Sawasdee Ka World: Time Goes By, So Slowly...?

Holy Toledo- another incredibly packed 4 days!

On Wednesday we visited the Duang Pratheep foundation- a pretty amazing support org that provides services and education to children and families in the slum areas. Pi Paew coulnd’t come with us so Pi Nai was in charge… he kept us safe :)

We walked through a slum and it was pretty incredible. It wasn’t the sewage-in-the-streets-naked-children level of terrible, but it was still pretty terrible in itself. Most of it was built up on stilts and trashy water sat and stank underneath. What we really struck me was the lack of privacy- a family might have a room the size of a king bed and no complete walls.

A flat in the slums

We had a short presentation from the foundation (I think they were supposed to do more with us) and we looked around the school and headed out. We had our pimp bus for the whole day, so Nai took us to the Ancient City. We bumped to Madonna the whole way- so much fun. The Ancient City is kind of like a park with a bunch of cool buildings and a floating market. We rented bikes and toured around. Very fun.

Nai, Our Thai Cowboy

On Thursday we were supposed to go to an agricultural thing, but while we were on the bus they cancelled so we went to the beach for the day. Study Abroad is pretty cool.

No but really. We went to Thailand’s largest floating market and it kind of reminded me of Millpond Park if it was over a river. It even had a wood bridge that wobbled when you walked over it. Enjoyed.

floating market

We went to the Pattaya Beach and got heckled by beach vendors all day and got stared at because were are so white and wear swimsuits. (Most of the locals swim in their clothes- no joke.) Paew got a foot massage, we looked interested, and before we knew it our group was ambushed by massage ladies wanting to rub our nasty FARANG feet. So, we got foot rubs. Please take a moment to imagine the lady in charge of my feet:

Mad TV's Miss Swan,

in a flat bill, studded, “Dirty South” hat (worn slightly cocked)

And a tall tee.

It was so entertaining. I liked her so much I had her give me a crappy pedicure too. So worth.

Friday day was pretty demoralizing… Sarah and I want to Future Park in order to hunt for work clothes. (MOM- I cant belive I left my editor pants and skirt at home!! :( ) Figured a dept store would have our sizes but apparently that is not so. We tried to make ourselves feel better with some gelato but we couldn’t even find the freaking gelato place. Psh.

BUT Friday was a totally awesomely THAI night. It was Pi Nai’s 27^th birthday, and all of his friends left him for the Reggae festival in Chang Mai, so we took him out. First, we went to his fav spot for dinner- a complete hole in the wall, garage-type place where we had THE BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE. Roasted pork leg. Right off the bone. With these awesome Chinese rolls. It was so incredibly carnivorous and fantastic. The kind of meal that makes you feel like life is going to be ok. That good.

Then we went to this place… it was like a Major Magic’s for grown ups- a big decorated warehouse with a stage where we saw it all- lip syncing ladyboys, live cover songs, a Thai pantomime. We had so much fun. Nai decided he “want to be American!” for the night and that was pretty funny. He wouldn’t even talk to the taxi driver in Thai- “No! I American tonight!”

I took Nai up to dance for his birthday and afterwards I looked down to see the cutest little 5 year old Thai girl wanting to dance with me. We danced for the rest of Mariah Carey’s “Hero,” and she insisted on a second dance. I twirled her a couple times and she wanted to twirl me too, so I had to do a limbo of sorts to get under her bitty arm. It was seriously cute.

Rise and shine at 5:30 AM on Saturday so we can get down to the beach for the weekend! We took the van down into the city and took another van from there 2.5 hours to Cha Am, where we took motorcycle taxis (hehe sorry dad) to a guest house. We splurged on a room for the night ($5 A NIGHT PER PERSON, UGH) and promptly crashed on the beach. Spent the day playing in the water and getting some (or too much) sun.

Vay-kay!!

Sarah, Torey, Jordan and I got our first real hour-long Thai massages ($7, UGH) and thoroughly enjoyed it. They way massage is a way of life here is something I could definitely get used to. The Thai’s pay attention to areas that we don’t even think of- it’s not all about back massages here (even though their back massage is phenomenal). They pressed on the outsides of my shins and pushed their feet on my hamstrings and rubbed my armpits (weird but great). I think I’m going to take a massage class once my internship starts up. Resume builders, you know.

this is our spot! no happy endings!

Spent the night hopping around venues on the strip our guesthouse was on. On Sunday (this morning) we got up early, hit up breakfast, checked out of our room and hit the beach again. Worst part of the trip right here: some wild FARANG had one too many last night and puked on the beach- right where I happened to set my backpack. I looked like a wildy dragging my backpack in the sand, but I wasn’t about to let some bloke’s upchuck ruin my 8 year old LLbean. How gross.

Finished reading Incendiary on the beach and enjoyed it… Chris Cleave is awesome. Whoever hasn’t read Little Bee- you should.

We girls couldn’t contain ourselves… we went back to our new massage place. Torey and I got hour-long facials and Sarah got a back/neck/head massage. Loved my facial- my skin felt so new afterwards! The treatment included a scrub, some lotions, a clay mask and a cucumber-wrap thing. I felt like a mummy. I also fell asleep and drooled a little.

WE HAD PIZZA FOR LUNCH. Something we’ve been craving basically since the night we got here. Wasn’t quite like home, but close enough.

Before we knew it, we were riding motorbikes to the van station, vanning it (with a PSYCHO VAN DRIVER) to BKK, vanning it to AIT (with a lesser but still PSYCHO VAN DRIVER) and walking back to our quaint dorm, ST2. Enjoying the aftermath of some delicious Indian bread, a cold shower (temperature not by choice), and some clean jammies, and a video chat w Dad.