Welcome to my Thailand Blog!

visitors interested in Thailand: please feel free to review the information I have posted here about living, teaching, and traveling throughout Thailand, from the northern hills of Chiang Mai, to the city life in Bangkok, to the beaches of Phuket, et al. If you have questions, just leave a comment. If I can't give the answer myself, I'll help direct you to the information!


Friends and Family: Please continue to follow my adventures here: http://livinginsidenanjing.blogspot.com/
I miss you all!

Saying Goodbyes

The goodbyes were filled with mixed emotions: excitement for a new beginning but sadness in leaving my friends, co-workers, and students.

Friday was the retirement party for our school director. This was held at our school with a delicious catered meal of different sea food items, including fish stomach soup (not my favorite!) After a week of practice, the foreign teachers went on stage to perform a traditional Thai dance, in traditional Thai costume. The gents- myself and Michael- had to dance while beating a traditional Thai drum. We actually did pretty well. After the dance, the director gave us a “thank you” envelope with about $7 USD (Thai Baht). Then we went and paid respect to some of the ‘big money’ benefactors of the school. One of them pulled out a wad of Baht and gave each of us about $30 USD. From my ‘show biz’ experience in Thailand, watching performances at Holland Beer, I knew it was customary for the audience to tip if they enjoyed the show. This was a pretty good tip by Thai standards so he must have enjoyed our show!

After we changed back into our normal clothes, we made our rounds to say goodbye. We thanked the director again and gave him our retirement present: a pricey bottle of alcohol. Next was our department head, who wished us all good luck. Then we said goodbye to my Thai ‘aunties’ who have been so great to us with their willingness to help and their insistence on buying us lunch throughout the school semester. There were tears in everyone’s eyes L and I promised to stop by again if ever I return to Thailand.

Saying goodbyes at the muay thai gym was the most difficult for me. The trainer, and his three teenage daughters and I had become very close. They speak about as much English as I speak Thai, so our bond was formed through exercise and acting out phrases. Proof that communication can form bonds without spoken words! One of the daughters sent me a message on Facebook, with the help of Google translate, saying: “we think you do not want to go to China. Don’t leave.” They made me pinky promise that I would come back and visit if I return to Thailand. Then the trainer presented me with my new Thai shorts that I had ordered the week before. I asked him to have my name, Thailand, and the name of the gym written in Thai characters sewn into the shorts. I also asked that he choose a good Thai fight nickname for me and he did not disappoint: หมัดพายุไซโคลน  or  H̄mạd phāyu (sounds like: maht-pai-yute), which means “punching cyclone!” How awesome! I put on the shorts and tried them out. Somehow, they made me kick faster and made me look better while I was kicking. These were no ordinary shorts! The trainer gathered all the boxers together and we took one final group picture inside the boxing ring. Then I gave out some hugs, handed out pictures of some boxing memories that I had printed, and waved goodbye. <sigh>

Back in the Benjasub neighborhood, my good friend Num came over to help us move out our store of borrowed furniture. We said goodbye and hugged; his parting well wishes were for me to have “good luck” in China. Luck is a huge part of the Thai culture. I wished him good luck as well.

My last meal with my cooking roommate: a cheesy omelet covered in black bean hummus, with homemade potatoes and gravy, on flatbread, served with coconut-mango smoothies. Scrumptious! In the evening, I headed up to Bangkok for a last meal at my favorite pancake restaurant and hangout: Ethos. Mango and banana pancake, how I love thee. This was with Nick and Kate, two Americans I became friends with at the teacher training in Phuket. Also joining us was my Thai friend Aom, who would be my taxi to the airport the next day. After dinner, we relaxed with an hour Thai massage—I am going to miss those massages!

The next day came quickly, and it was off to the airport again. Bangkok’s airport is quite nice, mostly because they have lots of free sweet treat samples! My plane left in the morning, and touched down in China later that afternoon.

Smile Please

On my second to last day in Thailand, my friends at the private hospital, Ekachai Hospital, scheduled me for a teeth cleaning at the hospital’s dentist office. I’d already experienced Thai health care, so I was curious about Thai dental care. The price was right: only about $23. I arrived early and watched some replays of the recent tennis match between Federer and Djokovic. I think my dad could beat them both!

I sat down in the dentist chair and they covered my face with a thick paper towel that had a square section cut out for my mouth. No sunglasses to protect against the bright light shining down, they just give you a towel. The dentist lady spoke great English, but she didn’t use it very often. There is no small talk in a Thai dentist office, at least for the foreigners. That was nice. I’m used to struggling to maintain a conversation with my mouth open when the American dentists ask a bunch of questions!

All the dentist really said to me was: “do you have any problems with your teeth?...Raise your left hand if you feel pain…ok this part will hurt a bit more…” and “you need to floss more.”

She did a great job and I left with a more beautiful smile than before. My teeth felt and looked clean. The entire procedure was no different than what I could have in America, except that they did not waste my time or my money on the mouth xrays. American dentists want me to do xrays every time I even look at a dentist office, but I really don’t enjoy biting the weird tooth pillow and smiling for the camera, and it can’t be necessary every time, two or three times a year, right? Plus, it adds expense to the visit. Sometimes in America, I request not to have xrays done. Well in Thailand, I didn’t have to ask!

I would recommend any travelers / expats / medical tourists in Thailand to feel comfortable and to trust in visiting the Thai dentists, especially those at private hospitals!

Avatar

What a fun-filled adventure weekend spent in Chiang Mai!

Chiang Mai is the largest northern city in Thailand, near the borders of Laos and Burma. The area is well-known for it’s incredible jungle landscapes. I spent the entire weekend feeling like I was in the movie, Avatar. The feeling came not just from being surrounded by never-ending stretches of jungle, but also the feeling of having an out of body experience. I almost could not believe this was my life. It had to be a dream! Take a look at this picture and you’ll be able to feel what I felt. This picture says it all:

High-flying adventures were the order of the day at Jungle Flight. Situated in the jungle mountains, this adult playground spans 34 platforms and covers a large chunk of land. The longest zip line was 130m (about 430ft). The “divine trees” as they are called, were each an average of 150 years old and 100m tall.

I also learned a new English word: abseil. Abseiling is when you sit back in your harness, the rope secured to the line above, but instead of zip lining across from platform to platform, you are dropped directly beneath you to a lower platform. To use in a sentence: The trip ended with a 40m drop that we had to abseil (see picture).

The guides and zip wire crew were like monkeys in the way they would quickly connect to the zip line, leap, and slide across to the next platform. Then as one crew member prepared us for our zip ride, the others were already zipping off again to get the next station ready. Sometimes they would hang upside down as they zipped across; they were really entertaining.

The Thais (and maybe Asia?) have a weird thing with hair in communal places. When I went to a water park, everyone had to rent and wear a swim cap. Then at the zip line, they first made each of us put on a hospital-style hair net before putting on the helmets.

The scenery here was amazing. Dense, lush jungle set against a mountain backdrop. Tall trees, soft bird calls, occasional sounds of water bubbling in the creek; the entire area oozed adventure and relaxation at the same time.

The elevation of 1000m above sea level is impressive for Thailand, but weak by Colorado standards. The higher elevation and being in the northern part of Thailand also contributed to a little cooler climate, a nice respite from the constant heat.

Joining me on the adventure was a nice Kiwi (New Zealander) and a group of Chinese young adults from Shanghai. The Kiwi and I swapped travel tales like a couple of old hands. I told the Chinese that I would be moving to Nanjing, and they happily invited me to Shanghai to have dinner. We exchanged our contact info and I will take them up on the offer! Shanghai is about 1 and ½ hours away from Nanjing by bullet train, according to my new Chinese friends.

The next day I went on an all-day trek with a nice couple from Spain (got to practice my rusty old Spanish skills!). The trek involved hiking, elephant riding, more hiking, swimming in a waterfall, lunch, a visit to an orchid farm, and white-water rafting.

I hiked in my reasonably expensive Gander Mountain hiking boots (this pair of boots, by the way, has touched mud in the rainforests of Brazil, has strolled the streets of Melbourne, Paris, and Copenhagen, and has climbed mountains in Colorado and Norway!).

The Thai tour guide, on the other hand, did the entire hike in flip-flops! This was over slippery rocks, through mud, etc., and I was the only one who fell into the stream to get my boots wet. The guide didn’t so much as stumble!

Elephant-ride: what a trip! As you might imagine, this part of the adventure was unlike anything I’ve experienced. Horse-back riding doesn’t come close. For one, horses are much faster. But the view on an elephant, and feeling like an insignificant weight on the large animal…very different. At times, I wondered if the elephant even knew I was sitting on its back! The Spaniards elephant was very hungry and kept munching on any nearby leaves it could get its trunk on.

What can I say about white-water rafting? I’ll tell you this much: driving through the jungle is fun, but rafting through the jungle is even more fun! I think it helps that the raft is open air and there is no ceiling, whereas in the van or truck, driving through the jungle, the view is limited to what can be seen out the windows. This part of the trip was very wet! The Spanish couple admitted that this would be their first time rafting. Made me a bit nervous, but they did ok and said they had lots of fun getting tossed around by the dips and twists of the river current. Our Thai guide for the rafting portion was funny and kept warning us to beware of crocodiles (we knew there were no crocodiles!).

I was pretty lucky that it did not rain during my adventure on either day. Right as we finished the last activity, rafting, the rain finally came. Our guide carefully drove the truck back out of the jungle. On the way, we passed two tourist charter vans stuck on a dirt hill that had turned to mud! The Thai tour team waved down my tour guides, who jumped out to help push. Being a good Boy Scout, I also came down and started moving the van with them, pushing up the hill. The Spaniard even joined in and we finally got both vehicles up the hill and the tires spinning on solid ground again. The Spanish girlfriend was watching the whole time and got pretty fired up when we came back to the truck. She complained, and rightly so, that both vans were full of tourists! None of the tourists who were actually "stuck in the mud," got out to help push, even after seeing the obvious American and Spanish tourists do so. And the tourists didn't bother to get out and watch the effort either, because if they at least got out, the van would have been much lighter to push! She had a good point! We laughed it off and were content to know we had rescued the lazy tourists.

This was a great weekend and the perfect end to nearly five months in Thailand. The jungles of Chiang Mai will be well maintained in my memories! Next stop, Nanjing, China!

Don't burn my eyebrows!

I've eaten at a few Thai BBQ buffets, and would have to credit Best Beef buffet (near BTS On Nut station) as being the best. These eateries are a bit different than what Americans consider a buffet.

Similarity: They are all you can eat.

Difference #1: Some places (Best Beef) will weigh and charge you per 100g weight of leftovers that you do not eat. I also noticed this policy at Hot Pot restaurant. I always finish my food anyway, but especially at these places. Maybe this would be a good policy to be adopted in America- though I'm not sure whether it would encourage or discourage over-eating (already a problem!)

Difference #2: Diners cook all the food themselves. For the bbq buffets, a clay pot, filled with hot coals, is brought right out to each table. Then a hot skillet is placed above and diners add meat, and butter, to cook u the food. Unfortunately, the position of the skillet is usually right at face level. And unfortunately, this leads to some occasional, painful splatters of hot grease! I had both eyebrows singed over my last meal!

Difference #3: Time limits. Some places (Best Beef, and a Japanese buffet, Shabushi) say, "it's all you can eat, for two hours." After two hours, it's time for you to pay and go look for dessert! Maybe another good policy to adopt in America.

Pillow Talk

My roommate asked me, “how’d you sleep man?” My response, “better. Actually, much better.” What was different? It’s all thanks to a wonderful new pillow I’ve been ‘resting my troubles’ on called the One Hundred Year Pillow. I discovered the miracle pillow when shopping at Central Plaza Rama Two, the large mall near my city. I read about it and the interesting, age old science behind the pillow, and had to have it.

When living in another country, far from the comforts of home and nowhere near my good ol’ tempurpedic mattress, it is very important to take advantage of comforts where I find them. And until now, the comforts provided by my cheap, Big C Supermarket pillow and floor mattress are just that, cheap. Well, I decided to spend the money to improve my bedroom comforts and it was so worth it! We spend about 1/3 of every day in bed, so we ought to be happy when we’re there!

The pillow is not filled with cotton but “buckwheat hulls” or “soba gara” which has been scientifically shown to be better for neck support. These husks allow air flow to pass much more smoothly through the pillow and between it and your body, so that the pillow stays a comfortable temperature and does not develop “hot spots” like my old pillow used to. The Japanese are credited with the discovery of these materials being a great sleep aide. The pillow has been sleep tested in the Orient for hundreds of years.

The company’s motto is: Cool head, warm feet, deep sleep. The pillow has given me just that: a much deeper sleep, letting me wake up more refreshed every morning! I recommend this pillow to anyone living abroad and, for that matter, living at home. Since it’s designed to last for many, many years (ok, not 100 years, but at least 10 years) I will be taking this pillow back to the states when I return!

For more info about the pillow, check out this website

Adventures in Cheese

Homemade dairy products can be a lot of fun (and tasty) as well as provide for some interesting learning experiences. Take for instance, this page from one of my chapters in living in Thailand. My roomie, Michael, and I stand over the results from my latest batch of homemade yogurt, which has yielded something quite unexpected.

“What is it dude?” He asks.

“I dunno. Smell it.” I respond.

“Smells ok.”

“Yea, smells ok.”

“I dunno. It could be the start of some really awesome cheese or some really funky yogurt.”

“I guess we should taste it.”

“Ok, you first.”
(tasting)

“Tastes like cheese. Here.”

(tasting)

“That’s some pretty good cheese. It tastes like it’d be really good on pasta.”

Now, I should explain that these are Mongolian-style dairy products. Michael had spent a month living and learning on a dairy farm in Mongolia, and he taught me all he knows about making homemade yogurt and cheese, etc. Well, in Mongolia, they don’t have refrigerators and they don’t have the same appreciation for the appearance / presentation of food as we Westerners do. I’m sure the process of making Western dairy is quite different than what we do in our Thai kitchen. So be forewarned, the pictures you are about to view aren’t as appealing as a nice, tasty block of European cheese.

I should also explain that I go to great lengths to find and buy only organic dairy in Thailand. There is only one brand available, and it is quite good. So I can proudly say that the cheese I make is organic cheese!

So since my pictures of cheese may not be all that appealing or appetizing, then feast your eyes on this! Here is another creation from my Thai kitchen: stuffed french toast. Since maple syrup is hard to come by, I've had to resort to other options to french up my toast.

Option #1: blueberry yogurt, slices of banana, and drizzle with honey (banana not pictured - the photographer was hungry!)

Option #2: Gourmet raspberry jelly, topped with a handful of chocolate chips

I'll open the discussion board to my readers now: what looks and sounds more delicious? Blueberry/banana french toast or chocolate raspberry french toast? Think about it, and I invite you to try the recipes at home!