A trip to Koh Chang

So about ten days ago, I had a chance to get out of town. I'd been working my booty off, as many as 10 hours per day, and my morning class finally finished. In addition to that, my night class was canceled on both Friday and Monday. So, it was a long weekend, and I decided to go to Koh Chang (Elephant Island, ) the same place I went to see in the New Year for 2006 (see January 2006 postings on this blog.) The rainy season has arrived two months early this year (the climate is just as screwed up here as it is in the rest of the world - we had street flooding a few days ago!) , so I was a bit worried about the weather. However, despite a few downpours, it wasn't too bad, as none of them lasted more than a half an hour, other than a few in the late night or early morning. This did, on the other hand, have a bit of a negative effect on the last day, when I went on a fishing/snorkeling trip. The seas were quite heavy, and at one point, I nearly sacrificed my breakfast to Lord Poseidon - I even had my head hanging over the side of the boat! But I did get to do some good snorkeling, and I did catch a fish. The other days, I would run into the surf, get wet, come out, dry off in the sun and read Salman Rushdie, and when I was dry I just repeated the process. It was glorious. To the pics!

The moon over Koh Chang at about 5:30 am. I left BKK at 11 on Thursday night, and arrived in Trat city at 3:30 am. Hung around there for a while, took a pickup to the pier, and then the ferry to Elephant Island.

The sun rising, back over the mainland, toward Cambodia.

I may have the winner for next year's photo contest, pops! This was a guy fishing in the Gulf of Thailand as the sun was rising over the mainland. I took a lot of this guy. Pretty nice image. Lookout, Minnkota Photo Contest, 2008!

I arrived at my bungalow at 7:30 am. This was the view out my door. A massive storm was rolling in, and the air was cool. The beach was nearly deserted, the tide was low, and the surf was heavy for the Gulf of Thailand. At 7:35 am, I was in the water. At 7:55 am, I went back to my bungalow and showered. At 8 am, it started pouring, and I slept until 11. It felt absolutely glorious to have a morning like this after spending 6 weeks teaching 6 days a week. Ah, I'm gonna miss Thailand.

More views of the storm coming.

A man and his son, watching the storm roll in.

Orchid.

This is the pier from whence the fishing/snorkeling boat I was on left.

Another view.

Fog on the peaks of Koh Chang in the morning.

People snorkeling on a reef near a small island. The reefs were pretty cool, with lots of live coral, urchins, colorful fish, anemones, etc, but there were so many people snorkeling that everyone was bumping into everyone else, so it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been.

Another small island, shrouded in mist.

This is the fish I caught. I snagged him by the gill, so as I was reeling him in, he felt a lot bigger than he was. We used bits of squid as bait. This is ironic, as I had really wanted to go squid fishing, but it would have costed 2000 Baht (over $60.) Also, it could be the only time I've ever fished where the bait actually probably tastes better than the fish that was caught. This trip would have been a lot of fun had it not been for the seasickness, and had I not cut the soles of both of my feet and been sloshing around in the salty sea water. Ouch!

The guys on the ship were pulling in a net here, as you can see. There were loads of scallops, as well as some small fish, a few squid, and crab in the net. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat any of it! Bummer.

Ah, lovely.

Just before I left.

The view of the beach I was staying on, as seen from the top of the mountain. I didn't wanna leave.

Geography in Thailand

Looks like ภูมีสัษร์ (Phu Mii Sat in romanized letters) is doing well in Thailand, or at least at the Kingdom's public universities. Click here for more information.

Happy and Funny

Some shots my students sent me after my last day of class recently - this was the six day per week, four hour per day marathon, so this was indeed a happy day. Hail progress!

A few final shots from my trip to Hanoi

This is a local friend that I met, named Vo. Vo is a student who wants to be a tourguide, and wanted some practice, so agreed to take me around town for a day. Here we were at the Temple of Literature, a Confucian Temple that was Vietnam's first university. Vo was a nice guy. It is insane when you think that had we been born 40 years earlier or so, if we had met, we most likely would've been shooting at each other. I guess that's a sign of hope, isn't it?

A couple of people I was hanging out with - Diego, a Spaniard, and Tyler, a Canadian. We were enjoying the Bia Hoi (or draft beer,) which you can drink on the street for only 2000 Dong (about 12.5 cents US!) for a glass. People sit on plastic chairs on the street, drink and talk, and from time to time a car full of policemen comes around. Everyone scatters, or else moves their chairs back a bit so they are not in the street, the police move on, and everything goes back to normal. Hilarious!

A shot from Bangkok's messed-up new Airport, Suranavuvi International, shortly before I left. It's been a disaster, called a "monument to corruption." One of the runways has large cracks in the pavement, rendering it unusable, and causing the old Airport, Don Muang, to be re-opened. And the new airport only opened in September!

More Snake booze, a shot just for my momma.

Fierce looking face at a Confucian temple.

A statue of a bird at a Confucian Temple.

Carving of an elephant at a replica of an Montagnard house.

This is at Vietnam's Oldest University. It lists the names of graduates in certain years. The Turtle is a symbol of longevity, and is considered a sacred symbol in Vietnam.

Mom, do you think I would've qualified to receive some of this money?

On TV in Vietnam, there were several shows showing young girls singing various songs. It was kind of trippy, really.

The People's Army, on the move. Near Ho's home.

Uncle Ho's Bed.

Another Confucian Temple.

Now who doesn't love Lenin?

A local couple, about to take the plunge.

A replica of a Montagnard house. This particular tribe, whose name I forget, is matrilineal. Therefore, Breasts are a symbol of power, and you can see that on this ladder to the house.

A really big Montagnard house.

A scene near the lake in Central Hanoi.

A tomb of a Montagnard group.

Alongside the tomb. Guess it gets pretty kinky up in the hills!