Today has not been a good day. I woke up sort of late, got ready in a hurry, then realized that Julie had had the same problem; she was still in bed. So I waited patiently and she woke up at about 6:20 (we usually try to leave by 6:00). She apologized and told me next time to just wake her-good to know. She said since we were getting a late start we would "just set ropes for the playbacks today, it should be an easy day." Well, she jinxed us.
We set off for the R territory just after 7:00, found ourselves a perfect tree to set a rope in for hoisting up the loudspeaker so that it will be at the gibbons level. The tree was big, with a few big branches coming off of it, we were going to attempt to set the rope over the second branch from the bottom, probably about 15 or so meters up. Another big tree had recently fallen, creating a but of a clearing, which should have been perfect; giving us plenty of space to throw. So, we started by attaching the rope to a tennis ball and using centripetal force to hurl it up over the branch, but our aim wasn't great and when our aim was spot on we were just shy of the right height. While I showed off every single reason I have never played a sport that involves throwing anything, Julie worked on the crossbow she had bought to try to help us. Crossbows are banned in the park, for obvious reasons, but we were hoping to attach the rope to the arrow somehow and sent the arrow shooting through a foam ball (so the tip would be blunt and not dangerous). The crossbow turned out to be an absolute piece of s***. It was pretty much broken from the get go and the arrows didn't exactly work. so after abandoning that plan, we tried, Julie getting SO close on several attempts, to set the rope using just the ball-throwing method. I think the reason we spent four hours trying without giving up sooner was because every time we'd get frustrated, Julie would make a really great throw and it would almost go over the right branch and then it would just fall short.
So, 5 hours later, both with very blistered index fingers, we decided to pack it in and try again after lunch and a midday rest (because by noon it starts to get hot as Hades and because of the open area we were in we were now exposed to the hot sun). When we got back I cooked myself an enormous lunch of rice, snap peas and little chicken sausages in the rice cooker, then cut up my pineapple which has ripened nicely. Unfortunately it isn't one of the baby ones, so it still burned my tongue a bit. I was absolutely dreading going back to try again, and I think Julie could see the exhaustion on my face, I had gotten all dressed up to go and she said I could stay here and rest. Though I'm relieved, I feel a bit bad that she has to go back out and try again. I'm thinking maybe she prefers to go alone and to get frustrated and curse at the tree in private, because I know I'd appreciate that if I was her.
Well, just as I was typing up that last sentence I heard Julie's voice. Apparently one of the park officials wanted to come with her to help. She said she tried a few times and got very close, and then he tried several times, getting close, but still not reaching the branch. So he replaced the tennis ball with a stone and was able to hurl it up there finally. Apparently more weight was all we needed.
Now that the rope is set I am sitting her in nervous anticipation for tomorrow's playback experiment. It will be our "trial run." It will also be my first time taking data that we are actually going to use (assuming all goes well) all by myself. I've also been charged with video recording the experiment, because someone told Julie she should record it...not sure who, but I'm not their biggest fan right now. So, instead of taking notes in a notebook, since my hands will be full I will just be dictating my scans. I am responsible for following the female (easier to recognize because of the baby hanging off of her at almost all times). I will record her behavior every five minutes (eating, resting, socializing, vocalizing etc.) as well as recording inter-individual distance, canopy height, and position. I also have to record Ad Libitum (as I see it happening) gazes (looking toward speaker, ground, other group members etc) and location (by taking GPS points each time they move. So...this is going to be a challenge to say the least. Wish me luck!
I only took one photo today; of a skink who visited us just as we were throwing in the towel this morning. I'm too lazy to plug in my camera to transfer only one photo, so I'll post it another day.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
ants ants ants
It took about 30 hours for the teeny tiny ants to discover my opened box of frosted flakes. I thought sealing up the bag with a hair tie would be an effective measure against their invasion, but I was wrong. I got back from the field and found they had fit their tiny bodies into the big Styrofoam box I keep my food in, and were busy invading the cereal. So I put off my hunger and went to work on getting rid of them because there is no way I'm throwing the cereal out, food is too precious here. I poured a bowlful of cereal out and noticed that this disturbance caused the ants to climb up the sides of the bowl and out of the cereal, where I could easily kill them without contaminating the flakes (although the protein might be good for me). So I repeated this until the whole bag was rid of ants and I poured it all into a secure Ziploc bag. These ants are the worst because they can get into anything, they are the smallest I've ever seen; about a millimeter long I'd guess. Anyway, after the ant problem was solved I could go ahead with making my lunch: my signature scrambled egg sandwich, some carrot sticks and a tiny apple.
Speaking of creepy crawly creatures, I discovered a leech latched onto my stomach today while we were in the field. It must have made its way between the buttons of my shirt. That was pretty gross, but I don't think it was there long. I am constantly giving myself a once over for bugs while I'm in the forest. We followed the W group today and boy were they a pain in the behind. There had two separate intergroup encounters with the NOS group, which was really annoying because they were moving around sort of quickly and forced us to chase after them through some difficult vegetation. At one point Julie and I had to squeeze ourselves through a tangle of fallen branches with about two feet of vertical space and even less horizontally. They also decided it would be fun to spend most of their morning in a HUGE fruit tree dropping tiny, hard fruits on our heads while they ate. This tree was very close to the paved tourist trail, which meant fortunately there were little benches we could like down on and look up, so as not to crane our necks as much. However, this also meant (because it is Monday, still close to the weekend) that there were lots of tourists nearby, so we couldn't do the experiment unless they moved to a different part of their territory. Those fruits must have been delicious, because they stayed in that giant tree.
I am confused about why people bother walking through the tourist trail if they aren't actually interested in wildlife. Two out of four groups that passed up walked right on by whole we were standing there clearly looking at the gibbons who were in plain sight. That's an incredible opportunity and they just walked past! Another group; a mom a young daughter and grandparents walked by very quickly, just barely looked up to see the gibbons right above them, and the mom made noises as if she was scared and they hurried along. Only one man, by himself actually stopped to watch the gibbons, he was quiet and respectful.
Although I complain about the W group, they are very nicely habituated and I am grateful to them for giving me such good photo ops. Especially Sari, the female, she is the only female who has sat still long enough, and low enough to the ground, for me to get good pictures of her and her infant. So here you are, probably the only reason you are reading this blog, some pictures:
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Speaking of creepy crawly creatures, I discovered a leech latched onto my stomach today while we were in the field. It must have made its way between the buttons of my shirt. That was pretty gross, but I don't think it was there long. I am constantly giving myself a once over for bugs while I'm in the forest. We followed the W group today and boy were they a pain in the behind. There had two separate intergroup encounters with the NOS group, which was really annoying because they were moving around sort of quickly and forced us to chase after them through some difficult vegetation. At one point Julie and I had to squeeze ourselves through a tangle of fallen branches with about two feet of vertical space and even less horizontally. They also decided it would be fun to spend most of their morning in a HUGE fruit tree dropping tiny, hard fruits on our heads while they ate. This tree was very close to the paved tourist trail, which meant fortunately there were little benches we could like down on and look up, so as not to crane our necks as much. However, this also meant (because it is Monday, still close to the weekend) that there were lots of tourists nearby, so we couldn't do the experiment unless they moved to a different part of their territory. Those fruits must have been delicious, because they stayed in that giant tree.
I am confused about why people bother walking through the tourist trail if they aren't actually interested in wildlife. Two out of four groups that passed up walked right on by whole we were standing there clearly looking at the gibbons who were in plain sight. That's an incredible opportunity and they just walked past! Another group; a mom a young daughter and grandparents walked by very quickly, just barely looked up to see the gibbons right above them, and the mom made noises as if she was scared and they hurried along. Only one man, by himself actually stopped to watch the gibbons, he was quiet and respectful.
Although I complain about the W group, they are very nicely habituated and I am grateful to them for giving me such good photo ops. Especially Sari, the female, she is the only female who has sat still long enough, and low enough to the ground, for me to get good pictures of her and her infant. So here you are, probably the only reason you are reading this blog, some pictures:
A giant roley poley! (about an inch in diameter)
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Sari and infant with Wotan (dad) to the right
Sari and infant
William, Sari and infant
William (Wotan's subadult son)
William
William and Wotan (darker on left)
Sunday, May 12, 2013
the day of rest
Sunday is known as the day of rest and today the gibbons took that to heart. We were looking for the N group, and of course they didn't sing. Amazingly barely any of the other groups sang either; lazy gibbons! We heard a few sporadic half-hearted duets during the morning, but not much. When we finally did find N they were lazily eating. After seeing the python and making some hoo hoos and trying to scare it, they moved off about 50 meters and proceeded to groom each other while the infant and juvenile played for the next 50 minutes. It got pretty boring after a while. After that though they returned to where the python had been and gave a few more little calls and scanned trying to figure out where it had gone. While we were recording this last bit two tourists and their guide came upon us. It was annoying because Julie pointed to her microphone and motioned for them to be quiet, and the tourists complied, but the guide crunched along in the leaves pointing (just trying to do his job, but very noisily).
We saw a jackfruit tree today, which was cool because the fruits are huge! I also found a peculiar fungi, which I initially thought might be some kind of carnivorous plant because of the poop smell and the hole in the middle. After some research it turns out to be Aseroe rubra or starfish fungi. It was interesting, but smelly.
I was starting to get a headache and get very sleepy by the end of the morning. I think it was because I didn't get hungry for dinner last night, and didn't really have lunch, so my body was probably pissed. I also went to bed sort of late. So tonight it will be an early night. At about 6:45 some rangers drove by and said there were some elephants up the road, so we got in the truck and drove up there to see, but sadly they had already disappeared, so I'll have to keep waiting for my first elephant sighting. Getting closer though! Lastly, I finally got a picture of my noisy gecko friend, he is in my room tonight! Hopefully that means he'll eat all the bugs. I think I should give him a name, but I'm not sure what...
huge jackfruit
stinky (pretty) fungus!
my gecko friend...what shall I name him?
Saturday, May 11, 2013
home.
After a long, poorly air conditioned bus ride I arrived in Pak Chong. Julie and I went to the market where I bought fresh eggs, 2 pineapples (one of which turned out to me rotten), some apples, some carrots and some snap peas. Then we headed to Tesco Lotus to finish up the rest of our shopping. Then we set off for Khao Yai. On the drive from Pak Chong to the park entrance I saw two elephants, but they were captive, so I say this doesn't count.
When we got into the park I found myself completely content. I smiled as we chugged up the mountains making our way to the center of the park. The views are spectacular. I don't think I appreciated it as much the first time I saw it as now coming back into it. Of course we had to honk some macaques out of the road. When we finally got to the search and rescue center I was glad to be home. Its interesting that I feel home here. I was feeling lonely on my last night here, missing my friends and family. After two weeks of feeling a bit like a drifter and a freeloader staying at Chollada's house and in hotels, I am happy to be back somewhere where I have a "room" and a routine. Of course the wall that was promised to me before leaving wasn't built, but Julie bought me a nice black piece of fabric to act as my wall, which is better than the sheer blue mosquito netting we were using before. So this is home, for the next three months.
I am also in a great mood because I was able to Skype with my parents for almost two hours! They are the absolute best. Happy early Mother's Day to the best mommy in the world! :)
So that's it for today, back to the routine of waking up before dawn, and chasing gibbons all morning. Sounds pretty good to me. Tomorrow we'll try the python with the N group again. I am excited to see the gibbons, even if it is the group who peed on me last time we met...
When we got into the park I found myself completely content. I smiled as we chugged up the mountains making our way to the center of the park. The views are spectacular. I don't think I appreciated it as much the first time I saw it as now coming back into it. Of course we had to honk some macaques out of the road. When we finally got to the search and rescue center I was glad to be home. Its interesting that I feel home here. I was feeling lonely on my last night here, missing my friends and family. After two weeks of feeling a bit like a drifter and a freeloader staying at Chollada's house and in hotels, I am happy to be back somewhere where I have a "room" and a routine. Of course the wall that was promised to me before leaving wasn't built, but Julie bought me a nice black piece of fabric to act as my wall, which is better than the sheer blue mosquito netting we were using before. So this is home, for the next three months.
I am also in a great mood because I was able to Skype with my parents for almost two hours! They are the absolute best. Happy early Mother's Day to the best mommy in the world! :)
So that's it for today, back to the routine of waking up before dawn, and chasing gibbons all morning. Sounds pretty good to me. Tomorrow we'll try the python with the N group again. I am excited to see the gibbons, even if it is the group who peed on me last time we met...
Friday, May 10, 2013
"vacation" continued
May 1-May 10
Hua Hin
I took the Mini Bus to Hua Hin on Wednesday and arrived at about 3pm. After some initial misunderstanding, which Chollada cleared up over the phone, I got settled into my room and headed to find the ocean. I got there, but it wasn't the prettiest area because I was just aimlessly walking in the direction I knew the ocean was, and not towards a particular beach. I checked it out for a while and headed back to the hotel. I got an iced coffee-without milk by accident because I thought he said "With meal?" not "With milk? Oops, I bought some milk at 7-11 because it was weird without it. When it got dark I headed to the night market for dinner. I had Chicken with cashew nuts and a large Chang beer. Then I had a rotee with Nutella for dessert. This is sort of like a crepe, but it is made out of a dough stretched thin rather than a batter. I went to a bar at the market and had a few drinks. I struck up conversation with an older couple: a retired Australian surgeon and his 44 year old Thai lady friend (although she called him her husband). They seemed friendly enough and we went with a young English couple to a "discotheque" which was actually a weird Western themed bar with a live band that was not the great. The drinks were overpriced and the music too loud, and the old couple got ever creepier as they got more drunk, so the English couple and I departed because we were beginning to think this weird couple were swingers. So that was an experience, hopefully not to be repeated.
The next day I slept in, had a chocolate croissant and some bread from the bakery across the street for breakfast, and headed to the beach. I read a lot and applied liberal sunscreen because I know how pale I am. I swam in the ocean; bathwater. I ended up getting absolutely fried despite my precautions. My upper back was the worst due to issues reaching that area with sunscreen by myself. I had pizza for dinner-yum! I went to bed early exhausted from all the sun.
Friday morning I woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and hung out poolside for awhile. At about noon I went and got lunch and then headed to the beach. I stayed mostly in the shade, besides about 15-20 minutes of swimming. Still I got more burned, even though today I was even more careful about the sunscreen application. I can't win. I went to the night market for dinner again and I met a friend! A girl named Luka from Belgium. She is also on "vacation" from her internship at a hotel in Pattaya. So after dinner we went to a bar and people watched and talked.
Saturday Luka came over to hang out at the pool because she, like I, was sick of the warmness of the ocean and the pools are slightly cooler. Chollada and her friend finally arrived at about 6pm after a battle with Traffic. Everyone was headed out of the city for the long weekend. It was obvious because during the week Hua Hin had been empty, but around Saturday afternoon it slowly started to fill up and by the time they arrived parking was impossible! Here people leave their cars in neutral when they park sometimes so that their car can be pushed out the the way when it is blocking someone else's. We went to a seafood restaurant outside the city for dinner, it was very good. I am becoming a big fan of squid, but am getting turned off to crab, it usually has bits of exoskeleton mixed in which makes it annoying to eat.
Sunday we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to King Rama VI's palace by the ocean. It was a pretty place. Afterward we went to one of the main tourist spots for Thai people-not foreigners, so I was the only white person there. It is like a permanent carnival. It was kind of cute. We had salmon fried rice filled egg balls for lunch and I had a Hong Kong waffle for dessert. For dinner we went to the Cicada market, which is a night market only open on the weekend. It was much nicer than the downtown night market. We had dinner there and then walked around and looked at all the market vendors. My favorite part was looking at the paintings-made me want to paint something. At one stand, I picked up what I thought was a keychain, it turned out to be a giant beetle climbing on a keychain, it was pretty funny when I realized it was alive. We went to a bar afterward. The bar was cool, nice decor, a good live band, yummy European beer, but it was pretty boring. Chollada's friend was on her phone the whole time and it was a bit too loud to talk much with Chollada.
Monday after breakfast we left Hua Hin, Chollada and Ben never having stepped foot on the beach. Western and Thai images of an ideal beach getaway vacation are very different, mostly because Thai people hate getting a tan. We stopped at the Damnoen Sauak floating market on the way home. It was winding down because it was after noon, but it was still pretty cool. When we got back to Bangkok we met Chollada's family for Pizza Hut. Thai pizza hut sizes are very different-I could easily consume an entire medium pizza.
Tuesday and Wednesday were lazy days, which I needed. I spent Thursday in the city again. This time I went to the Dusit Zoo! It was so great! I got there early and it was feeding time for the monkeys. I seriously fell in love with Douc Langurs. They are extremely endangered and absolutely beautiful. The zoo has a seemingly very successful breeding program; there were babies everywhere! The rest of the zoo was great also. I got to hear three different species of gibbon call; all very different. I also saw the seal show, which was cute. After the zoo I went to the huge teak Vimanmek mansion. It was pretty much what you expect from an old mansion turned museum. I met Chollada for dinner and afterwards we went to the Purr Cat Cafe; a cafe with cats roaming around everywhere. Sort of weird. The cats aren't incredibly friendly, as most cats would be if forced to live in a place where strangers showed up every day and took pictures of them. It made me miss Tori and Oreo.
Whew, that was a lot. Now I am back at the IMM fusion hotel where this "vacation" began. Heading back to Khao Yai tomorrow and I could not be happier. Time for dinner, hopefully pizza at Limoncello's Pizzeria on Sukhumvit Soi 11. Let's see if I can find it.
Hua Hin
I took the Mini Bus to Hua Hin on Wednesday and arrived at about 3pm. After some initial misunderstanding, which Chollada cleared up over the phone, I got settled into my room and headed to find the ocean. I got there, but it wasn't the prettiest area because I was just aimlessly walking in the direction I knew the ocean was, and not towards a particular beach. I checked it out for a while and headed back to the hotel. I got an iced coffee-without milk by accident because I thought he said "With meal?" not "With milk? Oops, I bought some milk at 7-11 because it was weird without it. When it got dark I headed to the night market for dinner. I had Chicken with cashew nuts and a large Chang beer. Then I had a rotee with Nutella for dessert. This is sort of like a crepe, but it is made out of a dough stretched thin rather than a batter. I went to a bar at the market and had a few drinks. I struck up conversation with an older couple: a retired Australian surgeon and his 44 year old Thai lady friend (although she called him her husband). They seemed friendly enough and we went with a young English couple to a "discotheque" which was actually a weird Western themed bar with a live band that was not the great. The drinks were overpriced and the music too loud, and the old couple got ever creepier as they got more drunk, so the English couple and I departed because we were beginning to think this weird couple were swingers. So that was an experience, hopefully not to be repeated.
first view of the ocean
Nutella rotee and Mojito!
making rotee
The next day I slept in, had a chocolate croissant and some bread from the bakery across the street for breakfast, and headed to the beach. I read a lot and applied liberal sunscreen because I know how pale I am. I swam in the ocean; bathwater. I ended up getting absolutely fried despite my precautions. My upper back was the worst due to issues reaching that area with sunscreen by myself. I had pizza for dinner-yum! I went to bed early exhausted from all the sun.
Friday morning I woke up, had breakfast at the hotel and hung out poolside for awhile. At about noon I went and got lunch and then headed to the beach. I stayed mostly in the shade, besides about 15-20 minutes of swimming. Still I got more burned, even though today I was even more careful about the sunscreen application. I can't win. I went to the night market for dinner again and I met a friend! A girl named Luka from Belgium. She is also on "vacation" from her internship at a hotel in Pattaya. So after dinner we went to a bar and people watched and talked.
Saturday Luka came over to hang out at the pool because she, like I, was sick of the warmness of the ocean and the pools are slightly cooler. Chollada and her friend finally arrived at about 6pm after a battle with Traffic. Everyone was headed out of the city for the long weekend. It was obvious because during the week Hua Hin had been empty, but around Saturday afternoon it slowly started to fill up and by the time they arrived parking was impossible! Here people leave their cars in neutral when they park sometimes so that their car can be pushed out the the way when it is blocking someone else's. We went to a seafood restaurant outside the city for dinner, it was very good. I am becoming a big fan of squid, but am getting turned off to crab, it usually has bits of exoskeleton mixed in which makes it annoying to eat.
Sunday we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to King Rama VI's palace by the ocean. It was a pretty place. Afterward we went to one of the main tourist spots for Thai people-not foreigners, so I was the only white person there. It is like a permanent carnival. It was kind of cute. We had salmon fried rice filled egg balls for lunch and I had a Hong Kong waffle for dessert. For dinner we went to the Cicada market, which is a night market only open on the weekend. It was much nicer than the downtown night market. We had dinner there and then walked around and looked at all the market vendors. My favorite part was looking at the paintings-made me want to paint something. At one stand, I picked up what I thought was a keychain, it turned out to be a giant beetle climbing on a keychain, it was pretty funny when I realized it was alive. We went to a bar afterward. The bar was cool, nice decor, a good live band, yummy European beer, but it was pretty boring. Chollada's friend was on her phone the whole time and it was a bit too loud to talk much with Chollada.
seaside palace
egg fried rice balls
Hong Kong waffle
Monday after breakfast we left Hua Hin, Chollada and Ben never having stepped foot on the beach. Western and Thai images of an ideal beach getaway vacation are very different, mostly because Thai people hate getting a tan. We stopped at the Damnoen Sauak floating market on the way home. It was winding down because it was after noon, but it was still pretty cool. When we got back to Bangkok we met Chollada's family for Pizza Hut. Thai pizza hut sizes are very different-I could easily consume an entire medium pizza.
Tuesday and Wednesday were lazy days, which I needed. I spent Thursday in the city again. This time I went to the Dusit Zoo! It was so great! I got there early and it was feeding time for the monkeys. I seriously fell in love with Douc Langurs. They are extremely endangered and absolutely beautiful. The zoo has a seemingly very successful breeding program; there were babies everywhere! The rest of the zoo was great also. I got to hear three different species of gibbon call; all very different. I also saw the seal show, which was cute. After the zoo I went to the huge teak Vimanmek mansion. It was pretty much what you expect from an old mansion turned museum. I met Chollada for dinner and afterwards we went to the Purr Cat Cafe; a cafe with cats roaming around everywhere. Sort of weird. The cats aren't incredibly friendly, as most cats would be if forced to live in a place where strangers showed up every day and took pictures of them. It made me miss Tori and Oreo.
Red-shanked Douc Langur
babiest monkey!!
white tigers
Sun Bear!
pond at the zoo and fancy building
seal show!
Bin Laden the giraffe-seriously, not sure its a sick joke or what, he was born October 2001
Vimanmek mansion
pretty building
Whew, that was a lot. Now I am back at the IMM fusion hotel where this "vacation" began. Heading back to Khao Yai tomorrow and I could not be happier. Time for dinner, hopefully pizza at Limoncello's Pizzeria on Sukhumvit Soi 11. Let's see if I can find it.
"vacation"
April 25-April 30
I've spent the last two weeks on "vacation." It is sad to me that I've been in Thailand 4 weeks today, and only about a week of it in the forest. I am very ready to get back there and really get rolling on our fieldwork. I am also a bit nervous because going back means that I will be collecting data myself and will really have to be on my A game. As for the last two weeks, I've had ample ways to waste time other than blogging, so I have been a slacker. So, I intend to give an abridged version of my two week vacation from Khao Yai.
I spent my first day back at Chollada's house doing nothing but sitting around watching TV and eating good food (and had absolutely no problem with this). The next day, Saturday, Chollada and her mom took me to the IT mall: basically a place with hundreds of the exact same stores, that somehow stay in business even though they are all selling the same laptops, TVs, tablets, etc. We found what I was looking for, a new laptop adapter cord, and a real HP one (for much cheaper than HP sells it for, so who knows about the integrity of the store selling it) it seems like it will last a decent while. This was the day I discovered deep fried bananas-my life will never be the same, and I don't even like bananas! We went to bed fairly early because we were getting up early on Sunday to head to Ayutthaya. We left the house very early and met all of Chollada's friends at a temple downtown. In Atutthaya of course we visited a temple, then we went a saved a buffalo. To me, it was a stupid concept. The group shelled out 25,000 baht (about $1000) to "save a buffalo." This means they get to pick out a buffalo (or a cow for 23,000), and it gets sent to some farmer who promises not to kill it but to use it for other purposes (I'm assuming milking it or using it to pull a plow or something?). The buffalo's savior gets to track it and make sure its still alive. Its a campaign organized by the king and it seems to me like its just something to make him look like a good guy to the public (who already worships the ground he walks on-literally). Not to say the kind isn't a good guy, I don't know much about him. I would just rather people donate to have the cows/buffaloes living on the farm in better conditions. I think being butchered for meat after only a year of a good life; being fed properly and not walking around knee deep in your own shit, is better than perhaps being the one chosen by some nice people to be saved, but in the meantime living in atrocious conditions. And who knows how the farmer who gets the saved individual will treat it? Sorry for the rant, but I saw this whole thing as a scam and a huge waste of money. After rescuing our poor buffalo, we headed to lunch at a floating seafood restaurant. It was pretty good, although some seafood dishes here are a bit too fishy for me. After lunch we saw the main draw of Ayutthaya; the ruins of the old capital city. We went to a very old temple and looked around a bit. Our last stop before heading back to Bangkok was to get some of what I call "sugar burritos" (I should probably learn the real name). Its stringy sugar wrapped in a sweet tortilla like thing: yummy.
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I've spent the last two weeks on "vacation." It is sad to me that I've been in Thailand 4 weeks today, and only about a week of it in the forest. I am very ready to get back there and really get rolling on our fieldwork. I am also a bit nervous because going back means that I will be collecting data myself and will really have to be on my A game. As for the last two weeks, I've had ample ways to waste time other than blogging, so I have been a slacker. So, I intend to give an abridged version of my two week vacation from Khao Yai.
I spent my first day back at Chollada's house doing nothing but sitting around watching TV and eating good food (and had absolutely no problem with this). The next day, Saturday, Chollada and her mom took me to the IT mall: basically a place with hundreds of the exact same stores, that somehow stay in business even though they are all selling the same laptops, TVs, tablets, etc. We found what I was looking for, a new laptop adapter cord, and a real HP one (for much cheaper than HP sells it for, so who knows about the integrity of the store selling it) it seems like it will last a decent while. This was the day I discovered deep fried bananas-my life will never be the same, and I don't even like bananas! We went to bed fairly early because we were getting up early on Sunday to head to Ayutthaya. We left the house very early and met all of Chollada's friends at a temple downtown. In Atutthaya of course we visited a temple, then we went a saved a buffalo. To me, it was a stupid concept. The group shelled out 25,000 baht (about $1000) to "save a buffalo." This means they get to pick out a buffalo (or a cow for 23,000), and it gets sent to some farmer who promises not to kill it but to use it for other purposes (I'm assuming milking it or using it to pull a plow or something?). The buffalo's savior gets to track it and make sure its still alive. Its a campaign organized by the king and it seems to me like its just something to make him look like a good guy to the public (who already worships the ground he walks on-literally). Not to say the kind isn't a good guy, I don't know much about him. I would just rather people donate to have the cows/buffaloes living on the farm in better conditions. I think being butchered for meat after only a year of a good life; being fed properly and not walking around knee deep in your own shit, is better than perhaps being the one chosen by some nice people to be saved, but in the meantime living in atrocious conditions. And who knows how the farmer who gets the saved individual will treat it? Sorry for the rant, but I saw this whole thing as a scam and a huge waste of money. After rescuing our poor buffalo, we headed to lunch at a floating seafood restaurant. It was pretty good, although some seafood dishes here are a bit too fishy for me. After lunch we saw the main draw of Ayutthaya; the ruins of the old capital city. We went to a very old temple and looked around a bit. Our last stop before heading back to Bangkok was to get some of what I call "sugar burritos" (I should probably learn the real name). Its stringy sugar wrapped in a sweet tortilla like thing: yummy.
pouring flower water on our "saved" buffalo
giant freshwater shrimp
old temple in Ayutthaya
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I guess its called "roti sai mai"
Monday I had another lazy day while Chollada was at work. When she got home we planned some things for me to do in the city Tuesday. So, Tuesday I woke up early and went into the city with Chollada on her way to work. First I headed to the Jim Thompson house-an American man who apparently revived the Thai silk industry and collected a lot of Asian art. His house is like a little retreat within the city, a big garden with lots of trees so you can't even see or hear the business of Bangkok. Inside his collection of teak houses was tons or art (paintings, sculptures, ceramic pieces). After a tour in English(?) I headed off to my next destination. I mastered public transit, including both the skytrain and the ferry boat, I walked through the delightful smelling flower market, and finally made it to Museum Siam-a new museum about the history of Thailand. It was a nice museum, geared more towards kids; you can touch everything in the museum. It sort of reminded me of a small version of the Henry Ford. Afterward I had some delicious Pad Thai for lunch. Then I headed back to the main shopping area of town. I checked out the MBK center-a bargain shopping place, and bought some harem pants. Then I went to Siam Square and bought a tank top (probably paid too much). Chollada and I met for dinner at Coffee Beans by Dao-a tummy restaurant with delicious cheesecake!
Jim Thompson house
Just when I was beginning to get sick of the city, I left for Hua Hin, a beach town about three hours from Bangkok...
Central World!
April 25
After breakfast at the hotel I stashed my bags there for a few hours and walked around exploring the Sukhumvit neighborhood. To be honest there wasn't much to see during the day. The night market was probably the highlight and it was closed. Around 3:00 I got my stuff from the hotel and took the BTS sky train to Central World- the biggest mall Thailand, the 6th biggest mall in the world. It was a little to huge and extravagant for me. I can't even function properly at Fairlane mall with its 2.5 floors and confusing layout. Anyway this mall has to have every store known to man. I just went up to the 6th floor in section C where I already knew the bookstore is found online was. I bought 4 books, spent way too much money, but I'm going to need them over the next four months to maintain my sanity. At the rate I'm reading I'll finish the ones I brought from the US in about 2 months. I went upstairs to the food area, bought a water and spent some time reading. Around 6:30 I went outside with all my stuff to find some dinner (I was hauling two backpacks and a purse, another reason I didn't feel like browsing in the giant mall). I got some grilled pork skewers, watermelon and a water for about $2, which made me feel better about the expensive books. After I ate (and fed a dog the fat from my pork) I headed back into the mall for the air conditioning and spent an atrocious amount on cold stone ice cream-because I wanted ice cream, but also because I needed a place to sit and read to kill time. At about 8:30 Chollada called me and was ready to meet me to take me I her house. She and her family are very generously hosting me again! I feel bad because I stole her little brothers room :(
Anyway I was tired and glad to be somewhere familiar after a day of hauling my stuff around like a nomad who really likes reading.
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After breakfast at the hotel I stashed my bags there for a few hours and walked around exploring the Sukhumvit neighborhood. To be honest there wasn't much to see during the day. The night market was probably the highlight and it was closed. Around 3:00 I got my stuff from the hotel and took the BTS sky train to Central World- the biggest mall Thailand, the 6th biggest mall in the world. It was a little to huge and extravagant for me. I can't even function properly at Fairlane mall with its 2.5 floors and confusing layout. Anyway this mall has to have every store known to man. I just went up to the 6th floor in section C where I already knew the bookstore is found online was. I bought 4 books, spent way too much money, but I'm going to need them over the next four months to maintain my sanity. At the rate I'm reading I'll finish the ones I brought from the US in about 2 months. I went upstairs to the food area, bought a water and spent some time reading. Around 6:30 I went outside with all my stuff to find some dinner (I was hauling two backpacks and a purse, another reason I didn't feel like browsing in the giant mall). I got some grilled pork skewers, watermelon and a water for about $2, which made me feel better about the expensive books. After I ate (and fed a dog the fat from my pork) I headed back into the mall for the air conditioning and spent an atrocious amount on cold stone ice cream-because I wanted ice cream, but also because I needed a place to sit and read to kill time. At about 8:30 Chollada called me and was ready to meet me to take me I her house. She and her family are very generously hosting me again! I feel bad because I stole her little brothers room :(
Anyway I was tired and glad to be somewhere familiar after a day of hauling my stuff around like a nomad who really likes reading.
awful Bangkok traffic
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6th largest mall in the world!
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