Sawatdee Pi Mai!

2006 has come already for me, but many are still waiting. Every hour a new bunch of people get excited and say happy new year. I was downtown with Mike and Vicky this afternoon. We agreed that we should find a party or something for New Year's on Sunday night. After a confused study of my watch I decided that New Year's was actually on Saturday night. We felt like a bunch of retards for almost missing New Year's. So we went home and later headed downtown again. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe and they had a band playings some sweet covers. For the countdown we went down a few blocks where a couple hundred thousand people were gathered. After that we went back to Hard Rock and listened (just for the record, I didn't dance I just "nodded my head") to some more sweet tunes. Well its 3 in the morning and I'm tired.

Cooking...

At about 9:30 yesterday (Friday) I was picked up from my guesthouse. There were 9 other people taking the course with me: 2 Belgians, an Italian, a German, 2 English people, 2 Americans, and a Canadian. They first brought us to a market to show us where you can buy ingredients and then to their farm. They grow most of the vegetables we used on their farm. At the farm they showed us the various plants that they grow. They showed us how to make both regular and sticky rice. We then made green curry paste and then used it to make green curry chicken. The second dish we made was a chicken with holy basil stir fry. We also made Tom Yum Goong, which is a type of soup with shrimp in it. We ate these dishes for lunch. In the afternoon we made spring rolls and banana boiled in coconut milk. They brought me directly to the train station and my train left just before 6. The ride was fairly uneventful. I went to bed early but had trouble sleeping because of these loud, obnoxious French kids. My train arrived at about 7 and I was home and napping by 7:30. Today I might get a massage and then go to the CCC Christmas eve service tonight at 6.

When You Say Nothing At All...

This is one of the songs those drunk guys at the viewpoint were singing. I heard it playing again while eating a hotdog for supper and now it's stuck in my head.
______________________
"When You Say Nothing At All" ~Ronan Keating

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near
You drown out the crowd
Try as they may, they can never define
What's been said between your heart and mine
______________________

Chiang Rai...

Tuesday morning at about 9 I drove over to the Chiang Mai zoo. Their major attraction are their 2 panda bears, which were married a few weeks ago. I watched the panda walk around and then eat bamboo, then it pooped and took a nap. The other panda layed on a ledge and chilled. The rest of the zoo was alright. Not busy at all when I was there. One thing I didn't like is some of the animal exhibits were closed, such as the penguins. The lion was pretty scraggly looking but the tiger and the white tigers were pretty cool. I also enjoyed checking out the meerkats, which I don't think I had ever seen before. I hope to put some pics up in Flickr once I'm back in Nonthaburi. At about 1:30 I left for Chiang Rai. It took me 3 hours and 40 minutes to get there which included stops for gas and stops too pee on the side of the road. Once in Chiang Rai I met up with the others teachers up here. We stayed at the house of Erin, who is a friend of Travis, who is a friend of Craig's who has been living in Thailand for like 5 years or something. That evening Craig, Travis, and I went over to Jumbo English school to check out the rail gun they had made as a project. It wasn't working yet. After that we watched "Supersize Me." Seeing all that McDonald's food made me hungry for some fast food. The next morning we took off in a rented vehicle for the Golden Triangle. This is a place where Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet. We then went to a town that bordered Myanmar and walked around the markets for an hour or so. I bought some Myanmar currency to add to my coin collection. After that we drove up to a village on the top of a mountain where a lot of tea is grown. Travis used to own a tea business there and still travels there twice a week so he knows the place very well. We had some tea at a tea shop and then had some Chinese food. It took us like an hour to get up to this village and it seemed pretty remote, buton hour way out we turned a corner and behold, there was a 7-11! We got back to Chiang Rai at about 6 or so. Later that evening we watched "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." The rest started watching "Tiger Land" but it was boring so I went to bed. This morning, after driving Melisa to the bus station (she was headed back to Chiang Mai with Carmen and Karen) I headed to Chiang Mai myself. This time I made pretty good time and it took my 3 hours (just under 200 km). After checking back in at the Royal Guesthouse, I went walking and bumped into Carmen, Melisa, and Karen. I was gonna meat them at the train station at 5 to pick up my bag that they took on the bus with them but grabbed it here instead. I said goodbye to them and booked a ticket for a Thai cooking course. I get picked up here at about 9-9:30 am (I hope I wake up on time!) tomorrow and should be done at about 5. After buying the ticket I drove to the train station to buy a ticket back to Bangkok. My train leaves tomorrow at 5:50.

Doi Inthanon...

Took the 8 o'clock night train Saturday night to Chiang Mai. Trip was fairly uneventful. Got into Chiang Mai at about 10:30 and got rooms at the Royal Guesthouse. After renting a motorcycle I met up with the other GES teachers in town (Craig, Michelle, Kari (plus her friend and sister), Melisa, Kelly, Carmen, and Karen). I spent the afternoon cycling around by myself then met up with Kelly at 4 to go to church. She knows some people from back from BC that go Chiang Mai Community Church. They had their Christmas program which was some sort of variation on "A Christmas Carol." The church had a pretty large congregation and I was told that most of the congregation is up here on missions related work. After the service her friends took us out for supper. They also give us a tour of some sort of missions organization's office. They manage a guesthouse for missionaries and stuff. I can't remember the name of the organization but I guess this place acts as a base for missions into Laos, Burma, Thailand, and China. This morning I woke up at about 10 to 5 with Craig and we met up with Kelly to watch the sunrise. We went to a viewpoint on a nearby "mountain" but we were a bit too early since the sun doesn't rise till close to 7. When we got at the viewpoint at about 5:30 there were already 3 Thai guys there singing (one had a guitar) and drinking beer. Apparently they had been there for several hours. We hung out with them a bit and sang a few songs while waiting for the sunrise. The are 4th students at Chiang Mai University and have finals this week (instead of studying they were staying up all night drinking). But they were fun guys to talk to. After that the 3 of us headed for the breakfast buffet at Smile Guesthouse. We then headed south towards a mountain called Doi (Doi means mountain) Inthanon which is about 100 km south of Chinag Mai. On our way there (via motorcycle of course) we stopped at a couple of waterfalls (Mae Klang and Wachirathan Waterfalls) and had a pretty fun trip. On our way up towards Doi Inthanon we drove through the clouds. It was pretty fun standing by the side of the road and seeing clouds roll past you. Eventually we were on top of the clouds looking down on them which was quite a spectacular sight. As we drove we saw an unfinished tower of some sort near the side of the road so Craig and I decided to pee from the top of it (pictures coming soon). The peak of Doi Inthanon is the highest point in all of Thailand, and it was quite chilly. I was wearing a hoody and was quite cold and I could barely feel my fingers. We went straight back to Chiang Mai (about 2 hours and 15 minutes) and met up with the gang for supper. Tomorrow morning I plan to ride to Chiang Rai, which is around 200 km north I think. The rest are getting there by bus so I'll meet them there. I'll probably head back to Chiang Mai on Thursday. Before training back to Bangkok I'd like to check out the panda at the zoo and maybe take a Thai cooking course. Right now I'm at my guesthouse and it is about 16 degrees at just past midnight. Up on the mountain it had to be 8 degrees or less. Pretty cold when your used to lows of 25+.

Christmas at Ground Zero...

Pigeon's Eye
Originally uploaded by Shaggy Z.

What an interesting week! On Monday we didn't have school because it was Constitution Day. The Life Group teachers were all invited to Kiki and Yoyo's house. Kiki is in grade 6 and Yoyo is in grade 8. Both are quite bright and respectful. They also invited the grade 6 students so there was about 10 teachers and a dozen or so students. They have a pool in their backyard so we had a lot of fun in that. Tuesday morning we had a rehearsal for the Christmas program. So I had to be the babysitter for grades 7-9 in a classroom. In the afternoon the junior high walked to Big C to buy things for a nearby orphanage. We used the money collected for speaking Thai in class. We got back and had the students make cards for the orphans. Some groups made nice cards and others didn't really care. After school the teachers had to decorate the outdoor stage. On Wednesday the routine was similar with a morning rehearsal. In the afternoon grades 6-9 watched Santa Claus 2 in the gym. But probably only 6 students actually watched the movie. Thursday was the Kindergarten program. I had to set up in the morning but the actual program didn't start till 4. There was a program in the church, and then dinner and a program on the outdoor stage. Basically a warm-up for yesterday's primary program. The program was supposed to start at 4 but didn't start till 4:30. Ajarn Surong, who had nothing to do with the planning decided to add things to the program minutes before it started. Near the beginning I had to sing in the parent's choir. We sang a mixture of Hark the Herald, Angels We Have Heard on High, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. At the end we had these mini firecracker things which we set off. All very lame but fun. After that I had to go back to the classroom to babysit junior high. For the program they made the grade 7 class be the angels. They had to wear white gowns, halos, and these silly looking angel wings. They looked pretty sad and pathetic in their outfits, but I thought it was pretty funny. It reminded me of the scene in "A Christmas Story" when Ralph's parents make him put on a bunny outfit. After the church program we moved outside for dinner and another program. In this program each class had to do a performance and it. It finished at about 10, so in total we had a 6 hour program. After that we had to clean up so quite a long day. Anyways, in a few hours I'm leaving for Chiang Mai with Craig and Michelle. Taking the night train.

New Link...

I just found out that my friend Carmen's got a sweet blog with some sweet pics. So check it out at http://spaces.msn.com/members/cslemp/.

Referree Becomes Referrer...

Yesterday I wrote a reference letter for a student. I'm getting old. Tim, Nathan, and I opted out of the optional teacher Thai dancing routine so now the management has forced us to sing Hark the Herald with a bunch of moms for the Christmas program. Lame lame.

Khao Yai...

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls
Originally uploaded by Shaggy Z.

We have tomorrow (Monday) off for the King's birthday so yesterday I went to Khao Yai National Park, which is apparently a world heritage site. Left at about 6:30 in the morning with Heidi, Lindsay, Carmen, Colleen, Melisa, and Colleen. So us 6 that originally left Edmonton International Airport plus Heidi (kindergarten teacher from Virgin Islands). Took a taxi to the Mo Chit bus station and then about a 3 hour bus ride to a city near the park. After lunch we took a Songthaew to the park. It was a 20 min ride or so and pretty crowded cause they back as many people as they can fit into it. On it we met about 6 or so farang teachers from a few different schools. Once we got into the park we hired a Songthaew for the day. The park is like 50 km long so it takes awhile to go from end to end. At the first stop we hiked down a trail for awhile and crossed a few wooden cable bridge thingys. Went further down the rode and then hiked down a trail to a pretty nice waterfall. Near the end of the trail was a very steep staircase which was almost vertical and pretty fun to go down and up. All in all it was a pretty fun time. Melisa, Karen, and Carmen stayed the night but the rest of us headed home at about 7 and got back maybe 9:30. If I ever were to go back to Khao Yai I would probably rent a scooter and drive myself around instead of riding around in the back of a pickup truck. But it was fun times with the 7 of us hanging out.