Lopburi

I'm tutoring a lot more this year. That's good, because it means that I'm making a little extra spending money, but since I tutor on the weekends, I am now basically working seven days a week. That's ok though. I still have time off to enjoy Thailand.

Last week, I got one of my rare weekends off, and decided to head to a small town nearby that's been on my list for quite a while: Lopburi.

Once, long ago, Lopburi was the western outpost of the Khmer Empire (the guys who built Angkor Wat) and there are a number of Khmer ruins still standing today.

Besides the ruins themselves, Lopburi is famous for the pack of wild monkeys that hang around the ancient prangs. I didn't trust them though, so I didn't risk having my camera out too close to them!

Lopburi is also home to a palace of King Narai of Ayutthaya. It's mostly a ruin now too, but part of the building still remains, and there is a very small but interesting museum on the site.

Lopburi is about three hours away from Bangkok by bus. It's completely doable in a day trip, and that's what I ended up doing. I left Bangkok around nine in the morning, arriving in Lopburi by lunchtime. After getting something to eat, I set off on foot (the town is small enough, and all the major sites are in a central location that this is the best way to get around), on a small self-guided walking tour. Besides the Khmer ruins, Lopburi was also famous as home to one of Siam's first foreign embassies, Baan Vichien. Though not much remains of the old French embassy on Rue deFrance, there is a very interesting temple nearby. In a recent post I wrote about a temple that looked like a church. This was originally a church that looked like a temple. It was built for the visiting dignitaries, but has now been reverted back into a temple.

Mostly, my visit to Lopburi was a quick way to get out of the city for a day and explore one of the nearby places that I've never been before. I really enjoyed seeing all the history, and it's nice to check off one of the places I've been wanting to see for so long. (Next on the list... Koh Lipe!?)

The Summer Palace

To really understand the importance of King Chulalongkorn's Summer Palace on Koh Sichang, it's important to back up a bit and understand a bit about the man himself.

a statue of  HM King Chulalongkorn

With the possible exception of Thailand's current King Bhumibohl (Rama IX), King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) is the nation's most revered monarch. It's common to see paintings of the two men side by side hanging in shops, busses, taxis... even though they ruled half a century apart.

In the late 19th Century, while it's neighbors fell to foreign imperial powers (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos to French Indochina, and Malaysia and Burma to the British Empire), Thailand remained the only Southeast Asian country never to fall to European colonialism. This is in no small part due to King Rama V's efforts to westernize and modernize Thailand. Educated in Europe, in his line of thinking, if the country appeared "civilized", then the European powers would not attack. His plan worked, and he saved his country's sovereignty, and was welcomed as an enlightened ruler and an equal in the courts of Europe. He ordered the construction of the Thai rail system (which I very much like), the construction of many paved roads, and the kingdom's first power plants, introduced Western-style apparel, and abolished slavery.

His Majesty loved Koh Sichang, and first built a small guest house for foreign dignitaries and members of the royal family. Soon after, he ordered the construction of a summer palace on the southeast end of the island.

one of the few remaining buildings

A few whitewashed buildings remain, but the original Summer Palace was deconstructed and moved piece by piece to Bangkok, where it is now known as the Vimanmek Teak Mansion. The foundation still remains.

the remains of the Summer Palace

Of course, being royal grounds, appropriate attire is expected, although since it's a small island town, they appeared pretty relaxed on this. I saw plenty of people, Thai and tourist alike, wearing shorts and sandals.

I followed some signs around this part of the island to a small temple on a hill. The King designed this temple as a quiet spot for meditation. What's interesting, is that in typical fashion for this western ruler, he designed the temple to look a bit like a Christian church, complete with stained glass and a prang that looks a bit like a steeple.

There are some older sights to see at the palace compound too, including an old chedi. I'm not sure how old it is or who built it, but it looks out of place amidst the turn-of-the-century buildings of the palace compound.

Koh Sichang is a great getaway from Bangkok; only a two-hour bus ride and 45-minute ferry ride from the city, it's easy to get to. You can quickly walk around the island by foot, and the quiet laid-back atmosphere of the island town makes it easy to unwind and leave the busy and hectic city behind. It's doable in a day trip, but I would definitely recommend at least a weekend to get in your share of relaxation! Despite the occasional rain stormps, I had a great time with a stack of books and a big pot of tea on the covered patio of my bungalow.

I'm back in Bangkok now, but planning one more short adventure before going back to work on Monday. Stay tuned!

Koh Sichang เกาะสีชัง

My school is closed this week due to the big show.  This is great, because the past few weeks have been so crazy and chaotic at school that I haven't really gotten to rest since I got back to Thailand. It's a little disappointing too though, because I haven't had a full paycheck since March (I got half a paycheck for May because school opened two weeks into the month), so I'm watching my budget right now. Normally a nine-day holiday would be an excellent chance to visit a neighboring country. Instead, I stayed in Bangkok to watch the performance, and decided to make the most out of my time off by exploring some areas not too far from the city where I've never been.

leaving the dock in Siracha

On Wednesday morning I boarded a ferry from Siracha (yes, like the sauce... although that's an American invention and not known here in Thailand), a small town about two hours southeast of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand. Forty-five minutes later I landed at Koh Sichang, one of the closest islands to Bangkok, and somewhere I've wanted to make a weekend trip to for some time, but had never found the chance.

approaching Koh Sichang

The island is quite small, and easily explorable by foot, although motorbikes are available to rent, and tuk-tuk drivers are available for hire. It's the start of the rainy season, and thus low-season. At times it felt like I had the entire island to myself. At the very least, visiting during a low-season weekday meant that there were few tourist to be seen. At times it was difficult to find an open restaurant, but the island was incredibly peaceful and quiet, which was just what I was looking for when I left Bangkok for Koh Sichang with a backpack full of books.

a lighthouse at the Koh Sichang dock

Spend enough time traveling around Thailand to notice it, and you might start to become aware of how Chinese certain parts of the country are, especially around the coastal regions (particularly Phuket and some other areas in the far south). There is a very good historical reason for this. In the past, Thailand did a lot of maritime trade with China. Chinese sailors and merchants built temples on the islands or near coastal areas to pray for safety on the seas. One of the first sights that you see when you dock at Koh Sichang is a sprawling Chinese temple complex, climbing up a hill on the northern end of the island.

Chinese temple on the hill

Chinese temples are aesthetically noticeably different from Thai ones, incorporating much more red paint, tiled roofs, and dragon and phoenix motifs.

Chinese influence is evident

A short walk up the hill brings you to a part of the temple built into a number of small cliffside caves. Inside each cave is some sort of shrine, some to Chinese gods, some to monks, and one to the "Father Spirit", the guardian of the island.

entrence into the temple caves

the guardian spirit of the island

At the highest part of the temple, I found a gold leaf-covered statued of HM King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V). The revered and beloved King Chulalongkorn had a special interest in Koh Sichang, and left his mark on the island.

HM King Chulalongkorn the Great

But more on that next time.

cloudy sunset over Koh Sichang

The Big Show

We've been all over the Thai news lately!

This year, the year 2558 in the Thai calendar, is my school's sixtieth anniversary. The school was founded in 2498 (1955), and started with sixteen students. It sure has grown since then!

During the academic fair earlier this year, I had the pleasure to meet with Mr Owen and Mr Mulliner, two of the school's original British English teachers. Both men are still held in incredibly high esteem by the school, and they both had some great stories to tell about the early days teaching in Bangkok. The school has changed a lot in the past sixty years. Including kindergarten, primary, secondary, and the vocational school, there are now somewhere around 2,000 students. The school is now open to all, but is still seen as the top school in the kingdom. In fact, when I visited the USA this year, I went to a Thai restaurant in my hometown, Arlington. When the owner (a Thai woman) found out where I worked, she was obviously impressed. "That's a very good school", she said.

the opening Khon performance

The year 60 holds special importance in Thai culture, as it is the fifth cycle of one's Chinese zodiac (a very auspicious year in one's life, according to tradition). It also happens to be the sixtieth birthday year of Her Royal Highness, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. To celebrate both of these illustrious occasions, the school has organized one of the most impressive and beautiful displays of Thai culture that I've seen in my three years in the country.

Read about it here in The Nation, one of Thailand's two big English-language newspapers.

I knew that the show would be a big deal. The students have been practicing and preparing for it since at least February before last term ended, and all classes have been ending two hours early at 2:00pm for a daily two-hour rehearsal. When I read that tickets were going for up to 20,000 baht though, I was completely shocked. That's nearly $600 USD!  When I got the chance to attend the final rehearsal, a private showing of the full performance for parents and teachers, there was no way I was going to miss it.

a page from the show's program, showing different acts

The show started with a mini Khon performance, and then turned into a musical about the history of Thailand, starting with King Rama I and going up to the present king, Rama IX, culminating with the founding of Chitralada School. I was especially impressed with one scene depicting a battle between Siam and Burma, and the amount of coordination and choreography that had to go in to it. My favorite part, however, was a scene during the reign of Rama IV, which featured Anna from The King and I singing "Getting to Know You" to the royal children. I take that as a tribute to all the royal English teachers through the ages!

The second act featured another Khon performance, a Thai opera depicting an ancient Indian legend about a forbidden love.

The show wrapped up with a performance of Khru, the Wai Kru song, which I only recently learned is a song unique to Chitralada. You can listen to a version of the song here. The song started with a small group of Anuban (Kindergarten) students, but as it went on, they were joined on the stage by current students and alumni. While the song was playing, a video played on the giant scree behind them depicting pictures of teachers and the school from the past. My colleague James and I tried to spot and name as many of the Ajarn Farang as we could. We spotted Mr Owen a couple of times, and the late Mr Garnier, the man who originally got Geoffrey a job at the school. There were a few pictures of Geoffrey as well.

I was most excited however, when they started showing all the teachers yearbook photos, and I actually made it into the show!

The show lasted nearly four hours. I am still blown away by how amazing it was! The amount of time and effort that went into making the performance such a success is really incredible, and I'm impressed with how the students, teachers, and hundreds of alumni came together to create something so magnificent. Happy birthday to my school! I feel so proud and honored to be a small part of something so great!

Batu Caves

Batu Caves make a nice day trip from Kuala Lumpur. Close enough to be located at the end of the city's public transport line, yet still with a rural feel, the Batu Caves are home to the area's most important Hindu temple as well as a pack of troublesome monkeys. One of the caves, Dark Cave, is an important ecological conservation site and home to the trapdoor spider, the world's rarest spider.

Batu Caves

I was visiting Malaysia with my good friend and colleague, James, his wife, Nan, her mother and sister, and my girlfriend. Traveling with Thais is fun, because you know that there will be plenty of photos to document your trip! Maybe I'm starting to turn Thai myself, because in the last few years, I've really become crazy about taking lots of pictures wherever I go.

obligatory selfie

After climbing a flight of two-hundred-something stairs in the blazing Malaysia sun, we stepped into the noticeably cooler cave. The inside was... (forgive me) cavernous, and the air thick with incense. Besides the main temple inside, there were several smaller shrines scattered around the inside of the cave.

inside the temple cave

Although pretty much packed with visitors, the caves had a special feel, like something out of a film set. It's really a unique place!

the temple inside the cave

Kuala Lumpur

I left Thailand on my first getaway just a week and a half after arriving. With one weekend still left in last year's re-entry permit, how could I refuse when my good buddy James invited me to visit Kuala Lumpur (KL as the cool people call it) with him, his wife, and her family?

I had spent one night in Malaysia last year, but had never been to KL, despite how relatively close it is to Bangkok (just under two hours by air). After just a long weekend there, I'm still unsure quite what to make of it. My impression of KL as a city is that, like its geographical location, KL lies somewhere in between Bangkok and Singapore. With it's British colonial past and modern skyline, Malaysia actually shares a common culture with Singapore, which was, for a few years at least, part of the country before being kicked out and becoming its own city-state.

It's also home to what was from 1998 to 2004 the world's tallest building: the Petronas Twin Towers.

Petronas Twin Towers

The Towers are now the ninth tallest structure in the world, but still hold the title of the world's tallest twin towers. Unfortunately, you have to reserve tickets to go up to the observation bridge a few days in advance, and we didn't have enough time. There's a nice mall at the bottom of the structure though, and I did get to spend some time there.

But that's not all that KL has. The city also has numerous other interesting structures, including old colonial government buildings and beautiful mosques. Malaysia, of course, is a predominantly Muslim country, although due to the country's colonial history, the people, culture, and religions represented are quite diverse. There are three main ethnic groups that make up the country; the Malay (generally Muslim), Indians (generally Hindu), and Malay Chinese (generally Buddhist). The architecture downtown however definitely reflects a classical Islamic influence.

downtown KL

Malaysia National Masjid

Malaysia, it seems, is crazy for durian! Known in Thailand as the "King of Fruit", durian is famous for it's rather offensive smell. If you can get past the smell, it really does taste good, although not many foreigners can handle it. A lot of Thais can't stand it either, and there are signs in the Bangkok metro banning it from being brought on board the trains. It's much more widely accepted, and even celebrated, in Malaysia. My friend James incidentally loves the stuff, so while we were there, I had the opportunity to try durian chocolate cake, durian coffee, and a durian pancake (fresh durian and creme wrapped in a type of crepe). I'll admit that it's starting to grow on me, but I doubt it'll ever be my favorite tropical fruit. Give me a mangosteen any day!

durian pancake

After a long and exhausting day exploring the city by foot, we stopped in at Chinatown for some delicious Malay beef noodles. Thai food doesn't often use beef, so the flavor was really different from what I'm used to. I really liked it.

After dinner, it was back to the Twin Towers to see them all lit up at night. Because of their height, it's really difficult to capture the entire towers in a photo!

The (Third) First Week of School

Welcome back to Thailand!

It's been quite a week. Let's catch up...

So I landed at BKK Survarnabhumi Airport on a magnificent new JAL Dreamliner late Monday night, and didn't get to sleep until after 2am. I went in to work early on Tuesday and met up with Brenna, James (who is still here until June filling in for another Thai teacher), and Geoffrey, and we had to go to the hospital for our annual physical, which is required to renew our work permits. I was really dragging by Tuesday night, but had to get up early again on Wednesday to go to Immigration for my visa extension and the Ministry of Labour for my work permit renewal. That night I went with Geoffrey to pick up the new teachers who thankfully had all arrived on the same flight this year. I was in charge of issuing their keys and setting them up in apartments. Then on Thursday we took them to school for the first time. 

That night I crashed hard. I didn't really experience any jet lag coming back to the US this year, but when I returned to Thailand it hit me really badly. 

On Saturday I took them to MBK to get their phones unlocked and purchase SIM cards, then to Jim Thompson's House (because they wanted to do some sightseeing), and on Sunday we went to JJ Market. I feel like I've had to act as the "new Grant" this past week, and feel more like a Baylor Welcome Week Leader than a farang manager!

The first week went fairly smoothly, in the controlled-chaotic way that is so definitively Thailand. The new teachers are fitting in well, despite knowing what's going on less than even I do! The school is preparing for a huge performance for the 60th Anniversary. The Princess will be in attendance, and tickets are going for up to 20,000 Thai Baht. That's almost $700 USD! It's been featured in The Nation (Bangkok's second-most popular English Language newspaper), and we all watched a special news segment on the performance at assembly on the first day. The show looks amazing, and the students are so talented. I can't justify spending almost a monthly paycheck just to watch my students though. I mean, normally I get paid to see them... I hope that I can go to see the rehearsals.

Needless to say, the big show takes precedence over actual academics. Classes have been cut short with school ending at 2:00 for practice. That's been really nice as it helps ease us into the work schedule again.

dancers at Jim Thompson's House