For Further Reading...

No more BChinaB, but if you have enjoyed this blog you can find further writings of mine here:

• Stories and pictures from life in southern Thailand: http://bluenomadic.blogspot.com/
• Musings on Christianity and religion: http://threeglow.blogspot.com/

The End.

This blog is finished.

It's gone as far as it can go. Also, the title has become totally pointless and non-descriptive. My time with China, it would seem, is over for the foreseeable future.

I will continue blogging, however. I have another year here in Thailand, and I would like to devote a blog to stories and images of this beautiful country and its people. I have also been reading a lot of books centered around religious themes: C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce; Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love; Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's The Truth of Nature; and Thich Nhat Hanh's Living Buddha, Living Christ. I would like to start a blog with thoughts on religions, particularly as they relate to and contrast with Christianity.

Primarily, I would like to use some of the energy that has gone into blogging for a better purpose: the writing of a book. I don't know what, exactly, I will write about... but I feel like the last two years have been spent without any real concrete production, like I've just been playing around with words rather than really and truly dedicating myself to the creation of something worthwhile. If anyone has any ideas, please share. I'm always open to suggestions, and to criticism.

So goodbye for now. When I create the new site(s), I'll post the link(s) up.

Back In Thailand

After a 2 hour flight to Shenzhen, an 8 hour McDonald's-binge layover, a 3.5 hour stale-cigarette/B.O.-reeking flight to Bangkok, 3 hours in the Suvarnabhumi Airport Starbucks, 3 hours in the Sai Tai bus station, and a 10 hour bus ride through the beautiful Thai countryside, we made it to Nakhon.

It was a wonderful feeling, stepping off that bus into the warm, clear air of Nakhon, seeing my good friend Jah again as she pulled up to help us with our luggage. I've been blessed with great friends here. Jah and the other Thai teachers have found potential houses we may like, Mike has given us his house for as long as it takes for us to find a place, and Ashley has let us use her moto until I am able to buy a new one. I was, and am, truly humbled by how kind and giving everyone has been. It's almost like I never left.

One thing that sucked about this whole ordeal was the money involved. I spent a riculous amount on baggage overcharge fees, probably around half a month's salary. Plane tickets were another month's salary. I worked hard to save all that money, and it hurts to see it all go up in smoke. But it's my own fault, I guess. Well -partially. I lay most of the blame at the feet of a dishonest, despicable place called "Sunny's English Club". Sunny's recruited Alia and I to teach in China, and lied a lot: about the hours involved, the living conditions, and the location, among other things. They also tried to weasel out of paying my sister 2 week's salary for a job that turned out to be illegal, but which they had put her into without telling her it was illegal. Sunny's is most of the reason we left China. I will have more to say on them later; in the meantime, avoid them like the plague if you are in Chengdu.

Anyway, the loss of all that money stings, but in the long run, money doesn't matter, and I am happier than ever to be back. Hopefully we can find a moto and a house soon, though paying for all of that is going to be difficult, especially as our next paycheck isn't until the end of November. But that's part of the adventure:-)

...One last thing. Out of all the airlines I took in the past month, Air China was far and away the best. No overcharge fees for our luggage, polite and quick service, and even delicious airline food. I highly recommend it. On the other hand, the two WORST airlines were, in order of terribleness, Thai Airways and Air Asia. Thai Airways canceled my flight from Bangkok to Chengdu without notice, then put me on 2 seperate flights instead (which took my travel time from 3 hours to 11 hours), forgot to give me my connecting ticket (which caused a mess in Shanghai, where I spent forever trying to find out where I was suppose to go), made me pay luggage overcharges twice, and never responded to emails I sent to customer service. What's more, it was far and away the most expensive ticket I purchased. Avoid Thai Airways at all costs, they are terrible. Air Asia charged $100 (USD!) for my luggage, which was 13 kg over, even though I had payed extra to check two pieces. The flight was spent with semi-hot, tired-looking stewardnesses trying to sell us crap. Actually, that's not fair to crap - I would probably buy actual feces before I bought the junk they were trying to push on us. The flight was also populated by lots of loud Chinese businessmen, and not the respectable type of self-made Chinese businessman (whom I enjoy talking to and look up to), but the gross, arrogant type of Chinese businessmen, the guys that reek of stale smoke and body odor and stinking feet, who wear dirty-wifebeaters with their suits pants and talk at 80 db, and who spent the whole flight trying to hit on the semi-hot stewardnesses (unsuccessfully, of course). The flight's A/C was pretty mediocre, and Alia and I ended up breathing through our shirts in an attempt to escape the humid, putrid air. Gross.

Let It Go/3 a.m. Musings

Before coming to Asia two years ago, I had a good, comfortable life. I had a great job paying over $40,000 USD a year. I had a brand new car. I lived with my best friend in an amazing 1000 sq. ft. apartment in Uptown Dallas, within walking distance of the bustling downtown area as well as the chic Uptown area, where the socialites of Dallas went to be seen. Every piece of furniture was brand new, as was my computer. A giant big-screen TV sat in our living room.

I left it all for $500 USD a month in China, where I taught in sweltering heat and bitter cold in classrooms that were never heated or cooled, battled food poisoning on a routine basis, and traded the luxury of a new car for crowded public buses where having room to move, let alone sit down, meant you were having a good day.

***

Earlier this morning I sat out on the balcony of our hostel, which costs about $5 USD a night. You can write on the walls here, and messages from travelers from all over the world, in a plethora of languages, adorn the walls. I sat in an old bamboo chair overlooking gently swaying Chinese lanterns, while steam slowly curled and twisted upwards from a cup of loose-leaf green tea. Laid-back world music played softly from somewhere downstairs, and the sounds of Chengdu could be heard in the background as the morning sun shone down. I felt completely content. All of my possessions were in a room not far away, packed into two pieces of luggage.

***

Stuff cannot make us happy. Things cannot make us happy. That new car, that Dior perfume, those trendy clothes - it's only something else to worry about, something else to tie you down. Of course things are necessary for everyday life, and many things are great blessings; but to put our happiness in those things, to make them the center of our world - this only leads to bitterness, stress, and disappointment. Both Christianity and Buddhism agree on this point. We would all be a lot happier if we just go rid of some of our junk.

***

I know now what really makes life wonderful. God, people, and simple pleasures.

God works in us, created us, moves through us, loves us and sustains us. When we are close to Him, and right with Him, it doesn't matter what happens - we will be happy. But while Buddhism stresses attachment to nothing, we believe that God graciously blesses us with things to be enjoyed in their proper place.

People - family, friends, and even strangers - are one of those blessings. Phone conversations with brothers on the other side of the world; a short email from parents; laying out at the pool with good friends; a friendly conversation with the coffee barista... these are the moments that matter, the times when souls mix, share, intermingle, and love. In the long run, these may be the only moments of this life that ever truly mattered.

Simple pleasures are the daily gifts that we freely and liberally receive, the times that are there for the taking if we can just open our eyes to them. A cup of coffee and a journal page waiting to be filled, while the city slowly filters by through the window. A loud meal shared with friends where conversation flows easily and freely, and anything can be said. Good books read slowly, curled up on the couch. Delicious Sunday dinners with family, with the rest of the day stretching out before you. Long layovers in international airports, laid back in an empty chair watching the colors of the world pass by you. Money can't buy these things, not in any real sense. It can't by genuine friends or contentment. It can't set you free. It can only help close your eyes to the real beauty in life.

***

Tomorrow we leave for Thailand. Life there is best described in color. Deep blue broken by enormous, billowing white clouds, set in skies so big they seem ready to swallow you up. The vivid greens of dewy rice paddies in the morning, matched by the darker greens of towering coconut trees and spreading banana trees. The burnt oranges of monks' robes as they walk the streets in the quiet morning, eventually lit by the brilliant yellow of a blazing tropical sun. Foaming white waterfalls plummeting into smooth blue-green rivers. The rich chocolate-brown of a fresh cup of Thai coffee as it is stirred with sweetened milk.

I can't wait.

There and Back Again... 2 Weeks Total.

Life is insanely, mind-numbingly boring here. We're out in the middle of nowhere, and every day in characterized by a miserable drizzle, broken only by dinners of wonderful Chinese food (stir-fried tomato and egg and mapo doufu are from heaven). I've read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit twice in the last week - it's the only English book we have - and was inspired this morning in the shower. Here is my own epic poem about our situation. It's not completely true, and makes liberal use of stereotypes and over-exaggerations. It's all in good fun, though, so don't get your panties in a wad.

Under shadow of smoggy mountains
Burnt by acrid rain and mist
Lies our home and workplace gloomy
- but we've chosen to desist.

Away from here! Away from here!
Our path lies Southward towards the Sea.
Where toilsome journeys finally ended
Meet with faces full of glee.

Our present home is full of danger
Everyday can bring defeat.
Do not step in that child's feces!
Hark! A loogie spit on your feet!

The path away will not be easy:
Commie youth, Xinjiang terrorists mean;
Cheated peasants and angry Tibetans,
Plainclothes police who pass unseen.

Away from here! Away from here!
Our path lies Southward towards the Sea.
Tropical oceans, verdant jungles
Will raise our spirits full of glee.

...And all the same, a sadness lingers
The Middle Kingdom holds memories.
Wondrous friends and Hunan hotpot,
Changsha caressed by humid breeze.

BUT away from here! Away from here!
Our path lies Southward towards the Sea.
Where dreams of summer will soon be realized
And spirits set completely free.

That's poetry.

Plan the Escape

High mountains dense with a white, acrid smog close in on us from every side. They want to keep us here, but we don't want to stay.

A Countdown, a Rundown, a Getoutoftown.

It's T-8, then off to a blue-skied, smiling Land.

Now in China.

Well, I've made it to China. I am currently sitting in a Starbucks in downtown Chengdu. I thought I would have some kind of intense feelings, but instead I feel... nothing.

Leaving Thailand was terrible. Leaving a country you've come to love is always difficult. But Thailand was more than that to me. I had a lot of amazing Thai friends, and had developed a lot of close relationships in my time there. I was much closer to my coworkers, who were like best friends, and to my students, who were like younger siblings, than I have ever been before. These people were like a second family. And so leaving Thailand was more than leaving a beautiful country - it was also like leaving a home. The two were rolled into one, and it made for a sickening last few days. Everything about coming here felt wrong.

My students and friends gave me lots of going-away dinners and gifts the last week, which was very humbling, and very touching. On Friday one of my favorite students - who calls me her older brother - broke down crying and pleading, "Teacher, don't leave!". As I sat there holding my "little sister" while some of her classmates tried to comfort her, I couldn't help but curse myself under my breath. Why the hell was I leaving, anyway??? My chief complaint about Thailand was that it was too easy and too perfect - how is that a reason to leave?

Seriously, if it wasn't for my parents and siblings, I would never leave Thailand. I could build a satisfying, wonderful life there, in a country that looks like paradise and is full of people so friendly it's nicknamed "The Land of Smiles." I will be back, if not for good than for many visits. Swimming in Thailand's crystal waters, learning Muay Thai in jungle gyms, surfing down waterfalls in lush mountain rivers, grilling fresh seafood on the beach with amazing Thai friends, my body permanently marked with two Thai tats... Thailand is forever a part of me, and I will never forget it.

China is also an amazing country, although for much different reasons. I look forward to making friends here and exploring Sichuan, but I know that China will never, ever be the home that Thailand was.

To everyone in Thailand, I love you and miss you, and I hope to visit soon!

A Weekend at Khanom Beach

Last weekend the Thai teachers and I went up the coast to Khanom for one last weekend on the beach. We left Friday night, eight of us piling into Jah's brother's truck: Jib, Au, Mike, Jaa, Pam, Oil, Peach, and me. As the truck was incredibly small, four of us had to ride in the open bed, getting soaked by occasional showers and sometimes holding on for dear life as we flew down Thailand's crazy roads. We arrived that night and checked into our bungalow rooms, which were surprisingly nice and cheap. That evening I had a chance to see how Thais spend their nights off: lots of games, lots of noise, and obscenely loud Thai music. Fun times.

The next morning the Thais woke up ridiculously early, awakening Mike and I in the next room over with their laughing. We all headed down to the beach, which was quiet and clean, and relatively empty.

The Thais went swimming in the traditional Thai swimsuit: shorts and a shirt. Very modest.

After a few hours, we all headed out to find a waterfall which was supposed to be nice.

On the way to the waterfall.

We bought some pad thai to go at a small restaurant near the road, and although we never found the waterfall, we did have a nice picnic near a clear-running creek.


A cookout had been planned for the evening, so that afternoon it was off to the fresh fish market. There was a diverse array of (dead) sea-life, including sharks, squid, mussels, shrimp.

Pam and Jah kindly acquiesced to my request for shark, and we took the lower half of a small one:

Yum.


The view near the fish market.

At home Jaa, Mike, and I used the bungalow's sink and porch to clean the food, while Tik, Kook, and Pam whipped up some amazing garlic/lime/chili sauces, all with differing spices and flavors.

This was the girls' sink, luckily.


...and those girls are excellent cooks!

That night we drove down the coast a bit to an isolated rockbar on the ocean:


The view was beautiful, and pretty soon the clay charcoal grill was blazing and the smell of fresh-grilled seafood was in the air. I've never eaten so much seafood in my life. The shrimp was perfect, the shark was soft and delicious, and the mussels and clams slid out piping hot with the taste of sea-salt. Even the squid was tasty.

Jah taught me how to skewer squid. It's a slimy process.


It looks small, but we used this little grill to cook for 11 people without any problem.

Eventually the sun set, the stars came out, and everyone finished eating. We sat around full and contented for a while, looking out over the dark ocean and talking. Gradually we cleaned up, hiked back up the hillside to the cars, then drove back to our bungalows. The night wasn't quite over, though, and we all went down to the beach for a late-night swim. I paddled out into the deeper water, and was ecstatic to suddenly find bright luminescence all around. It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

The next morning we went to the beach one last time, the packed back into the pickup and headed home. It was a wonderful weekend, and I am so thankful to my Thai friends for it. I will miss them all so much...

For more pictures, visit my Flickr page.

Almost Time To Go

Here are a few of the things I will miss about Nakhon Si Thammarat, in pictures:

Evening moto rides through the outskirts of town.


My wonderful students, especially the M.2 classes.


The best drinks on Earth: Chaa Yin and Cafe Boran Yin, served up by a smiling faces.


The mountains of Nakhon, full of hidden waterfalls and unexplored caves.


Delicious Thai food and the groups of friends out eating it at all hours of the day and night.


..and the ability of Thais to carry literally anything on a small, underpowered moto, without fear.

Over 2,000.

One year ago, I got about 300 visitors per month to this blog. This August, I got just over 2,000 visitors.
I only keep this blog as a way to keep in touch with friends and family and to share my experiences overseas with them. Getting traffic was never an objective. Still, it's really cool to check Site Meter and see how many people have dropped by, and how many countries/parts of the world they represent. The greatest gift of the Internet is how much more connected the world has become. We have so many chances to see so many things through so many other peoples' eyes.

Thanks to everyone who has dropped by. This next year will probably be the final one for this blog, as I return to China for one last year in Asia. Check back often!