In a utopia, an easy task. We have for you every fulfillment To hide moral concerns behind a mask. You can sit in a paper mache throne as you review over your bank balance. We’ll give you underlings who’ll lay down prone In a hope that your praise will come by chance. If you are willing to swallow your pride, You’ll live a life executively styled. The only rule you will need to abide
Is to ignore what happens to the child.
Every life is about compromise, A place where we find morality dies.
My travels have taken me to some really interesting places, and I have gotten to have some crazy experiences during that time. I feel grateful that I have been able to live this life, and I look forward to more of these experiences as I move on. I think back at the old town celebration that I wander in on in Lucern, or watching the Spain World Cup Game with a bunch of locals in Salamanca. I treasure the moments of standing in the rain with my friends in Gamcheon Cultural Village in Busan, or being the only couple in the ryokan in Magome. I will never forget wandering the Hobbiton movie set outside of Mata Mata, New Zealand, or enjoying a drink on the docks just outside of Dubrovnik before it became the biggest destination site when visiting Europe. The memories keep coming too. I have enjoyed a steak dinner in the hills outside of Hua Hin, and stumbled on a jazz music festival. The will be filed away with the other memories that I have collected, but there has been a change in the way I have travelled lately, and I am starting to recognize that change.
I used to look at the big huge fancy hotels and resorts from a distance. Most of the places I used to stay in were hostels. They were the only places I could afford. Sometimes, I could pull an extra couple of dollars together for a private room, but most of the time I was sharing a room with up to fifty other people, and would not spend a lot of time there. It was just a place to put my stuff, and lay my head down at when I had worn myself out by running around checking out the sites. It was part of the adventure and there were many moments from these places that hold a special place in my memory, but a few years back, we decided that we had outgrown the hostel experience and we only find hotels or Air B+Bs from here on out.
The places were still not the height of luxury. The bigger concern when picking the place had to do with location. It was important that we were close to the city center so we could easily wander around and see what we traveled so far to see. Sometimes that meant finding a place right on the beach so when I walked out my door, I could watch the waves crash on the sand.
But which spot we stayed at, it started to get fancier and fancier. Where we would run to a grocery store to find something to cook or find a local hot spot for dinner, we now found places with fancy restaurants attached to the grounds. Breakfast would be a quick affair with a bowl of cereal made with milk that we had placed in our tiny fridges, but now we make sure to find a place where it is included in the price of the stay.
Sometimes we would find a park to share some cheese and crackers that we bought off a local street vendor. Now the park is part of the hotel experience, and if we want some snacks we can order room service and have it brought to us. In other words, the last few times I have gone out for a quick trip, things have changed significantly. Part of this might be because, we have found ourselves in Thailand during a worldwide pandemic and the is country that is so dependent on tourism has so incredible deals going on right now. But if I am being honest, it is also about the change in lifestyle. As I have grown older and moved my way up in the world of academia, I have been able to afford places like this more often. I also find that I enjoy this moment of relaxation during my busy schedule, so I buy into it even more.
But the bigger question, the thing that has been bugging me about this, pops up. Is something lost because of this change? Am I getting the most out of my traveling experience because of the change to booking resorts? I have wandered away from the hotel a couple of times while I have been here this weekend, but most of the time was spent lounging around the pool and soaking in the moment. Granted, this was a quick weekend that I was taking before a longer break comes up, and I will definitely spend more time experiencing things during the three week break, but I find myself spending more time relaxing on vacation instead of trying to take as much of it in as I can. I do come back refreshed and ready to take on the next challenge, but the little stories aren’t as plentiful when I live a pampered lifestyle.
Some call it the creep. It is that moment in your life where you make enough money to enjoy the easy life a little more often, but at the expense of finding those same experiences for a little less. At the same time, the better pay comes with more responsibility, and I do need that time to relax or my life will be one big bundle of stress. I guess like many other things in life, it comes down to finding that balance between the two. I need to fight against the creep from time to time. I need to find those more humble experiences where I take in what life brings to me. This does not mean that I will go back to staying at hostels, but I do not need to find the biggest resort where I do not need to do much of anything. I need to find that place that gives me enough relaxation so I feel ready to go out and take in the place in the world where I have found myself. It is the whole reason I travel. I need to get back to experiencing the world. I have enjoyed this quick respite, but I am ready to take on the world again.
And as thing start to open up again and the vaccines get delivered to places around the world, I find that this year of trying to make the most out of the situation I found myself in will soon be behind me. I look forward to the new opportunities out there, and I can’t wait to see where my next adventure will take me.
Until next time, stay safe, and find the most out the time given to you.
There are two ways to dine out in Thailand. There are the big fancy restaurants that serve meals from traditional Thai food to fare that could be found all over the world. There is also the street food that is extremely cheap and most of the time just as good. There is a little danger with this type of food because you might fall victim to the Thailand tummy or the Bangkok belly, but I have never had this experience since I have been out here though I have been witness to those who have. There is a simple rule of thumb when it comes to eating street food in Thailand, go to the places that have long lines and then you know the food you are getting will always be fresh and free from the things that might cause the rumble down below.
If I am Hua Hin, there are two street markets that allow for this great experience of dining with the street food. There is the old night market further in town and though a great, fun experience, does not necessarily meet with the higher standards of cleanliness that the other place does, the Cicada Market which can be found further on the southern part of the city. This is a newer market, and it boasts numerous venders who are all trying to sell you the greatest culinary delights for relatively cheap prices. It only takes place on the weekends, but it is definitely worth the voyage down there to check it out.
First off, the food down there is great. They sell all of your favorite Thai dishes from chicken satay to pineapple fried rice served in the husk of the pineapple where the delicious ingredient for the dish came from. They also have other quick street food fare that can be found in other places around the world such as wood stove pizza and Korean bar-b-q. Each dish is relatively inexpensive, so it is fun to walk around and have a little bit of this dish followed by a little bit of that dish.
The Cicada market also creates an atmosphere that is a blend of carnival as well as cultural. They have clowns walking around on stilts, people making balloon animals, and booths performing magic tricks, all around two stages where various juggling and comedic acts will perform, or if you prefer something a little more adult, you can go and watch a rock band perform next to the beer garden. There are also little niches where bands will set up to play traditional Thai music, or break dance to electronic beats produced by some of the country’s best DJs.
Considering that it also a market, there is also a section dedicated to various vendors selling their wares. This is a little different than what can be seen in a traditional market in Thailand though. Most of those places have quick products that can be found in most places around the country. You have knock off coffee mugs set next to t-shirts and phone cases. The items that are sold here are actually produced by the people selling them. There is a certain type of artistic quality that can be found at this market which makes it feel like that what you are buying can only be found in this little corner of Hua Hin. It also makes wandering through the market really fun because you see a lot of strange items that you would never find anywhere else.
It is my second time coming down to this market and if I ever find myself in Hua Hin over a weekend, I would make sure that I would come back here again. It is a must see for anybody visiting this city and I would recommend that when you come you bring a healthy appetite with you because you are going to want to spend a lot of your time here satisfying it.
One of the bigger holidays in Thailand is Father’s Day. It is celebrated every year on December 5th, and it is the perfect time for a teacher to run out of town for a couple of days to recharge the batteries to make that final push through the end of the first semester. There are many places to go around Bangkok, but the one we landed on was Hua Hin, a beach resort town about a three hour drive from our school. It is a great town with some beautiful hikes, a fun bar scene downtown, and a beach that stretches out for miles. It is a weekend destination site for many people in Bangkok and I had a feeling that this weekend would not be any different considering it is a long weekend for many people due to the holiday. Little did I know that there was another reason that this weekend would make Hua Hin an even bigger destination, the Hua Hun Jazz festival. We got down here late the night before and drove to our hotel to find that cars parked all up and down the skinny streets and many people walking to the beach to go and partake in this event. We were able to catch a bit of the show last night, but were a little too tired to stay up late enough to watch the whole thing.
I am glad that this was the decision that we made because I needed the rest and it made for a beautiful day as we explored the ground of the hotel that we stayed at, the Centara Grand. Most of the time, I do not really care much about the place where we stay because it is only a place to rest my head while I get ready to take on whatever adventure awaits me the next day. But being a short weekend run, and the fact that I knew I would be spending a lot of time at the hotel while I got caught up on my grading for the end of the semester, I was very happy with the choice that Christine had made. It is right next to the beach, and has at least three pools that I have found, but there are probably more hidden in different corners of the place. There are also a couple of bars and restaurants on the grounds, not to mention one of the best breakfast buffets that I have ever run into.
My favorite part though so far has easily been the expansive gardens that surround the rooms. It is something right out of Stephen King’s The Shining as there is a topiary of wild animals carved into the trees and bushes out there. It has to be quite the feat to make sure that these plants maintain their look and there were a couple of them that were starting to grow extra limbs out of their heads and stomachs.
But for the most part, I was really impressed by the way that they maintained the garden. I only saw one person working on it while I was walking through it, and I would think that they would need more than one person to maintain this botanical zoo. But it had to have been a full time job for this individual and he must have a regular rotation to make sure that the plants never get too far our of control.
I am not usually impressed by gardens when I have come across them, but the one on the grounds of the Centara Grand really came as a surprise. I enjoyed the breeze that blew in from the ocean to cool down the temperature in Hua Hin to make it one of the more pleasant experiences I have had since moving out here. It made the perfect environment to enjoy this place, and it made this hotel a great find in Thailand. It has enough character to make it more of an experience rather than the impersonal rooms that come with most hotels I stay at. It makes it a place that I don’t mind hanging around as I enjoy my weekend away from the rat race.
It is that time of the year again where the night sky is lit up with tiny lights and images of people bundled up against the cold get plastered on the side of every established business. Songs about melting snowmen and chestnuts roasting over a fire play over the lobbies of hotels and speakers at gas station all around the world. Kids bundle up in new pajamas as they make their lists for toys that they would love to have from the jolly fat man from the north, and parents fight holiday crowds and their bankbooks to make those dreams come true.
It is truly a magical time of the year.
I will admit that when I was younger that this was my favorite time of the year, and probably contributes a lot to my love of snowy days. One of my fondest memories growing up involved a Christmas Eve blizzard that trapped us in our house on Christmas day. I was very young at the time and I always thought that it had to snow on Christmas Eve and the light flurry of flakes that fell that evening as I walked outside in my new Christmas pajamas to pick up the night edition of the paper confirmed this belief. It started out innocent enough, but when I woke up on Christmas morning there was a big surprise of a couple of feet of snow that had not been on the ground before. I don’t remember at all what I got that Christmas because the snow was the greatest gift we could have ever recieved.
I have since grown up and after many brown Colorado Christmases, I now know that snow on Christmas Eve is not a guarantee. In fact, there are many places in the world where seeing snow on Christmas would be considered crazy. Some of the more memorable ones I have spent in recent years have come while I have been on the other side of the globe in Australia and New Zealand. It was a strange feeling enjoying the holiday in a place where I knew that it would never get cold.
I am soon discovering that this year will also be one of those years that will not have a chance of feeling like the picturesque holiday season. It won’t be completely bad because Thailand loves to celebrate this holiday just like any other country in the world. The malls are packed with people and deals, and they tend to pump Christmas carols everywhere you go. The stores also try to outcompete each other to show who can make the brightest of all of the holiday light shows. I wasn’t expecting it much, but I did feel that magical spirit start to bubble up inside of me while I walked around downtown and viewed all of the Christmas displays wherever I went.
The only difference is that I will never feel that cold that I so cherish this time of the year. I won’t even feel a cool breeze that might hint at a chilly Christmas evening. The closest I will be able to get will be to turn my air conditioning on high so I can bundle up under a blanket and watch some Christmas movie where they get to experience a white event. Despite this small problem, it will feel more like Christmas than a lot of places around the world. There will still be the people taking the time to spend with each other, the children excited about the arrival of Santa Claus, and the endless celebration that takes place during the month of December.
I know I am looking forward to it either way, and I hope that wherever you find yourself this holiday season that you are able to make the most out of this month as well. Have a great holiday season, and I will let you know about what is happening in the land of eternal summer as I enjoy mine.
Ever since I have moved overseas, Thanksgiving Day does not mean as much to me. It is not that I do not appreciate the holiday. It is just that the holiday is a very American experience and other places in the world do not celebrate it or even acknowledge its existence. Because of this, I have had to work on the past six Thanksgiving Days, and after the sixth time, it is hard to get excited about this day.
It fills me with sadness when I recognize this fact because for a long time it had become my favorite holiday. It was the one day where we stripped away all of the pretentious behavior of our daily routines, and get together with family to share a delicious meal and make memories. There was also the looming consuming beast of Christmas looming right around the corner, but we could put that aside for a moment to just enjoy being with the people we love. I know that other countries have holidays that are comparable to this, but it is hard to get into the spirit of them when they jump out at me from nowhere and I am expected to understand the traditions of these days. The traditions of my past are the ones that stick with me and which I yearn for every year around this time.
There are other Americans at the schools I have taught at that help to keep this tradition alive. I have had one Thanksgiving dinner already and I will be experiencing another one this weekend, and I appreciate that people take the time to make sure that this holiday makes it across the ocean. But since I have moved to Asia, I have started a new tradition that makes me just as happy. It involves the day after Thanksgiving which in the United States is one of my least favorite days of the year. It is not because I am working off my turkey coma or I am depressed because I find myself without my family again. It is because I believe that this day brings out the worst of Americans as they push and shove to get crazy deals on crap that they really don’t need. It is fodder for the television news broadcasts and every year it gets just a little worse. Hopefully, with Covid ravaging the land, people will take it a little easier this year, but the current state of things has proven that many people would not let this tradition pass them by no matter what danger may loom in a crowded room.
The way I have avoided the pain of this day is to take in the meal that I usually miss because I have been stuck at work during Thanksgiving day. I have had the fortune to have the next day off, and the Asian countries though they ramp up the shopping experience during Black Friday, it is no where near the insanity that can be found in the United States. The restaurants are still open and this is a great day to hop from one to the next as I indulge in a little bite at each one. It allows me to get out there and see a bit of the holiday spirit as it takes over the community while not fighting with people over a bunch of stuff that doesn’t really matter in the long run. This is the tradition I would like to see take off for this holiday. We need to step back from this idea that stuff will make Christmas perfect and look back at the holiday we have just enjoyed. It is about family, and all holidays should take Thanksgiving’s tradition to heart. This is what my new tradition would be about because you do not go out to spend money on people, but you meet up with them at various restaurants to enjoy their company.
I hope you all found yourself in a wonderful spot on this holiday and that you are taking the precautions to be safe during the next month. Be thankful for those people you have in your life no matter where they may be.
If I wish to know about the culture, I just need to find the local bookstore. The imagination, here, they nurture, And discover what these large tomes are for. All the mythology and history Gather together in neat little rows. Here I can unpack a new mystery As my knowledge of the old country grows. Opened books come with an enchanting smell Of adventure and anticipation. Within its musty pages I will dwell, Exploring all the corners of this nation. On my trips, it’s a box I like to tick ‘Cause reading is a hard habit to kick.
Can you still be considered a winner If they have to change the rules just for you? Your management makes you a bumbler, Looking for a free handout and a clue. All players can follow regulations Agreed to everyone involved. You think you deserve a stipulation Because you are old and haven’t evolved. Whether you look to your network of spies, Or you make your plans with deflated balls, Your success relies on a pack of lies. Even false giants will receive their falls. Though you keep track with your expensive rings, Their tarnish will never give them their blings.
Pay attention to the sign at the gate, And only allow the right clientele Entrance to my silvery estate. Certain genders are unable to tell Deeper understandings of my design. I wish to tell the stories of heroes Who are admired by those of like mind, And have been treated in life as zeroes. They’re the ones who truly knowing suffering As they travel the path to nirvana. It is the pilgrimage they are taking That brings them to this temple of mana. It is here where they know how to behave In the place where we built Buddha’s man cave.
When the death of thousands does not matter ‘Cause it does not directly affect you, It makes your agenda even sadder Because you did not act on what you knew. Now that you use your elite position To make risky investments on a cure, It shows that your financial intention About saving this country is not pure. Your goal is to stuff your pocketbook And dance on the grave of America. I weep for the integrity you took Behind the obvious lie of MAGA. It will take many years to recover From the way you left my home in tatters.
John Collings 