatown area instead.

A pleasant surprised popped up on my way to the river. I stumbled upon the National Gallery and a special exhibition of artists' interpretation of Buddhism. I love art museums and especially sculpture so this unplanned encounter was extra special.

In the evening, I joined more people from my class to go to the night market. They had some great stuff and amazing bargains. I am so indecisive though. I left with just a few little trinkets for my neices.

Sunday was an entirely different story. I went to a place called Ayuthaya which was about an hour and a half on the bus. It cost 50 Baht to get there (about $1.50 US) and I was on an air conditioned Greyhound type bus. Once you're there you see amazing ruins from when the Burmese sacked the original capital of Thailand. I also sat with two different ceremonies and saw the large reclining Buddha. All of this was made possible by the sweetest man ever, Pongsak. Pongsak was my Tuk Tuk driver. The minute I got off the bus he came after me with a map. I was a bit turned off at first, but he just seemed nice so I agreed to let him take me around for three hours. This turned out to be the best decision I made. He took me everywhere, bought me bottles of water and even took me down a little residential street where he bought me a bag of fresh pineapple and let me taste his potatoes.

When he took me back to the buses he made sure I got on the right one and sent me off with a smile. His English was limited but he tried to give me little bits of info as we traveled. One funny thing though -- when we arrived at this one monument where there are statues everywhere of roosters (aka cocks), he explained that "we [the Thai people] love cocks".

Do good, get good

One of the students from my class started singing a little magic phrase yesterday, "Tum dee, dae dee". This phrase means, "do good, get good". Apparently in a society where everyone is seeking to make merit it helps to provide this reminder when bargaining for goods at market. However, I couldn't help but think about how it relates to everything. Over the past week I have observed a group of people work incredibly hard, stretch the limits of what they know and all in the service of children. As someone who thinks a lot about teachers and how they function I am left feeling very inspired but the thoughtfulness and effort being put forward by this group of educators. Surely, they have done good and hopefully they will get good.

Day three: Thailand

OK, so my course began today. It was a long day but very exciting. I am most surprised by the wide range of experience my students bring to the table. There are students teaching in Kuwait, India, Pakistan and many other places. In addition, they are an extremely bright group. I definitely am going to have to step up my game in order to make sure they get what they need and stay engaged.

Day Two: Thailand

I arrived in Thailand yesterday. The flight was extremely long (17 hours). Exactly as a friend warned me -- I looked up at the monitor when there was a little over 7 hours to go and thought I might die. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep for a few hours and all was well.
Today is a completely different story. I woke up early this morning ready to adventure out. I practiced a bunch of Thai phrases, mapped out my plan and ordered breakfast. Ah breakfast! I order the "complete Continental Breakfast" - pointed right to it on the menu. I recieved a bowl of cornflakes. Small by my standards. I waited endlessly for my check. Ok fine. I used the Thai phrase for "thank you" quite a bit despite the incorrect order and slow service.
Then, I asked the desk how to get to the river. They explained that was very far and called me a cab to take me to my first destination, Ka Phrat Kao. This was beautiful. After negotiating the cab fare, and borrowing a skirt to cover the three inches of calf that would surely offend the buddha, I took out my camera. Alas, it didn't work. Apparently, I never put batteries in it. So, I took lots of pictures with my phone. Upon leaving I found a store to buy batteries for the rest of the day.
As I left the Grand Palace and traversed the street that ran along it's gate, I met a man who offered advice about where to go next. He circled 4 more Wats on my map and put me in a Tuk Tuk. He told the driver that I would pay 40 Baht for him to take me to all 4 places and then back to Wat Po. For those of you wondering, that's about $1.50. I should have known that there would be a catch given the low price of transportation. The driver insisted on taking me to some shops where the sales pressure was through the roof. When I said I didn't want to shop, he explained that it was for him and not for me. The shops give him vouchers for gasoline when he brings people. And, as I discovered, he doesn't get a voucher if I don't stay long enough.
So, I saw some wonderful temples where there were no tourists. I got to pray alongside Thai people in home temples. I made a friend at the first. We sat on the carpet in front of a great golden buddha and chatted about our children, living in the US and Thailand, and other random topics. I bowed a lot, practiced not allowing my feet to point toward anyone and tried to use Thai phrases as much as possible. I was also bamboozeled into a few purchases and overpaid for one or two things by choice because I sensed the sellers needed the sale more than I needed to hold on to a dollars worth of Baht. I also enjoyed seeing sleeping cats around some of the temples.
And, a simple highlight for me was seeing lotus flowers. I had never seen one in person and was surprised at how sturdy and beautiful they really were. I wished I could grow them at home.
Finally, my feet were aching and blistered from my cheap Target sneakers. I hopped in a cab and gave the address to my hotel. He said he knew where to go but was hopelessly lost. We drove around for what seemed like hours. I watched him miss signs and tried to point them out but to no avail. He finally figured things out. The taxi ride was an adventure. Now, having been running on fuel from one small bowl of corn flakes all day, I am quite hungry. I am a little disappointed that I passed up so much good food today and definitely sad that I just walked right by the massage school. I chickened out at the last minute. Not only am I a little shy about being touched, I was very sweaty by the time I got there.
Well, I have a few more days left to explore.