Reliving the pain of 1st year Anthropology

Ethnic Groups.....this course had the potential to be such a good course.....but thus far is as painful as ANTH 1002 Introduction to Anthropology.....and it doesnt even involve any yams or rice classifying, or longhouses, not even the antics of a lactose intolerant friend who ate nachos with cheese and sour cream for lunch immediately before the lecture to keep me entertained:( Anyways..... here's a picture of fried seaweed which is so so good!

The highlight of today was the plate of stirfried veges with chicken at Lung Jar's for dinner. Actually, the best best bit was that his wife gave me this khanom for dessert...yum yum yum!!!

Oh, did manage to catch Wes on the internet so managed to skype with him....but my mic doesnt work so I couldnt talk with him. He's in Seoul and went to O'Sulloc with Brooke....wish I could go to O'Sulloc!

Wednesday involved Thai class...hmmm Thai is a difficult language.....1 month and I am tres dissapointed with my improvement...or lack there of.....the teacher asks my name 3 times each class and never remembers my name....today she sat right infront of me and called me David...and then wondered why I didn't look up at her.....coz I don't respond to David! Anyways, am not making good progress with this language and it is annoying me muchly now. I think I am going to have to resort to some serious Thai soap opera watching as a last ditch effort........I think my realisation today is I should be given a diligence award for foreign languages.....aka, thanks you tried hard but you suck award.....:( Anyways, luckily, in this country there is delicious seafood and I can find comfort in a bowl of prawn and vegetable soup! Although it did start raining and neither me nor Paow who I was eating with brought an umbrella and we got absolutely saturated on the way home!!

MK MK MK.....but no dance:(

Friday had nothing super exciting....I got conbini breakfast which consisted of Sankayan on bread and a danish and some milk drink....Mum note milk, yes calciumm, milk....a big bottle too! Thai class, then study in library which inevitably resulted in sleep in the library, then more Thai class before going home. Had lunch at Lung Jars- phad thai mmmmmm. Then had to go to Lat Phrao for yakiniku. Was all you can eat- my favourite! BUT again, Thai Japanese food is not the same, and just doesn't taste right. But there were many many plates of prawns, salmon, fish, beef, and bowls of rice so I was quite happy anyway! Saturday it rained like no other, no eating experiences to report. Sunday I finally went to MK suki.....BUT, NO dance! Now apparently they only do it at 6pm...so I will be returning sometime at 6pm to witness the dancing waters/waitresses at MK suki! But, things which did amuse me.....they use an electric kettle to fill the chilli sauce bowls with chilli sauce, the lemon soda has salt in it...more unimpressed than amused there though, and processed fish can come in about 5 different shapes which are all highly deceptive and suggest that they involve no fish at all. And, when you've finished eating, they give you a receipt and also a receipt detailing all the calories you've eaten like so!

After eating too much at MK suki, went to Lumphini Park and tried Doi Tung!! On the way tried delicioyus khanom, my fifth stomach devoted entirely to khanom was choooo pleased!

So, the verdict is, yes better than starbucks in some ways except 1. Starbucks has by far superior whipped cream, BUT, Doi Tung has better atmosphere, ie, has a pond with a fountain and a garden which you can sit in, the coffee is nicer, and there was something in the freezer which looked like icecream, though I didn't try it, but points for its existence nonetheless. However, the claim that the coffee tastes 'ethnic' is unfounded...besides....how does ethnic taste like anyway?????

Next next next.....FISH MASSAGE!!! Yes, you put your feet in this pool, and all these tiny fish come up and start kind of eating your feet, and it is like a massage! Completely harmless, and feels sooooo funny! Anyways, very funny feeling!!

Monday, the airconditioning has given me a cold:( Anyways, I will battle on! Lunch was at Tha Prachan, and had phad thai....again....but not as nice as Lung Jars. Buddhism class in the afternoon, and larb for dinner.

Our field trip must leave in the morning so we can enjoy grilled duck for lunch....

Wednesday involved three things to note.....fried seaweed, absolutely delicious! I could snack on that alll day! Also took the bus ride from hell today....the traffic was jammed even by Bangkok standards...which means it was really really jammed. Then, when traffic finally started moving, our bus driver managed to almost hit a car/motorbike/person, and slammed the breaks on so hard that people standing went flying, people in seats hit seat infront, and there was mass screaming from women up front! Luckily no one was hurt! 3rd things....western food in Thailand...avoid. Blue cheese pasta....maybe that was my mistake for thinking it would be nice....but it is not......Thai food is much better! Waited for about 1 1/2 hours before a bus came, how I love the no timetable buses here!

Ok so Thursday, Taxi to uni, then noodles for breakfast before going to Art and Architecture in Thailand class. The teacher is awesome! Ok, so, the main reason why I know I will like this class.....

Teacher: will everyone go on the field trip
Class: silence
Teacher: is everyone happy to take the overnight bus?
Class: nodding
Teacher: No, we must take the day time bus
Class: blank stare
Teacher: yes we must take day time bus because that way we can stop for grilled duck for lunch, and then we will be right on time to enjoy north eastern style steak for dinner....yes, the field trip must leave in the morning and not take the overnight bus. Is that ok with everyone
Class: silence
James: internal excitement and yelling as to the prospect of grilled duck and northeastern steak!!!!

Lunch was the middle curry shop this time, and it was ok, but whatever I got didn't quite turn out as nice as expected, oh well its good to venture into new territory and extend myself beyond the right hand curry shop. Then after lunch had the same teacher for Society and Culture of Thailand. No field trip with grilled duck though, dissapointment of the day:(
Home for tom yum kai at Lung Jars.

Red shirts at it again

Okkkkk, so today was rediculously hot, and I was thinking what good luck I was having as I managed to get hte 507 to uni which has air con! BUT, we get over the bridge, and what do we see....red shirts everywhere....they have blocked off the entire area around Thammasat and are having a mass demonstration....again. Great, this means the bus cant stop anywhere near Thammasat and I am forced to walk about 5 blocks to get to the Grand Palace alone. Tried to take a taxi, but of course, no taxi drvier would take me, in fact one guy even drove off at a speed when I asked him to take me to Thammasat! At the Grand Palace, the police wouldn't let people get through to Thammasat, but luckily I used my best Thai to tell him I had to go to study today and I needed to get to Thammasat, and the nice police officer directed me to get to Thammasat. Police at demonstrations are very helpful in this country.....Thammasat International Office maybe you should take note and attend their training days.....how to help foreigners studying at Thammasat....novel concept I know, but maybe you should try it sometime! So, after getting caught in a bunch of red shirts and a police officer again helping me out of there and giving me new directions, I eventually made it to class dripping with sweat and dashed for safety inside the uni gates! Damn red shirts I hope you know you made me lose my lunch hour and I am tres unhappy! BUT, I did arrive with 10 minutes to spare, so an executive decision saw me use 5 minutes to eat a plate of chicken rice, 1 minute to run to the classroom building, 3 minutes to wask my face and try stop sweating a bit, and 1 minute to sit down before the teacher arrived to class! Wow, what an entrance to uni that day!

Other than that it was an uneventful day....got my 5 forrests worth of photo copies for Ethnic Groups course...after being sent to 4 different copy centres on campus...again international office....where were you on that one! Met some nice people too whilst waiting for my 5 forrests of paper too!

Today was less eventful getting to uni thank goodness! Started by going to Victory Monument to eat noodles. This area sell old style noodles where they come in super super small serves, so you see these piles and piles of bowls stacked high at everyone's tables! You don't get much choice though, just if you want small or big noodles, and pork or beef. I had pork with big noodles.

So amazingly good. 7 bowls later, I was full!

Here is a picture of Victory Monument, just to try to make it look like I went there for something other than just eating!! Hahahaha....like anyone would believe me anyway!!

Got to class...ethnic groups is so interesting, but so painful at the same time...it is highly anthropological.....I think that explains it.....Nicole there isn't even any land dayaks in Thailand to amuse me with all day though:( And to my knowledge, the concept of rotting yams is yet to catch on in Thai villages yet.......

Adding to my dissapointment of ethnic groups class which did not involve any yams or rice classification whatsover was my expedition to buy Thai style garlic bread after class. Sine had kindly recommended it to me and I thought I had found the shop.....but what I managed to get was sugared butter bread.....not at all what I was looking for! Oh well....my search for it continues. Met James later for some Thai practice, and then we had dinner at Lung Jars...had kapaow kai khai jiaow again....as always was great!

The power of a Thammasat Uniform

Thai classes started today...we learnt a grand total of four sentences....all which I knew already, so proved to be somewhat useless, but I figure good practice just to speak something! Anyways, I didn't really care, because I made the discovery of the century today.....the Thai Airways bakery has a shop on campus......check out the thai airways croissants I bought for 45 baht!



After Thai I decided to conduct a uniform experiment. I went to three big tourist areas to see how many people would harrass me wearing the Thammasat uniform in these areas.....answer is NONE WHATSOEVER WHOOP WHOOP WHOOOOOP!! Taxi drivers ignored me, tuk tuk drivers continued their nap as I strolled past, DVD sellers remained engaged in their bowl of kway teow, AND one guy who was handing out pamphlets to tourists even moved away from me so I couldnt get a flyer, much like tissue hander outerers in Tokyo when gaijin walk past! OH, and the biggest amazing story....I had to buy some stuff priced at "from 800 baht"....so I figured I would pay over 1000, BUT to my surprise....600 without even asking!!! Anyways, highly content with my experiment, I decided to take the bus home....and the bus lady took my 50 baht note and gave me 3 baht change for what was an 18 baht ticket.....damn Bangkok buses....you just wont give in and accept defeat....why you keep fighting back huh!

Oh, and on my journey today, I did come accross Thai Maccas.....Ronald Wais!! hhehehehhe







Saturday involved Siam to try and fix my camera, but no such luck:( But there is still a chance it can be fixed! Saturday was a shocking day all round actually....I was not hungry! Went to Ootoya for lunch and barely made it through a donburi....what's going on???? Anyways, looked around, then went to the Lumphini night bizarre where I saw this fish massage....you put your feet in this pool and all these fish somehow massage your feet...weird huh! I didn't try it but I think I will go back!! Dinner at the bizarre...again not too hungry, but its ok, coz the food was only average. So Saturday was a not hungry day aka disaster day, so lets move on......

Sunday a Jun, Sakumi, Azumi, Yu, me and Tar went sight seeing to the Golden Mountain temple. It is a huge pagoda on this kind of hill (I think the hill bit is man-made though) and has a great view over Bangkok, after you climb allllll the stairs! Here's some half way up the hill pictures. It was quite peaceful and scerene going up.......








......except for this bit where eveyone has to chime these huge bells and it is just a bit much for the ears, especially when small children insist on hitting every bell at least 10 times each, and then running around screaming just incase they hadn't already disturbed everyone in the entire city!



Anyways, bells and small children aside, we made it to the top for an amazing view of the top of the pagoda and also over Bangkok.





After, we all went down to the river. Under the bridge there was breakdancing, old peoples aerobics, old people reliving their youth and getting into T pop dancing, skateboarding, soccer, volleyball, badminton, and crazy old men swinging their arms and spinning around and around in a circle in the middle of the park which was next to the bridge. It was so interesting to see how everyone was enjoying some leisure time in this small park in the middle of a really urbanised city.




Yu and Sakumi got in the spirit and posed with the bridge in an aerobic position, and next to them I saw this statute of Rama 1st (maybe 1st...Tar wasnt sure).




Then, the best bit! Dinner! We went down to the edge of the river and sat on the pavement. When you order some drinks this lady brings you a picnic mat and you can all sit on the pavement and then go buy some food from all the stalls and create a kind of picnic for dinner! Except the food is so soooo good...not like usual picnic food...we had these two claypot hotpots, papaya salad, two other salads whih I am not sure what they had in them but were nice, satay, and all soughts of delicious things! Here's some pictures! It was awesome....and later in the evening a group sat down next to us and one guy started playing the guitar. It was a fanstastic atmosphere!

Graduation Day

Today was Thammasat graduation day, which for some reason meant the whole uni gets a day off! I went in to get a picture with Paow, so got to see exactly why they close the uni down for the day....people everywhere! Even the roads around Thammasat are closed! There were so many people I didnt even manage to find Paow in the end! But I figure at least I got to see the spectacle that it graduation day at Thai universities! Wow, they take it seriously! There is dancing, shouting, eating, a million photos, and a zillion teddy bears saying "congratulations you graduated!" Anyways, it was soooo hot so I decided to go sans photo. Took the bus to Siam where I was meeting a friend for lunch. So on the bus today I decided to quickly snap a shot of the inside of a non-A/C bus so you can see just how old they are, and just why I am not convinced these buses will not fall in two any day now.

At Siam, I met a friend for shabu shabu kaiten style....kaiten style shabu shabu! Wow! Basically, instead a sushi train, you have a shabu train. Everyone has their own hot pot infront of them, and as something you want to put in the hot put goes by you take it off and cook it! There is also a sushi and tempura buffet, but may I suggest avoiding that, not the finest! It was all you can eat 300 baht including drinks! Amazing huh! Here's a photo to show you how it works

Oh, but note...the ice green tea is sugared, so don't get it, it doesn't taste like ice green tea, it tastes like ice sugar in water!

After eating a somewhat large quantity of prawns and other shabu shabu delights, we walked off lunch, and then I went to starbucks, and might I say the starbucks here is by far superior to Aus starbucks in terms of the chocolate sauce that tops the drinks. Instead of chocolate syrup, here they use actual chocolate sauce...sooo good! Anyways, I was feeling kinda full so decided to call it a day and took the 183 back home, this time successfully telling the lady where I needed to go:D

Happy Mother's Day!!

Today is the Queen's birthday and also my grandma's birthday! So Happy Birthday to the Queen and to my lovely Grandma:D So today EVERYONE wore blue....I went with Paow from the dorm to a palace...not the grand palace, but another one. First we went to Thammasat where there were sooo many people celebrating. There was a tent serving free food to poor people, which for the record I did not join the line for free food....so there were many people there. Here is a picture of the line and all the blue flags, shirts etc.

Then Paow and I took a bus down to this Palace which I think in English is called the Rose Palace...but could be wrong....anyways, the Thai name is sooooo long and I couldnt quite get my head around how to say it, so Im not exactly sure what it is called in Thai. We got an AC bus thank god, because it was so hot today, and as we were going to a palace it meant we had to wear long pants.....so sooooo hot! So there were so so sooo many people, all wearing the same identical light blue tshirt! It was amazing to see hundreds if not thousands of people all looking exactly the same ! I wore the only blue shirt I had to get in the spirit...unfortunately it was navy blue and not light blue, so I stil didnt quite fit in....but here is picture of everone...all looking the same, I think they looked really good actually!

Here's a picture of the palace and of me and Paow. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside the palace....but it was so beautiful, absolutely amazing!

Coming home was crazy, by the time we got out of the palace, there were thousands of people and most of the roads had been closed off. So, all over the road were millions of yai....おばあちゃん, grandmas.....well, Thai yai manage to be as inconvenient as おばあちゃん、and walk sooo slowly, and manage to walk in such a way that you just cant get around them, cant get off the bus because they get on and dont let you off, often resulting in you missing your stop...old ladies....I know your old, but please let farang off the bus, and please do not walk slowly during hours of the day when exchange students are late for class due to spending too much time eating lunch/snacks/in between snack snacks......hmph

Anyways....took a bus and was the most crazy bus ride ever...the bus was so crowded people could not move litterally, and the conductor had to kind of place people strategically in order to fit everyone in....eventually got off and caught the free red bus home. Was starving as realised I hadn't eaten all day with the exception of a danish which I bought from 7/11 which I must say was of high quality as far as conbini snacks go! So, after getting off the bus, I was walking over the foot bridge and noticed that the bushes in the middle of the road were all these cool shapes of animals...why I hadn't noticed that before???!!!

Went to Lung Jar's for early dinner and had phad thai which was so so good! Then had a quick shower and went to meet the others for dinner. All these buses were parked on the road...so many tourist buses bringing people to the Queen's birthday celebrations, and they were the most outrageous coloured buses I've ever seen....this photo doesn't show it well, but check out the bright pink one!

Then, Tiew, Yaang, Pae, Sa-chan, E-chan. Azumi, Yu, Grace and I took the bus to watch the Mother's Day fire work display. Thanks to roads being closed off for the evening, the traffic was worse than ever, and we eventually got out and walked, and arrived at the bridge just near where the fireworks were happening, only to find we had made it in time for maybe the last 3 fireworks! Oh well, at least we saw that! Then took a ferry over to Thammasat and met Yaang's friend Tone, and we all went to look at the illumination around the grand palace before Tuk Tuking it to China town

Took some photos in the tuk tuk, and managed to break the end off my camera...but the camera still works! Wow!

Ar Chinatown we went to eat noodles at a well-known noodle place. We all got duck with noodles...except E-chan who insisted on getting cha-han...and they forgot hers...lesson for the night....if everyone is ordering the same thing, do not be different and order something else, you will not get your food! Tiew decided her's was not spicy enough, so put litterally about half the chilli powder bottle into her noodles...note the colour difference between my bowl on the left, and her's in the middle.

After noodles we got toasted rolls with sakayan, which I think is the same as kaya. Again, E-chan got chocolate instead, and was rewarded by the chocolate sauce running down her arm...when will she learn???!!

With that, we decided to call it a night and tried to stop the 507, but the driver had other ideas and wouldnt stop for us, so we ended up taking taxis, but still made it home ok!