International Beach Dancing

Among the many things I have wanted to do on my trip, dancing is probably in the top 5.  I want to dance all over the world and "leave my mark" if you will!!!  I love to shake my booty with my friends and last night was the first night I have truly gotten to experience this in Thailand.  A couple of weeks ago, Jenn and I had a quite disappointing dance experience in the night life district of Bangkok that didn't actually dance, so Thailand needed a little "dance relief/recovery" in my mind after that experience.

Last night, Mark, Vicky and I wandered down to the bar on the beach and found ourselves just enjoying a couple drinks. Soon enough, these french boys come into the bar area and start dancing.  I started to get really excited at that point.  A few minutes later, one of them came over and asked me to dance. His name was Arija (still cant pronounce it like he did) His french accent was so thick that I very quickly told myself "pretend like he is saying the most romantic things and enjoy just listening to him!"  We had a great time dancing and after a while, these English guys joined in on the fun, some other French girls, a guy from Sweden and some Thai people were in the mix as well.  I was definitely the only American, which is so different for me (to experience the setting where I am the only American)!

Mark and Vicky launching a fire ballon on the beach and making a wish

All this to say, it was an amazing night for me; rejuvenating, releasing and just a ton of fun! Very needed! These are the nights full of memories, joy and international friends that I want to bring home and remember forever...

the adventures of a scooter on koh samet

Today, I rented two scooters with Vicky, Mark and Poleen (a woman I met from Canada). It cost us 500 Baht to rent them for the whole day ($15). Our plan was to venture around this small island we are on and explore. So we started on our journey at the ripe hour of 1 pm (its my new hours of functioning) and found ourselves scooting through the nastiest mud pits, crappiest of hills and shadiest of roads. I wish I could have pulled out my camera to take pictures, but instead I was attempting to gun it up the hill in hopes that we wouldn't fall backwards while at the same time telling Mark to get off the back and start pushing me. Then Poleen was in front of me with Vicky going up the hill cautiously (like most drivers would do if they weren't me) but instead I would rather hit the pedal to the metal and hope for the best (good philosophy? I dont know, but its worked so far!) and almost had to lay my scooter down because she kept swerving across the rocky, pit-ridden road.  All this to say, I got to experience some beautiful destinations today because of our journey.  Waves crashing against the rocks with nothing to look at but beautiful teal ocean in the distance. It was like a movie scene from a romantic comedy. And I got to experience it in real life! All in all a great day on my journey.

my first beach drink

one of the things I have wanted to do most on my journeys is to drink beverages with the freshest juices (aka, mai thai, pina colada, all alcoholic beverages of course!) while on the beach and I finally got to do that last night.  They show movies here almost every night at the beach resorts and so last night we went to watch The Bucket List while eating dinner and then went to the bar for "ladies night." I thoroughly enjoyed my Yoga on the Beach (baileys, malibu, sambuca and coconut milk) and an Orgasm (kahlua, baileys, triple sec and milk) all the while tasting everyone else's delicious beverages.  I am not usually a "fruity" drinker. Needless to say, it was wonderfully delicious and I can now check that off the list...

A New Day has come!

Getting ready to surrender to the process is impossible and I have yet to learn that! Although I tried my hardest to come here with no expectation, the slightest of my expectations have been blown out of the water and right into my face! I say all this to say that my plans have changed drastically from when I left the states and go as follows:

I am going to travel pretty intensely for the next couple months. It is what I came here to do and the situation has allowed itself. So, over the past couple weeks as I have been researching my options, things have fallen into place and this is the plan...

I am now at Koh Samet beach for the next week or so with our friends Mark and Vicky that we met in Pattaya a couple weeks go.

-On October 11, I leave for Vietnam where I will be meeting up with an adventure tour group for 18 days to travel through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand (click this website to see where Ill be Gecko Tours IndoChina Discoverer

- I get back on October 28 and that same day my friend Erin flies into town for two weeks and we will go to Krabi, Phi Phi islands, hopefully Chaing Mai and possibly Vietnam (details are still being worked out)

- On November 17 I fly to Hong Kong to visit my friend Sarah who is studying abroad there

- On November 21 I fly to Bali for a Yoga retreat for 7 days and then stay there for an extra two days

- On December 1, Heather flies into town for 11 days

- Who knows what happens after that...more adventure surely!

Im so excited at how this has all come together. Its going to be intense, but awesome. I can't believe some of my dreams of this trip are actually coming true. I mean, BALI?! really?!

Being a swimmer in my youth has not provided to be a profitable sport for me in Asia, considering that they have cute clothes here but my broad shoulder and chest do not fit into the tops! These people are built so incredibly different than me! I guess its good because it means I wont be spending much money on clothes while I am here! I will most definitely be tired of the ones I brought by the time I leave though...

I got atleast two clients on Friday night. We went out with Jenn's co workers for several of their birthdays and manipulated my way into being their new hairstylist! I miss cutting hair on a daily basis!

We went to church for the first time on Sunday and it was great. It was refreshing to go somewhere that English was spoken and it felt like a piece of home. Afterwards we found this mexican restaurant and both Jenn and I were ecstatic! I, especially, was excited to find guacamole in Bangkok! I miss guacamole terribly.

This city is very safe. For those of my family that are worried and loose sleep over my travels to such a foreign place, I want to console you and tell you I feel incredibly safe here! In fact, there are many moments that I feel safer here than in certain places in the US. The people are so non-threatening.

Jenn has one more week of training at the school and then 3 weeks off, I believe. I am looking forward to traveling around a little bit more with her and seeing some more of Thailand. We have yet to decide what the plans are but whatever the vacation may bring will be good!

I have been trying to post pictures to facebook, but the internet connection is usually too slow here....the gloriousness of foreign countries!

my water bottle is sweating on me

wow, the last week has been crazy. we moved on wednesday from our beloved bangkok hostel to our new apartment on the campus of the school that Jenn will be teaching at. It takes us about an hour to get there from the middle of the city depending on traffic.

Our apartment is one big room with a kitchen behind it. It is kinda dirty and nasty, but its free, so we cant complain much. I went and bought a bed so that we can sort of separate the living areas into two. The other good news is that its on the top floor (5th floor) so we hope that will attract less creatures that are unwanted. We are constantly seeing frogs, geckos, and other fun creatures everywhere we go.

On Friday night we went out with some of Jenn's co workers and we had a blast. It was great to get out and see a little of Thailand's night life. It was LOUD! So loud, in fact, that its nearly impossible to talk and you fear for the sake of your eardrums. t was so nice to be out having some drinks, dancing and having a great time with people that understand us.

I haven't written on here much because we haven't had an internet connection. The rumor is that the high-ups at the school and most thais in general dont like the internet and refuse to catch up with technology (i.c. installing fiber optics as they repave the road) so we are left to look for other options in our net-browsing needs. We will figure something out...

The other issue is that its been an emotional roller coaster and I dont have many words to say. There is alot to learn and process and take from what we are experiencing. The culture is alot harder than we might have imagined, there aren't as many friendly people as we might have hoped and the language is one of the hardest in the world to learn...

We are good, we are safe and we are making the best of it...

a sweet escape

Last night was very needed. The hostel that we were staying at on Jomtien beach was amazing. The owner was this french guy that bought this building and made a really sweet hostel. It was the nicest hostel I've ever been to yet very inexpensive. At the hostel with us were several british blokes and a canadian that we found ourself hanging out with. First of all, it was incredibly nice to have english conversations, second, it was a really nice place to stay and third, we felt incredibly comfortable there! Jenn and I both decided we would definitely live at this hostel if it were in Bangkok, but instead its on a beach that we do not care to visit again because of the sex industry in this area. Bummer. Anyways, John lives in the penthouse on top of the building, and invited us up for pizza dinner and drinks. It was a taste of comfort and community. Incredible...

Also, since we have been in Thailand, we have found that next to pretty much every toilet is a water hose, like used in our sinks to wash dishes. We found ourselves asking "what is this possibly for and how do we use it since its conveniently located right next to the toilet?" John gave us a few pointers and my new word for this device shall be "ass blaster," because of its intense and intimidating water pressure. I know that you can imagine how this thing works from here. The thai people do not use toilet paper usually and make good with this device instead. and so shall we...

check out Jenns blog; its hilarious: www.jenniferfranson.blogspot.com

We had a funny yet very long day yesterday and she tells the story...

no pictures

I have tried almost every day to upload pictures to this silly blog and it takes so long that my connection always times out. I am in the process of uploading pictures to flicker and then attaching the website to this...

Today we went to visit a friend of Jenn's mom in Chon Buri. It is about 2 hours outside Bangkok and 1 hour from where we have been on the beach. Her name is Sweety and she works on the school board here and wanted to meet Jenn. She wanted Jenn to do a radio spot for a festival they are having in october and then took us to lunch and showed us around chon buri. we definitely learned alot about the culture from her today. The hour long bus ride to and from chon buri was fascinating. The thai people are very willing to help us out but at the same time talk about us alot! I think they were talking about us and staring at us for nearly half our bus ride back tonight.

Then we came back to our hostel tonight and had a lovely dinner. The hostel we are staying at is owned by this french guy, John. There is a canadian and two british travelers staying here with us and we all had beef stew together along with some other thai food. It was incredibly nice to speak english and have people understand you, but to also talk to other travelers about where they have been, advice, etc. Tomorrow we are going to a resort with them and then we are eating pizza in the penthouse on top of our hostel. very excited for that...

The first weeks thoughts

It has now officially been a week here in this crazy, crazy city. It seems as though it has been a month but here are some of my thoughts and things I've learned about Bangkok.

1-This city has very little trash. As in, the street vendors throw out very little at the end of the day. The city is making a strong effort to conserve the environment and its very very impressive.

2- Tuk-Tuks are a tourist rip off. BAD. We figured out after traveling by tuk-tuk for the first couple days that taxis (which are in fact actual cars and have air conditioning, might i add!) are about 2/3 of the price! When you are talking in baht, its a HUGE difference!

3- This city is quite expensive to live in when living off a "teacher's salary." Jenn and I will have to live quite cheaper than we were planning to make it work....

4- We only know how to say hello/goodbye and thank you. Thai is hard...

5- The sidewalks here are horrible. We have been walking everywhere, but the sidewalks are so bumpy and I tripped 7 times tonight on the way to dinner. Maybe I should pay more attention...

6- Not many Americans here so far.

7- We are thankful to NOT get whistled at like we do in the states

8- Nothing really opens here till about 11 am. Hard to find breakfast places.

9- Lots of white bread and fried food. They haven't learned yet. Neither have the Americans I guess...

10- Order food from stands that have women cooking; they are cleaner. This is just our personal observation. We have yet to order anything "daring." maybe next week...

11- This city has so much western in it.

12-Thais have really fun hair and style.

This week has been long, intense, emotionally draining and so full of life, learning and dirt on my face!!! I'm so incredibly grateful and excited for what next week brings...

have i mentioned that everything smells like fish sauce?

Not much has happened in the last couple days worth mentioning! We are sweating our little hearts out, searching for a job for Jenn, searching for a living space and in the mean time trying to figure out our budget! Not to mention that we are still getting adjusted to the food....

Books, music and Facebook are keeping us sane right now. Im hoping one of these days I will get used to this smell....