Thailand

Alright, I've put off these last couple of posts for as long as possible. Basically, my first year in Korea is over which leaves my blog quite obsolete. So I tried to avoid documenting my vacation. But it must be done. I'll be heading back to Korea in August to start another year of teaching. I haven't decided how to move forward with documenting my experiences. I've had some trouble keeping up with blogger so I've thought about switching to tumblr. I don't know. Maybe I'll save it as a surprise or something. Whatever.

Moving right along, this post is about the first part of my vacation. And it's gonna be my longest post to date, so I'll try to keep the text minimal and use a lot of pictures. Most of you already know about my trip to Thailand, but if you're unfamiliar let me fill you in.



In choosing which countries to visit for my vacation, I thought about where my friends were living globally. When I travel, I like to go around with people I know (mainly because I'm terrible with directions and also that language barrier is a killer). So the first place that came to mind was Thailand because my friend Amanda has been living there for the last couple of years. And where's the first place she took me in Bangkok? An Irish Pub for Happy Hour. Felt just like home.



The next morning, we ate breakfast and hopped a bus to Kanchanaburi. It's about 2 hours west of Bangkok and is a popular destination for travelers. On the bus ride I took pictures out of the window. But the window was all dirty and smudged, so the pictures might be blurry.







Let me tell you something about the weather in Thailand. It's hot, it's humid, it's muggy and it envelopes you like a spacesuit. But the beautiful scenery makes it totally worth it. I've never seen sky so blue and foliage so green. So taking pictures from inside of an air-conditioned bus was ideal.



Thai Fun Fact: Thailand is governed under a monarchy. There's a Prime Minister who runs the government, but the Head of State is His Majesty King Rama IX. They absolutely adore this man, so you'll see pictures of him EVERYWHERE. He's on all the money, he's on billboards, and when you go to the movies, you have to stand for a short video clip that features him (sidenote: I saw the Hangover Part 2 in Bangkok, how cool am I?)



So after the bus ride we hopped in a taxi (which was actually a pick-up truck with an open cab over the back) to our hotel. The brochure made it sound much cooler than it really was, but it was still gorgeous and really cheap (like everything else in Thailand)







That night we went to a bar down the street that advertised drinks for 10 Baht! Why the exclamation point? Converted to American currency, 10 Baht is about 30 cents. You're buying drinks with alcohol in them for 1/3 of a dollar! How ridiculous is that?!



That night, we met a former Thai marine with some entertaining pick-up lines for the ladies...



And drank Thai moonshine with a guy named Dan, who'd spent the previous 3 years in Sudan while working for an American NGO (sidenote: Thai moonshine is NOT what's up, stay away).



We started the next day (with a hangover) by going to a nearby wildlife reserve. I fed a baby tiger. Then we went on a safari.













My favorite was the zebras. Giraffes are jerks, not to be trusted. But this safari was by far the coolest thing I've ever done in my 23 years on this earth.



Then there were the waterfalls. We basically took a 2-mile nature hike (while still hungover) to see these incredible falls. We didn't make it through the whole trek, but we made it to the 5th stop, and that was enough for us.











So we survived the journey, and at one point a monkey stole Amanda's stuff.



But we got it back after some clever negotiating (the monkey got bored and just dropped it).

The next day we went back to Bangkok to enjoy the city before I left for Shanghai. We went back to that same Irish pub for Happy Hour again, but first I had to get some pad thai!



If I haven't mentioned it before, I absolutely love street food. It's probably slowly killing me, but it's one of my favorite things about the places I've been to in Asia.



And the last place we visited before my flight to Shanghai was Soi Cowboy (the road where all of the strip clubs are). Honestly, I'm not even interested in strip clubs and lap dances. I gotta pay money to watch women take off their clothes and sit in my lap? No, thank you. But I still wanted to check it out.



And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Peter's Nuptial's

My former co-worker Peter Kim got married this month and, at my age, I don't have many friends jumping the broom. So I felt that I should be there to support him on entering such a new and huge phase in life. I was also really interested in seeing my first Korean wedding. I'd heard so many stories about them being in chapels and lasting for 15 minutes, with another wedding party coming directly after.



But aside from everything being spoken in Korean, it felt like any American wedding. The church was huge. So huge that they showed the ceremony on a big screen at the front of the church and had everyone microphone-d up. The reverend did most of the talking, and every once in a while he would make a joke. A joke that i didn't understand. Because I don't speak Korean. But you know who else didn't understand the jokes? The baby sitting in front of us who kept staring at me.



It was a very nice ceremony. Unfortunately, my camera died early on, so I didn't get many pictures. But the cool thing is that after the wedding, we were all able to take pictures with the newlyweds in groups. It just so happened that the "friends of the groom" group was mainly composed of foreigners.



Hopefully I'll get a chance to see the pictures taken by the photographer, because I'm sure they look great. And after all of the posing and smiling, there was a buffet across the street. The spread was stupendous. But I don't want to make it seem like the food was more important. This day was all about supporting my friend and celebrating his big day.



Congratulations Peter and Seong-hye Kim (sorry the picture's so blurry, I told you my camera died).

The Cruise

So we're finally reaching the best part of Spring. The sun is shining, the temperature is in the high 70s/low 80s and, unfortunately, my allergies are out of control. But as long as the pharmacy can supply me, I can enjoy it. So since my first year in Korea is ending, I decided to experience something I'd been thinking about since my arrival.



If you've followed my blog, you'll recall that my first experience with the Hangang River came with a spin in the duck boats with Cynthia. Back then, she and I talked about going on a river cruise. There are many cruises that take you along the river and showing you the skyscrapers all lit up, and sometimes there are shows on the boats. A young girl in front of us tried to convince her mother to take the cruise with the magic show. She failed to do so.



The cruise itself lasts for about an hour. We chose to ride around the time the sun began to set, so the sky made subtle changes in color above the water until it was dark. Then the boat lit up itself.



I was unaware of the main show that was to come. Once we reached a certain part of the river, all the boats stopped to view a fountain/light show off of one of the bridges. A line of lights, shining in all colors, lit streams of water spraying off the side of the bridge in a stunning show.



The most amusing part of this fountain show was when the boat went past the bridge. Now any sensible person would realize that as the boat nears the water showering onto the deck anything in the vicinity will get wet. With that reasoning, my friend and I went outside. Other people remained outside and were shocked when they got wet. What did they not understand?



Because there were so many people on the boat, it's difficult to find a place to sit. And there was a woman providing the entertainment for the spectators inside. She had an acoustic guitar but played music off of a laptop. I feel like she didn't need both of those things. But her singing was great, so I'll let her slide on that one. And toward the end of the cruise, we even found seats to enjoy her show.



Seeing the Hangang River from twilight to night and getting a light and fountain show was well worth the allergic reaction. Next time, I gotta check out that magic show cruise.

Buddha's Birthday

Earlier this month, all throughout Asia, people were celebrating the birth of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, better known as Buddha. Buddhism being a major religion and the impact being seen throughout Asia, it is imperative that he be celebrated.



The holiday is mainly observed by hanging lots of multicolored lotus lanterns all over temples and streets. But we found some more creative lanterns along the stream in Gwanghwamun.





The lighting and design was so bright and brilliant that it was perfect for a night viewing. People were lined all the way from one end of the stream to the other. There were also assorted statues along the walkway, but people were far more interested in the lanterns.



What was also cool is that the whole area seemed to take on a "Light Up" theme, along with the lanterns. Particularly beautiful was the waterfall at one end of the stream with blinking spotlights set on either side.



But my personal favorite, was the fleet of specially lit, horse-led carriages. We watched couple after couple hop into these things and I almost considered hopping into one by myself.



But I felt like there should've been disco music playing on the inside. I imagine this is how the movie "Tron" would've looked if it was set in medieval times. Disco carriages aside, this was all visually awesome and a wonderful way to celebrate the Supreme Buddha.

Away for the Weekend

Teaching English grammar and vocabulary to unruly children can be testing at times. So some co-workers and I took a ride to the east for a weekend getaway. To the east of the province is a rural county called Gapyeong. It's quiet, the scenery is lovely and there's great food. We rode up to a small cabin for the night.



The cabin we stayed in had a nice and comfortable feel. The outside was strung with lights and decorations, while the inside was bright colors and pictures



We went in two groups, and our group didn't arrive until late, so we spent the evening making dinner. The guys had some trouble with the barbecue pit because it was so old and a bit rusted. At one point, the aluminum foil on top was almost completely engulfed in flames. You should've seen Andy trying to stomp it out. But we made it work.



Of course we had to have a good amount of rice and kimchi. No Korean diet is complete without those two things. But we also had a lot of pork, beef and even threw some shrimp on the bar-b



The next day was gorgeous. It was the kind of day that you had to spend outdoors. Luckily, Gapyeong has the perfect place for you to enjoy a sunny day outside.



We took the ferry over to Nami Island. There were some people who took a zipline over, but opted for a more conventional route. The views were really fresh and natural. There were different structures made of clay, straw, even one made of old magazines. I saw a guy try and push it over. He did not succeed.



My favorite part was listening to this band from Ecuador. The music was amazing, and the outfits were pristine. They had a wide array of instrumentation and even brought up a little kid to play on the drums. And shockingly, the lead singer spoke perfect Korean. He would talk to the crowd and make jokes in between songs. Of course I couldn't understand a word he was saying, but it was still cool.



Afterward, we had dinner and made the ride home. But it was a fun getaway and a sunny Sunday trek. Oh, and if you're into anime at all or have ever watched Samurai Champloo, you'll enjoy this car decal of Mugen.