Last Minute Thailand

Last week was the Muslim holiday of Eid. We had the week off, so Karen and I decided to go to Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the day before we left there was a bombing in one of the city's on our tour. So, we booked a last minute flight to Bangkok! We arrived in Bangkok Saturday evening without a hotel room! We ended up in a nicer upscale Le Meridian for the first night. This was nice, but we wanted a range of experiences, so we booked the following night at a guesthouse. On a one to five scale I'd probably give it a one and a half. We managed to make a rather drastic turnaround from the pervious night, but the location was perfect for all the best sites. Bangkok is a modern city mixed with ancient temples (wats) and palaces (see picture). Karen and I especially enjoyed riding around in the Thai version of a taxi--the tuk tuk (again, see picture). When riding these fun little motor-trics one tends to forget about the deadly exhaust fumes and focus on the beautiful sights and sounds of a foreign city. We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us all around Bangkok for the entire day for about four dollars. The exchange rate is quite nice.

We booked the rest of our vacation through the local tourism bureau. Up until this point, I had no idea how huge Thailand is. It's about the size of France, which means that in order to get around efficiently we had to fly. Luckily, the exchange rate was in our favor once again and we booked four flights, five nights at hotels, meals, and tours for about $600. First, we traveled north to Chiang Mai, which is known for its great cultural sights and beautiful mountains. We packed in a full-day excursion through the jungle, riding elephants, visiting tribal villages, and riding a bamboo raft down a river. It honestly felt like we were on a movie. Our favorite part about Chiang Mai was the night bizarre. We went shopping there almost every night.
After a few days in Chiang Mai, we fly down south to Krabi, a beautiful little resort town on the beach. Our hotel room was SWEET. Check out the view from our balcony (see picture). We didn't have much time in Krabi but we managed to work in a sea kayaking adventure--highly recommended! We flew back to Bangkok and stayed the night in a less than fabulous hotel (much less) and woke up the next morning for an early flight. As we soon found out, we didn't wake up early enough. I mistook the arrival time for the departure time and we showed up several hours late for our flight. I was really annoyed at myself at first but quickly came to terms with spending an extra day in Bangkok. We stayed our final (extra) night in the Sharaton Grande hotel in downtown. It was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at. We had a butler. The pool was like a tropical oasis. You must stay there if you ever visit Bangkok.

So, what reason do you need to visit Thailand, other than the beautiful beaches, awesome outdoor adventure, and great historical sights? While all of these things were incredible, it was the people that made our experience truly incredible. Thai people are the most genuine, kind, and authentic group that I have come across in my world travels. If you've not been, you must add Thailand to your "must visit before I die" list. PS- in case you didn't figure it out yet, Karen is my girlfriend. :)

My First Visitor

Sorry for short blog break. Things over here really picked up over the past couple weeks. My good friend from college, Lara Pringle, visited Qatar recently, so I took off work for a few days. We spend half the time in Doha and half in Dubai (the Las Vegas of the Middle East). I have lots of fun pictures from our trip that I'll post on the website ASAP. One of the funniest things that happened was when Lara attempted to use the bathroom at the mall. She located the bathroom and noticed that the other women were removing their shoes before entering. It seemed to be an odd custom but she went with it. Well, pretty soon after entering the room she quickly discovered that, in fact, it was a Muslim prayer room! Oops. A Muslim woman noticed Lara's hesitancy to enter and grabbed her hand to encourage her along. Lara had to confess that she was confused and thought it was the restroom. As you can imagine, the Muslim woman got a good kick out of that! Anyways, here is a picture of us eating at the local Hezbollah restaurant. We figured that would provide a good story for her to bring home to Texas. :-) The food is incredible!

Wow...what a whirlwind week! New student orientation was all week, which required Dave to put in a few extra hours. It was awesome to interact with the orientation counselors and meet all the incoming students. This is only the second year of a student-run orientation, so there are a few kinks to work out, but all-in-all it went very smooth. Here is a picture of me acting goofy with a few of the head orientation counselors. College students will be college students no matter where in the world! After a week and a half of work, I am extremely enthusiastic about working with these students.

I finally went and made my first big grocery-shopping trip. As a marketing major, this venture was rather entertaining. A couple of the funny highlights was a box of cereal (pictured on the right), which was described as "Ludicrously Tasty!" Interesting choice of adjective on Kellogg's part. Also, I found it quite strange that the italian salad dressing that I found was Kroger brand--keep in mind that I'm shopping at a very un-American grocery store. To think--I thought I escaped Kroger after leaving Ohio. The only item I couldn't find at the store that I really wanted was salsa--what a shame. I'm sure it's in this city somewhere!

I gave up the sweet shower. The other day I had the opportunity to move to a new apartment on the 17th floor of a high rise complex overlooking the Gulf--I took the offer. Size wise, it is a little smaller but I get to wake up to the view on the left. My favorite thing to do now is to sit out on my balcony at night watching the planes take-off and land from Doha International. I'll still be visiting the old complex often because several young staff members live there including my friend Caryl, a Community Advisor at CMU-Q. We've been discovering Doha together for the past few days. One of the highlights was grocery shopping at the local Carrefore (a.k.a, Super Wal-Mart). The currency in Qatar is the Riyal and occasionally the price of something will include a fraction of a riyal. For example, a liter of milk might cost 4.5 riyals. Since .5 riyal is only worth about 15 cents most stores would rather not deal with the coins required to provide change. I guess paper bills are easier to handle. Anyways, Caryl and I discovered at the grocery store that instead of giving coins as change most stores give you gum or candy. So, when we paid for milk the cashier handed us our .5 riyal in change, not as a coin but a small pack of grape bubble gum.

The major development this week was re-learning to drive. The Qataris are crazy drivers. They make Dallas drivers look like an elderly woman driving her Buick on a Sunday afternoon. Extremely aggressive and seeming out-of-control drivers in combination with hundreds of three lane roundabouts makes for a good time. Several CMU staff members hire drivers rather than drive in these circumstances. I decided the only way to learn was to get out there and give’r a try. My rental car is a Chevy Optra, which is not available in the States. I will drive it until next month when my car arrives in Doha from the States.

I visited Doha Fellowship (a non-denominational Christian church) on Friday. Since Friday is holy day for Muslims, Christians go to church on Friday as well. Did I mention that our work week goes Sunday through Thursday? Church was surprisingly similar--it was contemporary worship music and a fairly typical message from the pastor. The main difference was the overwhelming diversity of people in the congregation. The church building is an unmarked (i.e., no signage or crosses) villa in the suburbs of Doha. You have to know someone who attends to find the place. On an average Friday, about 350 people attend. Overall, it was an emotional experience for me watching these diverse people from all over the world worshiping the same God.

On another religious note, it is interesting and inspiring to see how dedicated Muslims are to their faith. When the call to prayer rings out across the city five times a day they offer prayers to Allah. Keep in mind that one of these prayer times is at dawn (between 4 & 5am). That’s dedication.

I woke up from a jet lag nap yesterday confused as can be, wondering, “Where am I?” It certainly wasn't my apartment in Ohio. Had I stayed at a friend’s house? Was I home in Texas? Nope, I was in the Middle East. What a strange thought.

As you have probably guessed, I made it to Qatar safely. Thanks for your prayers and concerns as I traveled. The plane route was significantly altered due to the war. Typically the flight plan from Europe to Qatar goes as the crow flies over Israel and Lebanon. Not the case this time. We traveled further north through Turkey and then headed due south through Iran. It was especially interesting flying over the Persian Gulf at dusk. Hundreds of oil flames burn over the ocean platforms. I kept imagining how many gallons of oil those pumps produce and how much I've been paying for gas. I'm excited about paying 79 cents a gallon. Although, I won't be driving for a week or so. Legally, I can drive whenever I want, but Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) recommends holding off until I have a better understanding of the driving culture. The Qataris are fairly aggressive. Okay, a lot aggressive.

Upon arrive at the airport two CMU folks were waiting to welcome me. My "Q-Crew Buddy," Dan, helped pack up my luggage and drove me to my new apartment. All my luggage was searched because the Qatari government has strict regulations on what can enter their country. That means no alcohol or bacon. Mmmm…bacon. As you can see, it seems as though they couldn’t get my duffle bag closed, so they used the ole’ “use as much tape as possible” method. Dan will help me out for the first few weeks as I adapt to the new culture. We have been eating, shopping, and hanging out over the past few days. We determined that our pairing is a perfect match because we have several things in common. Dan is adventurous, technologically inclined, and good-looking. :-) We went with a group of folks to the theater last night and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Due to the strict government regulations I mentioned earlier the kissing scene was cut. I’ve been here for three days and already had significant interactions with a Korean, two Spaniards, an Iraqi, and several Americans, not to mention all the merchants and helpers from all over the world.

My apartment is pretty sweet. If you are looking to visit, space shouldn't be an issue. The HR folks had already come over and made my beds, purchased the essentials, and stocked my fridge. Even a nice little American treat in the freezer--Baskin Robin's ice cream. Take a look at the rain style shower with seven additional showerheads for a full body experience. I think this is my favorite part about the whole place. The first night, I managed to stay in the shower for almost an hour. My phone and Internet are up and running in my apartment, so communication lines are open. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I have a US phone number that is FREE for you to call, so no excuses. Pick up the phone and call, now. 972-782-2745. Well, consider the time difference first. My friend Ken was confused about the time difference and woke me up at 3am last night. For those of you in the Central Time Zone, Qatar is 8 hours ahead. EST, 7 hrs.

Okay, I have lots more to say but I should save some for future posts. I'm hoping to post at least one new blog entry a week, so feel free to check back regularly. Love you all.