I Met The Coolest People Yesterday! Except for one!
So since the last post I...
1) Got a 4:40 flight from Samui to Bangkok! Very exciting.
2) Decided again not to stay in Bangkok and to just go straight to Chiang Mai. Everyone I've talked to has told me that Bangkok is a cool city but if you're only there a couple days you'll probably hate it. It's fast, confusing, noisy and smelly. I'm not against trying it out but I figured I'd see if I met anyone at the Elephant Park that's also going to Bangkok and maybe try it out with a friend.
3) Had to buy a ticket to Chiang Mai at the Bangkok Airport. The cheapest airline said they had tickets available if I didn't mind a delayed flight. I kind of laughed (It was the same company as my 11:45 --> 1:15 flight) and said that was fine. But then the lady told me something wasn't working and she couldn't sell me a ticket. The second cheapest airline had tickets available but only business class cause the guy (who cut) in front of me got the last one. I tried Bangkok Airways but they were done with flights to Chiang Mai for the day. The last airline with flights was Thai Airways, which might be the nicest Thai airline. And it ended up only being $10 more than the cheapest company. I can't believe I got to Chiang Mai from Samui with no tickets. I'm amazed.
My Saturday was really cool!
Joy - I picked a random travel agent to get plane tickets to Laos. Turns out her name is Joy and it was her 24th birthday. While we were waiting for the tickets to come form some random guy down the street she got a phone call from her ex saying happy birthday and he told he missed her. Oh man. She was making angry faces throughout the whole phone conversation and when she got off she decided to tell me the WHOLE story. She told me about her ex boyfriend (now in Cambodia), her new boyfriend (currently in Mexico) and her new boyfriend's ex. International girl gossip. I loved it! She showed me pictures. The ex was English and the current boy is American. Oh these Thai women sure do love their white boys. I got to talk about me and Beau too. But there wasn't nearly as much drama so I'm not sure how interested she was. Eventually the boy with the ticket showed up and as I was leaving Joy told me I should come out tonight for her birthday. Then she told me about all the white boys who were going to be there because she doesn't like telling them she has a boyfriend. Oh, Joy. More on the party later.
Guy - As I leaving Joy's travel agency a French hippie kid came up to me and told me that I had been at the travel agency for the same amount of time he had been at the Wat down the street. Interesting observation. He asked if I wanted to check out some market with him and I told him I was really hungry and asked if he wanted to eat with me. We went a Western place and I ordered oatmeal. He got it too but was really scared. He had no idea what it was. And then the waiter asked if we wanted cinnamon on it. I said yeah, and he said, "Euh, wot iz cinnoman?" I said a spice and he shook his hands in front of his face. Then I tried to explain, it's not spicy, it's just a spice. It's so weird to think about all these random little things. He got it and ate it and liked it. "Ahh! First time with oatmeal!" He didn't speak English well and I was surprised how much French I didn't know anymore. It was an awkward breakfast. After breakfast I asked if he was still going to the markets but he looked nervous, so I said I had to go to the internet cafe and we split up.
Kendra & Mike - For dinner I went to a place that I had been before with easy Western food. Ahead of me in line were two North Americans who couldn't decide what to eat. The woman said, "You can go ahead" and the man was giving off a really weird vibe and just babbling on about how it was so expensive ($3) and he didn't know why everything had become so expensive in Chiang Mai and blah blah blah. I asked him where he was from he answer was, "California, USA." The woman sat down and I asked her the basic meeting people in a random place questions. She was from Winnipeg, has been teaching in South Korea for the last 7 years and was in Chiang Mai for 2 weeks for some schooling thing. Very vague. She asked if she could sit next to me and explained that she just got in today and Mike (the weird guy) was the only other person in her program around so she asked if he wanted to eat with her. When my food came Mike asked me if I wanted to give thanks to the Lord for our food and our blessing in being happy and healthy in Chiang Mai. Um... he kept going for a while. I was just completely silent and then he asked me if he was making me feel uncomfortable. I said yes. I said he was free to do whatever thanking of the Lord he wanted but I was just going to sit this one out. So he went into this 5 minute thanking of the Lord, with the hands clasped and the eyes closed with a whole lot of, "we hope our new friend here realizes what the Lord has given her and can soon learn to give thanks for all the blessings in her life" and all this crazy talk aimed at making me feel guilty. Even stuff about my hoping the Lord would keep me safe even though I was lost or something! Kendra was in on it too. I was really embarrassed. The rest of the restaurant was staring at my table. The last time I was in this place I talked to a table of 8 or 9 Texans who were in Chiang Mai for some Christian mission thing but they didn't try to convert me. Why are all Americans crazy religious people???? I continued to talk with Kendra and tried to tune out Mike's weird babbling how he didn't like that there was cheese in his soup. When I was done with my food Mike started asking me what role Jesus played in my life and how I planned on living life if I wasn't down with Jesus (he used different words). I tried to be honest and polite with him. I said that to my understanding the main idea about religion is to be a good person to yourself and to others and although I've never had any religious upbringing I was pretty sure I was doing an ok job with that. He asked me if I ever wondered "what it all meant" and I said I was pretty sure I didn't have a clue but I was completely at peace with that. And had no interest in trying to search for any absolute "meaning of life." I handled it all pretty well for a while but then he started to be a bit much and I decided I was finished. I said I had to go and Kendra said she did too. We walked though the Night Market for a while and then when it was time to split up I asked her if the school thing she was here for was religious. She said yes, but then said she has her beliefs but realized everyone may not agree with her and she's fine with that. She seemed embarrassed about Mike's creepy behavior. I decided that religion is kind of like Long Island where it's not that all religious/Long Island people are bad it's just that it's always the over-the-top ridiculous ones who make themselves stand out the most and give the rest a bad name.
Tong Kham - This was a random old Thai guy sitting on the street saying hello to everyone that walked by. He said hello and then "sawadee kap" and when I said "sawadee ka" back he said, "Oh! You know Thai! Come sit!" I sat with him for a while and he talked about all the friends he had all over the world. He didn't seem to have any ulterior motive. How refreshing after sitting with Mike. This dude just liked talking. He said he stayed at the Wat down the street and he did paintings. He taught me a lot of Thai. Before I said I had to go he showed me this book he had tons of little notes of people who, I'm guessing, responded to his "sawadee kap! sit down!" invitation. It was really cool to see. I signed it as well and said I'd be back to talk with him more next Saturday when I was back in Chiang Mai. He also had a hat with a ton of Canadian flag buttons and I said I would find an American flag button and give it to him. He was excited.
Adi and Yuvul - Before heading to the bar for Joy's birthday I stopped at the guesthouse and met Adi and Yuvul. They're from Israel. They were really cool! Completely different from the annoying, sleazy Israelis from Haad Rin. I talked with them for a while about Israel and about their time in the army (they just finished). They've been together for two years and they met in the Intelligence Force of the army. How different from my life. I asked if they wanted to come to the bar for Joy's birthday. They said yes.
Joy's friends - Madness. We went to this bar called InterBar and it's the only place in Chiang Mai with live music I think. The live music consist of middle aged guys playing The Beatles, The Eagles and Bob Dylan covers. Joy was wasted. She introduced me to her friends and we were all instantly "BEST FRIENDS!!!". It was so strange. Adi and Yuvul looked terrified. Drunk Thais all over the place. Joy also introduced me to the 4 white guys who showed up who she hadn't told she had a boyfriend. Oh Joy. Her friends were one Thai girl who runs a bar that I said I would go to when I got back and two Thai guys. One's a mechanical engineering student and I'm not sure what the other one did. Oh wait, there was also the thug that showed up. He was soooo funny, not on purpose. His name was Bobby and he had a basketball jersey, tons of bling, a du rag and sunglasses (it was night). He said he lived in Harlem for a while and his English was hysterical. It was pretty good but he tried to use "phat," "yo," "keep it real," and like a ton of other phrases that I had to work very hard not to laugh at. I think Joy has a picture of the two of us. Joy and her friend Sheeny both gave me their email addresses and phone numbers. Coming back on Friday should be fun.
So today I go to Laos for 5 days. Wish me luck on Laos Airways. Friday I come back to Chiang Mai and hopefully Monday I go to the Elephant Park. This morning I tried to go to the Tribal Museum and the post office. It's Sunday so neither one worked out. The tuk tuk driver first went to the National Museum by accident and when I said, "Oh, I was trying to go The Tribal Museum" he said, "Oh sorry, sorry, sorry!" I said, "Mai pen rai!" and he said, "OH! YOUR THAI GOOD!" This place is so funny.
Pictures up!
Koh Samui & Haad Rin - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigramroad/sets/1787399/
Koh Ma/ Mae Haad - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigramroad/sets/1787642/
1) Got a 4:40 flight from Samui to Bangkok! Very exciting.
2) Decided again not to stay in Bangkok and to just go straight to Chiang Mai. Everyone I've talked to has told me that Bangkok is a cool city but if you're only there a couple days you'll probably hate it. It's fast, confusing, noisy and smelly. I'm not against trying it out but I figured I'd see if I met anyone at the Elephant Park that's also going to Bangkok and maybe try it out with a friend.
3) Had to buy a ticket to Chiang Mai at the Bangkok Airport. The cheapest airline said they had tickets available if I didn't mind a delayed flight. I kind of laughed (It was the same company as my 11:45 --> 1:15 flight) and said that was fine. But then the lady told me something wasn't working and she couldn't sell me a ticket. The second cheapest airline had tickets available but only business class cause the guy (who cut) in front of me got the last one. I tried Bangkok Airways but they were done with flights to Chiang Mai for the day. The last airline with flights was Thai Airways, which might be the nicest Thai airline. And it ended up only being $10 more than the cheapest company. I can't believe I got to Chiang Mai from Samui with no tickets. I'm amazed.
My Saturday was really cool!
Joy - I picked a random travel agent to get plane tickets to Laos. Turns out her name is Joy and it was her 24th birthday. While we were waiting for the tickets to come form some random guy down the street she got a phone call from her ex saying happy birthday and he told he missed her. Oh man. She was making angry faces throughout the whole phone conversation and when she got off she decided to tell me the WHOLE story. She told me about her ex boyfriend (now in Cambodia), her new boyfriend (currently in Mexico) and her new boyfriend's ex. International girl gossip. I loved it! She showed me pictures. The ex was English and the current boy is American. Oh these Thai women sure do love their white boys. I got to talk about me and Beau too. But there wasn't nearly as much drama so I'm not sure how interested she was. Eventually the boy with the ticket showed up and as I was leaving Joy told me I should come out tonight for her birthday. Then she told me about all the white boys who were going to be there because she doesn't like telling them she has a boyfriend. Oh, Joy. More on the party later.
Guy - As I leaving Joy's travel agency a French hippie kid came up to me and told me that I had been at the travel agency for the same amount of time he had been at the Wat down the street. Interesting observation. He asked if I wanted to check out some market with him and I told him I was really hungry and asked if he wanted to eat with me. We went a Western place and I ordered oatmeal. He got it too but was really scared. He had no idea what it was. And then the waiter asked if we wanted cinnamon on it. I said yeah, and he said, "Euh, wot iz cinnoman?" I said a spice and he shook his hands in front of his face. Then I tried to explain, it's not spicy, it's just a spice. It's so weird to think about all these random little things. He got it and ate it and liked it. "Ahh! First time with oatmeal!" He didn't speak English well and I was surprised how much French I didn't know anymore. It was an awkward breakfast. After breakfast I asked if he was still going to the markets but he looked nervous, so I said I had to go to the internet cafe and we split up.
Kendra & Mike - For dinner I went to a place that I had been before with easy Western food. Ahead of me in line were two North Americans who couldn't decide what to eat. The woman said, "You can go ahead" and the man was giving off a really weird vibe and just babbling on about how it was so expensive ($3) and he didn't know why everything had become so expensive in Chiang Mai and blah blah blah. I asked him where he was from he answer was, "California, USA." The woman sat down and I asked her the basic meeting people in a random place questions. She was from Winnipeg, has been teaching in South Korea for the last 7 years and was in Chiang Mai for 2 weeks for some schooling thing. Very vague. She asked if she could sit next to me and explained that she just got in today and Mike (the weird guy) was the only other person in her program around so she asked if he wanted to eat with her. When my food came Mike asked me if I wanted to give thanks to the Lord for our food and our blessing in being happy and healthy in Chiang Mai. Um... he kept going for a while. I was just completely silent and then he asked me if he was making me feel uncomfortable. I said yes. I said he was free to do whatever thanking of the Lord he wanted but I was just going to sit this one out. So he went into this 5 minute thanking of the Lord, with the hands clasped and the eyes closed with a whole lot of, "we hope our new friend here realizes what the Lord has given her and can soon learn to give thanks for all the blessings in her life" and all this crazy talk aimed at making me feel guilty. Even stuff about my hoping the Lord would keep me safe even though I was lost or something! Kendra was in on it too. I was really embarrassed. The rest of the restaurant was staring at my table. The last time I was in this place I talked to a table of 8 or 9 Texans who were in Chiang Mai for some Christian mission thing but they didn't try to convert me. Why are all Americans crazy religious people???? I continued to talk with Kendra and tried to tune out Mike's weird babbling how he didn't like that there was cheese in his soup. When I was done with my food Mike started asking me what role Jesus played in my life and how I planned on living life if I wasn't down with Jesus (he used different words). I tried to be honest and polite with him. I said that to my understanding the main idea about religion is to be a good person to yourself and to others and although I've never had any religious upbringing I was pretty sure I was doing an ok job with that. He asked me if I ever wondered "what it all meant" and I said I was pretty sure I didn't have a clue but I was completely at peace with that. And had no interest in trying to search for any absolute "meaning of life." I handled it all pretty well for a while but then he started to be a bit much and I decided I was finished. I said I had to go and Kendra said she did too. We walked though the Night Market for a while and then when it was time to split up I asked her if the school thing she was here for was religious. She said yes, but then said she has her beliefs but realized everyone may not agree with her and she's fine with that. She seemed embarrassed about Mike's creepy behavior. I decided that religion is kind of like Long Island where it's not that all religious/Long Island people are bad it's just that it's always the over-the-top ridiculous ones who make themselves stand out the most and give the rest a bad name.
Tong Kham - This was a random old Thai guy sitting on the street saying hello to everyone that walked by. He said hello and then "sawadee kap" and when I said "sawadee ka" back he said, "Oh! You know Thai! Come sit!" I sat with him for a while and he talked about all the friends he had all over the world. He didn't seem to have any ulterior motive. How refreshing after sitting with Mike. This dude just liked talking. He said he stayed at the Wat down the street and he did paintings. He taught me a lot of Thai. Before I said I had to go he showed me this book he had tons of little notes of people who, I'm guessing, responded to his "sawadee kap! sit down!" invitation. It was really cool to see. I signed it as well and said I'd be back to talk with him more next Saturday when I was back in Chiang Mai. He also had a hat with a ton of Canadian flag buttons and I said I would find an American flag button and give it to him. He was excited.
Adi and Yuvul - Before heading to the bar for Joy's birthday I stopped at the guesthouse and met Adi and Yuvul. They're from Israel. They were really cool! Completely different from the annoying, sleazy Israelis from Haad Rin. I talked with them for a while about Israel and about their time in the army (they just finished). They've been together for two years and they met in the Intelligence Force of the army. How different from my life. I asked if they wanted to come to the bar for Joy's birthday. They said yes.
Joy's friends - Madness. We went to this bar called InterBar and it's the only place in Chiang Mai with live music I think. The live music consist of middle aged guys playing The Beatles, The Eagles and Bob Dylan covers. Joy was wasted. She introduced me to her friends and we were all instantly "BEST FRIENDS!!!". It was so strange. Adi and Yuvul looked terrified. Drunk Thais all over the place. Joy also introduced me to the 4 white guys who showed up who she hadn't told she had a boyfriend. Oh Joy. Her friends were one Thai girl who runs a bar that I said I would go to when I got back and two Thai guys. One's a mechanical engineering student and I'm not sure what the other one did. Oh wait, there was also the thug that showed up. He was soooo funny, not on purpose. His name was Bobby and he had a basketball jersey, tons of bling, a du rag and sunglasses (it was night). He said he lived in Harlem for a while and his English was hysterical. It was pretty good but he tried to use "phat," "yo," "keep it real," and like a ton of other phrases that I had to work very hard not to laugh at. I think Joy has a picture of the two of us. Joy and her friend Sheeny both gave me their email addresses and phone numbers. Coming back on Friday should be fun.
So today I go to Laos for 5 days. Wish me luck on Laos Airways. Friday I come back to Chiang Mai and hopefully Monday I go to the Elephant Park. This morning I tried to go to the Tribal Museum and the post office. It's Sunday so neither one worked out. The tuk tuk driver first went to the National Museum by accident and when I said, "Oh, I was trying to go The Tribal Museum" he said, "Oh sorry, sorry, sorry!" I said, "Mai pen rai!" and he said, "OH! YOUR THAI GOOD!" This place is so funny.
Pictures up!
Koh Samui & Haad Rin - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigramroad/sets/1787399/
Koh Ma/ Mae Haad - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wigramroad/sets/1787642/
posted by beth at 1:10 PM
3 Comments:
It's 1:35 in the morning. Dad is sleeping. We're at a motel in Richmond, VA. We drove Steph to Washington and in your honor, the three of us went to a Thai restaurant for lunch.
Please write or call when you get to Laos so I know you're alive and well. (We'll be driving around till Thursday, but I'm armed with computer and cell phone).
And I think the "be a good person to yourself and others" covers it quite well...
Hi Beth,
Glad to see your post, already waiting for the next.Interesting people you met. It's funny, but I've found that you can meet a woman who speaks about 10 words of common language and suddenly be sharing information about the guys in your life..and amazed at how similar many experiences are.
My phlosophy of life is identical yours. It's basically .." Do onto to others..etc- the golden rule. I think it's a good way to go through life. I spend no time wondering about afterlife and reincarnation.( although at this point, it would be cool to come back as you)
Thanks for the post card. I know you're busy, and appreciate it even more.
Stay safe, happy and healthy,
Love,
Barbara
cool cool cool!!! no more awkward explaining of my existance! that's a class handling of aggressive religionistas, I bet you caught that guy off guard.
Your family should've come to our New Years Party last night--it was "off the hook" as you teenagers say
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