this week's itinerary
Today (Wed) - head to Chiang Rai, set up booth downtown to talk to students
Thurs - give presentation to entire school regarding TOEFL test. Then head by bus to Chiang Khong
Fri - Take Boat from Chiang Khong partly down the Mekong river
Sat - Take boat rest of the way to Luang Prabang in Laos
Sun/Mon - tour the city
Tues - Fly back to Chiang Mai
Wed - Election party
Updates when we return.
:)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
fantastic saturday
Today we decided to get out of bed early and head up north of town on our pair of motorbikes. At 7:00 sharp, my obnoxious alarm rattled me out of bed. Much like a snow day, I looked out the window in hopes of rain. What I saw pleased me: drizzles. I texted (yes, I know, but its cheaper) Chris and told him I was going back to sleep. At 8:00 I woke up again to a beautiful day; thus began our adventure.
We jumped on our peds (moped) and headed up north with vague directions on getting to one of several objectives: waterfall, snake farm, orchid farm, butterfly farm. All of these things appeared to be in more or less the same location.
We managed to get off track due to ambiguities in our map, but, as often tangents do, we found something better than what we were looking for. We discovered the biggest waterfall we've seen in Thailand. The coolest part, I thought, was some sort of hidden rock shelf in the middle of the waterfall that was shooting water straight up in the air like a fountain. Now, most waterfalls have something like this, but rarely do you see a 6 foot plume of water going upwards out of the middle of a waterfall.
(this is a picture of me pointing that out to Katie, although you can't see it well in the picture)
We drove the scenic, twisty route back to the main road with Katie on the back, white knuckled, and me on the front, grinning like an idiot :)
The next stop in our journey lead us to the orchid farm. This is a showcase for, and nursery of-- you guessed it-- orchids. There were many different types all displaying different colors, patterns, shapes, and sizes. Some of the flowers were quite incredible, some were nothing to write home (on a blog) about. We did eat lunch there and I ninja'd a mosquito out of the sky and threw it into a death spider's web, which made me a temporary hero and offered a few minutes of amusement. I hate those little *&%$#s.
Our next venture took us for a hike in through the jungle and to 5 of 10 waterfalls in a row. Some waterfalls, although they name them such, are not really waterfalls, rather cascades. This was the case with the first 3 waterfalls. Numbers 4 and 5 (yes, they were labeled) were more impressive, although not impressive as our earlier waterfall. The walk through the jungle on a boardwalk was fantastic, and we did run into the largest death spider I have ever seen. This thing was as big as my hand, and it was mere inches from the path. Chris got some good pictures, so you should check those out (email me if you want t0 be added to the picture email list).
The drive home was uneventful, which, when riding a motorbike in a fatalistic country, is a good thing.
Tomorrow its back to work.
We jumped on our peds (moped) and headed up north with vague directions on getting to one of several objectives: waterfall, snake farm, orchid farm, butterfly farm. All of these things appeared to be in more or less the same location.
We managed to get off track due to ambiguities in our map, but, as often tangents do, we found something better than what we were looking for. We discovered the biggest waterfall we've seen in Thailand. The coolest part, I thought, was some sort of hidden rock shelf in the middle of the waterfall that was shooting water straight up in the air like a fountain. Now, most waterfalls have something like this, but rarely do you see a 6 foot plume of water going upwards out of the middle of a waterfall.
(this is a picture of me pointing that out to Katie, although you can't see it well in the picture)
We drove the scenic, twisty route back to the main road with Katie on the back, white knuckled, and me on the front, grinning like an idiot :)
The next stop in our journey lead us to the orchid farm. This is a showcase for, and nursery of-- you guessed it-- orchids. There were many different types all displaying different colors, patterns, shapes, and sizes. Some of the flowers were quite incredible, some were nothing to write home (on a blog) about. We did eat lunch there and I ninja'd a mosquito out of the sky and threw it into a death spider's web, which made me a temporary hero and offered a few minutes of amusement. I hate those little *&%$#s.
Our next venture took us for a hike in through the jungle and to 5 of 10 waterfalls in a row. Some waterfalls, although they name them such, are not really waterfalls, rather cascades. This was the case with the first 3 waterfalls. Numbers 4 and 5 (yes, they were labeled) were more impressive, although not impressive as our earlier waterfall. The walk through the jungle on a boardwalk was fantastic, and we did run into the largest death spider I have ever seen. This thing was as big as my hand, and it was mere inches from the path. Chris got some good pictures, so you should check those out (email me if you want t0 be added to the picture email list).
The drive home was uneventful, which, when riding a motorbike in a fatalistic country, is a good thing.
Tomorrow its back to work.
Friday, October 17, 2008
the riverside and how we got there
Tonight Katie and I had dinner a the Riverside Restaurant, which was named because.....wait for it.....it's on the riverside. It was a very nice place, albeit full of foreigners, but who am I to talk, I'm one of them too!
Anyway, we decided to venture off on our new means of transportation. Since it was going to be dark, and traffic was going to be a little more heavy, we chose to take the moped (scooter/small motorcycle where your knees can touch together) which was loaned to us by our internship. I had driven it around a few times, but nothing much. Katie had ridden on the back of the thing only once. With that in mind, we took off across town to get to the other side of the river.
Things went quite well. Although steering with extra weight is sometimes difficult, if you keep your eyes open and stay on the side of the road, its more or less like being on a faster bicycle.
We got temporarily lost and almost ended up on the interstate, but reversed course and set sails for the bridge.
All in all, we didn't crash, Katie survived on the back, and ended with a smile on her face, which means it was a win.
This is the bike.. The laughing can start any time now.
.
Anyway, we decided to venture off on our new means of transportation. Since it was going to be dark, and traffic was going to be a little more heavy, we chose to take the moped (scooter/small motorcycle where your knees can touch together) which was loaned to us by our internship. I had driven it around a few times, but nothing much. Katie had ridden on the back of the thing only once. With that in mind, we took off across town to get to the other side of the river.
Things went quite well. Although steering with extra weight is sometimes difficult, if you keep your eyes open and stay on the side of the road, its more or less like being on a faster bicycle.
We got temporarily lost and almost ended up on the interstate, but reversed course and set sails for the bridge.
All in all, we didn't crash, Katie survived on the back, and ended with a smile on her face, which means it was a win.
This is the bike.. The laughing can start any time now.
.
Monday, October 13, 2008
untitled
I advise everyone to write. I personally prefer an old fashioned journal with a fountain pen, but whatever suits you should do. When you look back on those details you've long since forgotten, it is truly remarkable. Letters are another way to record the same information and I think are fantastic (thanks mom- arrived 10/13, exactly one week).
Daily schedule, version 1.0:
wake up at a normal hour, between 7 and 9:00 am.
have coffee, check the news, write in journal
begin active part of day 9-11:00 am
spend the afternoon out and about, visiting, exploring, photographing, etc.
eat dinner at 5-6:00 pm because of hunger (why else, right?)
go back to home, spend the evening putzing around the flat, etc.
In this plan there are some problems. Things aren't always open in the day time since its so hot. Instead they open later on in the late afternoon and stay open until 8 or 9. When you have been busy all day, you want to eat early and come home tired afterwards. This leaves the prime time of day, the dusk and evening, done. You effectively just spent all the worst hours out and about.
Daily schedule version 2.0, to be implemented as of tomorrow:
wake up 7-8
go do what is interesting or on the plan BEFORE 12:00
get home, have lunch, and be inside internetting, learning thai, etc 12-4
go back out for more exploring, have dinner, and feel generally more rested for the evening, when you can enjoy it.
We're planning our border crossing trip to Laos. It will be a neat adventure including a 2 day river raft down the Mekong river to an ancient city in Laos, Luang Pabang. This will also function as our visa update we must do every 3 months.
Katie and I are apparently going to be teaching a group of Nissan car salesmen "English Sales". We have been informed of this today and will be starting next week with a class. I don't exactly know where its going to go, but hey, I've done my share of selling, and speak English, and teach, so what's the trouble, right?
more later.
Daily schedule, version 1.0:
wake up at a normal hour, between 7 and 9:00 am.
have coffee, check the news, write in journal
begin active part of day 9-11:00 am
spend the afternoon out and about, visiting, exploring, photographing, etc.
eat dinner at 5-6:00 pm because of hunger (why else, right?)
go back to home, spend the evening putzing around the flat, etc.
In this plan there are some problems. Things aren't always open in the day time since its so hot. Instead they open later on in the late afternoon and stay open until 8 or 9. When you have been busy all day, you want to eat early and come home tired afterwards. This leaves the prime time of day, the dusk and evening, done. You effectively just spent all the worst hours out and about.
Daily schedule version 2.0, to be implemented as of tomorrow:
wake up 7-8
go do what is interesting or on the plan BEFORE 12:00
get home, have lunch, and be inside internetting, learning thai, etc 12-4
go back out for more exploring, have dinner, and feel generally more rested for the evening, when you can enjoy it.
We're planning our border crossing trip to Laos. It will be a neat adventure including a 2 day river raft down the Mekong river to an ancient city in Laos, Luang Pabang. This will also function as our visa update we must do every 3 months.
Katie and I are apparently going to be teaching a group of Nissan car salesmen "English Sales". We have been informed of this today and will be starting next week with a class. I don't exactly know where its going to go, but hey, I've done my share of selling, and speak English, and teach, so what's the trouble, right?
more later.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
turbo disjointed observations
1- We bought a package of rice cake cookies, 2 large coffee mugs, and a floor mat for less than 3$ today.
2- Riding a bike in Thai traffic, although it seems life-threatening, isn't really that bad. The first trick is to avoid crossing directly through traffic, ie perpendiculating it, at all costs. This is virtually impossible without forcing the cars in one lane to completely stop for you, or the contrary, bolting in front of someone in hopes they will stop in time. A better alternative is to be riding in traffic as a car or motorcycle would, and change lanes one at a time until you get where you want to go. The other trick is to plan your trip in such a way that you make as many left turns as possible, as the traffic flows like England or Japan: on the other side. A big difference between Thai traffic and American traffic is that people expect to be cut off. They cut off, so why shouldn't they be cut off. This is the only way they would get anywhere, as the traffic somewhat resembles a bee colony. When in the mindset of "be cutoff, so be prepared," all the traffic expects you to move around. This provides a certain level of safety for us cyclists. In traffic at home, rules are more generally followed, therefore making sudden movements on a bicycle are unexpected and therefore much more dangerous.
3- Tuesday and Wednesday I taught 1 student, 1 subject for 7.5 hours straight. For those of you at the Stern Center: Holy Cow, right!? I've been teaching the TOEFL test to an 11th grade student. Believe it or not, for the entire 7.5 hours he was attentive and motivated, never once complaining. And in a foreign language! 40 hrs with the kid over 2 weeks. One Stern Center school year stuffed into 2 weeks.
4- While in Germany, I often said that there must be a really good bicycle parts salesman out there, who managed to convince an entire country that everybody needed a completely frivolous set of hydraulic brakes. I saw these bikes all over with aftermarket brakes and was appalled that someone was able to sell all these expensive brakes.
I have found Thailand's version of that product. TURBO. Everything is turbo: everything. I have a bicycle that is a "turbo extreme". I have seen mopeds that are "turbo", I have seen cars that have giant"intercooled" stickers, implying a turbo. Amongst these cars/mopeds/bikes none of them actually have a turbo. Some cars, on the other hand, many of which don't deserve them, do indeed have turbos. I have seen the equivalent of plymouth horizons with an obvious turbocharger, I saw a 1995 bmw with an interccooler bursting out of the front bumper. Toyota camrys, honda civics, daihatsus. You name it, someone took the time to stuff a snail and an intercooler in the car. How the 1.6l engines built to handle 45-95 hp don't explode the first time the thing spools up is beyond me.
Those of you who are jealous of those Japanese cars that we never got, ie Evo 3, skyline GT-R r32; they are all here. I've seen the fakes, and I've seen the real ones. There are also 1.7 billion E30's.
The roads here are very twisty in the country. I miss my car.
2- Riding a bike in Thai traffic, although it seems life-threatening, isn't really that bad. The first trick is to avoid crossing directly through traffic, ie perpendiculating it, at all costs. This is virtually impossible without forcing the cars in one lane to completely stop for you, or the contrary, bolting in front of someone in hopes they will stop in time. A better alternative is to be riding in traffic as a car or motorcycle would, and change lanes one at a time until you get where you want to go. The other trick is to plan your trip in such a way that you make as many left turns as possible, as the traffic flows like England or Japan: on the other side. A big difference between Thai traffic and American traffic is that people expect to be cut off. They cut off, so why shouldn't they be cut off. This is the only way they would get anywhere, as the traffic somewhat resembles a bee colony. When in the mindset of "be cutoff, so be prepared," all the traffic expects you to move around. This provides a certain level of safety for us cyclists. In traffic at home, rules are more generally followed, therefore making sudden movements on a bicycle are unexpected and therefore much more dangerous.
3- Tuesday and Wednesday I taught 1 student, 1 subject for 7.5 hours straight. For those of you at the Stern Center: Holy Cow, right!? I've been teaching the TOEFL test to an 11th grade student. Believe it or not, for the entire 7.5 hours he was attentive and motivated, never once complaining. And in a foreign language! 40 hrs with the kid over 2 weeks. One Stern Center school year stuffed into 2 weeks.
4- While in Germany, I often said that there must be a really good bicycle parts salesman out there, who managed to convince an entire country that everybody needed a completely frivolous set of hydraulic brakes. I saw these bikes all over with aftermarket brakes and was appalled that someone was able to sell all these expensive brakes.
I have found Thailand's version of that product. TURBO. Everything is turbo: everything. I have a bicycle that is a "turbo extreme". I have seen mopeds that are "turbo", I have seen cars that have giant"intercooled" stickers, implying a turbo. Amongst these cars/mopeds/bikes none of them actually have a turbo. Some cars, on the other hand, many of which don't deserve them, do indeed have turbos. I have seen the equivalent of plymouth horizons with an obvious turbocharger, I saw a 1995 bmw with an interccooler bursting out of the front bumper. Toyota camrys, honda civics, daihatsus. You name it, someone took the time to stuff a snail and an intercooler in the car. How the 1.6l engines built to handle 45-95 hp don't explode the first time the thing spools up is beyond me.
Those of you who are jealous of those Japanese cars that we never got, ie Evo 3, skyline GT-R r32; they are all here. I've seen the fakes, and I've seen the real ones. There are also 1.7 billion E30's.
The roads here are very twisty in the country. I miss my car.
Monday, October 6, 2008
first class
So today I had my first student. The 9th grader is in his three week break between semesters and is taking a 40 hour TOEFL course with me, as well as a Chemistry course. He is enrolled in, or applying for, (I didnt get the exact information) the most competitive prep school in Thailand. His English is much better than the majority of people I have spoken with here, and he is very motivated to do well. He is so motivated, in fact, that I told him there was nothing specific I wanted him to do outside of class, but he insisted he had something for homework.
I feel very comfortable doing this, as this is almost exactly what I was doing the previous 2.5 years. At first I was slightly nervous, as this is my first work experience in Thailand, but as soon as I was engaged in teaching, everything went fine.
I am glad to be working again. I feel like we've been spending money without making any, which is certainly hard to sustain. Katie is in the process of looking for side work, as her position that will be coming up doesn't start until the end of October, once again because of the semester break. She applied at the YMCA today, and will do a practice lesson on Wednesday. We also hung fliers all over campus for private English language help. We are hoping to get people with theses, tests, and reading/homework problems to call us and pay us by the hour. If we could do that, we could get some side work that would be pretty easy. Katie has gotten one call back, but nothing solid yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
PS- Please read Katie's elephant riding post. Her link is on the right. The elephant riding was quite amazing. :)
I feel very comfortable doing this, as this is almost exactly what I was doing the previous 2.5 years. At first I was slightly nervous, as this is my first work experience in Thailand, but as soon as I was engaged in teaching, everything went fine.
I am glad to be working again. I feel like we've been spending money without making any, which is certainly hard to sustain. Katie is in the process of looking for side work, as her position that will be coming up doesn't start until the end of October, once again because of the semester break. She applied at the YMCA today, and will do a practice lesson on Wednesday. We also hung fliers all over campus for private English language help. We are hoping to get people with theses, tests, and reading/homework problems to call us and pay us by the hour. If we could do that, we could get some side work that would be pretty easy. Katie has gotten one call back, but nothing solid yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
PS- Please read Katie's elephant riding post. Her link is on the right. The elephant riding was quite amazing. :)
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