Pro's and Con's of Thailand

As our time here in Thailand is coming to an end, we’ve created a list of things we’ll miss and what we’re happy to leave behind. It’s been a blast and there’s nothing we would change or do differently. We both value our time spent here and cherish the friends and memories made, the places visited, and all the experiences we've had this past year.

Things we will miss:

- Our FRIENDS
- Our weekends on the southern coasts and the islands
- Thai BEACHES
- Spicy fish sauce/vinegar/chili peppers condiment
- Luke Skywalker, our stray dog
- Cheap weekend getaways
- Cheap food and beer (Randi: Leo, Stacy: Chang)
- Cheap transport
- Riding bikes to school
- Thai time (when in our favor)
- Smiley, friendly people
- Most students
- Cheap clothes
- Warm, sunny weather (Stacy)
- Elephants
- Karaoke
- Street food
- Pirated DVDs
- Buckets (mixed drinks)
- Photo frenzies
- Wacky Thai bands
- Live acoustic music on the beach
- Moto-taxi’s
- Diverse landscape of Thailand
- Bangkok (Stacy)
- Thai tea
- Ratchaburi
- Being tan all year round (Randi)
- Fans (Stacy)
- Watermelon shakes

Things we won’t miss:

- Thai food
- The fact that we’d be so much skinnier if we didn’t drink so much doughy beer (Stacy)
- Sweating (Randi)
- Hard beds
- Shower and toilet all in one
- Ants on our skin
- Scorpions in our bathroom
- Spiders
- Always having dirty feet
- Bad skin
- It’s ruined our luxurious locks
- Deteriorating health (Randi)
- Thai spatial awareness
- Turkish toilets
- Deteriorating bicycles (Stacy)
- Unreliable and slow Thai internet
- Thai fashion sense and vanity
- Close encounters with motorized vehicles while riding a bike (Randi)
- Thai time
- Thai behavior:
         Two-faced, fake, petty, immature, dishonest Thai attitudes
- Small clothing sizes
- Sweltering, sticky heat
- Bows, pok-a-dots, and ruffles on everything
- Viral mosquitoes
- Sand flies (Randi)
- Bangkok traffic
- Having to pay for drinking water
- Thai school system (55 + students per class)
- Skin whitening products
- Old perverted Western men with young Thai women
-7- Eleven
- Sangsom and Hong Thong whiskey
- Wearing skirts everyday for school

~ Randi and Stacy

Hua Hin, Thailand: A Weekend of Fun in the Sun

Last week, after Randi and I spent a tiring week completing grades for 2,000 students, we were in need of a fun weekend away . We joined 5 friends for a weekend  in Hua Hin, a beach town popular with Scandinavian retirees. As some of the youngest beach goers, our self-confidence in a bikini did get a large boost, but our views were less than spectacular!

After experiencing a bit too much sun on the first day, I may have slightly resembled a tomato. To cool off the following days, we went to the movies and stayed under the umbrella that accompanied our lounge chairs. Randi and I felt quite accomplished after creating our own drink: a watermelon shake with a shot of Bacardi.

We spent the evenings along the beach drinking Chang, and dancing at 2 of the only clubs open past midnight. One night we dressed up for a classy night at the Hilton's Sky Bar. Another night, we each had to randomly don 20 baht accessories (bows, headbands, a boy band pin, green nail polish, and nylon stockings) for a portion of the evening. I do think that the girls got the better end of that deal as the large bows looked less conspicuous on us than the guys. The Thai women do love their bows and ruffles, so we  fit right in. Contrary to public opinion, Randi and I will not miss Thai fashion.

~ Stacy

Living in Ratchaburi, Thailand

We are in our last official week of teaching; this consists of drinking iced coffee and making sure the kids don’t cheat on exams. As our year in Ratchaburi comes to a close here are a few of the highlights from living in our charming little city. As we said before we live in Ratchaburi, about an hour and forty-five minutes south of Bangkok. We have been living here since June but did not move into our house till the end of October. It is great having a house and we really enjoy being only five minutes from school.  Our house is located in a typical Thai neighborhood complete with rice fields, tin shacks, multiple stray dogs, a family of pigs, and the local cattle.

       

The house itself is a lovely two story concrete building.  We each have our own bedrooms, a hot shower, and living room complete with couch, entertainment center, and cable TV.  There are only three stations we ever watch; therefore we have a movie night, every night. There are also multiple fans in each room and with the recent weather change they are now a necessity. Last but not least is the kitchen, or as we like to call it “the Kitchen of Horrors”! By only having a sink and a microwave, “kitchen” is a very loose term. It is home to all of the scary things that go bump in the night and therefore we really don’t use it. Not to mention it is an obstacle course with lids and plungers covering random holes where creepy crawlers love to appear. With every house come unwanted house guests; one morning I awoke to find a full on scorpion just chilling in the bathroom.  Not sure what else to do I donned one of my tennis shoes and proceeded to stomp on the critter until dead, though I did have a slight error in judgment as while I was chasing him around the bathroom, he got very close to the foot without the shoe.  I was successful in killing him and we now thoroughly check our shoes for any more cunning guests. We are lucky enough to have two very loyal guard dogs, though they are probably only loyal for the treats but we do love being greeted every time we come home by wagging tails.
 

Though we don’t stay here most weekends there are a few things to do here during the week. We usually frequent the night market which is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A river runs right through our town so the market is perfectly located along the boardwalk. At the market we frequent a Chinese tea house and sample the many foods street vendors have to offer (our favorite are the grilled scallops and mussels!). There are also many street vendors selling random things from t-shirts to kitchen utensils. We lucked out in being here for the Chinese New Year and the night market was especially decked out for the occasion. Complete with fireworks, dancing, and a performance on the river. We also have some bars as well where we get dinner on occasion (our favorite being One Brain Two Hands, which some nights has a local Thai band. There is also the hookah bar run by two very friendly Thai girls who welcome us with kisses on the cheek. Last, but not least, we have our mall, Robinsons, where we get weekly hour foot massages for only $3. Though we do have pretty bicycles we do get lazy now and again so we usually just walk to the train station and grab motto-taxis. We are entrusting our lives and helmet- less heads to local Thai drivers. It has been a great base with BKK only a short trip to the north and Hua Hin (where the Thais go to vacation) only two hours south. With the train running pretty much through our back yard it is very easy for us to travel. Living in Thailand has been an amazing experience and with our teaching coming to an end we have really enjoyed living in Ratchaburi.

~ Randi