I'll Be Home For Christmas

Thailand!

Did you know I have a barnacle beacon? Well, neither did I, until we went to Thailand. Yes, it was a case of Sarah swims in the ocean, Sarah sees cool fish, Sarah accidentally swallows some salt water, and just as the fun is starting, Sarah kicks a barnacle encrusted boulder with her bare foot.

Let's back up a little.

As I mentioned, we decided to take a week's vacation and travel to Thailand. As luck would have it, our original plan to go Thanksgiving week fell through because of David's work, so we went the week before all the protests went down in Bangkok. Whew. The stars really aligned on that one. So, after a 5 hour flight we were in the capital. We stayed the night there and left for Koh Samui in the morning. This is one of 3 islands in the Gulf of Thailand and the only one with an airport. Koh Samui is much more developed than the other two, and we were on a mission to take it easy and get away from all the hubbub, so we immediately boarded a boat bound for Koh Tao, the most northern of the islands and the smallest. And the farthest away, I might add, as I didn't thoroughly enjoy the long, choppy boat ride out there. I was having flashbacks of the diving boat incident in West Palm Beach last February, which was not pretty, believe me.

We arrived and were immediately solicited by every taxi driver on the island. We got away from the crowd and found our own taxi, which was a pick up truck with benches in the truck bed. Brilliant. Even though I kept a white knuckle grip on the bars the whole time, I enjoyed the unique view of the island as we made our way to our resort.

The town

It looked so prehistoric, like a dinosaur was about to waltz across the street.

Thailand is very affordable. We could have found a bungalow for 10 bucks a night. I would have been game. However, the cheap prices also mean that the really nice places, while expensive for Thailand, are quite a steal in comparison to most resorts found on tropical islands. I figured we should take advantage of this opportunity for at least a couple nights, so I booked our first two nights at a place called Thipwimarn. I was smitten the first time I looked it up and it didn't disappoint in person. Lovely little cottages on the side of a hill in the jungle, overlooking the sea. Relaxation personified. It turned out to be so nice, we stayed there the whole week. There were definitely other places that would have been fine, it was just easier to stay there. Plus, we were getting a fine work out going up and down all those stairs all the time...


View from our own little porch

Stairs!

So back to the barnacles. I have never snorkeled before. Gimme a break, I grew up in Ohio and I'm not the best swimmer. So we borrowed masks and those snorkel tube thingies from the resort and went down to the little bay directly below our room. We had the place to ourselves. So David gave me the basics and we went out. Koh Tao is quite popular for snorkeling and diving. Actually, the island is the number two place in the world to get certified to dive. There were tons of dive centers and tons of young people there to get certified. Myself, I have trouble with my ears, and I mentioned my poor swimming skills, so diving really doesn't appeal to me. Snorkeling is more my speed: float lazily on the surface and look at pretty things.

And what pretty things. It was so cool to swim in this clear, turquoise water and hang out with these brilliant fish. Yellow and bright blue, purple, orange. Real, live coral on the bottom with some urchins and wild colored animals that look like plants and suck themselves in when you try to touch them. Fantastic. I also enjoyed watching the little crabs above the water line on the rocks scurry in there little sideway manner away from David as he approached them. Actually, this is probably what I was preoccupied with when I sliced my foot open. Fantastic. Fantastic pain!

My first thought was, If I see my own bone I'll pass out. After I actually looked at the damage, I thought How does one tell if one needs stitches? David came over, looked at it, and proclaimed that it didn't look too deep and I guess that was enough for me. I continued to swim around, wincing as the salt water swished through my cut. I cursed all the barnacles I passed, staying far away from all rocks.

Swimming turned out to be easier, because walking hurt quite a bit, especially on the sandy beach. The stairs were now a double challenge. But luckily for me, David had rented a motor scooter, so we were able to explore the island fairly easily while sparing my poor foot. I had to get over my irrational fear that two wheeled vehicles cannot possibly stay upright, but after that it was quite fun. Half the roads are dirt and thus a bit wild to drive on. (Evil Knievel, eat your heart out!) We spent a good deal of time just riding to different parts of the island, eating some really tasty food, getting strawberry smoothies whenever possible (this might have just been me...), and taking in the nice views of the beaches, jungle and ocean.

We got some fins at another resort and went snorkeling again. This was uneventful on the boulder bit, thankfully. A pleasant evening swim. The next day we traversed to the southern end of the island and spent a good deal of time trying to get to Freedom Beach, because it had the most potential for calm waters that day. Beautiful, secluded beach, with hardly any other people. More beautiful sights. David tried to teach me to dive to the bottom. It didn't go so well. Swallowed a bit too much water and then dog paddled too hard and wore myself out. And as we made our way back to shore, I kicked a rock. I couldn't believe it! I think I hit pure rock this time, so not so much slice and dice as just scrapes to my foot and my pride. I ordered a strawberry smoothie the first chance I got to make myself feel better.


Freedom Beach

We were pretty chill this trip, so not too much action to report. We did hang out at a beach bar one night and got to see some cool fire dancers. There's quite a hippie vibe here, perhaps because of the large number of backpackers here. I enjoyed it. Much different than the city vibe I've been surrounded with for months.


That's hot. ;)

Our last day, we took in some more sights, but mostly chilled on a beach for the afternoon. (Lemon shake this time!) David had burned his back earlier in the week, so he did not want to risk getting in the water. After a while I decided I needed to take advantage of my last chance to snorkel in this really lovely water, so I went in by myself. David watched from the shore. As I tried to make my way through the jostling waves, I promptly stepped on a rock...covered in...BARNACLES! More like I stepped on, slipped on, and then again, stepped on a rock covered in barnacles. Absolutely ridiculous. It was a small rock in really shallow water just feet from the strip of sandy beach, so I wasn't thinking rocks. I couldn't see it anyway since the water is cloudy at the shore.

I had a Why me?? moment, but then I went out anyway and I'm glad I did. Fairly shallow water meant that I could try diving amongst the parrot fish and such, this time successfully. Pretty awesome. Too bad I didn't have an underwater camera.When I came out, I discovered that I had at least six cuts on my foot, with one on the bottom running the length of my arch. Pathetic. I must have bad karma or something.


We weren't the only ones taking it easy...

Despite using an obscene number of band aids, I did enjoy the trip. We couldn't have asked for a more relaxing place. I know David needed it and I think it did him a lot of good. We both agreed that we would come back to Thailand if given the chance. Friendly people, beautiful place, good food. Get rid of those crusty devils of the sea, and I would be tempted to call it heaven.


For more photos, click here.

The Bag! Watch! Purse! Club

If you have ever lived in China or even visited, or heck, even been to a China town in America, you may well be acquainted with the experience of being viewed as a walking money tree. You hear English, but it is minimalistic, chucked at you in globs. "Bags!", "Watches!", "Hello!", "Hey Lady!" (my favorite), "Ok!", "Shoes!", and "Purses!" Sometimes you get more elaborate descriptions, like "Good price!" or "Come look!" or "Gucci!" They flash a laminated, folded sheet with pictures of goods, splaying it out for you to see and then quickly collapsing it back into their pocket, lest they be caught by the authorities, and then expect you to follow them to the secret shop. I am really, really good at saying "No" now. If I could figure out how to say, "Actually, I don't really care for purses much, thank you, " in Chinese, I might pull that on them. I figure it would stun them long enough to make my quick get-away.

Our friend, Gregg, is pretty much a genius because he came up with the most hysterical way to turn the tables on these guys. He decided it would be great if he could get a hold of one of the cards with all the pictures on it, so that when he goes to the high traffic areas, he can beat the sellers at their own game. As soon as you see a dude approaching you, you whip out the card. "Bags Watch Purse?!" The poor suckers wouldn't even know what hit em.

While I was walking along one of these shopping streets, waving my hand "No" at least two dozen times, I thought about Gregg's idea. It really was perfect. I found myself wishing I had one of those cards. Every non-materialistic, non-shopping crazy schmuck should have one of those cards, cause I know I'm not the only one who doesn't want that stuff. In fact, I will never want that stuff. I thought about getting a shirt made that says, in characters, "I'm Poor." But the card thing is both effective and potentially funny.

One night David and I met Kellie and Gregg on a corner to go to dinner. Gregg held out his hand and revealed one of the product cards. He smiled.

"You got one?" I asked, excited.
"Yup. Bought it for 5 kuai." We all laughed. This was excellent progress. He actually got one!

So after dinner, David and Gregg walked ahead of Kellie and I on the sidewalk. We were having our own conversations. Then Kellie and I realized that we were passing small groups of people who were laughing with a very surprised look on their faces. Then we noticed they were looking ahead of us, sometimes pointing. Gregg was whipping out the card any chance he got, leaving in his wake numbers of very shocked product pushers. It was comic gold. We quickly decided that very night that we needed to add to our army. We needed to get all the expats on board (or at least the 4 of us), each procure our own card and go out en mass. I decided we would have to video the action. Perhaps we would put it on YouTube. The possibilities are endless.

So this past Saturday, David and I went to Yuyuan Bizarre to attempt to do some shopping. The funny thing was, David needed to buy a couple fake watches for a friend back in the States. So before I knew it, we were actually following the bagwatchpurse guy. He took us to a side street and then a small little walkway amongst some old residences, still occupied. Then, Voila!, a secret room full of knockoffs. I couldn't believe we were actually doing this. It was interesting, but my patience with the ordeal was limited, as it is very, very hard sell in there. The price started at 1200 yuan for one watch and a half hour later, after thoroughly frustrating the salespeople, we got two watches for 700 yuan. I actually think we could've gone lower, but it came out to about $58 per watch, one being a "Rolex," so I think we did OK.

So even though we already bought some, Mr. Bagwatchpurse wants to take us to ANOTHER store. We follow just to see, but we're done. He then tries to drag us to "the best" store, but we managed to tell him we really were finished. He finally left us alone. But later, we ran into the same guy. I gotta hand it to Mr. B. He sure is a go getter, cause he tried to get us to look at some more stuff. Again. This is when David seized the opportunity.

"I wanna buy THAT," he said, pointing to Mr. B's card. The guy figured it out quickly.
"50 kuai." Damn. This guy is on the ball. And so, the bargaining begins.
"My friend bought one for 5 kuai!" David says.
"You kidding me! 40 kuai!"
"Too much! It's just a card! 5 kuai! My friend bought one for 5 kuai!"

By this time there are two other card toters gathered around and now they are trying to get us to buy their cards! I kept trying to walk away. This was getting ridiculous.
"30 kuai!"
"5 kuai!"
"You must be joking! 20 kuai!"
"Buy this one! 10 kuai!"
"Too much! I'll buy yours! 5 kuai!" More laughter. Things are whipped up into a frenzy at this point. These guys couldn't be more thrilled that some goofball tourists are offering them money for their cards.
"10 kuai!"
"Ok, ok. 10 kuai, " David agrees. "Still too much." There's a pause. "Pinky? (my nickname), do you have 5 kuai on you?"
"I am not giving you 5 kuai for that thing." I start to walk away.
"Can I borrow 5 kuai? I only have 5 kuai!"

I turn. I look at David amongst this crowd of Chinese folks. They are still haggling him. I relent. I hand the original Mr. B 10 kuai, take the 5 kuai from David and then drag him away. The other sellers still want us to buy their cards. Complete madness!

But at least now there are two members of the BWP Club. As for my future role in these dealings, I am going to self appoint myself as head camera girl. It's a war zone out there. I'd rather not be in the front lines.

We're taking back the streets...

Pass It On

I ate dinner out tonight. Sometimes I just have to get myself out of the house even if I don't have someone to meet for dinner. So I went to Blue Frog, which is a very American-style restaurant. It's comfort food and it's close to our apartment. I took my notebook with me to make lists while I waited for my food, because no one likes to be alone at a restaurant AND be idle. One has to have a magazine or a laptop. I write. I'm sure I still look peculiar, but I don't mind.

I did look up from time to time to look out the window. Sitting on the second floor, I had a clear view of the street. I noticed a couple of men standing on the other side, not really doing anything. The thought crossed my mind that they may have been contemplating stealing one of the bikes in front of them, but they did not do this. They simply sat down on the sidewalk. I went back to making notes on all the things I want to eat when I go home. (This list makes me laugh, especially since it has WENDY'S on it!)

Throughout dinner, I gazed out the window a few more times. One of the men had gone, but the other was still there, milling about. He had a knit cap on and a red plastic bag in one hand. I couldn't help but wonder if that bag held all his worldly possessions. In the other hand, he held a small, white cup. I figured he was asking for spare change, although he didn't seem to be aggressively seeking out targets. He mostly squatted against the wall. I watched him approach a few people, but it was a meager attempt.

Something struck me about this scene. Now, since moving to a big city, in China no less, I am no stranger to people begging. Going to touristy areas is to agree to an absolute siege. "Hello! Money!" Then they shove a baby in your face. Not a good scene. But being able to observe this one man, far removed and for a decent period of time, I felt for him. I started wondering if I had some change on me. I normally do not do this, as sometimes you get yourself into more muck if you actually give to the clinking cup. But my gut said the guy needed it.

I watched him help a girl maybe my age or a little younger with her bike as she tried to lock it up. He held it upright for her as she fed the lock through the wheel and I was glad to see she smiled and said thank you. Then she made the universal sign for 'no money' by reaching in her pockets and shrugging, mouthing the words "sorry". I can't judge. I have done this. (Back in Columbus, it was usually actually true, as I used my debit card for most things and rarely carried cash. Perhaps a convenient circumstance for my conscience?) She then walked away with her friends to no doubt get some dinner. That decided it. I had watched him do a good deed.

I contemplated a 5, but then decided on a 10 RMB note, which is about $1.50 U.S. I knew he could get a good meal for this, two if he went to a simple noddle shop. I figured I shouldn't be stingy if I was to make the effort. I just couldn't stand the thought of that guy staring at all the rich people in the restaurants, paying for overpriced food, and then not getting dinner himself.

So I packed up and left the restaurant. My heart sank a little, as I couldn't see the man at first, but then I noticed he was sitting nestled behind the line of bikes across the street. With the bill in my gloved hand, I crossed the street. He definitely noticed and for a split second I think he thought about showing me his cup, but I was too fast. I put the bill into his hand and looked him in the eyes. I said the smallest little "Merry Christmas" for lack of anything else to say. The handshake quickly became a warm, four-handed embrace, the 10 kuai in the middle. He said "Xie xie!" which is Mandarin for "thank you."

His genuinely grateful eyes almost broke my heart, so with a quick final squeeze I turned and walked away, choking on the moment. I didn't look back. The cold night air felt good on my face as I walked home. I found myself wondering what his name might have been.

SG vs HTML

I spent an evening last week attempting to become a bit more tech savvy. I thought I had succeeded. I was super excited, as computer nerd I am not. I researched ways to tell how often people visit this blog. The basic blogger setup does not provide a visit counter. It only tells me how many times my profile has been viewed (and a good chunk of that number is from yours truly). So I found a website that offers a visit counter, signed up, got some fancy HTML code stuff and put it in the appropriate places and TA DA! I had a little box with 8 zeros in it on my main page. It was like a magical Christmas present from the Internet!

Well, it was until I had David give it a test run. I wanted to have at least 1 visitor showing up on the counter after all. But his visit didn't register. Not only that, he couldn't see the counter at all! Gah! Foiled! I fiddled around with it, but I had no idea what to do when systems are not go. So, I did the next best thing: I forgot about it.

Until tonight.

I now have 7 visits!! I must have done it right! Now we're talking!

In a nut shell, the counter is more a tool for myself. Honestly, I need some sort of cheering on to make my posts more frequent, as I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, they have not been thus far. But seeing that 7 people have stopped by (thank you, anonymous 7!) and have seen nothing recently posted definitely gives me some incentive. If just one person is reading it, it makes it worth it. So, even though I need to get to bed and fight off what I fear to be a looming cold, I am committed to publishing another post tomorrow, as there ARE stories to tell. (Close calls! Embarrassing defeats! Insect dramas! All this and more!) See you all on the flip side! Wait...I'm already ON the flip side...hmm...



p.s. It is officially December over here in Asia. I cannot believe how time has flown by!

Up Down Up Down...

The past two weeks: classic China experience, in the sense that it was filled with random experiences spanning the entire range of human emotions. Just another mini Shanghai thrill ride. This one starts with Halloween.

Up to mischief (or the day David let me give him temporary tattoos)

I had decided that I wanted to celebrate Halloween this year. I love Halloween, and I didn’t do much for it last year. So, with the promise of plenty of places to get our spook on, I brought the idea up to friends and David and everyone seemed game. So Kellie and I set out to find a rare costume shop to get a few costume pieces. She needed a costume, David needed one, Sanami just wanted some animal ears, and I was undecided as to whether to be a pirate, as I already had a striped shirt and boots.

First, let it be stated that Kellie and I had the “This Is Harder Than It Should Be” blues, as getting to said costume/decoration shop took nothing short of a miracle. ("Miracle" here means running into an acquaintance, chatting about the abandoned blow-up doll spread over the bushes in front of us near the subway, and getting some much better directions in the process.) Anyway, we made it, we found stuff for everyone even though the store was pretty cheesy and we made it back home in one piece.

"A pirate, a lady bug, a tiger and a biker walk into a bar…"

The night went well. We met another friend of mine and his crew at a British pub. They left a little past midnight, (on to “greener”, um, graveyards?) but we stayed there the rest of the night, throwing back some pretty generous portions of wine and Duvel (which means devil in…oh heck, I don’t remember what language). We stayed until closing time. I saw parts of Rocky Horror Picture Show that I hadn’t seen since I was 16 hanging out with the theater kids. The bar tender gave us a free round. We had a great time. However, I think in the future, I will abstain from drinking with the Devil. I’ll leave it at that.

Rock Bottom

After a care free night like that, the next morning was in stark contrast. One text message changed everything. I will not get into too many details, as it is long, involved and not my business to spread around, but a situation at David’s work came to a head Saturday morning and it was not the hoped for outcome. It was a situation David felt partly responsible for and there was a great sense of wrongdoings on the company's part going on. So, we felt pretty crappy the rest of the weekend, mulling it over. Feeling like something needs to be done to fix a situation, but not feeling like you have any power to change it is a hard thing to go through. David is a man of morals, and it just felt very wrong to him, like the type of situation where someone needs to stand up for what is right. To cut to the resolution, things were more complicated than we realized at first and the “victim” turned out to be dealing quite well with it. Just another example of how it’s virtually impossible to truly understand what is going on here. All we can do is trust our gut, and things still feel sour in regards to the powers that be, but the storming of the Death Star has at least been put on hold, with no immediate need to stand up against the empire for the sake of the people. (Yes, I AM making that a bit more dramatic than it needs to be. I just liked the image.) In conclusion, things are fine, for now. For all my worrywarts out there, don’t. Apologies for the vagueness, but we’re fine.

Up, up and away!

So, with that mostly behind us, we were able to concentrate on plans to take a real-live vacation. Sweet! So for the past week and a half I’ve been planning our trip to some islands in Thailand! The key words when deciding where to go were “nature,” “clean,” and “quiet.” Sounds like some islands in beautiful, blue water to me. Ah! But there's a catch! However relaxing this place will be once we’re there, it’s been less than simple trying to make the plans.

In a snapshot:

“How much did you say?!”
“No, no the red eye is NOT what we want.”
“We can’t pay with a credit card? You need CASH?”
“Password tries allotment exceeded” (This is the ATM talking, and it can be translated as "Stick that card in one more time and I'll shred the sucker!")
“Your requested transaction was rejected. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience. Again."

The booking gods hate me...

Hopefully, the results of my Thailand story will turn out way better than the beginning. At least we have all our plane tickets now, so we’re getting there at least! We leave this Saturday and we’ll be there for a week!

Down a peg

To give I. M. Nervous and Nelly another dose of adrenaline on another dip in this roller coaster ride, I hereby admit a blunder. I almost got robbed last Friday. Yeah, I know. It was partly my fault. Funny things happen to one’s well-honed paranoia when you actually live in a foreign country, in a city known to be quite safe. Luckily for me, a very nice Chinese girl told the dudes getting into my backpack that it was not a good thing to do because I was a foreigner. I wondered afterward if she would have stopped them if I had been Chinese… But regardless, after checking and seeing that the two small pockets on the bag were wide open with my money still inside, I thanked her profusely, swallowed my pride as she told me to be careful, and scampered off to the grocery store, hoping the would-be pick-pockets were not watching me. It was a very creepy feeling. Consider my paranoia back in fighting form.

Upside down

Amongst all this, we have had some nice dinners with friends, meeting friends of friends, checking out cozy little bars and maybe sneaking in a guilty-pleasure stop at McDonald’s. I discovered just how valuable public restrooms are after a long, painful, somewhat panicked walk back to the apartment a few days ago. I also soaked in some more local culture, wandering around Chinese neighborhoods with Sanami after a good Chinese meal in a hole in the wall shop one night last week. I was reacquainted with the wild and crazy world that exists outside the normal expat circuit: fruit and nut stands, food streets with piles of oyster shells and fake shoes and neon lights, a man selling rods of sugar cane on the corner…the usual.

This place is a lot of things, but "boring" is definitely not one of them!

One World, One Dream

On August 8, I went with a friend to an Irish bar to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. I always find the Olympics an impressive event, but it is very common for me to miss most of it. I realize they are going on about the time they are wrapping up. But this time, I found myself in the host country where the excitement had been building for over eight years. No one could escape the Olympics (or that ridiculously long them song, Beijing Huan Ying Ni or in other words, Beijing Welcomes You, or in other words, Sarah's Mind is About to Explode). Billboards, commercials, and public advisories suggesting people stay on the curb, help wheelchair-bound folks across streets, and refrain from littering, were everywhere.

There were plenty of people who were over "Olympic fever." These were the same people who had no intention of going to see the games live and in person. We contemplated it briefly, but it just seemed insane to join millions of other people flooding into Beijing. Plus we've never been there, so we didn't know the best way to go about it, even in normal circumstances. David and I were satisfied with seeing a semi-final men's soccer match in Shanghai, the only event taking place in our city.

We were new enough here that the hype surrounding the games had not gotten to us, so I was looking forward to watching the opening ceremonies in China. The last time I saw the start of the Olympics, I think Muhammad Ali carried the torch. So I showed up, a little after the ceremonies kicked off and found myself walking into a courtyard full of people, many of which who were Chinese, just as the Chinese National Anthem was starting. This may not sound like a big deal, but I have never been in a foreign country when its citizens were singing their own anthem. I was struck most by the swelling sense of pride in the air. These people were singing their hearts out. China had been looking forward to hosting the Games for a long time, even before they won the honor back in 2001. I was witnesses a people in one of their most anticipated moments of national pride. It was amazing.

It's a big year for America, too. Being on the other side of the world during a historical event like our elections this year is almost as strange as being in China for the 2008 Olympics. Although I could never claim to miss the presence of constant political ads and news coverage (especially when you live in swing state), it still felt weird not to be stateside during the actual election. So last Tuesday, I did the next best thing and went to a bar at 8 o'clock in the morning. It was strange to be in a place with so many Americans in one spot, as most times when out with other expats, there are plenty of other nationalities in the mix. But here we were, all gathered to watch the historic election results come in. We ate a very American breakfast and kept an eye on the TVs. By the time noon rolled around, I had once again experienced a moment of national pride. This time it was Americans abroad in China, hugging each other and cheering for an amazing moment in our nation's time line.

These two moments, involving two very different countries and two very different sources for celebration, were so strikingly similar to me. I couldn't stop comparing them. Essentially, they felt the same. The excitement, the pride, the purity of it...it all felt so amazingly wonderful and positive. People at their best in a somewhat rare moment that brings them together.

The more I learn and witness, the more I'm convinced of our overwhelming similarities, rather than our differences. It's a small world after all.