I arrived in Bangkok on Sunday the 20th, late in the afternoon and on my taxi ride to downtown Bangkok, I formed some initial impressions of Thailand. First off, everything’s bright. Taxis aren’t just yellow but bubble-gum pink, neon orange, bright yellow-and-green, and electric blue. The Khaosan area in which we were staying is a garish budget-traveler district. Thousands of people, mostly farangs (foreigners) are crushed into a four or five block area, and there are enough bars, massage parlors, and street-side restaurants for all of them. It’s an area that gained popularity as a place where backpackers could stay, and it’s pretty touristy. Not an area I wanted to spend too much time in, but it was a decent transition to Thailand. Once settled into my hotel (and having slept for an ungodly amount of time), I found some time to do some exploring. Thailand’s cities have hundreds of temples, or wats, where the orange-clad monks live. Some of Bangkok’s most famous ones have huge golden Buddhas or extravagantly decorated architecture. I didn’t get to see more than one small wat, but I hope to return to see more by the end of the semester.
The next few days brought about the start of orientation. I met the rest of my group. We are thirty-three Americans, from mostly different universities, mostly women. The crop of majors is unsurprisingly a range of the social sciences, environmental sciences, and journalism/activism, which is appropriate because of the aims of the program. As most of you know, this program isn’t really focused on the classroom. Our courses revolve around five or so human rights-oriented projects. Some of them involve fair trade farming practices, dam-location issues, and village life in Thailand. I’ll get into more detail about the projects when I start to work on them, but I am getting excited to get out there and investigate these fascinating issues. I have a series of home stays ahead of me, my first being tomorrow. I’ll be staying with a family in the suburbs of Khon Kaen (but not the type of suburbs in the US). Later on, we get to stay in the slums of Khon Kaen for a few days, then one day, I’ll be spending with a family living off of Khon Kaen’s landfill. This week will be interesting and I’ll be sure to keep you updated as soon as I get to a computer regularly.
When we left Bangkok on Wednesday, we drove to a national park, Khao Yai National Park, for a “not-to strenuous nature walk.” The forests were beautiful and you really got the impression that this was Thailand. We arrived at a hotel-resort outside of Khon Kaen later that afternoon where we were to stay for the next three days. This was where my Thai lessons began in earnest. We had three, rather intense, four-hour sessions in the intervening time. It has helped in learning Thai, but that much language in one day can be intellectually strenuous! Besides learning Thai at the resort, we learned a bit about life in Khon Kaen -- namely food! Khon Kaen is in a region known as Isaan (pronounced “eee-san”), a region known for having the spiciest food in all of Thailand. I’d have to say that’s true. Some may be surprised to know that we’re not eating all Pad Thai and green curry. In fact, the only Pad Thai I’ve had all week was on the Khaosan road in Bangkok, bought from a woman whose kitchen was on the actual street. The food is delicious and I’m learning much about the local culture.Today I arrived at the apartments I’ll be calling home these next few months, when I’m not shuttling off to home stays. I have a Thai roommate, Dariya or Dada, who speaks better English than I do some of the time, and I’m trying to practice my meager Thai. I’m excited for all that’s coming and I know it’s going to be a really interesting experience.
I'll be keeping you updated on the rest of the occurances and try to update this blog on a quasi-regular basis. Till then, cheers.
