|
|
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.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I’ll be signing on for another year here. Lots of reasons for doing that–familiarity with the job, pleasant people to work with, friendliness of the students and the people of the area, the beauty of the countryside, and, the biggest reason, the upcoming 2012 Expo next year, about which I’ve posted quite a few times. (Use the search box to find the relevant posts.) So, I’m pretty stoked about being here for at least another year.
The new contract begins at the end of August, so there’s still a bit of time to go before then. In the meantime, I’m heading down to Thailand and Laos in June. I purchased my ticket from Thai Air last week–I’d been logging onto their web site for about a month, waiting for their ticket prices to drop, which they do around this time of the year. Sure enough, prices went down about $100 for a round-trip ticket in June. Sweet!
I have a ton of frequent flier miles built up on the Star Alliance frequent flier program and they expire soon, so I probably could have used those for a free flight, if I’d been lucky enough to grab a freebie at that time. I’ve read that it’s very difficult to get a seat by using miles for free flights, and a more realistic scenario would have been to get an upgrade. However, I thought that wasn’t really the best way to go. I’ve decided to use the miles for a hotel room in Patong, Phuket, Thailand for a week for my friend Nai and myself. We’ve stayed at the Thara Patong Resort before, and we really enjoyed it, so I’m going to use the miles for that. It’s an upscale hotel, right across the street from the beach in Patong, with friendly staff, a very large swimming pool, and a pretty good inclusive breakfast in one of the restaurants. (I’m the early bird breakfast zombie–Nai usually sleeps in, lazy guy.
Here’s a quick snap of the pool from our hotel room, back in 2007.
So, as of now, my tentative plans are to fly into Bangkok on June 11th, take the overnight train to Nongkhai, Thailand on the 12th, arriving the next day, then goofing around in Nongkhai and Vientiane (Laos) with Nai until the 19th. We’ll then take the train back to Bangkok and fly out of the City of Angels on the 22nd for Phuket, returning on the 29th. Back to Korea on July 1st. Too short. But, it’ll do.
So, long term–another year in Yeosu. Mid term–the trip to Thailand in June. Short term–get in beach shape. I’ve taken off 5 kilograms (about 11 pounds) since the beginning of the semester in March, and I’ve got a long ways to go. I’ve been working out at the gym on the weight machines, so I’m trying to develop the physique, along with losing the weight. This recent illness has slowed my progress, but I’ve got a couple of months to go yet, so I’m hopeful that I’ll look like this guy. More later.
Not kidding about the physique. Jack LaLanne at 95 years old. Fantastic.
Here are a few more “theme” photos from walking and bicycling around Yeosu.
First, more chicken–”Mexican” chicken. No, it’s not Mexican food, unfortunately. It’s merely spicy, as in “hot.” Too bad. I can actually make my own Mexican food–it’s not too difficult to find, in larger cities, taco shells and taco and fajita mix, “real” cheese, nacho chips, jalapenos, etc. A few days ago I brewed up a nice big pot of chili to acknowledge the imminent coming of winter. As a matter of fact, I’m just about to go warm up the remainder of that delicious concoction–winter’s definitely on the way when I start percolating some batches of chili, and there has been a bit of a chill in the night air lately.
It’s a big thumbs up for chicken around here.
And how does all that chicken get here? Why, by truck, boat and train, of course. Here’s a shot I took of the “blue train,” cars that transport petrochemicals, I assume, from the gigantic industrial area located over the mountain just north of the university. One of these days, I promise to hike up that mountain and take some high-up shots of the complex. I’m pretty sure they don’t process chicken there. 
If you follow baseball, you probably know that the Yankees are on their last gasp for advancing to the World Series. They’ve been totally thrashed by the Texas Rangers, and tomorrow’s game is their last chance to continue in the American League Championship Series. If they lose, they’re out. A long winter for New York fans is in the offing. More games later, hopefully.
P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom, if you read this, and best wishes for many more to come.
No, I’m not riding a horse; I’m back in the saddle of a bicycle. One of the teachers’ contract is finished, and he’s chosen not to renew. Instead, he’s entering the Peace Corps in late spring or early summer. Less than a year ago he bought a Cannondale F7 mountain bike up in Seoul. It’s made by one of world’s great bicycle companies and it’s really a sweeeet ride. Here’s a picture of the model from the Cannondale website.
It gets mostly great reviews, including a bunch from this website. The guy paid around $700 for it, but he’s letting it go for around $300, a price a bit beyond what I wanted to pay, but too good of a deal to pass up. I can probably sell my motorbike, which I rarely use, to offset some or all of the price.
Walking around or taking the bus last summer and fall to various locations around Yeosu, I thought that it would be great to have a mountain bike, and I promised myself that I’d look into getting one this spring. I love bicycles, but I haven’t had one since I worked in Morocco. The Dominican Republic was just too unsafe to be out riding alone and after a year without one here, I realized how much I miss riding. Now, I can hardly wait for the weather to warm up. Yeah, it’s still chilly winter here, despite a few decent days a couple of weeks ago. Soon, though, (well, a few months) it’ll be spring and I’ll be out riding regularly.
The two extra classes I’m teaching finish this week. That means I’ll have more time to get into the gym beginning next Monday and start working out and running on the treadmill (too cold and windy to run outside). I’ve probably put on a few pounds since my last regular workouts at the beginning of December, so I’m anxious to get going again. I’m looking forward to being svelte.  It also means I’ll be posting more often. Stay tuned for more later.
I arrived in Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport with nothing extremely noteworthy happening on the flight here. Viet Nam Airlines still leaves a lot to be desired–just so-so food and absolutely no in-flight entertainment. (They said that the system had a mechanical/electrical failure of some sort.) Mostly the cabin attendants were polite and attentive, but one guy was having a bad day. A couple of older Korean guys sat in the seats in front of me, and they seemed a bit goofy to begin with. The attendants handed out Viet Nam immigration forms to fill out at the beginning of the flight and, a bit later, one of the Korean guys tried to hand his passport and form to the aforementioned attendant, for what purpose–who knows? The attendant waved him off and went about his duties. About ten minutes later, the fellow again tried to give his papers to the attendant, who got a bit perturbed and told him (if hes gestures and tone of voice were any indication) that “I don’t do this–You
do it! Don’t ask again.” The Korean guy didn’t.
Then, one of the female attendants handed out lunch menus and about 30 minutes later our previous male attendants came along with the meals. Only then did the two Korean gents open their menus and proceed to discuss the choices with each other. I imagine the conversation was something like:
“How about the fish?”
“I don’t know. You hungry for fish? The beef might be ok?”
“Maybe. What does the beef come with. Let’s see . . . hmmmm.”
The attendant was really getting impatient by this time.
“C’mon fellas. Order already. Why didn’t you look at the menu before? I only got about 150 other passenger to serve. And look, the bald-headed guy behind you is laughing at ya.”
It was humorous, I thought, but I wasn’t laughing out loud. Really.
The Koreans finally ordered their meals and even managed to choose what they wanted to drink after only a little hemming and hawing. The attendant was surly the rest of the flight.
The Sky Cafe in Noi Bai looked the same as last Christmas. See the post below. (I wonder if they keep the decorations up all year round.) However, the rest of the transit area has changed.
I posted previously about the construction at Noi Bai. It’s finished and they opened up some of the usual duty-free shops–Tobacco/Liquor, Confections, Watches–and the rest of the ample concourse went to souvenir shops. But, every . . . single . . one . . . of them is selling the exact same stuff at the exact same over-pricing. What a waste. Another restaurant or two would have been nice; perhaps an Internet Cafe, bar or whatever would have upped the interest factor, but as it is, nobody used any imagination. Ah, well–on to Vientiane.
Yesterday, the 11th, was Pepero Day in Korea. It’s akin to Valentine’s Day, which is also celebrated here, with young people and couples exchanging candy, mainly the Lotte Corporation’s Pepero brand. The 11th is Pepero Day because, according to this article, the date 11/11 resembles four sticks of Pepero. However, the name Pepero in Korean, which you can see on the product box below, also resembles 11/11. At any rate, some of my students gave me several boxes of the treat, which makes for good munchies. (Reminder to self: jog an extra half hour next time out.)
I was out walking around a few weekends ago and took the following shot from near the Soho Yacht Marina area, along the sidewalk back toward the main part of town. Yeosu is quite pretty at nighttime, as you can see from the photo. I took a bus there and back. The bus system in town is very extensive and you can travel almost anywhere for 1,000 won (about 85 cents), unless you have to make some transfers. It doesn’t run like clockwork, though, because you might have to wait 30 minutes for a specific bus to come along and then 2 or 3 of them show up within 5 minutes of each other. There are no timed stops, so it’s kind of hit and miss as far as timeliness. More later.
No, I’m not suffering. But, our little area of low pressure has blown up into a tropical depression, soon-to-be Tropical Storm Noel, then Hurricane Noel. At least that’s the current prediction. Overnight we had a steady, but not heavy, rainfall, and on the field nearest my room, the warning track and part of the outfield grass are under water. Play between the various teams in the Instructional League was supposed to start tomorrow, but I’d guess that’s going to be delayed a day or two. At the moment the intensity has picked up a bit. There have been no thunderstorms or heavy winds, and it looks like the system will be long gone from our neck of the woods by the time it attains tropical storm strength. I have to go into Boca Chica today to make some copies for this coming week’s classes, but I certainly won’t be taking a motorcycle taxi! More later.
Thought I’d better check in with a few jottings of goings on here and elsewhere.
We’ve got a nice mix of players right now, comprised mostly of Dominicans, but with several Venezuelans and a few Nicaraguans, Panamanians and Mexicans. We’ve also got two kids from Brazil, and, for a few weeks, a couple of guys from Holland. At the end of next week, 8 players from the U.S. are coming down to work out with the regulars. All in all, a pretty interesting mix.
After being shut down for 6 weeks, the camp seems to be having more than its share of problems. First, the generators were acting up, leaving us without electricity and internet for the better part of a few days. Once that was taken care of, the water pressure started acting up, meaning we were without water for half of last weekend. The maintenance crew thought they fixed it, but we’ve been dry for most of today, again. They’re still working on it and I think I just heard a trickle coming out of my bathroom faucet.
Then, earlier today, one of the grounds crew was working underneath a front loader when the large bucket assembly in the front fell on top of him, mashing up his back pretty bad. I didn’t see it happen, but everyone is very worried about him; he’s now in a hospital in Santo Domingo. We’ll definitely keep him in our thoughts.
We’ve also been having quite a bit of rain lately, mainly very intense, early afternoon showers. Sunday, though, it rained off and on for most of the day, frequently heavily. I took a beat-up old taxi into Boca Chica around 2 p.m. and it started raining hard enough to obscure our view through the windshield; however, that wasn’t the worst of it–the driver’s wipers didn’t work too well and his heater was inoperable, so that the inside fogging of the windows pretty much shot vision all to heck. Luckily, we managed to make it into B.C. without getting slammed into by one of the heavy trucks which frequents the highway in these parts.
I see that the Red Sox have pulled off another unbelievable comeback to put themselves into the World Series against the Rockies. I guess that’s ok, because how many people would have watched a Cleveland-Denver Series anyway? (Not that a whole lot are going to stay up late watching Boston-Denver either.)
I hear through the grapevine that Brian Cashman, General Manager of the Big Club, and a few other VIPs might be coming down sometime this fall. I’d love to meet Cashman, who I think has been one of the most competent people in the front office over the last 10 years. More later.
Take a look at the time stamp at the bottom of this post. If you add 11 hours to it, you should come up with a time of about 6 a.m. Actually, I was up about 3 a.m. this morning, after finally succumbing to jet lag around 5 yesterday afternoon. I’m feeling pretty good today, so far.
Yesterday, I got checked into the guesthouse ok and after cleaning up, I went next door and had a nice, relaxing Thai massage–NOT! Good Thai massages are not relaxing, since you get pushed and pulled, twisted and turned, kneaded and prodded. I opted for a 1 1/2 hour massage, and checked to make sure that the masseuse, a young lady, could give a strong massage (and no hanky-panky, if you know what I mean). She could and did. Though it wasn’t relaxing, it sure helped relieve some of the muscle tension built up from the long flight over. During the massage, a vicious thunder and rain storm broke out. It sounded like it was directly overhead, the lightning flashing and then followed by almost instantaneous cracklings and boomings of thunder. The rain lashed the city, and the side street the guesthouse is on was ankle deep with water. It was an astonishing display of nature, but not all that unusual this time of year.
After the massage, I went to the Sizzler Restaurant in Mahboonkrong Shopping Plaza to take in the salad bar. I made a couple of trips to the greenery and when I left, I found myself very tired, in a sleepy drowsy way. Still, I had to make my way to the Hualamphong train station to buy my ticket to Nong Khai. Once there, I found that the train was already full until the 29th, so I have to delay my trip until then. I’ll get into Nong Khai on the 30th, instead of the 28th, so that gives me a few extra days to goof around in Bangkok. After purchasing the ticket, I went back to the guesthouse for some much-needed sleep.
Ok, I promised the Thai Air menu in my last post, so here it is:
Dinner:
Thai Salad with Chicken Sausage and Garnitures
Beef Bourguignonne with Steamed Parsley Potatoes and Mixed Vegetables OR Stir fried Seafood with Garlic and Pepper and Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice
Roll, butter, cheese and fresh fruit
Breakfast:
Fresh fruits and yogurt
Creamed Scrambled Eggs, Chicken Sausage, Fried Gem Potatoes and Cherry Tomatoes OR Chicken Yakitori with Yakitori Sauce, Japanase Rice, Sauteed Mixed Vegetables Oriental Style
Roll or croissant, Danish Pastry, butter, cheese
Snack:
Mixed green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing
Spaghetti Napolitan with Meat Ball Tomato Sauce and Green Beans OR Thai Fried Rice with Shrimp Paste, Dried Baby Shrimp and Chinese Chicken Sausage
Roll, butter and assorted petite fours
Very delicious and just listing these has started to make me very hungry. Breakfast is on the way. Well, actually I have to go to it. I think I’ll head over to Crepes and Co., which makes a marvelous, huge and expensive breakfast. I’ll need to get stocked up, though, for all the potential activities to do: cruise the river, take in a wat or two, go to Chinatown, get another massage (perhaps at Wat Pho), eat real Thai food instead of Sizzler and Crepes & Co. stuff (like at the Suda restaurant, an outdoor eatery on Suk Soi 14 that has a huge menu of cheap Thai and Chinese goodies), etc. Too much to do and not enough time. Better get to it. More later.
After a very long flight (17 hours), I finally arrived in Thailand at 6 o’clock this morning–that would be about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Montana time. (Ignore the date stamp at the bottom of my posts for the next two months–just add eleven hours to it to get the correct time that I’m making the entry.) I can always tell I’m in Thailand by the smells that greet me when I walk outside the airport to catch the bus into Bangkok. Mostly it’s gas, diesel and airplane fumes, mixed in with a bit of a sewer smell, especially in Bangkok. In the Big Mango itself, I’m surrounded by the smells of the various foods being cooked by the street vendors–grilled chicken, beef and seafood, corn on the cob, noodles and other Thai delicacies. There’s also the exhaust from the traffic, but also the sounds–a steady noise from all the automobiles, buses, tuk-tuks and motorbikes, sort of like a background white noise, always there. There are also the human noises from the densely packed sector of the city in which I’m staying, Sukhumvit, as I’m accosted by tuk-tuk and motorbike drivers, vendors trying to sell me shirts and what-not, beggars on the sidewalk, and others. Chaos incarnate. I love it!
I left for all this madness on Monday morning, Missoula time. I made a last minute stop at the bank to buy some travelers checks, and the haze from the past few days had dissipated somewhat. I had a one-hour delay in Salt Lake City, so I “only” had a 6-hour layover in Los Angeles. The Thai Airways flight was about half an hour late getting started, but we arrived in Bangkok right on time, 6:10 a.m. It was exciting to be in a truly international airport (LAX) once again, surrounded by different languages and clothing. The new Thai airport, Suvarnabhumi, is also quite interesting and beautiful, a step up from the older Don Muang Airport. I don’t feel as affected by jet lag as I did last year after flying from Bangkok to Montana. Hopefully, though, I’ll get a good night’s sleep later.
I was going to write down the menu we were offered on the flight over, but I seem to have left my complimentary copy back at the guesthouse. Yes, everyone was given a menu to choose from, with two choices for each of the three meals we had. I’ll post it here later if I can find it. I also had a choice of about 25 movies to view and, between catnaps I watched “The Last King of Scotland,” “Blades of Glory,” “Disturbia,” “The Incredibles,” and a Thai movie. As always, more later.
|
|
