Thailandia

Warning: the majority of this post is about... food. Pictures of food. Stories about food. Love letters to food. I hope you will not think of me differently upon reading about the enormously inappropriate amounts of calories I took in during my one week stay in Thailand. But if you do, I guess I'll just save a knuckle sandwich for you :)

Last week commenced our very first "vacation" of the school year. The word "vacation" deserves quotation marks mostly because I already live in a super cool foreign country so to take a "vacation" from my "vacation" lifestyle is just kind of silly. Anyway, my dear roommate Kristi, our coworker Victoria, and myself decided to add another stamp to our passports and head west to the land of curry, Buddhism, limestone, and diversity: Thailand.

My bookmark for the week :)

Tuk-tuk transport

Now, I'm not entirely sure how to tell you about the week without making a boring, "then we did this, next we did that, later we went here..." kind of post. So, if you get bored, just scroll down and look at the pictures of food, Buddha, food, monkeys, food, and that tuk-tuk to your left. Our first stop? Bangkok. At first glance, Bangkok is huge, dirty, booming, colorful, and hot. Then, once you start exploring, you find that Bangkok is actually enormous, filthy, heavily populated, vibrant, and sweltering. But I still think I fell in love with the place. Phad thai was sold on the street for $1, tuk-tuks were the size of a mini-cooper, pictures of the royal family were displayed all over the city, ancient temples lined the streets and acted as reminders of S.E. Asia's extensive history, diversity was found in its purest form as Thai were dressed in tradition clothing, western wear, and head coverings, and transportation exceeded most city options: boat, taxi, train, light-rail, bus, tuk-tuk, bicycle, and peds. We spent some quality tourist time finding the great Reclining Buddha, visiting the largest market in all of Asia, shopping on the famous Khoa San Road, sipping coconut juice, and taking a vegetarian Thai cooking class. This was definitely the highlight of Bangkok and something I would have never normally done had it not been for the influence of my roommate, Chef Kristi. The class was about $35 and included a trip to a market, instructions in cooking eight meals, a recipe books, dancing lessons, and new friends. We ended up buying spices, curries, tea, and another cookbook but all-in-all, it was absolutely worth the money. So if you are starting to take notes on "things that entice you to visit," please add the following: I will cook delicious Thai food for you if you come. 

Seems like most countries respect their leaders... hm... different. I did have a hilarious conversation with our taxi driver about Obama and Romney. The driver said he watched the TV and all they did was, "talk and talk and talk but I want they to dance!" Yes, little Thai taxi driver, I agree. The presidency should absolutely be determined by a dance-off.

Becoming a ghost next to the world's biggest buddha

This is a real thing: stuffed tofu with rice, green curry, eggplant... I die.

Chef Hannah to the rescue! 

This is Phad Thai and peanut sauce my roommate and I MADE!

Spring roll spread

Papaya salad... I didn't make it but I did eat it

Pumpkin hummus... you read right!

Possibly the most delicious thing in Thailand: black sticky rice with coconut milk, mangoes, and bananas... NOM!

Kristi with her coconut ice cream :)

After a few days of playing in a new city and enjoying our sweet hostel with the kindest of Thai ladies, we bought a bus ticket and made our way south. Night buses are an incredible thing. You get where you want to go without wasting any additional time, you (hopefully) sleep through the discomfort, you spend a fraction of what you would with an airline ticket, and you pay one less night for lodging. And Thai night buses are the best I've seen: fully reclining seats, blankets provided, flat screen TVs, snacks and water bottles, clean bathrooms, and a communal dinner at a rest stop at midnight. Super classy and under $30 for a 12 hour bus ride. I'll take it!

ooooh hai!

Twelve hours later, we loaded off the bus, taxied to a pier, and sailed our way to the islands. It was here that we spent our days hiking, rock climbing, sleeping in bungalows, eating hilariously inexpensive food, swimming in the saltwater, "borrowing" the pool at a neighboring hotel, reading, slack-lining (finally found one!), and meeting fun people. It was a beautiful, relaxing, calming experience that I wish everyone could know. I am tempted to go back to Railay beach for every vacation I have but can't imagine how many other amazing places this region has to offer. If my first trip was this good, and I had no idea what we were doing half the time, the next ones are bound to be even more awe-inspiring.

beautiful limestone

This is a fun story. These gentlemen asked if they could sit at my table while I was eating that papaya salad seen earlier and we ended up going on a viewpoint and laguna hike together. They were very impressed the I knew that where they were from, Ottawa, was the capital of Canada. Turns out they went to high school with my dear friend and coworker from Guatemala, Camille! It's a small world after all :)

Temporary roommate Kevin climbing after teaching me to do that same

I have to tell you a specific story, though. And this story may require that I stand a little taller, like maybe on a soapbox. Sorry in advance. On my daily walk to "pick up" Kristi and Victoria at their hotel (I stayed with friends Alex and Kevin in our $12 a night bungalow instead of a $50 a night resort), I frequently walked past an Indian restaurant owned by an American couple. I was intrigued by their "water bottle refill station" they had advertised and became a regular during the week, filling my bottle for 10 baht ($.30), discussing the joys of traveling, and chatting with their super cute kid. One day during a refill, Alex asked how they disposed of their trash on this tiny island. They mentioned that they composted what was compostable, recycled what was recycled in that area, and buried the rest. Impressed by their assumed desire to create less waste with the water bottle refill station, I mentioned the concept of a bottle brick to them (if you are unfamiliar with "bottle bricks," you haven't read my blog and have a lot of reading to do in order to find out, hehe). They sounded interested so naturally I got really excited.

To my dismay, my excitement was short-lived. I returned to the restaurant the next day with information, contacts, and a naive hope for a bottle brick project in an island town in the south of Thailand. I proudly reexplained the concept to the couple and offered email addresses of people who may be able to provide resources and supports for a potential project. But I was met with an ugly attitude that disappointed me beyond belief, "It sounds like a great idea, but honestly, Thai people just don't care about the garbage they make." 

Pssh, thanks buddy, clearly you don't either.

As a privileged, educated American starting a business on a small Thai island (and frankly, taking business away from Thai people and exploiting the tourist dollar in a country that is not yours), is it not your DUTY to improve the community in which you live? I asked this question to Allison in one of our, "man, society is depressing worldwide" conversations, and she brought up the brilliant point that everyone, everywhere should want to improve their community, regardless of where you come from and what the current stance is of the community members on any given issue. I found myself so incredibly let down that I nearly cried right there in front of this guy. Why should Thai people care about the garbage they make? Where would they have received any education about conservation and waste management? When have they ever witnessed the repercussions of over-consumption of resources? If someone has no background knowledge or contextual awareness of their actions, of course they won't care! That is where your job comes in, Mister educated-white-man-with-an-Indian-restaurant-on-a-tiny-island-in-Thailand. You can't go on thinking that what goes on on your own property is all that's important. If you want a healthy world for your young and super cute kid to grow up in, then take the initiative. Put in the time. Do your part.

Change can start with one person. I'm still young enough to believe this and don't plan on letting some a-hole (sorry, I'm clearly still disappointed!) American take that away. Now, the next step for me is 1. learning how to be brave enough to actually say these things to the people who anger me instead of writing home about it and 2. contacting environmental groups here in Vietnam about bottle bricks. I wish I could fly Jaron and Aubrey out here right now and we could start our own organization of people who really do care about conservation and education but hopefully the right person will be inspired and something can be changed.

Because if not now, then when? If not you, then who?

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Okay, that was me climbing down off my soapbox that somehow became more of a tower than a box. Not apologizing this time as many people have told me I do that too much. So, sorry for not being sorry. Oh, ooops, there it is again. The rest of the trip was equally spectacular except for one little thing: Kristi got an ameba! We think it was maybe from her salad not being cleaned well enough or perhaps being cleaned too well and not dried, but one way or another that little dude made his way in her stomach and just took over. She had a fever, diarrhea (don't worry, Kristi likes discussing poop too), and intense body aches for three day. Luckily, I did learn some things from my amazing nurse of a mother and was able to track down electrolyte packs, vitamin C enriched liquids, and soft foods for my poor sick roomie. I played bad cop and forced her to drink her fluids in increments, even when all she wanted to do was sleep. This only lasted long enough for Kristi to make it back to Vietnam and go straight to the doctor. They found that her stomach was intensely inflamed, blood had managed to get in her stool, and there was indeed a little squirmy guy living in her insides. Kristi is on her way to killing those demon bugs with twenty day anti-parasitic pill treatment. She stayed home and slept for two days and is finally feeling better; thank goodness!

Okay, I think that's all I've got for you. I won't try to sit here and think of a clever way to end this post. You can stop reading now :)

The view from the borrowed pool at the fancy hotel... this is real life!