I'm sitting in a jungle bungalow with a thatched roof made of mangrove leaves. The behind the bar boombox is blasting shitty American pop music circa 2001? 2002? Whenever Avril Lavigne and Evinescence had their heyday. That's where Thailand is stuck. But it's not so bad. I know all the words, afterall. The breeze from the window is refreshingly chilling and though I have a list a mile long (book flights from Phuket to Chiang Mai and back to Bangkok, figure out how to find the Khao Sok bus station, read ahead for the classes I'm missing this week and next, sync photos, etc), it feels good to finally feel like I can take a moment to sit and reflect. I'm not even three weeks in and I feel like I've been here for a year. Since I'm beyond writing a coherent or sensical series of paragraphs, I'm gonna go ahead and write a list of random stuff I've noticed about Thailand or myself or whatever comes up, really. Punctuation will be as willy-nilly as something willy-nilly and metaphors will be as loosy-goosy as that last one. My brain is fried in the best way and writing anything down at this point feels like...ummm, yeah, metaphors just aren't going to happen. Here's the list of random:
-Thailand transportation is crazy in every way. People don't wear seatbelts. Cars pass each other in no pass zones, weaving between motor bikes, portable foodcarts, and women and children walking their bikes in the shoulder of the highway. A taxi can be a tuk tuk or the back of a pick up truck. I've taken tractors, motorbikes, vans, buses. And that's not even counting the boats. Longboats, speed boats, boats whose names I don't know. I mean, really, anything that has a motor has carted me around this crazy country at a slow gurgle or at the speed where you find yourself clutching your armrests, white-knuckled, imagining with vivid detail your body being flung from the vehicle upon smashing into the approaching weave and speed crazed tour buses. I will say, though, I got used to the crazy transport system pretty quick. I trust the drivers here. Not because I'm cool as a cucumber, but because I've had no choice but to let go of the fear and just trust. It's a good feeling.
-I'm thankful to have seen a lot of different sides of Thailand thus far. Staying in Thai villages in the Thai people's homes, talking to Tsunami victims, learning to make the very roof I'm sitting under, using a hatchet to chop through two layers of coconut in order to make a traditional Thai desert, getting lost, getting swindled left and right, attempting to barter, getting laughed at in the nicest of ways, getting Thai massages, hiking through the jungle, seeing a myriad of beaches, snorkeling with a school of striped fish, sleeping at an ecolodge and waking up to ants crawling all over me, eating the most incredible and unique food, eating a bug the size of my thumb (crunchy on the outside and then a squirt of sour salty gooze surrounding my tongue and teeth--immediate vomit reflex), "feeding" the monks, checking out ginormous golden Buddha statues, I mean.... I don't even know. There has been so much. I've been Instagraming like crazy in an attempt to capture the whirlwind of my experience. There are not enough words to explain the feeling that I have in seeing and doing so many new things at once. I'm the girl who takes time to pause and reflect, analyze and ponder, ruminate and contemplate. With literally no time in the world to do so, I'm dazed, confused, blind and blissful, soaking up as much as is possible, and finding a way to be okay with the pace of mad-dash travel. I could go on and on, but anyway...
-Hey Sonja, what food do you miss the most in Thailand? PEANUT BUTTER WITHOUT A DOUBT IN THIS WORLD. Yeah, so so much. What about other stuff? I miss music, maybe the most. I don't have anything on my phone and am too cheap or stubborn to buy it on iTunes when I have the files back home. Spotify and Pandora are banned here....along with youtube videos. I can't upload music files from dropbox. When I searched for the New Pornographers (it's a band, for any family reading--ha!), I found out that any porn activity is strictly banned which is insanely ironic considering how much sex tourism I've seen in Thailand. Anyway. What else do I miss? My dogs. Clean laundry. A consistent sleeping space. Wifi. Warm showers (though, I've become quite skilled at the cold shower). Normal flushing toilets. I don't know, I miss all kinds of stuff but have thankfully been so busy, I haven't noticed much. But, peanut butter. I will have a sweet and sultry peanut butter affair upon my return.
-Here's a word of advice to the ladies out there and TMI for any men, family, co-workers, hm, maybe I shouldn't divulge, but---Never, and I mean never, get a back-alley Brazilian in Bangkok. What seemed like a sort of okay, albeit sketchy deal at the time was just not up to snuff. I'll write a short story about it one of these days. Great pain breeds great art, am I right?
-Other things: Studying abroad with ten women is kind of a lot. Like, A LOT. Overall, things were great. But shit hit the fan towards the end and while it was pretty entertaining to watch, all of us girls will probably have some war wounds in the end. Luckily, what happens in Bangkok stays in Bangkok and my lips are sealed regarding that hotmess of a tornado trainwreck, if ya know what I mean.
-The hotel bar I'm sitting at has just turned off all the lights and I'm stupid tired anyway. I'll try to post more when I can. I might post my pictures or I might just keep them stowed away on Instagram. If you're interested, my username is SONINJASTAD.
-Sending a 'wai' from Thailand.
-Thailand transportation is crazy in every way. People don't wear seatbelts. Cars pass each other in no pass zones, weaving between motor bikes, portable foodcarts, and women and children walking their bikes in the shoulder of the highway. A taxi can be a tuk tuk or the back of a pick up truck. I've taken tractors, motorbikes, vans, buses. And that's not even counting the boats. Longboats, speed boats, boats whose names I don't know. I mean, really, anything that has a motor has carted me around this crazy country at a slow gurgle or at the speed where you find yourself clutching your armrests, white-knuckled, imagining with vivid detail your body being flung from the vehicle upon smashing into the approaching weave and speed crazed tour buses. I will say, though, I got used to the crazy transport system pretty quick. I trust the drivers here. Not because I'm cool as a cucumber, but because I've had no choice but to let go of the fear and just trust. It's a good feeling.
-I'm thankful to have seen a lot of different sides of Thailand thus far. Staying in Thai villages in the Thai people's homes, talking to Tsunami victims, learning to make the very roof I'm sitting under, using a hatchet to chop through two layers of coconut in order to make a traditional Thai desert, getting lost, getting swindled left and right, attempting to barter, getting laughed at in the nicest of ways, getting Thai massages, hiking through the jungle, seeing a myriad of beaches, snorkeling with a school of striped fish, sleeping at an ecolodge and waking up to ants crawling all over me, eating the most incredible and unique food, eating a bug the size of my thumb (crunchy on the outside and then a squirt of sour salty gooze surrounding my tongue and teeth--immediate vomit reflex), "feeding" the monks, checking out ginormous golden Buddha statues, I mean.... I don't even know. There has been so much. I've been Instagraming like crazy in an attempt to capture the whirlwind of my experience. There are not enough words to explain the feeling that I have in seeing and doing so many new things at once. I'm the girl who takes time to pause and reflect, analyze and ponder, ruminate and contemplate. With literally no time in the world to do so, I'm dazed, confused, blind and blissful, soaking up as much as is possible, and finding a way to be okay with the pace of mad-dash travel. I could go on and on, but anyway...
-Hey Sonja, what food do you miss the most in Thailand? PEANUT BUTTER WITHOUT A DOUBT IN THIS WORLD. Yeah, so so much. What about other stuff? I miss music, maybe the most. I don't have anything on my phone and am too cheap or stubborn to buy it on iTunes when I have the files back home. Spotify and Pandora are banned here....along with youtube videos. I can't upload music files from dropbox. When I searched for the New Pornographers (it's a band, for any family reading--ha!), I found out that any porn activity is strictly banned which is insanely ironic considering how much sex tourism I've seen in Thailand. Anyway. What else do I miss? My dogs. Clean laundry. A consistent sleeping space. Wifi. Warm showers (though, I've become quite skilled at the cold shower). Normal flushing toilets. I don't know, I miss all kinds of stuff but have thankfully been so busy, I haven't noticed much. But, peanut butter. I will have a sweet and sultry peanut butter affair upon my return.
-Here's a word of advice to the ladies out there and TMI for any men, family, co-workers, hm, maybe I shouldn't divulge, but---Never, and I mean never, get a back-alley Brazilian in Bangkok. What seemed like a sort of okay, albeit sketchy deal at the time was just not up to snuff. I'll write a short story about it one of these days. Great pain breeds great art, am I right?
-Other things: Studying abroad with ten women is kind of a lot. Like, A LOT. Overall, things were great. But shit hit the fan towards the end and while it was pretty entertaining to watch, all of us girls will probably have some war wounds in the end. Luckily, what happens in Bangkok stays in Bangkok and my lips are sealed regarding that hotmess of a tornado trainwreck, if ya know what I mean.
-The hotel bar I'm sitting at has just turned off all the lights and I'm stupid tired anyway. I'll try to post more when I can. I might post my pictures or I might just keep them stowed away on Instagram. If you're interested, my username is SONINJASTAD.
-Sending a 'wai' from Thailand.
