making the krathong

So our gracious and wonderful Thai language teacher, Ajarn Chatchawadee, offered to teach us how to make krathongs for the upcoming Loy Krathong festival here in Bangkok. I foolishly agreed to try my hand at creating a krathong. Okay, Ajarn did most of the work. A fun time was had by all!

Check out info on Loy Krathong at Wikipedia.

I do what?:

I did it:

The group:

Me and my favorite Ajarn:

Blog of the real thing (Loy Krathong Day!) will be coming shortly.

parents visit their favorite son, part ii

Well, I'll try to wrap up the parents trip report today!

Firstly, we went to the Dusit Zoo which turned out to be pretty fun! The only particularly notable thing I can remember after so long is my thinking that my favorite animal we saw, the "Red Panda" looks like it was created by God for an animated kids show. Seriously, look at that thing. Adorable. Anyway, we all had a good time, though we didn't opt for the peddle-boats that were for use in the pond occupied with monitor lizards. But I'm sure their docile... mostly.

We also went to Koh Samui. Islands are always nice of course. I was a little disappointed with the lack-of-clarity in the water, but it was still nice. We've decided that we aren't as much of beech people as some. We did have a fun tour of the island that included some fun stuff.

Mom en route.

A beach.

Our parents had a great experience seeing the obligatory elephants of Thailand.



In fact, we had an elephant show which was pretty interesting. The best point was when they asked for a volunteer from the audience. No one volunteered. For what seemed like an eternity it was just an awkward silence. Now, I think you've read enough of my blog to know who broke that silence and saved the day. Yes yes, yours truly finally sprang up when it became apparent that nobody else was going to. So I scamper down to the "stage" (read: concrete slab), and wonder what they are going to have me do. They told me I was going to play some soccer with the elephant. I figure, ain't no thang, and say alrighty. They put a soccer ball down about 20 feet from the goal and have me play goalkeeper against this elephants penalty kick. Its a regular size soccer ball and I figure it can't be that hard. So I am there, ready to block this thing and the elephant starts running toward the ball. It occurs to me, as this huge animal is running at me, that this is actually kind of intimidating. It dawns on me that there is an elephant going to kick a soccer ball at me and I just kinda freeze... as the elephant TOTALLY scores on me. Well that was embaressing. Next I try to score on the elephant... of course he just laid down in front of the goal. Still... there was a little hole I thought I could score through, in back of his front legs. I shoot, and he moves to block it. Well damnit!!! I'm sure I embarrassed all the Europeans there with my lack of prowess in "the worlds favorite sport" but, hey, I didn't see anyone else up to the challenge!

We got to see some monkeys and I got to hold an otter (cute!). We got to see a monkey harvest coconuts, while looking incredibly un-impressed with the entire situation. Oh, and we got to recklessly ride on top of 4WD vehicles in what was actually a pretty interesting ride! They definately needed the Jeeps that day, as the entire island was flooded:


And dad and I had a fun time dodging tree-limbs that threatened to knock us into the back of the truck as we rode on top.

Mom opted for the less-dangerous seats in back :) Despite the fact that she was the one who got blessed:

Dad and I:

We had a good trip, and then got to fly back (far superior than the 12-hour bus ride) and were reminded to not bring our Sword, Spear or Blowpipe, and Kriss onto the plane:


My brother remarked that he guessed it must be a double-violation if you bring one of those umbrellas with the sword in it. Good thinking.

Lastly, at the last second I managed to find some bugs for my parents to eat. They seemed to enjoy them... A little too much. I know they're good, but was it really necessary to lick the plate dad? Just joking! ... But seriously, they're delicious.


I wish I could have elaborated on how great my parents are and what a great trip it was, but I'm trying to catch up on all my blogging! Just let me say that their presence reminded me why I missed them so much and I can't wait to see them again! Miss you mom and dad! Will be home soon!!!

parents visit their favorite son, part i (joking, Chris!)

Yes, my parents came to visit me! I was extremely happy to have them here, and I'm sure they were glad to see a part of the world that is so hard to get to. We got to see quite a bit, and I think they got a pretty good feel for all the craziness of Thailand, that I've been working on documenting through this blog for the last five months (has it been that long!?!?).

Here are my beautiful parents in front of the two-tiered sky-train lines at Siam Square:


I took them to all the major sights (Wat Phra Kaew, Royal Palace, etc...) and showed them wonderful Thammasat and the surrounding amulet markets on Tha Phra Chan. One interesting place that I hadn't seen before their coming was the Vimanmek Mansion, reportedly the largest golden teak building in the world. It was a very beautiful building and had a very uncharacteristic (for Thailand) tour, in English, that was pretty decent!

The building itself was really beautiful and had an interesting architectural style.

Mom and I:

Dad and I:

I also finally made it to Wat Arun. Lord knows I should have made it there long ago as it is located off of the same street I live on! It is still one of the most confusing buildings in Bangkok to me. From a distance it looks very old, but up-close the bits of porcelain and ceramic that construct it make it look like it was cobbled together yesterday. It has to be old, one of the temple buildings housed the Emerald Buddha for a time before it was moved to Wat Phra Kaew. If anyone knows anything about this building don't hesitate to post a comment please! Dad and mom remarked that it was reminiscent of the Grotto of the Redemption in our own Iowa. Speaking of which... I need to see the Grotto of the Redemption.

Wat Arun is nice because you can climb it. Its fun. The stairs are steep... really steep:

Here is mom clinging to the banister (a wise decision):

And myself:

On our way out, dad inspected the bamboo scaffolding erected to work on a surrounding building. He was very impressed with that unique blend of Thai resourcefulness and danger:


More tomorrow!

laos trip report, part iii: the adventure out...

Well, I know what you're going to say: Ryan, we thought you died after your first two Laos entries. Well, don't worry. I made it back fine, only to be confronted with one of the busiest months ever. I'm here to make things right!

In my last post I mentioned that an adventure would soon befall me on the Bolaven plateau. This was no lie. I set out in the morning to head back to Paxse, seeing another waterfall on my way. The morning started out very nice with beautiful mountain streams and brooks, all babbling and clear.



I then made my way onto a dirt road that was to lead me back to a town I had already been through before going back to Paxse. I know what you're thinking... but a dirt road in Laos, isn't that a bad idea? But look at this thing--it looked great, so well-maintained:



Never mind the water buffalo and children--I'm used to that stuff. After a few kilometers it still looked great:



Okay, so maybe a slight red flag should have gone up when I didn't see anyone else, but this is the least populated area of Laos, right, maybe there just isn't anyone to use the road around. So I kept on.

I passed over this bridge held up by big stones--neat.



About 30 kms into it disaster struck. I got a flat. Well that sucks. I'm in the middle of nowhere Laos with a flat tire. But it gets better. Not only am I in the middle of nowhere, I'm in the archetypal nowhere. Also wonderfully, road conditions have VASTLY deteriorated with ruts so deep in the road I'm afraid to slip into one. It becomes painfully clear I will be seeing no four-wheeled vehicles on this trip. It occurs to me that even if I find someone, they probably won't be the kind of person who has a spare on hand, now, will they?

On this count I was indeed proved correct. After making my way slowly through a further evaporating road, I spot some huts by the side of the road:

Hi piggy (you can see the road in the background--a fully functional bridge!):



Now, believe it or not, how to approach indigenous peoples isn't covered in grade-school so I'm a little worried about my actions. I walk around the area where their campfire is--the ground is littered with the bones of the little animals that also scurry around the camp. Luckily I don't have to knock on the hut, a man is outside and sees me. I motion him to come with me cause I don't know how to say "Oh hey man, I've got a flat, could you help me out?" in Laos. He understands and comes with me and sees my motorbike. He nods and says some stuff--nice, he's seen one before. Here is where it gets weird. He motions me to look at this path leading into the woods. Here's the path:



Now you can imagine my skepticism. I am silently thinking to myself: how can you possibly think that the solution to my problems lays on a little dirt path leading INTO the dangerous jungle? I mean, what in God's green Earth could lay down that path that could possibly be good for me!?!? But this guy seems really nice, so I go down the path. Eventually the path gets too rocky to utilize my motorbike (yes I road my scooter down it... with a flat).


So now I need to leave my motorbike behind while I traverse the jungle on foot. No prob. So I start walking around in footpaths in the jungle, and the only people I came upon are two naked kids who were scared to death of me, and a topless woman straight out of National Geographic. I suddenly think about what I'm doing and decide "Yeah, there probably aren't any mechanics out here." So I head back to my waiting scooter. Lo' and behold but my friend is there, he goes into the jungle and motions for me to wait. Logically, I just assume he's getting the local shaman to breathe life into my wheel. Amazingly he comes back with an air pump. It doesn't fit, which is fine, because I'm 99% sure there is a giant puncture in my tube somewhere anyway. But man, one-thousand points to this guy for trying. I thank him as profusely as you can with nonverbal communication. I threw in "kap jai yai yai" which is Laos for "Thank you very very much," but to be honest, I'm not so sure he spoke Laos at all. I received my greatest shock on the way back through the footpath to the road. As I was getting on my scooter, two men walked into view down the path (that I had to leave through).

They were carrying guns.

Hahah, I pretty much just threw that in for dramatic effect; however, I must say that I was immediately pretty damn scared. I mean, a guy just led me down this path, and now I see two guys blocking my way out with guns. After a few seconds of panicking I took a closer look. What was with their guns? As they came closer I got a better look at the guns--a nervous task, mind you--and realize they were about four-foot long muzzleloading, single-shot rifles from what had to be a hell-of-a-long time ago.

Where the hell was I?

I realized they were just coming back from hunting. They were surprised at me (the feeling was mutual), but just walked past.

I decided to hoof-it to the road before Joe-Hunter realized I saw his wifes chest. Probably not much of a threat since she was topless anyway, but I'm not taking any chances--Lord knows how good of a shot he is with that revolutionary-war-era antique. So I made it back to the road and went on my way. Still with a flat, and now an amazed look on my face as I considered the shirt-less, electricity-less, reliable rifle-less society I had just left behind.

I continued on my way (still with my flat) and a weird thing started to happen. As I made my way on, I began to see more and more huts, still without any sort of technology. But, bit-by bit I began to see an evolution. Eventually, I saw steel mixed with bamboo to make huts, then some of the huts were nicer and almost house-like. There were more people, too. It hit me that it was exactly like I was watching human evolution, on a single road, and that the farther I progressed, the more advanced it was getting. I kept going and this proved to be true. When I reached the part of human evolution that began to have simple mechanical transportation (scooters!), I pulled over at a rudimentary store-like building and the guy changed out the tube on my motorbike! Woooo! I was afraid what the bill would be--I didn't have much money. He grabs a stick and writes the price in the dirt... I get the bad news:

10,000

10,000?!?!?! Oh, wait, that's ONE DOLLAR. How the heck do you even get a scooter tube for one-dollar? Much less the tube and the time you invested in repairing it? I gave him 20,000, he seemed really pleased.

Oh, by the way, there are so many ridiculous waterfalls in Laos. Here's just a random view from the road:


So I made a little better time now that I had a fully-functional motorbike. The road got terrible. And by terrible I mean, it was finally paved, which you would think would be a good thing. But instead, the paving was of the paper thin sort that was RIDDLED with pot-holes, some of which were over a foot deep. All the scooters (including me) had to constantly weave from the far side of the road to the opposite side. Funny to think I actually ended up making slower time on the paved road with a fully functional motorbike than I was with a flat tire on the dirt road!

Oh, and I got another flat.

No joke. Anyway, another dollar later, everything was right as rain.

I had enough daylight to check out Tad Fane. What an amazing waterfall... It is just stupid-big. Imagine if you were trying to float down one of those two little streams and then came out here... yipes. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:





By the time I got to Pakse, I just relaxed on the banks of the Mekong for a while before getting a good nights sleep. I was treated to dinner by the family that owned the guest-house, which was good because I only had enough money for the bus ride home. I ate as much as I good and had a horrific bus ride the next morning, made worse by the hunger! But I made it home.

laos trip report, part ii: into the plateau…

The second day of my trip to Laos I began making my way to what is actually the least populated area of the country. I would later find out that in this area of Laos, less than 4% of locals were ethnic Laos, with over 97% belonging to various hill-tribes, who I would encounter often on my journey. I really recommend the fantastic Wikipedia article regarding this province (and focus of much of my Laos travels for this trip). It has very good information about the area, and gives great information on how the hill-tribes are perceived by other “more civilized” people.

Speaking of the area I visited, I forgot to include my customary map of where I went so you can gauge where I was in the world:

I went to the southern part of Laos. Other than Si Phan Don, this area is not very heavily trafficked, and I got a nice picture of remote life, away from tourism, in Southeast Asia. It is worth noting, however, that even though I was almost as far away from the beaten path as you can get, there was still one guesthouse in the larger towns I stopped at for the night. The area is most famous for the Bolaven plateau and its stunning waterfalls (which you will, of course, get to see through my photographs). In retrospect, I would absolutely love to spend a full thirty-days or so in Laos, going from the top of the country to the bottom. On my itinerary would be a big loop from top to bottom in Laos, hitting the Bokeo National Preserve Gibbon Experience, then Luang Prabang and the lovely waterfalls near it, then Vang Vien for tubing and caving and fun, then the Plain of Jars by Phonsovan, then farther south to spend a few days on the Bolaven Plateau, before chilling out on Si Phan Don. Sometime along the way I would hit at least 1 three-day trek with Green Discovery. I write this as much for myself as anyone else, but if you’re going to Laos, I suggest you take the time and make this full journey.

Anyway, I started my trip about the plateau by checking out one of the many waterfalls:

The natural beauty of the terrain here is really breathtaking. Mountain streams are everywhere, with clear, fresh water and large clean stones and boulders. Everything felt so brisk and clean in comparison to Bangkok, it was just very refreshing.

This is a picture of one of the many schools I saw and gives you an impression of the overall plateau view. I saw so many kids walking to school (I believe I already related my stories of their delight in seeing me!), I sometimes wondered how there could be so many happy kids running around.

I then stopped at another waterfall on a whim. It wasn’t even on my map, and turned out to be very nice. Here’s a view of the river feeding the falls. You’ll notice there is actually a lone monk wandering around in the photo. Strangely enough, I actually ran into him about an hour after I took this photo and found out he was Thai. I conversed with him with the little Thai I had and he was very pleased to speak Thai with me.

Here is the beautiful view looking down from the top of the falls. These grassy canyons and basins were just beautiful. Yes those are people!

Here’s the falls from down in the basin.

And the falls in their entirety:

Later on in the day as I wandered, I decided to take a chance and stopped at a school that was being let out. The kids were all lined up (in order of height—see photo), and going through military-like positions of attention and at-ease. I motioned to the teacher to see if I could take pictures and he smiled big and encouraged me. Here they are, in front of their flag of Laos on a bamboo pole. I should mention that oftentimes I would see the Laos flag flown hand in hand with the hammer and scythe—what a strange sight! You can see the schoolhouse in the background.

The kids sang the anthem as they lowered the flag. Adorable!

Here’s the bunch leaving school. You can see by their distance that the kids were afraid (though amused) of me at first. I motioned for them to come over so I could get a photo with them. None would get near me, until a lone boy (the bravest of the group), stood next to me for a picture. More and more kids gathered until I had a good group.

They warmed up to me:

The kids would often have me stand up straight and then mark their height next to me, amazed at my height. This was true of adults as well. In a small market I visited, I was made to stand for about 5 minutes while different townspeople compared their height with mine (I’m only 6’2”). They motioned to my skin often and pointed to my freckles and eyes. They were also incredibly kind and warm—an older lady motioned for me to come over and eat some rolls with her. I did, and they were delicious!

However, all this would pale in comparison the adventure that would soon befall me.

laos trip report, part i: halloween, 2007

I had the opportunity to have a rather reflective Halloween this weekend, as I planned to be stuck on a train to Ubon Ratchatani, from where I would head to Laos. My plans were quickly changed right off the bat as I went to the train station and was told that no trains were running. I was naturally suspicious and so checked in about nine different places and all sources confirmed the unfortunate news. Some said accident, some said strike, but the point was, I couldn’t go via train. So, I hoofed it to the bus station where I got an overnight bus. The bus ride was pretty excruciating, but the lady next to me was nice, and spoke a small bit of English. I asked her if she knew about Halloween; she said yes. Short conversation, but I guess I was happy that he at least knew about it.

The one highlight of the trip was a very strange occurrence in the middle of the night. I woke up at about 3 a.m. and noticed that the half-moon and stars were very bright. This was particularly striking to me because I was so used to the sickly stars of Bangkok, who struggle to penetrate the thick blanket of smog that smothers the city. The strange occurrence, however, was not just this ability to see the stars, but rather, the fact that no sooner had I looked up as far as I could from my bus window, I saw a bright shooting star! Amazed, I stared for a few more seconds then turned back to the bus, mouth slightly agape. If there were a bystander who was to write a screenplay based on my life at this moment, it would have been entirely cliché. It seemed to me that I had looked out the window far too short a period of time to be lucky enough to see a shooting star, and to a movie audience it would have seemed entirely cliché. Perhaps it would go something like this:

Scene 97:

[The scene fades from black to open in the back of a bus facing forward. Many black-haired heads gently sway slightly above their seats as the bus rocks. A solitary dirty-blonde head rises over the rest, and turns to look out the window.]

[The reflective individual slowly brings his eyes to the sky.]

[A bright shooting star streaks across the sky.]

[The shooting star is shown again, this time with the camera on the boy’s face—the reflection of the star is captured and reflected in the boy’s blue-green eyes.]

[Mouth slightly agape, and seeming a little more satisfied, he turns in wonderment back to face the seat ahead of him.]

Nobody would even believe that movie! Its crazy to think that it actually happened! Not entirely sure why I wasted so much time with this story, but I just thought it was funny. Moving on!

After crossing the border the next morning I began to see how different Laos was from Thailand. I rented a scooter and started off to the south. I was going to try to spend just a little time at Si Phan Don (4,000 Islands) before heading off to the Bolaven Plateau. I headed south from Paxse by scooter and encountered rain, which hindered my progress slightly. However, I was also welcomed by extremely warm and friendly smiles and waves from EVERYONE I encountered on the road. Many school children were walking home, and they were all ecstatic to see me. Everyone waved, some blew kisses, and all gestures were accompanied by cries of “Sabaidee!” or “Hello!” I couldn’t believe how nice everyone was. When the rain started, I pulled over to put on my poncho, and a Laos man bid me to come into his house and take shelter from the rain until it blew over. I thanked him very much for his generosity but decided to brave the rain anyway. I made it to the large island a little before sunset and decided to stay there. A nice Lao man ferried my scooter over for 20,000 kip ($2), and I quickly found a great guesthouse for 40,000 kip ($4). The river was very beautiful and reminded me of the Mississippi a little. On the island I made some friends from America; one of the girls’ job was to translate comic books from Korean to English. There was a terrible storm that night, with intermittent power shortages, but it was a really nice relaxing night for me. The storm reminded me of home, along with my musings on Halloween the night before.

I had a fantastic nights sleep in my nice but… quirky guestroom. The video will explain:

In the morning I rode around the island before heading back across the river to go up to the Plateau. Again, many kids walking to school, all nice. Lots of rice, and cows, and cow-like animals, and chickens, and ducks, and goats. I would get very used to these things before the end of my trip.

I wish I would have had more time at Si Phan Don, I saw nothing of what it has to offer. I think if I go back I would like to spend 3 days there before moving onto Bolaven. Nevertheless, I knew adventure awaited me on the Plateau… and I was entirely correct…

fix

fixed pictures and video from recent blog.

edit: photos/videos

Photos and video uploading aren't working right now. Will upload the pictures as soon as I can solve the problem.

the everyday blog--school and muay thai practice

Well, I've had a couple of really nice days in Bangkok, and I figured I should write about them before they turn sour (of course I'm knocking on wood). I've been pleasantly surprised by a few things in the last few days and they have just been nice in general. My string of good-luck started by my trip to the Laos Embassy to get my VISA for my upcoming solo trip to Laos. Miraculously, I got to the embassy without incident after class yesterday (its quite a ways out of the city center). Then, even more miraculously... I didn't have any trouble getting my VISA. I filled a form, had the foresight to bring my own pictures, had the money, and it only took about an hour. While I was waiting a nice Laos man started talking to me in suspiciously good English. He asked where I was from and I replied "the states," then he said he was from Idaho! Born Vientienne, mind you, but still! Fluent in Laos, Thai, French (Laos was under French colonial rule), and English. Its always just refreshing to meet someone and be able to have a nice conversation. The only awkward part of my trip was my initial walk into the embassy. I walked through a small doorway in a surrounding wall only to suddenly be in the middle of a crowd of about a hundred people, all looking at me. I was then ushered through a roped off area they (apparently) couldn't come into. No idea what that was about.

On my way from the embassy home I knew there would be too much traffic so, I figured I'd ride the skytrain the full-route and take the express boat home. After I got on the express boat, I noticed an unusual amount of farang around--I guess the tourist season is coming into swing. The boat stopped at Wat Arun, well before my stop, and I realized there was a Royal Barge practice that day, so the river was closed certain portions. But, not to be dissuaded, I figured I would try to make myself useful and explain to all of the confused farangs where they were and why they couldn't get where they wanted to. This is kind of a risky move because, for some reason, farangs tend to dislike eachother in certain situations. I'll refer to Brian's infamous comment of "farangs hate other farangs, a farang will ask a Thai person with no English a question before they will ask another farang." Another one of our friends claims "a farang would rather ask a chair for directions than another farang." At any rate, I helped a few farangs to get off the boat, explaining it would go no further, and then I encountered a young couple from Canada. They were headed to Khao San to see it (despite all they had heard!). I offered to accompany them on the very long walk, and they agreed. I chatted with them along the way and they were just really great people. It really made me realize how much more meaningful the people make my experience in Thailand. Too many people come to see the sights and not the people. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now.

The view from the express boat was great yesterday:



Later that night, I tried a walk home through the small (VERY small) soi (alleys) instead of my normal route following the big road. It was an interesting (and LONG) walk. It is incredibly confusing to navigate through the small winding streets, but it was really great to see real Bangkok. People just chatting in the "street" or having dinner or what-not. Everyone I encountered was very nice (stark contrast to many other places). I ended up having a rather strange experience on a very badly lit alley by the canal. It wasn't well lit so I couldn't see and I thought I had spots in my vision all the sudden, and couldn't understand what was going on, and was starting to get very worried. As I neared a lamp, I got the suspicion that nothing was amiss with my vision, and took a random snapshot with my camera. Turns out there were bats flying everywhere. In my random picture I counted 4 clearly visible. Yes, Thailand DOES "have a monopoly on weird shit" sometimes!


Anyway, I thought I would take a little video to show you what school is kinda like, so here it is:



Yes, David says "Don't you have to put it in water?" And yes, that dog just lives in various buildings on campus. He's normally sleeping on the cool tile floor of the political science building. I heard his name is "Seua" (Tiger), but someone else seemed to think it was Bear. I think he looks like a bear.

Anyway, lastly I figured I'd post some pictures of me at Muay Thai practice so you can kinda see what it is like. I'm not particularly good; I can punch adequately but my kicks are pretty feeble. I hate stretching and am not flexible at all, but hey. I do feel like I've learned a little bit about Thai culture, and at least I've stayed in shape going to practice. I have wondered what it will be like going to boxing back home--I'm surprisingly used to paying respect to the teacher and ring and ancestors (we wai to the corner of the ring before we can enter). Anyway, practice is made up of stretching and warming up, five rounds in the ring with striking-pads, and warming down and running. I usually hit the bag quite a long time as well, and today I lifted in the very... rustic gym, for the first time (I hurt). Our ring is located outside in a heavily trafficked area. Many people (especially older men) will stop to watch for a few minutes on their way. Well, here are the photos:

Me on the bag:


Me on the bag, Thai guy with a 6-pack behind me (they all have 6-packs):


More bag work:


Coach and I working with pads:


Me feebly kicking:


Muay Thai is tiring:


Sweaty after a round:



After first round:


After the second round (note the difference!):

Well, thats all for today. Headed to Laos tomorrow and will give a trip report upon my return.