Hong Kong!

Yesterday I went for one last session of Thai stretching - it seems so long ago.  I bumped into some of my fellow massage students - took a few more pictures with them, and then waited for 30 minutes alone at the dock to catch a boat back.  Normally the water taxis go every 15 minutes and there are crowds, but apparently at 930am all the businesspeople are at work and no tourists are awake yet.

I flew Emirates to Hong Kong.  I love emirates, it is one of the few airlines where they still have good food, offer blankets and a large selection of movies.  I nearly got through Slumdog millionaire before landing - only about 20 minutes left.

I arrived at the airport picked up some tourist maps to help find my way to the hostel and changed my money.  Ren had sent me the cost of the buses which were either 21 or 41 dollars.  I'd been thinking it was super expensive until I remembered the exchange rate is 7 HKG to 1 USD.  I got off the bus and ended up wandering in a large circle attempting to find the hostel.  I was a few blocks away and asked a guy for help.  He didn't speak much English but was incredibly kind.  He walked with me for 15 minutes, left me at a corner at one point to ask for directions, called the hostel, waited with me until the hostel owner came for me, and then gave me some lychees he had as he left!

Ren and I went for supper nearby - rice and pork, followed by an ice cream crepe while wandering around.  All of Hong Kong is shops and food.  "As seen on tv..." the buildings are incredibly tall, the ground floors have everything from Swarovski to Club Monaco to Giordano to little boutiques that sell the latest in shoe, clothing, jewelery and hair fashions. Sprinkled liberally between are restaurants and dessert places. Most of the stores have glittery or electric signs which make all the streets light up at night - coupled with intensive air-conditioning and open doors, even walking outside isn't so bad as there is so much residual air-conditioning in the streets.

Today we had a meeting with youth from the Hong Kong Climate Change Coalition.  Three officers of the group met with us and we had a great discussion with them about what WYA is, our position on responsible stewardship and possibilities to work together.  They really liked the idea of dignity, and incorporating it into their work on climate change - environment with the person at the center.  We then went for a 4 hour lunch with the two guys as the girl had to catch an afternoon flight to Australia.

It was great, our conversations ranged from photography styles; do you like to be in the photo or not while travelling, to discussions of global poverty, it's implications and what needs to be done in addressing it.  We finally left, took a bus back and are relaxing in our room before we go out for - you'll never guess...

... more food! (I knew you'd never guess, so I'm telling you!)

Asala - Dharma Day

This morning I woke up early to try and make it to Wat Pho temple for their 8am stretching session.  I just missed a boat so only arrived for the final few stretches and to receive green tea :)  On the way into Wat Pho, I ran into my massage instructor who was surprised to see me, and at the class was one of the girls I'd learned massage with also there.  Then, as I was leaving I bumped into another guy who'd been studying at Wat Pho but in a different course - Bangkok suddenly felt small!

Today is a holiday in Thailand.  It commemorates the day when Buddha emerged from two months of fasting in which he had discovered the middle way and preached it to the the other monks.  The middle way is the philosophy that goodness comes not from pure ascetisim, nor from full allowance of sensuality but from a middle ground between the two. At this time Buddha also presented the 4 truths, the fourth of which is the 8 ways to live a good life. 

It so happens that this festival also marks the start of the rainy season which lasts about two months.  Apparently Buddha asked his monks to not wander throughout the countryside during this time, as traditionally it was when the farmers worked their fields, to prevent the monks from trampling the crops. Now, the monks remain within the temple during this time - only emerging to beg for food.  It is also customary that men become monks at some point in their life and many boys do so during this time.  It is a time when the monks really focus on prayer and study.

The temple of Wat Pho and Wat Arun were packed today, not just with the usual tourists, but also with Thai people bringing gifts and performing ceremonies.  By the time I reached Wat Arun mid-afternoon I was so tired I sat near to the activities the monks had set up and watched.  They were so kind and made an effort to include me, bringing me water and explaining the activities to me.  One tradition is to write your name and wish on a piece of wax, then dip it into a pot already full of melted wax.  You then take a dipper and put a few spoonfuls of the wax into a tall cylindrical container.  This then cools to become the large candles in the temples.  The monk explained to me that Buddhists write what they will do over the next few months, kind of a new year's resolution.  There are also tiles you can write on which then go on the roofs of the temples as they need more tiles.

There is one temple where it is customary to bring a candle, a white flower (don't know what it's called) and incense and to walk around it praying.  People were doing that all day, and in the evening when the monsoon rains started up they continued to walk around - some even without umbrellas!

Between Wat Pho and Wat Arun I visited Pratunam market to buy gifts.  From all my research it seemed to be the cheapest market in Bangkok where even wholesale buyers go for good deals.  The prices quoted to me were so ridiculously high, and people would not go down.  I walked away from so many stalls as they refused to drop their prices at all.  In one place, the woman quoted the most outrageously high price for little wallets and when I asked her for a discount she asked me what my price was - so I quoted a ridiculously low price back to her.  She went berserk!  She started screaming at me calling me crazy "You crazy! that crazy price! you crazy!" and slapped me!!! My first instinct was to punch her in the mouth and break her teeth, my second was to bring in the police for assault.  

Since I promote human dignity, I couldn't in good conscience punch her - even though I think it would have been good for her. Knowing, and having experienced that the police here are corrupt, I had to accept option two would be useless and possibly detrimental to me. So, I stared at her and quite sternly told her not to touch me. Then I walked away while she continued to scream at me.  There were lots of beautiful items in the stalls in that row, but I couldn't stop at any of the places I was so embarrassed.  

After that, I was too nervous to bargain - I've never been slapped while attempting to bargain before and was quite shaken up. What was saddest of all, was that the prices I managed to bargain down to - after a lot of effort on my part in each place - when I returned to Wat Pho, those were the same prices labeled on the streets, and the women lowered their prices much more reasonably even from that.  I don't think I'll ever return to that market again...

I did have a couple nice experiences at the market.  I was starving and discovered the food places where those working the stalls eat.  The woman didn't speak any English so I ordered by making animal sounds and she would point to different items and make animal sounds.  The food was delicious and quite cheap.  Then I found a man selling Thai desserts with his family behind him, he also didn't speak any English, so I started saying Thai numbers so he could tell me the price in Thai.  He and his family got so excited they started rattling off sentences and invited me to eat with them.  Since numbers, hello and thank you are all I know, I thanked them for their invitation and left.

I then returned to Wat Pho this evening to catch the festivities by night. There are hallways with dozens of Buddha statues lined against the wall.  Many people had set up mats, and were settling in for the night, I wasn't able to figure out what that was for. I really like the Wat Pho area.  It is the place I know best in Bangkok - but it seems every time I leave that area I get massively lost, meet crazy or corrupt people or otherwise have some unpleasant experience. 

On the holiday commemorating Buddha first preaching about the righteous way, I've met both people who live it and people who demonstrate why it is needed...

Wat Po Chetawan Thai massage therapist!

That's me - it's official! I received my certificate yesterday.  We had a practical exam where we massaged another student, but it was someone from the other class which definitely put the pressure on.  Thankfully the guy I massaged was very nice, I forgot a couple steps and he positioned his body to remind me :)  I did the same for him though, so it all worked out in the end! You all know what your birthday gifts will be from now on, and be grateful.  A full Thai massage takes 1.5 - 2 hours.  At a spa you would be paying a LOT!

I also invested in massage pants - the pants traditionally worn in Thailand and still worn by Thai massage therapists.  They are loose, comfy, light, and very brightly patterned!  I wore them around all day yesterday and a few people working at street stands smiled or demonstrated that they approved of my clothing choice.  A few of them just laughed at me.  I fully intend to wear them for giving massages, I'm not sure I'll have the courage to wear them publicly outside of Thailand though :)

To celebrate I had supper with the guy in my class near his hostel at Khao San road.  I hadn't realised how lucky my desire to save money had made me.  I booked my hostel as it is the cheapest I could find in Bangkok at 130 baht/night (~$4 USD). It is in the business district of Bangkok and there are no other hostels nearby.  I've really been able to eat genuine Thai food off the streets and see Bangkok the way the Thais do. At Khao San road, it's like the Vegas or Times Square of Bangkok.  There are hostels everywhere, and all the massage places, food stands, clothing stalls, etcetera cater to the tourists. Everything is in English, everyone speaks English. The only Thais I saw worked there... It was good to see that - it's the famous backpacker hangout and obviously has incredible night life, and then so nice to return to my hostel in a neighbourhood that shuts down at night and is full of life during the day.

Today and tomorrow are holidays here.  They are to celebrate the start of the rainy season and the last days the monks wander around freely.  During the monsoon season it is a time of prayer for them, and they leave the temples only to beg food. Apparently it used to be customary for every boy to become a monk for a period of time, and often they would join the monks at the temples during this time so that the country would all celebrate.  At least in Bangkok that is no longer the case, I've heard it is still common practice in rural areas.

Although I love the food here, I've also had some uncomfortable experiences.  Two days ago, I ate lunch with my classmates near to our school.  I ordered bamboo chicken, which was delicious and very spicy.  Three bites into the meal my face was red, I had to suck in air between bites to prevent my mouth from burning up. Halfway through I couldn't continue and asked the woman for some extra rice to soothe my mouth.  It helped a bit, then another woman came over and dumped some juice over my rice which looked like pork drippings.  It was delicious, very sweet, and worked beautifully.  I've now discovered that sweet counters spicy and was able to finish my meal thanks to her help.

Later, I bought some samosas at the side of the road for a snack.  I bit into one, and wasn't quite sure what the taste was.  I got halfway through before I was able to identify the meat - tongue, fat, entrails, etcetera.  So gross!  Thankfully I'd also purchased lychees so I ate a dozen of them to get rid of the taste. I also ate pad thai and said yes to seafood in it - assuming of course that it would be shrimp.  There was one shrimp, there was also quite a bit of calamari - with the heads still attached! I've never eaten squid before with the dude looking at me as I munched through his delicious body.  There were also tiny little orange shrimps throughout - shells and all.  They're actually quite flavourful, I ate one on its own and the taste was really strong, but mixed with the noodle they're quite good. 

The kindness of strangers

When I arrived back to my hostel this afternoon I searched for the key to my lock and couldn't find it.  Until I looked up and saw it sticking out of my lock, draped around my locker door handle, not locking my locker! I nearly had a heart attack until I peaked inside and saw that not a single item was missing!!! Funnily enough, the dorm room had been locked today for the first time since I'd been here.  I can only assume that my roommates saw my stupidity and locked the room to protect my stuff.  I am lucky...

Last night, I met up with Andreas and we took a bus over to chinatown where we'd also heard there was a late-night clothing market.  We heard correctly, it didn't even begin until midnight!  We ate some delicious food, wandered around and then headed over to Lumphini park and night market.  We got off at the stop with all the malls - which it turned out was about an hours walk from the night market.  By the time we got close we saw a sign for it saying it was 700 meters away.  My flip flops are super comfy, but not for cross-city treks. We were so close we kept going.  Lumphini bazaar is a great place; there was a live singer with hundreds of seats/tables for people to sit and eat and drink.  Then the market goes on forever.  We barely entered despite over an hour of exploring as the stalls are so closely packed and full of beautiful items.  

It was great to catch up with Andreas.  He arrived a few days before me so is also still exploring Bangkok.  He plans to live here for a year or so though, and has been learning Thai as fast as he can.  It was great as he would use a few phrases to ask people for directions or to order food.  It was also good to see him and catch up.  After the night market, I decided to take a tuk tuk home.  I knew it wasn't a long trip, but didn't have the map clear in my mind.  I bargained the driver down to half his starting price so that Andreas called me Donald Trump.  

Bangkok is so beautiful.  Being July, it is overrun by European tourists and backpackers.  Thankfully, by choosing the cheapest hostel I could find I also chose a hostel far from backpacker central.  I'm in the heart of the business and jewellery district.  Each morning I walk past rows of delicious breakfast foods, pastries and fruits.  Once my massage course is over I'm going to have to spend a morning eating something from every stand. Last night, as I was wandering around for hours, I was so excited to know that today I would be giving/getting massages all day and all my soreness would be mashed out of me.  Now, the thought of leaving the course and going without massages for months is just so sad.  Thankfully I'll be in the Philippines soon and can get a massage there!

Apparently Bangkok is sometimes referred to as the Venice of Asia.  There are canals along many streets and many grates/streets cover the river flowing underneath.  There are some beautiful old, historic buildings and the culture here is so rich.  I love the custom of people bowing as they greet each other, and the politeness with which even goods and money are exchanged as they take the money with both hands.  We pray each morning before the class begins to ask that we give a massage with the proper temperament, and also that no evil will enter either us or the person receiving the massage.  There are temples and little shrines to Buddha down every street and even in front of the malls.  People will stop and pray at the street shrines, lighting incense and bowing.

I took a picture last night of a shrine to Buddha outside a mall.  Between the two shrines is a huge banner declaring a 50% sale. I'll post it once I have the chance to upload my pictures.

Pung ni pop can (see you tomorrow)

Where to begin? I took another tuk tuk yesterday from the water taxi to Brioni factory, where I was getting a dress made.  Three drivers were aghast at the price I quoted and roared off, only one listened and agreed to take me for 30 baht - the same I had paid the day before. He asked if I minded stopping at some place so he could get petrol.  Faced with the option (I thought) of stopping briefly or stalling somewhere I agreed.  Turns out, he took me to another clothing place where I had to go in and wander around for a few minutes so he could get a petrol coupon from them... I have no objection to helping the guy get free gas - except I wish I'd thought to then have my trip for free!

I discovered that a former WYA intern, Andreas Pergher, is also in Bangkok and we'd agree to meet at 6pm at my hostel.  I was left with 30 minutes to get back so stopped for a quick bite at a street stand. The menu options were all in Thai so I asked for the soup that was being prepared. They were all very kind, one girl brought me a glass of ice water and the cook kept checking to see if I enjoyed his soup.  I did, except for all the fat stuck to every piece of meat, and the myriad pieces of chopped tongue.  There is something not right about having cooked tastebuds in your soup.

Tuk tuk drivers are used to scamming tourists.  Even though I offered the same price to take me back to the hostel (for less than half the distance) they all refused.  So I resorted to asking motorcycle drivers, via a corrupt cop who laughed at me when I tried to bargain and told me my price was crazy... I was in the same area I'd spent 2 hours trying to escape from the day before and wasn't willing to do the same again.  Finally I met a kind woman who told me which bus to get on.  She didn't speak any English but I'd learned and brought a card from the hostel with it's name and address written in Thai for future adventures.  

We got on the same bus and after a while she realised it wasn't actually going past my hostel.  She was incredibly kind though, got off the bus with me and walked me the 10 minutes to my hostel - completely out of her way - as she felt responsible to get me home safely.  I have definitely noticed that the Thai people are, for the most part, incredibly kind.  I also have a bag from the Wat Pho massage school which helps a great deal in people offering more tips as they're excited I'm studying at their best massage school.

Tomorrow I test to pass my massage course.  I'm so nervous, there is so much to learn.  Apart from the sequence of steps there are body positions which go with each movement. We're graded on our body position, on knowing the steps, on giving a good massage and on our manner.  We also need to know basic contra-indications, etc.

I'm going to miss going every day.  The teachers are so kind, and have taken to hitting (lightly and friendly) my massage partner any time he does something he shouldn't, with a pillow, their hand, or whatever is handy.  Then they'll fall on me laughing as his reactions crack them up. As they're instructing the Thai girl I've also started to learn a few numbers in Thai.  Once they realised I was paying attention they've gone out of their way to teach me a little more.  I've now learned to count to 10 (although I don't remember...) and some other phrases - note the Thai phrase as the title?!?

Another smouldering hot day, I'm now up to knowing 3 of the 5 steps of basic Thai massage and my thumbs are very sore! Class is so delightful, all day we practice massaging each other so when another person is giving the massage I am getting one!  It's funny though, Thai massage is very deep tissue so by the end of today I was extra sensitive in a few places and had to have very light pressure applied :p

After class I was determined to find some Thai clothes.  Cotton shows the sweat too much... and I don't fit into the clothes they sell on the street because as one girl put it - "oh no, you are a very large size, you need to get clothes custom made..." Another guy was determined to sell me his "one size fits all" pants even after I showed him I was one size too large for them - his flattery wasn't enough though. So I was sent off to a clothing factory where they custom make suits, dresses, etc. WAY out of my price range! 

I thought I'd watched where the tuk tuk took me and decided to walk back. What should have been a 30 minute walk became 3 hours.  I hadn't calculated on few/no street signs, the few street signs being written in Thai (different alphabet in case you didn't know that...) and multiple 12 lane intersections. After a couple hours I was so hungry I ate some food at a little street stand.  The guy pointed to different ingredients and I either shook my head or nodded at each one.  

I then spent forever trying to flag down another tuk tuk and trying to a) explain where I wanted to go as few tuk tuk drivers read English and b) negotiating to a price I was willing to pay.  I was clearly lost and a foreigner, so even though I knew I was only a few minutes walk away I couldn't find it on my own they had full opportunity to jack up their prices.  Thankfully I finally found one who would take me, although I felt a little better as even he got lost twice on the way back to the hostel and had to stop and look at my map. 

Now for a relaxing evening, getting some work done, and another early day tomorrow. If I get to the Wat Pho for 730am I can participate in their stretching exercises - normally not even an option but perhaps I will take advantage of jetlag :)

Welcome to ประเทศไทย (Thailand)

It's so much fun to be a foreigner. There is always the danger of getting ripped off, kidnapped, taken advantage of or getting lost but there are just so many perks.  The first and most obvious one being, you are the oddball in a place that has existed with its traditions, language, food, etc for a very long time.  So you get to wander around admiring new things, taking pictures of peoples houses and neighbourhood and sometimes even the people :)  

Yesterday I arrived to Bangkok around noon and took a water taxi up Bangkok's central river to find the Wat Pho Massage school.  It costs 13 baht for the water taxi (about 40 cents USD).  There are some beautiful parts to Bangkok, and also some very poor parts.  Especially lining the river are some of the nicest hotels - Mandarin Oriental - and many shacks.  This morning I passed a man bathing in the river.  The river is a murky greeny brown with branches and other debris floating in it, and no clarity.  I had to admire his efforts as he dumped river water on him for the few minutes it took the boat to pass and he was still washing as he went out of sight.

Bangkok is swelteringly hot, and I wish I could shower every few minutes... I need to! It's 30+ Celsius and exceedingly humid.  I'm on the lookout now for some light, Thai clothes as I've wandered around visibly sweaty for the last two days which is not a good look.  Today, at noon, I wandered around the Wat Pho temple.  It is incredibly beautiful.  The reclining Buddha is enormous, gold and takes up the whole temple. It's too big to even fit into one picture so I'll have to paste a bunch together to give any sort of idea of how he looks. My favourite part of the Buddha has got to be his feet.  The bottoms are covered in designs made of mother of pearl.  The walls of the temple are also illustrated with pictures.  I assume they are stories of the Buddha's life, but I only had an hour so need to learn a lot more.  There are numerous temples scattered around the big temple and each one is so intricately carved that I could easily spend a day staring at them all.  There are also gardens and fountains with statues, and some real, live Buddhist monks. I had to say that, it is actually really cool to see them throughout the city.

One monk was seated under a tree in a prayerful pose, and the scene was so beautiful I wanted to take his photo.  I asked him and he smiled for me to take the picture. I felt somewhat bad taking pictures of it all, as it is a temple and many people were there praying at the various Buddha statues.  Obviously the monks are part of the "scenery" if you're a tourist, but for them it is their religion and they are simply there to pray or study or do whatever it is they do - I have a LOT to learn  :p  

Today, I started my Thai massage course.  There are three of us in the course; a guy from South Africa, a Thai girl and myself.  We started this morning observing as the teacher performed step 1 of Thai massage on the guy.  We then spent the afternoon practicing on each other.  It's actually quite difficult and intricate, and we have only learned one stage of the whole massage.  A great deal of it comes down to practice though, so over the next 4 days I hope to become quite comfortable with it all.  We learned by watching the teacher perform the massage and doing the same steps.  I received one massage on my right side and then one full massage.  The guy from South Africa received 4 massages on his right side, he was thinking of going to get a massage tonight and asking them to just massage his left side twice to attempt to even himself out...

I'll upload photos soon - probably in Manila.  I'm nervous to bust out all my technology while I'm still at the hostel as I'd hate to get it stolen.  I'm off now to eat some supper - food here is good, but I am starving!  Now that I've entered an air-conditioned room some of my appetite has returned.