tomorrow, i go scuba diving in koh tao with charles. we're going to get our PADI licenses. so like many farang girls in bangkok, i went to go get a wax.
it's only been my second time but i stuck to the place erin took me to the first time. i always try to lessen the uncomfortable situation by conversating with the person. they're always really nice. very attractive thai girls from the north and northeast. umm. i wonder why, right?
it gets me thinking. most prostitutes in bangkok are trafficked from the north and northeast. i wonder, what is better (or worst): being a prostitute in bangkok and servicing men OR working in a waxing salon and servicing women.
then i got to thinking again. are those stories about bangkok true? can you walk into a massage place to get a massage then 30 minutes later have the option of "getting something a little more"? i'm always scared to walk into certain bars, resturants, and massage parlors because of that. then, it made me wonder if my really nice and clean waxing salon does that also..
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
"Reagan is rightfully seen nowadays as one of the best American Presidents"
sometimes, i think professors are idiots.
the above quote is from my professor in my cold war class. after an entire semester, i've learned to tolerate his stupid opinionated lectures. he'll stand there and compliment reagan and bush senior while at the same time pointing out carter's inexperience with foreign policy, roosevelt's affair with another woman, etc etc.
the sad thing is that the thai students who take his class will probably only ever be taught american government and politics from this man. as if thai people weren't extremely conservative already. now, they're being taught what "most americans" believe in . . but not really.
i always become puzzled when professors are conservative. ive always had the notion that the more education you undergo, the more progressive you will be. i guess its a nice change. my cold war professor is getting his phd in economics and my cool ass british government professor is a sociologist by training and marxist by life.
[to be continued]
the above quote is from my professor in my cold war class. after an entire semester, i've learned to tolerate his stupid opinionated lectures. he'll stand there and compliment reagan and bush senior while at the same time pointing out carter's inexperience with foreign policy, roosevelt's affair with another woman, etc etc.
the sad thing is that the thai students who take his class will probably only ever be taught american government and politics from this man. as if thai people weren't extremely conservative already. now, they're being taught what "most americans" believe in . . but not really.
i always become puzzled when professors are conservative. ive always had the notion that the more education you undergo, the more progressive you will be. i guess its a nice change. my cold war professor is getting his phd in economics and my cool ass british government professor is a sociologist by training and marxist by life.
vaios and macs in siam square
today i went to go look for more apartments. i found one i like. and it's three bts stations away from siam square. which is wonderful. i love it. i'm going to live five minutes away from the victory monument bts station. whoopty whoop!
anyway. after my errands, i wandered into the bunch of shops and boutiques across the street form siam square in search of a true cafe to study and read at. i found it and it was great. i loved it. i could see myself spending many hours and drinking many lattes there.
so to the point. it was strange. the students there were not thammasat students (since its so far). they were chulalongkorn students. and during my four hours in the cafe, i think i saw more thai people with laptops than i have at the entire semester at thammasat. and not only did they have laptops. they had vaios and macs. powerbooks. ibooks. macbooks. etc. etc.
it makes me wonderful how things are at chulalongkorn university. i wonder if it's as bad-ass as they say it is. everyone is reguired to wear uniform everyday. and the girls have a hangbag uniform. it has to be some brandname thing. thats just insane.
anyway. after my errands, i wandered into the bunch of shops and boutiques across the street form siam square in search of a true cafe to study and read at. i found it and it was great. i loved it. i could see myself spending many hours and drinking many lattes there.
so to the point. it was strange. the students there were not thammasat students (since its so far). they were chulalongkorn students. and during my four hours in the cafe, i think i saw more thai people with laptops than i have at the entire semester at thammasat. and not only did they have laptops. they had vaios and macs. powerbooks. ibooks. macbooks. etc. etc.
it makes me wonderful how things are at chulalongkorn university. i wonder if it's as bad-ass as they say it is. everyone is reguired to wear uniform everyday. and the girls have a hangbag uniform. it has to be some brandname thing. thats just insane.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Buddhism from the Farang's Perspective
Tomorrow is my Buddhist Institutions final exam.
I feel like a failure because out of all my classes, this is the one I'm doing the shittiest in. I guess I am the typical "cradle" Buddhist that just follows rituals and traditions while my classmates are like those convert Buddhist that know so much more than me . . and hence, are doing better in the class than me.
Aside from my frustrations from being really sucky at Buddhist Institutions, while I am the only Buddhist in the class . . I've also been really frustrated with people who have expressed their "disapointment" in Thai Buddhism.
Apparently, a lot of students came to Thailand with these perfect images of Buddhism as the purest and most wonderful religion in the world. Therefore, they were expecting to find wonderfully faithful Buddhists citizens and amazingly holy monks in Thailand.
However, when they got to Bangkok, they found (among other things) crazy drunk teenagers partying it up in clubs on weekdays and weekends, prostitutes galore, Thai girls with really right and short uniform skirts, monks smoking and talking on cellular phones . .
Apparently, Bangkok hasn't lived up to their expectations as a Buddhist society which has led them to think that Buddhism is as corrupt and "just another religion" like all the other western religions in the states.
I'm not really quite sure how to respond to this. Part of me wants to justify all these failings and say, "Well, Bangkok isn't exactly the best representation of a 'good' Buddhist society." Then I would go on and on about how Bangkok is different because it's so consumer driven with their "High-So" population and most people like my relatives that live up north in the villages are deeply and much more purely Buddhist.
However, the other part of me doesn't even want to address the matter of purity of Buddhism in Thailand. Part of me looks and sees a bunch of western people, coming over from their countries, and placing their assumptions and standards on an entire society that they cannot possibily understand. It is so like us westerners (I say "us" because, yes, my experience here in Thailand has made me so much more conscious of how western I actually am) to look at other cultures and societies through our own lenses.
We are so Euro/American centric.
It disgusts me because it seems so anthropological. With the superiority implications of: this is us, that is you, and you are definitely not like us.
But then again, what do I know? I'm just another American farang born Buddhist that has probably gotten better grades on past exams on Christianity then on the present exams on Buddhism . .
I feel like a failure because out of all my classes, this is the one I'm doing the shittiest in. I guess I am the typical "cradle" Buddhist that just follows rituals and traditions while my classmates are like those convert Buddhist that know so much more than me . . and hence, are doing better in the class than me.
Aside from my frustrations from being really sucky at Buddhist Institutions, while I am the only Buddhist in the class . . I've also been really frustrated with people who have expressed their "disapointment" in Thai Buddhism.
Apparently, a lot of students came to Thailand with these perfect images of Buddhism as the purest and most wonderful religion in the world. Therefore, they were expecting to find wonderfully faithful Buddhists citizens and amazingly holy monks in Thailand.
However, when they got to Bangkok, they found (among other things) crazy drunk teenagers partying it up in clubs on weekdays and weekends, prostitutes galore, Thai girls with really right and short uniform skirts, monks smoking and talking on cellular phones . .
Apparently, Bangkok hasn't lived up to their expectations as a Buddhist society which has led them to think that Buddhism is as corrupt and "just another religion" like all the other western religions in the states.
I'm not really quite sure how to respond to this. Part of me wants to justify all these failings and say, "Well, Bangkok isn't exactly the best representation of a 'good' Buddhist society." Then I would go on and on about how Bangkok is different because it's so consumer driven with their "High-So" population and most people like my relatives that live up north in the villages are deeply and much more purely Buddhist.
However, the other part of me doesn't even want to address the matter of purity of Buddhism in Thailand. Part of me looks and sees a bunch of western people, coming over from their countries, and placing their assumptions and standards on an entire society that they cannot possibily understand. It is so like us westerners (I say "us" because, yes, my experience here in Thailand has made me so much more conscious of how western I actually am) to look at other cultures and societies through our own lenses.
We are so Euro/American centric.
It disgusts me because it seems so anthropological. With the superiority implications of: this is us, that is you, and you are definitely not like us.
But then again, what do I know? I'm just another American farang born Buddhist that has probably gotten better grades on past exams on Christianity then on the present exams on Buddhism . .
Saturday, November 25, 2006
farang food and high - so
I had a really good breakfast today. I finally made it to Ricky's Coffee Shop, which is really like five minutes away from campus. Harper told me they had the best yogurt and she was right. I had two things. Yogurt with Muesli and Fruit. A tofu and cheese sandwich.
it was great.
so "american" or "farang" of me, right? i'm in thailand and i'm sitting here looking for good yogurt. I think I could speak for the rest of the exchange students when I say that now that it's November, we're a bit tired of "trying to fit in" or "being like the locals." On Wednesdays, we have vegetarian nights at May Kaidee's and on Thursdays it's girls night out at Ranee's.. which we go to because they have really good greek salad and fresh bread.
Malisa would be upset at me. I'm in Thailand, I should be eating all the great and CHEAP thai food. The crappy thing is that Kevie is coming in about three weeks and he's going to want to do all that "thai" stuff . . and i'm already at the point where all I really want to do is sit at a cafe, drink a latte, and read newspapers.
Maybe thats why I also want to move closer to BTS. Maybe I'm just tired of living in "Old Bangkok." I mean, it's great that I'm right across the river from the Grand Palace, school, Banglumphu . . but I don't know. I want to be closer to Siam Paragon, the Gourmet Market, Sukhumvit, etc etc. too. And it reminds me of the end of my freshmen year in college. You know how when you're a freshmen in college, you want to do all the fun stuff and socialize and make friends and yadayadayada. Well, after this semester, all my friends are leaving and there will be a new group of exchange students. They'll be all excited about their first night partying at RCA. They'll be making plans to go visit Angkor Wat. Some people will be figuring out the best way to get to Laos. They'll be complaining about the library dress code, etc etc.
& me, I'll be over it.
I dont know how social I'm going to be next semester. I dont know how excited I am about it. I dont know. I kind of just want to move near BTS. Intern at UNESCO on Sukhumvit. Travel on my own. Go to school. & live near the other Ex-Pats. sounds kinda high - so but hey.
speaking of high - so. we went to sky bar tonight. the view was great. the drinks were over priced. and we all felt a bit awkward and out of place. I like getting all dolled up but I could see how some of the other students felt out of place. It wasn't exactly the best place to go to with a group of 20 of your friends either. Eh. Oh well. it just amazes me how one city could have so many different things in it. They have places like sky bar that sells a glass of wine for 1000 baht and then in the same city, they have places on the street that sell noodles for 10 baht. interesting the diversity AND disparity of Thailand...
it was great.
so "american" or "farang" of me, right? i'm in thailand and i'm sitting here looking for good yogurt. I think I could speak for the rest of the exchange students when I say that now that it's November, we're a bit tired of "trying to fit in" or "being like the locals." On Wednesdays, we have vegetarian nights at May Kaidee's and on Thursdays it's girls night out at Ranee's.. which we go to because they have really good greek salad and fresh bread.
Malisa would be upset at me. I'm in Thailand, I should be eating all the great and CHEAP thai food. The crappy thing is that Kevie is coming in about three weeks and he's going to want to do all that "thai" stuff . . and i'm already at the point where all I really want to do is sit at a cafe, drink a latte, and read newspapers.
Maybe thats why I also want to move closer to BTS. Maybe I'm just tired of living in "Old Bangkok." I mean, it's great that I'm right across the river from the Grand Palace, school, Banglumphu . . but I don't know. I want to be closer to Siam Paragon, the Gourmet Market, Sukhumvit, etc etc. too. And it reminds me of the end of my freshmen year in college. You know how when you're a freshmen in college, you want to do all the fun stuff and socialize and make friends and yadayadayada. Well, after this semester, all my friends are leaving and there will be a new group of exchange students. They'll be all excited about their first night partying at RCA. They'll be making plans to go visit Angkor Wat. Some people will be figuring out the best way to get to Laos. They'll be complaining about the library dress code, etc etc.
& me, I'll be over it.
I dont know how social I'm going to be next semester. I dont know how excited I am about it. I dont know. I kind of just want to move near BTS. Intern at UNESCO on Sukhumvit. Travel on my own. Go to school. & live near the other Ex-Pats. sounds kinda high - so but hey.
speaking of high - so. we went to sky bar tonight. the view was great. the drinks were over priced. and we all felt a bit awkward and out of place. I like getting all dolled up but I could see how some of the other students felt out of place. It wasn't exactly the best place to go to with a group of 20 of your friends either. Eh. Oh well. it just amazes me how one city could have so many different things in it. They have places like sky bar that sells a glass of wine for 1000 baht and then in the same city, they have places on the street that sell noodles for 10 baht. interesting the diversity AND disparity of Thailand...
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Welcome
so, i was talking to jimmy tran today and he asked me if i kept a blog.
thats when i realized, i should just give in and create one.
since i started this trip writing emails to certain individuals about what i've been doing, i'm going to post these emails (editted) in place of my four months of non-blogged adventures in southeast asia.
thats when i realized, i should just give in and create one.
since i started this trip writing emails to certain individuals about what i've been doing, i'm going to post these emails (editted) in place of my four months of non-blogged adventures in southeast asia.
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