Tuk-tuk and elephant rides (or, my other car is a tuk-tuk)

My travelling has brought me on to Chiang Mai, another city in Thailand, this one up in the mountains. Despite the lack of beaches and banana pancakes, Chiang Mai is turning out to be as cool (if not better) than Kamala Beach. I spent the day at a used book store and went to a hoagie place for lunch. There is a Burger King, Dairy Queen and even an Auntie Anne's pretzels place within walking distance of my hotel, and a great Night Bazaar and other places to shop and be a tourist within a quick tuk-tuk ride. One thing that's common between Phuket Island and Chiang Mai is the cheep and accessible public transportation. Mo-peds abound and also tuk-tuks, these little red, truck/go-cart taxis that you pile into the back of and pay 15 baht (30 cents?) to get anywhere across town. Unfortunately, as a first-year teacher, my company says no mo-ped renting (which I can understand--the traffic is a little nuts, and they drive on the wrong side of the road over here), but I'm content with the tuk-tuk. Tonight I'm planning to see the Narnia movie and tomorrow, an elephant safari ride through the jungle during the day and mini-golf at night. How's that for vacation? Conference starts Thursday but until then it's more of the same. Miss you all; say hi to home for me.

Long live the king

So it's interesting being here in Thailand. It's an Asian country, for sure, but a really different place than China. First of all, it's an open country--so I can see this blog--which is nice for a change. For example, I see that I uploaded that last picture sideways. For those of you viewing this page from a desktop computer, please tilt your head; if you're on a laptop, try turning the computer. (I'd change it but I'm living without iPhoto and my iBook for these few weeks. The Thai language is also really different. I'm starting to get to the point where Chinese doesn't sound so foreign (some I even understand), so to come to a new place with all new tones and sounds is weird. However/fortunately, English is more common here then in the Big Rice Paddy up North, so it's a lot easier to get around here despite my minimal Chinese-speaking abilities. Thai has a really island-y sound to my American ears, which is a nice change from the harsh tones and Beijing "huar" of the Mandarin I live in.

Thailand supposedly has the friendliest people on earth, and at first I was really skeptical. In China if someone's friendly they're trying to sell you something--and they're not going to give up easily. I've gotten good at avoiding eye contact, and I find myself doing that here--though my guard's beginning to come down. Like I alluded to earlier, I've made friends with the banana pancake man as well as two different internet cafe ladies, and our hotel staff. They like to talk and I think it's genuine. I'm giving them business regardless :) Thailand also is a real live monarchy, and pictures of the king are in just about every store. They love the king here--in movie theaters before a show begins everyone stands to honor him while the national anthem is played--and it's neat to be in a place like that. You don't talk bad about the king here. I was joking with the guys that I'd like to marry a Thai princess and be the King of Thailand someday, but if I said that to a Thai person they'd be offended.

There are certainly bad things about Thailand, too--specifically the view of sex in the culture--Thailand's number one business is sex tourism. Prostitution is legal and encouraged, and it's everywhere. We came to a quieter beach on purpose, but everywhere you look you see old European men and young Thai women. At first I just ignored it (as best I could), but as I've been here longer it bugs me more and more. Likewise, "lady-men" are everywhere--men who become women for one reason or another--and it's a common Phuket thing to go see a song and dance sort of show starring the famous lady-men. It's sad to see such a beautiful place and to meet such friendly people, all the time knowing that all around me that sort of thing is going on.

In the end I'm just reminded that sin is everywhere, and it's only by the grace of our Father--and nothing in me--that keeps me from exactly the same thing. Nations and people are fallen, and it's for that reason I'm in Asia at all, because He desires to see all nations and all people come under His Kingdom. In a land where the king is loved but sin is embraced you see the need for the King of Kings to reign in all our hearts. Long live that King.

Paradise?

Life at Kamala Beach continues to be pretty rough. This morning I searched for a good 30 minutes for the banana pancake man and never found him--a bummer indeed, those pancakes are amazing. The internet cafe lady is friends with him though, so she just gave him a call--when I'm done here I'll be eating one, or two. I've spent the last couple days getting a slight tan line (it's tough with all that sunblock I'm piling on, mom) and getting to know the delicious Thai dishes readily available beachside. Friday we're set to go on an all-day snorkelling trip to an island to the south, and until then more of the same: Sand, surf, and banana pancakes. Tomorrow I think I'll mix it up and get a foot instead of a head massage. Decisions, decisions.

All this to say I'm enjoying myself and getting plenty of seafood to eat and time alone with my book (Richard Adams' "Watership Down"). I never thought I'd love a book about bunnies or a week in January quite so much. Must be those banana pancakes.

Beach report

Well folks, it's 85 degrees and just a little cloudy here at Kamala Beach on Phuket Island--just 7 degrees north of the equator on the Andaman Sea. I arrived last night with four of my buddies and we found a place on the beach for $8 a night. We'll be here for the week, and I promise pictures are on their way soon. Just wanted to let you all know I'm safe and warm (really warm) and am celebrating the Steelers victory with fresh fruit, Thai food, snorkelling, and working on my January tan. Phuket is one of the areas hit the hardest by the tsunami in December 2004 and you can still see some of the damage caused by the deadly waves. A lot though is rebuilt and we're doing our best to keep that economy on its back-upward trend--by renting jet skis and riding elephants, of course.

By the way, I met a Steelers fan on the plane from Beijing to Bangkok and let him know we'd won--pretty cool news to pass on. I brought some more pictures of dad's visit to post as well, so look for all that later this week, all brought to you by the internet cafes of Thailand.

Two Dodds in China

Dad's here, and here are some of the first pictures from his trip. I met him at the airport no problem (he wasn't even that jet-lagged) and since then we've attended a Chinese service Sunday morning, seen Tian An Men Square (and the outside of the Forbidden City--ironically it was closed), visited the Summer Palace, met my students at the Kindergarten, and Dad's successfully eaten a meal using only chopsticks. I think he's been surprised by what he's seen, and it's been good to have him here. There's lots more to come, but here's a start.







By the way, Dad brought my #7 Roethlisberger jersey with him and I've been wearing it today in celebration. We were excited (and admittedly surprised) to wake up this morning and see that we'd won. Sounds like we missed quite a game. Scott, how about a Carolina-Pittsburgh Super Bowl? Go Steelers!

Me & Ling Ling

Really, her name is Ling Ling.

Countdown

Five days of classes left and six until Dad sets foot in Beijing. I'm excited for a lot of things: for classes to be done and a six-week break to begin, to see Dad for the first time in 5 months, and to see China new again through his eyes. I've been thinking recently about how normal the city and culture around me feel and remembering how foreign they felt five months back. Sometimes I'm shocked back into remembering how strange it all really is, and I think taking Dad around will do that a lot for me. I'm curious to see Beijing through his eyes, to see what surprises him and remember what surprised me. I'm curious to see how he does with chopsticks and what it's like spending 6 days in China as opposed to 5 months. I know it'll be different. He probably will understand better why it's tough to explain exactly what this place is like, and it'll be cool to share that with him--though he won't see and experience everything I have, it'll be some at least. I've thought all year that the toughest part of being here in China and doing all these great things is that my friends and family can't share in it--and it's tough for me really to just explain it. I'm excited for Dad to see it.

Here's a quick rundown of our plans for the week: Saturday, Dad arrives, jet-lagged and probably ready for some sleep. I'll keep him up as late as I can (for the jet lag thing). Sunday we'll visit a Chinese church in the morning and the Forbidden City and Tian An Men in the afternoon. Monday we'll see my Kindergarten classes and the Summer Palace. Tuesday is our Great Wall day, Wednesday more sight-seeing and a show at the Loa Shi Tea House at night. Thursday we'll finish up any Beijing stuff, maybe do some shopping for folks at home, and then Friday he's off. Not long, but better than nothing. Mostly it'll just be good to catch up.

So (to explain my excitement), this is my first real break since October. I've had a few odd days off here and there, but the big holiday here in China is, of course, the Chinese New Year (based on the lunar calendar) which comes in late January. As a result, I have about six weeks off from January 14 to February 27. The first week I'll spend with Dad of course, and then I'll be leaving for the beaches of Phuket in sunny Thailand. I'll spend a week there and then move on to Chiang Mai, a city in the north of Thailand, up in the mountains, for my company's annual retreat. We'll be there for classes, meetings, worship and relaxation. My plans are to ride an elephant or two, get a tan (the temperature oughta be in the 80s), catch up on my reading and cheer the Steelers to the Super Bowl from Southeast Asia. Super Bowl XL will be the first football I've seen all fall or winter. Then it's back to Beijing for another week off and then back to classes with Spring Training just a week away.

Hope you're all well, and here we go Steelers.

Chairskating and the W.C.

After the hutong tour, we walked to Bei Hai Gongyuan (Bei Hai Park) where we watched some ice skating. First, you can see the traditional skaters, and then the folks on chairs--hopefully you can make it out okay--it was a sight. They had these special little chairs for rent (or maybe they were just normal chairs) that the chairskaters pushed around on the ice using ski pole-like things. The coolest was when people would make a big chain of them and snake around the frozen lake. After watching for a while we went to Starbucks to warm up and then I found the W.C. using the famous internationally-recognized hand signal. Try it for yourself whenever you're abroad.

Hutong sights

Happy New Year, everyone! Guess I haven't said that yet... it's good to be in 2006, or as my kiddos keep telling me: "er ling ling liu" (2-0-0-6 in Chinese). On Tuesday of this week (we had two days off for the solar New Year), Dave, Ryan, myself and three American teachers living in South Korea visiting Beijing went on a "hutong tour" in the city. A hutong is a traditional Chinese house with the thatched roof and courtyards and all (sort of what you picture) and the tour is through one of these old neighborhoods. We rode in pedaled rickshaws through the streets, and though we didn't pay extra to see the inside of anything, it was an interesting trip nonetheless. These are some of the sites from riding and walking through the neighborhood (some of which obviously isn't so old anymore).

Does Mr. Face have a Winter Beard?

One of the most successful things I've done in the classroom this year is this thing I call "Mr. Face." It's a laminated head with removable face parts that the kids go ga-ga over anytime I pull it out of my bag. They love putting the eyes, for example, where the ears go and making it frown and stuff like that. I let them, of course, and play dumb. Then the other kids start laughing and saying "Mr. Jon!" and we get it all right eventually. It's fun, basically.

Well, today, we're reviewing body and face parts, and we get through the basics: eyes, ears, nose, mouth... when I realize the kids are pre-occupied with their chins, pointing and scratching and so on. They want to know the word for "beard," I realize, as Wendy does a dead-pan impression of the Peking Opera "lao ren" (old man) with the long, white beard... think the Pai Mei flick if you've seen Kill Bill 2.

I've taught you kids well, I think, and then I teach them the word. Just the basics: eyes, ears, nose, mouth... and Winter Beard.