Good Times

Ahh, back to the real world -- well as real as the world can get when you're halfway around the world. We started class again today. After I gave a riveting presentation on Significant Corporate Actions we had a buffet lunch served to us here in the Thammasat University campus court yard. It was pretty good. MUCH better than the food at the learning resort. I've officially decided that catered Thai food is equally as bad as catered American food. Good, now I don't have to come back to the states and discuss how bad the Thai food was. Instead, I can talk about how good the Thai food was, and how bad the catered food is all over the world. Although, I do have some warnings about the Thai food:

1. They eat some things that we don't. For example, today, we had squid soup as
an option. No I did not try it, and no I do not regret not trying it.

2.
There must be some sort of moral opposition to using knives. Instead they cut
with spoons here, and this is a habit that runs rampant in restaurants and homes
throughout Thailand. I think we should start a petition to change this; as I
have no idea how they manage to cut things with a spoon. Yes a spoon. I saw it
with my own eyes and I still don't believe it. Maybe Ripley's should capture
this on tape.

3. Speaking of the spoons, they are gigantic. Ok, not
gigantic. Just picture eating your food with a serving spoon. And there you go.
That is eating in Thailand. All meals, all the time. Yeah. You get a serving
spoon and a fork with every meal. Sometimes, you get the fancy-schmancy butter
knife in restaurants. And that's it. For the love of pete does anyone have a
steak knife they can send me? A butcher knife? A letter opener? SOMETHING!!!

Ok, enough about the food. I'll bet you're dying to hear more about the yacht trip. Well, as it was my first time on a yacht; it was fairly fantastic. Except I don't swim. So I was bored out of my mind on the last day. You can only take so much of watching other people snorkel. And I don't tan either, so I had my share of being baked on the beach the first couple days. So honestly, I was not a happy camper on the 3.5 and 4th days. But, what are you gonna do? Swim home? Ok then.

The views were rather spectacular, and the beaches were very pretty. (Still working on the pictures. I have one more computer lab to try before I give up). It was also kinda neat to live on a boat. It was like camping, minus the wide open spaces. Inside the cabin of the boat was not meant for a claustrophbic. We 8 students took our relationships to a whole new level once we figured out the sleeping arrangements. Since we were actually on a 3 cabin boat (i.e. sleeps 6 people), we had to use the galley table as a bed. Don't worry, it was meant to be used like that. Except for the fact that it was put together incorrectly. Making raising and lowering the darn thing quite a challenge. As was figuring out which cushions went where. That was my bed, and on the upside, it was the biggest bed on the whole boat. And therefore worth the trouble. Dave, our captain and sailing enthusiast (he has a sailboat back in Mad-town, and used to sell them for a living pre-law school) opted to sleep on deck, under the stars. So I had the bed to myself 1 night. Yay!

We took PB&J sandwiches with us on the boat, and some lunch meat. Grocery shopping in Thailand was quite the adventure. As was purchasing some fish from a fisherman who happened to be docked on the beach on the third day. Which we later cooked on the grill on the deck of the boat. Fortunately, Quentin had also purchased some semi-ripe coconuts on the previous island. Here's our Gilligan's Island recipe for Red Snapper and a gigantic Reef fish:

1. fillet fish.
2. in the pan mix butter, rum, and coconut milk from a semi-ripe
coconut that you actually bought to be a beverage.
3. sautee fish in the pan holding it over the grill
4. enjoy.

Our final adventure (and most dangerous) turned out to be on the ride home. We rode in a van which seats 11. We nearly died at least a million times. The driving in Thailand is...harrowing to say the least. The speed limit is somewhere near 1000 miles per hour. The lines drawn to indicate lanes are just suggestions. Oh, and yes it is ok to pull over and stop in the middle of the far left lane (they drive on the opposite side here). We also pulled over and stopped in the white striped part between an on ramp and the freeway. We also played chicken with a bus. For those of you that don't know, that's when a bus is coming at you and you keep going to see who the first to pull over is. Like I said, it was scary.

So that's it for now, as this is getting pretty long.