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Thailand Challenge

September 2018 - February 2019
I like Thailand enough to dedicate myself to learning Thai. I know I will be much more involved with people if I can communicate, so I am determined! Read more
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  • Speak, WorldThailand Challenge
    1112
    Day 125

    Nong Khai: Bliss on the Mekong

    January 15, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ 🌫 23 °C

    What a surprise of a lovely town is Nong Khai! I stayed a total of six days, and enjoyed myself enormously in the Isãn northeast of Thailand. Pinch in the map to see where it is in the country. The Mekong River is its charm and delight. I found a guest house practically on the river promenade, so I could walk every day, admiring the flow and expanse, and lovely Laos on the opposite bank.

    A story for you. Saturday, January 12th was Children’s Day. I spent the morning at the Nong Khai Aquarium, admiring the variety of Mekong River fish in the large tank. A program was going on outside for children, with two ladyboys as MC’s. Interesting. So when I got back to the center of Nong Khai I went to another program at the City Hall, which featured dance troupes, prizes, gags and food—all for kids. This is where my story begins.

    Next to me at the program was a nine-year-old boy. He held a balloon between his knees, and was slurping a sticky red ice concoction as he watched the program. He dutifully got up to throw away his trash, get a drink of water, and play with his balloon before returning to his seat. As he sat down, his balloon escaped. It went bouncing down the aisle, and was caught by a little girl who looked to be three years old. She was surprised and delighted. The boy’s mother quickly said to him, “You’ll let her have it, won’t you.” He quickly nodded. Then I watched him. His face turned red, his ears turned red, and his eyes filled with tears. He pulled a Buddhist amulet on a chain from under his shirt, and clasped it between his hands. His hands were shaking. He mouthed a prayer, and though his tears did not spill out of his eyes, his hands shook more. I looked away, and the program ended. He and his mother disappeared in the crowd. I myself wept as I walked home.

    Another event. In this new town, I lost my impetus to talk to strangers. Everyone was warm and friendly to me, but I lost it. After cramming in vocabulary review for a few hours in a coffee shop, I felt very blue indeed. I decided to go visit the woman who had washed and blow-dried my hair two days before; she seemed friendly, and a beauty parlor is a sociable place. When I entered, she was there alone, and was happy to see me. She told me that her boyfriend, a barber living 250 miles away, was on his way for a five-day visit, and wouldn’t it be nice if we could go out for “shabu-shabu” together. (It’s a Japanese hot-pot, international it seems..) Of course I agreed, and at 5 PM met them and we drove along the Mekong to a bustling restaurant. It was my first experience in Thailand being only with Thais in a social setting! Although my listening comprehension is awful for “real Thai,” Nai and Dom were persistant in getting their meanings across to me. We ate and ate. So much fun, so friendly. My good spirits returned, and have buoyed me ever since.

    And so I lived happily until leaving for Bangkok, my next story. More about Nong Khai is revealed in the photos, though...    Read more

  • Speak, WorldThailand Challenge
    11
    Day 129

    Bangkok with a New Attitude

    January 19, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Bangkok! When I visited in April 2017, I disliked this city intensely, but these past two weeks have been wonderful! Such a change took place in my attitude because of my location in the Dusit District—a laid-back, luxurious, friendly, open, and welcoming place. I didn’t really see the “luxurious,” knowing that the stately homes were behind those high gates and walls. But the streets! If you pinch out the map, and examine the main road in front of the tiny lane where my apartment was located, imagine it thick with food stalls, chatty and genial people managing them, dogs, cats, and absolutely delicious smells in the air. It goes on for a kilometer—almost to the Chao Praya River, where my Express Ferry stopped at the Payap Pier. This was my stomping ground.

    My Airbnb apartment was huge and comfortable. Here is a link for a “tour” in Thai with English subtitles!

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qoP0FE-JCOc

    In the photo section is a video of my fruit seller in action with a very sharp knife—I was so fearful she’d cut off her fingers, and we’d have to collect them from the sidewalk! Anyway, please see the photos and captions for more information about lovely “Khet Dusit.” My Bangkok excursions will be in the next footprint.    Read more

  • Speak, WorldThailand Challenge
    2
    Day 139

    Visiting Bangkok "Dorée Style"

    January 29, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    I am so busy LIVING in each place I visit, that sometimes I forget what a driven traveler I used to be—how seeing as many important places as possible was. Now I am so much more relaxed. I did have two purposes in visiting Bangkok, though: 1) to see the locations of two celebrated works of Thai fiction I read (translated into English, of course) and 2) to practice my Thai in the heart of the “Central Dialect,” chosen to be standard Thai for the entire country. (There are four main dialects in the country.)

    The first novel which inspired me, “Letters from Bangkok,” by Botan (a woman) told the story of a Chinese immigrant to Thailand in the years 1900-1965, through his letters home to his mother in China. It tells how the Chinese learned to be the worker bees in their new country, married Thais, and assimilated. I’m sure the exact same story might be only slightly updated to be true today. Botan, pen name of Suba Sirisingh, is still alive today, writing, and has published more than sixty novels!

    So my first pilgrimage was to the Chinatown described in her book, a crowded, messy, stubbornly-not-to-be-gentrified part of central Bangkok. I was so overwhelmed by the busyness, the crowded narrow streets and the endless food stands, that I took not a single picture. Just go there!

    The second work was an amazing novel called “Four Reigns,” by Kukrit Pramoj. It takes its heroine through four kings of Thailand, up to the modern era, describing her life first in the Royal Court, and then in a nearby Bangkok neighborhood. Mr. Pramoj was also a politician, journalist, actor, and polymath regarding traditional Thai arts. So, I had to visit his house, which has been made a special landmark in Bangkok. It consists of five separate wooden buildings in Thai style, and are beautifully laid out. To my great surprise and intense pleasure, his younger brother actually emerged from a room, and we had a very nice conversation. He is very old indeed, but spoke perfect American English, his first language. He told me about his brother’s contact with a relative who worked in the Royal Palace, and how he was able to extricate many details of court life from her. For more information about Kukrit Pramoj, read here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukrit_Pramoj

    Another excursion was to see the Museum of the Royal Barges. These elegant long-tail boats are being readied for the coronation of the new King of Thailand some time in February? March? No one seems to know. The restorers were hard at work, and I interviewed one of them. She unfortunately had great difficulty in understanding my Thai (my teacher later explained why it was unintelligible to her) but I persevered anyway. Here is a link to this 2-minute video:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ka5gZ0rUQQI&t…

    I also met up with Kittichai (in charge of technical support for my Add1Challenge) and his lovely girlfriend for dinner at Terminal 21, a huge shopping mall near the Skytrain station of Siam. We ate sukiyaki, and they generously allowed me to stumble around in Thai for a few hours.

    Otherwise, I just walked around and had a good look at the city—sabai-sabai—so relaxed!
    Enjoy the photos...    Read more

  • Speak, WorldThailand Challenge
    1
    112
    Day 142

    A Part of My Heart Stays in Ayutthaya

    February 1, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Ayutthaya is located in the Central Plains of Thailand, eighty miles north of Bangkok. It is a two-in-one place: a historic city (UNESCO World Heritage Center) preserving what was the capital of Thailand from 1350-1767, and a modern city. I tried to enjoy both cities in the week I spent there.

    The historic city is truly breathtaking. Although I am not fond of tromping around ruins in glaring 96-degree F (35.5 C) heat, they are so impressive and beautiful that I was immediately smitten. I went to the National Museum of Ayutthaya first, to see the treasures which were recovered, and then to a few large portions of the historic park. The UNESCO site has a wonderful description, if you’re interested. Here’s the link: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/576

    My Ayutthaya Airbnb property deserves a bravo. I lived in a room of a very small house in the back of a restaurant. Tom and Nick, the proprietors, were both excellent cooks and highly-interesting people. Tom, a Russian/Canadian, has a degree in East Asian Studies from Moscow University, and speaks Thai at the highest level. He and I had some very interesting conversations about the ancient capital, and the Thai language, people and customs, Nick loves cooking, and studies constantly. They are comfortably middle-aged. I ate all of my meals there (breakfast and dinner) because they cooked exactly what I wanted, with no additives, little meat, great flavors, and much imagination.

    Otherwise, I spent my days first visiting a “notable site,” then studying Thai like a maniac in welcoming air conditioned places (as I’m in another Add1Challenge) and chatting in the evenings with guests at the restaurant. Before the Burmese conquered Ayutthaya in 1767, many foreign traders came to live in the city, who were numerous enough to have their own villages. I made a special pilgrimage to the remains of the Japanese and Portuguese settlements in their honor. All in all, a wonderful week.

    Enjoy the photos!    Read more

  • Speak, WorldThailand Challenge
    1211
    Day 152

    Going Backwards in Time: Sukhothai

    February 11, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ 🌫 32 °C

    I loved Sukhothai. My stay was only five days long, but I liked it so much I promised everyone that I’d return for the lovely Loy Grathom Festival in mid-November. Why did I like this city? Because it was small (37,000 people) compact, had fairly clean air, and was extremely friendly. My Airbnb property was a giant room that was very dark, cool and restful at night, and liveable outside in the patio by day. My hosts lived about three blocks away, and I hung out with them most evenings. A very sweet couple. There was no wifi or kitchen in my place—somehow I’d overlooked that—but my “in” with the neighborhood overruled such inconveniences.

    Of course, Sukhothai’s real draw is it’s ruins: it was the first capital of Siam, in the 13th and 14th centuries. To reach them you have to get on a little shuttle bus for a 12-kilometer ride. The grounds are massive, and I confess that I only made the trip there one day, where I saw the National Museum and one enormous temple. I found that I’m not so fond of seeing temples in 96-degree weather (see the last post) and I’m very sorry to confess that I’m not a great fan of ruins. Historical fiction will do the trick for me if it’s good. But don’t pay any attention to me. Here’s a wonderful write-up about Sukhothai from the UNESCO site:
    https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/574

    What I really liked was hanging out in the neighborhood—without the company of French, Dutch, German, Chinese, Spanish, Latin American and American tourists. Just me, alone with my 5-month-old Thai, having an excellent time with all I talked to. I went to a beauty parlor for the first pedicure of my life, and ended up getting my hair washed, blow-dried and trimmed as well, because the atmosphere was so chatty and fun. Two cousins of my host ran a “som dtam” stand—a kind of spicy papaya salad—and I became addicted to the salad AND the sisters who made it every evening. I also went to a “breakfast street-food buffet” at the urging of a very nice woman who sat on a table the rest of the day preparing vegetables. Her English was excellent. At breakfast, there were ten separate large containers of food to choose from, plus rice, and to my great surprise, each dish was more delicious than the other! How did she do it?

    Anyway, even in only five days, I felt that I “lived” in Sukhothai, and that is my overall goal of my international adventure as well.

    Please enjoy the photos and “skill” video.    Read more

  • Speak, WorldThailand Challenge
    Day 163

    Goodbye to Chiang Mai--for now

    February 22, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    I am leaving Chiang Mai, “the Rose of the North,” after a stay of four months and two weeks—the fifth month being my journey around the country from mid-January to mid-February. I am sad to leave. Oh, I know, the air is frightfully polluted, the country is in extreme difficulties, there is huge disparity in the wealth of the populace, and trouble abounds. I will always be a “farang,” a white foreigner. And Thai is a difficult language for all of us who try to learn.

    BUT IT IS SUCH A PLEASANT PLACE TO LIVE! I may be a farang with terrible Thai, but when I said goodbye to my Thai friends this week, they were genuinely sad, and so was I. In fact, when I said goodbye to everyone, they were ALL sad, and so was I. I shall come back in the “cold season,” next November, December and January. I shall study in Chiang Mai, spend the Loy Grathon Festival in Sukhothai, and go exploring around the country again. And maybe I’ll arrive earlier and stay later.

    There is just something about this country.... It reaches a part of me that needs the warmth—and yes, the detachment too. It gives me a fabulous puzzle of a language of the heart, of “jai, ใจ,” with a script to match: beautiful, intricate, full of hidden meanings, accessible until it suddenly isn’t. And when I am left stranded by meaning and understanding, here comes a Thai person who says, “But you WILL be back in November, won’t you? Won’t you?”

    I will.

    Here are some end-of-journey photos:    Read more

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