The East

This should really be before the Leaving Prangku entry as I went to the East of Thailand with the Mayor of PK, many of his staff and their families and some of the teachers from the school. But, as it is too much work to change it now, here it is, out of order.

The trip to the east was somewhere between Great Fun and Hell!

We started on Monday night. All of us (not quite 50 people) loading into a double-decker, air-con bus. And the Karaoke started. At full volume! The karaoke continued (always at volumes that made my bones, and the organs in my chest, vibrate) every time we got in the bus! (which was from about 8 or 9am until 4 or 5pm, Sometimes later, for 4 days!) I have a great appreciation for Thai music (most of it is love songs as far as I can tell). And some of the singers had wonderful voices. But I'm not sure, though, if the bus ride increased or decreased my tolerance level.

The East of Thailand (which is actually south of Issan) is very different from where I had been living. There are much more hills, for one thing. And the land is much greener. I tried taking photos from the bus, but they didn't work.

Because it was a tour hosted by the Mayor for the workers in the Municipality, it was something of a working tour. A "bus-man's holiday" I believe is the phrase. Everywhere we went we were greeted by the local "head of state" and shown some of the highlights of their community. Lots of it is very cool and I wish I understood more Thai to understand what they were doing. A lot of the projects we saw were environmentally based. Land reclamation and restoration of habitat along water ways especially. Very cool! We also visited a local mine. A strip mine that reminded me of some of the mines we visited on College Geology Department field trips. (I didn't manage to collect any samples, but did take lots of photos!)

We traveled along the coast, more or less. Stopping at three resorts. I went wading three times. And I got to see lots of things that most tourists don't get to see -- the mines for instance. And the Mangrove forest. And fish hatcheries. And I missed most of the tourist things. Visiting Pattaya, for instance, all I did was wade (and get soaked!) and then off we went to hang out at the house of the cousin of one of the men on the trip. -- Pattaya, for those who don't know, is the sex capital of Thailand. Lots of Farang men go there to "meet" Thai women. It reminded me a lot of Las Vegas -- about 30 or 40 years ago (not that I was there 30+ years ago, but...). It has a strip. Lots of neon lights. Dancing girls. Endless buffets. -- The dinner at the cousin's house was great fun. Lots of food. And singing. And drinking. And general good cheer! The tradition in Thailand, I was told, is that once you start drinking, you don't really stop. Drinks are, in my experience, a cap-full of Thai whiskey in a glass of ice and soda water. So it takes a while to get a good buzz going, but you can maintain it for hours. (And the Thai people do. Once they get drunk, they stay drunk for days! Literally. They started drinking on Tuesday afternoon and continued drinking, all day and all night, until I left them on Friday night.) And dehydration isn't so much of an issue because of all the water and ice. No one's glass is ever allowed to be empty so it is a good steady, low grade, buzz. Good stuff.

The best part, though, was hanging out on the beach. I have never been to the tropics and was amazed that the ocean water is WARM! its like bath water! I come from a country where all of the water is cold. Even Lake Michigan is cold -- though I have been delighted by how "warm" it gets in October. But here, I went wading in the water, expecting it to chill my feel and cool me down. But no. It is Warm! Refreshing, but warm! I can't quite rap my mind around it. Even now. Warm ocean water! Amazing!