Christmas in Bangkok

Since I have not been home to enjoy the holiday season I treated myself and traveled into Bangkok one night for a dinner at the top of The Banyan Tree Hotel which has a great view. Bangkok although in a predominantly Buddhist country does get some Christmas flair going for it, at least it has the capitalist part of Christmas down...every mall has decorations and sales. So I traveled to Bangkok with a friend. While trying to find out hotel (the taxi drivers are not very good with directions here for taxi drivers) and although I gave him the address in Thai he could not figure out where this hotel was. We pulled up to a hotel with one letter difference in it than ours and since this is Thailand and spelling is always quite arbitrary we thought we had finally arrived. We paid the taxi driver...because even if this is not our hotel we are not getting back into his cab. As we approach the door they open it for us...but quite a weird scene was going on to our right. We see a man hand a lady a bag and as she opens the bag she screams and a live rat jumps out. Now the lady is scared but the rat is even more scared and he takes off...where? but of course in the door of the hotel being held open for us. The only clear place of shield in the lobby was a fake Christmas tree...decorated with tinsel and adorned with fake gifts around it. Well the rat digs for cover in the tinsel and presents. My friend and I just look at each other and enter the hotel..I mean what could we do. Part of me wanted this to be our hotel because the journey has been long, but on the other hand there was a pretty big rat in the lobby. Meanwhile we are at the desk two dudes (one who originally had the rat in the bag...why we will never know) are crouched around the tree trying to catch the rat with a box and a bag. The rat is rummaging in the tinsel and gifts...pretty funny site to see as the nice guy at the front desk tells us this is not our hotel. We leave the comical scene and grab another taxi. Finally we find our hotel where I am grateful for a hot shower (this was also a treat because I do not have this luxury in my town) and no rats. We ate dinner 61 stories up in an open air restaurant elegantly titles "Vertigo." The view of Bangkok at night is really pretty. I walked around the city and found some comforting Christmas decorations. Christmas in Thailand won't be the same as at home but good thing there is always next year.
This is one of my favorite pictures.

Koh Chang (Elephant Island)

WOW, I have been blessed with seeing a lot of amazing things in my life but I was like a kid at Disneyland for the first time when I arrived here. Never have I seen water so clear. I cannot remember a time where I could be swimming, look down and see my feet...along with all the cool fishies and the bottom of the ocean! Except for this one time while swimming in Long Island sound...haha so kidding. Anyways its beautiful here. I spent the long weekend of the King's Birthday on this Island. The island is a national park and has many other smaller Islands around it that are part of Koh Chang Marine Park. The island is a jungle with one road around it. Along the road there are many beaches and towns that pop up. We chose to stay at the backpacker favorite of lonely beach (not so lonely nowadays). Here there are great cheap bungalows to stay at and a great stretch of beach...and everything is basically geared towards to younger crowd. Day 1 I spent on the popular beach, swimming meeting new people watching a guy get a full stomach tattoo on the beach you know the usual. Then day 2 I headed for a more serene bay where I read and relaxed on a private dock all day. After this I headed to this natural spa down the street. This place was awesome it used the natural foliage to create a mini oasis and in the middle was an herbal sauna . It was very local...the lady literally pulled the treatment products out of the fridge and I applied them while sipping on pure carrot and ginger juice. Also all the products were edible...literally the body moisturizer was tamirn, milk and honey and even though I did not try it, it received rave reviews for tastiness from my friend. I have to say I love the accessibility of natural products here. Besides at this spa the main pharmacy in Bangkok, Boots, has an entire natural line for great prices....just ask my friends I never leave there empty handed. So after the spa we headed to this fishing pier...because as I have always learned from Jack the best fish you can get is at the pier because it was swimming just a few minutes ago! Here I enjoyed a fabulous meal. The table was on the pier and then your feet hung under it and it was glass so you could see the water...literally the fish. I have provided a picture because I do not think my description is giving it justice. The photographer me is sitting at the table and looking down. Anyways here at Buddha View I ate the best fish I have had in a long time. Snapper fresh from the dock...yum. Well Koh Chang proved to be awesome and I cannot wait to get down to the even more tropical islands for New Years!
For more pictures check out the link on my profile.

Clear Waterfalls!

This past weekend I headed up to Kanchanaburi, north west of Bangkok. Here there are a few national parks we ventured into one Erawan National park which is popular for its 7 tier waterfall (Erawan Falls). Although I bit tired from Friday night activities we ventured into the park and immediatly were excited because from level one we could already tell this was going to be beautiful. The water was so blue and these large fish were swimming around. The entire hike to the seventh tier was about 2 km. Each tier is unique and have pools and a part of the fall. We stopped for a nice swim at level 3 where there was a nice pool and a fall we could climb into. To my surprise the fish did not leave me alone but liked to nibble out my feet! This freaked me out a little but I got used to it...well kind of. Anyways the top fall (number 7) is said to resemble Erawan the three headed elephant of hindu mythology. This is where the name comes from.
On Sunday we went to some caves that formed part of a temple. Here we saw many buddha images in caves. We were taken into the cave by our "tour guides" 10 year boys who are cab driver told to take us into the cave. They lead us through saying "mind you head" countless number of times. Then I headed back to school were the count down till new years begins!

Pictures

Hello Everyone!
For pictures please click on my profile. Then there is a link to contact me, by email or by web page. If you click web page it will bring you to my pictures. Or please use this link http://picasaweb.google.com/Liz.G.McCabe. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday season in the United States!

Khoa Yai National Park

So I am in Thailand and I guess it is time to venture to the Jungle. Khoa Yai National Park (Big Mountain in Thai) is one of the worlds greatest national parks. It is beautiful I will give it that, I do not know if one day in the park was ample time to visit but it is all the time I had for now. Maybe once school is out I can venture in for a few days. I however did get to see some good wildlife and would love to share my pictures.
This is a whip snake...later in the hike I will see a white one of these but he was not so keen on posing for the camera. We saw this guy from the road. Next we entered the jungle. Out tour guide kept poking sticks into holes in the ground trying to find a scorpion...and then we did. We found "Jackson" a scorpion that has a hole right on the path many tours walk through every day so I guess we can call Jackson a celebrity scorpion! I mean he clearly was used to posing for pictures. Unfortunatly I chickened out big time on putting the scorpion on my body...much to the tour guides dismay since he shoved it in my face like 4 times and then rest of the hike kept turning back and going ah scorpion trying to scare me...ya this got old fast. Anyways the thing is huge and I could not help but wonder if "Only hurt a little bit when it stings, not posionous and will only sting if it is angry," was any way lost in translation,. When we asked our guide about things biting you (snakes, scorpions, bugs etc.) he seemed to have to categories not go to hospital and go to hospital. Not very concrete answers at least not concrete enough for me to start touching things! So anyways Jackson- who is actually female and pregnant made it on Melissa's arm so I will share that picture with you. Jackson really is not posinous. Bigger scorpions are not posinous they use there body mass and big claws to fight...smaller scorpions are the ones to worry about they have venom. So moving on we did get to see a Black Gibbon which was cool, these are pretty rare. They are monkeys, but stay up in the trees so are hard to find. I only got the back of this one...but their faces and hands are white which are cool. This was some of the wildlife we saw, unfortunetly not wild elephants, but maybe next time!

Food Thai Style!

I figured this was an appropriate day to talk about the food here in Thailand. The food is delicious (aroi) in Thai and cheap. A conundrum I have had to overcome is that here in Thailand the cheaper the food and more informally presented.....the better. For example I have eaten at a nice restaurant in a mall and been thoroughly disappointed while paying 350 (10 dollars) baht...but nothing hits the spot like the pad thai stall down the road from me where I can basically pet the nearby roaming cows and eat my delicious padthai under a thatched roof for 15 baht (50 cents!) Well actually it usually turns out to be a dollar because I can't just have one :). So anyways I eat most of my meals (the better ones) at places that in the United States would be considered....hum....well possibly not considered. Are there any restaurants that consist of a frying pan island type thing on wheels, a plastic table 4 plastic stools and a thatch roof in USA? Not that I know of except maybe some tacky novelty ones that make you feel "in the jungle." Definitely not the same thing! So eating here is not an issue...and the cheaper usually the better which is very convenient.
Now the vegetarian staple/ the only thing I can confidently order in Thai is Fried Rice with Egg. This stuff is amazing....ok get the picture out of your head of China Star fried rice that cures your hang over, it is not the same thing. Fried here simply means it touches the frying pan (which is the only thing they cook in, so technically everything is "fried"). The rice is lightly coated in oil and then some fresh vegtables and an egg are added...serve it piping hot and hand the lady a 20 baht roughly 75 cents and your meal is served. And the utensils they use...fork and spoon not knife. So the left hand handles the fork (which does not go in your mouth) and the right handles the spoon (does go in your mouth). The fork is used somewhat like a backhoe pushing the rice (all meals come with rice unless you get noodle soup) onto the spoon, then the spoon takes the rice into your mouth...Yum it fits way more than a fork such a great idea. I might eat the rest of my life this way.
Ok vegetarian in Thailand- not as common as you would think considering it is suppose to be part of Buddhism. Now I have found it difficult to get it through to the Thai teachers I work with the understand that I DO NOT EAT MEAT, yet some how when I order myself I do fine. I have concluded they think my vegetarianism is a disease and think if they secretly get me to eat meat I will be cured! Example: (how all my lunches go). Pe (teacher): Liz you want noodle or rice. Me: Um today I will have rice, what do they have? Pe: Ok they have chicken curry. Me: um I do not eat chicken (remember this is the thousand time I have told you). Pe: oh ok you can have the pad thai with tofu. Me: wow that sounds Delicious. Skip to 5 minutes later me picking the pork off my pad thai (just added to the top for decoration I can only assume). But for 50 cents of deliciousness I can pick through it. So everyone enjoy your turkey I am going to head to the cafeteria for some Fried Rice :).

Loi Krathong

One of the most beautiful things have ever seen, the festival of Loi Krathong. A brief history- Loi Krathong is a festival in which the Thai's give thanks the the river for letting them use it and giving them life. Also it is a day to let go of one's grudges and have a fresh new start. To symbolize this people float rafts (Krathongs) down the river. They are made of parts of the banana tree trunks and are usually decorated with flowers and then have a candle on them. The site of all these Krathongs floating along the river is amazing. Oh ya and did I mention it is celebrated on the full moon in November, so the full moon is big and bright and then the river is lit up with the rafts. The rafts symbolize letting your problems float away, pretty cool huh?
I watched the festival from three different locations. The first was an hour north of me where the biggest festival of Central Thailand is held. Then I traveled to a temple (wat) on the river in my city Pethchaburi, here I let my krathong with all my problems float down the river :).

Down on the Coconut Farm

This past weekend after getting into the car with a bunch of Thai's and one western friend I expected to see a floating market and some fire flies. Little did I know I was in for a much larger adventure of driving up the coast. I fell asleep in the car...it was hot and I had woken up for the sunset earlier. To my surprise when I woke up I was getting out of the car at a Church???? Now a church is a common scene in almost every country since the spread of colonializim, but this is Thailand "land of the free," never been colonized. Yet here I was standing in front of a church. The Thai's were very excited to show us the church which was admittdlely very beautiful and right on the water. It was kind of a funny scene though when I had to take off my shoes to enter the church and then the Thai's left my friend and I to pray! We politely declined and said we should probably get on our way...there are many other things to see in Thailand.

After a little more driving and a lot more asking directions (there is no planning ahead here) I noticed on either sides there were rows of coconut trees and clear irrigation streams cut. Next thing I know we arrive at a house and are told this is the house of a former student at my school. We shuffled into the wooden house and greeted the owners in our few words of polite Thai we know. In the back of the house was a canal and then....you guessed rows of coconut trees! Here we were on the coconut farm. We were allowed to use the boat (a typical Thai style) which I was admittedly skeptical at first but come on when else am I going to be on a coconut farm, so I jumped in. Actually no no I very cautiously eased my way into the rickety boat hoping I would not end up in the canal that is filled with....well that's actually it I have no idea what it was filled with! So it was a serene scene paddling up the canal....apparently my Thai friends were also not coconut farm people because they could barely get the boat to move in a straight line. But we had some laughs and a good time down on the coconut farm.

Election Day in Thailand!

Since I was so excited about the election in the United States and so hopeful our country would finally head in the right direction I decided to incorporate this into my classes for this week. I found a great website on the internet that explained the electoral college system and the process the USA goes through to elect a president. The website was for kids that is...so in easy terms and I was hopeful the Thai students would understand. I put this in a powerpoint but realized that it might still not get the message across about the bipartisian nation and electoral college and how some states count as more and blah blah blah. Then a light bulb went off....there is no better way to learn then have a mini election in our class! So this is what I did (after showing the powerpoint). Each class (they are big, which was helpful), first held 2 conventions democratic and republican where they nominated a candidate and then speeches were given. The speeches were great! One of my candidates said if they were elected there would be free food and education...how wonderful haha. Anyways then the class was divided into states (all of different populations). They got to pick a name and a draw their state on the board and then I divided up electoral votes. After 15 mins of campaigning we had ourselves a mini election! I think that they get it so-so which is a term I use in class...but its better than nothing and I know they enjoyed it. A great treat for me when my class was done and I went on the internet and find out Barack Obama had won...what a great day!!!!! Most Thai's are Obama supporters...so everyone here is happy to.

Phetchaburi

Ok the area I am in, Phetchaburi Province is really famous for the number of Palaces and temples it has. 3 of the kings built summer palaces here beause it was so close and easy to access from Bankok, and therefore it is also known as the city of 3 palaces. Yesterday I visited one of the palaces. This one Phraram Rajanivet is the palace of King Rama the Fifth. It is in a European style. Now it is empty inside and open to tourists. The grounds also house the Petchaburi Military Base. Behind me is a statue of King Rama the Fifth and then the palace. It was very nice inside.

The most famous Palace is the one built by King Rama the Fourth. FYI all Kings are Rama...the current reigning king is Rama the ninth to give everyone a little perspective. Also a tid-bit about the current king is that he is the worlds longest reigning monarchy with 61 years and still going! Ok back to the famous palace it is called Phrana Khon Khiri or also Khao Wang (palace on the hill). I have not made it here yet but it is a city landmark and lucky me gets to view it from outside my door all the time! Check out my view of it! Hopefully coming soon will be a post of my visiting the grouds. I can either hike up the mountain or take a cable car. We will need to see how hot it is before deciding how I approach!

Prachamkalo College of Nursing

After a week in Bangkok I finally arrive at my teaching location in Petchaburi, about two hours south of Bangkok. It is a really nice college campus. There is a four year program to recieve a bacholers degree as a nurse and then a two year program for a certification as a professional health officer. I will be teaching english to both parties so my age range is 19-40! I think no matter what age the important thing is to make sure learning english is fun! I plan to have my class active and continually vocal. I have a nice dorm room, office and everything is going smoothly.

Week 1 of teaching-

Week one was great, we worked on introducing yourself and as an activity I had the class in groups introduce some of my friends and family. There were certain facts about certain people on a sheet of paper and in groups they created a paragraph and then read them allowed. This was fun for me and for the students! There is nothing like being introduced to your friends by Engligh speaking Thai students, everyone enjoyed this class!

Monkeying around

Ok so for all you that have traveled to a zoo with me know my love for all living things and my wish to pet everything in the world. Well today this has changed. I used think Monkey's oh how cute they are and that I would love to play with a monkey. There are monkey's in Thailand, many are in public places like Temples and Palaces. Places a lot of toursits visit. Anyways, super cute the first time I saw one, I even have 10 pictures of one monkey playing on the temples statues. Anyways like any animal does the monkeys have figured out what human food is and how to get it..grabbing it from you hand. Today walking near a palace I had to walk near some monkeys...they started showing their teeth and making the most awful hissing noises. I could see myself in the hospital getting a rabies shot. Then the boldest monkey jumped up and tried to grab my bag I was carrying....what a wise guy. I also need to mention this bag was my purse....money, passport, visa and all. That would have been a good story for the embassay...a monkey took my passport! Not cool monkey and for now you are off my cute animals of the world list!

Dancing in the dark

As we were taught at orientation, things just happen in Thailand. Things that in the United States a person would be given ample time to plan for, such as speeches, teaching a class etc. The third night I was at my school I was told Liz there is a dinner for you tonight (meanwhile it is 4...I am tired and not looking so great). What time do you want to go? I say 6:30...at 5 its apparently dinner time! So I head over unshowered unprepared. After a quick meal the karoke party starts. They LOVE Karoke here. Also let me make this clear this is not 1 am karoke at the bar, there is no alcohol at these events and it is 6:00 pm. After much singing and joking in Thai (I laugh along polietly like I understand) I find myself in the middle of a circle of Thai's and am told to dance. so I do. The laughing and straight out partying continues for about another hour.
This is when I learn that embarrasment does not exist in this country...a pretty cool concept since I have done a multitude of things that I would normally consider embarassing. So it really does not exist and here in Thailand there is no such thing...so all you back in America do something embarassing for me becuase I cannot for the next 5 months! I am beginning to love this place.

Thailand!

Sawatdeeka!

Hello from Thailand. I arrived safely in Bangkok and am ready to attack my busy schedule of orientation. On the menu this week, besides yummy Thai food is: Learning to speak Thai, Learning to Teach English, a crash guide to Thai Culture and of course meeting other Americans crazy enough to do this too. Yay week 1!