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This is the first post, then, about my recent vacation in Thailand and Laos. Let me say congratulations, though, to Yingluck Shinawatra, leader of the winning party in Thailand’s recent election, future Prime Minister and sister of deposed ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Hopefully, the election will help to unite the country and heal the wounds caused by all the strife there recently. Some commentators on Thai politics think it will be a good thing, but there are those who think another military coup is possible. I left the country just a few days before the election, and, while I did see more than a little campaigning going on, I didn’t see any demonstrations or acts of violence. Good luck, people of Thailand!
Next, I have to comment on the quality of Thai Airways. I used to enjoy flying with the “Smooth as Silk” airline, but lately their service has really declined. The quality of the food served on flights has gone down noticeably from, oh, say about five years ago; the attendants, while not surly, don’t seem as interested or caring; and the in-flight entertainment has become sub-par. On the trip to Bangkok, all we had were the overhead video monitors–no individual seatback screens with video on demand (older planes, I guess). On the trip back to Korea, we did, indeed, have the video on demand, individual screen system–nice. However, less than halfway through the flight, the system went down–no video, no music to listen to, nothing. That made for a much longer flight. Yeesh! I’m gonna have to start booking my travel on another airline, methinks. Sorry, Thai Air, you’re gonna have to pick it up quite a bit to keep my business.
Ok, I got that out of the way. I only stayed in Bangkok for one night, so I didn’t get around too much. One thing I always do in Bangkok is eat at the Bourbon St. Restaurant, which, as you might guess, serves mouth-watering Cajun cuisine. It’s only about a kilometer or so from the hotel, so I could have walked there. I felt like having a little fun, though, so I decided to take a motorbike mototaxi, a rather unsafe way to travel in Bangkok’s notorious traffic.
It was around 7 p.m. and Sukhumvit Road was experiencing its usual rush-hour jam, so taking a regular taxi probably would have taken around half an hour. On a mototaxi, it took about 10 minutes, with the driver weaving between the non-moving cars and buses, working his way to the front of the pack waiting for the traffic light to change. Then, at the green light, he roared to the back of the next stalled pack and again squeezed to the front. You have to really keep your arms and legs tight to the bike–you’re the meat in a sandwich and the buses and cars are the bread. It’s actually not that bad in a traffic jam, because not too many of the big vehicles are moving–just watch the arms and legs. I took a couple of videos while I was riding on the back, holding on for dear life with one hand and holding my compact camera with the other. I’ll try to get one of them posted here for your amusement.
So, I did make it to the restaurant ok and had a great meal of red beans and rice. Fantastic! Be sure to give the Bourbon St. a try if you’r ever in Bangkok. It’s on Sukhumvit Soi 22. Check their website for directions.
Another thing I like about Bangkok is all the surprising cultural trappings that seem to pop up out of nowhere. I walked back to Sukhumvit 11 (no sense pressing my luck on the mototaxis), and this statue caught my attention. It looks like it might be a shrine of some sort, and it was located across the street in front of a bank or department store–I really don’t remember which. I didn’t notice it on the ride down, but that was probably because I was too busy taking the videos and trying not to die. 
More mundane transportation is the overnight train to Nong Khai. It departs from Hua Lamphong Station at 8:30 p.m. and arrives in Nong Khai around 8:30 a.m. The train is usually late by about 20-30 minutes, although it’s been on time occasionally on my past trips, but this time we were 2 HOURS late getting into the northeastern Thai city. Again, on the return trip, the train was almost 2 hours late arriving in Bangkok. Very unusual, but not a big problem for me, since I wasn’t on any real pressing time schedule. (Nai had a pretty long wait in meeting me, though.)
Here’s a shot of Hua Lamphong I took from a restaurant above the main waiting area.
I kind of like the rickety, over-aged night train–it’s seems like an escape to the past, when people weren’t in such a hell-bent-for-leather hurry to get somewhere else. On the train, it’s not the arrival that’s important, it’s the trip. The train has a dining car, so I rocked and rolled my way down a few cars and sat down to have a snack. You meet all sorts of interesting folks. I talked to one Norwegian guy who co-owns a guest house in Vang Vieng, Laos, and he told me that the police up in the “frat” town (about which I’ve previously posted) had clamped down on the after hours (closing time–midnight) partying there. That’s excellent news–it’s a beautiful area, but the young backpackers that seemed to party ’round the clock had turned it into something less than appealing to older folks like me.
I also struck up a conversation with one of the police who patrol the cars, checking passports, watching for thievery, and other such mundane chores. I took a photo, but for some reason I had the settings on my camera messed up and didn’t get a clear shot of him. However, it does give some idea of the swaying motion of the train, so I kind of like it anyway.
So, I’ll end this rather long post with my arrival in Nong Khai and try to get some more photos and stories up this weekend. Stay tuned.
Except for quite a bit of haze, it was a beautiful day in Yeosu, so I took the motorbike out for one of my infrequent rides, another one along the coast. I’m extremely careful about riding the ‘bike–I don’t want to emulate my friend Nai in Laos, A.K.A., Mr. Accident-Prone. The back roads along the sea are very wide and have very light traffic, so there’s not a big problem with other vehicles. Also, I’m quite wary of any other obstacles, like potholes, wet spots, and other potential disasters-in-waiting. Here are a few photos of my ride today and I’ll post some more soon.
The first one is of what I call Sindeok Beach East. I posted a couple photos of this area on Sept. 27th from one side of the small peninsula that juts out into the sea. This is a smaller, more beautiful beach (in my opinion) that is just a short scramble over the rocks. Along the left side of the photo, near the top, you can see one of the buildings on the other part of the beach.
East Sindeok Beach
A kilometer or so farther along the coast road is the very small fishing village of Soji, if my memory serves me correctly, and if I read the sign, in Korean, correctly. Very lovely, peaceful area only a few kilometers outside of the city.
Soji Fishing Village
I’ll try to get some more shots posted in the next few days, and I hope to get out to a few other areas, so stay tuned. More later.
P.S. Happy Birthday to my mom. Getting younger every day.
Ahhhh, it’s that time of the year when we English teachers get a week off: no more classes until the 26th. I’m going to Seoul sometime next week to stock up on stuff that I can’t get in Yeosu, but other than that I’m just gonna hang out here, hopefully take a lot of photos and definitely take in the Yankee post-season games.
I hate to even mention that the Yanks are playing well: I’m afraid I’ll put a jinx on them. I just finished watching the first game against the Angels and they looked great. As I said earlier in the season, they seem like a special team, with a group chemistry not unlike that of the great Yankee teams of the late 90s. I hope they can go all the way to take their 27th World Series title.
Well, motorbike guy has done it again. The 4th or 5th time in a couple of years. Yup, my Laos friend Nai had ANOTHER accident riding his unworthy steed. He’s in the hospital in Vientiane after suffering a back and face injury while wrecking on his way to the market in his village. He told me that it had been raining and the road conditions were bad, which I can believe, having traveled on the slippery, muddy, pothole-laden road that runs through his village. It’s almost inevitable that you’re going to lose your balance in these conditions. He did. He has paid the price again. I phoned him today and he’s recuperating in the hospital in Vientiane. I told him that the next time I return to Laos, I’m going to take the ‘bike and toss it in the Mekong. Sheesh.
The weather in Yeosu is definitely starting to remind me that winter is not that far away, with the nights turning chilly, the wind kicking up and the leaves on the trees putting on their autumn show. We’ve actually had gorgeous weather during the day lately–sharp blue skies and mild temperatures. But the nights, and the trees, have been telling a different tale. It’s definitely fall.
This evening sure feels like a harbinger of my least favorite season, so I’m making a big batch of chili. I cut up some spicy, green, Korean chili peppers earlier to add to my somewhat culturally mixed concoction, but I made the mistake of rubbing my eyelid with my hand. For about 10 minutes I thought the burn was going to go straight through to my eyeball! 
Tip: Wash hands after preparing chili peppers.
It looks like the strife in Bangkok is escalating, with reports that tear gas was used by the army to clear out protestors blocking some of the major intersections. To top things off, Apr. 13-15 is Songkran, Thailand’s New Year and one of its major holiday periods.
Laos also celebrates Songkran. I talked to Nai last night, and he has been hired to sing at one of the parties being held there today. This one is being sponsored by his brother’s construction company. I asked him to be careful, because many people are injured or killed in drunk-driving accidents this time of year, and knowing Nai’s penchant for getting into motorbike accidents, I am obviously worried. He told me “I cannot drink beer tomorrow. I sing a song for party.” Good. Keep it that way, Mr. Accident Prone. :satisfied:
It looks like it’s finally here, at least in Yeosu. It was cold and rainy Thursday and Friday, but today we’ve had abundant sunshine and temperatures in the mid-fifties. I was walking around and noticed that some of the shrubbery and trees are starting to blossom, including, I think, some cherry blossoms. Hopefully, I can put away my winter clothes since this week highs are forecast to be in the mid-sixties. Sweet!
I actually DID go to Odong Island last weekend, and I have some new photos of the area. As soon as I get them processed, I’ll put a few of them up here.
I see that both Korea and Japan, as expected, advanced to the next round of the World Baseball Classic. The HUGE upset, of course, was the Dominican Republic getting eliminated by the Netherlands. I can imagine the folks back in the D.R. are still wondering what the heck happened. (NOTE: I just checked the Classic website in order to get the link to post here and I saw that Puerto Rico demolished the U.S. 11 to 1. Another upset coming up?)
My friend Nai got into another motorbike accident a few days back. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt too badly, but he’s very upset that the other person involved, an 82-year old man, was injured and is in quite a bit of pain, so Nai tells me. It sounds like it was the older fellow’s fault. It seems he pedaled his bicycle against the light into traffic. Nai beeped his horn and put on the brakes, but he couldn’t get stopped in time to keep from knocking the guy off the bicycle and onto the road. Even though it wasn’t his fault, Nai is going to pay for the other person’s medicine until he gets back on his feet-a traditional show of respect for one’s elders, I guess. I’m really gonna have to try to get Nai to give up on motorbikes as much as possible. He always seems to be having trouble with them, one way or another. The bike he rides around on now is one that I helped him buy. I don’t think I want to help him buy another. He needs to get training wheels or something. More later.
Well, my friend Nai has done it again or it’s been done to him or whatever. The guy just doesn’t have much luck at all, though I doubt luck has much to do with it. As you may recall, he was in a bad motorcycle accident a few months ago, and it has been only recently that he seemed fully-recovered. He had a bout with malaria recently, too. A week-and-a-half ago, he told me his mother was sick. She was in the small local hospital (woefully inadequate) next to his house, and he had been going over there to bring food to her and to sit with her. He had also been working in the Vientiane morning market, getting up at 2 a.m. to go there to sell rice, making a bit of money, becoming somewhat self-sufficient. (I gave him the money to get started in this.)
A few days ago I called him to say hello, but his brother Pui answered Nai’s cell phone and said he was at the hospital with his mother. “OK, I call back tomorrow,” I told him. The next day he was at the hospital and the day after that. Finally, it hit me that he wasn’t seeing his mother, but, instead he was IN the hospital himself. I confirmed that with Pui. “Nai have accident?” “Yes,” Pui said, “Nai accident. Hospital Vientiane.”
Then I got an email from his father yesterday, written with the help of one of Nai’s English-speaking Lao friends. Apparently, Nai had been getting more and more tired from working the market that time of day, and, when he got up to go to the toilet and get ready to go into work again, he fell (fainted? passed out?) and smashed his head on the concrete floor. It sounds like he suffered a concussion, at least. I talked to him this morning, finally, and he was pretty much out of it, groggy with the medicine he’s taking and his head in a lot of pain. He said he might have to go to the hospital in Nong Khai, across the river in Thailand, maybe for a couple of weeks. His mother is also still very ill, apparently, and, of course, the family has no money to cover hospital, doctor and medicinal expenses. Guess who does? Yes, I was asked by the father, who is a very dignified old gentleman and not one to beg, if I could send a few thousand dollars to help the family. My finances lately are really hurting, but I couldn’t say no and let them suffer without medical care and medicine. I can hardly wait to get back there in July to say hello and see in person what’s going on with Nai and his family. I’m always happy to see them and they make me feel like part of their family. I’ll spend most of my time in Laos staying with them and save money by staying out of Vientiane hotels and guest houses. I just pray they’re all in good health soon.
Talking about my faltering finances, my mother told me that I had been getting calls the last few days from one of my credit card companies, telling me to call them about possible fraudulent use of the card. I thought it was probably just a response to my using it to purchase my plane ticket to Thailand, but, no, someone had been using the credit card number in California, mainly for small purchases at Target and McDonalds. How they got the number (and then made a fake card out of it) I don’t know. I’m sure it was nothing they found online, since I’m very careful about covering my tracks online and keeping my anti-virus, anti-spyware programs up to date. I used that particular card in Santo Domingo the past several weeks, at FedEx and at D’Luis Restaurant, a respectable, somewhat upscale establishment. Could someone there have copied my cc info and sold it? Possibly, I suppose. Anyway, the card was canceled and a new one is on the way to my Montana address.
In addition, I am now waiting for the other shoe to drop on my income taxes. The IRS told me it would take about 6-8 weeks to render a judgment on the fees and penalties I owe, and that’s right . . . about . . . now.
On a brighter note, we had some sunshine today. Only a couple hours worth, so far, but sunshine nevertheless. Also, in a follow up to my last post in which I was somewhat skeptical about the current state of affairs in the U.S., here’s a speech given by Pulitzer Prize-Winning reporter Chris Hedges. It pretty much sums up my feelings. It’s long, but give it a go if you’re interested. (And I’m sure many of you are not. )
More later.
It sounds like Nai’s out of the woods, so to speak. I talked to Pui this morning and he said “Nai ok. Nai stay hospital two weeks.” He sounded optimistic, so I hope everything will be ok. Once he gets back home, I’ve got to get him to swear off riding motorbikes. He was pretty leery about riding them after his previous accident, so I suppose he’ll be amenable to agreeing to stay off them as much as possible. You wouldn’t believe the number of accidents and deaths that occur from riding the things. It seems like every week he tells me about cousin so-and-so who had an accident and is in the hospital, or about a friend of a friend who died in an accident. Terrible things, terrible drivers, but ubiquitous in such a poor country where not many people can afford automobiles.
I received some terrible news from Laos this morning. Nai told me yesterday that he was going to Vientiane today to send me email. He’s not very tech savvy, so this is always a big deal and a proud moment for him, to show off his internet skills. Sure enough, there was an email from him in my “In Box” this morning. I eagerly clicked it open, only to read that it was written by a friend of his who has some moderate English language skills. He wrote that Nai had been badly injured in a motorbike accident and was in the intensive care unit at a Vientiane hospital. The doctor thinks that he needs an operation and they’ll probably have to transport him to a Thailand hospital with better facilities than those in Laos. Because the family has no money to speak of, they need about $4,000 for the operation.
I am totally devastated; writing this is very difficult for me. This is my best friend in the world, someone whom I love as a brother–more, actually. The money doesn’t matter. Of course, I wired it to his bank account today. His mother has access to the account, so she’ll have enough to pay the hospital bill. I also called Nai’s brother, Pui, who speaks a little (very little) English to confirm that Nai is in the hospital, to make sure that the friend wasn’t scamming me. It’s confirmed–he’s in the hospital, though Pui couldn’t tell me much more than that, due to the language barrier. That’s tough, not being able to communicate. I have a couple of Lao language books, so I’m going to really work at learning the language, but in the short term I can at least put together a few phrases to find out what’s going on.
That’s about all I know now. I don’t know where he’s hurt or how badly. His friend wrote that he might have to stay in the hospital for a long time, so it doesn’t sound good. One positive note is that Nai had to be fairly lucid and coherent to give to his friend his Yahoo Mail username and password.
Damn those motorbikes! Nai had a serious accident a few years ago, doing a face plant in the middle of a road near his house. This one sounds much worse. I constantly ask him to be very careful if he’s going to ride his motorbike. I’m sure he was, but there are many others in Laos who just don’t pay attention to what they’re doing (or are too drunk while riding). I’ll keep you updated, but please remember Nai in your thoughts and prayers.
Only a few more weeks remain until I leave the D.R. for a few months. I don’t have that many classes left to teach, so I’m kind of treading water, so to speak, with a few of the classes. I’ve been using a textbook with them, adapting it to be more relevant to young, Latin American baseball players and augmenting it with my own materials. We’re at the end of a chapter and I don’t want to start a new one, knowing that we wouldn’t finish it before I leave, so I have to come up with some other suitable material for a while. One of the universities, UNIBE, from Santo Domingo, is coming here to give a few workshops, such as communication skills, financial management, conflict resolution and others to the players, and the week of July 2-6 belongs to them. Effectively, then, I only have next week left to teach.
I witnessed a pretty bad motorcycle accident last Sunday. One guy pulled away from the curb and smacked into an oncoming ‘cyclist, who had the right of way. One fellow got up ok, but the other stayed down, holding his leg and obviously in quite a bit of pain. He was eventually transported away in an ambulance, which had to part the large crowd of onlookers to get to him. I was in a market across the street when it happened.
The Yankee and Bomber squads have seen an unbelievable amount of action this week. Remember I posted about all the rainouts? Well, they’ve been making them up this week. Monday through Thursday, the Yanks are playing 4 (!) doubleheaders in a row and the Bombers are playing 3, having only one game to play yesterday. The games are only 7 innings each, but with the early morning workout from about 7:30 to 9, that’s still a lot of time on the field. Yesterday, the Yanks, the away team, didn’t get back to the campus until 4 p.m. Obviously, getting them to come to classes is a chore, and they’ll be ready for a break this weekend.
I found out that there is also supposed to be another concert at the Boca Chica beach this weekend, along with the one I mentioned that is taking place just down the road east of here. So, the players will have plenty of opportunities to spend their recent paychecks and to let off a little steam. I hope they don’t go overboard. Most of the Dominican players will go to their various cities for the weekend, but the foreign guys will hang around the area.
I just submitted a few photos to the online international photography magazine Lens Culture. They’re doing a project to get 1000 photos of Buddha submitted to them and put online. I sent them 5 of my Thailand and Laos photos, but they won’t be able to get to them for a few months, since they’re swamped with submissions.
Also, if you’ll recall, I posted a while back that the Current cable network had filmed here and the show would air sometime around the middle of June. Unfortunately, someone didn’t pay the bill and we’ve been without cable television since June 1st, so I can’t tell you if the show has been on or not. More later.
Again, we had some heavy showers over night and again, for the 5th straight game, the team won’t be playing here today. It looks like the bus is fired up, so perhaps the away game might be played. Now, though, the skies are clear and sunny, so let’s hope good weather is here to stay.
As promised, I finally took some photos of Boca Chica, most of which I’ll post to the Photo Gallery. But, here are some for your perusal.
Here’s a scene along the main road in the town, Avenida Duarte. There’s lots of these places where you can buy a large variety of paintings. I don’t know how much of them are mass produced. I saw a guy painting one once and the canvas had all the outlines of the various elements already drawn in, much like a Paint-by-Number kit. Still, they’re pretty. The canvas rolls up easily for traveling, so if I have enough room in my baggage, I might bring a few back.
Here’s a shot along the beach. It’s unusual in that there are very few people here, even though it’s a Saturday.
Maybe everyone was at the Harley-Davidson festival that day. Here’s one of the bikes–lots of nice looking ones.
Here’s a view from my usual hangout, under the palm trees. This is the best part of the beach, in my opinion. Everything here, food and drink, is a bit expensive, but you’re really paying for the ambience.
Finally, we haven’t had too many good sunrises or sunsets lately, but this one was kind of nice. The white dot in the upper middle of the photo is Venus.
Also, I forgot to mention (and I hope I don’t jinx them) that the Big Club has now won 8 in a row and cut the Red Sox lead to 8 1/2 games.
Breaking News!
Ok, it’s not that breathtaking, but since I started writing this, the Diamondbacks bus came to the camp. At first I thought that they were going to try to play a game here, but, looking out my bathroom window, I see that the Yankee team is boarding the bus. Obviously, the Arizona club, which was supposed to play here today, sent their bus to pick up the Yanks and take them to the Diamondback field, which must have missed all the rain. Our bus, in the meantime, is transporting the Bombers to the regularly scheduled away field (haven’t looked to see who they are playing). Obviously, our camp lay right under the path of the bands of rain clouds that have been passing through the area, but some of the other camps were spared.
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