Get On The Bus
Last week I went on a four day trip (a third of which was spent on a bus) with my Educational Office. This type of trip is called "du ngan", which translates to "watch work", and we did visit two Educational offices while on our trip–one was conveniently located near the beach, the other near a scenic river.
We left at 5pm on Saturday and many of my co-workers didn’t wait to get on the bus to start their drinking–I was a minority in my decision not to drink on the ride. As soon as we boarded the bus, the karaoke started. Over the past several months, as I have learned about Thailand and the lives of Thai people, I have arrived at far more questions than answers, but there is one thing I can say with certainty: Thai people should not be allowed to operate equipment of amplification. They simply abuse it: not setting p.a.’s, stereos, or televisions on reasonable volume levels; not understanding that when using a microphone, one need not yell; and of course, the karaoke. So a good portion of my ride to Phetchburi province was spent wearing very large headphones to avoid the aural assault of my co-workers singing and telling jokes on the industry standard Thai bus, full with p.a. and karaoke. When I bought the Sony knock-off headphones in Bangkok two weeks ago, I was feeling a little bit of buyer’s remorse, but now, several busrides later, I consider the purchase one of my wisest investments.
The busride down more or less set the tone for the trip. There was plenty of drinking and plenty of karaoke. I dabbled in both but kept things mellow. The beach wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was nice to get in the water. The river trip was certainly enjoyable. When I was told that we would be spending the night on a raft, floating down a river in Kanchanaburi province, images of a Huck Finn style raft made of bamboo came to mind. I have seen pictures of such rafts while in Thailand, so my expectations were not unfounded. However, if there is one thing to avoid while in Thailand, it is expectations, and for good reason. When we arrived at the river in Kanchanaburi, floating shacks lined the banks. I soon realized that all of these shacks were actually rafts, and there were at least fifty of them. The raft was actually two barges tied together. One barge was the sleeping area, consisting of a two level hut with straw mats on the floors. The other barge was a dining area, that doubled as a dance floor with lights and a wall of speakers. After dinner, we tied up on a bank along with 8 or 9 other barges, and the party began. Music played into the wee hours, and my Thai co-workers were not shy in showing off their unimpressive dancing prowess. It was a great time. The rest of the trip consisted mostly of a busride. Luckily the audio/video system broke, and we travelled home in peace.
Which brings me to this week, the first week of school. Things are going well, and it’s nice to be busy. I will be celebrating the end of my first week of teaching by travelling to the Island of Ko Samet.
