Persuasive Essay

Dear Manny, Chris, Dan, Dave, Dave, Justin, et al . . . .



That's Ching. He is one of the owners of the "Memories bungalow resort" in Khao Lak, Thailand. The bungalows (that's them in the back) are set in the forest that opens up to the beach with 3 awesome things:
A: A consistent beach break which is fun for beginners, out of shape surfers, or old pros.
B: A sweet bamboo bar and restaurant with great cheap food and drinks.


C: kick ass sunshine and dogs and hammocks . .

OK, so that's more like 5 things, but you get the idea. The bungalows are a bit of a camping experience. There are shared toilets and showers and no air con, but if a group of us took the place over for a week or so it would be loads of fun! The waves roll in around 8:30 am and at 5-6ish at night. 2 sessions per day!! We can entertain ourselves at the bar/beach in between. Oh yeah, the bungalows cost about $10 US a night, the food is around $3 a plate (Thai curries, fried rice, with some western options as well), and the bus trip there is around $30. Apart from airfare and time, everything here is really cheap.

There's another reef break a few K (kilometers, this is Asia) up the beach that is more consistent and bigger. The waves died down when we were there so we never got to check it out but Ching was itching to take us. Khao Lak is on magic seaweed now!

If we get tired of surfing one of the owners is a guide for the Ancient Tropical Rainforest that's about 70 km away.



You can hike in to the reservoir that's surrounded by crazy jungle full of wild elephants, tigers, and bears (oh my!). We didn't see the big three on our day hike, but there were plenty of monkeys, lizards, and bigger lizards.



Dan almost stepped on one of these on the path!! It was HUGE.

In conclusion, we should go here. It rules.

The Red Scare

It's hard to say what's going to happen over here with the reds and the government clashing. The reds don't want to compromise, no one but them wants Taksin back, the yellows are now threatening to take matters into their own hands. I'm not sure if anyone know how this thing will play out.

On a lighter note I just got back from holiday round one up north in Fang, Chiang Mai, and Pai. Round 2 involves me relaxing at home in Bangkok. This will be promptly followed by surfing and island hopping down south.

Here's the treehouse I stayed at in Pai:

Summer School

I've been teaching summer school for a couple of weeks now. It's a very relaxed atmosphere. I've been teaching Science to grades 8 and 9 and Math to 7, 8, and 9. None of their grades for these summer session classes actually count so it's just a lot of supplemental knowledge that should prep them for the next term. The hard part is motivating them, but I guess that's always the hard part of teaching.

The Red party here in Thailand has been camping out on the street in Bangkok for 2 weeks now. They were supporters of the last Prime Minister who was tossed out in a military coup about 4 years ago. He's a crook, but their points are valid. They want the current government to be dissolved so they can re-instate the ex PM (Thaksin). There was a lot of fear at first, and there have been a few random bombs outside of Bangkok (no serious injuries), but all in all it has been peaceful.

I have another holiday coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm going to go up to the jungle and stay in a treehouse with Oi during songkran. Songkran is like a Thanksgiving holiday, except instead of everyone eating too much we just have a huge waterfight on the streets!! It's one of the best holidays anywhere ever.

The Term is Winding Down

Finals and vacation are coming up. I'm super excited. Dave and I are in charge of teaching 10 4th grade students to play air guitar to the song "Schools Out" by Alice Cooper:



It's for the end of the year assembly coming up in a couple of weeks. Our art teacher:

made them wooden guitars.

After that I'll go down to Phuket to do more research. I've agreed to sign on at my school again so I'll be here a while longer. Also I'm trying to find a cheaper place so I can save some $$$$$$$. OK, time to expand some minds in first period. We finished our math book so we've been watching this movie:

Whoops

So I've recently been nerding out everywhere but on my blog, which is where it would seem most fitting. I changed my hard drive and operating system and totally forgot about my blog.

Recently I've been working on stuff related to starting a guesthouse here in Thailand. I'm currently working on web design stuff, so I'm super-duper UUUber nerding out.

My brief visit home was fun, it was great seeing everyone. It was waaaaay tooooooo cooooooooold though. I can handle a winter with temperatures ranging from 70-90 F.

That's about as much update as I have time for, gotta learn CSS web design!!!

Massage

What's better than a one hour massage?

A two hour massage!!!

My body was feeling jacked on Sunday so I went and had a 2 hour massage at the mall near my house. They cost 450 baht (around $15 US) and the lady was so nice I think she kept going for an extra 1/2 an hour. I feel better.

This Saturday is "sports day" which should be called cheerleading day. The kids all gather around and cheer on the capable few who actually compete. This involves choreographed dances, water bottles slamming the floor, and a lot of long involved cheers. We have to be at school at 6:30 am just to hang out and watch the spectacle. They have been practicing for over a month for this.

It's cooling down here, in the morning it probably gets into the low 70's upper 60's with a slight breeze. It's like my favorite days in the fall back home. the best news is that the rainy season is over so I get the cool weather without the nasty precipitation. I hope I can handle the temps when I come home to visit after Christmas.

Islands are cool

Thailand is surrounded by islands. The two closest islands are Ko Chang and Ko Samet. I went to Ko Chang a few weeks ago, and this weekend I'm going to Ko Samet. Chilling on island beaches with a guitar in my hands is quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes.

This new school term is going well. It seems like there's a holiday or a field trip every week, and my schedule is pretty chill.

I'm learning to play Thai chess and playing against the students. It's just a little bit different from "normal" chess.

I spent all of last night tracing over Thai letters in a kiddy workbook. I know a lot of them, but I really need to master the vowels to get my reading skills up to snuff.

Not much else to report. It's finally "cooling off" here which means sometimes it drops to 23C (~74F) haha.

Should I get a Thai Lion tattoo or a protection tattoo?