Epic.: 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: