Coconuts, Hammocks and Price Fixing, oh my

Tuesday 10^th February, 5:50pm

Over the last week I have been making my way around the various beaches in Southern Thailand. I began at Krabi, moved onto Phi Phi, then onto Samui and finally I am in Phangan. Although all beautiful places I must say Phi Phi and Phangan are the most amazing.

Last night we went to the full moon eve, a fantastic party on the sunrise and sunset beaches. The bay was filled with little bars, everyone of them thinking swearing on their signage would give them the edge over the rest. There were fantastic fire juggling shows but the highlight was the fire skipping rope. So exhilarating to jump in this rope, feeling the heat below you, the crowd clapping, the music pumping. It was awesome.

Today I went to a cute little island gym for a yoga session. This place is like your regular gym with cardio and weight machines, the difference being, people worked out barefooted and there are dogs and cats chilling in the gym with you. There are dogs and cats chilling everywhere with you in Thailand, loving it!

Phi Phi

I was never excited to go to the tourist beaches down South. My excitement was around experiencing the real Thailand, it's culture, language etc. But after where I have been and what it's been like, I was most definitely excited to reach Phi Phi. I felt it wasn't quite right to go to another country which is so different from Australia to then go somewhere that strives to be familiar to westerners, but oh how nice that familiarity is!
Phi Phi is a fantastic place. The beaches are just like in the brochures; white sands, clear waters, rainbow deck chairs and umbrellas lining the shores.
The great thing about this place, as opposed to where else I have been, the air is clean, the streets aren't piling up with rubbish and the dogs and cats who wander are healthy and gorgeous!
My time has been spent relaxing and enjoying the natural beauty that surrounds me.

Ayutthaya

Monday 2^nd Feb 3:00pm

I have always wanted to experience the sting of a foreign country in which they speak no English. Some call Australia a racist country, that we treat people of other races and cultures with less respect than we would someone who speaks our language and is 'Australian.' On thinking about it, it's probably true, I think generally and as a whole Australia is a racist nation. One can only imagine what that experience is like, unless it is lived for themselves. And live it for myself is exactly what I have desired.

I am currently in Ayutthaya, just a 2 hour train ride north of Bangkok and I feel like I am in a whole other country, again. I am in a place where I am alone and scared and the fact that English is not spoken here intensifies that experience more than I would have thought. To be fair, I have heard a few English words since I have arrived, I have a safe and comfortable place to sleep (and hide) and knowing that I leave here tomorrow makes the experience bearable. I recognise that my experience here, although is definitely an experience, is nothing compared to those who don't have the luxury of returning to their home, those who don't have somewhere safe to go, those who are separated from the ones they love and those who are treated like they don't have rights. That being said, this is still an experience which has given me a huge amount of understanding of what it is like for people in that situation that I could never have gotten otherwise.

My adventures into this foreign world began yesterday evening when I was dropped off at the train station and told 'train.' I already had my ticket so fortunately all I had to do was find my train, which was easily done by showing my ticket to official looking people and with lots of pointing and hand gestures. My train ticket stated the arrival time into Ayutthaya station so I used this as a guide to know when to get off and after many questioning and lost glances at the train staff he read my ticket and gestured that this was my stop. At the station I was able to hand the guest house address to a cab driver and was taken there for 50 baht. As you can gather, getting around and doing day to day things here hasn't been the challenge, the menu at the restaurant is even in English, I see 'vegetables and rice' and 'water' and I point (by the way, that's all I eat in Thailand!). For me, it hasn't been about getting around and doing day to day things. Instead, the sting comes from not hearing your language anywhere, when I want to talk to someone I just can't. This is important for me as I am someone who has, as Blanche Dubois would say, always depended on the kindness of strangers, and yes, I know she is referring to prostitution. I'm not, I'm referring to knowing that if I need help, people will be there. I don't have that comfort here and it is more than not being able to communicate. By the looks and body language I receive and lack of returned smiles in the street, I feel that I am not respected or welcome here, not unlike a foreigner must feel in Australia. It seems people feel frustrated and angry with me for not speaking their language (sound familiar Australians?) and even when I did my very best 'Khawp Khun Kha' (Thank You) in a 7/11, I was given an uncomfortable look.

So although this experience has been a scary, lonely, and panic provoking one, I am grateful for it. It will make me think differently about how I act and speak with non-English speaking Australians and foreigners. I don't refer to discrimination or disrespect, it goes without saying that that was never something I was guilty of. Instead I speak of better understanding the overwhelming, lonely and panicky feeling that they must experience, and knowing that there is more to it than helping them with getting around. Take a breath, empahise and of course smile .

Life in Bangkok

Life in Bangkok has been incredible.

Walking the streets and alleys of Bangkok is like nothing I have ever experienced. How best to describe? The air is beautifully warm but mostly feels dirty. The streets are lined with carts and stalls, selling interesting things like fried grasshoppers (although I must say these fried insects do smell appetising). Walking down these streets you are forever dodging motorbikes and push bikes, swerving in and out of people and dogs, while trying to take it all in. You will find amazing make-shift dwellings in the tiniest and quaintest of alleys.

Along the river on which I am staying, there is a fantastic and terrifying walkway. It is like a tunnel going over the river, on either side there are small rooms where people are living. The floor has been roughly constructed from bits of wood. As you walk along it you can see the river below you and can feel it rocking and breaking beneath your feet, which was the terrifying part. As I walked through this small, confined walk way, I felt like I was intruding on someone's home, there are Thai people and dogs sitting out side of their homes watching you as you walk through.

Coming out of that walkway, I felt just as intrusive as I came upon a gorgeous temple with beautiful music and Thai people praying. This was amzing, a very beautful scene.

The most of my days so far have been spent shopping and drinking and at times both of these activities together! Haggling is a lot of fun,
"how much?"
"500,"
"350?"
"420 ok?"
"I'll do 400"
"400 ok!"
Very cool

On my second day I got an hour Thai massage. This costed 110 Baht, which is about 5 bucks. And it was incredible, very different to what I'm used to. On a mat on the floor, in a room with 5 others, the massure really goes to town on your muscles. And, oh my, feeling fantastic afterwards!

There is a cute shop/home where I buy bottles of water from on my way back to the hotel. One day I went in to find only a small girl, maybe 3 years old. Asking for her mum or dad was pointless, she doesn't speak Thai yet, let alone English. After staring blankly at me for a moment, the girl eyes lit up, she ran to the fridge and got out a bottle of water. The girl put out her tiny hand for the money, luckly I already knew how much these cost, I handed her the coins and she handed me the bottle. I thought that was fantastic, the girl was able remember what she saw me buy the last times I was in there and make the connection that I am likely to want the same. This got the Psych in me firing.

On the topic of the Psych in me. In Melbourne, I often find my self watching people, watching crowds. I think to myself; what is that individual person's experience like? All I know is my own experience, and each and everyone of these people have their own. It amazes me; what is their mind saying? Where are they going, and why? Are they happy? What would it take for that person to be happy? It goes on. I am doing the same in Bangkok and it blows my mind how much these people's expereiences must vary due to culture! I think about it individually but also as a group; are these people happy? Are Thai people generally happier than Australians? Is their way of thinking different to ours? What is this lady's, who is crouched down washing dishes in a tub by the river, experince like? Wow!

I met a very nice man (still nice even if our walk together did lead me to a gem shop). He spoke about Psychology, introuduced himself as a proffessor. Told me he is going to Macquire Uni in Sydney to lecture Psychology in March. This was the first Thai person I had a real conversation with, beyond small talk.

This man first spoke to me to stop me from getting hit but a motorbike. He explained to me that although it is a one way road, you need to look both ways. And boy, was he right, traffic here follows no rules. It is scary as hell riding in a taxi with no seat belts, or worse, a tuk tuk with no seat belts or walls! The drivers swerve in and out of traffic very insanely, but it seems to work...incredible

I met another Thai person who I had a great conversation with. We saw her in Siam Square, I could tell she appreciated tourists (a lot of people here have tourist fatigue). She told us a bit of info about where we are and what is around, I spoke to her about the rest of my trip, going south and then teaching English in the South. She was a very cool lady, genuinely caring.

It is amazing how much I take the fact that I can speak English anywhere here for granted. Until I come across someone who only speaks Thai, I forget that I am in a country that speaks English as a second language. I had a bit of trouble at first, but that wasn't the Thai people's English skills but instead my understanding their accents. In fact, the Thai taxi driver from the airport asked me if I speak English! I hope so, I thought, I am meant to be teaching it in 3 weeks!

I selfishly learnt my first Thai word only last night. And what was that word that I learnt? Tounge! My first Thai word that I learnt was tounge, on Khaosan Road to further spark curiousity. After that I felt guilty for having not bothered to learn the Thai language and asked someone how to say 'thank you' in Thai. So that's it so far, thank you and tounge!

If you made it through this long long post... thanks
xoxo

Amazing

This is a surreal experience! My surroundings are incredible, it's as if I'm in a whole other country or something!
Khaosan Rd was an definitely an experience, absolutely packed with shops, bars and tourists. Walking down this road at one point went something like, 'ping pong?' 'no thanks,' 'ping pong?' 'no thanks,' 'ping pong?' and so on. Haha
My culture shock for the night was the amount of stray and sick dogs and cats. There was one dog lying on the footpath, moments from death yelping in pain. I can say I felt some relief to enjoy a fantastic, pain free, vegan dinner after that encounter.

Can't get there by bus

Hey there,
So it's 4 weeks until Cam and I leave for Thailand!
Here is my blog for keeping tabs on me and my adventures.
We leave 27th of Jan and I return home 4th of March. I have 3 weeks of traveling the country and then the last 2 weeks (16th to 27th of Feb) are spent in Chiang Rai teaching English at the schools there.
Stay posted guys
xoxox