Blogs from Eastern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 15

It is refreshing to be in a country where a leader is seemingly universally loved and admired, though I suppose that the King’s ceremonial post saves him from the difficult and sometimes unpopular political and economic decisions (and accompanying vitriol) that the prime minister faces. The absolute monarchy was abolished in Thailand in the mid 1930s, with the abdication of King Rama VII.* Since then, then king has been the figurehead and ceremonial master of the constitutional monarchy, keeper of culture and tradition and a Buddhist (this is required). The king can, however, intercede at times into the arena of politics when there is trouble; for example, the king brought the two warring factions together after the military coup in 1992 in order to help facilitate an end to the violence. I went to my first ... read more

Ko Phangan We arrived at Ko Phangan at the beach resort hostel where our room has turned out to be the best room I think we have had so far. It is about 30 seconds from the beach and I do mean 30 seconds. We have arrived on Christmas eve very tired after a 28 hour trip just to here here but we all deiced to head down to the full moon party which is at Hat Rin Nai about 15 min taxi from where we are staying. For a full moon party there did not seem to be many people about but there was a lot going on, them seem to have a fetish here with fire, there was Limbo fire, Skipping rope fire and just normal throw fire about where everyone is welcome to ... read more

Ko Kut is a small, remote island on the way to southern Cambodia. A few years ago I took the same trip headed to Sihounukville in the extreme south of Cambodia. Ko Kut is in Thailand but perhaps as far as one can travel and still be in the country. We boarded the same enclosed, cigar shaped boat as I had done a few years before, which basically forces its way through the seas with the water pretty well up to the windows; this for several hours. Arriving in Ko Kut we took about an hour by "rote duey san" i.e. small passenger truck to our little hut by the sea. The island is remote and shows no indications of modern tourist conveniences. ... read more

I am going back in time now to write retroactively about the beginning of this adventure. It all began in Ban Phe, which is on the coast on the Gulf of Thailand. Despite the fact that not that much time has elapsed since I arrived (about 2 months), it is already difficult to remember my first impressions and the “important things.” Bear with me. . . Ban Phe is the access port to a backpacker-haven of an island called Ko (or Koh, depending where you look) Samet, where we spent the first two weekends during our training. I came here under the auspices of the “Special Thailand Project” (STP) through an organization called TEFL International. I learned about this opportunity on Idealist.org, just before my trip this month-long trip this summer to Thailand with Fiona and ... read more

I met Morgan when we lived in Ban Phe since she was in the TEFL group before us that overlapped at Condochain for a couple weeks. Morgan is teaching in Sri Racha, which is about half an hour from Chonburi by bus. It was decided that I would meet up with her for dinner and to see the Loy Krathong festivities in Sri Racha because there is a pretty harbor there. I got to Sri Racha and was amazed at the difference in our cities. Sri Racha has a proper (clean!) downtown area, with actual restaurants and bars, a green park with pathways, and a harbor. I was immediately jealous! I was also glad to know that there was an escape from Chonburi not too far away. After dinner, we walked toward the pier. There were ... read more