Doi Phu Kha National Park

Josh and I put on our hiking boots, packed a tent, and rode our motorbikes to Doi Phu Kha National Park over the past weekend.  The main mountain is 2000 meters high and located in northeastern Nan, only an hour away through twisty scenic mountain roads.  


After pitching the tent and snagging a map, we anxiously started hiking up a beautiful nature trail towards the peak of Doi Phu Kha.  The landscape was an intriguing mixture of forest and jungle.  Within 20 minutes, however, the exotic trail spat us out upon our realization of the countless leeches that had inched their way up our hiking boots, latched onto our ankles, and begun sucking away.  We flicked off as many of the vexing vampires as we could and ran back to our tent.  Less anxiously this time, we returned to the trail prepared with... pants (rather than shorts)!  Predictably, wearing pants only temporarily impeded the leeches' blood bath, so we had to systematically stop and terminate the little fuckers every 5 minutes or so.  

Not Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock,
but the result of hiking with leeches

Not only were the leeches an inconvenience, but we also had to deal with a "Thai quality" map.  Imagine you go for a walk with a 4 year old, then give the child a crayon and sheet of paper and instruct a drawing of the route.  What would you expect?  If you're thinking along the lines of a simple oval shaped trail, that's exactly what our map looked like.  The fact that the few words were all in incomprehensible Thai was actually completely irrelevant, because the map never even acknowledged the existence of numerous offshoots and forks in the road along the way.  The night began to spread its darkness and we promptly descended the mountain, until we stumbled upon a stunning and salvaging overlook of the sunset!  The leeches and mosquitoes were feasting on our flesh while Josh and I were busy feasting our eyes on the inspiring sky.  All was well.


We woke up at 4:20 the next morning (purely coincidence...) and attempted to reach the elusive peak in the dark.  Did I mention the Thai map really sucked?  When we reached the highest point in the trail, we traced and retraced our steps looking for a way up to the peak or even any overlook to catch the imminent sunrise.  Needless to say, we were not witnesses of the sunrise that Sunday morning.  After three hours of hiking in the dark and of course plucking off leeches, we had finally reached the "fuck it dude, let's play frisbee" moment.  We opened up some Chang beers (around 7:30 am) and threw around the disc with the mountain as the backdrop.  


"A wiser feller than myself once said, 'sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you.'" ~ The Big Lebowski (of course!).  Doi Phu Kha National Park was a wild Thaiventure, much different than the previous beach bum weekend in Ko Samet, but certainly another worthy experience! 

Weekend Paradise in Ko Samet

In the third week of teaching, I took my second consecutive Friday off due to ambitious weekend plans.  I left the misty mountains of the North behind and took a 12 hour overnight bus on Thursday night from Nan City to Chonburi, a buzzing city conveniently located on the Gulf of Thailand, in between Bangkok and the deservingly hyped Thai islands.  There, I met up with some friends from orientation for a bit before taking another, albeit much shorter, bus ride from Chonburi to Ban Phe with Jill, where we then hopped on a ferry to the popular island of Ko Samet. 

After two bus rides and a ferry, I was eager to jump into the ocean, which did not disappoint my expectations.  This was the kind of beach that one conjures up when one imagines an exotic beach paradise (Ko Samet is apparently only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Thai islands and beaches, so even though I look forward to experiencing the depths of the iceberg, I was thrilled with my first dose of beach paradise for the weekend getaway!  I’m sharing this parenthetical ride on my stream of consciousness because I was mindful over the weekend about enjoying the moment and not getting carried away by the undertow of plans and the insidious tendency of looking forward).  The anticipation for the weekend had transformed from potential energy to kinetic (I can’t make many science allusions, so laugh at it while you can), when we were floating in warm turquoise water and soaking up tropical sun, white beaches, and palm trees.  

If I were to sum up the whole weekend in one sentence (I’m sure anyone reading this was hoping I’d spare them two paragraphs ago), I would say, “pretty chill, man.”  And if I had to add to that eloquent weekend description I would list the endeavors of a beach bum: snorkeling, drinks, western food, young coconuts, reggae music, and sunsets (we tried to make a sunrise, but didn’t exactly wake up in time…). 

Another reason I was so ecstatic this past weekend was due to the reoccurring realization that a weekend of paradise in Thailand can be the norm for the next several months!  Besides a brief stint on the beach during orientation, this was my first taste of Thai paradise on their world class islands.  Furthermore, it was only a few days prior to the Ko Samet trip that I was exploring an isolated national park in the mysterious mountains of the north; experiencing the beach side of the Thai coin made me really appreciate how frieken awesome this Thai coin is and how fortunate I am to have this Thaiventure Time!

Nanthaburi National Park

School has been grrrreat lately, mainly because Josh and I have half days due to “sports week” (which will last 3 weeks and, as a result, is the cause of some envy among teacher friends placed in more "legit" schools...)!  With the invaluable gift of extra daylight, we've made the most of the opportunities and had some sweet Thaiventures! 

One of the more epic afternoons recently was spent riding our motorbikes an hour into the mountains to Nanthaburi National Park. The ride itself was not merely a means to an ends, but part of the invigorating experience. Our manual motorbikes mainly remained in low gears while the altitude increased and the roads became narrower and more twisted.  The challenge was to maintain focus on the road as mountains loomed on both sides, presenting spectacular, distracting views. We made numerous stops to simply admire the surroundings and soak in the newly discovered beauty around our new home. 

When Josh and I arrived at Nanthaburi National Park, we excitedly explored the exotic vegetation and made our way past the friendly ferns to an appealing plateau, where we witnessed a splendid sunset.  Quietude pervaded the national park and we speechlessly enjoyed the landscape of mountains upon mountains upon mountains.  I was high in the clouds and naturally feeling high on nature.  The most memorable moment was when I discovered a sudden migration of an unfamiliar dragonfly species flying from the grassy hill, through the sunset, to the opposite end of the plateau.  Once again, I will let the pictures and video say the remaining thousands of words! 

Loy Krathong Festival in Chiang Mai

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The full moon landed on Thursday, which marked the main night of the Thai festival known as “Loy Krathong.”  Offerings were sent floating down local rivers as a symbolic apology for all the pollution (nothing says sorry for the pollution better than filling the water with more shit) and lanterns were lit and sent soaring in the bright night sky.

Josh and I skipped teaching on Friday and took a 6 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai to celebrate Loy Krathong for the weekend (after receiving the green light from our coordinator, of course.  We wouldn’t just play hooky from teaching… yet).  Undoubtedly one of the chillest spots in Thailand, Chiang Mai is backpacker friendly with numerous outdoor activities, a groovy night life, and plenty of markets and delicious restaurants (that actually serve more than just rice dishes).  It was touristy but not as overwhelmingly or obnoxiously touristy as Pattaya or certain parts of Bangkok.  It reminded me a little of Kathmandu, Nepal in its hippy vibe and is similarly a destination I plan on revisiting.

We stayed in a cool hostel that was run by one of the many ‘Merican Vietnam War vets whom have made their home in Thailand.  He taught his dog how to salute him and he sounded a bugle to call for his Thai wife.  However, that wasn’t the only part of the Loy Krathong weekend in Chiang Mai that reminded me of war… 

Everyone was in upbeat spirits and enjoyed the occasion, especially the Thai kids and teenagers whom were setting off fireworks and various other explosives.  Josh and I almost lost our hearing when some genius launched a firework off within short range from us.   Damn kids!  I don’t want to sound like a party pooper, but when little fuckin Thai kids are setting off fireworks IN PUBLIC, that’s where I draw the line.  I jumped about 5 feet in the air the first time I heard an explosive go off behind me.  I was also slightly burned by some firecrackers that were thrown at my feet.  See, the worst thing you should think in a situation like that is: “Well, I’m sure they know what they’re doing.  After all, the Thai people do this every year and the dangers of messing around with explosives are common knowledge.”  Wrong.  Good luck finding common sense, reason, or efficiency in Thailand, so make assumptions and expectations at your own risk.  As Walter explains in one of the many bowling scenes in The Big Lebowski, “Smokey, this is not ‘Nam… there are rules.”  Welcome to Southeast Asia. 

Despite dodging the bullets and ceaselessly cussing out the Thai kids, we had a lot of fun in Chiang Mai on 11/11/11 for the Loy Kratong festival!  I’ll let the videos and pictures from the memorable weekend tell the rest of the story.

The First Week of School

After spending the past two decades as a student, it seemed a little odd going back to school as a teacher.  The excitement and anticipation that typically surrounds the first day of school came to its climax when I was handed the microphone during the Monday morning assembly in front of 1,500 Thai students. “Sawatdee kraup (Hello).  Pohm chew James kraup (My name is James).”  The students roared with laughter at my mispronunciations.  I continued, “Pohm maa jah New Jersey kraup (I come from New Jersey).  Pohm yin dee tee dai maa Thawangpha (I am very happy to be in Thawangpha.)  I am looking forward to teaching many of you English and also getting to know you!  Karb kun kraup (Thank you)!” 

As I walked around campus with Josh, the two of us clearly standing out as “farangs,” the Thai students pointed, whispered, giggled, and in some cases just burst out laughing at our unusual presence.  The Thai teachers dressed in uniforms and looked like flight attendant, while we looked like two backpackers cloaked in semi-formal attire (at least that’s how we felt). 

I was eager to finally get into the classroom and find out the students’ levels of English and simply what teaching would actually be like.  I walked into my first class and was prepared from orientation for the unfamiliar series of events that marks the beginning of each class: the students stand up and say- “Good morning, teacher!”  I reply, “Good morning, students!  You may sit down.”  “Thank you, teacher!” And we’re off...

In my classes the Thai students go by their English nicknames, which are usually some random English object or adjective and make for some pretty hilarious nicknames.  My favorites are: Soap, Golf, Sack, Moss, Thing, Ball, Gift, Fun, Blue, Cake, Moo, Big, Game, Boss, Mild, Pooky, Noon, Bam, Dream, Milk, View, Flame, Apple, Tiger Woods, Cream, Mop, Park, Cat, Toy, Fame, Lady, Oil, Pooh, M, Fang, Palm, Guitar, Meow, Pancake, Dear, Honey, Barbie, Earth, X, Bat, Arm, Tape, Ice, Up, James, Zigzag, Ping Pong, F, Bye, Dance, Bieber, Wave, Visa, Rabbit, Genie, Bank, Mint, and Stamp.  I have no doubt that this is the first time in the history of writing that those words all appeared in the same sentence. 

With my first week of teaching now in the books, I would say that it went much smoother than expected!  My lesson plan consisted of “getting to know you” questions, which served to not only break the ice, but to gauge the students’ levels of English and discover exactly what I’d be dealing with. A top priority was to get through each class without any major “train wrecks,” and so far the train is safely on track.  Woot, woot!  I was thrown a few curveballs when several female students told me I was “handsome” and asked if I had a girlfriend, and when I was practicing the pronunciation of words ending in “ix” (because Thai people have trouble with that sound) a student shouted out that I should change the word “six” on the board to “sex,” but the show went on.  I was reminded of the “crushes” I used to have on some of my teachers and the inappropriateness that resulted from the early teenage years (clearly that’s long over), so now being a teacher seems a bit like closing the circle of karma.

Half of the 40+ students didn't show up, making class more manageable

Teaching 20 different classes a week to around 45 Thai students naturally creates some ups and downs throughout the school day, let alone the week.  For example, teaching the youngest and “most able” students was much more rewarding than teaching the older, uninterested, and misbehaving students.  The challenge will be to salvage the latter difficult classes and make the most out of them for the students.  There is an extreme spectrum of English literacy not only from one class to another, but also within the same class.  Some students memorized entire speeches in English, while others were unable to respond to the simple “getting to know you” questions.  The students are separated based on age and ability in a ranking system that consists of two numbers.  The first number pertains to age and the second regards ability.  The “age digit” works sequentially from 1, which includes students mostly around 12 years old, to 8, which is comprised of students around 18 years old.  The “ability figure” works something like this: 1 is the best class, and then the order jumps to 8 and steadily declines until the “least able” class of 2.  For example, 1-8 represents the youngest and second “most able” class within that age group.  7-2 is the “least able” class in the older age group of 7’s.  Naturally, the students’ degree of misbehavior corresponds to their “ability” level (and perhaps is also the partial result of their “ability” level, but that is another discussion).  In general, I have been able to use one basic lesson plan throughout the week for all the different age and ability levels, while simply tweaking material for each class as it seems fit.  On one hand, the schedule can get somewhat monotonous, but on the other hand, it enables me to become more comfortable with the lesson plan and have the opportunity during the week to reevaluate whether the material was conveyed successfully or not.

The first week of school has made me empathize with teachers a lot more.  The idea that “those who can’t do, teach” is complete bullshit.  Teaching is for real, man.  Within the first week of teaching in Thailand, my patience was repeatedly tested, my improvisation skills were incessantly invoked, and I learned that playing hangman can save your ass.  More importantly though, the fruits of your labor can be very rewarding, teaching in the classroom makes you live in the moment, and being around smiling students all day makes you feel forever young.