Sticky Rice
Nothing much as far as an update at this end. I'm finally getting over my flu, so I'm back working in the forest. Still the same routine everyday, walking around from 5:30 am in the morning until we find a langur group and then trying to observe them for the day. I've been working many days and long hours to make up for the time I was out. We're in the rainy season now, so I usually wear my rubber boots to schlep through all of the mud. This makes crossing high rivers easier, but the soles are slippery and I mostly end up sliding down some hill and getting covered in mud anyway. It usually rains from one to four in the afternoon if it doesn't rain the night before. Most of my mornings start out extremely frustrating because I can barely see to walk...my glasses always fog over because of the humidity. My wash basin has algae looking growth in it and my door is fully covered with mold! I am seriously starting to wonder if any of the clothes I brought with me will be salvageable by the end of my stay. I can barely stand sleeping on sheets and a pillow and sleeping bag that smell so horribly of mildew. I'm afraid my room is going to start growing strange little creatures! Our newest hobby around the house is cooking kao nee-o (sticky rice) to take for lunches. News spread around the entire sanctuary in one evening that the farang (foreigners) cooked sticky rice. They couldn't believe it because usually Westerners dislike the consistency. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is different than white rice. The rice is indeed sticky, enough so that you can grab a handful, scrunch it into a ball in your hand and dip it in sauce to eat, but not sticky enough to cling to your hands (if that makes sense). Well, at least it is not supposed to be that sticky....a few of our batches have not come out quite right and everybody seems to offer different opinions on what we are doing wrong. It is a small community and gossip travels quickly. Everyone at every time knows what we are up to. Some of the other assistants get irritated that we live under constant inspection, but I find it rather amusing to be a novelty.
Bus #68
I'm just wrapping up a two-week visit from my mom and grandmother. We spent three days in Bangkok checking out the major touristy temple attractions and then moved on to Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, for five days. Chiang Mai is a major shopping area with hilltribe handicrafts, jade, and ceramics, and silks. There was a huge bustling night bazaar within walking distance of our hotel and we had fun looking for buys and treasures. The highlight of the trip for me was a one-hour Longtail boat ride up the Mae Kok River to a Karen hilltribe village. The longtail boats are common on Thai waterways and are propelled by a diesel engine mounted on a long shaft that is swiveled for steering. The Karen are the largest hill-tribe group in Thailand and come from Burma and China. It wasn't particularly fun to be greeted by swarms of kids hawking cheap bracelets and weaving, and this village even made money charging 10 baht for the bathroom, but from there we left on a two hour elephant trek. Rode through lush green hillsides with misty mountains in the background and bright green squares of rice fields. I did a poor job of timing my photos between jarring jerks of the walking elephant. Mom and I rode together in a basket on the back of our elephant, while our "driver" sat on the elephant's head and nudged his ears to direct him. Our elephant, 34 yr. old Poo Wong, stopped often to grab and munch bamboo and sometimes the stops provided good photo ops. Also made it up to the golden triangle, where the Mae Kok River flows through the borders of three countries: Thailand, Laos, and Burma. Basically a scenic outlook.
Even my return bus trip back to the nearest town to the sanctuary turned out to be more of an adventure than expected. Today was my first time going FROM Bangkok to Chum Phae and my first time traveling on the bus alone. I arrived at the bus station at 10, an hour wait. I had no idea of boarding procedure, but remembered that the lady who sold me my ticket said something about #68. I sat down in the terminal to take in the surroundings. I was overcome with a sheer sense of being assaulted by sensory overload. 100 or more back-lit numbered booths surrounded the interior. I saw lists of 100% Thai script as my eyes scanned looking for any English. Quickly I zeroed in on the word "Information," but of course the booth was not occupied. I didn't hear any announcements, but in most airports or bus stations it is a struggle to hear and try listening for a departure in Thai. At 10:30pm the T.V.'s shut off and people were sleeping in the chairs. I got a bit nervous because no one seemed to have any luggage. Phones were ringing and booth attendants sat looking bored. I sat planning my next move. I frequently glanced at window #68, but it remained dark with no attendant. What to do? Spotted a sign for departure platforms and I lugged my backpack up and on to investigate. It appeared to be a huge field of parked buses outside. I didn't even know what type of bus I was looking for. I figured I had my number, 68, and maybe it was the bus platform not another ticket window, so at quarter to 11 (departure time of 11) I decided to wander to the buses. Previously, on the way to Bangkok when we looked for our bus 10 min. before departure they told us we were much too early. So, I figured 15min. was plenty of time. I found a pillar with #68, things were looking promising at that point, until the lady looked at my ticket and said, "rot bpai leeo." That Thai I understood: "the bus already left." What the heck?! I thought the departure wasn't until 11, but I didn't know how to say all that in Thai and just looked up at the lady all concerned. She did some talking into her radio and then pointed to a nearby bus. All I could do was board. I felt slightly better when I saw the same bird symbol on the window that was on my ticket...it was a non-air con and I had no idea where it was headed, but I guess I put my faith into the hands of the girl with the radio.
Turns out that the bus wasn't going to Chum Phae (my destination of choice). Two hours into the trip we pulled into rest stop next to another bus of the same company and they tapped me on the shoulder and ushered me to a second bus (all without saying a word). Ok, so they got me on the right bus going to Chum Phae (I hoped). I tried to sleep, but halfway through the night our bus stalled, sounded like we were stuck in the ditch, or had a flat tire, or overheated engine. It took a good 2 hrs. before we were moving again. Reached Chum Phae after 9 and 1/2 hrs. I was so tired I didn't even recognize the bus station and wasn't sure it was my stop because no one else was getting off, but at that point I didn't care and just wanted off the bus. I immediately bought water and the Internet cafe opened at 9. I've been sitting at a computer ever since. I hope to get a bus from here to Loei Lai at 2:30 and from there Eileen will hopefully be picking me up at 4 to head to the sanctuary. What a day!
Even my return bus trip back to the nearest town to the sanctuary turned out to be more of an adventure than expected. Today was my first time going FROM Bangkok to Chum Phae and my first time traveling on the bus alone. I arrived at the bus station at 10, an hour wait. I had no idea of boarding procedure, but remembered that the lady who sold me my ticket said something about #68. I sat down in the terminal to take in the surroundings. I was overcome with a sheer sense of being assaulted by sensory overload. 100 or more back-lit numbered booths surrounded the interior. I saw lists of 100% Thai script as my eyes scanned looking for any English. Quickly I zeroed in on the word "Information," but of course the booth was not occupied. I didn't hear any announcements, but in most airports or bus stations it is a struggle to hear and try listening for a departure in Thai. At 10:30pm the T.V.'s shut off and people were sleeping in the chairs. I got a bit nervous because no one seemed to have any luggage. Phones were ringing and booth attendants sat looking bored. I sat planning my next move. I frequently glanced at window #68, but it remained dark with no attendant. What to do? Spotted a sign for departure platforms and I lugged my backpack up and on to investigate. It appeared to be a huge field of parked buses outside. I didn't even know what type of bus I was looking for. I figured I had my number, 68, and maybe it was the bus platform not another ticket window, so at quarter to 11 (departure time of 11) I decided to wander to the buses. Previously, on the way to Bangkok when we looked for our bus 10 min. before departure they told us we were much too early. So, I figured 15min. was plenty of time. I found a pillar with #68, things were looking promising at that point, until the lady looked at my ticket and said, "rot bpai leeo." That Thai I understood: "the bus already left." What the heck?! I thought the departure wasn't until 11, but I didn't know how to say all that in Thai and just looked up at the lady all concerned. She did some talking into her radio and then pointed to a nearby bus. All I could do was board. I felt slightly better when I saw the same bird symbol on the window that was on my ticket...it was a non-air con and I had no idea where it was headed, but I guess I put my faith into the hands of the girl with the radio.
Turns out that the bus wasn't going to Chum Phae (my destination of choice). Two hours into the trip we pulled into rest stop next to another bus of the same company and they tapped me on the shoulder and ushered me to a second bus (all without saying a word). Ok, so they got me on the right bus going to Chum Phae (I hoped). I tried to sleep, but halfway through the night our bus stalled, sounded like we were stuck in the ditch, or had a flat tire, or overheated engine. It took a good 2 hrs. before we were moving again. Reached Chum Phae after 9 and 1/2 hrs. I was so tired I didn't even recognize the bus station and wasn't sure it was my stop because no one else was getting off, but at that point I didn't care and just wanted off the bus. I immediately bought water and the Internet cafe opened at 9. I've been sitting at a computer ever since. I hope to get a bus from here to Loei Lai at 2:30 and from there Eileen will hopefully be picking me up at 4 to head to the sanctuary. What a day!
Bee and Wasp Season
The same old same old is going on here except now we are dealing with a new forest danger. It is bee and wasp season. Lek, one of the rangers, got stung yesterday on his head. He was only stung once, but the entire side of his face and neck swelled incredibly. And, he isn't allergic. They tell me that amount of swelling and pain is a normal response from a sting from this species of wasp. Wonderful. We keep a running tally of all our leech bites (they have to draw blood to count) and bee stings. I'm doing pretty good, only 3 stings and 26 leech bites.
We now have two graduate students from Stony Brook University who joined the project at the beginning of June. Eileen was a field assistant for the langur project two years ago and now she is doing a pilot study before jumping into full out data collection for her Ph.D. Chris is only staying for three months just to get an idea of what it is like to work in Thailand. Anyway, so I've been pestering them with questions about Stony Brook. When I applied to work on this langur project the idea of going to graduate school at Stony Brook was in the back of my mind, especially if I ended up liking Carola and Andreas. Well, they are both wonderful people, would be terrific to work with, and it would make the future a lot more clearer if I made a smooth transition from working with them here to having one of them as an advisor at school. But, I was already leaning away from the sort of questions they are asking in their research (I'd rather work from an applied conservation angle) and now talking with Eileen and Chris I am even more turned off by the school. Basically they haven't told me one positive thing about the school (other than some of the people they work with). To make a long story short, the campus is a commuter campus so there is no "community" feel and they can't live on the stipend they receive because of high costs of living in the area (Long Island, NY). They are both incredibly in debt from student loans. So, I decided Stony Brook is not for me, but now I am back to the beginning of trying to figure out what to do next.
I'm really questioning whether or not I want to submit myself to the stress of graduate school at all (Eileen told me the first two years were the worst years of her life and I have heard similar stories from other people). And, if I still decide to apply I still haven't figured out what the heck I want to study. I need to find a specific research interest. So, I'm enjoying my time here but I haven't gotten any closer choosing my next path.
We now have two graduate students from Stony Brook University who joined the project at the beginning of June. Eileen was a field assistant for the langur project two years ago and now she is doing a pilot study before jumping into full out data collection for her Ph.D. Chris is only staying for three months just to get an idea of what it is like to work in Thailand. Anyway, so I've been pestering them with questions about Stony Brook. When I applied to work on this langur project the idea of going to graduate school at Stony Brook was in the back of my mind, especially if I ended up liking Carola and Andreas. Well, they are both wonderful people, would be terrific to work with, and it would make the future a lot more clearer if I made a smooth transition from working with them here to having one of them as an advisor at school. But, I was already leaning away from the sort of questions they are asking in their research (I'd rather work from an applied conservation angle) and now talking with Eileen and Chris I am even more turned off by the school. Basically they haven't told me one positive thing about the school (other than some of the people they work with). To make a long story short, the campus is a commuter campus so there is no "community" feel and they can't live on the stipend they receive because of high costs of living in the area (Long Island, NY). They are both incredibly in debt from student loans. So, I decided Stony Brook is not for me, but now I am back to the beginning of trying to figure out what to do next.
I'm really questioning whether or not I want to submit myself to the stress of graduate school at all (Eileen told me the first two years were the worst years of her life and I have heard similar stories from other people). And, if I still decide to apply I still haven't figured out what the heck I want to study. I need to find a specific research interest. So, I'm enjoying my time here but I haven't gotten any closer choosing my next path.