Ok, I know I said I was finished yesterday but, honestly, I'm beat and sitting at the computer is about all I have the strength to do right now. I'm back in Chiang Rai and I'll be on a train to Bangkok tomorrow night. I'm thinking I'll spend my last day in Thailand on Khao San Rd. (backpacker central) before I have to fly back to Australia Saturday evening.

It poured again last night so I was in bed early. I'm still not feeling very well either and I have a feeling I know what gave me this sore throat. Let me just say that the next time you spend an evening with a Thai hill-tribe, bathing in the stream might not be the most hygienic thing to do. I spent last night channel surfing and the only thing I could find in English was the Disney Channel. I can now finally say I've seen a complete episode of Kim Possible and several episodes of the Mr. Bean cartoon.

I wanted to share a few words of advice about traveling through Thailand just in case this really is my last entry for the week. First of all, if you ever take a trip like the one I've just enjoyed, don't expect it to be a vacation in the traditional sense. (Or, if you're Australian, don't expect a holiday.) I swear I'll need a vacation to recover from these past two weeks. I've lost count of all of the cities I've seen, the places I've eaten, and the hotels I've slept in. I couldn't even find my way back to the guesthouse yesterday because I couldn't remember where I was staying. It's been exciting and was exactly the type of trip I wanted. I'll be happy to sit on the beach in Cairns in a few weeks, though. Second, I've had a blast being probably one of the more unique-looking people in the country. There may not be an abundance of high ceilings or legroom in Thailand, but if you're over six feet tall, you'll definitely want to come visit here. Back to my other point about finding your away around a foreign city, I want to emphasize the importance of carrying your hotel or hostel's business card. It should preferably have a map on it and also be in both Thai and English. You can imagine why that would be helpful. Finally, don't let a lack of fluency in the language deter you from coming. While the basics help, anyone whose job it is to help you enjoy your trip will speak at least basic English. (Don't get frustrated and do the whole speak slowly-and-loud thing at them. It doesn't work.) In terms of health, my advice is simple. Drink a lot of water but don't let your lips touch the stuff in the tap.

Also, any additional languages come in handy too. Especially in places like Thailand with backpackers and travelers from all over the world, any thing that helps to communicate with more people is going to be helpful. Fortunately for me, I've been to Israel and taken a couple of Hebrew language classes at Rutgers. Thailand is a very popular spot for Israelis who have just finished their military service and I jumped at the chance to practice my Hebrew here as often as I could.

I'll miss the cultural differences and the food. I'll also miss the reaction I get from native Thais upon seeing my big feet and red hair for the first time. I've had a lot of fun telling people where my accent's from and that New York really is as great as they think it is. (I've also told them to stay away from New Jersey... just kidding!) I'll have to go back to calling napkins by their Australian name, serviettes, instead of paper or tissue as the Thais understand them. I've really come to appreciate the subtleties of the English language and how lucky I am to be a native speaker. I wouldn't mind now living in another country for maybe six months teaching the language, except I might need a refresher because I couldn't begin to understand all of the rules. I've never been surrounded by so few English-speakers as I've been in Thailand (except maybe in Brooklyn) and it's easier for me now to understand why people say English is the most difficult language to learn later in life.

Speaking of random thoughts, my fellow cast member Chris just emailed me and reminded me that I never mentioned the direction in which the toilet water flows in Australia. (Will: this is for you, too!) Ok, it's kind of complicated but I'll do the best I can to explain it. The water in most drains (i.e. sinks, showers, etc.) does spin the other way in the southern hemisphere. Just like Australians like to drive on the other side of the street, they like to have their drain water spin clockwise. Toilets though are a different story, since they usually have a very powerful suction that pulls the water straight down.

Safe travels!

Jason

Thank you, PC.

Posted by Jason at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

28 September

This will probably be my last entry from Thailand as tomorrow I have to start working my way south back to Bangkok. It has been a seriously wild ride and I would recommend anyone looking to get off the beaten path to come here. I noticed yesterday, though, that I committed the cardinal sin of traveling and I have a strong feeling I've been guilty of this since I got here. I caught myself getting frustrated with a woman working in a bus station who didn't understand my request for a bathroom. Now here's the disappointing part: that joke about how Westerners interact with people who don't speak English really is true. My response was to speak louder and slower (BATH-ROOM?!), thinking this might magically make her understand. I'll have to be extra careful not to be rude from now on, since treating this woman as if she were hard of hearing didn't help me make it any quicker.

I woke up early this morning to catch a bus from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai, the northernmost city in Thailand. We pulled up to the Golden Triangle and I was amazed at the serenity of the intersection of the three countries. The countryside looked like it was straight out of an old Vietnam War movie and it didn't look like much has changed. I also learned why this particular spot is called the Golden Triangle: Asian drug smugglers like to use the Triangle as an international trade zone between the three nations. Laws have curbed much of this smuggling and our guide explained that, at the height of the trade, there was only one thing considered more valuable than the opium: gold.

I don't know if anyone can cross the borders here as easily as I did but the trip into Laos was a snap. PC, our tour guide, gave us the option of crossing or not and I figured since I was in the neighborhood, why not? We arrived in Laos via speedboat on the Mekong River, a body of water that runs across Southeast Asia and up to China. The Laotian people operating shops and cafes on the border couldn't have been friendlier. I've been feeling sick with a sore throat this week and when I went into a shop looking for a cup of tea, the girls working inside gave it to me for free. I showed them my gratitude by buying a postcard and a nifty-looking back massage thingy.

After taking our boat back across the Mekong into Thailand, we rode a bus to the Thai border with Burma/Myanmar. I quickly became aware of how important it is to know and respect international border laws when traveling since one wrong move could land you in jail very quickly. One particular interesting aspect of border-hopping is that there is almost always some free zone between when you officially exit one country and enter another. Security was tight, except for the people selling goods between the countries and I couldn't help but wonder where these people came from. If I'm not officiallly in any country, where am I? Do I cease to exist? Why do we say nations border one another when, technically, they don't?

The differences between even two southeast Asian countries were staggering. Just minutes over the border, I was confronted by peasants selling cartons of cigarettes and illegal prescription drugs. Children swarmed me asking for food and money and I was at a loss. The child-beggars were especially aggressive, tugging at my clothes and following me through the markets. Feeling guilty yet also annoyed, I bought a bag of grapes and gave away what I didn't finish rather than giving all of them money. Today was the first time in over two months I saw cars driving on the right-hand side again and it made me just as disoriented as when I saw the opposite for the first time in Australia. The direction of the traffic wasn't what I noticed first about the streets, though. It was the conditions. Burma is obviously poorer than Thailand and it shows. Roads are buried in mud and covered with potholes. Barefooted peasants carried barrels of plants and vegetables to market and I could've sworn I saw homes deteriorating before my eyes.

Just as I was glad to return to Chiang Mai after our arduous hill-tribe trek, I was very happy to cross the border back into Thailand. Just to give you an idea of how far I've traveled since I left Australia twelve days ago, let me run down what it's going to take to get back to Bangkok in time to fly back to Sydney on Saturday. Tomorrow, I've got a two hour bus ride to Chiang Rai and then another three to Chiang Mai. From Chiang Mai, the overnight train to Bangkok is thirteen hours and then the flight from Bangkok to Sydney is a red-eye, eight and a half hours. On top of that, I'll have to leave myself plenty of time on Saturday since I'm flying out of an airport that, I think, is only opening today and is the biggest in the world. Man, that Yom Kippur fast on Monday isn't going to be easy...

I'm not having much luck right now uploading my pictures but my Canberra episode is up and running! I hope you'll enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Cheers from Thailand,

Jason

Posted by Jason at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I've officially been out of the states for two months! I don't think it would have felt as strange as it has either had I been in Australia this whole time but this past week in Thailand has made it feel much longer. I'm starting to long for my own culture again and I'm not even as averse to eating pizza and hamburgers as I was a few days ago. There's only so much rice and noodles an American can eat...

This is also the longest time I've ever gone without seeing my parents, a fact I'm sure they're well aware of. I've spoken to some internationals at Macquarie about what it's like when their parents come to visit and I've gotten the same general feedback. They are happy to have them visit. (Note the part of that sentence I emphasized.) While I would never question the extent of my dependence on my family, I'm nervous about how their visit might challenge the independence I've acquired since I left home. Somehow, I think they'll respect that I might not be the same person I was when I left and I think I'll enjoy having them around for a while.

Ok, so back to life in Thailand. I just did what just might be the second riskiest thing I've done since I got here: I biked through the streets of Chiang Mai! Although not as chaotic as in Bangkok, the roads here are crowded, dirty, and loud. (Remember Manhattan during the blackout a couple of summers ago? Multiply that by ten and pack the streets with potholes, mopeds, and stray animals.) Not only does the traffic serve as a serious danger here, but police officers and others who spend a lot of time exposed to the pollution cover their mouth and nose with surgical masks not unlike the ones Michael Jackson enjoys wearing. The woman in the bike rental place laughed at me when I requested a push bike rather than the more popular motorized ones. She then laughed again when I asked for a helmet and told me that I don't need one because I'm in Thailand. (Yeah, right.) Call me worrysome, but I was raised Jewish. This means I don't take chances, especially in foreign countries, and I always know exactly what's covered by my insurance policy.

Speaking of being Jewish, this past weekend was Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of our new year. I have to admit I've fallen behind with the rest of the world and I'm not even sure when the holiday ends. I think it might be today. Now, I'm not a religious person but I have very mixed feelings about missing the holiday. I knew RH fell during my trip but I believe there should be a certain amount of flexibilty with these things. Just because I was not physically in a synagogue or eating the traditional foods with my family, I spent the holiday doing something I've never done before and will probably never do again: trekking through the hills of Northern Thailand. Since I see this time overseas as hopefully marking the start of a new chapter in my life, I didn't think I would feel like I missed anything by being in Thailand over a holiday that celebrates fresh beginnings. I was, however, particularly homesick this weekend. With no end in sight to the emails and phone calls from friends and family (and seriously, keep them coming!) I missed my traditions. I missed my family, my food, my house, and my dog. I don't even particularly enjoy the hours I spend every year in synagogue for the High Holy Days but, this being the first time I can remember not specifically observing the occasion, I missed it. It just wasn't the same.

Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, falls on the same day I get back to Sydney. I'll arrive back early that morning and, after a nap and a shower, I'll go to St. Ives to a friend's family to observe the fast and attend services. Don't think I'm not continuing the trend of stretching my cultural experience, though! I might have had dinner last night in a hardly Thai Irish pub, but St. Ives is a community of South African Jews and I'm anticipating differences between the way I'll observe this year and how I normally would at home. I'm really looking forward to it.

The enthusiasm I had for Thailand when I got here is starting to wane. Don't get me wrong: I've made some great friends and I haven't regretted my decision to skip the beach and spend my break here for a second. I'm just starting to lose my patience with the language barrier and the unbearable humidity. I miss being able to brush my teeth with tap water and being able to spend more than seven minutes a day not drenched in my own sweat. I'm even starting to drift back to the foods I swore I would avoid at least until I got back to Australia. I'm also spending more and more time in internet cafes updating my blog and sending emails home...

The rest of the week is up in the air, given the current political situation. We're supposed to head north to Chiang Rai and cross the border into Burma. From there, it's the Golden Triangle, where the Thai border meets Burma and Laos. A few of these things probably won't happen and that's OK with me. At the end of the trek, our itinerary included a bamboo raft ride that would have been fun but, honestly, when the river flooded and our tour guide nixed the ride, I wasn't disappointed. The only thing I wanted to do was get back to my hotel room and take a nap. It's become clear to me that I'm not the adventurous traveller I thought I was. I love learning about other cultures and languages, but a Marriott and some air-conditioning along the way aren't the worst things in the world, either.

Posted by Jason at 07:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

24 September

I've been out of touch for the few days since the coup but, in general, it doesn't seem like much has changed in the country. The group and I finished our hike this morning and the drive back from our last village to Chiang Mai took about three hours. The hike was grueling. There was hardly a moment where I wasn't covered in mud or sweat but it was worth it. I don't have much experience outdoors and there was enormous satisfaction in reaching each village with that heavy pack on my back. Sore, dirty, hungry, and tired, I met members of the different Thai tribes on each of the evenings. We slept in sleeping bags on bamboo mats about three feet off the ground and enjoyed traditional foods at every meal.

It would have been easy to complain and yet I didn't really feel compelled to do so. Despite the fact that I was wearing completely the wrong type of shoes for trekking in the mud (you can imagine how much time I spent on the ground) and that I brought almost unnecessary item I could have with me (shaving cream?? I don't know what I was thinking.) it was surprisingly easy for me to focus on the positives. A few people have been saying they feel ripped off because we probably paid more than we we should have for drinks and other things along the way but I'm trying not to think about that. I figure I'll only be in Thailand once and, besides, anyone here that might be profiting off of me needs the money more than I do.

On the third day of the trek, our hosts took the group out for elephant rides. The trip through a small part of the jungle took about an hour and it was hard not to notice that these elephants were not happy creatures. Everytime the animal stopped to eat or to catch its breath, our porter screamed at it. He threatened it with a small slingshot and a blade, which worried me. How would you react if someone treated a two-ton animal you happened to be riding ten feet off the ground this way? Now, I don't know anything about training animals or about tribal culture for that matter but elephants are relatively harmless creatures and seeing this yesterday opened the floodgates. It became a lot more difficult to enjoy myself at this point.

I slept little on the trek and my body hurt. I was irritated about having to bathe in a river my elephant used as a toilet two hours earlier and about the few things I had to eat over the course of the trip. I don't mean to sound hypocritical, since this adventure was above and beyond the so-called "cultural experience" I came to Thailand for, but these past few days were more than enough. I wanted to remind some of these people its 2006. I wanted to ask how they could live this way. Yes, the children were laughing and the villagers seemed comfortable in this lifestyle but, after waking up at 4:30 each morning to the sound of pigs splashing in mud and roosters crowing, my patience had worn thin. The shower I enjoyed back at our hotel today will probably be one of the highlights for me of this trip.

I've gotten a lot of messages from people at home worried about my safety and I appreciate that. The first thing I noticed upon arriving back in the city was an increased military presence. I didn't know what kind of conditions I'd find back in Chiang Mai and, at least so far, the mood's fine. There are just as many tourists in the city as there were a couple of days ago and people are not flocking to the airport as might be expected. I'm in touch with both of my universities in Sydney and in New Jersey, as well as an international aid organization in Singapore. I don't think this was connected but the tour guide took us to see the Chiang Mai Tourist Police before we started the trek to register our location with them and to leave copies of our passports.

I'm glad to be back in Chiang Mai, the cultural capital of Thailand and its second-largest city. Here, my tour guide can help me buy souvenirs, order food, and recommend places to check out after dinner. The trek was fun but it ended right when it needed to. Perhaps I am a hypocrite though. I don't know how much of this type of travel I can take and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to room service at the Marriott when my parents come to Sydney in a few weeks. I thought about a lot of what I've written when I ate lunch today... at McDonald's. Yes, my sandwich tasted different than at an American McDonalds and they even had duck sauce instead of mustard at the condiment counter. Thinking I deserved it, dessert came right after at a Starbucks across the street. I probably shouldn't be too surprised about that.

Posted by Jason at 07:19 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)