A 3-hour Tour

After a brief hiatus, we're back at it here in Bangkok with school work, rice, and, well, a lot of down time. This past week we had a few days off courtesy of a Buddhist holiday so we all headed down south to the beaches of Thailand. Dan and I have both uploaded new pictures to Picasa so be sure to check them out when you get a chance.

The end of a less-than-comfortable bus ride saw us arrive in Krabi at 6 AM and then we were off to Railay for two days and then Koh Phi Phi farther south. This is where the story begins:

Koh Phi Phi is composed of two islands: Koh Phi Phi Don, the larger of the two where all the hotels, restaurants, and facilities are, and Koh Phi Phi Leh, the undeveloped little brother located 5 km to the south east. Parts of the movie The Beach were filmed on Koh Phi Phi Leh at Maya Bay, notably the main beach segments. Given my love for all things Leonardo DiCaprio and being able to watch a movie and nonchalantly mention, "You know, I've been there," it was a foregone conclusion that we'd be heading to Koh Phi Phi Leh.

The preferred form of transportation to the island is speedboat or Thai long tailed (pictured at right). Although our noses were not upturned, we still scoffed at the idea of traveling this way. Our method: the tried and true sea kayak.

The plan was to embark upon our adventure at 8:30 sharp. The monsoon season would have none of it and delayed our departure for two and a half hours. Finally the guy rented us the kayaks (500 baht for 6 hours for a kayak holding 2 people) and we were off. What he neglected to tell us was that he had never known of anyone to kayak out to the island. The beach from "The Beach" was located on the backside of the island, or so I thought, and it took us over an hour and a half to get there.

The trip was well worth it, especially seeing the looks on the other tourists faces as we paddled in and pulled our kayaks ashore. Given the overcast conditions, I neglected to apply sunscreen to my melanin-less sculpted body and I paid. Luckily I wore a white, long-sleeved shirt, so my chances for melanoma increased for only half of my body. Not wanting to go back out the same way, we drug our kayaks over land and put in on a bay on the other side.


On the the way to Ao Maya, to quote George Costanza, "the sea was angry my friend, like an old man sending his soup back in a deli", but the return journey offered new challenges. The water relatively calm, yet the Koh Phi Phi gods decided to test us with another obstacle: rain. We saw it coming in and couldn't do much about it. Soon, visibility was down to less than a half mile and all we could do was hug the coast line of Koh Phi Phi Leh until we could see the outline of Koh Phi Phi Don and shoot for it. One plus was all the cheers we got from tourists riding by in long tail boats.

The trip back took just over an hour and for my left shoulder it couldn't have come any sooner. In fighting the current, I had takend about 7 or 8 strokes on the left side for every stroke on the right side. We were out a total of 5 hours, but it felt like days. Am I glad we kayaked out there? Yes. Would I do it again? Yes. Will I cover every inch of my body with clothing or sunscreen? Yes. Do I think the Thai guy that rented us the kayaks will remember us? I can only hope so.

The Many Faces of Brock Phillips

One of the greatest parts of being in certain countries is that you'll always stick out like a sore thumb. Always. It's almost as certain as the fact that my pale skin readily accepts a vicious sunburn, yet scorns any form of tanning.

This having been said, you can do anything with your appearance and it won't change anything. You're still an anomaly. I've come to embrace this and spent the past 6 weeks "working" on my glorious spread of facial hair. I put working in quotation marks, because I've been working on it about as much as someone has been "working" their way through the first season of House. There's not much involved other than just sitting there.

The beard de Brock has been a work in progress with the overall goal being a paler Grizzly Adams. Beginning on the Fourth of July selective grooming was conducted. Here are the intended looks and what was actually achieved:


June 28 (Day 30)
Full Beard
Result: Kid Rock





July 5 (Day 37)
Full Beard minus the stache
Goal: Abraham Lincoln
Note: The hat is not my, I was holding it while the owner played on an inflatable slide.





July 7 (Day 39)
Mutton Chops
Goal: Dr. Jekyll from the movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman"







July 11 (Day 43)
Nothing
Goal: 2 year old boy




This last photo, of me not the kid, was taken shortly after I got a full face shave at a Thai barbershop for 45B ($1.50). You're thinking, "Ah, a full face shave, that includes the cheeks, jaw, neck, and the mustache region, where Brock's doo-doo-stache typically resides," and you would be correct on all accounts. However, you would have neglected to mention the forehead, nose, upper cheeks, and ears, all areas that were freshly shorn by my newfound Thai barber. Yes, I've finally found someone who will sympathize with my struggles with the pesky forehead hair that has plagued me for years.

Now the only question is, what's next for my facial hair?

Why Kru?

Today marked the annual Wai Kru ceremony here in Thailand, or at least for the students at KMUTT and the surrounding elementary schools. At the beginning of each new academic year, Thai students participate in a ceremony to honor their teachers, thank them for their hard work, and receive the teachers' advice for the upcoming school year. A noble ceremony no doubt and far removed from the Teachers' Appreciation Day back home that sadly passes with little notice.

Some other character out there on this new-fangled internet is blogging as well and does a much better job of describing the ceremony. Well, it at least gives a Thai student's version of the ceremony. Check out Gor's account here. No, I don't know him.

Now for the proceedings here at KMUTT. We arrived at 9:00 expecting it to begin soon after, but then wait a 45 minutes before everyone shows up. Earlier in the week we had been given a copy of the lyrics of a song (yes, in Thai) that we were to sing to the teachers. Since we barely new the tones and the melody of the song, to say that we were nervous when only two Thai students (compared to the nine of us) were present would be an understatement. Luckily a number of other Thai students arrived, but we didn't look any less ridiculous being the only ones with the song lyrics cheat-sheet in front of us as we mouthed the words.

That wasn't even the worst of it. When sitting in front of monks or participating in ceremonies here, you have to sit in such a way that your feet do not point towards higher-ranking individuals. No problem if you're Thai and/or extremely flexible. A slight problem if you don't fit either category like me.

I spent the majority of the program working on figuring out how much of a workout my core was and focusing on not letting my hamstrings cramp up. The latter didn't go to well. Not helping the situation was looking behind me halfway through the ceremony and seeing two other students sitting cross-legged. That didn't do much for my resolve.

After a speech we shuffled around on our knees to present teachers with arrangements of flowers and then to receive white string bracelets and words of encouragement from them. I'm not sure if my knees will forgive me anytime soon for that. The duration of the ceremony was maybe 30 minutes, once we started, which was more than enough for my legs.

One thing that surprised me was how much the Thai students and also the teachers talked during the ceremony. Here we are sitting in a position that associate more with being punished than paying respect and people are just chatting in a normal voice, so much so that you can barely hear the speaker. What's the point of such an elaborate ceremony if no one is going to pay attention and the speaker can't be heard? Why Kru?

*Note: Neither farang in the first picture is associated with our group, it was just another picture courtesy of this internet thing. We did look that ridiculous though, just minus the ties. No, that isn't a pun.