Jamison’s Misadventures In Asia

I’m back in Thoeng for a day after being gone for more than a week.  Last Tuesday, I headed to Bangkok for a Peace Corps conference concerning our "Emergency Action Plan".  I took the overnight bus on Tuesday night and arrived in BKK at 5 a.m., having slept little more than an hour.  These buses are fairly comfortable, but between karaoke dvd’s being played at a ridiculous volume, midnight noodle stops, and the bus company feeling the need to wake us up with music one hour before we arrive at our stop, it can be very difficult to sleep.  So I arrived in BKK on Wednesday feeling a little less than chipper.  It was nice to see some other PCV’s, but Bangkok is never kind on the wallet, no matter how hard one tries. 

On Thursday, I spent the day with Chaturon, and we had lunch and went shopping.  It was good to see my old language instructor, and I now refer to him as ‘Nong Chatty’ (meaning little brother Chatty) instead of the formal and respectful ‘Ajaan Chaturon’ (since he was my teacher).  More often though, I refer to him using vulgarities and derogatory terms, because he likes to swear in English and doesn’t mind my swearing at him.  This raises more than a few eyebrows when shopping at a mall filled with foreigners. 

Thursday night was spent on a bus once again, and I arrived in Thoeng early Friday morning.  I spent a couple hours running errands and packing clothes before I headed to Mae Jan, a town in the northern part of Chiang Rai Province.  I went to Mae Jan to help pack up the belongings of a fellow volunteer who is leaving Thailand due to the loss of both her father and her boyfriend inside of a three week period.  It was a somber stop in my week of travelling. 

On Saturday, I stopped for the night in Chiang Mai, on my way to Tak to help fellow PCV Mike run a teachers’ training.  I met up with my friend Ryan, and another friend, Geneva, showed up in the evening.  Nothing too exciting to report, but my appreciation for Chiang Mai is even greater in contrast to my Bangkok visit earlier in the week.  Also, we had our first bloody mary’s in Thailand, adding tabasco and pepper to tomato juice for the mixer.  Late Saturday night, Ryan and I almost debuted our band, "Tweezer" (short for Thai Weezer), but Ryan couldn’t feel his fingers and was unable to play the intro to "My Name is Jonas". 

On Sunday, I headed to Tak and was impressed by what is Thailand’s hottest province.  Mike lives in the Amphur Muang (provincial center) of Tak, which is located along banks of the large Ping River.  Hills and mountains lie to the west, offering a dramatic sunset looking over the river.  The teacher training was hard work, but we enjoyed ourselves.  We were treated very well, given hotel rooms, and taken to nice meals.  It was a vacation in some senses, but the three days there certainly carried a bit of stress as well.   Yesterday I returned to Thoeng, exhausted from a day on the bus and a week of constant travel.  Tomorrow I head to the beach with my Tessaban (Educational District Office).  Happy Cinco de Mayo. 

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