I made it safe! The flight was great and I got to see by first frozen tundra and ice covered seas as we flew up through the Yukon and back down through Siberia. Not what I expected to see on my way to Thailand.
Being in the country is much more comfortable the second time around. My Thai language is coming back to me quick and everything is a lot less new and surprising. Which doesn't mean it isn't exciting to be back in Southeast Asia! The Thais all tell me that my Thai language is "gang mac" (skillful) though I know they are just being nice.
My first day in Thailand, all I did was walk between air conditioned taxis and buildings and my computers battery is shot! The heat got to it quick and my cable is only five feet long!- I think its time to buy an extension cord.
It has been a good week for contacts. I didn't realize that the friend I would be staying with was the former regional director of one of the NGOS related to my thesis. I now have contacts at three more NGOs- all based in Bangkok. I might use the extra days I saved at the end of my trip to come back to the city and meet up with those groups!
The adventure begins!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Tonedeaf Triple Threat with Tookays
The Last three weeks, studying river ecology on the rivers of Thailand, have been incredible. We spent time living with villagers on and near the Yom, Khong(Meakong) and Mun rivers. We hear about their struggles with Dams and deforestation. We learned to catch fish, shrimp and mussels, as well as enter the forest to find herbs and edibles. Meanwhile we learned to analyze the macroinvertibrate, chemical combosition and physical characteristics of rivers inorder to assess habitat vitality and recognize human impacts. (Course Summary: Dams do not positively affect an ecosytem or the human communities that live near them)
My tonedeafness has gradually dissapated into a mileau of words of particuliar characteistic, I can now determine the difference between lao and lao, or the differences between ma, ma,ma or ma all with distinctly diferent meanings. A common mistake made by farang(foreigners) is saying bannana gluei with the wrong emphasis. Like the american inuendo or european condom commericals the mistaken farang is mistakenly speaking about a males nether regions instead of a fruit. While Me and my fellow nak suk sa(students) are gaining proficiency in central Thai, the last few weeks were spent in cities where the people speak Issan(northeastern) or northen thai, two different dialects. We have become triple threats in the world of thailan being able to express the deliciousness of food in three languages, sep ili duu (issan), lam dtee dtee(northern) and alloy mac mac (central). Tommorrow I will be making my second trip to Burma. The first time I was a little awestruck my the military prescence and number of impovershed and crippled beggars but I am hoping that this excursion I will be able to speak thai with some burmese merchants and maybe learn a little more about the culture and languange.(quadruple threat?)
My tonedeafness has gradually dissapated into a mileau of words of particuliar characteistic, I can now determine the difference between lao and lao, or the differences between ma, ma,ma or ma all with distinctly diferent meanings. A common mistake made by farang(foreigners) is saying bannana gluei with the wrong emphasis. Like the american inuendo or european condom commericals the mistaken farang is mistakenly speaking about a males nether regions instead of a fruit. While Me and my fellow nak suk sa(students) are gaining proficiency in central Thai, the last few weeks were spent in cities where the people speak Issan(northeastern) or northen thai, two different dialects. We have become triple threats in the world of thailan being able to express the deliciousness of food in three languages, sep ili duu (issan), lam dtee dtee(northern) and alloy mac mac (central). Tommorrow I will be making my second trip to Burma. The first time I was a little awestruck my the military prescence and number of impovershed and crippled beggars but I am hoping that this excursion I will be able to speak thai with some burmese merchants and maybe learn a little more about the culture and languange.(quadruple threat?)
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Nii arai, Krap?
The Thai dinner table is the perfect setting for asking questions. Is this an animal or vegetable? Can you eat this(said with perfect sincerity)?
To the undiscerning eye your best luck is to simply watch what the locals do with the items on their plate.
Things do not become that much clearer even if you prepare the food yourself. I went to a Thai buffet. They bring hot coals to your table while you pick from dozens of raw meats which you will fry yourself. Seeing the food both before and after cooking it brings only marginally more enlightenment.
Tonight for dinner my host mother taugh me to make sweet green curry with chicken. While this seems straight forward one of the main ingredients is coagulated chicken blood. The most disturbing part is that the blood doesnt dissipate but instead remains as chunks that resemble soft tofu as you eat them. The dish was delicious despite the blood.
There are a lot of things I eat that I cant decipher but most of these things taste good in the end.
To the undiscerning eye your best luck is to simply watch what the locals do with the items on their plate.
Things do not become that much clearer even if you prepare the food yourself. I went to a Thai buffet. They bring hot coals to your table while you pick from dozens of raw meats which you will fry yourself. Seeing the food both before and after cooking it brings only marginally more enlightenment.
Tonight for dinner my host mother taugh me to make sweet green curry with chicken. While this seems straight forward one of the main ingredients is coagulated chicken blood. The most disturbing part is that the blood doesnt dissipate but instead remains as chunks that resemble soft tofu as you eat them. The dish was delicious despite the blood.
There are a lot of things I eat that I cant decipher but most of these things taste good in the end.
Urban Legends
I though my teacher, ajaan Danai was trying to scare us when he told us about the giant lizards. Creamy white in color and approximately the size of a house cat, he told a story about a friend (of a relative) who was attacked on the toilet after her husband had tried to flush one down. She promptly bleed to death.
I reassured my fellow nak sik saw (college students) that this was only a myth.
Later that night I got up to go to the bathroom, I flipped the light switch and the lights flickered -like notorious scenes in slasher films when the killer appears out of nowhere. The lights always do this. I walked up to the urinal (located in the shower). I bumped the low cieling wiith my head, and as I did I dislodged a white streak of lizard flesh. The lizard ran so fast all I saw was its tail as it disappeared behind the urinal...
They move too fast, you never see them...
Today I decided not to turn the outside lights on as a walked barefoot down the side of the house towards where the laundry area is. What's the worst that could happen in the dark? I rounded the corner. I heard it before I saw it. It paused in silent confidence, warning me of its existence, before disappearing onto the roof. A creamy white llizard the size of my head.
Ajaan Danai also warned us about snakes...
I reassured my fellow nak sik saw (college students) that this was only a myth.
Later that night I got up to go to the bathroom, I flipped the light switch and the lights flickered -like notorious scenes in slasher films when the killer appears out of nowhere. The lights always do this. I walked up to the urinal (located in the shower). I bumped the low cieling wiith my head, and as I did I dislodged a white streak of lizard flesh. The lizard ran so fast all I saw was its tail as it disappeared behind the urinal...
They move too fast, you never see them...
Today I decided not to turn the outside lights on as a walked barefoot down the side of the house towards where the laundry area is. What's the worst that could happen in the dark? I rounded the corner. I heard it before I saw it. It paused in silent confidence, warning me of its existence, before disappearing onto the roof. A creamy white llizard the size of my head.
Ajaan Danai also warned us about snakes...
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Day 8ish: The Hair cut
Nong Pick, my host brother, came home from school with a "new hair cut." As we were picking him up from school he approached the truck with his hand held to the back of his head. My host father, paw Bet, handed him a hoody. It wasn't until we arrived at the barber's shop that I got to see what nong Pick had been hiding, a large strip of missing hair, similiar to a racing stip that originated at the top of his head down to his neck. Apparently this is how teacher's inform thir students that that their hair is not up to code.
While we waited in the barber's shop a man smelling of alcohol walked in and struck up conversation. After A few minutes I had exhausted the few thai phrases I knew, but the man continued to talk. Intermitedly he asked if I understood: "Khoa jai mai?" , I would respond with no I do not understand: "Mai khao jai" this seemed to make no diference to him. After between 30 and 45 mintues of talking to this individual (or listening with out understanding) we left the barbershop. My host father informed me that none of them could understand this man either, "he is a gambler."
While we waited in the barber's shop a man smelling of alcohol walked in and struck up conversation. After A few minutes I had exhausted the few thai phrases I knew, but the man continued to talk. Intermitedly he asked if I understood: "Khoa jai mai?" , I would respond with no I do not understand: "Mai khao jai" this seemed to make no diference to him. After between 30 and 45 mintues of talking to this individual (or listening with out understanding) we left the barbershop. My host father informed me that none of them could understand this man either, "he is a gambler."
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Belated Beginnings
It's always nice to start at the begining, but sometimes that just doesnt happen.
Day 11, Cooking Thai:
Today our Thai language course made a field trip to the market, to gather ingredients for our morning lesson: cooking Thai!
To say the least: a list of thai ingredients looks to me like a list of incomprehensible sounds and finding these ingredients becomes that much harder when you realise that not only are the names foriegn so are the foods themselves. (Solution = Ask a Thai) The highlights of the trip were photo oppurtunities with meat (pig heads, hearts, intestines and the like) -photos to come soon- and my most favorite moment was watching a butcher be taken out (knocked completely onto his ass) by a giant rat. I promptly bought a shopping bag full of raw chicken from this unfortunate fellow.
Day 11, Cooking Thai:
Today our Thai language course made a field trip to the market, to gather ingredients for our morning lesson: cooking Thai!
To say the least: a list of thai ingredients looks to me like a list of incomprehensible sounds and finding these ingredients becomes that much harder when you realise that not only are the names foriegn so are the foods themselves. (Solution = Ask a Thai) The highlights of the trip were photo oppurtunities with meat (pig heads, hearts, intestines and the like) -photos to come soon- and my most favorite moment was watching a butcher be taken out (knocked completely onto his ass) by a giant rat. I promptly bought a shopping bag full of raw chicken from this unfortunate fellow.
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