as im kind of into school a bit now, i feel like i have a little grip on wtf is going on with the courses and students here. like nearly everything in bangkok, academics and the university environment at thammasat is just a shitshow of contrasts that this pharang is still trying to take in.

little intro: first, thammasat is the best school in thailand, and the bba program is the most rigorous and prestigious faculty at thammasat. so on a smaller scale, i’m at wharton to these people. something like 150,000 students who think they’re smart take this thai entrance exam. only like 1500 receive scores that meat the high standards of thammasat, and something like 150 are admitted to each BBA class. surely not all 150,000 students are aiming for thammasat bba, but im just trying to give some perspective.

so anyways - the contrasts. well when i imagine classes at u of chicago, wharton, nyu, [insert school ranked higher than the U of M], i get the sense of a pretty cut throat environment. so naturally, i made a few comparisons between ivys and thammasat before i came here but i quickly realized the concept of top tier universities didnt translate directly from the west to thailand.

academics

im kind of made the implication that academics are easy so far. that’s false (kind of). if you take real courses, they’re hard. (see: any finance or accounting course). marketing might be a bigger joke here than in the US even. im not even going to mention their liberal ed courses. but for ‘real’ courses like my finance and accounting, they’re fast, comprehensive, and perhaps harder than the US. for instance, the other day my finance prof could be quoted saying “excel is for babies. we’re going to be using mathlab since excel cant handle our computations” which was greeted with a casual ‘oh alright’ by the thai students. i mightve had a different itnernal response as i was already flustered by the too short simple tutorial on how to use datastream.

environment

now that i got my acadademic disclaimer out of the way, the environment at thammasat is so so so so different. if i wanted to describe it in one phrase it’d have to be “i feel like im in high school junior high 5th grade”

Okay. Last post for Bangkoking in its current form. I’m currently back in the 612 in my comfortable little subletted room. I arrived stateside, homeward bound, in sioux falls January 12 after 27 hours of flights (but only 12 with the time change). i made it through an outrageous amount of security checks and somehow my 5 legged journey of flights worked out, thank Shiva.

i met the ‘rentals in sioux falls, ate pizza, and passed out for the drive back home-home to Aberdeen. I only stayed home-home for 3ish days. i really couldn’t believe that i had been gone for 6 months with how stagnant life seemed.

then the 15th I came up to Minneapolis. hastily moved into my room for the semester. then i saw old friends. now i feel like i have been gone for over a year. i kind of feel like i’m floating around in limbo somewhere over the Pacific. i feel awkward walking around having done things in asia for half a year that most cannot relate to and explaining myself just takes too much effort that my tired soul doesnt want to do now.

on a brighter note, i missed things about the us that im slowly being reminded of.

• Pandora and Last.FM work here
• brewing non-instant coffee
• drinkable tap water
• 24/7 ESPN
• diversity and blending in
• grocery stores
• the sense of accomplishment associated with keeping warm. keeping cool from the heat isn’t as fulfilling.

as for things i’m really going to miss about thailand and southeast/southern asia

• eating amazing, cheap, hot food for $1 every day
• the thai “mai pen rai” culture. mai pen rai is a phrase that means no problem, dont worry, etc. people are chill and stress free. living amongst a satisfied people is pleasant.
• warm weather
• friends
• instant transportation with mototaxis and taxis

there’s a lot of other things too for both categories. re-entry culture shock is present. i think a solution would be to give me a week, a summer banking internship, and ill be good.

</bangkoking>

<reality />

India

india was, well, india. it kicked my ass every other day. i hate a gagillion eye opening/peculiar/dangerous/amazing experiences that i dont even care to try to spell out at length here. I went from Dehli to the Taj, then around Rajasthan which is a desert area in the northwest. i went about motstly by death bus since my train tickets didnt work out as planned. i say death because the ’sleeper’ seats are made compact for indians. you can imagine how comfortable they are for me when i’m sick, tired, and locked in a coffin for 30 hours (not an exageration) going between destinations.

from here i went and lazed around at beaches in Goa, then to the amazing city of Mumbai (Bombay), which was actually somewhat civilized unlike the rest of india. surely the only indian city i saw that wouldnt drive me to suicide if i were forced to reside there. (ps: dehli is my current least favorite place in the world)

during the trip i got sick multiple times, completely scammed by government workers, led into indian ghettos by rickshaw drivers (and subsequently ripped off), realized the entire country is more or less an impoverished shantytown, and went to bed at 8:00 on new years eve (following my 30 hour bus ride). i also saw my first wonder of the world (Taj Mahal, which lives up to the hype), relaxed on rooftop restaurants and in roof tents, read books, meet interesting travelers, and learned a lot about india, its people, and the Indian head bob.

Mention of the indian head bob/bobble/wobble deserved a paragraph to be by itself. this is it. as for what it is, i think you can only truly try to understand through experiences. im more or less just impressed with the strength of indian necks considering how they manage to bobble all day, every day while speaking.

overall it was enlightening and im glad i did it, but it was exhausting, uncomfortable, hard, and definitely more than i was anticipating. i survived though. will i go back again? meh. naturally i wont rule it out, but i’d say it’s at around #58 on my todo list at the moment.

bangkok

im having a lot of different feelings being back in the bkk. i was really looking forward to getting back. now i really really realize that there’s nothing here for me since my friends are gone and a new semester has already begun.

all in all, i’m tired. studying abroad has easily been the best experience of my life and i hate to see it go. but now, it’s just time to go home. the cold doesnt even sound that bad right now.

/bangkoking

Okay, quickly.

Nakhon Si Thammarat:

My trip to Nakhon si thammarat was quite interesting. um, nobody spoke english and i was left out to dry for the most part. it was frustrating, yet engaging. the first day i did absolutely nothing due to being tired, a bit sick, and lost amongst an entire population that knows zero english. the second day i went to part of the national park - really awesome. but after 6 hours in the morning i was a bit tired and didn’t want to (didnt know how) venture another 40 kms away from Nakhon. soooooooooooo i went to the railway station in town and booked a train home.

sooo yeah. i bought a 3rd class train ticket which would put me back in bangkok a day earlier than planned. i realized i couldnt really do much in nakhon alone and not knowing thai, and that i really just wanted to be in bangkok. the 3rd class 16 hour train ride back home was absolute hell, but something really good for me. definitely the worst and best travel experience i’ve had so far.

India

I go to India in 2 days. I have a plan, but one domino falling out of place will ruin me. i’ve talked to my friends that got back (who prepared for it about as little as i am) and they had their hands full. i accept the fact that india will kick my ass though, so maybe this is the first step to enjoying it.

Suit

Yes, suit for me. I went to a tailor after much deliberation and am splurging on a suit. the guy is suppose to be good and reputable, so it’s naturally more expensive. the process is pretty fun, and i pick it up tomorrow after a 3rd and final fitting. i’m somewhat pleased with it, but dont really know what im looking for or want, so hopefully it’s not a waste.

Adios

Everyone is leaving, and it’s unreal. comrades are lost daily and it’s not cool. tomorrow, 90% of people will be gone or heading south for christmas on Koh Lipe. it’s hard to comprehend that it’s over. im glad im staying later though to see everyone leave. i’ll be ready to go home now realizing that there really isnt anything here for me anymore when i return to an apartment full of strangers in january.

School

School’s over. I never studied so little on final exams in my life. i think i did fine though.

i have like a million other thoughts, and will add a million more after india which im assuming will be the next update. it’s been good. go vikings.

Friday I had my last class at Thammasat University. Naturally, it was boring and pointless to attend, yet it led to an odd feeling nonetheless. From now on I just have attempted study sessions and exams.

Tangent: Here’s a picture of what I’m going to eat today for 90 cents. Pad See Eew (rough english spelling). Click the thumbnail for a larger version of its goodness. 

Thanksgiving

So things are wrapping up here. Unofficial Farewell party on Thanksgiving at tiny coffee/shop bar near Democracy Monument was a massive success. While I missed Turkey and the trimmings and football and family, i was satisfied with my burger, fries, and beer. Honestly, I’m somewhat glad to be away for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. It makes you realize how arbitrary and socially constructed the holidays are. Being bombarded with music, adverts, santa clauses, and marketing bullshit is something i dont miss and it’s nice to skip it all for a year.

The King’s Birthday

December 6 is the King’s birthday. The King is very sick. Red shirts (the opposing political party of the current Prime Minister) are very active politically still. The former Red Shirt Prime Minister Thaksin is now living in nemesis neighbor Cambodia and wont be extradited to Thailand to face punishments for his crimes.

Celebrating the King’s birthday will be great. There’s huge hype for it. Not just because he’s so revered and it’s a huge national holiday, but because of the idea that he may pass on the crown to the Prince at this time.

In short, if this or something related happens, I may find myself amidst the world’s biggest political hot bed. Massive turmoil could ensue. Gossiping about such matters is highly illegal however, so I must stop here.

Enjoying

I’m trying to just enjoy everything here and forget the academic part.  I’m banking on 14 hour night before cram sessions at this point. It went too fast and people are already moving away and out. I don’t feel ready to go home and rebuild my life in the US just yet.

Farewell Party

There was an official BBA (business school) Farewell Party at the Baiyoke sky tower buffet - the tallest building in Bangkok. It was great. Picture slideshows, nicely dressed people, and four trips through a great buffet - sushi, steak, chicken, fish, salad, cake, crab, mussels….i gained at least 3 pounds, no exaggeration. The school reserved a private room downtown bangkok overlooking the cityscape. it was a nice farewell event, then we moved to a nearby bear garden on roof of CentralWorld mall to have a beer. The place really made me regret not bringing a camera, but I’m sure I’ll make a stopover there again before leaving, esp to laugh at the Christmas decorations that look oddly out of place.

(thought i published this before..)

Last week, on an impulsive whim i booked a trip to nakhon si thammarat with, guess who, AirAsia. AirAsia had one daily flight to the unknown city and added another, so in true AirAsia fashion they had an airfare sale for no real reason. I booked a roundtrip flight for exactly $30. 400 baht each way plus some tax and fee. Considering the cheapest trip possible to Southern Thailand is on a 16 hour shitty bus ride from Khao San in Bangkok to Krabi for the same price, this was an extraordinary deal that I’m glad I got. I love Air Asia.

I booked the trip for December 16-19 during one of my pathetic finals gaps. I don’t need to study for my final on the 20th and would have nothing to do / nobody to hangout with in BKK at the time, so this trip to Nakhon Si Thammarat fits perfectly.

I had no idea where / what Nakhon is/was before the Air Asia sale, but it looks awesome. From what i’ve read so far it’s a nice, local, genuinely Thai place in the South.  i havent seen enough real Thai places, so this is splendid.

When I’m there, I’ll probably hangout and wander around the city Nakhon and go to the truly uninhabited beaches nearby one day, but I want to spend most of my time in the neighboring Khao Luang National Park hiking around with a guide or other travelers.

Monkeys, waterfalls, mountains, hiking, tigers, nature, solitude, genuine thai people, language barriers. I think it’ll be the perfect send off.

I’m excited.