Wan Dek (Children's Day)

Ton and I handing out prizes to kids after they played darts or basketball

Benz taking down names

I'm a little behind on blogging about this, but the Saturday before last, Step Ahead and Co. (as I'll now refer to the lovely group of people who spend lots of time here- mainly including Mae, Chaiyot, Ton, and then sometimes Sai, Pia, and Chompoo) got up early in the morning and loaded up the Step Ahead-mobile with games and prizes to take to Khuek Khak school for Children's Day. Children's Day is apparently a national holiday in Thailand (like Mother's or Father's Day). We set up darts and a mini basketball hoop, and the kids came to the prize booth where Ton and I were working after they had played the games. Each kid would tap me on the shoulder and tell me the number of points he/she had achieved. Then Ton would assemble the prize and I'd distribute them to eager kids, who had to "wai" and say thank you. (If you're not sure what a "wai" is, ask anyone who's been to Thailand. Or check out this photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann/JohnSVisit/photo#5125593616038410562

I'm not too sure about the point system, though. The prizes seemed not to vary much, regardless of the number of points, for example:

Kid: 15 points

Ton: 15, wow!

(Prize given= comic book and some sweets)

Kid: 27 points

Ton: 27, great!

(Prize given= comic book, some sweets, a drink)

Kid: no points

Ton: Aw, no points! No problem.

(Prize given= comic book and some sweets)

The kids were so cute, and we had a really fun time. The only spoiler was some large red fire ants. I had to have Paul go back to Step Ahead to bring me my tennis shoes b/c I was getting eaten.

Chiang Mai Trip Part II (traveling- read Part I FIRST!)

Bangkok slum where Step Ahead works
Chiang Mai bike shop; I couldn't resist. It's just funny.
John at the Step Ahead Bangkok office


I have a few things to say about traveling around Thailand:

• Buses are really cheap in Thailand.


• Bus drivers drive like maniacs. The biggest vehicle rules the road, and buses pretty much take the cake. They speed up behind every car and then honk their horn to clear the path. Ridiculous.


• I will NEVER take a bus again unless I find a more effective motion sickness medicine.


• Flying is the fastest and probably safest way to travel here. Most expensive, but not too bad.


• Motorcycles are probably the most dangerous way to travel, but definitely the most fun! (And I don't get sick on motorcycles.)

I took a 2nd class night bus to Bangkok, a TWELVE-HOUR-RIDE with seats that weren't particularly comfortable or spacious. Pun and I took a 2nd class bus b/c there were no seats available on any other bus; everything was fully booked b/c it was a holiday weekend; in fact, that is why there were no flights available, either. The one thing I can say about it is that it was cheap! Only about $15 (I can't remember exactly how much) to travel a great distance. When we arrived in Bangkok at 5.30 a.m., I was so dizzy, nauseous and out of it from having not slept at all that I could not even think about getting on another bus to Chiang Mai (a 10-hour-ride from Bangkok). So Pun very graciously invited me to her place, where I slept from 6-10 in the morning, showered, ate a little bit, and got to go to J & J Market, a really cool outdoor market with tons of things to buy. Then I took another night bus to Chiang Mai, but a VIP bus, which was much better than the 2nd class bus. It had comfy seats that lean back really far, a movie, a toilet, and food served on board. On the way back to Bangkok from Chiang Mai, I took a first class day bus, which wasn't so great. The only differences between it and a 2nd class bus were a toilet and a little bit of food service. But the seats weren't very roomy or anything. And I was more motion sick on that bus than I've ever been in my life. I took a Dramamine before I left which, as usual, made me totally out of it. Whenever I take Dramamine, I might as well have drunk 5 or 6 beers, because it has the same effect on me. It works for several hours to keep me from feeling nauseous, but it makes me really drowsy and loopy. But then the problem is that I don't sleep anyway! So after the first 5 hours, I took another Dramamine, and when I was about an hour outside of Bangkok, my head was spinning and I was so nauseous that I seriously wanted to die. I hadn't eaten anything all day except an orange and a small bread roll early in the morning. I think a combination of several factors were at work: I hadn't slept enough, I hadn't eaten because I didn't want to get sick, but then maybe the Dramamine on an empty stomach was a bad idea. And then I was motion sick anyway.

After I got off the bus, I waited in a long line to catch a taxi and watched a taxi driver come racing between the lines of people, screeching to a halt and narrowly miss hitting a little kid! I was on and off my cell phone the whole time with John Quinley, who was explaining to me how to tell the driver in Thai the directions to their house. It took another 45 minutes through Bangkok traffic to reach the Quinley residence, but at least I was sitting in the front seat, so I didn't feel as bad as I did on the bus. I was so happy to see John and Kim's smiling faces when I finally got there. I was only able to eat a few bites of dinner, went to bed at about 8.30, and my head literally did not stop spinning until I'd slept a full night and woke up the next morning. Yuck. The next afternoon, I caught a flight on Air Asia from Bangkok to Phuket, which was pretty good! I wasn't sick at all on the plane, and it was only an hour and ten minute flight. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to arrive at a place and see somebody as I was when I got off the plane in Phuket and saw Paul and Amnuey. I am so grateful to be back at Step Ahead again. It feels like home more than it did when I left.

Chiang Mai Trip, Part I

Chiang Mai, early morning
one of the temples

close contact with elephants

Three new albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann I'm starting classes again tomorrow, and this is going to be a busy term! I'm teaching 5 classes, all different levels and including 2 languages. Plus, I'll be meeting with my language partner starting next Monday for 3 hours of Thai and 3 hours of English per week. That will be great; I'm so ready to really start learning some Thai! (which is not to say that I haven't been learning it; I just haven't organized my learning in a focused way.)

Ok, I have so much blogging to catch up on that I've decided to report about my travels in two parts: one part covering what I did and the second part talking about the actual traveling, which was quite a journey- the NOT so fun side of things. Anyhow, I left on Saturday, a week and a day ago. I spent the day in Bangkok with Pun, a friend of Bea's, a girl from my church. I was grateful to have a traveling partner for at least half of the trip. I slept at her place for a few hours and then we went to J & J Market, a huge market with row after row of clothes shops, and then all sorts of other stuff- handcrafts, food, books, jewelery, etc. And cheap! I did some shopping there but really went shopping in Chiang Mai. I haven't shopped much at all since I've been here, but Chiang Mai was definitely the coolest place to shop.

My friend Nee picked me up at the bus station in Chiang Mai on Monday morning and took me on a quick tour of the city on the back of her motorbike. Chiang Mai is absolutely lovely! It's an old city with plenty of interesting things to see- the old city walls, temples, and mountains! I was so happy to see mountains. We have small ones in Khao Lak, but the ones up north are tall. The weather was perfect- chilly at morning and night, so I actually wore a jacket for the first time since I've been in Thailand. Nee was a great tour guide, and she booked a guest house for me to stay in, too. I got to enjoy some northern food specialties which they don't have in the south; they have these curry noodles that are to die for. And they sold strawberries everywhere- with a chili sugar mix! Yum. I really fell in love with Chiang Mai; I think my pictures will tell a good story, but here are some of the things I liked:

• the walking street, a completely amazing outdoor market that sells beautiful things for really cheap


• the night bazaar, crazy and chaotic, similar to the walking street but bigger and a bit more expensive


• tuk tuks


• used bookstores with English books


• wonderful little cafes and restaurants; Chiang Mai definitely has the feel of a uni town


• fireworks and floating lanterns for New Year's Eve! (I watched from the bridge over the Ping River, close to my guest house)


• everything is much cheaper there than in the south!

I went elephant trekking and bamboo rafting about an hour outside of Chiang Mai (a must-do for anyone traveling in Thailand). I was pretty amazing at what those elephants could do- kick soccer balls, play harmonicas, paint pictures, "massage" people.

That concludes part 1; hopefully I'll be able to do part 2 tomorrow, but I envision a very, very busy week coming up.