Life's a Beach: Part 1

There was a national holiday here in Thailand a few weeks ago.  It was in celebration of Buddha.  The holiday is on Tuesday so many of the schools are closed Monday as well, making it a 4-day weekend.  You gotta love 4-day weekends. 

It had been 7 weeks and I had not seen a beach.  Thailand is well known for it's white-sand beaches and clear blue water, especially in the South.  And while I didn't have the time to venture so far, I got just what I was looking for: FUN IN THE SUN. 

The beach town is called Hua Hin.  It's about 3 hours south of Bangkok.  It's is a beautiful beach.  The sand is so fine that when you walk in it you can hear it squeak.  It is a popular tourist destination so you see a lot of foreigners and beach resorts. 

I went with the two other foreign teachers of our program, Tyler and Amanda.  Amanda arrived on Saturday night and found a place for us to stay.  Tyler and I took a van on Sunday evening, after my last class. 

Meeting up with Amanda that evening was quite the task.  When we entered the town of Hua Hin, Tyler and I ended up getting out of the van prematurely.  We thought we got to our final stop, but we soon found that wasn't the case. 

A misguided motorcycle taxi and a tuk tuk ride later, spending over 200 Baht to go 5 kilometers, we finally reached Amanda.  It took about another hour to find her from when we first arrived. 

This is me in the tuk tuk trying to "figure things out."  You can get a little flavor of the night life passing by.  Boy was I confused!

Finally, we found her.  She was accompanied by 2 other young Americans.  It was great to meet them.  I always love meeting Americans in Thailand.  There aren't many.  Most foreigners are from the UK, Europe, Australia or South Africa.  

These guys were so cool.  They were a couple from New York that had been traveling all over Southeast Asia doing charity work.  They worked at an elephant sanctuary for a month and did a whole bunch of other cool stuff in Cambodia and Vietnam.  

We hung out with them all night.  Hua Hin has a big night market with tons of great food, smoothies and things to buy.  We shopped, ate and shared our traveling stories.  Then Amanda informed us that the Swedish national hockey team was playing Finland for the international hockey world cup.  The only catch was the game started at 1am!  And yes, we stayed up until 4am watching it.  Sweden got crushed 2-6 by Finland.  Oh well. 

A shot of part of the night market. 

The next morning was beach day.  The American couple came with us.  We had breakfast and played a little pool near the beach.  The Thai waitress was so surprised to see young foreigners she asked to take our picture.  And she was right.  I only saw one other group of young foreigners the entire trip in Hua Hin. 

This is us. 

From left to right, that's Mike, Jess, Amanda, Tyler Capp (or Tyler 1) and me.  Good times. 

On our way to the beach. 

It was a beautiful day.  The water was very warm and the sun was right on us.  Despite what I thought was enough sunscreen, I went home quite burned on my chest.  I guess I missed a pretty obvious spot...

Laying in the sand, we had a woman approach us.  She asked if we wanted pedicures.  Seeing that there's a first for everything -- and the day was perfect -- I just had too.

And boy, did she do a great job!  My toes have never looked so good -- no joke!  For the rest of the trip, I would double-take every time I saw my own toes.  It was hilarious.

Then I went running.  I was originally going to join Tyler and Amanda in the water but it felt so good to run.  I just kept going.  I must have ran 2 or 3 kilometers.  Very liberating.

Shortly after, Tyler had the great idea to bury me in the sand.  He and Amanda were originally attempting to make me look like a mermaid (including the breasts) but I turned out looking more like a very feminine whale.

The final touches...

Completion. 

I'm going to leave it at that for now.  The next post will be Part II and will cover our escapades that evening and the following day before heading back. 

Thanks for reading ya'll.  Hope to see ya back here next week!

A Place to Call Home

It's the one in the middle.  It's a two-story, two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse with a gated garage area and A/C!  Yay A/C!  My rent is 5,000 Baht a month, which is the equivalent of about $162 USD.  Not bad.

The program I teach with comes under the name Learning Space.  Learning Space has it's own building but can also deliver the program in other locations.  Several months ago, a school about 40 minutes out of Bangkok wanted to implement the program.  The school is called Samchaiwataedsuksa (trying saying that 5 times fast), or Sam-chai for short.  The school is located in a city and province of Thailand called Samut Sakhon.

It was decided about 7 weeks ago that I would teach the Learning Space program at Sam-chai with the other Teacher Tyler.  He is called Teacher Tyler 1 and I am Teacher Tyler 2.  It's only fair; he was here first.  We each have our own classrooms and teach from 8:00am to 4:30pm.  It's more than a lot of work and requires it's own blog to explain everything.

Inside the the little gated community I live in.

I moved here about 4 weeks ago.  Because of it's distance there are not a lot of major amenities like a gym, full shopping mall, movie theater that plays films in English, etc.  What Samut Sakhon does have however is real Thai culture.

There's a large floating market in the province.  There's a big night market a short scooter ride away.  There's elephants that walk the streets at night.  There's wild monkeys just 5 minutes from my house.  There's large, open farmland with authentic Thai agriculture: rice, fish, etc.  There's even a hip dance club right around the corner.

Here are some shots of a beautiful river that runs through the town.  They have benches that line the river where you can sit and breath the open air.  It's very tranquil and relaxing.

Here are some videos of the young elephant ("Chaang" in Thai) that came walking through the night market last week.  Some friends and I were just sitting down eating our pad thai and he and his owner came walking through.  It was fantastic!

Check it out!  He started spitting on me!

After school today I went down the street to buy some bananas and eggs.  Right along the road next to the railroad tracks is a group of wild monkeys.  The people around here go there and give them fruit.

It's great to watch.  They're almost always there doing their thing.  This is something you simply cannot get in America, not to mention 5 minutes from your house!!

What's really cool is that there are practically NO OTHER falangs (white foreigners) in this town.  In fact, I went 5 days out here before I saw another white person.  The locals are absolutely fascinated when they see me.  I go to the night market and constantly find people looking at me.

It takes some getting used to.  And if I start speaking Thai with them, which I have found myself very quickly learning, they go crazy.  I'll start talking to one person in Thai and 5 others (not joking) will stand around the conversation and join in.  They smile, laugh, ask me all these questions in Thai.  It's great.

There is definitely much more to blog about in regards this town.  I have just scratched the surface with the activities and things to see around here.

My next blog is already cooking so be ready!!

A Little Bit of Bangkok

Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

I've been quite busy working since I arrived in Thailand.  It hadn't even been 72 hours and I was in the classrooms teaching.  The schools I work at are 30 and 40 minutes outside of downtown Bangkok.  So if I'm going to Bangkok, I need to make a full-day trip of it to really get around.

So what does a foreigner in Thailand do?  He makes friends with the natives and gets a proper tour.  Born and raised around Bangkok, my friend Byfern said she would show me around some of the important spots in the city.

Our first stop was The Grand Palace or Wat Phra Kaew as it's called in Thai.  But first we had to take a boat ride down the main river that runs through Bangkok. There are several temples lining the river.

Cramped on the boat ride.

Wat Arun.

The Grand Palace is numerous city blocks of temples, statues, decorative walls and other things.  It is surrounded by a massive white wall.  

It is easy to spend hours and hours walking around.  The detail to these buildings and monuments is amazing.  You really get a sense of Thailand's heritage, religion and culture when you walk this astonishing attraction.  

Just before entering...

Now inside the walls.

Byfern taking some pictures.

Me hanging out with some of the ogres.

Another very large ogre statue.

More shots within Wat Phra Kaew. 

Absolutely breathtaking, right?

Then it was off to a place called The Golden Mount, which was about a 15 minute bus ride away -- a free bus ride to boot!

You climb tons of stairs to the top of this hill where you can see all of Bangkok.  At the top, people pray, buy souvenirs and do other things.  They have all these bells and gongs you can ring on the way up and coming down.  It was pretty cool. 

I even ran into this little guy at the top.  It was incredibly hot that day so he was really panting.  What a trooper -- he climbed all that way!  

 A shot of Bangkok from the top on a hot summer's day.

And then on the way down, we ran into this beautiful swan just standing by the stairs.  He had such a personality.

After Golden Mount we hopped in a tuk tuk and drove to the Jim Thompson House.  Tuk tuks are a kind of 3-wheeled vehicle unique to Thailand.  

A shot from the back of our tuk tuk. 

Jim Thompson was an American businessman that helped revitalize the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 60s.  He built a large traditional Thai house back in the day that sits right smack in the middle of modern Bangkok.  The house is gorgeous.  The tour we went on explains many of the house's features: why they were built that way, what they mean, etc, etc. 

Sadly, I have no pictures inside the house.  Photography was not allowed.  Here's a shot of me outside next to some bird of paradise. 

If you ever come to Bangkok, I highly recommend visiting the Jim Thompson House. 

And I badeee, I badeee, badeee... that's ALL folks!  There is so much more to see and do in Bangkok.  We really just scratched the surface.  I will definitely be making many more trips to soak it all in. 

Here are some last photos from the day I think you'll like. 

A model from a cool art expo we briefly visited.  How cool is that?!

Me standing next to a Grand Palace guard.  I made this guy crack a smile just after the photo.  Hahaaaaa!

Another ogre statute.

Thanks for reading!  

Cruzin' on the New Motorcy!

How am I supposed to get around Thailand?  Bus?  Forget it.  That takes way too long and sometimes no A/C.  Taxi?  That can get expensive.  The best solution...?

MOTORCYYYY baby!  "Motorcy" means motorcycle or scooter in Thai.  It's one of my favorite words.  That and "Kay Ya", which means trash (sounds like a ninja chop). 

I bought this guy a few weeks ago.  It's a Honda Click; the newest model, fresh off the floor.  Scooters are very popular here.  It really is the best way to get around.  It's cheap, fun, you get good gas mileage and you can weave through traffic like nobody's business.  BUT... you've got to buy it "straight cash" like my boy Randy Moss:

This bike was 45,000 Baht, which is the equivalent of about $1,500 USD.  I checked multiple dealerships and each charged exorbitant interest if you finance a motorcycle.  Had I financed for a year, I would have paid an extra 15,000 Baht.  Crazy.

Anyway, I definitely got a deal and I am very happy with it.  It can hit 100 kmh, has great handling and looks pretty cool.

So your next curious question must be, "Gee Tyler, do you have a driver's license?"  And quite astutely I reply, "But of course."  And while you're asking, I also got my car driver's license.  Here they are:

All this leads to a whole other can o' worms: getting the driver's license.  Quite the experience.

There are a few steps I had to take.  First, I had to get a Letter of Residency from the U.S. Embassy.  That was easy.  Then it was off to a clinic to get a doctor's report that I was in good health.  That too was easy.  Then it was off to the Department of Land Transport, as its called in Thailand.

Kayne drove me and helped me through the first steps as he is fluent in Thai.  It was recommended I take both car and motorcycle tests.  The car test was easy.  You do three fast tests for depth perception, sight and color.  Because I had an American driver's license that's all that was needed.

A motorcycle license is a little different.  You need to take a written test and a road test.  I studied for about 45 minutes for the written test.  It's electronic and very poorly translated in English.  That made things a little challenging, but I passed.  I was then routed to the road test area outside where I watched a video and was told to hop on one of their scooters.  You have to wind through 5 cones and then drive on a raised concrete strip for about 20 meters without falling off.

As I started weaving through the cones I heard my tires rubbing against the pavement.  They were completely flat!  I was having the hardest time weaving through the cones.  When I approached the concrete strip I could barely get on it!  I fell off almost right away.

I went to the window and the guy said I flunked the test.  I said my tires were flat.  How am I supposed to drive properly when my tires are flat?!  It didn't matter.  They gave me a slip and told me to come back the following week. 

And so I did -- and with my own scooter!  I of course passed and everything was fine.  But man, come on!  Flat tires!  That ain't playing fair, ya know?

Now on to driving the motorcyyy!  Firstly, they drive on the left side here.  That takes some getting used to.  I pulled out of the school a few weeks ago and started driving on the right side -- OOPS!  That was a little embarrassing.

Secondly, traffic in populated areas like Bangkok or even the suburbs can be horrendous.  But when the traffic IS moving, it's an all-out, anything goes affair, especially with scooters.  They're weaving in and out of lanes, driving on sidewalks, cutting in front of cars -- if it's physically possible, they're doing it.  In fact, this subject deserves an entire blog post.  Give me a few weeks. 

Here's a little video snippet the other Teacher Tyler took when he was on the back of my scooter.  This is us leaving the village Kayne's house is in.  There is a guard booth right at the entrance.  Part of their job is to say "Krab" and salute you when you come and go.  It's they're way of being polite and showing respect.

What's hilarious however is that the other Tyler a few months ago started saluting them back.  Amanda and I do it now too.  It puts a smile on their faces every time.  Now this specific time, the guard must have seen that we were filming so it behooved him to make his "Krab" especially loud.  It's right at the end of the video.  I crack up every time I see it.

That's all folks.  Happy driving!