bombings in bangkok

im currently in cambodia, on my first leg of my travels, and i will write about my experiences here in the coming days. however, there is a lot happening in bangkok at the moment that i think i should explain here.

for over a month now, there has been a large demonstration by the red shirts/udd who established their camp near the famous travelers site of khaosan road. on april 10, just days before the new year celebrations were to begin, violence broke out between the udd and the military, leaving 24 people dead and hundreds of others injured and effectively canceling many of the activities in the capitol for the holiday and shutting down the main business and shopping district of siam.

red shirts near khaosan.

after a week, tensions started to build again and the red shirts planned a protest near the silom area, another business and tourist district, and the military dispersed more troops with the orders to contain but not fight, even though soldiers were set up around the streets with rifles and barbed wire blocking certain areas. days later, they threatened that violence would be used if necessary. and thats when the bombs and grenades began.

barbed wire and soldiers in silom.

one went off on the bts, the skytrain in bangkok, effectively shutting it down, but so far, the deaths have been minimal. there is a movement called the multi-colored shirts which have formed in opposition to the red shirts and who are now demonstrating against them. the yellow shirts, government supporters, are expected to arrive in bangkok within the next week.

the red shirts believe that the elections by which the current government was selected into office were unfair and illegal. their goal with this protest is to have the current government dissolved and new elections held. they have currently proposed an extension of their timeline, giving the government 90 days to plan for the new elections.

the entire thing is still complicated and im not sure exactly what is expected to come of it, but this is a guideline based on what i understand of the situation. as much as im glad to not be in bangkok during this time, a great part of me wishes i was there to experience this important political time.

in the jungle

one of my goals (and reasons for choosing thailand to come teach in the first place) has always been to ride an elephant through the jungle. there are many opportunities for this to happen all over the country, but i had a specific idea of what i wanted it to be, and for that, i knew it had to happen in chiang mai.

we were given a week off of summer school because of songkran, and decided it would be the best time to venture up north, since it was the one area we had yet to explore. we took the overnight bus from bangkok to chiang mai on friday night and arrived around 730 in the morning. at 930, we were off on a three day trek.

the trip started when we were picked up from buddy tours, the place we booked with, and climbed into a song taew that was already packed. we met our tour group and including our guide, kiki, there were 11 of us. first, our group of 5: tasha, steph, her friend nicky who was visiting from canada, me, and winer. then there were two gus from london, conor and jon, one guy from brazil (his name is italo but we always refer to him as brazil), longkorn, or lachlin, who at one point lived with the karen hill tribes and so was more of an assistant to kiki than another person on the tour, and frenchi. her name was celine, but thats not important either.

so on top of all of these people and our backpacks, we also had a large garbage can in tow. none of us really understood why at first, but soon, we discovered that it would hold our 'ammunition,' because even though songkran didnt techinically start until tuesday, the locals were all starting that day, and starting with the farangs who were heading out to trek.

though it would usually take place on the last day, our first stop was bamboo rafting. they put 2-4 people on this long raft and we navigated down the river for about an hour, all the while getting splashed by thais who were picnicking on the banks. even though the water level was pretty low, there were still times when it was deep enough to cause little rapids, and when it was time to get off, i still wanted to glide downt he river some more.

we went for lunch and then we filled the trash can with water and ice so we could head into battle (the ice is essential, read the songkran blog for a better explanation), and with longkorn hanging off the back on offense, we were prepared to head into the jungle. and by the time we were ready to start hiking, we were actually quite wet.

we did a few hours of walking and in between visited a waterfall and a temple on a mountain before we made our way to our campsite for the first night. they called it a karen village, but it really was set up in that style specifically for these trekking tours they bring through, and a different family stays there on the nights there are tourists there.

they cooked us dinner and we sat around the fire for a while having some drinks, but i retired to our shared bamboo hut earlier than most others since i was beyond exhausted. it was a simple structure made entirely out of bamboo except for the roof which was made out of dried leaves. and though i wouldnt say it was the most comfortable nights sleep ive had, it definitely wasnt the least, and i was too tired to really care.

campsite for night #1.

our second day started with breakfast at 9 and then we were off for a day full of waterfalls and walking. i think we stopped at 5 different locations, including one in which we had our 'packed lunch.'

waterfall, lunch site.

lunch packed in leaves!

we retreated to our campsite for the night just before sunset. this time it was bigger than the one the night before, and good thing because there was another group sleeping there as well. we spent a few hours joking about how much more fun our group looked because aside from 4 girls, they were all significantly older, but when it came down to it, there were only 4 of us that stayed up that night and we ended up joining them because their group was still going waaaay past when our group fell asleep.

campsite for night #2.

two funny anecdotes from this night: 1. when we woke up in the morning, we discovered the stone wall to the communal bathroom to be crumpled on the floor. 2. apparently even after i went to bed, some others stayed out and stayed quite loud. frenchi, who had already established that she was not down for a good time, was not happy about that and decided to ask them to quiet down. they did not. the next morning, when she discovered that longkorn (who was apparently the main perpetrator the night before) was still sleeping, she jumped up from the breakfast table and ran into his room, shrieking and jumping up and down. none of us had any idea what to do, we were just shocked that a grown woman was doing this, and when she came back, we tried but coudlnt hide our laughter.

so we set off again for our last waterfall, which was (kinda) deep enough to allow for cliff jumping. after having already done this, i knew it was scary, and just stayed on the lower ledge. from there, we went to lunch and then went to the final stop and the part i was most looking forward to: ELEPHANTS!

winer and i on our elephant, bua thong cha-cha!

i wouldnt say that it was exactly what i wanted it to be, because i wanted to be on the elephant myself. but it was pretty good. and i was super happy.

imagine 20 thai kids saying: eeeelefants

from there we battled the water back into chiang mai, and made plans to meet up with the rest of our group for the rest of our time in the city, since, aside from frenchi, we had all gotten so close.

songkran

songkran is the thai new year and it is currently 2553. however, years ago they stopped changing their calendar on this date and now switch their years on january 1st of the gregorian calendar. now, the holiday remains as more of a tradition, and since the majority of thais ar buddhist, it also serves at the time to treturn home and visit family, kind of like what christmas is to everyoen in the states. what it also entails, is a giant water fight.

for those who have a 'life list' or 'bucket list,' whether it is written down or just in their head, many include at least one of the following on their list: attend mardi gras in new orleans, attend carnival in rio de janeiro (or salvador!!), attend the tomatino festival in valencia, attend oktober fest in germany. after experiencing my few days of water chaos in chiang mai, i feel it is my duty to spread the word about this festival and convince others that it belongs on that list as well.

i have been told since i arrived in thailand that if i was still here for songkran, chiang mai was the place i wanted to spend it. so, months ago, steph and i decided to book accommodations up north to ensure we would have a place to stay. we had no idea what this water fight meant, how many people would be involved, or what the city would be like compared to how it normally was. we just new that it would be were we would be to bring in the thai new year.

friday the 9th was my last day of working summer school, and my initiation for songkran. the water fight at school lasted hours. the kids were dumping buckets and shooting me in the face with water guns and rubbing the powder goo all over me. luckily, the water was warmed by the sun and not much coolor than the air temperature, so it was just refreshing. that is, until some of the other teachers decided to fill a bucket with ice water. let me tell you, when one of them hit me, the shrieks i made caused more than a few head turns. but overall, it was a blast, and i walked home just after lunch leaving a water trail puddling.

at school, major waterfight!

puddle!

fast forward to the next monday when we were heading back from the trek. though we had been showered with water on our entire trip back, once we hit the heart of chiang mai, i knew why everyone had said this was the place to be. even though the holiday didnt technically start until the next day, people were lined up on the sides of the canal with the same buckets and water guns i had seen at school. the difference was that this was not just a school, but an entire city, partaking in the water festivities, and we couldnt even make it to our hostel, with bags in tow, without becoming fully drenched.

as we entered the city trying to get to our hostel.

i dont have the words to describe the experience. awesome is the only thing that comes to mind, but even that doesnt come close. because of the water, it was dangerous to have cameras, or really anything, on you, and so pictures are few and of poor quality. the first day, tuesday, we stayed on the side of the canal, sharing large buckets with other farang and taking turn buying ice to make the water cold so that when people got hit they experienced that same chilling shock. no worries, with the heat, it was a shock but in the end it was actually really refreshing. but there was nothing that could compare to the faces of everyone when they did get hit. :]

courtesy of the internet: the canal in chiang mai.

the second day, we pulled our trekking group together, plus a few extras we met at the hostel, and rented a truck to drive around the canal in for a few hours. this was the best part of the experience. we had a team name, 'fall like a mango' which came from one of brazil's sayings in portuguese that he translated into english and then made no sense, and on the back of our shirts we all had nicknames. we spent that day riding and water fighting and drinking and dancing....and there were so many moments when i was just hit with the feeling of the moment that cannot be described to anyone who has not taken part of this festival. so if you have no idea what im talking about, GO SEE IT. its something i would make another trip to thailand for on its own.

team fall like a mango!

from left to right: born ready, nipples, tarzan, pterodactyl, nurse nicky, kinky, brazil.

not pictured: scarface, cha-cha, longkorn.

honorary members: joe, keenan, alex.

splash!

best image i could get of the action at the main gate.

since coming back to bangkok, i have talked to other people who spent the holiday in other areas. usually bangkok is a close second to chiang mai, but songkran festivities were canceled this year because of the red shirt protests and the violence that happened the saturday before the holiday started, leaving 24 people killed. so it is more than safe to say that anyone who was in chiang mai had the best start to this new year.

untitled.

i have to say im kind of disappointed with this blog. ive done a more than decent job at keeping it updated, especially when i compare it to the blogs of other people teaching abroad. but with all the updates, i feel like ive sacrificed the writing. it has definitely not been up to my standards, and im sorry for any of the readers who have had to endure the poor structure, grammar and spelling mistakes, and general lack of style.

im sure this isnt the best time to start to make an effort of improving the writing quality, though. summer school is both starting and finishing...leave it to thailand to make that happen for me, and on top of that i have a visitor coming tomorrow (so excited!) AND im trying to plan for nearly 5 weeks of traveling. o, and in between there somewhere i will hopefully be moving...if i can ever get someone from ati to come help me work out the negotiations on one of the few days im in bangkok in the coming months.

needless to say, i will have some great material to work with. maybe being on the road will inspire me?

venting

im writing this now because i have 15 minutes to use on this computer, and im using every second of it. and im beyond pissed off at the moment.

the computers and printers at school suck. thats all there is too it. they are too slow, usually dont have internet, and the printers cant make dotted lines. this is a problem when im trying to teach writing the alphabet to 4-year-olds. for kinder classes, i need a worksheet every day. ive been making them at internet cafes but its been lots of work since the free sites offered to help teachers are usually not compatable with whatever these computers over here are using.

today, im waiting on khaosan to have dinner with steph while she waits for her friend to get back from cambodia. so i came into an internet cafe that advertised it also had printing. i asked the lady when i came in which computer to use for internet AND printing, and she said any. so i sat down and started making worksheet after worksheet. i found a great site and got done all of them for summer school.

when i went to print, a notification came up saying that something was off on the printer, so i asked her to fix it. thats when she says to me "o...no print."

are you $%^*!@# kidding me?! im sitting on khaosan road making worksheets that i cant print, or save to my thumbdrive. im pissed. so i just wasted my time and money on this place. which is why im writing this now, to use up the last minutes i do have. ill be damned if i leave any more extra time to be wasted by someone else.

occasionally, i cant stand this country.