Back in Bangkok (and Gone Again)

The ride back to Bangkok was by far the worst ride I've EVER had, in any country, anywhere. While we were told it was going to be an easy nine hour journey, the process ended up taking 17 hours. It involved an overnight 9 hour bus to the border, in which the driver sat on his horn the entire time keeping everyone awake, then a 2 hour stop at the Poipet border crossing, which was absolute chaos, and in the blistering heat, then a 3 hour wait to get into one more cramped van to do the 3 hour drive back to Bangkok. Kev was really suffering with some mystery illness, and I was in no mood to be jerked around like that. By the time we got back to Khao San road, we were spent, it was pouring, and we didn't have anywhere to stay. We roamed around looking for a place, and ended up finding somewhere that seemed cheap and clean enough.

We hadn't spent any time on Khao San road (the Bangkok backpacker strip) yet, and it was quite an experience. It was literally exploding with sights, smells, food, people, things for sale, live music. It was cool for a day or two, and we definitely got our moneys worth of dollar noodle and kebab plates. We spent the next few days recovering and hanging out, getting ready for our first job interview! I had emailed an English camp posting on Craigslist, and they got back to us inviting us in to interview. I bought a new dress and everything for it, and we were pretty pumped to be getting things moving. The interview was at an office that was an absolute nightmare to get to (tuk-tuk, subway, 10 minutes of wandering, AND a cab). We realized on the way there that despite our worries, we had somehow managed to forget to print out resumes, bring any identification, or our passports with proof of a visa. Luckily, the interview was a breeze, it was really just a meet and greet. The office and the people seemed cool, and right away they set us up with our first job, a three day English camp at a hotel outside of Bangkok, we would be paid 1000 Baht per day (about 30 US$) and our accommodations and food would be covered. We were pumped to have landed something so soon after arriving, and we were set to start the day after the interview. So we headed back to the hostel to repack our bags, and get ready for camp!

Camp was a whirlwind experience. We got there at 6 am, met the other staff and loaded the bus. We realized right off the bat that we were the only two Western staff, and therefore the only two people that were going to be at camp who did not speak Thai. The staff were really cool, and we went to pick the kids up. It was exciting to be around so many Thai people. I love kids so much, and even though they weren't warm off the bat, I was still really excited to be a part of camp. The bus ride to the hotel was cool, Kev and I were on different busses- he just watched a movie with his kids, while my bus sang songs and played games. I was on the mic announcing bingo words and singing Justin Beiber karaoke. It was a good start. We stopped over at a couple local attraction, the kids got out, took a million pictures on their cellphones, bought ridiculous amounts of toys and food, and reboarded the bus. (The kids who go to this camp are pretty rich and spoiled) The spots were pretty cool, places we never would have gone on our own, but it was super cool to see some of the spots that Thai people would vacation to!




The first night at the hotel was pretty easy, we had an ok dinner, played some more games with the kids, and then headed back to our rooms. The next morning was the big, full day. Kev and I were each given 3 hour-long lesson plans to teach a group of kids. As easy as the lessons were, the kids' English was very weak, and our Thai was non-existent, so it ended up being very difficult to communicate the ideas. Lots of blank faces kids texting back and forth... enthusiasm and high energy lessons dont do much when the kids realllly dont understand what youre saying. We were on our own though, so we each had to make do however we could. Unfortunately, the cultural differences were apparent when it came to the kids, they weren't very playful or affectionate, there was no horseplay and we couldn't really joke around due to language barriers.  The days were looong though, and we ended up working 13 hour days, mostly on our feet, singing and dancing to "The Farmer in the Dell", "The Grand Old Duke of York" and other brutally lame songs like that.  Enthusiasm waned fast and early. We did have some fun, there was a Halloween themed party, which we dressed up for, and we got a few minutes to ourselves to hang out at a pretty nice hotel, with good food for free!

It was an okay time, and we decided we'd do a few more camps for the moth of October. We hoped to make enough money so that we could work a few days and pay off the days that we werent working in Bangkok. Camp staff said we'd be able to get tons of work, and it seemed like it could be an okay way to spend a month in BKK without spending much of our own money. The next camp that we had scheduled was cancelled and then they signed us up for one day of camp 4 days later. This meant we were going to have to spend our own money to hang out in a hotel in Bangkok waiting for the call from work. We had heard that these camps can really jerk people around, and it became clear that it was going to be more trouble than it was worth, and we didnt want to spend any more money to kill time in BKK. It definitely wasn't a total loss, but it did force us to really start questioning whether we wanted to be teaching and living in Bangkok for the long term.



The good thing that came out of camp was that we got some first hand experience spending time with Thai kids. It wasn't much time, but it was enough for us to get the idea that it wasn't going to be the cakewalk we had been imagining. First of all, the communication is extremely difficult. If their English is good enough to communicate, chances are we wouldn't be teaching them English. Second, the interactions with the kids weren't fun in the way we were hoping, or in the way we were used to with Canadian and American kids; we wanted to enjoy ourselves, and these kids didn't make that easy. Third, the money we were slated to make was next to nothing, and it was going to make our lives challenging, Bangkok may be cheap, but its all relative, and if we weren't making any money, we weren't going to enjoy ourselves there very much. Pack this all in with the fact that we didn't like the city itself very much, and we were just about ready to ditch the idea.

No need to bore you with the minute details and endless conversations that we had surrounding the issues of whether we were going to stay and teach, or not. Needless to say, we were hesitant to give up on the dream of teaching English, but being the pragmatic people that we are, we looked at the issue from every angle. We exhausted ourselves talking about what the right move would be. We knew there was no clear answer, we were going to have to make a tough call, and we very well might regret our choice. But after talking it out, talking to friends and family we decided that we were not going to look for work in Bangkok, or sign on to a year contract. Instead, we would travel for a while longer, hit up Vietnam and the Thai islands, then head home to make the next move. It was a tiring process, but we did it together, and we were both happy with the decision in the end. I know a lot of people are going to question it, why not live abroad and do something cool while you can? But ultimately, we had to trust our instincts, and they were telling us that life in Bangkok was NOT for us.

SO, we spent the next few days celebrating Kev's 23rd birthday, we went out for a couple nice dinners, had drinks with friends from along the trip, and saw some of the sights that we hadn't gotten to yet. We had a great day adventuring in Bangkok, we went to the Jim Thompson house, which is a house-turned museum from the 1950s that was owned by an American ex-pat, who was the face of Thai silk exports. We both really enjoyed the tour, it was such a beautiful house, the architecture was incredible, the kind of place you dream of building yourself, but he actually did! After Jim Thompson, we headed to Bangkok's one and only park, called Lumphini park. It was a really nice, big park with a pond and nice shaded streets to jog in. It was super busy, kids and running groups and aerobics classes, lots to see! We went out for a few great meals here and saw some great bars with friends who've been living and teaching in Bangkok.

We planned the next leg of the trip, and got ourselves SUPER pumped up for the travels ahead. The first half of the travelling before Bangkok was a bit stressful, trying to deal with the question of work, the issues of money, and the challenges posed by rain and bad luck. But this time, we knew we were going to travel right, plan a bit better, hit up all the things we wanted to, give ourselves the time, and do it during the dry season!