Letters From Thailand

The Gods must be sleeping

2004-08-22T13:24:00.000+07:00

There are many Gods in this part of the world. Two weeks ago, I mentioned the computer God, well this week I shall briefly mention the Gods of Bangkok. These Gods, who oversee the City of Angels, are all powerful. When they conspire against you, there is no worse place on earth to be. Their means of making a person’s life a living hell know no bounds: floods, paralysing traffic jams, sizzling heatwaves, mind-numbing technomusic, cockroaches, rats, and a dead body or two thrown in for good measure. When the Gods are sleeping, however, Bangkok becomes almost surviveable. Today has thus far been just such a day.

This morning I awoke at 3 am to the sound of heavy rainfall. To my ears, falling rain sounds just as beautiful and melodic as Pachebel’s Canon in D. I fell back asleep and awoke at 5 am to the sound of crickets, the chirping of birds, and an occasional rooster or two. I started the day with my mind at ease. I quickly got out of bed and jumped on a bus, then the Skytrain (a true sanity saver and built by Canadian company Bombardier) and headed to J.W. Marriott Hotel. Last year, on my birthday, my father gave me the best birthday present possible (other than a Ferrari Testarossa) – gift certificates to any Marriott in the world. I decided to get the most bang for my buck by exchanging them for day coupons to use the JW Marriott’s fitness and spa centre. I intend to take photos of the place one of these days. I could spend an entire day just in the locker room. It has a whirlpool, a cold water plunge pool, a scented steam room, a scented sauna, bathrobes, slippers, scented lotions, soft towels, etc. In otherwords, it represents another universe to someone like myself who makes only 8 dollars a day. After pretending to exercise for an hour when all I was really doing was watching TV on the Sony flat screen TV that every piece of cardio equipment posses, I spent the next 90 minutes in the change room using every facility they had and every lotion, talcum powder, hair spray, and mouthwash available. To end my morning, I went to my favorite coffee shop and had a vegetarian sandwich on fresh foccacia bread and a western sized coffee (i.e., it was larger than a thumb thimble). And now I am sitting here writing this before I forget that days like this do exist. I shall have to end this entry here for I suspect the computer God is starting to stir – the keyboard is becoming decidedly moody.

From the Land of a Thousand Smiles, which today includes mine.

The Exotic Sky

2004-08-15T02:08:00.000+07:00

I am sitting here in my apartment watching the last rays of the sun paint the dusk clouds. Whenever I travel, it is the sky that makes me realize that I am far from home. My birthplace of Calgary, in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies, has in my opinion the biggest, bluest sky. Even when gazing at wildebeast Serengeti National Park in Tanzania from a 4-wheeldrive truck, the sky did not seem as big. I can clearly recall as a child sitting on the shores of the Red Sea in Egypt, way before it was discovered by developers and tourists alike, and gazing upon millions and millions of stars. In Uganda, I would sit on the banks of Lake Victoria at the start of theWhile Nile, and watch the sun disappear into the lake as the sky turned prematurely black from all the bats waking up and heading out to feast. Last Monday, herein Bangkok, I watched as the darkest storm clouds I've ever seen menacingly moved in obliterating all view ofthe surrounding buildings and dumped an ocean's worth of water on the area.

Next time you travel, take a moment to look up. What you see may be more exotic and interesting then what you were on the verge of photographing.

(Non)interesting fact: The Karen people, one of the many persecuted hilltribes in Southeast Asia, believe that if a pregnant woman steps across a snake, the snake will freeze. They also believe that if you sneeze on your way to doing something that you should postpone your errand since it is a sign that your soul is weak at that particular moment.

Now for a smile. Here are a few Bushisms."Our enemies are innovatie and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004.

"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have - he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road."

"It will take time to restore chaos and order."

Queen's B-day

2004-08-12T02:03:00.000+07:00

Today is the Queen's birthday. Thailand has been hosting events in honor of the occasion since the beginning of the year. The reason is that Her Majesty the Queen is celebrating her 6th cycle. Each cycle is 12 years and the 6th cycle is particularly auspicious. (Non)interesting fact: Each member of the Royal Family has a color. The Queen's color is blue so far the past few weeks, Bangkok has been awash in blue. Two days before the Queen's birthday, workers put up huge blue banners on every cement column under the skytrain and strung up what I call fairy lights on the shrubs and bushes between the columns. It was really quite impressive to see at 5:30 am in the peacefulness of the morning. I hope to upload some pictures to my photoblog (shsarah.buzznet.com) at some point in the future. When that might be, I cannot say since the computer Gods have been waging an incredibly
successful campaig against me.

Still Here in BKK

2004-07-02T09:17:00.000+07:00

Greetings from someone who is ashamed to admit that for the first time ever, she did not vote.

I hope all is well. I haven’t written since (your) spring. Spent most of April and the beginning of May in Canada on a much deserved break.

[snip]

I returned restored and rejuvenated to Bangkok to discover that about a
million ants, all carrying eggs, had decided to make the plant in my cubicle their new kingdom. (I never had these problems in Canada). Naturally, the first thing I did was run out and buy a highly toxic spray
(even an environmentalist has her limits). I think I sprayed enough to kill any ant within a 10 km radius. Problem-solved! My boss and colleagues, however, for some reason weren’t too impressed. When they
discovered what I was doing, before even welcoming me back, they immediately ran to open all the windows in the area. I had no idea my boss could move so fast! Yes, Sarah was definitely back.

These past two months have truly been a learning experience for me, a city slicker:
1) found out how milk is produced (something I could have lived without knowing), got to taste fresh icecream and even got to milk a cow. My aim was atrocious.
2) found out how eggs are produced (not as scary as the milk thing) and that some chickens are smarter than others. They are the ones that clue in much quicker that the eggs aren’t being fertilised and stop producing eggs.
3) found out that if you want to make money, forget the stock market, breed fighting cocks.
3) met with the president of a Canadian company that is building the first potash mine in Thailand and followed that up with a visit to the villagers fighting the project. The Thai government went so far
as to change the law so that the Canadian company could exploit the sub-surface minerals. Made me embarrassed to be a Canadian.
3) learned more about the elephant situation in Thailand. In the past, elephants were used for logging. Because logging is now banned in Thailand, the elephants and their mahouts are unable to make a living anymore. The mahouts end up taking their elephants to Burma where they continue to log. However, the owners are unable to provide enough food
for their elephants so they give them amphetamines to keep them working. On occasion, the elephants step on landmines and get a hoof blown off. A few of these elephants are transported back to the elephant conservation centre in Lampang, Thailand where they are treated.
4) Visited an AIDS clinic and had a doctor and pharmacist explain more about the virus and its treatment. Also met some HIV-infected volunteers.
5) Visited a self-sufficient community run by monks. The entire community is vegetarian, they do not use any money, everyone wears the same clothes, and they all walk around in bare feet. It was really an amazing
place to visit. Everyone we met seemed to have an inner glow to them and truly seemed to be happy and at peace, even the teenage boys we met shovelling compost.
6) and lastly, I discovered that my powers at crashing computers in Canada and in Africa are just as powerful here in Asia. The computer I was given lasted less then a month, before suffering a hard drive failure
last week. The replacement computer they gave me is unable to read its CD-Rom drive, making it impossible to upgrade the virus-scan software, and regularly makes it clear that it does not like me.

On a separate note, just finished an excellent book called E=MC2 – A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation. The book was unbelievable. The truth truly is more amazing than fiction.

[snip]
Have a great day!

Sarah

Tales from a+broad

2004-03-24T12:04:00.000+07:00

Hi Guys,

Hope all is well. Things here are going ok. Nothing special. Every week still brings new ways for me to embarrass myself such as:

Two weeks ago, I showed up for work dressed fairly casually in a jeans-like dress. Next thing I know, my former boss, who recently got promoted, is calling me to attend a meeting on the second floor. I walk in and find out it is an exchange of information between the
Lake Victoria Environmental Management Program (LVEMP)steering committee and the Thai national Mekong River Committee (yes Mekong River as in Mekong delta as in Vietnam War). Boy was I surprised since I worked on
LVEMP when I was in Uganda and also visited Kenya and Tanzania as part of the project. The Africans who came from all three of the countries surrounding Lake Victoria sat on one side of the room while the Thais,
which included myself, sat on the other. Every person in that room was high-level – there was the permanent-secretary for the Ministry of Environment of Uganda, as was his counterpart in Tanzania and Kenya
(you get the idea). Not to be outdone, the Thais also sent their most senior people. And there, among all these big-wigs, sat I. I quietly listened to the presentations given by both parties. This was really
interesting given that I know the real situation in the Lake Victoria basin and the situation in the Mekong so I could tell how much of it was truth and how much of it was lies. My knowledge even surpassed many in that room since I had also worked in Egypt and was very familiar with issues pertaining to the Nile basin as a whole (Lake Victoria is the source of the White Nile). The Africans stuck to the truth, the Thais did pretty much as well (in an Enron kind of way) until it came to the questions. The Africans asked some incredibly sharp questions to which the Thais could not answer. I.e., how did you actually engage the public? Once it was the Thais turn to ask questions, the room got deathly silent. Now most sane people who find themselves a bottom-dweller in a room
filled with people at the top of the food chain would have kept quiet, unfortunately I do not fall into that category. I dared asked a pertinent question, which happened to throw the whole meeting slightly off track
for a moment. The Chair of the meeting did not get my point at all and was furious with me. (The Africans got it though). Now is the time for me to mention that the Chair turned out to be the person who has the 3rd
highest position within the federal Ministry of the Environment. He made it obvious to all the people there that he was supremely angry with me. In Thai society, this doesn’t occur very often since saving face is very important. Therefore, Thais will rarely criticize anyone so openly. Did I mention that my new boss was there and sitting right next to me? I
definitely made an impression on her, but not necessarily the one I wanted to make.

Now getting back to what I was wearing. Everyone else in the room was dressed extremely formally and there I was in my dumpy jeans-like dress. The dress was one of the few items of clothing that I had found in Thailand that fit me, actually it was even a little big on me. Recently,
someone in another department shed some light on why the dress was so big and the pockets seemed almost at the back – it was a maternity dress. Well, needless to say I haven’t been invited to any meetings since, but
hope is in the air. Last week the Prime Minister was kind enough to shuffle the Cabinet so we got a new Environmental Minister and, I am assuming, new deputy permanent secretary as well. I have already had a
close call though. One day after the appointment, I happen to come round the corner at work, and almost banged right into the new Minister who was posing for the TV cameras. I walked away as quickly as I could and went to stand waiting for the elevator.

Unfortunately, the Minister who normally always has an entourage surrounding him came and waited about a metre away from me for another elevator. So there I was, sweat dripping from my brow, clothes already all rumpled, face half covered by a mask, and a huge pack on my back. Now Thai society is all about protocol and at that moment I was in a panic asking myself what am I supposed to do? what am I supposed to do? do I raise my coffee mug in a gesture of greeting ? do I wai ? help! At this point, inspiration struck and I went and hid behind a Thai lady who for once was larger than me. Finally, after what seemed an eternity but was
really probably only 5 seconds, both the Minister’s entourage and the elevator arrived.

Now, you’re probably wondering what my work involves (I wonder that a lot too). Oftentimes, it involves attending a planning meeting where we discuss how polluted the river is and what steps need to be taken
to clean it up, and then I attend another planning meeting where we discuss how polluted the river is and what steps need to be taken, and then I attend another planning meeting… You get the picture. Well, not long ago, there appeared to be what I considered a possible departure from the status quo. I was invited to a meeting (on a Saturday), where experts from the United States and the Philippines would be talking. My
colleague and I showed up in the morning and were directed to a floating restaurant where the rest of the attendees and speakers were sitting. I was looking forward to it because the Americans and the Filippino where top experts in the field of watershed management. Once everyone had arrived, I discovered to my horror that we would not be staying tied to the shore. A tug boat pulled up in front of the restaurant, and began pulling us away from the dock – the only avenue of escape! This shows how cunning government officials can be. They knew that everyone had been to all those other meetings and knew how dirty the water was so of course now one would dare jump overboard. To be fair though, the speeches by the
Americans met my expectations and they all stayed within their time limits. All the experts were done by lunch. I was absolutely thrilled that it wouldn’t be a long day after all when the Thais got up to talk and talk and talk. After six and a half hours of speech after speech after speech, pollution or no pollution, I was ready to jump over board. Luckily, it never came to that. The never ending drag (by tugboat) came to an end. But not before the Chair of the meeting asked me to stand up and summarize the morning’s presentations in Thai (the official translator for the Americans ignored my pleas for help). I still can’t speak Thai at all much less translate English presentations so I
stood up and said the only thing I could: “Chesapeake Bay, USA; Lake Laguna, Philippines; and the ThaChin River, Thailand all share the same problem – dirty water.”

So now that you have all heard about how volunteering abroad can be a great booster for your self-esteem, I am sure you’re all dying to sign up with a development agency.

From a woman whose pride got lost by Air Canada on the way over and has yet to be located.

God Exists!

2004-01-22T09:49:00.000+07:00

[snip]

Incidentally, I was going to email you anyway to let
you know I now have proof that God exists. Last
Wednesday, I was feeling particularly lonely and that
evening I asked God to show mercy and send me a
companion (of the male kind). Wouldn't you know, he
deliver within a few hours! The very next morning I
was awoken at 4:30 by a sound coming from outside my
closet. I looked over and what did I see, one of the
biggest cockroaches of my life! Next time, I'll have
to be more specific about the kind of companion I
want.

Take care,

Sarah

Canals in Bangkok

2003-12-23T13:05:00.000+07:00

Hi J,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I went back and checked the information I gave you.
Here is some information about the canals that was
published in one of the Ministry of Environment's
publications:

Thailand was once called the Venice of the East by the
French who visited Ayudhaya 300 years ago.

Gong De Lukovik Bouvior: “The beauty of this
picturesque Eastern Venice is beyond a traveler’s
dream”.

A communities prosperity was once measured by the
nature of homes along its river and canal sides.

Canals are classified into 4 types: general,
irrigation, water supply, and historic.

BKK once had more than 1,200 canals. Only 200 remain.

Take care,

Sarah

Chiang Mai

2003-09-04T12:18:00.000+07:00

Hi G,

That's awesome news! I just got back from quite an
amazing trip. I was in Chiang Mai, where they run all
the elephant treks into the jungle, and then went to
visit an NGO in the province of Phayao. Phayao has no
tourism yet it is an absolutely specatular place. It's
got mountains with some of the last remaining teak
forests in Thailand, a huge lake, and gorgeous paddy
fields. A villager took me on a hike through the
jungle and up one of the mountains. (Jean - it was a
little like what we did in the Amazon rain forest in
Ecuador, but even more impressive). The vegetation was
extremely lush and they had some huge trees (I even
got to see a snake). Then a fisherman took me in a
traditional boat out on the lake as the sun was
starting to set. As luck would have it, the day I
arrived in Phayao my camera that I have had for 14
years broke. I managed to borrow someone else's really
expensive camera and managed to fall and break this
poor guy's flash.

Regarding your visit, I might be in the northern part
of Thailand (Chiang Mai) for a conference that ends on
Nov. 21. I, therefore, probably wouldn't get back to
Bangkok until late in the evening on Nov. 22 or on
Nov. 23. Any chance I can tag along with you guys when
you go scuba diving. Have you already made
reservations? Depending upon what you're after, Phuket
may or may not be the best place to go. It is very
developed. Other nice areas are Kho Samui (also quite
popular), and the province of Trang. Trang is the
southernmost province in Thailand, but its beaches are
still untouched. If you want a truly amazing place to
visit, I would recommend the Similan Islands. They are
considered one of the top 10 diving sites in the
world. The place has only one resort, but camping is
cheap and available right on the unspoilt beaches.

As for drooling over the Thai food, you might want to
starve yourself for a month before coming. Wait a
minute, I forgot who I was talking too, you never gain
weight! After 3 months of working out 6 days a week
and staying away from Thai food as much as possible, I
weighed myself yesterday and found out that I haven't
even lost one ounce!

Anyway, I'd better get back to work. Take care,

Sarah

Too much pride, not enough good sense

2003-08-08T17:35:00.000+07:00

Hi All,

Just in case you were wondering, I'm afraid I have not
committed suicide (after much deliberation, I came to
the conclusion that it would make too many people
happy). Now for an update on my absolutely perfect
life - not!

Thais can be exceedingly polite. Sometimes, however,
they take it a little too far. Today is a case in
point. The Thais politeness, combined with my pride
(the never ending source of my troubles), led to one
very embarrassed Sarah. I went to a workshop today
that was attended by over 200 people, including the
governor of the province. I wanted to show how much
progress I was making in learning Thai so I decided to
sign my name in Thai on the registration sheet and on
my nametag. Quite a few people commented, saying that
they were impressed. In the afternoon, I sat in a
group with a class of junior high school students.
Some of them read my nametag. All in all, I was
feeling very smug. I did not have any indication that
something might be wrong. It was not until I got back
to my office and informed one of my co-workers that
she had written my last name wrong in the newsletter,
that I discovered what I had done. Turns out, I was
walking around with my nametag introducing me as Sarah
Penis. I have no idea how everyone managed to keep a
straight face. Just when I think I’m starting to get a
handle on the language, I discover that I am still a
source of endless entertainment for the Thais. Score:
Thailand: one, Sarah’s Pride: zero.

There is one area though that the Thais politeness
goes out the door – when it comes to weight. The first
two and a half months that I was here, I ate Thai food
and ate like the Thais do (i.e, I went native). The
result, I gained 10 pounds (approx. 5 kilos). I have
since been going to the gym 5-6 times per week and
haven't even lost an ounce. Those of you who know me
well will know that weight has always been an issue
with me. As luck would have it, I am in a country
where people should weigh 500 lbs given their eating
habits, but only weigh about 80. I am also in a
country where they will constantly talk about how fat
you are. Today, I managed to push my weight problem to
the middle of my mind (not all the way to the back)
and was feeling more like a partly beached whale as
opposed to an entirely beached whale, when one of my
co-workers (who is 8 months pregnant) walked up to me
and commented on how very fat I am. Ouch! So if any of
you are thinking about sending me a care package,
please include rice cakes!

That's all for now. I have to go and embarrass myself
some more.

Take care,

Sarah

Thai food

2003-05-28T17:47:00.000+07:00

The village stay was quite interesting. my grandmother would be very happy to know that I had to sit like a lady (however, on the floor) at all times and that I wore a wrap around skirt most of the time. I came to be known for how well I dressed. The family I stayed with was extremely generous and very patient.

This particular village had never had westerners visit before. The villagers found us to be a strange lot, especially our eating habits. They kept on mentioning how little we ate. The entire time I was there, I was never hungry. I went between being full and less full. They fed us every 20 minutes. my family went way out of their way to accommodate my eating habits. the mother would make one meal for me and another for the family. my meal would contain lots of veggies, no msg, very little salt and sugar, and lots of tofu. you had to be careful whenever they asked if you liked something. you always had to say yes, but if they thought you really loved it, then you would get tons of whatever it was. i.e., there is a particular type of mango here that i really love. i told the mother and the next thing i knew there was a 10 pound bag of mangoes for me. she also told whoever we visited that a liked that particular mango, so they would serve it to me as well. there are so many different types of fruits and vegetables growing in the area that is unbelievable.

i also asked if i could have a piece of bamboo since candians consider it very exotic and they've got it growing everywhere here. my host mother asked me which tree I wanted (they're over 3 metres tall:) i also said i'd like to see how she makes her own dish and clothes detergent. she was more than happy to make another batch just to show me. i had no idea that it involved stirring for two hours follwed by letting it sit for 2 days.

i sold veggies and sticky rice in bamboo every saturday with my mother at an organic agriculture station. making the sticky rice in bamboo is very labor intensive with everything being done by hand and cooked by fire. got on famously with the 23 year old daughter. tried to teach english for an hour at an elementary school, had a foot massage at a school for the blind, went to two weddings, took part in ceremonies at the wat on religious day (you carry a candle around in a circle 3 times following behind the monks), made offerings of food to the monks in the morning on 3 separate occasions (did it wrong all 3 times), took part in a ceremony for us volunteers on the last night i was there that was to call back our spirits to provide us with good health and good luck in the future, swam in the canal with the local kids, butchered the thai language.

it was amazing to sit on the stairs of the house and listen to the bamboo trees cracking when the wind blew and to hear all the ripe fruit constantly dropping from the trees. lived among chickens and ducks. really loved taking bucket showers. discovered a new technique for using a squat toilet.

Update

2003-04-20T17:46:00.000+07:00

The past two weeks have been filled with interesting experiences. My teacher sent each of us out on a mission. She gave us the word of something we were to buy without telling us what it was in English. I went off on my own to the market and starting asking people where I could by "katea". They would point in one direction I would walk right to the end of the market and then I would ask someone else and they would point in the direction I just came from. Turns out that I walked right by the vendor of "coconut milk" several times. That afternoon we all swapped stories about our experiences. It was all quite funny. The next day, the teachers took the ingredients we bought and made a sumptuous dinner, including pineapple curry with coconut milk. The latter is turning out to be one of my favorite dishes. We also tried sweet rice with mango. It is a specialty here in Hua Hin. People drive all the way from Bangkok to buy it from one particular vendor here. Even the King orders the sweet rice and mango from the street vendor across from the Hilton.

On Wednesday, a few of us had a picninc on the beach.We ended up speaking with the police superintendant for the area and a multimillionaire who owns the property we were sitting almost in front off. He even has a nanny for his seven dogs, including his miniature dobberman (who was wearing a Manchester United shirt).

On Saturday, we left Hua Hin for Petchaburi. There are very few "farang" (foreigners) in Petchaburi, which made it even more enjoyable. On Saturday night, we ate dinner on the sidewalk (and I do mean on the sidewalk). You pay 2 dollars and they give you a candle and some straw mats to sit on. The food also proved to be delicious.

On Sunday, it was Songkhran, the Thai New Year. They celebrate by having one huge waterfight. We ended up absolutely soaking wet. People also walk up to you and paint your face with white talcum powder that has been mixed with water. We didn't remain, however, only on the receiving end. We ended up jumping in someones pick-up truck and starting firing back. You wouldn't believe how much fun it was.

In the evening, we were invited to one of our teacher's friend's place. It was out in the country side. They set up tables outside and lit torches all along the outskirts. They also did a little fireworks display. After dinner, they set-up a TV and karoake machine. As for the food, I have never seen so much in my entire life. It just kept on coming and coming and coming. And all of it was good, including the desserts. I forgot to mention that Petchaburi is famous for its desserts. There were a number of dessert vendors near where the hotel was located (blocks and blocks worth). I gained weight just walking by them.

In Petchaburi, we were also able to walk up this small hill that had some absolutely beautiful wats/temples situated at various locations. It also boasted a huge number of monkeys who would try and steal anything they could get their hands on. At one point, I felt like I was in Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds, except with monkeys. There were also a number of mothers with very, very young monkeys. The babies were so very cute. I could watch the monkeys playing for hours.

Greetings From Asia

2003-04-02T18:32:00.000+07:00

Sawat-dii kha!!

Hi Jean. I am fnally breaking the silence. My sincere
apologies for not having corresponded with you
earlier. Since the middle of December my life has been
crazy. I moved into my new house at the end of last
year and then moved out in March. I have now moved to
Thailand for what is supposed to be a 26 month stay. I
applied for a volunteer position in the Thai
Government's pollution control department through CUSO
(a Canadian NGO) at the end of November. I went
through a very rigorous application process and got
final clearance in mid-February at which time I was
promptly sent off to a week long orientation session
offered through the Cdn Department of Foreign Affairs
in Quebec. I worked right up until three days before
my departure and was packing less than three hours
before my plane was due to leave. I ended up flying
via Vancouver (which had a SARS case) to Hong Kong
(lots of SARS cases) and then to Bangkok. Upon
arriving in BKK, I was given a health card that I have
to carry around for fourteen days just in case I fall
sick and in Hong Kong a number of people were wearing
masks. Scary stuff I tell ya.

Thank you so much for the Nepalese gloves. They are
beautiful. I felt so bad that I did not send you
anything, although my intentions were good. Between
moving into a new house, falling sick, getting into a
huge battle several week battle with the phone
company, and applying for a job, things became a bit
overwhelming.

You must come and visit me in Thailand. Right now I am
on a 2 1/2 month language training course in the Town
of Hua Hi. The place I am staying at is about 100 m
from a beach. After that I will be stationed in
Bangkok for two years.

I better get going so I don't miss the bus back to the
guest house.

Take care and let me know what you're up to.

Sarah