Spicy Stereotypes and Samitivej Surgery

I’ve forgotten where I left off last time, so I’ll start by typing some stuff I had in my little notebook. They cover several days, from perhaps October 12^th through the 15^th:

“So yeah, I’m in Bangkok, Thailand. Kind of crazy. I sat beside an American couple who worked in Hong Kong and had great conversation with them. When we landed, I got a cab to my hotel and my driver, Mr. Phornthep (yes, that’s pronounced Porn-tep) was not an adult film actor, but rather a proud father of four and grandfather of two. He helped me clarify some pronunciations of some words and phrases I’d studied and then he gave me his cell and told me to call him if I had any problems, needed advice, or wanted to go somewhere. I don’t know if he was serious, so I probably won’t call him.

I realized I miss Saule when a photo of her and I fell out of my notebook as I was writing this…

As I was eating an amazing dinner of “Tom yang kung” and “Khao phat kung” (Shrimp, lemon grass, and mushroom soup and fried rice with shrimp), I enjoyed my first local beer, “Singha,” and watched someone ride an elephant through downtown Bangkok, a city of I’m guessing 12 million people, though I don’t really know. I also enjoyed seeing the advertisement about the beauty salon at my hotel, which also offers massages at the rate of $10/hr. Can you believe that!? You’d better believe I’m gonna get one before I leave!

Speaking of stereotyping cheap massages in Thailand (because it’s true, depending on what parlor you go to), there are tons of older, creepy, white guys here and I don’t like it. They walk around the city like they’re at the beach in ratty shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. Sometimes they’re with a local girl and sometimes, as I saw today, they’re holding the hand of a thai boy teenager. I don’t like creepy, old, fat, white guys… What do the locals see in them besides potentially money? Didn’t they get fooled…

Surgery went well. I was under for 2.5 hours. The hospital is amazing, both the staff and the facilities. The food is great and the room better than my hotel room. It’s a bit lonely here – there are only a couple on English channels on TV and I’ve been tired often. Thursday I’ll get out and have a couple days before I have to come back to have the stitches taken out.”

I got out Thursday, though I was still feeling a little out of things, so I hung around my hotel room. But Friday, I headed over to the Peace Corps office in Bangkok to meet with the medical staff. The receptionist was the nicest, cutest, and most pleasant lady ever; she really was a highlight of that day :-) I met up with a couple volunteers who were in town for the weekend. We hung out Friday and Saturday and had a really great time together. Friday, after Jenny took a trip to the dentist, we got some dinner at one of the largest malls in Asia and then headed over to Kaosun St., a very popular tourist spot. After a couple drinks, we headed to “42 Below,” a pretty good club and danced for a while.

Saturday, Becky had a meeting at the office, but Jenny was very nice and did touristy things with me. We met for a western lunch of Subway and Starbucks and then took a river taxi up the river to Wat Pho. Then we got a glimpse of the Grand Palace and saw some cool markets. Later, we met up with Becky, had dinner, and just hung around their hotel room for a while, chatting. We called it an early night, hugged, and parted ways. Sunday I went to the weekend market, a huge famous market on the northern side of town that hosts many thousands of vendors. My Kazakhstani bargaining skills came in handy there as I picked up some souvenirs for people.

Closing observations: Thailand, or at least Bangkok, was full of amazement. The skytram, the abundance of taxis and tuk-tuks (3-wheeled taxis), the amazing food, the shorter people, the number of tourists and sex-pats (like that creative term?), the markets, the relative cleanliness, the heat and humidity, the Peace Corps Volunteers, the western-ness, the eastern-ness, the language, the writing system, outward friendliness, smiles, the calmness, the patience, the air conditioning, the facilities. Thailand is a place that I’d love to explore more; hopefully next trip will be on my own time according to my schedule :-)

Nina, fall time.


Mountains of Afghanistan - Where's Osama!?


Tom Yam Kung and Khao Phad Kung.


Samitivej hospital.


Phad Thai, Spring Rolls, and Mango smoothie.


Hospital room.


My bed.


Spicy papaya and shrimp salad, vegetarian rice, and iced ceylon tea.


This is how people greet in Thailand usually; it's called the Wai.


Jenny (left) and Becky, enjoying some western burgers at the mall.


I just lent that to them while I was in the hospital.


Kaosun street.


The Skytram.


From the river ride, one could see many cool sights of Bangkok.


Dried seafoods market.


Me drinking delicious Iced Ceylon Tea in front of the Grand Palace.


Riding in a tuk-tuk!


Siam Center.


Souvenirs for people.