Bangkok, Thailand!!

My First Glimpse of Asia: Bangkok, Thailand

After Twenty hours in the air and thirty eight hours traveling, we arrived in Bangkok! We flew on Asiana airlines, who knows presentation. The flight attendant uniform was lovely, and they even had matching silk aprons for while they were serving! The food was wonderful. Ironically, as we looked around, it was we Americans trying to eat with the provided chop sticks while most of the Koreans around us were using the silverware!
In the Guest House, I awoke early (my internal clock will not be readjusted for a while, yet) and walked around the market with my camera. There are food stands anywhere you go. Thais are known for small meals often, very clear looking at this city. A food stand can never be too far, and though you may not be sure what it is that you will be eating, you can be fairly certain that it will be delicious. I found myself some Thai tea: a delicious, thick orange drink full of spices and condensed milk. Then leaving the street and entering the market, I was surrounded by meat. I wouldn't want to know what kinds. But absolutely as fresh as can be, can be sure. There even were a few skins hanging, I guess in case anyone has need for fresh flesh with fur attached. Then came the fish--fish in all stages. Alive, in line to be be-headed, and dead. Eels, catfish, squid, toads, turtles, squid, and just about anything else that swims or hops around Thailand. Oh, the smells! All with their own personal aroma, it was an experience to embrace. Then there were stands with women crushing fresh hot pepper mixes as I passed... and I've found the use for my left over Thai Baht when we come back through Bangkok!
I tried looking for cooking lessons last night...but I settled on a Thai massage, instead. One hour for 220 Baht...more or less seven dollars. It was extremely relaxing (except for the Thai massuses chatting back and forth, interupting the meditation of silence) except that my massuse worked all of the toxins from my body from the bottom up. But when she reached my head, she spent about thirty seconds and said she was finished, so they all got stuck there. So for the past day, I've felt a head full of toxins.
We spent the afternoon out as a group: we went to the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, and Wat Arun with a nailbitingly steep climb to the top to see over the city. They were all magnificent. They put most Western Cathedrals to shame. The colors are extraordinary, and the details are so intricate. Gold is everywhere, with bright rich blues, reds, greens, purples galour. The Grand Palace was established in 1782 and houses the royal residence, government offices, and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. His Majesty the King and Queen of Thailand have a status incomparable to those of most other countries. Their pictures are all over, their seal is on the shirt of just about every tenth Thai to be seen, and criticizing them is absolutely out of the question. Each of the Wats ( Thai place of worship) was just as colorful on the inside: we left our shoes outside of the door and sat on the floor. In a Wat, or almost anywhere for that matter, you must take off your shoes before entering as a sign of respect. Feet are a touchy issue and you must be careful: to point with your feet--intentionally or unintentionally--would be a huge offense.
We traveled place to place in boat: this is, after all, the Venice of the East. It was a glorious day and we couldn't have been luckier. The sky was blue and the clouds were billowing. AIn the evening, after our Thai massages, we had our own little yoga session with our newly relaxed muscles (we have both a trained yoga instructor in our group and a very practiced meditator who are only enhancing our experience) and then we went out to eat. After our three dollar meal in a restaurant with a fabulous ambience, we met with some artists right outside of our guest house and played music and danced until hostel guests began to complain. It was wonderful! It was a mix of bongos, digeridoos, guitar, and tamborines (and my dancing, of course.) Thais and Americans making music together in the sidewalk having a gay time...who's to say the people of this world can't live at peace?

This evening we leave for an overnight train to Chaing Mai where we will remain for two days. Then off to our first home stay in the tiny village of Pun Pun to, volunteer, learn about sustainable living, and learn about Thai life away from the cities!

After Twenty hours in the air and thirty eight hours traveling, we arrived in Bangkok! We are staying in the Tavee Guest house in the upper Right corner of the city near the national library and the Krung Thonburi Bridge...a very nice area.

We flew on Asiana airlines, who knows presentation. The flight attendant uniform was lovely, and they even had matching silk aprons for while they were serving! The food was wonderful. Ironically, as we looked around, it was we Americans trying to eat with the provided chop sticks while most of the Koreans around us were using the silverware! In Thailand, I awoke early (my internal clock will not be readjusted for a while, yet) and walked around the market with my camera. There are food stands anywhere you go. Thais are known for small meals often, very clear looking at this city. A food stand can never be too far, and though you may not be sure what it is that you will be eating, you can be fairly certain that it will be delicious. I found myself some Thai tea: a delicious, thick orange drink full of spices and condensed milk. Then leaving the street and entering the market, I was surrounded by meat. I wouldn't want to know what kinds. But absolutely as fresh as can be, can be sure. There even were a few skins hanging, I guess in case anyone has need for fresh flesh with fur attached. Then came the fish--fish in all stages. Alive, in line to be be-headed, and dead. Eels, catfish, squid, toads, turtles, squid, and just about anything else that swims or hops around Thailand. Oh, the smells! All with their own personal aroma, it was an experience to embrace. Then there were stands with women crushing fresh hot pepper mixes as I passed... and I've found the use for my left over Thai Baht when we come back through Bangkok!
I tried looking for cooking lessons last night...but I settled on a Thai massage, instead. One hour for 220 Baht...more or less seven dollars. It was extremely relaxing (except for the Thai massuses chatting back and forth, interupting the meditation of silence) except that my massuse worked all of the toxins from my body from the bottom up. But when she reached my head, she spent about thirty seconds and said she was finished, so they all got stuck there. So for the past day, I've felt a head full of toxins.
We spent the afternoon out as a group: we went to the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, and Wat Arun with a nailbitingly steep climb to the top to see over the city. They were all magnificent. They put most Western Cathedrals to shame. The colors are extraordinary, and the details are so intricate. Gold is everywhere, with bright rich blues, reds, greens, purples galour. The Grand Palace was established in 1782 and houses the royal residence, government offices, and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. His Majesty the King and Queen of Thailand have a status incomparable to those of most other countries. Their pictures are all over, their seal is on the shirt of just about every tenth Thai to be seen, and criticizing them is absolutely out of the question. Each of the Wats ( Thai place of worship) was just as colorful on the inside: we left our shoes outside of the door and sat on the floor. In a Wat, or almost anywhere for that matter, you must take off your shoes before entering as a sign of respect. Feet are a touchy issue and you must be careful: to point with your feet--intentionally or unintentionally--would be a huge offense.
We traveled place to place in boat: this is, after all, the Venice of the East. It was a glorious day and we couldn't have been luckier. The sky was blue and the clouds were billowing. AIn the evening, after our Thai massages, we had our own little yoga session with our newly relaxed muscles (we have both a trained yoga instructor in our group and a very practiced meditator who are only enhancing our experience) and then we went out to eat. After our three dollar meal in a restaurant with a fabulous ambiance, we met with some artists right outside of our guest house and played music and danced until hostel guests began to complain. It was wonderful! It was a mix of bongos, digeridoos, guitar, and tamborines (and my dancing, of course.) Thais and Americans making music together in the sidewalk having a gay time...who's to say the people of this world can't live at peace?

This evening we leave for an overnight train to Chaing Mai where we will remain for two days. Then off to our first home stay in the tiny village of Pun Pun to, volunteer, learn about sustainable living, and learn about Thai life away from the cities!

Estes Park, Colorado

I am in Estes Park, Colorado with both the Asia and Latin America groups at our orientation, preparing to leave early tomorrow morning (or late tonight--it's all perspective.) So far, all of the other students in my group are amazing individuals and the group leaders certainly will bring a great deal to the table with all of their insight and experience. Yesterday we went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park for several hours as an entire group. Three months with a group of individuals that gets excited about three hours hiking in mountains should certainly stimulate the adventurer in me!

Chronicles of Asia Fall 2008

Time to go abroad again...my feet have been itching to leave this local soil! I will be posting on my world journal throughout my experience whenever possible, and I will also be sending articles to Hofstra's newspaper, The Chronicle. Here is my first article for the Chronicle:



Semester Spent Half-way around the World

Fall 2008 will arguably be the most exciting semester in Hofstra’s history. But my thoughts will be far from Hofstra’s campus. For a full semester I will be backpacking through South East Asia with a small group of students led by an organization called Youth International. And—fully contingent on Internet access—I will be reporting back to you through The Chronicle!

We will spend three months traveling through Thailand, India, and Vietnam, seeing everything from the biggest, most global cities to the tiniest, most isolated villages.
Is this a study abroad? --Not in the typical sense.
Is this just a vacation? --Certainly not.
What is it, then?

It is an adventure.
The group will travel mostly by train, by bus, and—lest we forget—by foot. We will explore on bicycle, touring the remains of Thailand’s ancient capital city of Ayuthaya. There will be three four-day treks: through the northern hills outside of Chiang Rai, Thailand, in the Himalayan foothills in Dharamsala, India, and between tribal villages in the mountains surrounding SaPa, Vietnam.

It is a hands-on learning experience.
The group will visit historical sites from the Grand Palace in Bangkok to the Ghandi Museum in Dehli and the Taj Mahal in Agra. In India’s Golden Temple, we will live with other “pilgrims” while learning about the Sikh faith. Next, in Daramsala, India, Tibetan families in exile will open their homes to us to enhance our understanding of Tibetan culture, history, and contemporary culture. From there we will attend a four-day meditation retreat practiced in Tibetan tradition. Later we will take part in workshops on sustainable living techniques including organic food production and natural building, and at a local NGO (non-governmental organization) we will be introduced to development issues faced in local “Adivasi,” or India’s indigenous, communities. As if all of those are not emersion enough, in Jaipur we will wake up to yoga classes, Hindi language lessons, and workshops in India’s traditional Batik art.
…So—though I will not receive enough credits to even qualify myself as a part-time student—it will be a full-time learning experience.

It is a volunteer experience.
While living with local families over the course of the three months, we will teach English in local schools to young children. We will work together to construct a local community theater in India, and we will also work to reconstruct a home on Thailand’s island of Ko Lao, an island entirely wiped out by December 2004’s Tsunami.

All of this while you are back studying out of textbooks at Hofstra? You bet’cha. (Don’t worry: I’ll get mine, too, when I have to stay in college for an extra semester.)

My focuses at Hofstra as an undergraduate are global studies and photography. How will these be utilized, you ask? For global studies, see every above description to cover every definition of “global.” For photography, I will hopefully be sending a picture or two with my articles (again, pendant on internet access.) With that said, anticipate to be reading from me again soon after my departure this week!

For more information on this program, Youth International, go to www.youthinternational.org or for the Asia program’s specific itinerary go to www.youthinternational.org/itineraryasia.aspx .


Alex Moore
September 15, 2008

Summer 2008 in Astoria, Queens!

Summer 2008.
Twenty years old.
Summer after year one at Hofstra University.
Two person flat in Queens, Astoria with Michael LaFem.
Two months before we get kicked out of the apartment at the end of the lease.

The week of final exams, I made a spur of the moment decision. Instead of returning home to Ohio--where my family provides a lovely two story home, quaint but on the water with a lovely view of the sunset, no charge for rent and food gratis, and where I had numerous jobs lined up--I decided to stay in an itty-bitty living space in Queens, Astoria with horrendously high rent. Oh, and without any plan for a job.

Within two weeks of moving in, I was waitressing part time at Florio's Restaurant and Cigar Shop in Little Italy, selling art in Union Square Park, and working from my computer, collaborating with two Hoftra students for an environmental proposal that we were projecting.

Florio's was by far the most interesting establishment in which I have ever worked.
Brief Overview:
Florio's is owned by "Italians" who have lived in Little Italy all of their lives (and speak very little Italian.) There was one Italian waiter from Bari, the rest Moldavians, the entire kitchen was Mexican, and me, the token American from the midwest. The restaurant was on Grand Street, just off of Mullberry, so rather than being hit by the bulk of the tourists, a good portion of our crowd were regulars. Many faces I saw numerous times a week, which made for a very welcoming atmosphere.
Florio's entire kitchen was Mexican: the position of any worker depended on his English skills. I, naturally, was a novelty with my blond hair and my "golden" arm hair, and got lots of practice speaking spanish.

San Cristobal de las Casas

Chiapas, the heart of indigenous Mexico

This young woman was kind enough to let me (meaning to force me to) try on this indigenous outfit. I then paid her to get in a picture with me. She wasn't sure how old she was--she thought about sixteen. In fact, her Spanish wasn't much better than mine, but considering I was pretty proud at how much we were able to share!

Tonina

At the entrance of Tonina: more beautiful ruins!

La Playa Nasconda

Hidden Beach
What was seemingly miles from civilization...we never would have arrived without our jeeps. But since it was so difficult to reach...we were the only ones on the entire expanse of the beach!