Thailand and work.

I left Thailand a little over a week ago, and I haven't had much time nor energy to write. Its summer holiday for elementary and middle school students, and private institutes are taking advantage of this fact by offering summer intensive courses in the morning. I was asked to teach a couple of these courses in the morning, and have accepted. By doing so, I am now working eleven-hour workdays. Fortunately, the intensive courses will only last for the August session, after which, I can continue with my normal 1pm-9pm schedule.

Thailand was a nice change of pace and scenery. I still haven't processed through the entire week in Thailand, but what little I have processed indicates that I need to spend at least a good month or so to fully appreciate what the country has to offer. With the little time that I had in Bangkok, I spent with Jeremy, a good friend from my previous school, and we toured around Khao (pronounced "cow") San road, the Royal Palace, and the Patpong district, which is loosely translated as the Red Light district.

Seeing Jeremy again reminded me of how much I missed being around him. He's a good guy, and extrovert to the core, and in a lot of ways, reminds me of Matt McCaleb. After picking me and Kelsey, a teacher who recently finished her contract at POLY and was spending a night in Bangkok, and I from the airport, Jeremy took us to Khao San Rd. Khao San is a strip littered with hostels, guesthouses, cafes, and street vendors. You will mainly see foreigners with backpacks on this road, usually in transit from one point to another. The vendors are usually selling touristy type items up and down the street, in carts or in alleyways. If you are not bumping into a foreigner or vendor, then you are bumping into a tuk-tuk driver. A tuk-tuk is a tree-wheeled motorbike, one wheel in front, two in the back. On the back is a covered bench which could reasonably fit three people. The tuk-tuk drivers are notorious for luring tourists and backpackers into backseats and taking them to shops to spend their money. They are a wily bunch, and the Lonely Planet does a good job at mentioning them in detail.

Jeremy, Jeremy's friend whose name I've forgotten, Kelsey, and I check into a hostel and spent the first night in Bangkok on Khao San road. We walked down the street and ran into another of Jeremy's friend New James (so named because Jeremy already had a friend in Bangkok named James). New James decided to tag along with us and we continued walking through Khao San. Khao San road is not very long, it could take a person about five minutes to walk from one end to the other. We got to one end and eventually found a vendor making banana pancakes. We stopped and had one. A banana pancake is merely a fried pancake with sliced bananas in its center. After its cooled, you can cover the pancake with either chocolate or sweetened, condensed milk. We went with the milk. The price for this tasty snack is probably 25 cents. They were very delicious! After the pancakes, we decided to go looking for Jeremy's other friend called Tall James. We went to a bar called Gulliver's to look for him, and eventually found him. We stayed at Gulliver's the rest of the night. I pics that I will try to post soon.

The next day, Kelsey left for the airport. She was flying to London where she would meet her father. Later the two of them would travel to Africa for a month-long safari, which they should be on right at this moment. Jeremy, New James, and I headed off to Ricky's, which is a foreigner friendly cafe with fantastic vegetarian fare and brilliant coffee (In fact, most of the coffee that I had in Thailand was very tasty, the roast being dark, and the beans being local). After Ricky's, New James left to tend to his laundry, and Jeremy and I went to the Royal Palace. We spent two hours exploring the complex, after which we had to leave because it was closing time. We went to a cafe on Khao San and had good chat. He told me about his experiences he had had in Thailand, and I told him about my new school. From the cafe, we got on a tuk-tuk (we bargained for a better price than what the guy originally quoted) and we were off to a jazz club.

Its getting late on my end, I'll try to write more about that night, the day in the ancient capital of Thailand, Ayuthaya, and the two days I spent on Ko Chang, where I got into an accident while riding a motorbike.