shopping, Bangkok-style.

My trip to Bangkok this past weekend felt less like a trip about Thai culture and more of a learning experience on the many faces of international consumerism.  Guess what... we all want stuff. Yay!

And we equally go crazy over reduced priced trinkets at an outdoor, sweaty market as we do the 5x-the-markups of similar items in an air conditioned, shiny several-storeys-high mall. The frenzy and the ferocity for shopping is the same in all places in a big city, even if the rules don't stay the same.

I learned at the Chatuchak Weekend Market that standing in line is definitely not just ill-advised, but really not optional. I learned that if you buy in bulk and you have some mad Thai-speaking skills (thank you Krista and friends) your final sale price dramatically improves. I learned that I like coconut in all forms, especially in an iced beverage dripping through my hands as I'm walking through the masses. And I learned that if you see something you like, get it then and there, because the likelihood of finding it later is next to impossible. With an upwards of 5,000 stalls to peruse, doubling back through the windy acres of food and textiles can be tricky.  That's why I also learned that it's all just stuff, so if you don't end up buying that one really important thing you regret not stopping for, that's probably ok too.

 A breath of humid air at Chatuchak weekend market. 

At the shopping malls (all four of them, Siam neighborhood) I learned that lines do very much count at the cash register but are not relevant when buying food. What you think is just a polite distance between you and the next person is actual ample room for a family of four to squeeze in front of you.every.time. I learned to go to the malls for the air conditioning but not the clothes.  Don't buy that dress at the mall if you're comfortable with a "free-sized" lesser quality version at a 70% markdown that you dig out of a box at the market. I also learned that similar to some stalls at the outdoor market, you're probably not allowed to take pictures of things you find at a global clothing giant.

But sometimes you just can't help it:

The forbidden picture. 

And the consumption of material goods does not end at these locations. There are stalls and hawkers of wares in almost any conceivable location at any given time in Bangkok.  On the street, in an alley way, on a tiny inch of sidewalk... people are there to sell you fried balls of fat, ripped off DVDs and music, barbecued grasshoppers, gold threaded elephant wall hangings, and trendy sun glasses. And there are people always buying and always getting in your way. Or, more likely, I'm getting into theirs. Any way you look at it, this makes getting to the train station a very long mission when you could have just taken that bridge above your head where the hawkers do not go. Live and learn.

Protests also clog the streets near the shopping malls (making me a little homesick for France to tell you the truth):

My friends decided to keep the shock and overwhelm theme going by introducing me to nightlife in Bangkok. Saturday night we hopped in a tuk-tuk, breathing in the diesel and the night air a few inches off the ground, to the busiest party/club street I've seen in a looong time.

From the back of the tuk-tuk

This is where the goods, services, and shows being sold get weirder and more explicit. An international hodgepodge of tourists and locals, I witnessed the flow of goods fueled by the flow of alcohol and increased by a general sense of asininity. Because of the international mayhem and general party theme, this street could have belonged in any other capital in the world. Same rowdy drunk people, same bump, bump, bumpin' music spilling into the streets. But at the same time it was indisputably Thai. That city smell of chilies, spices, sweat, sewage, and gasoline, little children trying to sell you neon bracelets while they attempt to clean your pockets, wiry old man trying to push his blackened scorpions off on you.

Khaosan Rd

Especially while walking down that packed party street, I was reminded how important it is to stay aware of your surroundings and hold onto your money. Staying sober at a free-for-all like that is a much more rewarding experience than observing it through the eyes of a person with alcohol-impaired vision who has had their wallet nabbed but won't realize it until they're finding a way home at 4 am.  The latter of which thankfully I got to experience only as an onlooker.

I took away this lesson from my introductory weekend on shopping in Bangkok:
I think that the art of haggling is very very important. Even better is the art of haggling in Thai. However, most important is the art of saying no. Just like you need to be firm with the smelly drunk farang at Burger King trying to convince you that you want to dance (seriously?), make sure those sellers know you mean it. Be persistent and be firm.

Well, thanks for the fun, overcrowded, polluted, mad-dash weekend, Bangkok! It was the perfect mix of spending time with a very important friend, experiencing some adventure on my own traveling, and not breaking the bank. And to top it all off, I was grateful for the relative peace and quiet of my clickity-clack train ride home reading GOT on my tablet (turns out reading about ice and snow is a temporary relief for this humidity).

Nighty night.

Jennifer Shannahan

running in Ubon.

Anyone who runs knows that you have to amuse yourself somehow on the longer routes. So I amuse myself with these anecdotes each morning. I give you:

The rules for running in Thailand (at UBU)

1. Run between 5 and 7 am. There'll be less people to gawk at you. And the sun will already seem as bright as midday, though eerily slanted and dusty-veiled in the humidity. Do not be confused.  This isn't actually 6 pm. It's 6 am.

2. Embrace the rain. Cloudy mornings like this with a hint of breeze are absolutely divine, bringing the temperature down to a chill high 80's F (30 C).

Humidity levels leave something to be desired, though.

3. Stretch at some point. Refer to these helpful illustrations when deciding your stretching regime.

Ten seconds before we start. Choose wisely. 

4. Run with your mouth closed. (Sorry Mom and Dad.) It took a breathing specialist, multiple track and cross country coaches, and my parents shouting from the sidelines, "BREATHE JENNIFER!"  to get me to open my mouth when I ran. However, I revert to my younger self's instincts here. After the first few mornings of swallowing bugs and gagging on spiderwebs, I decided I didn't care for the taste. Therefore, forest paths will always be run with mouth clamped shut and nostrils flaring proudly in bad running form.

Forest path?

5. Speaking of forest paths, keep an eye out for floating glimmers of light. That spider worked hard on its net and you don't want to be scraping impossibly strong web from your already sticky, sweaty visage. Still, webs strung up across the road like a finish line are not avoidable. So when going the road less traveled, eyes up, head down, and barrel through (and remember, mouth closed).

See the glimmer? Barrel through. (Mouth closed)

6. Always carry your camera. You never know what you'll find on your explorations. And it makes running all these flat roads more interesting.

Camera, cleverly disguised as an iPhone

7. Learn how to hold, point, and shoot your camera.

This was supposed to be of something.

8. Beware the dogs that howl at you suspiciously.
    *Addendum to rule 5, feel free to carry a rock instead of a camera.

That's close enough.

9. Be happy for the dogs that just want to play.

    

   


10. Be careful of landlubber crabs.

En garde.

11. Ignore the stares of the moped riders.

X

Well if I'm ignoring them why would I take a picture?

12. Always smile at the guy who gives you a thumbs-up. Learn to use his encouragement.

It was a TWO thumbs-up sort of day!

13. Respect the lessons of the road. And heed the power of ants. Do not stretch next to them!

See the ants on his head? That's why this picture is relevant. Sorry.

14. And probably don't run down this tantalizingly mysterious road.

Its gates open as if only for me.

15. And don't go poking around in other people's spirit houses.

Even if you admire tiny furniture.

16. THE MOST IMPORTANT. Always be aware of the windmill. It will appear as if by design from all sorts of angles when you're sure you've gone down a new road. This is your only compass in Thailand. Do not ignore its guidance.

So, take a deep breath of that muggy, golden air and enjoy the run.
Jennifer Shannahan

through her daily routine.

Daily Life

A picture story.

Two weeks in and I've already got a fairly predictable routine. Join me as we take a weekday tour of my ajan life in Thailand.

6:15 am: I wake up and run down this sidewalk:

Never ending. 

and around this lake:

and it's imperative that I run by this windmill (or else I'll just keep running).

My compass. 

7:30 am: Sometimes I eat this for breakfast....

Papaya and Pineapple

or if I'm feeling lazy, I'll settle for this:

Breakfast of champions.

8:30 am: Occasionally I ride on one of these things...

Danny boarding the songthaew

                                                                            which can get pretty crowded so hold on,

                                                     9:00 am: to my 690 class, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Bright and shining faces. 

10:00 am But usually I just take this....

Me in my most '90's outfit. 

....all the way to here.

Faculty of Management Science

Hot and sweaty from my ride, I sidestep the dozing dogs:

....and go inside this lovely air conditioned office

Filled with these lovely air conditioned people.

where I work in front of this screen.

Still trying to figure out how to "add a page"

12 pm: Then it's time for lunch, which could sometimes be this:

Yum!

And other times, regrettably, this:

It says cheese and cracker but it tastes like sugar cookies. I was misled.

1:00 pm: Then it's back to the office to wage war against these fiends:

Picture to scale depending on your computer screen.

4:30 pm: Many hours later, I go in here:



where sometimes I make my students do this:

Summary game!

and that:

Summary game!

Summary game!

but always make sure they get their daily dose of writing/speaking/reading/listening/loving/living English! Wooo...ooo...ooo.

6:30 pm: Finally, I bike home

and get to lounge around in here,

7:30 pm: before going to the cafeteria
                    to get some of this:

Noodles in coconut soup

and hopefully none of that:

I should have never asked.

with these cool peeps.

Hey cool teachers. 

Occasionally I go out for something like this:

Mmmm, hotpot

And on extra special nights, I get to see skies like this:

 

                                                                       and this:

But if I'm really, really lucky, I get to talk to this person at some point during my day:

Proof that occasionally there really  is enough wifi for Skype in our room!

Voila. My daily routine. You're welcome.

Jennifer Shannahan