Living it up in Pattaya

On my return from Ko Samet, a laid back island paradise a few hours outside of Bangkok, I met a lovely group of folks on a boat ride back to the mainland. Ashley, China, and Max, three American students on vacation from their Chinese studies in Taipei and their friends Amy and Marc, resident Thai ex-pats. We got to talking a bit and they offered to give me a ride part of the way to Bangkok...which turned into eating an incredible Thai dinner together...which turned into one of the most memorable nights of my trip.
So, it turns out that Marc, originally from Switzerland, is the son of a man who owns about a quarter of the planet's toothpaste tube market. Considering how many people use toothpaste, you can imagine he's doing quite well for himself. We arrive at the house, or should I say estate, in a gated neighborhood of Pattaya. It is by far the largest single residence I've ever been in, complete with a massive swimming pool, private beach, bowling alley, music studio, and an incredible view of the Gulf of Thailand. We indulge in the comforts of the home... Max and I jump off a three story tall turret into the pool, Marc and I jam a bit in the music studio (of course there is an unused trumpet lying around), and Ashley kicks my butt in a game of bowling.
The six of us eventually decide to leave the house and hit the town. Marc and Ashley show us around the crowded, brightly lit city streets teeming with tourists from across the globe and locals trying to profit from them. We checked out a few of the bars and a nightclub, and walked the streets of one of the largest red-light districts in the world. Thailand is full of prostitutes and they are generally not looked down upon as in other cultures. Most Thais have the attitude that the down and out gotta do what they gotta do to get by. However, it was a little disconcerting seeing young kids in that environment peddling roses and things to foreign sex tourists at one in the morning.
We eventually head back to the house and crash, each of us in our own private guest room (quite a change from the $5/night bungalow with no plumbing that I stayed in the night before). The next morning I had to catch a bus back to Bangkok to meet a friend at the airport. Having woken up late, we gulped down some freshly made carrot juice that one of the maids had made us and dashed off to the bus station. Marc, Amy, Ashley, Max, China, and I said our goodbyes and I headed out of Pattaya on a hot and crowded bus.

I sat next to a cynical older fellow with a thick German accent. He had lived in Thailand for more than ten years and was working as a journalist for an Australian travel television channel. Gazing out the window at the Thai countryside, I could see countless ponds with little turbans spinning in each one. My neighbor explained to me that much of the world's shrimp are farmed in these ponds, then shipped to Africa to be shelled and cleaned (because labor costs are slightly less than Thailand), and finally shipped to markets in America, Europe, or East Asia to be sold and consumed. It seems crazily inefficient how great a distance shrimp travels to finally end up someone's dinner plate.
Our conversation eventually turned to the insane political situation in Thailand. My neighbor warned me that I may not be able to leave the country when I planned to due to a massive demonstration that was to take place and potentially shut down the airport (as has happened in the past). In 2006, the Thai military staged a coup, ousting prime minister Thaksin and other government leaders. Common Thai people generally supported Thaksin's government and have been up in arms about the government takeover ever since. The former prime minister was put on trial for corruption and nepotism. It was recently ruled that he would be stripped of nearly half his family's $2.3 billion fortune. Fortunately the ruling came just a few days after I left Thailand and the demonstrations have just recently begun. The German told me that the king of Thailand, whom everybody adores, is currently maintaining relative stability in the country. However, King Rama IX is well into his 80s and when he is gone, a military dictatorship similar to that of neighboring Myanmar could be a real possibility for the future of the country.

A day in Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand

Ready to get out of the abyss of foreigners on Kaosan Rd, I threw myself on a bus destined for Ayuthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand. In a swealtering 34 degrees C, I joined a Russian economist on a Tuk Tuk and we were shuttled around the various historical ruins of interest. The most impressive was Wat Chaiwatthanaram, an ancient Buddhist monastery built during the early 17th century. Sergey, the Russian, and I climbed the steep, crumbling steps to the top of the largest structure where we were met by a tall ceiling full of nesting bats that hovered over a shrine. From the top we could see the remnants of the ancient city with temple structures poking up in various places along a vast stretch of land. I think the charm of Ayuthaya is imagining what it must have been like in its heyday, with sparkling gold temples and elephants roaming the streets.

We headed back to our tuk tuk to finish up our brief two hour tour of the city. The driver took us to see a massive reclining Buddha figure. I think I may have been as tall as its hand. Our final stop was Wat Maha That, the most sacred royal temple of Ayuthaya. The most interesting attraction here was a sandstone Buddha head that had somehow become engulfed in the trunk of a large tree, appearing to be a part of the tree itself.

By this time I was getting rather famished, so I decided to head back to the parking lot where there were several food vendors. I decided to purchase what appeared to be a couple of chicken skewers covered in Thai spices. The meat tasted a little strange and after a few bites I decided that it was definitely not chicken. Afraid that I had been eating some kind of household pet, I decided to toss the remainder of my snack. I walked back to my tuk tuk and was approached by one of the taxi drivers waiting in the parking lot. He was trying to tell me something in Thai and began laughing. I finally got what he was trying to communicate after he grabbed his crotch and pointed at the cart where I had purchased the mystery meat. I'm pretty sure I had been eating the testicles of some unfortunate, unknown creature.

Our tour had finished and we were taken to the train station to head back to Bangkok. The platform was crowded with a melange of characters: European and American tourists, Thai monks in bright orange robes, scraggly dogs, and a woman whose face I don't think I will soon forget. The top of her face was wrapped in a scarf; below the scarf she looked like some kind of mangled mummy due to her missing lips, missing nose, and disfigured skin. She looked similar to photos I've seen of Afghan girls whose faces were burnt with acid by the Taliban as punishment for attending school.

With Chang beer in hand, we boarded the noisy, old, rickety train and made our way back to Bangkok. Most of the large windows were down, so the wind provided some relief to the hot, sticky sun that had been beeming down all day. The ride showed a side of Thailand that I had never seen before. We passed by burning fields, factories, and impoverished neighborhoods built along the bank of a canal that paralleled the train tracks. Many of the houses were built on stilts over the rancid looking water. Most were patched together with various pieces of corrugated metal, wooden boards, and sometimes coca-cola signs. Many looked as if they could collapse into the water at any moment. I thought of what it must be like for a kid to grow up in such a place, surrounded by water born disease, leaky roofs, and endless mosquitos.

After a couple of hours, we arrived at the station in Bangkok. Sergey and I exchanged email addresses and he invited me to travel to Cambodia with him in his rental car. He was a nice enough guy, but I didn't really want to spend countless hours traveling with a guy who had been staying in Pattaya, a city with more go-go bars than other place on the planet, for the past three weeks. Besides, I had already bought my bus ticket for Siem Reap that would leave Bangkok the next morning. I headed back to my guest house and tried to sleep through the loud band that was playing in a bar next door. More adventures ahead!

Seoraksan National Park and Sokcho beach

I spent the weekend on the east coast of Korea with three of my co-workers. We went hiking in Seoraksan, a picturesque mountainous national park and stayed a night in Sokcho, a quiet touristy beach town. The weather was actually quite nice for once and it was wonderful to breath cleaner air. It's really nice to get out of the city and explore some new areas of the country. Sokcho has a much older feel than where I live. There are many more quaint, individual, traditional style houses and the pace of life is slower and more relaxed. It's off season for tourism right now, so there were very few people around, but I got the feeling that in the summer the beach and town are crowded with loads of tourists from Seoul and beyond. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Here are a few pictures of my Christmas weekend at Sanjung Lake in central Korea. Seven teachers at my school stayed in this lovely cabin in the woods for a couple nights. It was so great to get away from tall buildings and chill out at this beautiful spot. It was definitely not Christmas as usual, but I think we made the best of it.

Here is the address of my school in case anyone happens to feel like sending me something:

6F Vision Plaza,975-2, Hwajeong-Dong, Duckyang-Gu, Goyang-shi, KyeongGi Do, South Korea412-270

We went on a picnic today with the three kindergarten classes at my school. It was at a national park that is home to the tombs of several Korean princes and other important people. For the majority of the field trip, the P.E. teacher had the kids do all sorts of excercises on a grassy area below the tomb of prince Munhyo. The rest of us mostly just hung out and were entertained by the kids doing stretches with multi-colored elastic ropes, playing a chaotic version of flag football, and throwing giant bouncy balls at each other in a game of dodgeball. Our boss then had all the teachers play relay races as our students cheered us on. I think it was mostly for the opportunity to take lots of pictures of us looking rediculous to send to the kids' parents. It was really nice to hang out in a park on actual grass, surrounded by trees, and open spaces. I think the kids had a blast. When they're at school they rarely have the opportunity to play outside in the fresh air, something kids in West take for granted I think.
The rest of the day I only had to actually teach 2 classes because the students in the rest of my classes took tests. I've been a bit under the weather recently so I was glad it was an easy day.

The view of the harbor from my hotel room in Sanya.

Temple at Nanshan Park, Hainan Island, China

The Chinese win for most enthusiastic and crazy nightclub dancing in the world.

The lovely view of concrete buildings from my 13th story apartment.

Josh, Philip, and Sean.

Josh, Sean, and Mitch.

This is how Jay eats kimchi.

My kindy class

Every couple months there is a birthday celebration for the kindergarten kids who have had recent birthdays. Harry and Judy were the birthday kids.
From left to right:
Philip: the little devil who is very smart but always distracted and breaks out temper tantrums from time to time.
Oscar: Also rarely pays attention, has way too much energy sometimes, but is oh so cute.
Jennifer: the star student who is always first to answer questions.
Judy: Jennifer's best friend who is very sweet and always wants to help out.
Harry: Really good kid, very smart.
Josh: the little guy who seems to have a crush on Judy
Sean: really sweet kid, but rarely pays attention in class
Mitch: tries really hard, when he gets a something right he gets really excited

Alicia and Esther in background are the Korean teachers for this class. Esther seems to have some kind of magical power that makes them all amazingly well behaved when she enters the room. I think they see me as the "fun foreign teacher" so it can be difficult to make them sit still and actually learn anything. But nevertheless, they are great kids and usually a lot of fun.

Saturday Night in Seoul

Last night I went to Seoul with my co-worker and new friend Ellen from Wisconsin. We first went to Itaewon, the foreigner district, so I could buy a cell phone. It is next to a large U.S. military base, so the area is filled with GIs and Western style restaurants and bars. We went to a place called Gecko's where we got our fix of hamburgers and greesy french fries. It felt just like being in a bar and grill in the States but with a few more Koreans and the waiters were dressed in pirate garb. We wandered the streets for awhile before deciding to check out a club called Woodstock where we heard a mediocre Korean blues band. Next, we met up with Ellen's Korean/English friend Jun who invited us to meet him, his sister, and three cousins at a bar in another area of the city. We drank soju, ate various types of dried fish and I tried silkworm for the first time, a small foul tasting bug that Koreans like to snack on for some reason.
And then it was off to Hongdae, the hip university district filled with plenty of lively night clubs (far superior to Shitaewon, as Jun calls it). Ellen, Jun, Jun's cousin named Bong, and I went to a club called TinPan which I had been to once before. The first time I was there the place was practically deserted, but this night, the music was blaring and you had to push people out of the way to get anywhere it was so crowded. There were plenty of drunk people dancing on the tables, many of them wearing high heeled shoes (I did see one girl fall off). We socialized with some lovely Irish girls who Ellen had met before. Just before we were about to call it a night, we heard that Fez was in TinPan. That's right, none other than Wilmer Valderrama, the actor who plays the foreign exchange student in 'That 70s Show' was partying it up in Hongdae! Very random. Apparently he was there to entertain the troops with his new 'Yo Mama' comedy routine that is currently on MTV. Wilmer was accompanied by a famous hip-hop artist Frankie J who was also there to entertain the troops. I did get to briefly meet both Wilmer and Frankie, but it was so loud it was difficult to have much of a conversation.
By this time it was almost 4 am and we were rather tired so we decided to call it a night. Ellen and I took a taxi back home to Hwajeong. As we got in the cab, Ellen's nose started bleeding. The cab driver was kind enough to offer her some tissues, but decided to take 'the long way' to Hwajeong, maybe to compensate for the cost of the tissues. We drove though some bumpy backroads for awhile before finally making it back. Quite a night to say the least.

The edge of Hwajeong

First post!

I can't believe it's allready been almost two weeks since I arrived in Korea. It seems like I landed just a few days ago, but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever. The day after I arrived, I spent the whole day (noon to 8:00) at my school, YBM ECC Hwajeong, observing my Tuesday classes. The following thre days I had a crash course of teacher training (8 hours a day) in Seoul which is about a 40 minute subway ride from Hwajeong. There was certainly no time for easing into the time change and culture shock. But somehow I survived my first few days and then thankfully had three days off to catch up on sleep and have my brain process everything about this foreign place I thrust myself into.
Friday night I met up with Jay and Jessie who live and work in Ilsan, Korea's "new city", which was built within the past 10 or 15 years and has a population of about half a million people (considered "the burbs" for Korea). It is host to Asia's largest manmade lake, a huge flashy shopping area called La Festa, lots of tall shiny apartment buildings and crazy Korean drivers. We walked near the lake, took pictures of giant spiders, ate greasy croquettes from a fake French bakery, and had a couple beers at a bar in La Festa.
Monday was our last free day so we decided to take the subway into Seoul and explore a bit. What we expected to be a day spent in Seoul ended up being a day under Seoul. Anguk Station, our destination to get off the subway, came upon us a bit sooner than I expected. Just as I realized I left my backpack on the shelf above my seat, the doors of line 3 closed and the train was gone. We went to an information booth and tried to communicate to the guy working there what had happened. He pointed in a direction for us to walk. After leaving the information booth, several different Korean men tried to show us where we were supposed to be going. One guy actually ended up walking us all the way to the other end of the station to show us to the Anguk security office. Once at the office, a man that worked there had me speak to a translator to tell her the situation. Jay, Jessie, and I waited for a couple hours on a leather sofa sipping free vending machine coffee, practicing our Hangul, and watching people move about the subway station on a wall of video screens. We finally got the call that they had found my bag! The only thing was that we would have to retrieve it at another security office on the last stop of line 3, about 20 stations away. So...back on the subway...lots of sitting...finally arrived at Suseo station. We walked around that station for another half hour or so until we finally found the Suseo security/lost and found office. The guy working there must have spent some time in the states because he greeted me with a "Hey, what's up man? Are you the American?", handed over my bag and said "take it easy, man". Despite what seemed like endless hours of waiting, I think the whole expereince turned out to be a great lesson of Korean culture. In the subway of one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world, not only was my bag not stolen, but there must have been close to ten different people throughout the day who played some part in helping me get it back.