Pictures!!

I finally put up pictures on my blog! It only took two months :P If you want to see more pictures, check out my roommate Holly's flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollylove04/ . I'll update you on Koh Samet later this week!

<3

Khao Yai and Trying Not to Fry

Hey everyone! So I have a few more things to report in this post, and not all of them are about Bangkok, so that'll be a nice change for once.

The first one is about Bangkok though. In my last post, I talked about a job interview I had where the day and time kept getting changed at the last minute. I finally had the job interview two weeks ago and it went well- I read my book about monkeys, the kids all got to color in monkeys, we put them up on the white board and counted them, and then we all sang "Five Little Monkeys." The whole interview itself seemed good and I'm still waiting to hear back from the school. The major problem with the school and actually most of the schools that I've applied to is that it's on the outskirts of Bangkok, and Bangkok is huge. So it takes about forty five minutes to get there. On a good day.

At this point, I've had six or seven interviews, and most of them are for schools that are too far away. I have a few more interviews coming up this week so if anything major happens I'll be sure to let you know. Holly and I also had an agency offer us a contract to work at one of three different schools, and we've spent the past week taking cabs to the schools and then attempting to explain to the cab drivers that we didn't actually need to get out, we just wanted to see how far away they were from our apartment, and would they please drive us back? This ended badly on Sunday (the 7^th) because our cab driver needed to go home and just abandoned us at the school, so we ended up by the side of the freeway attempting to flag down a cab. Needless to say, it wasn't the smoothest cab ride we've had.

Anyway on a different note, two weeks ago we went to Khao Yai National Park. Khao Yai is a huge national park about two hours outside of Bangkok. It also happens to be a monsoon rainforest. It stretches over endless acres of land- we could see the treetops for miles from some of the higher areas. Being a monsoon rainforest, Khao Yai is home to several species of animals. Namely elephants, birds, snakes, scorpions, tigers, and leopards. Though we didn't actually get to see most of those animals, it was still cool to traipse through the forest knowing they were out there. Cool, surreal, and possibly a bit nerve wracking at points.

We stayed at Green Leaf guesthouse the nights before and after we went to Khao Yai. Green Leaf was a cute little place tucked back into the outskirts of a town made popular by the presence of Khao Yai and tourists' interest in visiting. However, there was basically nothing near Green Leaf. We ate at the guesthouse (mostly rice and noodle dishes, very traditional Thai food), and stayed at the guesthouse for the entire time we weren't at Khao Yai- mainly because there was nowhere else to go. Our guide worked for (and possibly owned though it's unclear) Green Leaf, took our food orders, and gave them to his grandmother, who happens to be the cook. Our room was basically like a cabin out in the woods- beds with mattresses that go straight to the floor when you lay on them, a bathroom with no sink (yes that's right), and mosquito netting everywhere. Brushing our teeth was a challenge, but otherwise it felt like we were roughing it in the good outdoors. A really nice change from Bangkok. It was also cool enough that we didn't need AC at night- in fact it was even a little chilly. The weather was so amazing we've been tempted to go back and stay at Green Leaf for a night just to beat the heat in Bangkok.

We arrived at Green Leaf on Thursday night (the 25th). Friday morning we set off at 8:00 in open trucks with nailed in benches that I've mentioned in previous blogs as "baht buses." We wound our way up the paths of Khao Yai and got to take some pictures at a lookout. Then our guide started passing around white strips of cloth. We just kind of stared at them like "What are we supposed to do with this?" He showed us how to tie them around our legs. Apparently because of the amount of bugs and leeches, the strips of cloth help to protect our legs as we're walking around in the brush. At first we were kind of skeptical. Like how many bugs would we actually be exposed to on this hike?

Then we started the hike. Through the woods. And not on a trail, because that would have made life way too easy. We had to go straight through, making our own path, holding branches out of each other's faces, trying not to slide down as we descended part of a mountain, trying not to fall in mud puddles. In each blog post I like to take a moment and mention how attractive I look in Thailand. This is that moment.

I spent most of the hike looking for snakes and getting thwacked in the face by wayward branches because I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. This turned out to be justified. At one point, we stopped on the path and one of our guides handed out this amazing snack with sticky rice and condensed milk wrapped in a leaf. We ate our treats and waited to keep going. And kept waiting. Our other guide was walking around checking out the brush very closely. He then informed us that there was a cobra hole about five feet from where we were standing and he was trying to locate the cobra. Since he didn't happen to see it, he assumed it was in the hole. He started poking into the hole with a stick. Since that didn't magically produce a cobra, he stuck his hand in the hole. Thank goodness that didn't work, and we were forced to continue on without seeing the cobra.

Later in the hike we got to sit at the lookout by the waterhole and eat our lunch of rice and vegetables. Besides a brightly colored, huge bug that our guides said was dangerous, we didn't see any action going on by the water hole. After lunch we took another hike looking for a crocodile. That's right, we could give Steve Irwin a run for his money. Except that we would have actually needed to see the crocodile to be worthy of Animal Planet. As a wrap up for our full day Khao Yai experience, we spent four hours riding around at dusk looking for elephants. Which we did not see. So mostly we spent four hours riding around leaning out of our half a truck and straining our eyes against the dark in case one would just happen to emerge on to the road. Why an elephant would come onto a road where vehicles are driving by constantly I have no idea. Apparently they don't very often since we didn't get to see any.

Our trip to Khao Yai wasn't completely a bust though. We got to see some really cool birds (I have a few pictures which will hopefully be up on my blog). We also got to see macacas (monkeys) and gibbons (monkeys who live in the trees and never touch the ground). And we got to see an ancient looking turtle and a creepy looking spider. Not to mention the exercise trekking through our own paths in the jungle.

We returned to the guesthouse rather exhausted and surprisingly a little chilly. We all got dinner and ended up playing hearts for a few hours on the tables outside (until our guide's grandma wanted to go to bed and they had to turn the lights off). Then we retired to our room with its ridiculous mattresses. Mine had an indentation of where I had slept the night before that was so prominent I couldn't get out of it when I laid down- it was like sleeping in a hole. But the room was cool and relatively quiet, and it was easy to fall asleep to nighttime woods noises.

The next day we crammed on to the bus back to Bangkok. We were hoping that if we took the bus back on Saturday it wouldn't be as crowded. No such luck. Once back in Bangkok, we spent most of the weekend just recouping from our trip and getting readjusted to the heat.

Last week passed as most of our weeks pass in Bangkok- job interviews, filling out applications, spending much of our time at the pool, and watching the temperatures rise and rise with no end in sight. Apparently it's been unseasonably warm here and our temperatures have been typical April temperatures. I really hate to see what the temperature is like in April. We might have to start splurging a little on our electric bill. I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time at the gym as well because it's another air conditioned place to hide in. And because they have the best dance classes. I found a class called Dance Rhythms that I absolutely love and have been going to almost every day. Even though I'm a pretty terrible dancer, it's really entertaining to watch everyone else, and the room is full of people at all different levels so I don't feel like I stand out that much. Well I don't feel like I stand out that much based upon dance ability. I happen to be the only non-Thai person taking the class. I'm not entirely sure I should be the one representing American dancers here but what can you do?

Other than the occasional interview, the reviewing of a rather shady job contract, and several trips to the gym, not much happened until Friday. Holly's parents and her cousin and cousin's husband came to Bangkok and we ended up spending a lot of time with them this weekend. On Friday we went to the Royal Palace. Absolutely gorgeous of course. We got to walk through endless rooms of paintings and mosaics and past buildings that looked like they were built from pieces of precious stones and gold.

We got to go in the temple of the Emerald Buddha (after going through this ritual of holding a flower dipped in water over our heads). The Emerald Buddha was a bit smaller than I thought it would be (namely about a foot tall), but since it was completely made of emerald with precious jewels encrusted all over it, and basically set on a pile of artifacts made from gold, it was still very impressive. After the Royal Palace, we hung out around the pool, had happy hour around the pool (the only way to do it), and then went out to dinner at a cute restaurant right down the street from Holly's relatives' hotel.

Saturday (the 6^th) we checked out Chinatown. Wow. I loved the experience of walking through but it was chaotic and overwhelming. I can't imagine what it was like for Holly's parents and relatives, who had just arrived in Bangkok. We made our way through impossibly small streets made even smaller by the trucks and motorcycles trying to push their way through crowds of people and stands of food, clothes, jewels, watches, stickers, and whatever else you can think of. The roads were nearly covered by the roofs of buildings overhead that almost touched each other, so when we walked through we were almost completely shielded from the sun. This plus the constant breeze made the heat slightly bearable.

After our Chinatown adventure, we had a casual afternoon by the pool and then went out to dinner near Victory Monument. Once dinner was over, we decided that we needed to introduce Holly's relatives to crepes off the street- the best street food in Bangkok, and probably all of Thailand. They affirmed my love of crepes and then headed back to their hotel.

Holly, Kristina, and I were feeling a little more adventurous on our Saturday night so we decided to find a club called Saxophone and check out the live music. The place was packed with people out for a fun but chill Saturday night. We slid into our worn wooden booth and watched the band get into the music. We speculated on whether or not they knew what they were singing since all of the songs were in English, but they were so into the words that I think they must have. And the music was amazing, as most live music seems to be, especially after a few drinks.

The rest of the week has been fairly laid back. Everything is starting to come to an end at the same time. Our contract is up for our apartment so we need to get it renewed and maybe try and get our rent down a little. Our visas are going to expire in less than two weeks and we need to make a visa run to the border and back (a pain since the closest border is 4ish hours away). We're all close to finding jobs and have had promising interviews, but we're still working on contracts and I think we're all starting to feel the pressure to get jobs secured for April or May. And we're all leaving this week. Holly and Kristina are going to Koh Samui with Holly's parents and I'm going to Koh Samet, an island about four hours outside of Bangkok, mostly just to escape for a few days and hopefully relax.

I'll be sure to update you about my trip and the other goings-on here in Bangkok soon! I hope you're all doing well and that you're enjoying your cold weather. No seriously, I'm a little jealous. I miss you all!

Love from VP,

Monica