Back to School

Today is my last full day of Bangkok and the last two days here have been nothing short of fulfilling. Just as I was thinking that Bangkok was like Vegas, after a few days you are good and ready to move on, I greeted with great hospitality from both Charles and Chiangchi.

So earlier in the week, I met Charles from Cameroon through the Coushsurfing community. Earlier in the week, he invited me to sit in on his English teaching classes at a public school here in Thailand. He decided attending class on Weds would be best and it would only work if I surfed his couch on Tues night, since he lives right up the street from school and traffic getting from my hotel to his place would be horrific. So Tuesday night we metup in the city, checked out a possible club/party venue and then had dinner with another local couch surfer. After that we headed back to Charley’s place which is about 20 minutes or so outside of town from the city center. His housing in Bangkok is literally a flat with a balcony and bathroom. It comes fully furnished with bed, tv, furniture, and fridge for $100 USD a month + electricity and water. Not to bad!

So we headed to the school and got there a little before 8. Thai schools is like nothing I have seen or witnessed. I also got lucky because this Friday is the kings birthday, so they had a special ceremony with monks and everyone brought food to offer to the monks. If you don’t know the king and monks are highly respected. The king is respected so much, that if you disgrace the king or queen in any such way it can mean the death penalty just like that. So if you ever decide to come to Thailand, always and I mean always pay respect to the king. So after 30 to 40 minutes of the monk chat and the national anthem everyone lined up to offer food to the monks. They literally took home a van full of food. One of the English teachers was nice enough to give me food to offer the monks and I think I got some pictures of it. It was a once in a life time thing, thanks to Charles!

So after that Charles had his first class which was cut short by about 30 minutes due to the special events in the morning. I had a blast and Charles is well respected by the faculty and the kids. It was fun to see how the interact with him and they all wanted to know who his friend was that was following him around. And thai culture is a very shy culture so when I was not with Charles on my own taking pictures they would keep asking him who I was. So towards the end of the each class, he would introduce me and allow the kids to ask me questions. It was fun and the kids were so cute, as they were about 7th to 9th grade and just barely starting to pickup English again as they were first introduced to the language when they were younger. They would questions like, what’s you name, where are you from, do you speak thai, what’s your favorite food, why are you here, what’s your phone number, are you married, how old are you. And when answering Charley reminded me to speak very slow (yes slower then I normally do) and to try and pronounce loud and clear so they can understand. Most of the faculty thought I was from Japan and the kids could not get over the fact that I was Chinese that was born in America and did not speak Chinese. Charley explained it to them like a Cambodian kid born here in Thailand and they don’t speak Cambodian. And no, I did give out my phone number. Inbetween his 3rd and 4th classes we had school lunch. School lunch here in Thailand is pretty much just as good as I get at NetApp and probably about 8x cheaper. I had a rice plate with glass noodles and chicken but Charley picked up the bill so I was not sure what is costs. I don’t think it was too expensive but it was delicious. After classes were over Charles played a little bit of ‘Toko’ (sp?), which is basically volleyball with a smaller, heavier ball, lower net and you do not use your hands, only your feet, head, and chest. A few of the kids were really good at this game which is closely related to their fascination for what we call soccer they call football. A fun filled day memorable day and after going thru it all, I don’t think I would be cut out to teach English n Thailand. I just would not have the patience for it.

Yesterday (Tues), I spent a good portion of the day with a local reef keeper. As most would know, salt water reef tanks is a passion in my life. One of the popular reef forums that I visit, has a thread of a very popular reef tank here in Bangkok. Keeping certain types of corals here in Thailand is illegal and this guy Chiangchi has a ton of them that are grown out to unbelievable sizes. The morning started with getting dropped off by a taxi driver in an area of Bangkok near Chinatown. Chiangchi told me to just have the taxi driver call him and he will give directions. As we get near, he calls again and then the taxi driver tells me to just turn right at the corner and then left and Chiangchi will meet me outside. So I follow his directions and then look around and just randomly wonder around. I don’t see anything and then this guy on a scooter drives up and I say “Chiangchi?” and he was like “I don’t understand” and I continue my search. Then after walking around a little more, I see a small reef tank setup in an office. So I walk in and ask if they know Chiangchi, as having reef tanks are not too popular, yet alone in Bangkok. So they say yes and then Chiangchi walks up behind me. I guess that little tank was were his office is. Him and his family run and import fruit business here in Bangkok and from the looks of it, does very well for himself. So then he takes me to see his show tanks, one is about 300 gallons or so and is all custom. The size of some of the corals are ever hardly seen this big in captivity, as it takes a few years to grow certain species out to these sizes and most people back home frag or break t coral up to sell it. The fish in his tank were amazing has well, some of the more rarer species in the hobby are being kept by him. Some of the fish would easily go for over $1000 USD per fish back home as well in Bangkok. Chiangchi is lucky enough to have a full time fish maintenance guy on staff. He is from Burma and keeps the tanks in immaculate conditions. Another couple from Chicago, happened to be stuck in Bangkok during this time and was going to stop by to take a look at the tank as well. As we waited for them to arriver, we went up the street for some local street noodle soup. After they arrived and drooled over the tank, Chiangchi took us to the local area where a lot of pet stores are and the local reef club (Siam Reef Club) actually has a little shop here to help promote the hobby. It also had a real nice tank with real nice fish. He was nice enough to send us home with a little souvenir, a towel with the Siam Reef Club logo on it.

On my way for a 4 hour bus ride to the Cambodia border and then another 3 hours from there to Siem Reap. It should be an interesting ride, as I will blog about the details later. As you are probably aware, the airport is open BUT outbound flights won't start til later today or Friday so I should get credit. Hopefully things will be back to normal by the 17th, when I am supposed to come back thru Thailand. I also had a fun filled last night here in Bangkok, details to follow.