Coincidence - I Think Not

The dreaded VISA run…maybe the biggest pain in the ass…ever (okay, not as bad as obtaining an Indian SIM card). I think the best word to describe the experience was sketchy. I was picked up in a sketchy minivan with sketchy foreigners from the UK (a few of which my assumptions lead me to believe are here to dabble in the sex tourism), arrived at a sketchy port which included sketchy “officials” grabbing my passport before letting me on a sketchy long-boat ferry. Once all of us were situated on the ferry, which was conducted by a boy no older than twelve, we headed to Andaman Club, Myanmar in order to officially step off Thai soil. Once we arrived, about ten sketchy local men met us and attempted to make a run to 7/11 and buy some whisky and/or sketchy pills for me. “Better price in Burma, you wait here, I get you whisky.” We waited in line for about twenty minutes outside the shack that functioned as an immigration office until they called our name one by one to receive our entrance and exit stamps. After they returned our passports and the locals came back with some whisky, we headed back on the boat only to wait in line once again for our entrance stamps back into Thailand. It was quite an experience, but I was able to hitch a ride down to Phuket which made it semi-worth the cost.

Down in Phuket, I picked up Morten from the airport, which was exciting to say the least, especially since his flight was the first one to remain scheduled out of Frankfurt to Bangkok since the volcano eruption. Fate, destiny, whatever, maybe just luck ;)- not a coincidence though.

Back at Grassroots, I have been given a couple new exciting projects since camp has ended. The first is tutoring English to a wonderfully gracious Burmese woman named Nannyla. She is working to improve her English in order to start studying Education Management at the University. The first day we basically just talked for most of our three hour session so I could assess her current level of speaking and understanding. One thing I have always had trouble with, which I think I have dramatically improved on, is speaking slowly, or at least at a pace people can understand. Actually, a few days ago, I was out with a couple Irish guys who even told me I spoke too quickly for them. I will admit though, I tend to talk quicker when I am either really excited about something (passionate or angry excited) or if I simply have had a beer or two. Anyways, often during the past two months, I have been really excited while speaking with so many warm people and I suppose my curiosity has gotten the better of my speaking speed. However, with that said, speaking slowly is something I definitely have improved upon…and is something I have had to improve upon in order for me to connect with anyone anyways. Tangent aside, talking with Nannyla has been exceptionally rewarding as it has given me some insight to the Burmese culture I have not yet had. We talked about everything from her childhood to why she left Myanmar to her wedding to her daughter to even corruption in government. She is tremendously intelligent. Although her English is definitely nothing advanced, it is really fun to define things by example and circumlocution. Finding ways to communicate effectively with anyone, even in English, can take massive amounts of patience, but even more so when someone is just learning. However, I have found it to be that much more rewarding as that patience has frequently allowed me to see the world through other sets of eyes. Long story short: If you have never taken the time to converse with foreigners, start now because well, patience is a virtue, and the connection is well worth any possible frustrations.

My other new project is using Mark’s project, a health survey among the Burmese migrant women, to develop curricula for education they are lacking, first and foremost HIV/AIDS. I could not have asked for a better project, and it is extremely exciting for the timing to work out so perfectly. I observed the curricula in India for the source population and bridge populations (FSWs and truck drivers) and then continued to write a proposal for HIV education for adolescents and rural women. Here they would like me to write the curricula for the source and bridge populations again which include Thai FSWs and the fishermen, and then curricula for adolescents and the general population. I will also be putting together some kind of radio talk show about HIV which will generally target the fishermen. I am hoping to get a day in the field to really assess the situation so I can really design some population specific teaching tools. For instance, crude body mapping might be a great tool for the fishermen, but not so much for the adolescents.

One of the most popular activities to take part in Thailand is a Thai cooking class. I am lucky enough to have adopted Nong as my Thai sister, and she held an awesome class for Morten and I. I am extremely excited to come back to the States and show off my new skills. Thai curries are out of this world!

Three times a week in Bang Niang, there is a market open right across my apartment building. It has everything from hand carved soaps to t-shirts to pig intestine on a stick. I am generally more a fan of the exotic fruits and banana pancakes, but there is pretty much something for everyone. There is also a local bar called Song’s bar. I have become pretty good friends with the Dutch bartender and his wife Wan. The other night they had a huge birthday party for Wan. No party in Thailand, by the way is complete, without a full-out Ladyboy Cabaret show. It was absolutely fantastic. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching the gorgeous and talented ladyboys hit on the typical foreigner here, which is generally a middle-aged European man with a red face and big gut often only here to make friends with the young Thai women. Anyways, there is simply no way to take your eyes off the ladyboys’ junk when it’s being waved around in one of the farong’s faces for show and tell. It is absolutely HYSTERICAL.

This post would not be complete without talking about the phenomenal weekend we just had. Nong invited us to go trekking with her friends up an 800 meter mountain in the rainforest with her Thai friends. The weekend started off Friday morning with a 2 and a half hour drive to a camp near Ranong. Nong has worked at the camp before, and they are now even turning it into an organic farm: very legit. Anyways, this camp was as legit as it gets. There was a bridge made of sticks that led us in the middle of the river where there was sleeping hut-literally it was only about three feet tall, so it was only made to rest. We lied there and took advantage of the wooden pillows that were carved precisely to massage our necks until we departed for our adventure. The first leg of our trek was a three hour walk through the jungle. It started off easy of course, with a nice wide path, but slowly we were guided into a narrow line hardly marked by past humans’ footsteps. The rainforest was full with vegetation and bamboo shoots that jut out every which direction that require ducking and climbing and eventually lead you to dance through it. As long as you become in tune with all of the obstacles that the environment is throwing at you, you can really get in the zone and dance through it to a very eccentric and sweaty rhythm. However, one of the pretty repulsive encounters we had were tiny little leeches of some sort that ate themselves through our shoes and socks and bit our feet. The good thing about them is that once they bite you, they became full and can’t eat for a few days, but they are still seriously disgusting to see. I don’t mind a bit of blood, or a bug bite for that matter…but the actual leech was freaky and just foul. I kept imagining that it would slug its way in my bloodstream and circulate there until it felt like crawling out. Anyways, after the tremendously rewarding hike, we arrived at a gorgeous waterfall where we stopped for a break. The people with us were absolutely outstanding locals. One of them, who we adopted as our Thai grandma had prepared us sticky rice sandwiches with soy satay. It was delicious. Basically, Grandma’s story is that in the past 14 years, she gave away all of her possessions, and she now lives alone and studies meditation and yoga. She is one of the strongest women I have ever met, physically, mentally and spiritually! She is probably in her mid fifties, but she is as fit as any twenty five year old. After the break, we continued our journey with some bamboo rafting, where my foot sunk into the mud, and we eventually landed in a small patch of coconut trees. The guides used their machetes to splice some open for us, and they were absolutely delightful! After another vigorous upward climb, we finally reached our destination at the campsite. We were greeted by a very friendly staff who prepared one of the best meals I have ever had. (Grandma, by the way is also a vegetarian, and made sure everything was veg friendly- very legit.) We had some of the most exotic vegetables and leaves I have ever had including banana flowers. Afterwards, we headed to the campfire, where we all sung Thai camp songs and gave each other foot massages with Tiger Balm before passing out in our tents.

The next day, we awoke with the sunrise peeking up through the mountains. I then had the pleasure of learning some yoga with Grandma. She didn’t realize I had a tiny bit of experience, and I think she was a little impressed a westerner even knows what yoga is. It was pretty exciting. After our yoga lesson and a breakfast of spicy rice porridge we headed back out on our journey. Our mission was to climb an 800 meter mountain so thick with rainforest; you could hardly see three people in front of you. On the way, we also saw a huge iguana lying on a tree. It was probably around three feet long. I cannot possibly describe how powerful it felt to complete the trek. It was demanding and exhausting, but after two and a half hours we reached the top and the view moved me to tears. We could see the Andaman Sea and the mountain range for ages. It was absolutely gorgeous. The best part was watching the sunset. The colors went from an intense orange to a soft lavender and finally to a cool indigo against the fog. It was just stunning, and it felt close enough to touch. After indulging in the sunset, we pitched a tarp, cracked open the Thai whisky, bundled up, lied like sardines and fell asleep under the stars (although it was a bit foggy). That night while I was sleeping, I definitely saw an anteater about one meter away from me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture, but it was probably a good thing for the anteater that I saw it at 4am because if I had told one of the guides, they would have slaughtered it and taken it to the market. Apparently, anteater meat is quite the delicate snack in Thailand and goes for about 3000 baht per kilo, which is about 100$. After waking up the next morning around 5:30 to watch the sunrise, we headed back down the mountain and headed home. Overall, I would have to say it one of the most vibrant experiences of my life.

Yesterday, during my lunch break from the office, Morten and I decided as a joke to check out a restaurant calle Sabai-Dii (I believe that means very delicious). Anyways, below Sabai-Dii, the description of the restaurant said Deutsch, Vegetarisch, Thai Kueche (German, Vegetarian and Thai Kitchen). Obviously, we had to check it out. We definitely thought it was going to be a very cheesy tourist place, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. The couple who owned the place was a vegetarian German couple who ran an alternative medicine clinic as well. The man actually practiced sound therapy which might be the craziest thing I have ever heard. Apparently, you lay down and after 80 minutes of him playing gongs and metal bowls, people have actually had out of body experiences. Anyways, we were the only customers so we were able to get a little demonstration, which was pretty crazy. Everything is pretty much based on Leonardo DeVinci’s energy field diagram and the Chakras. After the demo, we really could feel the energy field. Anyways, he often treats people for back pain, headaches and other common ailments, but it is also used as a way to simply fall into deep relaxation. I thought it looked legit. Anyways, this couple is just outstanding and they did in fact make awesome vegetarian Thai food. They are very much into nutrition for the human body as well as for the earth. The man also makes homemade coconut ice cream, which by the way is made with coconut milk instead of cow’s milk, as well as chunks of the actual coconut-delicious. He then sells it at the market and gives all of his profits to the Beluga school for Thai orphans from the Tsunami. The school also operates as an organic farm, so the children are all learning how to farm themselves and eat healthy. Additionally, the place is used as a type of eco-tourism, and all of the profits made by the tourists go directly to the school. Overall, it’s pretty funny how heading to this restaurant started off as a joke, and turned out to be so much more than that….coincidence…I think not.

So tonight, we are heading to Phuket to catch our flight tomorrow morning for Bangkok. We are heading to Siem Reap, Cambodia for the weekend to see the epic Angkor Wat. (It’s where Tomb Raider was filmed…Wikipedia it).