Monday, March 31, 2008

Friday Pics

No dancing...what the heck. We found a small space and danced anyways.

That is one awesome band. I wonder if they do wedding gigs.

MASHED POTATOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shakin' it as a band member. I think we are going to be the next Rankin family



Dubliner's menu, what a hottie!





Back from Pattaya!

Jodie and I have safely returned from Pattaya and the beach. We are currently hanging out a nearby mcdonalds that has wireless but we only have 30 minutes. Also, a christmas song just played while we were here.....random eh? Anyways I'm not really done my post about Pattaya but I will post the first part of it. Sorry for all the grammar errors on this post, and all other posts on this blog. I usually just post and I don't edit it to much.


Hmm. So we arrived in Pattaya around lunch time on Saturday and found our way to our hotel shortly after. Our room is the size of a dorm room, but we do have a really hot shower that has made this whole trip worthwhile. We spent Saturday at the beach across from our hotel. This beach stretches over a km I would estimate. It is extremely busy and has a lot of and a sea full of umbrellas and lawn chairs. I was quite disappointed when we arrived on the beach, the sand was quite rocky and the water seemed to be quite dirty and the whole atmosphere wasn’t very appealing. In addition, vendors interrupted momentarily trying to sell products that ranged from ice cream to jewelry. It got to the point that we would pretend to be asleep so that we didn’t have to respond. The surrounding city around the beach is also not that appealing. It is designed completely for the sex trade and none of it is appealing for 2 girls looking for a relaxing get away.

I only need a few words to describe Pataya. 90% of the people you will see are young Thai women escorting old ugly white men around town. Every few steps you will either find a skuzzy bar or hotel, all of which comes alive at night. Every bit of it makes me angry. First, men looking at every woman as a piece of meat and secondly, a woman degrading herself all for the sake of money and lastly the fact that it is all confined to a little microcosm which glamorizes it as though it is acceptable. It was eye opening that’s for sure. There were moments when I wanted to pack up and head home. Our only option was to head to the nearby island called Koh Larn that we heard about. So we decided to get away from the main strip of Pattaya and hope that we would find something worthwhile there. So on Sunday we headed to the island and were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful sand and clear blue water just miles away from the skuzzy beaches of Pattaya. We spent the day, reading, swimming and relaxing in the sun. The beach was really crowded and there were oodles of sea-doos, motorboats whizzing by the swimming area but we somehow found away to lay back and relax. The island’s sole attraction was the beach and it didn’t look like anyone actually inhabited the island. There was no other type of industry other than beach related activities, stores and restaurants. Anyways, we took the ferry over and willingly said goodbye to Pattaya city for the day and plan on spending our final day on that same beach.

Friday Night

This one goes down in the history books

The day played out like normal, we had class, and we welcomed Si Jie back from mediation. The evening is when all the excitement began. Early evening we attended and viewed some of the International Dance Festival at our favourite park. We watched a man dance in an una-tard, a couple dance an Argentinean Tango, and Italian trio dance to an Italian opera, just to name a few. It was quite enjoyable but extremely hot at the outdoor venue. We felt very much like high soi’s (city girls).

At this point we were all a bit hungry so Jodie suggested we go to Dubliners which is a pub that Father Joe mentions quite regularly. He told it was his favourite pub and that if we ever stopped by that we should ask for Wayne who is the manager and to tell him that Father Joe has sent you. So proceed to do exactly what he instructed. We walked to Dubliners, had a quick chat with GED who is one of our students and works at the pub, and then on a search for Wayne. We were told he was wearing a orange shirt so it didn’t take long to find him. We introduced ourselves and mentioned that we worked for Father Joe. He informed us that Father Joe and Retenna (his assistant) had actually been in the pub earlier in the day and then shared stories with us about his friendship with Father Joe. He had extremely high praises for Father Joe. A few minutes later, John, the owner of the Pub came over to us and introduced himself and again shared stories of praise about Father Joe. He then proceeded to tell us that our meal was on the house and they were welcome to anything on the menu including food and drinks. The girls and I were thrilled to accept his offer. Jodie and I ordered a grand meal that included roast chicken, stuffing and mashed potatoes. To describe my reaction to this meal as ecstatic would be an understatement. Those mashed potatoes made my mouth melt and my heart happy. The roast chicken was the size of three rolls of toilet paper and every bite was suburb.

The atmosphere at the pub was really fun and for a time, I felt like I was sitting in a pub at home. The people were very friendly and we actually met up with 2 fellow Canadians. John repeatedly made toasts to us and brought over a variety of drinks. We definitely felt like royalty.

The entertainment in the pub also made this night worthy of the record books. A man sporting a head to toe green Irish inspired get up played a variety of classic pop songs on his guitar and harmonic. Some of our favs include, Beautiful Girl. (Sean Kingston), Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash), Wonderwall (Oasis), Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams), Brown Eyed Girl, Twist and Shout, American Pie and Green Day classics, just to name a few. At one point, the girls and I got up to dance to one of the songs and the guitarist asked us if we wanted to join his band and offered us some shakers, tambourines and other music makers. The rest of our time at Dubliners was spent rocking out, dancing freely and singing our hearts out to beloved American classics with our Irish friend. He commented that this was the best band he had ever formed and I believe it to be no word of a lie…haha.

Although, we had no desire to leave, we had promised Cedric a fellow volunteer that we would met him at RCA and so we pulled ourselves away and jumped into a taxi. RCA is a street of dance clubs and pubs, where “college aged kids” as Tom would describe, hang out. We met up with Cedric and a couple of his friends there and hit up the dance floor for the next hour. I was shocked by the lack of dancing. The place was packed but no one was dancing, but that didn’t stop us. We found our own little corner and danced our hearts out for the next hour. We met a couple of friendly Thai’s that also joined us.

To sum it all up…. Our evening was EPIC!!! And that’s why it will go down in the Misty and Jodie Thailand history books. We were treated like royalty and we danced and sang the night away at the cost of 3 dollars Canadian. And that folks is what makes Thailand, a beautiful, beautiful place.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Look closely and you will see the a man on back of an elephant walking down the street! This pic was taken on our walk to Tesco.




Kindergarden pics. They were taken on thursday with the kids while they coloured and did a work sheet with us.
This little boy has a really long blonde rat tail. Not visible in the picture but an important piece of information.


I forgot to turn this picture around, so I apologize. This is a common sight in public washroom. You suppse to squat over the toilet, do your thing and then splash water on yourself. Needless to say, it is quite the experience and makes quite the mess and one shouldn't be alarmed if you get splashed by the person in the stall next to yours too. This pic was taken at a bus stop on our way to Ko Chang. Our first experience with this type of toilet.






Bonjour Amigos

Sorry for my lack of posting lately. I will try to make it up to all of you right now. I am quite confident that Jodie and I have conquered the bus system, the bus system from soi 40 to Tesco that is. No seriously, we have become more confident with taking the bus which is nice because it is so much cheaper than taking a taxi. The bus only costs 8.50 baht, which is like 25 cents compared to the taxi which is like 1 dollar Canadian.

Other exciting news includes the anticipated visit of Tiffany and Mom. Their flights are booked and they are coming June 13-29. I checked the calendar and it is only 76 days away, so the countdown is on.

The weather is getting noticeably hotter, and if you walk outside in the afternoon, it is guaranteed that you will probably break out in a sweat. I find that I’ve been napping a lot lately too which is unusual for me. The heat just drains you though, so the last couple of days we have taken a nap in the afternoon but as a result I sometimes find it hard to fall asleep at a decent hour in the evening. The last two nights in a row, Jodie and I have watched Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. We are so grateful to have the downloaded movies to pass the time at night. I’ve finished my 4th book today, so I’ll be hitting up the book store soon, probably a second hand book store, because I’m going through the books quite fast.

Jodie has a connection to a fellow Nova Scotia who now works at the Canadian Embassy herein Thailand. We just got in contact with him and are hoping meeting up sometime in the future for lunch.

Anyways, Pattaya, the beach and a hot shower are only a day away. The other luxuries that we are looking forward to enjoying include a dvd player, air-conditioning, king sized bed, 3 SWIMMING POOLS and cable TV!!!! The most important of all is the hot shower! Isn’t it sad when a shower has become a luxury? Some mornings the bowl of water just doesn’t cut it, especially when it’s a cold bowl of water. I have promised myself that I will wear more sunscreen this time around and take at least a 30 minute shower everyday. I probably won’t be emailing or posting for the next couple of days but I will be thinking of you all while I bake on the beach and swim in the ocean.

P.S. I saw another elephant walking down a busy street. Tiff, I will post a pic soon.

Sending Love from Thailand,

Misty

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wednesday Updates

Hey All

I'm here at Mercy Centre all by myself. Jodie isn't feel well today and took the day off to rest. I'm hopinng that she's feeling better because I feel lost without here at Mercy. She's had a headache the last couple of days and woke up feeling really tired with no energy. So I'm hoping she is feeling better and that she got a lot of rest this afternoon.

Today I got to chat with a new volunteer from England. She is living in Bangkok with her husband and is volunteering here on tues, weds and thursday. Its always exciting to meet a fellow english speaker. Um, what else. We booked our hotel to Pattaya, so it is confirmed. We are going to the beach this weekend!!!!!!!! We are also trying to figure out our plans for the upcoming Shongrah(sp?) holiday. Prices for hotels and flights go up but we are still hoping to visit Chaing Mai for a couple of days.

Besides that, nothing more to add. I just wanted to give a quick update before I head home.

Misty

Monday, March 24, 2008

Some of the boys at soi 40. This is their meal hall
Khoa San Road
Ronald doing the traditional Thai wai