Opening The Blog and Podcast to Sponsors

Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am pleased to announce the opening of the althaitrip blog and podcast to sponsors. If you have an online business, I can post an ad on the right side of the blog (or make a special spot for you if you like) or announce your business on each podcast (I will make it sound good, I promise). Please post in the comments section or email me at althaitrippodblog@gmail.com for details.

For anyone else, I will, for the small fee of $5 per message, announce a shout out on the althaitrip.blogspot.com blog or podcast. I will say whatever you want as long as it does not contain profanity or things that are obviously offensive.

Help this guy upgrade equipment a small part at a time (and help to cover the near-approaching necessity to use an online subscription service for the podcast).

A Few Pictures. That's all. No pomp. No Circumstance (I think I butchered that).

I figured that I would take a few minutes to post some photos on the blog here. Tommorrow Diep and Ms. Panom (or PBeem - her nickname is not Nut, sorry), will be taking me to "The Rose Garden." There is an elephant show as well as a lot of other things.

There may be some pictures that have to do with each other (wouldn't that be new).

No more fun talk. Let's get down to viweing pleasure.

The "Pata" or Central Mall. It's Big. It's Legit.

They knew I was coming

OSHA would have a fit

Suprisingly, no loss of electricity yet. I wonder how on earth they add to this. I don't have pictures of it, but sometimes these are bundled together with some kind of metal wire and lashed to metal handrails. If you don't watch where you are walking, sometimes an electrical line will brush your head. It's a scary thing.

The moon looked cool as I got off of the bus one day. I think this picture is framed nicely, eh?

Valentines was celebrated here. I cleaned up in class. Still waiting to eat that Snickers.

Pbeem and Diep took me down Utthayan Road. I will do some more research on this road, but it was really cool.

The road was lined with these awesome light fixtures. It was cool seeing them all in a road.

a cool house on that road

There was a market going on there, complete with Thai Boxing (yeah, I wanted to see, but was not about to take the bus BACK out there at night). It looked to me like the Jockey Lot, mostly because every other little market springs up near bigger buildings, and this one was as close to middle of nowhere as it gets. in Nakhom Pathom.

So that's it. No more for now. Hope that these pictures enriched your lives tenfold.

P.S. I figured out how to make pictures better. Andrew for the Win!

the first installment of : Bangkok: some of the nicest grafitti around

As suggested by Waymon Cassell, I will be doing a somewhat regular post featuring a bunch of the street art (or graffiti) in Bangkok. These guys are really great; they use stencils.

It certainly beats some of the less than aesthetically pleasing messes found all over our places back in the states. Either you like them, or you don't. I do.

Found on the back side of a road sign over the Phra Pinklao bridge

Our favorite villian resides on a communications box on the Phra Pinklao

So, not really grafitti, but I like the unobtrusive way that they posted their address. It's there if you need to see it, but doesn't stand out obnoxiously.

new podcast episode.

next podcast episode.
It should update on Itunes soon, but if you are itching to hear the stuff, then here it is.

I have added some new little features, which should make it a bit more professional sounding.

My exciting day

Yesterday, I administered my first quiz. I have to work on my methods.

On the way home, I can either stop in Salaya and pick up a van, which will take me directly to the "central" (the giant mall to which I have alluded before), or I can go to Saphan Krungthorn on the 515 bus and pick up the 28.

Yesterday, I was hungry when I got off (I am trying to get my portions away from my usual giant meal to a more Thai-like portion), so I walked around one of the billion street market type areas. I will have to take more pictures of these; it's little cart after little cart of people cooking all manner of things; not just meat on a stick. You can get noodle bowls, fried chicken, fresh bread, ice cream, or anything that can be cooked in a wok.

It was definitely an enjoyable experience walking around; I picked up some Bi Bi Goa (yes, I ruined the word; it sounded like bar b q to me but was pork and some dumplings and veg over noodles with some broth), and was on my way to the van stop when I realized; I had no clue where the stinkin vans were! After walking a bit, I stopped to ask some students (they all wear uniforms, so they are easy to pick out - and speak pretty good english). I think that they told me to take the 542 bus, but i took the 547!

Not long in, I was seeing things that I had not seen before (although I was glad to have seen them), and asked the bus attendant. She promptly shooed me off the bus.

I have to say that I do love Thailand for this reason if for no other one.
When I asked one person how on earth to get to pin klao, the, y called someone for help. Then someone else came over. Pretty soon, there were 5 people debating how to get back. They even wrote (in thai and english) the name of the van.

By this time it was dark, which doesn't bother me (I am just usually pooped when I get home - I will be staying up later now that I am more settled), and I was out by the central mall.

I am very thankful to have been provided a job in a place where everyone is so helpful and friendly. I would not have gotten home on my own. The Thai people are wonderful.

Now let me say that during the day the place is full of food carts and street vendors and people eating everywhere.

At night, it's incredible how many people and how much food and how much stuff is happening there. It was awesome.

I had, however, resolved to wait on Waymon for that stuff, so I moved on (plus, I had some lukewarm dinner to nuke).

I do not have a camera that does good night pictures; maybe that will be something I procure soon. This place is completely different at night!

Anyway, allow me to post the pictures of dinner

If you buy stuff at the market, they will either put it into a bowl or plate (not disposeable; it's assumed that they wash them; very environmentally friendly) or into plastic bags. When they put it into plastic bags, it's like our sandwich bags at home, but they just rubber band the top and somehow leave a bunch of air in the bag. It looks like when you buy goldfish at the store! I think it's a good system. Those plastic bags will take much less space than styrofoam in the landfill.

it's more attractive when you unpack it.





Also, I will provide some bonus pictures from my bus stop yesterday. I will definitely get some more artistic ones sometime, but these give you an idea.

Front gate.

my bus stop. It looks far more "country" than it actually is.

This is the end of the line. It is easy for me to keep track. BTW the last stop is called Sood Sai. I tell them that, and then it costs 21 baht!

The first picture, and the most boring of all

I was grading papers, and realized that I was the last one in my part of the office, so I wanted to upload some pics of my work space.

So this is my little slice of heaven. Aside from the president, I am one of the few not working in a cubicle in a big room- nice, huh?

Diep made my name tag with my facebook picture - very nice.

I asked where I could print stuff, and the next thing I know, they are unplugging the big and fast printer from the main room, and bringing it back here. wow.

I have drawers and cabinets that I can lock. There is a kitchenette with private bathroom just next to my desk (the beige door on the lime green wall).

I am a fortunate dude for sure.

Back to grading papers!

Danger Will Robinson!

So I had to go to the hospital yesterday.
I didn't feel bad. I didn't think that anything was wrong....
And nothing was.
It seems that in order to get a work permit, you have to be certified by a doctor that you are free from syphillis, leprocy, methamphetamines, alcoholism, and an assortment of other issues. I hope that the title and opening sentence were scary enough for you!

That said, a blood test, pee test, chest xray, and general checkup only cost 480 baht. That's $16 for those of you who are currency illiterate. The chest x ray was only $5.

The government must really put a lot of subsidy into the healthcare.

The Golden Medical Center is very nice, with wide atriums and an open floor plan (like most Thai buildings). The halls are huge, and the cafeteria was excellent.

I appreciate Nok, Nut, and Diep (everyone uses nicknames here, btw) for coming with me to translate and get me around.

We also had lunch today. Nut (Diep's wife), went to the Salaya market - which I hope to do soon - to get us all lunch. I had a green curry with fish. It was very good, but a bit spicy (yeah, Thais like it hot). In case you aren't aware - tiny green peppers are a no go for our western palates. They also brought me some boiled chicken (sliced) over white rice. It was very good, and I appreciate their bringing Nok and I lunch.

A quick note about Nut and Diep; they have been extremely helpful in making me feel welcome, as well as taking care of me. Yesterday, they took me home [saving me about an hour of commute and 31 baht - it was not even close to being on the way home] after picking up their two daughters ("Good" 20 months and "Grace" 6 yrs). They are quite the nice family. They also gave me some orange juice for my fridge (it's the good stuff - not the walmart gallon kind; the kind that costs like 8 bucks for a half gallon); delicious.Today everyone wore pink polo shirts (except me); when I came into the office (I share it with them both), Diep had one that he had purchased for me. How thoughtful.

Nok has still been very helpful as well; she is the one that they are yelling at because my paperwork isn't finished. Although I didn't see her today (except at lunch), she has been very helpful. Without her, I couldn't get home!!!

I also taught my first class yesterday. I was very nervous to start, but most of my classes involve the students talking amongst themselves, so it was easy. Taught two more today - still not bad. I may be getting better at this.

Get internet at the condo, and I'll be set (no more getting to school at 6 am - working with only the grounds crew and bugs to keep me company).

Otherwise, I am getting settled, and getting a bit more confident in my Thai - once I learn numbers, I can go and shop in the markets!

That's all for now. Maybe tonight, I will type up some more and present it to you tomorrow morning.

I am in Bangkok. It's a cool place. Read some about it.

I wrote this on Saturday at about four in the morning (my sleep is still funky). I then spent the better part of Sunday trying to locate wifi. Unsuccessful, I left the apartment at about 4 this morning. Didn't know that the busses don't run until 5! That said, I got some correcting done.

I will teach my first class at eight this morning, so being at school by 5 45 was a good thing.

Without further rambling, here is the post.

I Flew, if Not in a Superman-Esque Way


Well ladies and gentlemen (and dudes that may not qualify as gentlemen),
I am now in Thailand, the land of smiles. The trip took somewhere near 39 hours (once you count the time difference). The long haul was the seventeen hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong – on the whole, a nice leg.
The food was impressive on the whole trip – Cathay pacific served some excellent Asian dishes. My main meal was prosciutto with melon and tomato, A really good roll, Chicken with sweet tomato sauce, egg fried rice, mixed veg, Milano cookies, and Haagen Daas vanilla. Yes, I said Haagen Daas. They also brought plenty of tea around.
The Hong Kong airport was pretty cool – the terminals seemed to be on two floors. I was on the top floor, allowing me to see the tall ceiling. I thought it was really cool. There was a lot of food there, and I had some excellent snacks (except for this tea drink that I bought- the lychees tasted odd). I also saw a restaurant across the way that I mistook for saying “The Spagetti Warehouse.” For most of you, that is not important, but my family gets it.
I arrived at around 1:15 am Bangkok time, and was very impressed with the efficiency that they had for getting us processed. Suvarbhumi airport is very new, and it shows.
Professor Supatra and her neice came to pick me up, which was very nice. She is such a nice lady- always smiling and being very helpful.
The drive through the city that morning was very cool – we drove past the UN building, Parliament, Palace, and her school (RMUTP – not the same one at which I will teach. I was amazed that people were still out and about at that time – and they didn’t appear to be partying. I was also amazed at the fact that it was probably 85 degrees and 125% humidity (I am already somewhat used to it).
The next morning (at 8 am – yeah, I slept about an hour and a half due to waking up early to get ready), Supatra brought me breakfast (ham and cheese croissant sandwich and milk from Seven Eleven – hit the spot for sure), and introduced me to Nok.
Nok has been my “guide” for the trip. Her English is very good and she lived right down the street from me, so she was roped into showing me around. My first day, she was with me the whole time – translating and showing me where things are. She is amazing in that, while she is an unassuming lady, she can be very authoritative when necessary. She has shown me two different ways to get to school and back on the public transportation system, as well as show me where I can buy my food and necessities. Her help has been quite invaluable.
My school is a pretty cool place. I like the fact that everything is open to the outside – the offices open toward an inner courtyard (a pretty nice one at that), and my classrooms have hallways open to the outside (although being 8 stories up with the wind is kind of disconcerting). My students are very nice, but I will certainly have to speak slowly. I was told that they learn English in Primary School, but often forget rules once they get to college. Their English is about as good as my Spanish.
The two people that will be in charge of my teaching are Nut and Diep. Nut is Diep’s wife, and they are both very nice. Diep showed me how to use the grade posting system, as well as provided me with a list of the students’ names “Romanized” ( put into letters that would allow for an English speaker to sound them out). They also set up a desk for me (Diep made me a name label for my desk with my Facebook photo) in the Business “Faculty” (the “Faculty” here refers to the Business department) for me to prepare my classes. Otherwise I have an office that I share with Paul and Ryan (Ryan is English, but has been in Thailand for a while now- knows Thai very well and has a Cambodian fiancée). Overall, pretty sweet digs.
I am sorry, but I will not have pictures for quite some time, as I don’t want to look like a tourist – taking pictures while I am not yet established in my classes.
About life at home these first two days: There has not been much time!
On Thursday night, I pretty much showered, worked out a little (yes, there is a fitness center here – a slight bit more information will be provided in a few), and passed out. Last night, I walked down the street to an outside market. Until I can speak more Thai, however, I don’t want to spend too much time walking around those, as I will get charged more than Thai people. I walked through, and resolved to only buy from places with posted prices (even though names were written in Thai), but most of the stuff that I wanted was without prices. It was a nice excursion, after which I showered and passed out.
The condo is very nice. It has a living room, kitchenette (I say ette, because there is no stove- there is a microwave, electric wok, and a big fridge). The bathroom is very snappy (roomy shower), and a bedroom (with a big bed). The condo is nice, with a keycard entry and workout room (very nice, two benches, some dumbbells [only go to forty pounds, bummer], some treadmills, bikes, an elliptical machine, and a multi-bench (flys, lat bar, and a pull cord from the bottom). Overall, it’s quite the nice place. I have the address… written in Thai. I will work on that.
The commute to and from work is somewhat time-consuming. It can take about 1h 15min depending on how you go. The air-conditioned busses are 11 baht (the exchange rate is 30 baht to the dollar), the un air-conditioned busses are 8 baht, and the “express vans” that hold about 15 people and go from only one point to another (much faster) are 20 baht (they are air-conditioned). There are other forms of transit –tuk tuks, taxis, Glorified flatbed trucks with rails and wooden benches bolted down, and moped taxis (for the very coragous). Traffic here reminds me of New York – very congested – except that people here kind of just fill in space wherever they can. I have seen (in my two days) mopeds zip between two buses that are closing on each other, buses get into spaces that no vehicle should fit into, and more near collisions than one cares to think about (I am in these vehicles, you see). It is impressive how the people here can maintain about 3 inches of separation with their vehicles.
I will provide a quick note about busses. If you are to travel here, be prepared for the busses. Unless a lot of people are getting on, they don’t stop all the way. Getting off is like getting off of a moving walkway (like the airport, but with curbs and dangerous things), and getting on is an adventure. If they stop, then as soon as your weight in in the bus, it is moving. What is impressive, however, are the “attendants” who walk around an collect the fares. They stand the entire time, without using any kind of handrail or anything. You can, however, let them know which stop you want and they will give you a heads up.

I believe that this wraps up the post. It was long. Thailand is a very interesting place, and I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to get here. Thanks to all of those who helped me get here, and as always prayers are appreciated.
If you want any additional information, then ask! Comment, and at some point I will be able to clear some things up.
Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful period of time (I don’t know when you are reading all of this).