What's Up With That?

Hello There!  I hope you've had a wonderfully productive and enjoyable week...I certainly have!  My new digs are becoming more and more familiar to me, and I'm slowly adding my own touches to the condo, so things here feel really good:-)  Plus...the Australian Open is on - whoop!  I never realized what a difference it would make living in Thailand during the Australian Open, but it makes a huge difference.  Melbourne is only 4 hours ahead, so I just finished watching Andy Murray and Milos Raonic play.  Wow!  Amazing stuff!  Won't tell who won~

My first week of Thai reading and writing went well.  I'm the only female in our class of 7 students.  All of the guys want to stay here in Thailand, so they have to prove that they can speak, read and write Thai.  Something about a student visa?  I have no plans of living here permanently.  I'm just doing it because it's fun.   As a matter of fact, I booked my return ticket the other day.  If all goes well and the creek don't rise, I'll be home on August 23rd.  Double whoop!

Hua Hin and Chiang Mai are very different for many reasons.  One of the most remarkable differences (other than the beach) is the number of older white men who are in a relationship with young Thai women.  What's up with that?  Here are two articles that discuss relationships between Thai women and "farangs" (foreigners).  (For those wondering...although it is rare, Thai women also marry black farangs - Tiger Woods is part Thai).
http://oddmyklebust.com/2013/07/11/young-thai-women-and-their-old-white-sexpats/
http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/new-trend-of-young-educated-thai-women-with-farang-husbands-emerges-researcher/109615/

One thing I keep forgetting to talk about is Thai nicknames.  Thank goodness Thais use nicknames!   Most farangs would have a hard time remembering the real Thai names, let alone pronouncing those names correctly.   My friend Angela (that's her real name) is an exception.  Here's an article about what's up with Thai nicknames in case you're interested:
https://www.into-asia.com/thai_language/reference/nicknames.php

Scenes from the beach this week (wanted to add a few more but the internet is giving me problems tonight).  Next week more pictures - I promise!  PEACE~

Pineapple fried rice from my daily restaurant

Full moon on Hua Hin Beach

Images of Hua Hin

Sawasdee kha!

I hope this finds you and yours doing well.  Things here are still beachy:-)  I've acquired an electric piano, signed up for 4 weeks of Thai classes and played tennis with a tennis pro (the tennis pro won every.single.game*sigh*).  It's been a busy week!

For those of you who would like to know more about Hua Hin, here is a link to get you started:
http://www.tourismthailand.org/About-Thailand/Destination/Hua-Hin

Here are a few images of my 2nd week in Hua Hin:

Motorcycle taxi driver who was nice enough to let me take his picture

Vendor's roasted bananas and sweet potatoes (she did not want her picture taken)

Monk Luang Por Thuad's Statue at Wat Huay Mongkol (that's Aey in the pink hat on the left) - link: https://www.renown-travel.com/daytripshuahin/wathuaymongkol.html

Beach beds can be rented by the day

A man digging for small shellfish

The beach at sunset

Enjoying the sunset with a Mai Tai

Have a great week!

Life's a Beach!

Dear Wonderfully Supportive Family and Friends,

I hope this finds you all doing well.  Let me take a moment to say again that I could not do any of this without your support.  Thank you for continuing to encourage me through this bucket-list-adventure of mine.  I am an amazingly fortunate person to have you in my life!

While in Bangkok last week, I re-connected with some of my former co-workers.  We laughed a lot and reminisced about our days working for the Orderly Departure Program.  What fun!

The food we ate.

Orn, Me, Ai and Yee at Eat Thai in the Central Embassy mall food court

Ruby, Me, Taew and Noi - dessert time at Anna & Charlie's Cafe

Here are the links to the restaurants in case you'd like more information:
http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/eathai-food-court.htm#
www.annacharlie.net

I am currently at my final living destination - Hua Hin:-)  I arrived late Monday afternoon and was met by David Puckett, and his friend and neighbor, Alan.  In true DP style, he invited me to have a beer to celebrate my arrival.  I love this guy!  For those who may not know, Dave was Bob's boss when we lived in Thailand 25+ years ago.  He's married to a lovely Thai woman, Aey (pronounced "A").  Aey was on a trip to visit her family, so Dave and Alan got me settled into "the condo" where I'll be staying.

"The condo" is a double condo because the landlord (a friend of Aey's), and her late husband, bought two condos and combined them.  The landlord now lives and works in Bangkok and doesn't have much time to use this condo.  It has 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, and is a short walk from the beach.   I'm so thankful to her for allowing me to stay here for a while; and also to Aey for securing it for me.  Fortune continues to shine down on me.  So...how does one person settle into something this big?  It'll be fun figuring that out!  Hopefully I'll have some visitors??!!??

Double condo - my bedroom is the balcony on the right

My bedroom

So far, the best things (besides the condo) about being here in Hua Hin are getting to spend time with Aey and David, and being able to go to the beach whenever I want.  I've never stayed at the beach for more than a week, so it will be interesting living here for 7+ months.  What I've learned so far is that mid-morning is not a good time to go to the beach unless you want to be baked.  Early morning is better, but I have this problem about getting up.  So...I've settled on going to the beach right before the sun sets.  This time seems to suit me best because you get beautiful views and wonderful breezes.

Morning beach view

Beach right before sunset (view of a man and his horse)

Life's a real beach these days! 

On the Road Again

Happy New Year!  Over the past couple of weeks, I have moved twice.  I moved out of my long-term residence into a hotel for 10 days.  And this week, I traveled from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, where I'm staying in another hotel.  

While I'm in Bangkok this time, I plan to meet up with some old friends and see a few sights.  There is so much to see and do here!

So far, I've acquainted/re-acquainted myself with the following sights – the Skytrain, Brown Sugar Jazz Pub, the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Lumpini Park, several malls and areas.  It would take a lifetime or longer to hit every nook and cranny.  The city is crammed with people, buildings, cars and stuff!  I'm tempted to buy about 50 things a day, but I manage to talk myself out of it - thank goodness!

Sky-train – what a lovely addition to this city!  It has been my main means of transportation and works amazingly well – it’s efficient, safe and nicely air-conditioned. Here's the link to the website:

http://www.bts.co.th/index_CoverPage.html

Brown Sugar Jazz Pub – http://www.brownsugarbangkok.com/ – This is not the same bar (they moved) that I sang in 25+ years ago, but it still has some very good talent.  One of the singers that I like is Natt Buntita, who made it onto The Voice Thailand.  She was singing the night that I went, along with her guitar accompanist, Junior.  She has a beautiful voice and can scat like nobody’s business.  It was well worth the harrowing taxi ride that I took to get there!  If you click on the Brown Sugar link above, you will find some You Tube videos of Natt and other singers.  Here's a picture that I took:

Natt Buntita & Junior at Brown Sugar Jazz Pub

Grand Palace –  To get to the Grand Palace, I took the sky-train to the pier, then boarded a Chao Phrya River boat for 14 baht (about 50 cents).  There are several stops.  From the Grand Palace stop, I was able to walk just a few minutes to the Grand Palace complex.  It is a large complex that includes Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha Temple).  The Emerald Buddha is Thailand's most sacred Buddha. The only unfortunate thing about my visit was that the place was crawling with hordes of tourists (mainly Chinese).  Several busloads must have been dropped off just before I went in*sigh*.  This made it difficult to maneuver, and made me wonder if famous attractions should consider having a “tour bus free” day??!!??   More information about this amazing place can be found at this link:  http://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/The-Grand-Palace--52

Grand Palace from the entrance

One nice surprise was a free ticket to enter the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles.  They had a weaving demonstration and a few giveaways.  The upstairs of this elegant building houses dresses that were worn by the Queen during several state visits.  Also housed here is an exhibition in honor of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's 60th birthday.  It includes over 200 objects that she has collected from her travels around the world.  I found this museum very interesting.  The air conditioning added to my enjoyment!

 

Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) – it is located directly behind the Grand Palace, and seemed to have fewer tour groups.  This made it very nice to walk around and sit in the gardens.
I was awestruck by the huge reclining Buddha! 

For more information and pictures, click here: http://www.bangkok.com/attraction-temple/wat-po.htm#

Lumpini Park – I have wonderful memories of going for early morning runs in this park.  As a retiree, I find it hard to get up most mornings these days, but one day I forced myself out of bed and walked to this gem.  Near the entrance, an exercise class was in full swing.  There were multitudes of different Tai Chi groups, as well as other exercising groups.  They all seemed to require that participants wear the same color t-shirt.  I didn’t see any snake charmers like I did when I lived here, but I did see quite a few Monitor Lizards.  These guys are not small! 

Monitor Lizard heading for the water

I also found the gym, swimming pool and tennis court complex.  One can obtain membership to the complex for 40 baht (about $1.20) a YEAR!  Incredible. Here's a link if you want to know more about Lumpini park:  http://www.bangkok.com/sport-parks---activities/lumpini-park.htm 

One day this week, I watched an excellent 2014 movie on Netflix entitled “Boy Meets Girl” – about a transgender woman.  This got me thinking how I haven’t yet talked about Thailand’s Lady-boy population on my blog.  I would be totally remiss if I didn’t include some information about this.  I love how amazingly integrated Lady-boys (the Thai word is Katoey – not considered a nice word) are into Thai culture.  They use the feminine ending “kha” instead of the male ending “khrap” (some gay men also use "kha").  Thais do not appear to make fun of Lady-boys – they appear to embrace them.  What a novel concept!  Here is a link about lady-boys in Thailand.  Please watch the video at the end - it's in Thai, but you should be able to understand what's going on. 

http://www.thethailandlife.com/thailand-katoey-8-ways-spot-thai-ladyboy

Here's the wiki explanation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathoey 

I'll be on the road again on Monday, when I head for my final living destination - Hua Hin.  Talk to you sometime next week!