The Vegas of Asia

Pattaya. Every time someone in Thailand asks me where I am teaching I saw Chon Buri, with much enthusiasm... after deciphering what I have said with my strange American accent the Thai person almost immediately exclaims "Oh! Near Pattaya!" Having received this reaction on a number of occasions has caused me to ask the obvious question, what is the big deal with Pattaya? I had never heard of it when I was in the States. No one I knew had ever been there. Friends in Thailand had not mentioned it to my knowledge... what then? Then someone told me it is basically the Vegas of Southeastern Thailand. Not so much the luxurious accommodations or the massive labyrinth of casinos but more like the ladies. Prostitutes. And lots of them. Ready to take advantage of? Sink their teeth into? suspecting bachelors and their entourages, sailors coming into the port, or otherwise just dirty Asian, Indian, and white old men. I could not wait to go and check out the scene.

these are ladyboys. aka trannys.

Danielle and I arrived in Pattaya before noon on Saturday morning by a bus that we caught on Sukumvit. Very easy trip only about an hour and a half after we got ahold of the bus. After a nice Thai man helped us navigate the song taews through the city we ended up at our beach, Hat Jomtien, a few kilometers south of Pattaya beach. We put down our stuff, got some much needed breakfast, and headed for the beach (8 metres away from our hostel) where we bummed around the rest of the day. For only 30 baht each we got chairs, an umbrella, and a table. The beach was great although there were A LOT of people trying to sell us stuff. Obviously we were in a much more touristy area than I had been used to traveling to in Thailand. Still everything worked out fine. Eric met us for dinner at the Surf Cafe where we enjoyed club sandwiches and curry and I bought a mickey of Hong Thong (which by the end of the night I had devoured all by myself.. oops) and started off for our wild night in Pattaya!

We started off at a German pub that made their own beer! Very exciting and not at all what I was expecting to find in Pattaya. I tried their wheat beer and drank .4 litres of it out of a very strange glass/contraption which i thankfully did not break! After that we walked around a bit, caught a glimpse of a lady-boy show at an open bar (men dress up as women and sing/perform/wear gowns and have lots of makeup on... it's quite the sight. After that we sent Eric to bed to get some rest for his marathon and Danielle and I headed towards Walking Street. First things first, ping pong show. No, this is not your typical sporting event but instead a show where women perform various acts with their vaginas and inanimate objects. It is named for when they pop ping pong balls out of themselves but at the one we went to they also smoked cigarettes, shot darts, and pulled out ribbons and razor blades. Intense. I was of course an active member of the audience and help up balloons for the girls to shoot darts at. Sorry, no pictures allowed. After we were thoroughly sketched out yet reasonably entertained we went on to more bars/wine/dance clubs. I was getting pretty drunk at this point and definitely did not need the extra shots of tequila that came my way but had a great time none the less.

The rest of the night is a little blurry. There was a stage that I jumped up on, lots of random girls that I danced with, and something about an egg sandwich from 711 at the end of the night. Woo. The next day it was back to the beach for recovery. Hangover recovery 101: do not consume raw oysters from a little salt-water filled baggy on a beach in Thailand from a woman that is missing some fingers. Strangely enough they were pretty delicious and I did not get sick!! FANTASTIC NEWS!! In the afternoon we headed back to Chonburi on a longgg bus ride that made me a little nauseous but overall great weekend and can't wait for the long one coming up in Ko Chang!

The Forang Tourista

I love Bangkok, really, I do, but I have the same problem with Bangkok that I have with New York when I am home... it is an amazing international city with sooo much to do and sooo many things to see and I waste my time going in just to party and see friends. I decided that this weekend in Bangkok was going to be different. Yes, it was Emily's birthday and we planned to go to RCA and go wild BUT I wanted to make this weekend much more about seeing the sights in Bangkok and so that is exactly what I did.

Friday night I took the bus in after school, headed to the Lud D (home away from home.. i actually love that place), then headed to the Landmark Hotel to get Barr Emily and Charlotte to go out to dinner! We went to Witches and got Margaritas and pizza! Yummyyy. Afterwards we went to this random bar with cheaper drinks and got a few beers to start off the night. A few more friends joined so we had a good group by that point and decided to head to Bangkok Beat! Best decision of the night! SOOOO much fun. The had these 2 live singers that were actually really good, sang top 40 stuff, and I would not be disappointed if the guy became my new Thai boyfriend. We partied it up and some other OEGers and had a fantastic little time getting back to Lud D at 4am. I tried not to booze too hard so that I could function in the morning and make it to all of my Bangkok tourist adventures! Success.

7am. too early. back to sleep. 9am. much better. Saturday morning Cortes and I went to Chatuchak Market off the to Mo Chit BTS stop to check out the merchandise. I am fairly sure that it is the largest outdoor market in Bangkok and maybe in Thailand. It is enormous. There is everything from funky little nic nacs to asian inspired furniture to taxidermy, jewelry, and textiles. Insane but so cool. The animal section was really sad. They had bunnies, puppies, kittens, and like random animals like squirrels, eagles, reptiles... you are not allowed to touch the animals or take any photos. The bunnies had on little dresses and the squirrels were on leashes, which was cute, but still upsetting. I think the part that bothered me most though was that they had sooo many animals in like one little cage and NO WATER!!! I don't understand. So we didn't stay in that section for long.

The clothes were pretty cool, decorations looked IKEA-esc but still interesting. I bought a really cool watch that is neon colored and AWESOME. One of my kids was wearing one this past week in class and I was really jealous of it so I was super psyched to find it at the market. We stayed there for a couple of hours but it was very hot under the tin roofs by noon so we got out and I met Katie LA and Lisa at Sala Daeng BTS for a afternoon trip to Chinatown.

Yes, like any great city, Bangkok too has a Chinatown. We arrived on the main road and all of a sudden the whole atmosphere changed; Bangkok went from a modern concrete bustling city to wide streets with red chinese lanterns, scattered bizarro market foods, and very pushy people! As I learned a few years back when I went to China, the Chinese have no reservations about bumping into you at full speed without acknowledging that anything happened. Haha. So we got a lot of 'friendly' bumps as we meandered through the markets and streets of Chinatown. I found a ring that I really liked but when I tried to ask the woman in the shop how much it was in Thai, 'Tow arai ka?', she had no idea what I was talking about. Great. I'm in Thailand with a woman that can't speak Thai or English. The whole notion just really flustered me as a racked my brain for any memory of Mandarin. Useless. I put the ring down and decided to stick with taking pictures.

Exhausted and sweaty (per usual in this sweatbox of a country) we stopped off at a restaurant to grab some dumplings and tea before heading back to the city center of Bangkok. By this time it was 3pm and I wanted to do a little more touring before going back and getting ready for the night but after consulting the others I just decided to go hang out with Barr and Emily at the Landmark hotel where they were staying. That was great to just relax for an hour or so before I made my way back to the Lud D to get ready for Emily's birthday dinner and RCA!

After getting ready to go out Katie LA Joel and I went to the Byoke hotel off of Phaya Thai BTS. It is the tallest building in Bangkok (84 floors) and has a rotating roof on top (and a bar!). We made our way there, slowly, unfortunately, grrr Bangkok traffic! but eventually made it on the late side of sunset and took some pictures before going in to get a drink. It was beautiful and a great chance to see the layout of the city. Bangkok is sooo big, insane. We had to pay 250 bhat each to go up the elevator but it was totally worth it especially since there was a drink included. Next time, we leave at 5 instead of 5:30 to make sure we get the full sunset experience :)

For dinner Saturday night Emily decided that she wanted to celebrate her roots as a Korean so we had Korean barbecue! Very yummy, even though at 640 bhat a head (food and 3 saki bombs later) it was my most expensive meal in Thailand as of yet. Afterwards we headed to our favorite go-wild-have-fun-crazy-time place, RCA. I was MUCH less inebriated than the last time we were there so I felt really good and we finally called it a night at about 3:30. Happy Birthday Emily!!

Before the weekend began I had had great ambitions to go to Chatuchak as well as the floating market (about 2 hrs outside of Bangkok). Definitely made it to Chatuchak, definitely not to floating and that was just fine. I slept in and headed to Lumpini park off of the Sala Daeng BTS for a walk with Katie. We bought some very colorful fish food that looked like puff-shaped fruit loops and rented a duck paddleboat to take on the lake and the fish!

Everything was going just fine until we saw a monitor lizard on the side of the lake. No big deal. We are far enough away. Oh wait, hold on, there is another one coming out of the drain... okay, 2 monitor lizards, cool! We got closer for some pictures then Katie decided we were too close and started to scream. So they get scared and get in the lake. Fannntastic. Now they are probably swimming underneath the paddleboat ready to attack at any minute. Or so it seemed to a couple of clueless Americans screaming about 4-foot lizards. We got over the first 2 lizards, were heading back to the paddle boat dock and passing back underneath the bridge we had gone through when WTF ABOUT 50 GIANT MONITOR LIZARDS UNDER THE BRIDGE!!!! Panic cannot even describe how I felt. I didn't even make a sound I was so scared. I just turned and we peddled as fast as we possibly could under the bridge and back to the dock. Phew, one more day not being lizard lunch! Success.

4th of July festivities in Kalasin

AHHH THAI TRANSPORTATION!! When we went to Samet a few weeks ago the transportation getting there was a nightmare. Well, unfortunately, getting to Kalasin was a similar experience. I had prepared myself for the 7-8 hr overnight bus rides that I would have to be taking to and from the north of Thailand but I did not prepare myself for the horrific 5 hr bus ride to Bangkok from Chonburi, when it usually only takes 1-2 hrs at most. It all started when the security guard at my school insisted that I get a bus that went directly to Mo Chit, the northern bus station in Bangkok, instead of Eckamai (southern bus station where I usually get dropped off because Chonburi is south of Bangkok). So i had to wait about 1/2 hour before such a bus drove by, got on, everyone was crammed in like sardines... there were more people standing in the aisles than there were people in seats. It was insane. Finally it's 6:30... we are in Bangkok somewhere but I have no idea where since we had gotten off Sucumvit 2 hrs prior and I obviously cannot read Thai. BIG problem. I manage to ask the bus driver how long it is until Mo Chit and he informs me it will be another 2 hours! AH! Barr is at the bus station and has already bought me a ticket for the bus at 7:15. I'm not going to make it. I jump off the bus and get into a cab, meanwhile freaking out that this cab may very well cost me my entire month's salary if I have to take it 2 hrs to get to the bus station... especially with Bangkok Friday night rush hour traffic.

Despite my freaking out I make it to Mo Chit at 7:20. 5 Minutes after Barr's bus left for Kalasin. FML. Although the bright side is that the cab driver only charged me 1/2 of what I owed him because he knew i was poor and upset... so nice! Still a wreck of emotions as a gather myself and come to terms with having to take an 8 hr bus ride by myself to a place I have never been... in the dark. Great news. The trip was made a little better and faster by my Thai friend who happened to be sitting next to me. Good times in Thailand on buses. Yikes. Arrived in Kalasin at 3:30am and went to bed to prepare for a fun-filled Saturday!

Inner tubes and chicken. Amazing combination. About 10 of us took a song taew to a dam in Kalasin... basically a big lake... and munched on chicken, beer, spring rolls, and generally played around in the water and on land. Lots of fun. We got back later that afternoon, showered, and dressed for dinner/karaoke with Dena and Reuven's Kalasin Thai teachers! We brought the beer and booze and the Thai teachers handled the food. So amazing. We had whole snakehead fish in a stew, pad thai, papaya salad, mixed stir-fried veggies, and some kind of dried meat and sausage dish. Aroi! Once the booze started flowing we all took turns belting out our favorite pop hits from the 80s, 90s, and even a little Lady Gaga. Afterwards we were chauffeured to the only club in Kalasin, MV, and had a great time despite the annoying DJ and weird drugged out girls on stage that could not dance.

The next day was our nation's most patriotic holiday... the 4th of July! Being in Thailand has made me more patriotic than I ever imagined I would be otherwise so a chance to celebrate America and the fact that the Thai teachers were equally as excited by our attitudes and glee was so cute. This 4th of July was special, obviously we were in Thailand, and Thailand does not have all of the amenities of home so we made to make some improvisations. Instead of Coors Lights, big beefy cheeseburgers, Oscar Mayer hot dogs, fireworks and beach fun we had pork burgers with strange spices, chicken sausage hot dogs, taziki with veggies and lots of fruit! Sort of the same thing! Haha. It was yummy though and so nice of the Thai teacher who let 20 Americans and a few Brits crash her house and use her kitchen for the afternoon.

After an exhausting but very very fun weekend we head back to Bangkok on the overnight bus again, arrive at Mo Chit at 4:15am, get a van to Chonburi at 5, back by 6, motorbike to the apt, shower, and walk to school to start the week! Looking forward to a less travel-filed weekend in Bangkok coming up but Kalasin was totally worth the stress and I will hopefully be back soon!

The Old Capital

Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam... the name of Thailand before it was Thailand... is a small but beautiful has been surrounded by 3 different rivers that create a moat around the main area. Most tourists who visit get around by tuk tuk, a private tour, or if you are me, a bicycle! Sarah Cortes and I arrived in Ayutthaya early Saturday morning by van from Victory Monument in Bangkok after having spent Friday night at the Lub D. The night before at the hostel we had met some really cool girls... one from Scotland and one from Korea... who were a lot of fun and traveling by themselves through Thailand! So brave! Anyway, we got to Ayutthaya Saturday morning, checked out a few less than stellar places to stay (beware of Tony's Place and Ayutthaya hostel)... until we found PU. It was super cute, very colorful, and the girl at the front was very nice and spoke terrific English! Amazing qualities all around. After getting a quick lunch we headed out on our bike adventure around Ayutthaya to explore the temple ruins.

In the 1960s the Burmese invaded Siam and destroyed the temples in Ayutthaya. Although this was a devastating event, the capital was moved to Bangkok where it remains today and Ayutthaya has become an easy get-away from Bangkok since it is only an hour or so north. Thailand has developed exponentially in the last 20 years or so so to imagine that only 50 years ago this little town was the capital is a crazy concept. Unfortunately, they do not have very good maps of Ayutthaya and we only were able to see the first major temple of about 5 or 6 until I got us very very lost. Between the heat, being lost in a foreign place, and the fact that there was the moat that I had to swerve to avoid on a number of occasions I was not in the happiest of places when we finally did get back to the town 3 hours later. Hmph. So disappointed in myself... I'm usually so good at directing!

Lucky for us, we had booked a boat tour to go on that afternoon to get a different perspective of the temples. We boarded a long tail boat at 4pm and were zipped through the rivers to 3 different temples/buddhas. The first was the largest Budda in Thailand. It was golden and gigantic. Really cool. The next was a place that had been used for religious purposes but had been very destroyed in the battles with the Burmese. There was one Buddha in relatively good form but it was knocked over so it was lying down while most of the others were in pieces scattered around the grounds... barely recognizable from the crumbled cement walls that also littered the area. Finally, the boat pulled up to a construction zone and we had to climb up wired rocks to get to the temples. They were beautiful and I got some really good pictures. While getting out of the boat I had stepped into a mud pit instead of the muddy rock. Oops. The long boat captain came with a little cup of water and washed me off though! So nice! Love the Thais.

On our way back to dock we saw kids popping their heads out of the water to get a better look at us, play hide and seek behind lily pads, and we even saw a huge comodo dragon in the water! If I were one of those kids there would be no way that I would ever be in that water knowing that a creature like that lived there. That night we had dinner on the water at this seafood restaurant and tuk tuked our way back to PU! Great somewhat stressed weekend with getting lost but overall awesome and I would totally love to go back sometime WITH a guide to catch the temples by land that I missed!