Just one week after the last incident, I had my second encounter and I’m very happy that I met that ahjusshi…. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Floral Culture (look forward to my next post reviewing this place). It had been past the lunch time and me and my friend were very hungry. We stopped by this mall which had many many Korean shops from cosmetics and clothes to restaurants and book shops.
And there was this pair of shoes I liked so much and they were on sale. I would have got those kind of shoes in India very expensive. Too bad, my size was not available. Then we went to this shop named Korean DD. It was a cosmetics shop. Although I’m not interested in such stuff and my friend was not sure about the brands from South Korea (she is learning a little though under my influence starting with K-Pop), we still entered the shop. What caught my eyes were the posters of K-pop idols all over. And without thinking over I just went inside the shop. The lady inside was a Thai but when I was naming the idols aloud, she and the guy sitting outside started laughing. Nevertheless, I asked if she was Korean and she replied, the ahjusshi standing behind was.
Ah! So excited >.< Then my friend asked me to talk to him in Korean and suddenly I froze (갑자기, 왜?). She then explained him that I was learning Korean and then trivial questions like where do we come from and such followed (but in English. Too bad again). We left the shop and suddenly I thought I would ask something about Korean. He didn’t understand what I was saying. Guess he knew only Korean and Thai (Ah! Too bad. Don’t know how many ‘TOO BAD’ moments I had yesterday). But he was a cheerful ahjusshi who tried to help me however he could (Ok, I could have thought that he was a shopkeeper and hence did all that. Marketing strategy? Even so, I want to trust his help). And thus my faith was restored. Then we went on shopping spree with clothes in another shop selling Korean goods at 80-90% discount. There were K-pop songs playing in background and there were Korean movies posters in the shop too. There also whatever piece I was liking was not available in right sizes. Sigh!
But in the end I got a packet of Jjajangmyeon and on the packet there was nothing non-veg. I’m still doubtful about it and will be translating the ingredients although they are written in Korean as well as English. If anyone of you could tell me whether the noodles themselves are non-veg or not, I’ll be very grateful.
So today, my day started very bad coz everybody in my friends circle refused to go to Bangkok due to one reason or other. I mean, each and every single one of them backed out! But i dared today – to go alone to Bangkok. And guess what! I got the model of the mobile phone which I wanted to buy and was out of stock till yesterday afternoon. And…….. And I got to see Japan Festa in Bangkok 2013, being held outside Central World Mall. There were a lot of cosplayers and there were a lot of random outlets. There were Japanese food stalls too; but I’m a veg so I couldn’t taste that.
Some gen pics –
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Here are some cosplay pics of the characters I know :
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Then I went to KoreaTown situated on Sukhumvit 12. I went there by BTS train (just like metros) and the place was some three stations away from the above place. And to tell you the truth, it was a huge disappointment. After the pleasant surprise of attending an unexpected cosplay event, I was excited what the day was to unfold for me and I was really upset after seeing a deserted place with only Korean food shops and dental clinics and hair salons. What would have I done there? I thought I could buy some books for my Korean learning there. But there wasn’t even one book shop in KoreaTown (at least I didn’t find any). I did find one book shop a little far away but all it had was Korean books for Thai people 😦
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The I went back to the event again and had more clicks. This time, since it was around 4:30 in the evening, the weather was pleasant. So I had some more fun. By 5:00 p.m. I had to reach the headquarters to take the company’s van, so I had to leave this awesome and fantastic place, much to my regret. Why did I waste time going to Sukhumvit. If only had I attended this festival properly, I could have a chance to finally try a kimono TT_TT
Some more pics with cosplays I don’t know or don’t seem to recall –
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But truly. The people were there from the morning to the evening. Must have been sooo tiring. Hats off to the cosplayers! Getting clicked by so many strangers, posing for each one of them differently……. truly amazing.
With this, I’ll end my post today. I hope you enjoy the pics 🙂
We had plans to go for snorkeling but the accident last night left us with no choice. We didn’t want to really leave our friend behind and have fun. So we decided to go for elephant jungle trekking. It was around 500 Baht initially (probably) but after some insistence and persistence, we bargained for 450 Baht/person. The arrangement was done by the resort people only. To tell you the truth, we would not have got the deal if we would have gone on our own.
The taxi came to pick us up and we reached the place, full of big and small elephants. We were offered water first. Oh, I remember, there are two choices you can pick – One hour or Two hours. The one we took was one hour one. The Two Hour program would have cost 650 Baht/person. In one hour, we were taken to the mountain and in the Klong River. That’s it! But it was really fun ride, you see. The elephant went into the water, deep down. We didn’t get water splashed on us (Thank God! Otherwise, I didn’t have any other clothes ‘NOT’ intended for beaches since we were going back after this). And the scenes! When you reach almost top of the mountain, you can see whole island in front of you. Felt like touching the sky!
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We were photographed by the camp people and by the time we reached the camp, it had been prepared and framed. We could buy it for 200 Baht. The fruits had been prepared for us already and then the baby elephants came out. He was sooo cute!! He took me by surprise when he suddenly lifted me up on his trunk! And when his master used to say “Khorp Khun Khrub” meaning thank you (said by males), the baby use to bow down by stretching his front legs. We took some clicks and had delicious fruits. The fruits and water were included in the ticket itself and we were not charged for them separately.
Now in two hour program, they take you to the beach with the elephants and you can have a lot of games and rides with them. We did want to do that but time constraints were there. You can feed the elephants too! Baskets with small bananas are kept for 20 Baht/basket. It could have been free if we went to hotel back, but we had to go back to pier for ferry. So for there, they themselves brought a taxi and with heavy heart, we started our journey back to our home. Once again roller coasters and a lot of tourists in the taxi, we reached the pier, took the ferry and…… sigh!
And this is how, we ended our memorable trip. (Lol! While writing this sentence, I suddenly remembered “How I Met Your Mother”)
Alright, time to complete the task which I have been procrastinating from long time (one week, that is). Yup, it’s been week since I travelled to this faraway land and I’m not able to forget the serenity and beauty of this place (not that I haven’t travelled to any seaside place before but this has been a particularly memorable one). And, this post is gonna be a long one!
Ko-Chang (meaning Elephants Island) is a district in Trat province located around 310 km from Bangkok and second largest island of the country (Source – Wikipedia……. Who goes on a fun trip and asks for geographical data?………Well, at least, I don’t)
Since, I’m living in Saraburi, I’ll describe my journey from here only. We went to Bangkok from our company taxi (which, obviously, cost me nothing). Reached Bangkok, roamed around, visited some malls and blah, blah, blah……..
Random Roaming and Clicking in Bangkok
Bus time! We took 11:30 p.m. VIP bus from Ekamai bus station to Trat. Awesome and comfortable journey. Good condition seats and AC. Best part, you have got toilets on board!!! (For Indians, it is a new thing). Four and a half hours and we reached Trat bus station (must have been the closest district to Ko Chang island but I forgot to see the name……. anyway, it will drop you at the right place, if you are in right bus, so don’t worry). Our ferry to Ko Chang was around 6 in the morning, so we decided to wait at the bus station itself, but the driver who was supposed to take us to ferrypoint kept pestering us to hurry up, hence, we had to leave the place earlier. It took us about half hour and we made a stop at the ferry ticket counter (which was about 15min away from actual pier). This lady, who was booking tickets, was very helpful (and real business-minded, I must warn). She not only booked ferry but convinced us to book ‘open’ tickets for returning bus from Trat to Bangkok, since 12th, Monday (the day we were supposed to return home) was holiday all over Thailand in honor of The Honorable Queen’s Birthday and many people would be going back. Since the ferry and bus tickets were both open, we weighed our options and decided to go with it. We just needed to inform the lady when we would board the ferry while coming back so that she would confirm our bus tickets. Not bad. Now, no tension and no hassle of buying tickets to our way back.
We were taken to the pier and we were lucky enough to see the sunrise (bumper bonus!). See for yourself. Although it was cloudy, sun came out for enough time to get clicked by us.
The sun is also a fan of being photographed!
Ferry took around half an hour to reach the actual island! Although slow, it was a fun ride, giving us a chance to feast our eyes on beautiful sceneries, never seen before.
Oh finally
Oh, prices…. I’ll make sure to ask coz till now everything was paid by one of my friends and I just received the cumulative bill in the end (Oops! that reminded me, i still haven’t paid her). From now on, I can tell you. After climbing down the ferry, we took a taxi who’s driver was charging 100 Baht per person from foreigners till our hotel (which was quite far, I must admit).
And trust me, that was one hell of a ride. Why, you ask? If you want a roller coaster ride without an amusement park, this is the place. The roads are so steep, so steep, that at some places, you are literally at a perpendicular plane to that of the sea you can see from there (Sorry if you are bad at maths, but this is the only way I can say that). Since we were moving, we couldn’t click the exact thing but I hope that these give you some idea.
The downward slanted road as can be seen from side wall
The angle !
The dangerous turn
Is it same as second one?
So, somehow we arrived at the hotel “Bai Lan Beach Resort” at 8 in the morning but our check in was at 11. And while my friends were talking to the receptionist, asking for information, I had a look over the place and it was really breathtaking scene.
Ok, so the resort was good. We had already booked the rooms since we were afraid of holiday season. We relaxed a little bit and rented motorbikes (scooties actually) and tried to find veg food. Now, it’s not like we were not getting veg food in the resort but it was a little expensive for people like me. Again, the roads are really up and down, so until and unless you have confidence to drive on such roads (where you can barely control the speed of the vehicle while going down), I would suggest you sit behind some expert. Keeping this in mind, I opted to be the passenger rather than driver. There are a lot of marts out there where you can buy various kinds of bread (without egg too) and frozen food. Meanwhile, we stopped in between to have a look on other small waterfalls and beaches (our resort’s was a rocky one). Here-
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A little more masti, some more clicks and we went to the resort again. Oops! 11a.m. was check out time for previous customer and check in time was 12 noon. One more hour we waited.
Rooms were good, clean bathrooms, mini fridge (equipped with beer which is NOT included in your room rent), TV, AC etc. Our room was with garden view and a double bed, so the price was around 1000 Baht for one night and it included one time breakfast and all the service taxes. Time to freshen up and leave all the tiredness of the whole night journey behind, to enjoy the day’s endeavours. And then we went for kayaking, since it was free and available at that time. Other sports were far away and their time was in morning. We had nothing to do so we went kayaking. And the whole team – amateurs! (Since there were no trainers or anyone like that….. you were free to go by yourself, which we did). It’s easy to see someone and analyze how they do the things they do but very difficult to do it by self, which was the case here too. We turned the kayak upside down a hundred times (a little exaggeration) but still had loads of fun. Then we went to a beautiful whitesand and clear beach called ‘The Lonely Beach’ (and it was exact opposite to it’s name). The tides are a little high in the afternoon. There are massage parlors too (genuine ones please, not those kinds). So while having a good view, you can have a good massage too. Lunch at 5 and then we took our motorbikes to explore more. A little unfortunate accident stopped our little expedition then and there, but you can still find lagoons, small streams and waterfalls to visit by the road itself. Many people were taking a bath too, in these fresh water streams. Went back and had dinner at some peaceful place. The place was a little empty, so it was nicer atmosphere. The prices were reasonable too, not very expensive but not very cheap either. Came back and relaxed on lounge chairs by the seaside till midnight. Had some drinks and the day finished. The accident did upset us a lot and how we wished, we could go further up ahead but, oh well.
Now, my dear vegetarian friends, if you are worried about your food, I suggest you don’t. When we were planning our trip, many people told me, I won’t get anything since I’m a person who doesn’t take egg even in cake. But, I did get fantastic food there, that too pure veg. Thai people call “no egg, no meat” food as “che”. All you have to do is, use this word, if they don’t understand, while ordering food and they will prepare it for you or tell you what are the dishes suitable for you on the menu.
Next part – Elephant Jungle trekking….. Coming soon
Sitting on the beach lounge chair by the seaside, I can see the vast ocean before me. There are three, rather four islands in the sea. People are playing in cold water on the beach. The sounds of waves are shadowing their joyful screams. It is drizzling; small droplets going through my hair and falling on the ground. There are big mountains in the background afar, covered with lush green trees, looking so fresh after heavy rains last night. Clouds are touching the top of the hills making them look like a factory where they are being manufactured, defying all laws of science. It is peaceful, it is relaxing. I have left all the worries of the world behind.
But why does it make me so sad? Is it because, it is almost time to leave this place? Just one day trip is not enough to grab all the gifts this place has to offer. I regret not taking more leaves now, as the time draws near. At this serene place, I can spend days sitting and doing nothing.
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Then, is it due to jealousy, I’m feeling against people arriving here and checking in to the resort now, because they can start enjoying and for me, it is the end? Or, is this vastness of the ocean making me feel so? Because, I can’t see myself anywhere. This does make me seem insignificant similar to those four islands which are looking like small dots from here, or the speed boats going to and fro, even smaller.
What is this feeling? I have never had any attachment to any place before, not even my college or school. But, why here? Why does it feel like my last trip I’ll ever have? Is it some bad omen? Female’s intuition?
It’s time to go on the last adventure for this trip – elephant jungle trekking. As I gather my thoughts and my emotions and my belongings, the sun is coming from behind the clouds, shining its hopeful rays on me, inspiring me to start anew and do something for myself and the world.
PS – I wrote this, when we were just going to leave Ko Chang as you can make out from above. I did not have any internet though, that’s why I’m posting it today. The review of the place is coming soon with lots of photographs. For now, enjoy these sceneries from where I sat and wrote.
Oh! And about my intuition, something bad did happen but that I will tell in other parts.
I have been stalling blog posting seeing my blog’s hits jumping everyday. But that’s due to one dramacrazy post only and that is not fair. Not that I’m not happy but at least see other things too.
I have prepared a lot of posts already which need some work, and for that, I’m not finding time.
On other note, I have shifted to other accommodation from the flat I was living in earlier. The flat was too big for me and now this one bedroom home is suiting me a lot. It has got everything I wanted.
So, in this post, I’ll tell you about some customs followed in Thailand which I’ve learnt till now. Before coming here, I read a lot about dos and don’ts in Thailand on web. Being a girl, you have to take care of clothes too. Anything can offend the people of other cultures. So what I read about clothes were these – Try not to wear sleeveless. If you wear one, keep something to cover the upper portion with you, especially when going to temples. Then, Thai people don’t like girls to expose their legs, even a little bit. There were other many things which I’ll keep comparing with what I’ve actually seen (if I remember some).
So first of all, don’t point your feet towards anything, ever. I don’t exactly know the logic behind this but you can’t even sit on chair with your one leg over the other one, a sitting position which Indians like a lot. And trust me, this one is quite difficult (at least for me). About this, I was informed on the very first day when I met the coordinator of our training programme. I even noticed it on TV. Digimon’s last season – Xros Wars was going on (it was Thai dubbed) and whenever there was a kick, they would blur the feet part. It seems that they consider it very rude and insulting.
Next is, never ever keep your hand over someone’s head especially elder people. They take it as you challenging their brain or something like that. This is a total no no.
These were the only two things which we were warned about. Now about clothes, not only they have no problem with girls wearing shorts or half pants, Thai girls themselves wear such clothes. I haven’t gone out much, only one place. But there too, I saw girls wearing quite short length shorts or whatever they are called (excuse my lack of knowledge in this field, please). Yeah, you shouldn’t wear skirts, they offend them but even then, no one would say anything to you. Temples may be a bit stricter in this regard. You need something to cover your upper part if you have tank tops or tops with very thin straps (although definition for “thin” varies for everyone, but I guess, you got the idea). And for lower part, anything above knees is not allowed in the temples, that’s what I have heard (no, I asked my Thai mentor about it). I don’t know anything about socks (if you read some weird thing about people not being fond of socks). Yesterday, we went to two different Buddha temples where me as well as some Thai girls were wearing socks (obviously, we went directly from the company and we have to wear safety shoes). It was a new experience too.
Well today is Sunday and we are not going out anywhere, so I’m thinking of completing my pending works. I sooo wanted to go out but we haven’t received our insurance. Not that I can’t go without it but our sir is very particular about it. He doesn’t want to take any risk and it actually is alright. I would be able to relax and watch some more dramas.
And I’m into rock right now and liking this song very much –
Then I shall take my leave for today. See you soon!
Hey all,
It’s been a while since I have posted something. I was busy shopping and packing for Thailand. Now I have finally reached here and I am sooooo very happy. Obviously, it’s south EAST ASIA (nevermind south, “east” is enough for me 😉)
It doesn’t feel like a foreign country. There are a lot of Indian families here. Language is becoming a little problem though, the English pronunciation of Thai people is very different. But they all are very nice and are teaching me the language. Today only, I got a lot of homework for my language lessons. To tell you the truth, even if I know the phrases very well, it’s still awkward, somehow, to greet them in their language. But they are very supporting in this regard. When I speak some phrase, they laugh, get elated on my attempt and then correct me. It’s a fun procedure – not to dig into internet or mobile apps but rather learn from native speakers. Ah! My lifelong dream is coming true!
My trainer is very enthusiastic and sweet lady and is very excited to have us (me and one other batchmate) as trainees under her. Also, I am the first girl from our college here. Hehe, feels so great!
So, they have provided me with a nice accommodation, a fully furnished flat just for me (I may have roommates in future but right now it’s only mine, MINE!). There is an AC car to take us everyday to and fro (till now. Soon we’ll get our cycles and that’s good since I don’t like special treatments). And, there is proper veg Indian food (lucky no?). But with facilities comes responsibility (Is that even a quote?) – responsibility of behaving properly (I am very good at that) and excelling at work. That means, even if I screwed up my acads, I have to perform well here (oh well, this is only chance left to increase my CGPA).
The most amusing thing is that even if I am a shy person I am trying to communicate with people (Thai only, I still can’t bring myself to talk to seniors, oops, they are my batchmates only, from India. I keep repeating in my head what to say but by the time I gather courage to speak, they are nowhere to be found!). Even so, I am surprising myself!
Oh! Oh! And the awesome internet speed! The speed which my laptop shows here is 1GBps! I told my friends and they were like “OMG” and “Holy Shit!” (In India the speed shown is 100MBps and it’s far lower than that). I wonder when I go back to India, if I’ll keep cursing the Indian speeds. Now my only two problems are:
– Where is the dustbin?
– Windows 8, why did you take this awesome thing called wi-fi from my laptop away? Now the only choice left for me is to access net on my phone TT_TT . But these are solvable (Phew!)
And the two things I am excited about are:
-K-pop concerts (if any happens during my stay here and the ticket is within my limits)
-AnimeCons ( I hope I get enough info on time)
I’ll keep posting about my stay here at Thailand and show you places where I’ll go (I’m not trying to turn this into a travel blog but I would like to show you Thailand from my perspective). A lot of pics are on their way……
I think I have written enough for now. Recommendations about concerts, conventions and places, which are a must see but not mentioned in books and not known by many people, are most welcome.
See you soon with another story!
PS – Pardon the mistakes, I am posting this from my phone.
Edit: 06 July 2013 : Alright, I got net in my laptop for the first time in about 2 months. And because I’m happy, I’ll post this happy happy song :
Alright. It’s been so long (yeah yeah, 2 weeks without net is ages for me!) When I reach my home, my only worry is when I will get internet. I keep asking my parents but being a daughter of a government official means transfers and shifting houses. You come back from college after 3 months or more and BOOM! A new place, new house, new environment, new neighbors, new room and of course, no internet (it takes time in India for almost everything if you don’t know how are things done here) Surfing net on handphone is cumbersome for me. Yeah, sure there are cyber cafes but who wants to go out in scorching 45 deg C.
Anyways, today I’m visiting my relatives and got a chance, so I’m writing. Don’t know when will get next opportunity, better do all the important pending work.
Most awesome thing that happened to me related to East Asia this summer is that my 6 months training (I mentioned it in my post earlier, check here) is now in Thailand and I’m so so happy. I was very worried about my passport and stuff but it seems (yeah “seems”) to be solved now (Hope I get things done and get my passport soon). But the best thing I came to know about was the Japanese cosplay and anime conventions. I can finally start my manga collection and, for the first time in my life, see real cosplayers.
Not to mention, K-pop concerts! At least SME idols do concerts there, that much I know. Don’t know about other companies and don’t know about their schedule but it doesn’t take anything to be happy in dreams. I just hope that everything goes fine and I’m able to at least reach there. Rest will be planned after landing. If you wanna suggest something for my visit, ideas are welcome.
Now it’s time to bid goodbye to internet.
Here is another one of my favorites (and now my sister’s who doesn’t listen to any other Korean song but this one)
The Joys and Worries of an East Asia Lover 