Category Archives: Asia

OMG! There’s an European Union Film Festival that happens to coincide with my stay in Chiang Mai !!!!!

Hi Everyone,

Yes, I just “by chance” passed by a place with a pamphlet with the “happenings” for art in the area, picked it up thinking I’d give it a look-see. Found a *cool/hip hotel/restaurant/bar/whatever and decided to set a spell and drink in the day . . . when I opened this flyer and discovered the following ! :

http://www.facebook.com/EUinThailand?sk=app_203351739677351

It looks like I’ll be able to see several films on Friday the 22nd of July, the night before I leave Chiang Mai for BKK (and the final prep, i.e. laundering, getting ready for the Cambodia and teaching leg of this trip.).

How cool is that???? I’m so jazzed. Where is it? On B-1 on the map. That’s all I know. But this determined girl will figure out a way to convey that information to the tuk-tuk or taxi driver . . . or, gasp!, I may have a scooter then . . . but how to return it before I fly out the following day? Oh, those are details to work out a lifetime away from now. Something will come to me, inspiration will find me, or, I’ll just “figure it out.” lol I love how I’m learning to just be quiet for a moment, listen, and the answer comes; it always does : ). Oh, that relates to everything, doesn’t it?

Kay den, that’s it. Just wanted to share the “good news.” That’s how it is, isn’t it? When something good happens, we want to share it. Why? Because we’re excited, happy, just plain jazzed that Wow! something else good is happening!!!

And in that vein, I hope that you too have good news to share. Maybe it’s just the wonderfully simple satisfaction that comes from a tasty meal. Or a store clerk who looks at you and smiles. Or the simple joy of knowing that you’re alive, and that that’s the u l t i m a t e gift, to be alive. (Would love to hear your good news: )

I’ve written a few of you who took the time to write such nice and encouraging things in response to my last glob entry . . . the main gist is that I am so very, very thankful to be on this adventure. And by that I mean, the ultimate adventure, which is l i f e. This trip to SE Asia is but a metaphor for the BIG thing, the real thing, the (excuse me for my repetition), the ultimate thing. To be in a human body living on this earth, meeting each and every one of you precious souls . . . ah, it doesn’t get better than that, does it?

Please know that I sincerely am so very thankful to know you, whether it be for a blink-of-the-eye, a long afternoon, or for a lifetime. Each and every one of you is so very important to me, and I don’t say (okay, type : ) that lightly. I really, really mean it.

And oh, the cooking school deal was a blast. I’ve got **”Susan-Jane-made” Phad Thai and mango sticky rice waiting for me back at my pad. We had sooooo much to eat that nearly all of us got “to-go” (plastic bags with a rubber band, such a practical way to pack leftovers!) baggies for din-din.

And with that, I’m signing off . . . and oh, get this, the hotel has on channel 48 a French TV station !!!! Last night I stayed up late watching a funny French film with English sub-titles. How cool is that!!! Yes, gifts keeps falling to me from everywhere I look. And yes, I don’t take any of them for granted. I am very, very thankful.

Love, love, and more love to you all,

* http://www.morooms.com/

**got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? maybe that’s what I’ll do “next,” make Susan-Jane-made whatchamacallits!

Just arrived in Chiang Mai and love it already!

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Hi Everyone,

I arrived today, made my way to the hotel (which I’d found online using latestays.com), and right off the bat liked it that they had a flat rate to the hotel–no mystery with the taxi driver taking the long route (like in BKK) to make more baht. I even paid the women at the airport who were running the show. : ) Okay, all my women friends are smiling; I can feel it.

And as soon as I got squared away at the hotel, i.e. unpacked, got the safety box reset for my only little personal code, spocked (i.e. “checked”) out the pool (nothing to write home about in too great of detail, but it is wet . . . and there IS one), I set out to explore the city. After walking only a few yards, I saw a sign for a Thai Farm cooking school endorsed by the Lonely Planet. “What’s this?” I thought, so I took the turn and before you can say piggely wiggely, I’d booked the last spot with the group tomorrow (through Nicole, a lovely woman originally from Belgium with two lovely Thai/European daughters by her side).

You can check it out at: http://www.thaifarmcooking.com/. Looks really fun! And . . . maybe I’ll learn something!

Then, I continued on my way and found wat (temple) after wat. There are m a n y! I think Friday (my last day here) will be the day to rent either a scooter or bicycle and explore the area ( and many wats) on wheels.

Okay, I hadn’t been here long . . . just a matter of hours, really, when I realized that I prefer this city to Bangkok. Maybe it doesn’t have the groovy transportation that BKK has (the BTS and MRT), but it just feels better. Literally, it feels better against my skin. And when I realized that I really needed to buy another chip thing for my camera, I found that the people are really nice and helpful. No, 7-11 didn’t have them like one lady thought, but they told me where to go: “Na ba sa.” What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine. But heading of in the direction that the clerk at 7-11 pointed, I held those words in my head, “Na ba sah.” And then, when I asked a smiling young guy, “Na ba sa?,” he pointed in the same direction and said, “That way, then right.” And how many minutes? He thought long and hard . . . “Maybe five?” And on I continued, for about 10, it felt like, which was probably 2. : ) Then I asked another smiling Thai man who said in perfect English, “The night market is two blocks down. Take a right in two blocks. But why do you want to go there? Today you go to the walking street market.” Because I need a da kine for my camera. “Okay, okay,” he said.

And as I continued on, I heard the beautiful sound of monks chanting. Glancing towards the sound, I discovered that there was yet another wat. And this one was the surrounded by the most enchanting light. Yes, of course I changed my route for the sake of stopping and listening. It was beautiful, calming, a refreshing sound in this second largest city of Thailand. And then, the most adorable young monk turned, caught my eye, and we exchanged the simplest of smiles. “Yes,” I thought to myself, “It feels better here.”

After a while, I continued on my way to find a Kodak store, and get a memory card for my camera. Ah, just what I wanted, I thought, as I passed a bead shop with strings of hanging rope on the side. Yes, my turquoise/citrine bracelet broke again! This time it was on the boat yesterday after returning from the “famous” beach from the movie The Beach. But in the way that told me that these stones are still to stay in my life, they fell right below where I sat on the bow of the boat, landing on one of two black backpacks belonging to the English people onboard. That is, they all landed there except one citrine. Seems one of the five citrines needed to take a walk-about.

“What the heck are you talking about Susan Jane?”

Well, believe it or not, I saw this bracelet during a meditation while I was in Idaho earlier this year. I told my husband, “I think I need to go to a consignment store and find this bracelet which I saw in meditation.” And on April fool’s day (I kid you not! lol), we did go to a really cool consignment shot in Sun Valley, Idaho (which just happened to be the day of their fun sixth anniversary party complete with free pupus and pleasant jazz, original art by an incredible young artist named . . . oh, I hope I’ve got this right, Ashley Dreyfus . . . ) where I looked at their jewelry section and saw it! It’s the one you saw in an earlier post. The one on my wrist outside the jewelry shop which repaired it.

So . . . to finally get to the point, I bought some wire/string/something or other for 50 baht just down from the store with the camera chip. I think I may just tie it around my neck rather than have it repaired yet again.

Oh, and to back up, earlier while wandering around (and at this most wonderful Sunday market that the Thai man told me about and that I’d already been to), I’d decided to have a snack. As I sat on a child-sized chair at a comparably sized table and ate a most delicious vegetarian noodle something or other (covered in sweet and sour sauce with crunchy garlic to boot!), I heard this lady and her son speaking something that sounded like German. Meanwhile, the little blonde, blue-eyed kid of about five years old kept turning around and s t a r i n g at me! (I just smiled back : ). We three just happened to get up about the same time, so I struck up a conversation, “Is that German I’m hearing?” (said in German, of course)

“Yes, but we come from Austria so we have a heavy accent,” she said with a smile. And with that we struck up a fun conversation, visited a bit, and then parted ways.

After running into her three or four more times in the matter of minutes! (and this is a BIG market), I realized that I needed to give her my card. Who the heck knows, we might just meet up again in Austria . . . or on Kauai. Anything’s possible.

And . . . in that same way, I struck up a conversation with an Aussie family as I was down by the night market, “You do know about the special Sunday market, don’t you?”

They didn’t. And as we five walked in the same direction towards this most incredible market, we discovered that we had something in common: a love of Kauai. This beautiful family from Melbourne has been to Kauai twice and will most certainly go back again someday. Yep, time to pull out another card!

Warning Tony, we might just have the w o r l d show up on our doorstep some day! : ) But hopefully, not all at once . . . : )

Okay, the point of this entire missive/entry/glob post (plug in the word(s) of your choice), is that I’ve safely landed in Chiang Mai and have a good feeling about the place. Anyone thinking of taking the CELTA course in Thailand, you might want to check out the school(s) here. Maybe you too would like the feel of the place better. : )

And I thought I was going to tell you about the Krabi area . . . that’ll have to come at a later date. Suffice it to say that some people find it very beautiful. I found it very interesting. I really enjoyed the people I met and loved it when a group of young German kids asked, “Are you German?” No, I’m American, I replied to their befuddled faces. Hmm, next time I might just answer in the affirmative and see how long I can get away with it. : )

I also got many chances to speak French. Pretty cool, really, this mix of people from all over the world who converge at these southern Thailand destinations. One young man from China was intrigued with how I was able to dive “deep” while snorkeling. Not sure if he understood my explanation, but a part of me gets a chuckle (and pleasure) at the image of him trying; I hope he succeeds!

I’ve borrowed another photo from online. This one’s of the market that’s currently taking place about 18-feet away from where I sit.

Oops, it wouldn’t let me add it . . . go here if you’re interested: www.flickr.com/photos/fortes/89943055. Maybe it’ll work . . . maybe it won’t. If not, just google the Sunday market in Chaing Mai, and I bet a zillion of photos will come up.

Okay den, signing off. Gotta get to bed at a decent hour so that I’ll be ready to join the cooking lesson train. Now that’s a ride, I don’t plan to miss!

Love to you all; sending wishes of peace and contentment wherever you may be and with whomever you may be.

In the light,

Susan Jane

Quick poost from thee BKK aeroport!

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Hi Everyone!

In the BKK airport usin their groovy free-but-funky-da-kinne computer kiosks.

All’s well. Had a graand timme in thee Krabi areea; heading now north to Chiang Mai . . . taking a 3-day, 2-night treek starting Tuesday . . .. to Karen and Hmong villages . . .. hikinng . . . sleepinng on the grouund . .. riding elephants . . .. swimminng at the base of waterfallss . . . and then back to the hoteel forr a HOT shower!

Life isgood.

No, I’m not drunk, Dan, just usinng a funky free-dakine.

Got lots of shots yeesterrday at thee faamouns beach froom thee movie THE BEAACH.

Heard a German yell, “Ganz allein im Paradise!”
Had to laugh as he said he was alone in paraadise, and I had to practiccaally elbow my way to the beach. LOL : )

kay den, time to look for my fliight . . . ALOHA from bkk . . . .

p.s.lots of snakeshotstoo . . .. theree was a tiny snake on the beach! . . . with the trash : (

p.s.s. I thiink this iss where the Dutch laanguage really came from . . .. the futuree and funky freee airport kiosks!!!

OMG! I had so much fun today!

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Today, for the first time in my life, I rented a scooter. Yes, for the first time in my life. I’ve ridden on the back many, many times, but never had I been on one alone as the solo driver. Today, I broke that spell!

I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous at first; so I took it slow and easy. And then, I surprised myself by how quickly I took to it. It was F U N!!!

The main reason I rented it (for a whopping 150BHT for 24-hours, remember, $1=30BHT about, I spent 160 and 70 BHT on gas . . . ) was to go see this wat, or temple. It’s called Wat Tum Sua (and many other names too with similar yet different spellings).

When reading about Krabi, I read about beaches, boat rides, the movie “The Beach,” rock climbing . . . and this wat on the hill. It was said to be a pilgrimage site for many. To me it looked like a fascinating place to visit. But first I had to find it! I allowed myself to meander along the road heading out from Ao Nang beach area and came across some spectacular views of big ole rocks just sticking up out of the water. After I found my way to some pier and realized that I had no idea where I was, I decided it was time to get focused. Fortunately for me, there was a really nice Thai couple at the pier with their baby. She was singing lullabies, and he was fishing. And for a double dose of fortunate-ness, he spoke English (and very well at that). “Can you please show me where I am?” I asked. “Right here,” he said pointing at a peninsula well off my “desired” route. (Why the quotemarks? Because I must have really wanted to go there, or I would’t have!)

“And how to head towards the Krabi airport?”

“A right and another right,” he replied.

At that point, I realized that I knew where I was, or at least that I recognized the roads I’d gone past . . . And with that I was off. Ready to make my way to the wat.

But first, mother nature decided that a orange fanta break would be a good thing. And how did she let me know? With a downpour of rain. I found the perfect place to wait it out just before I was even a little bit wet. As I sat there, I watched a man on a scooter come rolling up with a little kid in tow. To my amazement, he was stopping there to get fuel. In the same vein as a rolling cart to cook up some Thai grinds, there was a little booth I hadn’t noticed (right where I’d parked my scooter), with a variety of bottles hanging down. Yep, inside was some fuel. As I sat and sipped my orange fanta, I watched the kind clerk open this one and that one and send a mix to his da kine. I also watched a tabby cat take a bath. And while this was happening, a little Thai boy was watching me. Maybe he’d never seen a farang (foreigner) before; he was certainly intrigued by me.

Okay den, at this rate, we’ll never get to the wat!

Suffice it to say that I mosied on down the road and found the wat–past the main town and then left on a fairly remote road northwest of the airport. But first, before I climbed up those 1,200 and a lot more steps, I realized that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast (and it was 3:15 p.m.). I drove right up to this open-air kitchen/restaurant sort of place where 2 young boys were playing pool, asked if there was any food to be served, and waited as they round up the cook! It ended up being a very nice woman who stir-fried up a wonderful mess of veggies (seasoned perfectly, they were very tasty) with some white rice. I enjoyed my lunch while I watched a dog !saddle up beside me and proceed to take a nap. Meanwhile, the kids kept playing pool. And as I ate, watched and listened, I heard the roar of elephants down the road. A very typical afternoon in Thailand. : )

“But did you ever make it to the wat?” you ask.

“Yep, I did.”

And wow, were there ever a LOT of steps to the top. It took 32-minutes to go up (and 22 to come down). I hung out there for over a half-hour and took a zillion pictures. Since I don’t have my computer here with me, I’ll have to wait to post them. But in the meantime, I found a shot on-line of part of the view at the top.

“What do you mean by part?”

Well, there was a lot more to see than that! It was so beautiful . . . in the rugged Thai kind of way. The actual wat was beautiful, but like most places here in Thailand, they’re surrounded by an assortment of this and that (yep, matches the theme of my glob very nicely, if you please : ).

I most thoroughly enjoyed myself.

: )

And then, as I listened to the rumble from the elephants far, far below, the sky decided to join in. Taking this as a sign that it was time to leave, I headed down the kazillion steps–just in time to take cover at the base. After a short wait (and enough time to down my cold water : ), it slowed enough for me to feel comfortable to head on.

And like a local (okay, maybe a very, very “green” local), I merged with traffic, (*) squoze between various vehicles, and (**) helied on back to my pad–after a few more detours. : ) Yep, I’m hooked on the scooter kind of travel–so much fun!!!

So, just a few days ago I said that I wouldn’t write anything for a while. Okay, I lied. I wrote lots and lots.

And am I smiling?

I think you can figure that one out all on your own.

And with that, I’m signing off and heading on to bed!

-sj

p.s. and happy anniversay to the total solar eclipse we saw aboard the SS Constitution in 1991 on this day . . . wow, 20-years ago!

! A great adventure, love your exuberance! I got a kick out of the dog that “saddled” up–presumably to be ridden out of there at full gallop! “Sidled up” I knew was what you meant–love those inadvertent jokes!
Take care,
Wil

-He was right, of course! But I kind of like the Freudian slip; maybe I wanted to ride that dog on out of there . . . or not. Poor fellow looked like he needed to be carried!

(*) squoze

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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[edit] English

[edit] Verb

squoze

(nonstandard, humorous) Simple past tense and past participle of squeeze.

[edit] See also

squeezed (standard form)

(**) from Hawaii . . .

There’s no time like the present . . .

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Here are shots I took on Friday during a several hour bike tour around Bangkok (and across the river). Our guide was absolutely adorable! She bubbled over with laughter, stories, and a general joie de vivre.

You can read all about this tour company here: www.realasia.net; we took the afternoon tour.

Last minute instructions . . . stay close!

Two guides worked together to create a break in traffic.

And we were off!

Our leader was fearless!

We stopped in little Chinatown.

These protect a home from bad forces.

Only one person at a time! she told us again and again.

Perhaps you can see why?

The bridge crosses a canal.

Next!

Looks good and sturdy, doesn’t it?

Next!

The neighborhood.

At the other side.

Previous support beams?

A shrine just off the canal.

And indoor market . . .

that kept going and going . . .

There’s a mini-city under the highways!

Mangosteen breaktime.

Yum!

This was a many laned thoroughfare!

He went first to stop the flow of traffic.

See?

And into another neighborhood we go. I couldn’t take pictures then; it was too narrow and we kept moving!

Then it was time to cross the river.

You can find this on the map if you want.

A personal ferry.

Ready.

Set.

Bikes.

Go!

This man loves his job!

The propellor’s at the end of that very long rod.

Crossing to the other side.

The buildings are so fascinating.

Don’t you think?

We were then in the peninsula where buildings aren’t higher than 3 stories. This raised sidewalk took us past banana plantations, swamp land, houses, you name it!

We stopped at a wat or temple to view the family shrines (which house the cremated remains).

We rode in this thick jungle area just across from Bangkok for over an hour, and then in 45-minutes or so we were back in the midst of the concrete jungle.

See you in a few weeks!

What a difference some sun makes!

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Here are an assortment of shots taken this past week when we were treated to blue skies.

The Rama VIII Bridge crosses the Chao Phraya River.

I was told that they weren’t racing but that it had to do with something spiritual.

I hoped off the boat for a little lunch.

The after shot. Not much of a difference was it?

Nice looking place

Interesting looking place

Respectful place. They love their king; he’s a good man.

Laundry day!

Waiting for the boat. They sounded American.

That’s Wat Arun on the other side of the river.

It’s hard to take only one shot.

It’s the wat with the porcelain pieces. Remember?

Boats are all over the place on this river!

Flowers for my friend

Such a great variety of orchids!

Didn’t make it to this museum.

But I liked the building.

Got my bracelet back! It’s fixed with ultra strong wire (I hope!).

See the BTS Skytrain?

Such a contrast from the river shots

Thought this was pretty cool looking (plus the blue sky is so wonderful!)

That’s all for now . . . next will be the shots from the bike tour I took yesterday. Was that ever exciting! I’m not bringing my computer with me though during the next two week adventure; I don’t want to have to “worry” about it going for a walkabout of its own. These things can walk on their own. Haven’t you seen those little retractable feet they have?

Okay den, until we meet again . . .

Wat Arun and then some

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Here are the pictures I promised. These are from when I actually went to the temple. Later I’ll add some shots of when it was a blue sky day (but I was on the boat and not on land).

Enjoy!

A passenger

Waiting for the boat

The lay of the land

Elephants are a BIG part of Thailand.

C’est moi at Wat Arun.

Inside

Outside

I love flowers : )

You could make a donation for one of the tubs.

He sat down when it looked like there might be a donation; there wasn’t (at that particular moment).

Cool, isn’t it?

The porcelain was ballast for when the boats returned “empty.”

He’s working pretty hard.

It was very, very steep.

Susan Jane wuz hir.

He kept smiling at me, and then he signed his name right next to mine!


Seems like a better option than writing directly on the building!	No! I wasn’t going to!

View from up top

I like the contrast.

Wat Arun is on the “other” side of the river.

I’m working on unintentional dreds.

Grand Palace, I believe.

Really steep stairs. Did I mention that?

Yeah, I like it too.

Yes, flowers make me smile too.

: )

The elephants arrived each morning.

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First, they got a bath.

Then came breakfast.

I never saw the dogs get anything in the morning (they did later), but that didn’t stop them from hoping that they might!

It appeared that everything on the rafts came by way of that bridge.

We would go up stream to the last raft, hop in and float to the end. The current was VERY swift!

Which is why I almost lost this!

But I didn’t! I ran down the floating hotel from one raft to another until I was able to grab it. Yep, I was the afternoon entertainment that day. I think I’ll be in a lot of scrapbooks in Holland under the heading: crazy lady running after a little green plastic tub.

And what was in that green little tub? This wonderful smelling something that the Mon people put on their skin to protect them from the sun and mosquitoes.

We all gave it a try.

Here I am with my new friend from Holland.

Then we went to Hellfire’s Pass . . .

The story

The memorial

Japanese soldiers burned fires on the top of the walls as the POWs and Asian “slaves” worked chipping away the hard rock.

The hellfires were meant to keep the mosquitoes away.

There were many of these little plastic flowers placed throughout the memorial.

And then it was time to leave our floating hotel.

I found the motors fascinating.

No, I don’t know how they work, but I just like the way they look.

Our trip concluded with an hour-long ride on the very tracks which cost so many lives.

And with that, the sky began to fall. Fitting, don’t you think?

It’s Saturday and I’m going to head south tomorrow . . .

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Hi Friends,

A week (or so) has passed since my last posting. Oh, what fun I’ve had! My girlfriend (whose wonderful apartment I’ve been enjoying) and I took a 3-day, 2-night jungle river rafting trip on the River Kwai. It felt so good to get out of the city and onto the water.

We were picked up in a luxurious mini-van promptly(!) at 6 a.m. at a hotel close-by. Soon after, we, and fellow passengers, were taken to the heart of the city by the Grand Palace where we met other tourists who also sprouted from mini-vans. We were then collected into a large tour bus for our journey to the west.

The pictures which follow will tell the tale . . .

Also, I haven’t forgotten that I owe you shots from Wat Arun. They will hopefully follow shortly. I ended up going into town this past Wednesday (to go to the German Botschaft and ask about a visa which will allow me to stay in Germany longer than 3-months next year . . . more on that to come later) and taking a public transportation boat again. It was as much fun as the previous times, but this time, there was BLUE sky! So you’ll notice some boat/river/Wat Arun shots with blue sky and some without; now you’ll understand why.

From the title you can see that I’m leaving Bangkok tomorrow. I’m heading south to the area called Krabi; it’s a little east of Phuket. I decided to go there because it sounds interested and a little less developed or touristy than Phuket; I’ll let you know how I like it. When you google the area and look at a map, you’ll see that there are lots of beaches. I’m literally going to stay in 4 different hotels over 7-nights: 1 for 2 nights in Ao Nang, 1 for 2 nights on Railay beach (supposed to be a rock climbers’ beach), 1 for 2-nights on Koh (island) Phi Phi, and then lastly, I’m spending a night at a hotel called the Aloha Inn—seemed like a good idea. It’s in the little town area and should be a fun place to be before I then head out for Chiang Mai . . . but I’m getting ahead of myself . . . For now, it’s time to post some shots.

Aloha Everyone! Hope you’re having a good summer and enjoying the company of friends and family.

-sj