The last week and a half have been a blur. On Friday (February 11th), I graduated from my 160-hour TEFL course alongside Allison, Larissa, and Walter. Later that same night, both Alison and Larissa left to go island hopping in the Gulf of Thailand. Of course, we hacked sack until the last possible moment.
The three of us had grown quite close over the preceding week, so their departure was bittersweet. Although I know we will meet again, the two of them leaving signified to me the solitude that awaits in the journey ahead. The next day, I was to leave for Bangkok, then to Sukhothai, and finally to my apartment in Lamphun.
Before I go on though, I must admit that I was harsh with Larry previously, and I promised her I would give her a better shake this time around.
Before she left, we exchanged books.
I gave her my copy of Siddartha, by Herman Hesse as I had already reread it in quarantine, and she gave me a copy of Spontaneous Healing, by Andrew Weil. You see, Larry wants to be a Witch Doctor, or, as she would tell you, an Osteopathic Doctor (OD). In all seriousness, I find it quite commendable and have been fascinated by the subject matter of Spontaneous Healing. It is all about traditional sources of medicine that existed before we decided to put the world on opioids. Reading this book has inspired me to make several life changes, like quitting smoking, and fasting. Larry tells me there are wise healers hidden away in the Northern mountains of Thailand, and now, I am anxious to cross paths with one. I can’t help but think the concepts of Eastern medicine will play an important role during my time here in Thailand.
So anyway, on Saturday morning, I strapped my 40 lb pack to my back, my backpack to my belly, and boarded the 9 am bus to Bangkok.
The ride was uneventful, and I arrived around noon at the Chatuchak bus station, to which I quickly boarded a taxi to get to my hostel. I only had two days to see Bangkok and so there was no time to dilly dally. The Chatuchak Weekend Market was a mere half-mile from my hostel so I went to check it out first.
Now, I’ve been to quite a few Asian markets at this point in my life, but holy shit. Chatuchak is on a whole nother level. I’m convinced you could find just about anything there. I also think it would take five 8-hour days of walking to see every stall in the market. My walk around the perimeter of the market took around half an hour if that gives you an idea.
I was enjoying the hustle and bustle of it all until I reached the animal market.
There, I saw kittens, puppies, exotic birds, turtles, squirrels, fish, mice, goats, and chickens being held up for ransom in tiny cages. I wasn’t about to cry over it, but it was certainly sad, especially after realizing that this is how animals are treated in many parts of the world.
With my animal reality check over, I called a win to take me to downtown Bangkok, where my friends were.
For those unfamiliar with transportation around Thailand, one of the more popular options for shorter distances is Grab, which is like the Asian Uber. With the grab app, you can call a 10-person bus, an SUV, a regular car, or a motorcycle, which the Thai call a “win”.
The win is especially convenient in Bangkok. The traffic is usually horrendous, but the win can weave in and out of traffic effortlessly. It is also the cheapest option for a solo traveler. A 35-minute motorcycle ride across much of Bangkok cost me 120 bhat, just under four dollars.
My destination was Central World, a mall the size of which I could have never imagined.
After a long walk-through stretches of staple western clothing brands, six escalators, and two confused phone calls to Conall, I found my friends from Xplore Asia. Conall, Chelsea, Noah, Shannon, and we all went looking for a pair of swim trunks, for Conall of course. We ended up in H&M. There was a robot there that would guide you to the checkout counter, and play videos for you as you walked. Without a doubt, it was the biggest waste of $10,000 I’ve ever seen.
Later, we met up with Bec, Erica, and Tess and we found a craft beer shop.
In the last few weeks, I’ve had more Chang lagers than I can count, and the whole time, I’ve been craving a nice cold IPA. My itch was finally scratched when I had perhaps the two most delicious hazy IPAs of all time.
We stayed there for quite some time, but eventually headed to Shannon and Chelsea’s hostel to get ready for Khao San road, the infamous Bangkok party street.
While we waited though, I made two new converts to hackysack. First Noah, a fine American fellow I had only met that day, and then Tess, a Brit who left Hua Hin the day after I arrived. Perhaps the best thing about hacking the sack with newbies is watching them get better, even after only five minutes. This was the case with both Noah and Tess.
I learned throughout the course of the night that Tess had quit her job teaching after only two weeks. Apparently, she had made it the longest of the last three teachers at her school, so it must have been a dreadful position. Knowing that I was replacing a teacher who had left his position a full 6 months early, I hoped that this wouldn’t be the case for me as well.
Seven of us made the journey to Khao San road.
This street is crazy, a “COVID WHO?” type of situation. Besides the literal buckets of mixed drinks, there are people walking around with balloons of nitrogen, and scorpions on a stick. I won’t admit to having any balloons, but I did eat two scorpions.
Then the most bizarre thing happened, I ran into Genevieve Boyle, a girl from my hometown who I hadn’t seen in nearly 8 years. She also went through Xplore Asia, but in the October intake. She was there with her friends from the program, just as I was with mine.
Bee, Kat, Hannah and Lizzy came about 15 minutes later, and that’s when the party really got started.
At 11 pm, Khao San road “closes” but really only in an official capacity. The police roam the streets, and the bars herd drunk people to the second floor of their establishment where the party can go on…albeit usually without music. This matters not because everyone is too drunk to care. Over the next several hours, I tried to get Bee laid with the cute girl a table away, and Hannah got extremely intimate with the girlfriend of the Ukrainian we were sitting with.
All in all, it was a great night.
Around 3 am, I called a Win to take my back to my hostel. Usually, motorcyclists are bold drivers. This man was a maniac. We were speeding through the streets of Bangkok, leaning into turns, and weaving quickly through traffic. If I didn’t have alcohol in my system, it would have been terrifying, but instead, it was completely exhilarating.
After half an hour of this, I arrived at my hostel and fell asleep almost instantly.
Sunday was my day to see the cultural side of Bangkok, namely the temples.
I took a win to Wat Pho, the home of the famous reclining Buddha. I arrived at what I thought was the main entrance, but $300 later I realized was actually no entrance at all.
If you ever have plans to travel to Thailand, or are just generally naïve, this next part of the story is important, please learn from my mistake.
A good scheme always starts with a kind man approaching you and offering you something too good to be true.
In this case, the man told me that Wat Pho was closed to foreigners until 2:30 pm because of a Buddhist holiday. It was around noon at the time, so I was bummed that I didn’t foresee this. Thankfully, this kind man had a solution. He would have a tuk-tuk driver (who was at the ready) take me to a couple of temples in the area, and as an added bonus, would stop at a suit factory so I could get a sense of “Thai fashion” and maybe even pick up a suit or two.
I was confused by this, but then he mentioned that his tuk-tuk driver could take me to see all the temples in the area for only 20 bhat (75 cents). When I asked why it was so cheap, he claimed it was because of the Buddhist holiday.
And so on I went.
The first temple we went to in retrospect was obviously just a setup for someone on the scammer’s payroll to approach me and mention how great the Thai suits are at the “Thai Factory”. I don’t know how to write out how the situation happened to make me not seem like an idiot. All I can say is that he was convincing, and maybe I am an idiot.
With the credibility of the “Thai Factory” sealed in my mind, the Tuk Tuk driver took me to another temple. This next temple was much more legit than the last, but really wasn’t all that. I stayed for maybe 20 minutes, and we headed off to the infamous Thai Factory.
I can’t lie, it is a little bit painful recounting how I lost the equivalent of three months’ rent in a matter of minutes, but I will recount the details as best I can.
Immediately, I was welcomed in, and shown an assortment of fabrics. The deal was that I got to choose my own fabric, cut of suit, and then they would measure me, make the suit, and ship it to me later that day. In retrospect, this seems like a nearly impossible task, but I wasn’t about to second guess the industriousness of the Thai people! I quickly settled on a maroon color in cashmere. They made the necessary measurements and then ushered me as quickly as possible to the cash register. When my first card didn’t work, they asked for another, and I indulged them of course.
Before I knew it, I was out of their little “factory” and on my way to Wat Pho because it was nearly 2:30. I had enough insight to know, about an hour later, that I had been fleeced. Still, I didn’t want that to ruin my day, and so I enjoyed the beauty of the temple and the famous reclining Buddha.
Later that night, I went to a Muay Thai fight.
It was quite costly to get in, but it was totally worth it. There was a total of 8 fights, and for the most part, each was better than the last. Would highly recommend these fights for anyone visiting Thailand. Seeing as it’s the national sport, they give an intimate look into Thai culture. One thing that I found interesting was that throughout the whole fight, there is a drum beating, and the fighters seem to sway to the beat of the drum, at least in the beginning.
Anyways, after the fight, I headed back to my hostel to get a good night’s sleep before my bus ride to Sukhothai early the next morning.
I found the right bus terminal with a little help from locals, which was much appreciated considering I was easily carrying over 60 pounds between my back and my chest. Soon enough, I was on the bus and continued to be on the bus for 8 hours. Was not an ideal situation to say the least. It seemed that the chair only went halfway up my back. Thankfully, I managed to sleep most of the way and even enjoyed the new episode of Euphoria. Unfortunately, this was the same morning as the Super Bowl, and I didn’t have any way to watch Matthew Stafford win his first ring.
When I finally arrived in Sukhothai around 2 pm, I was told that I was to just chill out for the rest of the day, and the next day I was to see the ancient city, and sign my contract. I can’t remember what I did to pass the time that first day, I just know that hack sack was involved. Later, I had my first ever Khao Soi delivered to my accommodation. Khao Soi is the signature dish of northern Thailand and has egg noodles, a delicious broth, chicken (usually a drumstick or two), fried pork bits on top, and onion, garlic and peppers thrown in according to personal preference.
I ate with one of the interns from my agency, her name is Green. We had quite a pleasant conversation, and in that interaction, I made my first Thai friend…we still talk occasionally even a month later.
The next day, I rented a bike and toured the ancient city of Sukhothai. Apparently, the ruins used to be the capital of Thailand in the 14th century, but the city was tragically sacked by the Burmese, and so now all that remains are the ruins of many temples.
I took my time to explore all the nooks and crannies of the archeological site, and had quite a nice time doing so. Later that day, I signed my contract with Kids English, I was officially a teacher in Thailand!
The drive to Lamphun took nearly 5 hours, and it was made mostly in silence on my behalf.
Tong and a friend from the village chatted in Thai as I looked out the window. The back was filled with vegetables from their garden. My impression was that they planned on selling them on the trip up north.
As we left the fields of Sukhothai, the farmland gradually made way to the forest, and then eventually, to mountains. I couldn’t help but get a massive grin on my face. The farther north we drove, the more confident I became that I was headed in the right direction and the mountains grew taller, the more I felt at home.
Before I moved into my apartment or saw my school, and before I met a single person with whom I would be spending the next 7 months, I knew with certainty that I was in the right place.