Saturday, January 24, 2009
Photos
So, I've decided to slowly post some of my best photos every couple of months so that people can see a little bit better what Mae Sot is like. All of these photos so far were taken in my tiny 10-minute on a bike town. Enjoy. More will come.
Monday, January 19, 2009
23rd Birthday Photos
A roommate photo, pre-everyone arriving
Andrew and I... self explanatory
A photo of my with my very very special white pomegrante. To make a long story short, I bought one and was SOOO excited to eat it, because they are imported, went into the fridge one night to eat it- AND it was gone! I accused everyone of taking it, but no one knew where it went. So jen kindly bought me a new one for my brithday.
The Birthday spread. Comprising of 5 kinds of cheeses and 3 kinds od salami all brought in mine and Andrew's suit case from the USA. We also brought two bottle of wine, a bottle of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, italian seasoning and pesto sauce!
People at the partty were very excited because I had managed to find ritz crackers in Mae Sot- Don't judge us. We become simple people here!
Jen and I.
Roommate photo, with Tha Wah looking sketchy...
Blowing out the candles on my Banatofee Pie.
23rd Birthday Photos
Ruby, my Burmese Teacher, and Jen. Ruby is dressed how all people that only live here are dressed at this "cold" time of the year. I must admit in the mornings and nights it is very cold... but not enough to warrant a beanie and down jacket!
Paddy, a new co-worker, and roommate Tha Wah. Probably drunk now and enjoying Taboo!
Jen, my boss's girlfriend and Christine, a friend from Hsa Thoo Lei School, enjoying our boxed wine. Which I might add some people back in their normal lives, where wine is easy to get, might be judging me for having 10 liters of boxed wine at my party... but to them I say - You don't know what it is like here without wine!
Stumped by Taboo.... it's tough when intoxiacted!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Cookin' Eggs
So on January 10th my roommates and I decided to be true to our group new years resolution and go to the local hot springs.
The first time that I was living in Mae Sot I had no time to do any traveling or really relax for that matter. It was go-go-go from the moment that I got there. First it was doing all the craziness with the house and moving in. Then it was work- from Monday to Friday physical labor out in the hot hot sun of Thailand was way too much! I would come home some days so exhausted that I would pass out at 6pm and not wake up til 7 am the next day! Lastly it was weekend projects all the time. From the solar water heater, to the gardening, to the constant cleaning that our huge house needed none of us ever had any free time. And Andrew and Jade were working just as much at GHAP. So in 2009 we decided that it was mucho importante to have a social life and relax a bit.
My new job helps this out a LOT! It is a desk job from 9 to 5 and it feels so good to come home and actually have energy to do other things! I am able to cook now, go swimming, go to yoga or even study Thai. I never had energy like that before. Don't get me wrong- I really loved doing my other job, but I really needed a break from building.
So in that spirit we went to the hot springs. We had heard that they were super relaxing and set right out in the middle of nature. In fact they probably would have been this pristine get away if we had not gone when the local Thais were still celebrating New Years and Thai Independence on January 4th. It was PACKED with families and their screaming children. See in Thailand I have actually grown to sort of like kids. The children at the migrant schools are respectful, quiet and all around really good kids. But Thai kids are a whole other level of spoiled! And they are so fat and loud! It is really attractive for young boys in Thailand to be fat because it is a sign of being western and well feed - so this turned out not to be a quiet relax in the hot springs but a family vacation.
Luckily, we could rent a private hot spring for 20 baht and be secluded in a room all a lone. Having a physical barrier between us and the kids was a must. Also, no one could stare at us in our bikini's, because remember Thais are still pretty conservative as far as clothing goes.
We stayed there for most of the day and it was quite nice. One day I'd like to go back and see if it is maybe a bit more quite when it is not a national holiday!
The first time that I was living in Mae Sot I had no time to do any traveling or really relax for that matter. It was go-go-go from the moment that I got there. First it was doing all the craziness with the house and moving in. Then it was work- from Monday to Friday physical labor out in the hot hot sun of Thailand was way too much! I would come home some days so exhausted that I would pass out at 6pm and not wake up til 7 am the next day! Lastly it was weekend projects all the time. From the solar water heater, to the gardening, to the constant cleaning that our huge house needed none of us ever had any free time. And Andrew and Jade were working just as much at GHAP. So in 2009 we decided that it was mucho importante to have a social life and relax a bit.
My new job helps this out a LOT! It is a desk job from 9 to 5 and it feels so good to come home and actually have energy to do other things! I am able to cook now, go swimming, go to yoga or even study Thai. I never had energy like that before. Don't get me wrong- I really loved doing my other job, but I really needed a break from building.
So in that spirit we went to the hot springs. We had heard that they were super relaxing and set right out in the middle of nature. In fact they probably would have been this pristine get away if we had not gone when the local Thais were still celebrating New Years and Thai Independence on January 4th. It was PACKED with families and their screaming children. See in Thailand I have actually grown to sort of like kids. The children at the migrant schools are respectful, quiet and all around really good kids. But Thai kids are a whole other level of spoiled! And they are so fat and loud! It is really attractive for young boys in Thailand to be fat because it is a sign of being western and well feed - so this turned out not to be a quiet relax in the hot springs but a family vacation.
Luckily, we could rent a private hot spring for 20 baht and be secluded in a room all a lone. Having a physical barrier between us and the kids was a must. Also, no one could stare at us in our bikini's, because remember Thais are still pretty conservative as far as clothing goes.
We stayed there for most of the day and it was quite nice. One day I'd like to go back and see if it is maybe a bit more quite when it is not a national holiday!
Cookin' Eggs
Cooking eggs is a major Thai past time at this natural hot springs. The water is un-touchably hot and it only takes a few minutes to boil your eggs
New Years Celebrations 2009 in Bangkok
So, this is the first year that I have ever spent new years out and it was really quite fun to be a part of all of the celebrations.
We met up with one of Andrew's college friends who is from Thailand and now lives in Bangkok. It was great because she knew the city like the back of her hand and we didn't really need to do any thinking. Neither of us really like Bangkok - it is just too big, dirty and there are WAY too many candy colored taxi cabs for it to be much of a walking city. Although, their city wide mono-rail is very nice, if it actually takes you were you want to go.
So she was going to go to this super-swanky club that night with all of her friends and if we were going to go we needed to look nicer than we usually do in Thailand. Up in Mae Sot there is no reason to have a nice dress and high -heels. So we pulled together a nice out fit for both of us so that we could go. I am sure that I will never wear my 200 baht high-heels that I bought in the MBK mall. They were pretty cheap and hurt like hell, but worked for the evening.
The club cost 1,000 baht to get into- and let me put that in perspective for you. 1,000 baht is about 30 dollars! I've never paid that much to get into a club in my life, even in NYC! Our monthly rent in Mae Sot is only 875 baht and an expensive dinner in Mae Sot is about 200 baht. So this was a crazy amount of money to us just to go a club. Luckily, it turned out to be worth it. It had the most amazing view of the entire city and at midnight we were privy to all the fireworks. It was maybe the best fireworks show I have ever seen! Also the dance floor was made out of clear plastic that was built over the infinity pool on the hotel's top floor. We also ended up getting plenty of free Moet & Chandon. So all in all I can say that I am super glad I sucked it up and just went for it that night! It was a very romantic new years and our party had the whole dance floor to our selves, since no one every dances in Thailand!
After new years, we didn't hang out in Bangkok for more time than needed. We moseyed around the parks until our bus left at 10pm on the 1st and were back in Mae Sot to see the sunrise on the 2nd. It was wonderful to come back to our house - all-be-it it was really really dirty!
We met up with one of Andrew's college friends who is from Thailand and now lives in Bangkok. It was great because she knew the city like the back of her hand and we didn't really need to do any thinking. Neither of us really like Bangkok - it is just too big, dirty and there are WAY too many candy colored taxi cabs for it to be much of a walking city. Although, their city wide mono-rail is very nice, if it actually takes you were you want to go.
So she was going to go to this super-swanky club that night with all of her friends and if we were going to go we needed to look nicer than we usually do in Thailand. Up in Mae Sot there is no reason to have a nice dress and high -heels. So we pulled together a nice out fit for both of us so that we could go. I am sure that I will never wear my 200 baht high-heels that I bought in the MBK mall. They were pretty cheap and hurt like hell, but worked for the evening.
The club cost 1,000 baht to get into- and let me put that in perspective for you. 1,000 baht is about 30 dollars! I've never paid that much to get into a club in my life, even in NYC! Our monthly rent in Mae Sot is only 875 baht and an expensive dinner in Mae Sot is about 200 baht. So this was a crazy amount of money to us just to go a club. Luckily, it turned out to be worth it. It had the most amazing view of the entire city and at midnight we were privy to all the fireworks. It was maybe the best fireworks show I have ever seen! Also the dance floor was made out of clear plastic that was built over the infinity pool on the hotel's top floor. We also ended up getting plenty of free Moet & Chandon. So all in all I can say that I am super glad I sucked it up and just went for it that night! It was a very romantic new years and our party had the whole dance floor to our selves, since no one every dances in Thailand!
After new years, we didn't hang out in Bangkok for more time than needed. We moseyed around the parks until our bus left at 10pm on the 1st and were back in Mae Sot to see the sunrise on the 2nd. It was wonderful to come back to our house - all-be-it it was really really dirty!
New Years Celebrations 2009 in Bangkok
The crazy lizards that live in the Bangkok parks! This one was really quite big, over a foot long. We are not sure if they are dangerous or not, but no one else seemed to mind them.
Hanging out in the park- we never do too much in Bangkok. It's not really our favorite city of all time, but they do have nice parks.
We could see all of the fireworks throughout the whole city! It was 1,000 baht to get into the place but the view was pretty much worth it!
At the super fancy club in Bangkok. Both Andrew and I had to buy appropriate clothes that day so that we could get into the club. I even bought 200 baht high-heels for the occasion. They really hurt too!
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