Trains, vans, trucks, vw bug, boats, tuk tuks, planes…you name it I was on it.

Happy Thai New Years! And yes, Thais know how to celebrate holidays. Songkhran is the name given to the 3-day water fest, also known as Thai New Years. From what I could gather from the numerous times I tried to get an explanation of the holiday, I gathered something about receiving blessings from the elders, washing Buddha statues, and alleviating the summer heat with ice-cold water. I had heard that the best city to ring in the holiday is Chiang Mai, so we took the overnight train there on the 13th in order to make it there for the next two days of celebrations. Arriving in Chiang Mai we were smart enough to have plastic bagged our backpack because as soon as we were dropped off the water started to splash. Actually is had started to splash the day before when I went to the weekend marked and got drenched by a bucket of ice-cold water- hence being prepared. Day one we took it on, Christina, Patrick and I walked the outer gate of the old city facing oncoming traffic head on. Usually this move is promoted to pedestrians in order to see approaching vehicles, but in our case we just became easy targets to buckets and more buckets of ice-cold water coming from the beds of thousands of people in hundreds of pick-up trucks (I do not lie). For the first few hours we remained unarmed, but caved and bought tiny toilet buckets to attempt to fight back. Needless to say while we were all very impressed at the festivities we decided to watch from a dry Starbucks the next day.

From Chiang Mai we took a bus to the boarder with Laos, spent the night and then took a two-day boat ride down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. The boat was quite memorable, the first day (6 hours) we rode in the back, by the engine, under a stack of 200 plus backpacks. A comfortable capacity would have been around 150 people, but I am pretty sure they crammed in a few extra dozen. All backpackers, mostly young, lots of tattoos, dreads, flowy garments and marihuana- paradise for people watching. On day two we made it to the boat early in order to fetch a bench for the 8-hour ride. A glorious journey it was, I promise.

Laos is quite small and quaint. Luang Prabang, an old French colonial town, is protected as a UN cultural heritage site. Very cute, very touristy, very much worth two-days on a hot boat. Vang Vieng is a tiny town 5 hours away, up and down and round and round the curviest road I have ever and hopefully will ever take. I made it, but felt sick for the next two days. VV is known for tubing, something that I would have to say Texans do better than Laotians. But then again they did have trapeze swings set up which make for great entertainment and possible deaths- but we are all still alive and can still laugh at Patrick superb summersault off of the first swing. Our final stop in Laos was Vientiane, the capital. NGO work was quite evident, seeing that most of the automobiles were Toyota Land Cruisers with some logo pressed its front side. After our long journey and countless types, hours and class of transportation, we opted to fly Nok airways to Bangkok, a discount airline that paints bright yellow beaks on the front of it’s birds, I mean planes.

A wonderful, eventful and almost perfect way to conclude my year in Thailand (I use almost since I still have 4 days to arrive at complete perfection). I now leave with the blessing of a new year and new hopes in the near future. Por ahora, fair well.

Vietnam

Currently sitting at our hotel in Sapa. It looks like heaven outside. Literally the fog makes it all white-out. I am wearing a sweater I purchased in Hanoi and could not be happier.

Vietnam thus far has been the easiest trip, most likely due to the fact that we books tours instead of doing things solo. I mean once you've done India solo, it proves the great perks of paying someone a few more dollars to figure things out. I walked old town Hanoi about 5 times over, spent the night on a boat in Halong Bay and am now in Sapa (about 30 minutes from the Chinese boarder). We took a 3 hour "trek" to see some local ethnic villages and tomorrow will embark on a 6 hour hike. My Tevas are getting some action. Wish you could all come and join the trek.

unemployment=freedom (at 22)

Yesterday was my last official day at ACE! although there will be a good-bye lunch proceeding after my return from Vietnam. I am finally free to travel and roam, exactly what I can here for, or at least one of the main highlights. A few weeks ago Christina and I were talking about how our expectations for this year are completely different from what we have actually gained. It seems as though I came to Bangkok with blue expectations and my conclusions are circles. If there is anything I have learned in this “land of the smiles” experience is that life is unpredictable, and it is only on that unpredictability that we find some stability or at least something to rely upon. This year has brought great highs, like the opportunity to travel to Vietnam for ten days (leaving in a few hours), but it has surely had its lows. Yet it is the low points have made it all worthwhile, the bad has made the good that much more sweeter. The circles make way more sense than the blue over could.

The other night I was out with some friends and met a young Irish guy who asked Sophie and I why we were here. He hesitated and tried to word the obvious; why are two young, western women choosing to live in Bangkok? We smiled and I responded that I ask myself that all the time. There are factors to why I am here and not anywhere else, I like to think that my being- here or anywhere is more by faith and not reason. If I took reason into account surely my being here would not make sense, but by faith it surely does.

On a completely different note, I may be moving to Bolivia this summer or fall- more on that later. For now I am off to Vietnam.

Peace.

erin and bobby

Erin, a friend of mine from Baylor, came to visit for a week in February. She is currently teaching in France and figured it would make sense to use her spring break to come to BKK. Christina, Erin and I were actually housemates for a semester when we all got back from studying abroad. I guess the instant connection of international travel has stayed with us. The highlight of the trip was acting as if it were our 10-year reunion while we had drinks and dessert at a rooftop restaurant. Only Erin got married, I became published and Christina had a hot Indian husband. Time shall only tell.

We met an interesting man on the beach while she was here. Bobby, 60-something, American who approached Chris and I on the beach. Conversation as follows:
Christina- look at that man with the hat, he just looks ridiculous
Me- yea, pretty cliché and it doesn’t even fit.
[yes, we do watch and criticize stranger, mainly tourists and his hat looked like one a toddler would ware on the beach in size and shape]
Bobby spots us and approaches – Do you speak English? Where are you from?
Me- Yes, the U.S.
Bobby (speaking in an American/Canadian accent)- Oh, I have never heard of that one. Oh wait, Regan, ah yes. What a good man.

He then proceeds to plop down beside us and lists off his 13 titles, which he has conveniently listed out on a old tattered piece of paper stored in his fanny pack. He is an artist, a writer, a realtor, a dreamer, a father of 3, an ex-husband, a grandfather of 9, a multi-millionaire, a matchmaker, etc, etc. He poses between the titles to give more information. “I have three masters, went to 5 universities and I can predict natural disasters.” He then describes that the one thing most people do not note when trying to predict earthquakes, etc, are the lost and found cats. According to him cats have a lot to say, when they go missing- watch out.

Bobby then got more personal. Stating that he knew 80% about us before he even spoke with us and the other 10% he could gather from a 5-minute conversation. I tried to make him prove it, but failed. He owns property in Mexico and Thailand, which allows him to travel and sit on the beach all day. He also mentioned his matchmaking skills between Asian women and American men in CA, that was when I said “oh like a pimp”. He gave us both more advice then we needed, including how to set the table properly. Suddenly he had to leave to catch the last ferry, he has only come back to find his old beat up Birkenstock which he has left on the beach. “They cost $200 and it cost me $9 to come back.”

Erin come back mid-way through this interaction and is quite confused. Bobby tells her she is different than us, more serious and less trusting (probably a good thing). He gave us laminated business cards with nothing more than a Thai phone number and the name, simply Bobby.

lover's day

a-) Mom, your blog profile picture is ridiculous
b-) this weeks free song on Itunes is great, get it while it's hot. (Hometown Glory).

On to business. Going with the theme of the day, I decided to make my English class more entertaining. The class is all women that work in an office/school nearby. They are always being silly and kidding each other about being single. I decided on the ad-hoc topic of 'relationships'. I had a list of questions I asked them and proceeded to have them answer in English.

Question: What are common reasons for couples to break up?

First (quite assertive) answer: Men decide they aren't men. My ex-boyfriend decided he was a woman.

I won't assume this only happens in Bangkok, but I am going to make and educated assumption that it is quite common here. I was thinking more along the lines of different interests, bad communication, cheating to be causes for a break up. But no, men becoming women. Of course, that one might have slipped my mind on Valentines Day.

Bangkok would be a gender studies specialist's playground. Gender is viewed so differently here, women as women, men as men, women as men, and most commonly men as women. I bought fruit on the street tonight from a man with his nails perfectly painted pink. Which sex does he prefer? The pink nails would not help to make that guess. What I might have viewed as quirky 9 months ago or what might get men shot in TX, now seems quite normal if not comforting. I enjoy the grey area and the ability for affection within each sex not to automatically be stereotyped as romantic. I favor the idea that men can wear the colours they choose without being judged. This whole nation is wearing pink in reverence to the king. However, I do sometimes find it challenging to determine accurately which sex a given individual is here. Physically both adult men and women have more similar characteristic to each other in comparison to their western counterparts. Hence why Christina and I refer to ourselves as a third sex here, western women. All this to say, I have learned quite a bit here, more than textbooks could ever supply. Even what once was common ground, the idea of gender, I have to realize is really more a social construct than natural inclination. Given the choice, would women naturally choose to wear heels if they never saw their mothers in them?

I do not miss the macho, look at my scuffed up baseball cap and huge truck to prove that I am a man, men. I do however miss a world where men aren't constantly looking better in a mini skirt and heels than me. For that, I do have my limits. Women are competitive enough amongst themselves, we do not need men to fight off in the name of beauty.

happy valentines day.

P.S.

If anyone knows of a good grad program focused on Cultural and Gender Studies let me know. (Note: I am not looking for one that focuses on women's lib or the homosexual side).

Happy Year of the Rat (or mouse- Mickey is WAY cuter).

Salutations. Another exciting Friday night at my apartment. I did just go for a spin on Daniel Jones' new Fino scooter. Pretty awesome that I have a friend with a scooter and extra helmets. Supposedly the main road- Sukhumvit, goes all the way to the ocean so we may try to take it one day. It could take days, but it's a Fino.

In other news, I decided to try volunteering for the enth time since being here. I get rejected a lot, I mean I WANT to help. While my first 6 months were technically volunteering, I want to do something I actually enjoy. A non-profit, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), finally e-mailed me back wanting my translation services for their final reports, I eagerly agreed. Basically I get to translate their 30 page final report into Spanish for their Latin American members to read. The upsides are that it will be great practice and allow me to become familiar with technical terms in Spanish in the area of human trafficking, legal issues and advocacy. I met with the lady today, we spoke in Spanish which was marvelous (she's Spanish). She was very happy to have my help, since she actually has other things to do. She also told me that if I continue to be interested in the area she has contact with various NGOs dealing with the issue of trafficked women throughout Latin America and the world that would likely be happy to have me. Awesome. Connections are another plus, and the only downside is that it's 30 pages.

Tonight Christina's dad arrives and tomorrow we are all going to the weekend market to have bugs. Yes, roaches and the such that are "cooked" for a nice afternoon snack. Never fear, despited my intentions to give up soda for lent, I will be purchasing a huge coke to down as soon as the crunch of the insect of choice gets to me.

cheers.

singapore

Two weekends ago I was in Chiang Mai (again) to assist with a group of Singaporean students here on a school trip. Their school is supposedly the top boys school in Singapore and I believe it after one child told me he wanted to be a banker. I don't even know what bankers really do, but I am sure it involves more money than I will ever make. I mostly tagged along, taught them how to count to ten in Thai and enjoyed the sights. The highlight was definitely the "talent" the boys displayed when we visited a local school. About ten of them rocked out to "Jesus, You're the Savior of my Soul." Now, I am using the term talent loosely, and was most impressed with one boys wonderful impression of a worship leader. There I was in room, with maybe one other Christian, jamming to a Jesus song. It might make sense to mention that the boys school was founded by Presbyterian missionaries and still has mandatory chapel.

Being around 9th graders brought back so many memories of my prep school days, the uniforms, the teachers, the ridiculousness. It was nice to pay a momentary tribute, savor the good times and then check back into being 22.

This past weekend Christina and I went to Singapore. The trip was short, but enjoyable. We stayed in Little India, in what is likely to be the cleanest dorm-style hostel ever. Leave it to Singapore to make even hostels clean. We saw some sights, mainly malls, subway stations and more malls. The city really didn't feel like SE Asia, it kind of reminded me of Japan in its organization, cleanliness, walker-friendliness and endless quality shopping. Thailand has shopping, but its either junk or Channel. I'm not going to lie, it was nice being in a Gap in Singapore. Yes, I admitted that consumerism does play a part in my emotional comfort, more psychological than not. Just nice to even think that a store might have my size.

The highlight of the trip was when we were recruited to "model" for an ad agency who needed caucasian faces for a project. Now, I may not offer much, but a caucasian face- that I do have. Christina and I trusted the photographer ( I mean it's Singapore-whose not to trust), boarded a taxi and hoped for the best. Don't worry, I asked questions and got a business card, plus other foreigners- including 2 men where also going. I did get a little sketched out when we had to climb up 8 flights of stairs to reach the studio, but alas my faith was restored when we entered a room full of cameras and lights. We laughed with the Australians about how random this was. One guy in particular, was quite the character and kept us entertained the whole time. We are now all facebook friends, which signifies a bond that shall never be shattered. Sarcasm. Needless to say, it was nice to be reminded of the perks of being caucasian in Asia; you get paid for it.

On a completely un-Singapore note. Yesterday I completed my SAT tutoring with Cartoon. He is the most colorful student I have had. In one of the practice tests there was a question involving vampires, which prompted him to tell me more than I wanted to know about his previous study on the subject. He warned me to stay away from night clubs, because that is where vampires like to hang out. Since I am a "American girl" he assumed I, like in the movies, tend to go home with random men after a night out. Sometimes these men are vampires. (I remind you that I am trying to keep a straight face). There are many quotes from Cartoon, but I will end with the following, taken from his essay on the influence technology has had on the world:
"technology could easily turn the 'Mother Terra' into an Italian spicy smoked meatball."