5.27.12/5.28.12

I think it’s Monday.

However, this entry starts on Sunday.

After packing everything up and getting my suitcases downstairs, I headed to the Coconut for one last breakfast. Didn’t even have to order. I walked in and sat down and Tum, the lady boy who works there, said to me, “Muesli yogurt, yes?”. I had two bowls.

I expected the rain the night before to create an even more muggy day. Not the case. It was so nice and mild that I wasn’t even sweating while I sat and ate my breakfast.  They were kind enough to let me use their laptop at the Coconut to check my email. For some reason, their network wasn’t showing up on my computer or my tablet. Nothing new on the interwebs.

I headed back to my hotel to wait for my ride to the school. We were to have a quick meeting before starting our long, long journey to Bangkok and then Hat Yai from there. We were looking at about 18 hours of auto travel. yay. Continue reading →

5.26.12

Before moving to Thailand, I might have wanted to consider the fact that I get heat exhaustion so easily. It’s making it difficult to get on a normal sleep schedule. By 4pm, all I want is a cold shower and a nap. Tried to sleep as long as possible last night, but I woke up at 4am (seven hours of sleep, which is an hour more than I usually would get) and there was no going back to bed. Instead, I have been watching a lot of movies on my Nook and laptop and staring out the window until the shops open. Wish I had my camera out this morning when a truck dropped the monks off outside my hotel at 6am to start their day of begging for alms (which is what I assume the baskets were for, but I could be completely wrong). They walked right under my window, single-file. Would have been a great shot. Oh well, again, you can’t get a picture of everything.

Continue reading →

5.25.12

Ok, so, I spent most of the afternoon recovering from that stupid Ambien. Ugh. Drank lots of water, laid down for a long time and watched movies.

Around 4pm or so, I was finally feeling human and decided that I would find some food before I became overly hungry again. One thing I will say, it shouldn’t be too difficult to lose weight in this climate. Half I will sweat off and the other half will drop off because heat makes me lose my appetite. Yay for diets of circumstance!

This time I left my camera in the room. I wanted a walk, unencumbered by a purse or suitcase or backpack. As a good friend once told me, “You have to realize that sometimes you can’t take a picture of everything.” Continue reading →

5.24.12

Thailand.

I don’t know what I was expecting. For some reason I had it in my mind that BKK would be some sort of backwards airport with chaos and livestock. I know, I know. That’s ignorant. In fact, it is a very modern, very large and quite beautiful airport.

The whole flight from Singapore I was worried that they wouldn’t let me in the country. I didn’t have an address to put on my arrival card (which I had completely forgotten that I would have to fill out). My mind kept flashing back to when I went to England the last time and was basically threatened by the customs officer that I had better leave the country at the end of my two week stay… Continue reading →

5.22.12

It felt like spending the night in a B&B. Last night in Colorado. Last night in my parents’ house.

It still doesn’t feel real. I am moving, literally, to the other side of the world. I just did it. I quit my job, I bought a ticket, I packed up my stuff. Done. I don’t think that it will hit me as a reality until I have been in Thailand for more than a couple weeks.

I went to see my brother and his pride the evening before I left. Although this was the third or fourth time that I had said goodbye to them, it felt the most real. When I think about it, I realize that my youngest niece, Lillian Joy, won’t even know who I am when I come back. And it’s entirely possible that I could have two or three more “niecephews” by the time I return… Continue reading →