Posting for Emma to keep her and the random sitting next to her entertained on the tram

Hello peoples, sorry it is getting longer and longer between posts I know....khoor thoort mak maaaak:( So let me think of everything interesting and try and update you on what's going on. First, let me say there are no killer floods here, so I am definately ok.....I am more worried about the killer dogs hanging around my soi than killer flash floods.....stray animals, they are my pet hate in this country....that and Thai time......anyways.....

So last week, Buddhism class cancelled...hooray! Spent the day doing not much as a result...did go and eat kway tiaow rua at Victory Monument though which was tres tasty! Tuesday ethnic groups. Painful. Did do some random late night eating though......

And here's a random picture of Sanam Lung, where Red shirt protests frequently occur....today was an off-day obviously....it's such a grotty park, yet right behind it is the Grand Palace which is so nice....

Wednesday had Thai class then went to check out some private language schools in Chitlom to try and push the langauge skills along. Went to AAA which looked really good, so might join it. Oh, and at Chitlom I saw the four faced Buddha we learnt about in Art and Architecture.

Chitlom is really nice by the way....much cleaner than other parts of Bangkok. Manny expats...including this one lady who was out with her toddler...except she had a nanny pushing the child in a stroller...she wasn't even pushing her own child! Wow, and saw this group of expat women out for a walk with children....and nannies.....talk about a coffee mum to the max...and really, judging by her posterior size, a push of the stroller around the block or 2 would not go astray.....and how must her poor child feel....anyways, I'm not going to get started about this!

After that met James and we went to this awesome Starbucks which had this cool garden (greenery I know what a novelty!!) but the cool garden also had many mosquitoes forcing us inside. Had langauge exchange.....by exchange I mean, he teaches me Thai, coz his English is perfect despite what he thinks. After, met Franziska and had dinner at Loft Chtilom. I had mapo tofu, but it didn't taste much like mapo tofu, rather like Tokfu with Thai spices...anyway, was nice nonetheless. And Loft Chtilom is really nice....nice view through the CBD, and foundtains and ponds and cool lights inside...very cool atmosphere....put it on the "to go back to again to eat" list. Oh, check out the traffic jam tonight!

Thursday involved class all day then caught up with Takeo for dinner at MBK. He's just got back to BKK from Tokyo and has a job, so will be staying here now for a while. Nice to speak some Japanese again, or at least try! My eyes start playing up today too.....I thought I saw a man wheeling a box of merchandise out of his store to sell, actually he was wheeling an old lady out of the shop in a wheelchair.....well, old ladies in wheelchairs and shoes do look similar do they not??

Friday, class, and my contacts play up all day...go to Isetan to try get a solution, none, go home lie on bed all day with headache...Saturday much the same until they feel better. Just in time too, coz Elaine rings wanting to know if I will go to the BKK International Film Festival, which of course I do! We went to see this awesome Indonesian film about a boy who goes to live with his Dad on an illegal fishing barge. Well, not only was the film great, BUT I got an IMAX sized popcorn!! Wow wow wow, this was the BIGGEST bucket of popcorn I have ever eaten. They had to shovel the popcorn into it....and it holds so much popcorn they even emptied one popcorn machine filling it!! And here you can have sweet, or cheese flavoured popcorn not just original! I got sweet coz I never tried it before, and a whole bucket of cheese seemed like overkill...but looking back, anything in a bucket that big would have been overkill....anyways.....I am guessing they don't sell a lot of IMAX sized buckets, coz they had stored all sorts of bags and utensils (yes these buckets are big enough to store things in) in them!! The candybar staff tried to give me giant, but I persisted and they evdentually got me the IMAX sized.....of which Elaine and I managed to eat only about 1/10.....how embarrassing:( Well, this bucket was so heavy it weighed enough to hold down the seat next to me while we stood for the national anthem before the film....yes in Thailand they play the national anthem before each movie!

Sunday I did not much, went to Lotus Tesco for some grocery shopping and nothing much else. Here is a random picture of Kaldi bannana soy smoothie...one of their specialty drinks, so I decided to try it! It's good.

Monday, and I had no Buddhism class coz I dropped it to concentrate on Thai.....hooray!!! Here are some random pictures from the bus I took with my new camera, and also here is a picture of this yoghurt thing I bought from 7/11....note the plastic wrapped spoon.....packaging in this country rivals Japan!

Had the nicest broccoli and prawn stirfry with rice today for lunch...and mangostein juice! Wow, never seen that before....very very good!

Tuesday, NO ETHNIC MINORITY CLASS!!!! Went in search of the haagen daz mooncake icecream which was apperently sold at one oulet in the whole of BKK and only from September until mid-October for the moon festival. BUT, after finally finding this damn outlet, they said they didn't have them and nor had they even heard of them! Wow, dissapointment of my LIFE! This was on the 100 food secrets of Bangkok...so now how will I complete this list.....??????? Well, picking myself up from the ashes I stumbled across Amaltery Icecream...which IS ALSO ON THE 100 SECRETS LIST!!! It is a shop that sells alcoholic icecream....like sangria in icecream form! Some of them are super strong, others not so much....but it is really nice!! Also tried the malt drink which is meant to be their specialty drink. Oh wait wait, before that went and ate at this random food area near Chitlom....had the best Som Tam, and also tried duck mouth....so so good with sticky rice!

Dinner was fantastic...also had like a hot pot, a pork soup, and chicken larb....arrrrooooooooooyyyyyy:D

Here is the icecream

Oh, and here is a random picture of the sunseting coz I was trying to figure out how to use all the settings on my camera....still can't use them.

Wednesday Thai class then Yu, Brooke and I went to the final day of the film festival....what a let down...the film was the most boring film ever.....no one said anything litterally....there was a Q&A with the director at the end but we snuck out before they came to avoid putting ourselves through that horrible experience...so so sooooo boring. So, went to food loft and had spicy noodle salad for dinner, then showed Brooke the alcoholic icecream shop and she was quite impressed by it! And check out this quote I saw whilst showing Brooke this place!!

1 1/2 weeks of happenings

Wow, I realise I have posted nothing for over a week, so I better update, coz a few things of interest have happened! Let's see....last Thursday was so incredibly hot, the heat was coming through my window and woke me up at about 6am it was that hot:( Great, coz we had a scheduled tour of the Grand Palace. Perfect weather to walk around for about 3 hours looking at the palace. Well, it was worth it for two reasons...i) we got in for free coz we were with Thammasat...foreigners usually pay 350 baht! And ii) we got a tour by some important professor who works at the palace, and that was fantastic coz he was full of information about things I would never have known if I just did the tour myself! But it was so so so hot, especially in the Thammasat uniform...repeat point made earlier about long black pants......clever person indeed who designed that uniform! Oh and iii) we all went to Sizzler for lunch! Wow, they still have sizzler here....and you still get the cheese bread, but the bread is sweet and the cheese isn't really cheese, nor does it really taste like cheese.....but 10 points for the appearance because it does look like with will taste like cheesebread....anyways, sizzler here is super trendy and all the cool kids go to eat there....but the food is just as bad if not worse as in Australia.....but good to relive the memories of childhood eating at sizzler!

Friday was Thai class, but apart from that I don't remember anything too amazing happening...it was really hot again...oh no wait, I tried the khaow man kai at the small cafeteria and it was so so so good! By far superior to the khaow man kai at the large cafeteria! So that was Friday's highlight! The lowlight was trying to borrow a book at the library.....wait wait, and not getting a straw with my milo at the 7/11.....so enough about Friday.....

The weekend involved the Thammasat singing contest final because JoeJoe was in it, so Elaine, JC, Nui, Tanya and I went to watch. I was expecting something kinda tacky to tell the truth, but it was this massively huge thing! They had sponsors and everything! And the sponsors provided free food, drinks, and tissues! Wow, I'll take 5 of everything please, because the free chocolate bread was amazing! And the presenter were these 2 TV personalities...not that I knew them, and the judges also included some famous musicians...again no idea who they were, but apparently I was meant to be impressed by their presence. So the singing was amazing...some of the students are really really talented. There was a Thai love song section which I have to say went on far too long, prompting me and JC to go to Tha Prachan to try find something to take up on the stage to JoeJoe, coz it seemed everyone was doing that. Found nothing....went back to the painful Thai love songs.....still going,.....

Finally the English section...english love songs.....and then JoeJoes...he did sex bomb! Haha, it was classic....he actually did it really well but lost out to someone singing I will survive...except she couldn't sing any of the words, so it was more like humming to the tune of I will survive...

After rushed home, changed then went to Sode Samo in Ekkamai with Sine and some of her friends. It was a really Thai bar with some cool thai music. I was officially the only farang there which made things good fun. Was a good night....the bathrooms had attendants...how weird....someone to turn the tap on for you when you wash your hands, wait patiently to turn it off for you when your done.....pass you a cloth to dry your hands, then pass you a warm towel when you dried your hands, then give you a mint to chew on for the walk back to the table!! Hahaha how cool!

Sunday went to Paragon and caught up with James for language exchange. And now this week.....Monday, nothing interesting to report, Tuesday had ethnic groups....at least I could get through it with the help of a chocolate frappe from the cafe downstairs....introduced some people to the brilliance of this drink....comments to report include...."chocolate frappe where have you been all my life"....."mmmmmmm.... eeeeee....mmmmmm おいしいいいいいいい" (Japanese girls tried it too), "ooooooh, wooooow...this is so good....what is this...chocolate??....oh I have an allergy to chocolate...." (Michinori)

Wednesday.....make up ethnic groups...painful....but then we all went for dinner at this theatre restaurant over at WangLang Pier. It was so nice...we sat at the table which was right next to the river, so had a really nice view looking out over the river.

The restaurant uses the money from the restaurant to give scholarships to disadvantaged kids in Thailand to come study performing arts at their theatre school....so everyone should eat there! They do live shows on Friday and Saturday nights so I will be going back! And apparently the lady who runs it is a famous actress or something.

And the food is amazing....we ordered all the specialties....melt in your mouth everything! Included the mum's secret chicken recipe, and a pork ribs recipe which was just amazing!

Thursday and we had art and architecture followed by Thai society...learnt about the Thammasat massacre...its kind freaky feeling to look out over the oval where it all happened and it looks exactly the same....as it did back then. Strange to think that where we walk around the campus today, people were being shot and beaten not that long ago.....:(

Friday Thai exam, was ok, and then in the afternoon went to the Tha Prachan Games....which was meant to be like sports contest amongst the first years, so Maei and I went along to support the BAS students. It turned out to be more like a cheerleading contest, which was just funny more than quality! We participated in the tug-of-war, and we lost:(

And then today....no political turmoil to any great extent as was expected, so that was nice as it meant no real traffic jams.....BUT, after having made it to JJ market, I found that my wallet is stolen....hmmmm not happy Jan...in fact....very very angry Jan! Luckily I didnt have much money in it, and managed to cancel all cards, so it's more of an inconvenience than a huge loss...hopefully travel insurance will pay for my new wallet!! But still.....what a bad day....and then it rained, and the chicken rice which we had to get take away after realising my wallet was gone just as we sat down to eat wasnt even that nice....but the lady was so nice to put it in takeaway containers for us when we had to up and leave in a hurry. And, Lung Jar even offered to feed me for free if I run out of money until my new cards come....And Tar came all the way in the rain to help me cancel my BKK Bank card...wow, some people really are so so nice.....I heart nice people like Lung Jar and the lady at the chicken rice shop at JJ market....but I definately dont heart people who steal my wallet.....but if they steal it to feed a hungry family, well....at least they have good intentions I suppose and it is an act of desperation....so I will tell myself I have put food on the table for a family for a couple of days....and that will make me feel slightly better about the whole ordeal. Anyways, tomorrow is a new day....let's hope it gets better:D

1 month reflection

So, I realised I have reached my first month here in Bangkok....time is flying! So, I wanted to stop and write down some thoughts of my first month here, because I realise I'm always writing about how good everything is, but sometimes its not so good, and I think it's important to recognise these things as well, because some of these things make the experience here too....don't you think? Well anyway....some things I've learnt about life in Thailand since arriving here....

i) The weather is hot

ii) I will always look like a have run a marathon by the time I arrive at uni, so there is no point trying to make myself look decent in the morning before going to school

iii) I don't have to stick my arm out the window to know what the weather will be like for the day, I don't have to even look out the window....in fact, I don't have to even wake up to know that it's gonna be hot....the only question is...will it rain....at the moment don't even have to wake up to answer this question in the affirmative either!

iv) There is always a food store around every corner, anywhere, and it will be open all night too

v) The meaning of healthy eating is lost here....the only thing that matters is whether the food tastes delicious...so asking for no salt, no added sugar, no msg, and no pork fat is futile....it will only lead to confused looks and comments about being a crazy foreigner, how could they possibly want to eat that....that will taste so incredibly undelicious!!

vi) Don't ever bother or worry about being on time....even important things which would attract large fines and the sacrificing of first born children for lateness back home will not be a problem if submitted late. In fact, even in exams, arriving 15 minutes late is no problem at all...no old people with rulers who lock the door at 15 minutes past in this country. Oh, and 2 hrs late is still well within that time frame of being late that does not yet require a polite text message to your waiting friend to inform them that you will be "a little bit late".

vii) when walking anywhere, one needs to keep a close eye out so as not to trip over bags of garbage, stray animals, sleeping people, food vendors, and pot-holes.

viii) You will never get from A to B on a Bangkok road by any means of transport without being stuck in a traffic jam, and without having a t least 3 near miss serious accidents along the way

ix) The mai pen rai attitude can be really calming....this "everything will be ok" attitude avoids a lot of unnecessary tension...BUT, sometimes it can be the most frustrating thing ever.....sometimes things are NOT mai pen rai.....so I invented my own phrase....MAI mai pen rai....."NOT no problems"!!

x) The wai is a really nice way of greeting people.

Some of the things I love about Bangkok:

i) Food....khanom, rice, juices, pork...everything it is so so good!

ii) No matter what time of the day there is always something to do and more importantly, something to eat

iii) Wearing the Thammasat Uniform....instant respect and discounts all round!

iv) There are so many more, but I have written about all these things so much in my previous posts!!!! Hooray for food and wonderful Bangkok living!!!!:D:D:D:D

But, here are some things I find difficult:

i) Buses...where do they go? Why doesn't the ticket seller know where their bus is going? They must all be under the belief that their bus doesn;t actually stop, because most people have to fight with the conductor to convince them that this bus does actually stop where they want to get off....not just me, even Thai people have this problem!

ii) Wearing the Thammasat uniform...why should I be treated like the greatest person in the history of the world just because I go to Thammasat?? It's nice, but at the same time, why is a person valued based on which school they attend?

iii) Why are Thais so scared of farang???.....fighting over who doesn't have to sit next to the farang...ie me, can be quite demoralising and is not the nicest feeling to know that people would rather stand with bags and everything than take a seat next to you

iv) Poverty.....really, exchange students have a nice lifestyle here, and sometimes it is easy to forget that this lifestyle is not enjoyed by all.....it is hard to walk down the streets and see so many people begging for money while you're out enjoying dinner and movies, and dessert, and drinks, and then take a taxi home because you just can't be bothered to deal with the crowded, non A/C bus.....but then again, avoiding enjoying your Saturday nights as a result will not solve the problem, nor will it even help it.....but it is something which I don't feel entirely comfortable about still

v) Language....of course!! But hopefully this difficulty is going to keep going away!!!!

Also, stray animals here....I hate stray animals coz Im certain that they will end up biting me and giving me rabies or something...so I try to avoid them at all costs....but I still think they should be treated properly.....ie no one should be cruel to them, and if they have a few spare food scraps how about throwing them to the poor dogs......but the other day while we were waiting to start our hike on camp, a man drove a motorbike past us and all of a sudden threw an axe at a poor dog standing nearby....the dog did nothing, the man just felt the need to hurt this poor dog. I've never heard a dog yelp like this dog did.....makes me sad just thinking of that poor dog and the pain he must have been in.

And finally, I have to say, whilst living in Bangkok has opened my eyes to some amazing things, it has also opened my eyes to some parts of life which I wish didn't have to exist but unfortunately do. Like the other night I took a taxi home and asked the driver to stop at the Taling Chan police station because it's right near my dorm and taxi drivers all know it but no one knows my dorm, so it's just easier to get out there and walk 5 minutes. Anyways, pulling up at the police station and just as Im about to get out, I notice a poor man lying lifeless on the road.....I think he was knocked off his motorbike....and the police were out dealing with it when we pulled up. I dont know what to think of that whole incident, maybe I just think to spare a thought for his family now.

Anyways, to end this post, let's think of something good!

So far.....
i) Best thing I've done- Queen's birthdya weekend, being late to the fireworks and then going to Chinatown for noodles and toasted bread with thai custard

ii) Best place I've been- Lung Jar's restaurant.....so many happy times there!

iii) Favourite food- khaow kha muu sai khai (pork leg with rice and an egg)

In store for the month to come....study study Thai, hopefully go to the beach again, go and start crossing off the 100 eating secrets in Bangkok list which I found on the website....of upmost importance is the search for mooncake flavoured icecream which is only sold at 1 haagen daz outlet in Bangkok from now until mid-October....clock is ticking I've gotta get onto this!!! Ok, on that happy thought, my month's reflections are done there.....let's all go out and find mooncake flavoured icecream!! aroy mak mak mak mak mak maaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!!! At least I hope so!

Post beach trip week

This week has been trying to catch up on sleep lost over the weekend and Tuesday was the perfect opportunity when ethnic groups was cancelled...whoot!! Monday involved Buddhism in Thailand and a world's greatest chocolate frappe in the break...the highlight of the day. Wednesday had Thai class then was a friend's birthday so went to eat cake at Paragon...wow, cake there is amazing....I will take a photo next time because words cant describe the piece of art on my plate! That night had yakinku for dinner and came home smelling like a pork chop. Lunch today had green chicken curry which was tres tasty, and breakfast had vegetables and pork...yum yum yum....ok, so nothing too much else to report so far for the week.

To the beach near Hua Hin and back

Friday and we were off to the beach for the weekend! The beach was some random beach I never heard of and was near Hua Hin....so it shall just be referred to as the beach near Hua Hin. Arrived at Thammasat at 8:45 for a 9am departure, and at 10am we departed for the same 9am departure. The bus was not A/C and the seats remarkably like a school bus....comfortable for a 4 hour trip! Here's the picture of the inside of the bus with fans!

Luckily the windows open so you get the natural breeze...by breeze I mean strong wind that forces you back into your seat and is so loud you cant hear anything...its great really. Also here's a picture of me with Ok and Jang at the back of the bus where there was a guy playing the bon

The bus also doesnt prohibit smoking or drinking! So see example picture of passengers...wow surprising!

So for a 4 hour trip, 2 stops are reaquired- 1 for snacks the other for lunch! First stop involved buying som kind of dried bannana which I'd never seen before, it's like the whole bannana, and just dried then covered in honey! At this service station, I saw the biggest stack of water I have ever seen!

At the service station, most people headed for the toilet, I headed straight for the icecream seller, but Jun headed for the hat seller....how pretty he looked!! hahaha

Back on the bus to enjoy the bannana on the way to the beach which litterally is in the middle of nowhere....which means no farang!! With the exception of us of course. Friday involved beach volleyball and swimming in the pool! The rooms were really cool with an outdoors shower! Of course it had a wall around it, but no roof so it was open air! And the hotel was was so green and nice with a really nice pool area! So relaxing!

Oh random thought....the room had lays smoked crab flavored chips....never seen that before!

Dinner was next to the beach and was really nice! After dinner a lady selling bannana rotti stopped her cart where we were so we enjoyed some rotti for a 2nd dessert!

Saturday breakfast was rice porridge with seafood......sooo sooo good! When I got to breakfast Nai was already up and had walked 2 kms to get the most amazing chicken for breakfast! Yes, we will definately be friends!

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After breakfast was hiking! We went to a cave which was just amazing! It was where the king went occassionally.....so so cool! But the hike was so tiring! Here's some pics of my group at the start, taking a mid-hike break, and the cave at the end!

Going back was by boat which was so so so nice!!

Lunch was he spiciest noodles I have ever eaten!! Wow, but I was so hungry I just pushed through the pain and they were actually really good! Luckily they served a shaved ice dessert which soothed the burning a bit!!

That night we had dinner....fried rice with a suid stir-fry like dish...so chillli but so good! After dinner we had a thai dancing costume thing, followed by cooking where we made Khanom! Wow, so soooo good!

Here is the end product!!!

It was Nao's birthday on Sunday so at midnight someone bought him something which resembled a cake....actually I have no idea what it actually was though!

Sunday was more delicious rice porridge for breakfast, except some people were taking all the prawns and fish out.....hmmmmmm not happy Jan! Anyways, slept in the hammock after breakfast for a bit, then we had a long long bus ride home....stopped for lunch and there were all these buses carrying 40 something yr old women and the buses were vibrating the music being played in them was that loud! Seriously, the sound coming from these buses was louder than a night club playing heavy metal!! Anyways, bought some pomello and some khanom, then back in the bus....and when we got to Bangkok, the bus pulled up on the hgihway and dropped us at our dorm despite the fact that this meant holding all the traffic up while we searched for bags under the bus!! Anyways, was an awesome weekend away, must go back to the beach again soon sometime!!!