Like a running stone

Zach Braff in Garden State.

You know those author films where the main character is going through either a crisis or some sort of revelation and there is a moment when he or she is clearly set apart? I mean really set apart, different, the one moment when you know for sure that particular character is alone in some way?

It can be, for example, Zach Braff is on a plane and everybody's reading light is off except his (in Garden state) or it can be Scarlett Johanson walking through the streets of Tokyo looking glum in Lost in Translation...

I'm sure you can think of your own examples (if you're that geeky send me a list of films) but today I had my own "everybody's light is off except mine moment in Western civilization".

I was stepping out of the metro at my own pace when suddenly a woman next to me started running. Then the guy on my other side started to run too. Despite the suits and bags and all they ran pretty fast. I look behind me and people are starting to run. Well, I don't know why but I started to run too. I thought 'I'll be damn if that old lady is going to out run me!' And while I was running I was looking from side to side to see if anyone knew where we were going, if anyone had a God damn clue. All I saw was very eager people. I asked myself, 'why am I running? I have nowhere to go, no one's expecting me.' so I stopped running. I was the only one. No one bumped into me but I saw them run all around me towards the exit.

I miss the Asian calm.

Arrived tired but safely to Brussels

Somehow it doesn't feel like I've been away only a few months, it feels like I've been away longer. Strange. Maybe it's because so much happened. So here are so far the differences I noticed:

1. It's cold. (hey, I just left a tropical country, European nice weather is cold for me...)
2. Empty streets or with only one car.
3. Cheese and milk. (You can't get them in Sangklaburi).
4. I'm no longer a minority, I can mingle in  a crowd.
5. Shops closed during the day. I had forgotten how exciting Belgian sundays are.
6. My cat is way bigger...

This would be a culture shock in any country

Contemporary art is difficult sometimes, isn't it? Both are set in a busy street in Bangkok.

If there are any art critics/scholars out there by all means...

Gaming in Thailand (and Asia, I suppose)

Back home anyone who plays videogames for more than just occasional fun is considered a geek (I've recently found out "geek" means something completely different in Thai but more of that some other time), if by chance the person plays videogames let's say, everyday then they are a serious geek, a nerd.

I am curious to try this one, you beat the drums at a certain rhythm.

Like the whole karaoke thing I've mentioned before gaming is a non-issue. It's like Asians (again, this is just a general thing, I'm not saying all countries of one continent behave the same) pick up all the stuff we are embarrassed about and decided to have fun with it.


No matter what time of the day in the thousands of game houses, net places, shopping centers, hidden corners under escalators you'll find Thais of all ages playing a game. Even supermarkets have a little gaming corner.

Mostly it is boys, yes but there are more than enough girls. They just play different games. Boys tend to go to the shooting, racing, fighting ones and of course, guitar hero (I can tell you first hand, those speakers are LOUD). Women and older men play matching images games, suduko, puzzles etc, girls play less violent action games, sport etc


And if you're good enough you'll get a little or bigger crowd. Usually little kids are always included. It is a LOT cheaper than Europe (more or less 2e for enough time to reach the final level while in Europe now the starting price is usually 2e). I am proud to say that I attracted a small crowd while shooting zombies. I've even heard that in Korea some people make a living out of playing videogames, sadly I'm not that good.

To Bangkok's tuk-tuk and taxi drivers

Waiving your hand at me while your other hand picks your nose is NOT going to work.

Back to Belgium

Due to my country's strange rules it would be easier to lose my passport than to do one abroad. With that I would need a visa to go to the United States which implies more money, more paperwork and an interview where I could not make any jokes.

At the same time my tax situation in Belgium became insane and I was getting so homesick that I was considering attending a wedding. I detest weddings so that was clearly a sign.

So Belgium here I go. The paperwork should take at least 2 weeks and just hugging people another week. I'll go to the States after my hug quote is full.

So a month of paperwork and queueing, hugging people, crashing on sofas and not eating rice. Sounds ok to me.

Traveling bug hits again

S you might have noticed from the big image on top, I'm going to the States. Well, let's see if they let me in but that's the idea anyways.

I'm going to visit my best friend who is working there until September.

In case your wondering how my budget copes, it doesn't. Me and my best friend have a weird deal of who has money at the time sponsors the other one, so I paid for India when I had a job and now she pays for this because one day years ago a fortune teller told me I was going to be rich in my thirties (or was it forties?).

This was arranged months ago, I was supposed to go in July but well, things happen.

We're looing into cheap flight now so I might have to stop over in NY first. As soon as I know I'll update the photo. I do have two more guides to show everyone but since most of them (and the notebooks) are in Belgium the photo would lose its appeal.

Has anyone visited the area before? Any advices? Do you think the swine flu will cause all the museums (free entrance!) to close?

If I wasn't so tired I'd be more extatic.

First day of school (new term)

Children of the forest received about 70 new students. At this point I'll bet the director is going over the budget and wondering where she can get more money from.

Can you imagine that? 70 more mouths to feed, 70 more books, 70 more items of clothes, 70 more students to teach...

Flying thingies

Some of you know my famous disgust of all things insects and reptiles. I understand their place in the food chain and all but I prefer to keep my distance.

With the rain season starting in Sanglkaburi the animal kingdom has shown me who is the ruling majority.

Every single night since my return I lose almost 30 minutes killing unindentified flying thingies. I know they are insects but I never saw them in the West. One looks like a cricket but much smaller, another like a beetle, another like a flying ant...And they come in by the masses, the bastards.

It got to the point that I already leave some time between brushing my teeth and turning off the light for clearing dead bodies off my bed.

Sometimes I misjudge or forget about my fan and as a result the dead bodies fly back to me...

P.S. You don't hve this in the whole of Thailand, it's worth because I am in the middle of the jungle.

P.S. Despite my best hopes, even the insane amount of rain it's not cooler. So we sweat and get soaking wet with the rain, brilliant.

Ko Lanta slideshow to refresh your memory

As the other teachers show us more photos I'll look for some worth publishing.

UPDATE: If you can't see it as my sister complained, try using the latest Mozilla OR LATEST INTERNET EXPLORER and letting it load...

Change of NGO

After a couple of days at Baan Unrak I noticed things that were a bit bizarre. At first I didn't pay too much attention to it but as the days went on the list of things I didn't agree with increased.

The list of things included inocent stuff like a controlling director and is also off the planet on most days, she would walk away in the middle of a conversation because she thought of something else.

The list also included more serious stuff like the fact that the Baan Unrak school doesn't accept Muslims students. Despite the fact that Sangkla is extremely poor and that most refugees can barely scrap off food they don't take students for free, they charge 3000/4000 BHT per student per month. That's a local salary multiplied a few times. Also I saw the director ask 500 dolars/per month to an Australian that wanted to sponsor some kids to go to school. Notyhing in Sangklaburi is worth that. Things like that.

I understand they've done some good and that they help but I couldn't stay there anymore.

The week in Ko Lanta helped me get to know Children of the forest better. They offer free education, food and transportation to anyone that wants to learn. That means that live off donations only and as such are struggling a lot more than Baan Unrak. Yet no one is refused. I like that. There seems to be a lot more happiness in the working space as well. Their website needs to be updated urgently so as the days go on I'll try and tell you more about the project. yes, with photos.

I made new friends!

Lots of photos today. I wanted to really try and show you how much fun I had and I thought the best way was to show you my smile.

The landscapes are just there to make you jealous.

A close friend, a punching bag.

On the truck with some of the boys.

This is Pee-Wah, my favorite Burmese. Despite the fact that she doesn't speak English it was with her that I had the most laughs with.

She also has the biggest braid I've ever seen.

Twice it went down to her feet and twice she cut it, this is the third try. Blimey!

This is Lek. Don't let his serious face fool you, he was my date on most nights out.

He also took this picture.


This is Booboo, he respected me a lot more after I beat his ass in Thai Boxing.

This is the biggest smile Joidapur has for the cameras. He's 19, you see, he's too cool to smile.

Asian kids are too cool to be true...

This is Saranee, she made the necklace I'm wearing.


I got to sit down a bit but my camera never stopped working.

All the teachers liked me

Well, some more than others.

But really what's there not to love?

An afternoon well spent

It sounded too good to be true. First we spend a nice day at the beach. Then the kids cook for us?

You could almost hear the teacher's worries in the air: will it be good? will it be spicy? will I get sick? It turned out to be a delicious meal.Of course after tasting 20 different ones we were pretty full... I forgot the name in Thai but it was vegetables and chicken cooked in coconut milk without tasting of coconut. The tradicional rice went with it. I might not eat rice for a year after Asia.

The small ones did some jewelry for everyone. Some was quite good, one particular one that was given to me was more of Freddie Krugger material but you know, it was done with love. I think.

important detail

I know I should've explained before but bear in mind that I was taking care of 38 kids. The trip to Ko Lanta as mentioned was to show the sea for the first time, to give some kids a real holiday for the first and perhaps only time. What I forgot to mention was that the nice people of Ko Lanta either gave us the activities for free or for a great price so that in the end we mostly only had to worry about food and gas money. Nice hun?

We made it!!

We have just arrived back in Sangklaburi. All the teachers took the day to sleep, some kids are back in school today. Photos to come tomorrow.

our snorkeling trip

As promised here are some photos from our trip:

Before and after:

Everyone's half dead... I'm right above the pink shirt boy, on the blue mat.

I've been getting some questions about the children of the forest kids so I'll try to sum it up:

Not all of them are orphans, just more or less half of them.

Some were abandoned by the parents.

Some have a distant relative that may or may not be in touch.

Some just go to the children of the forest school and then go back to their families whether it's a blood relative or guardian.

All are very poor. Several showed up for this trip with only a t-shirt, some with no shoes.

Out of all 350 kids from the project it was hard to choose 38, the idea was to give a real holiday to the ones with really tough lives.

Most only get the one meal at the school so for this trip most of the budget goes to the food, we told them they could eat as much as they wanted... Some eat so much we can't help but stare.

Oh, yes! And they are all adorable...

Kids never get tired, do they?

All the teachers are so tired, it's beyond reason. The kids are absolutely going insane with fun. Some were very serious and shy when we left Sangkla and now are just having a blast. It's quite nice to see.


We took the kids snorkeling in another island (no jellyfish!) and it was great. The smallest ones freaked out a little bit but everyone had fun. We got to see tons of amazing things but the best ones were the blue starfish and a baby shark :)

The next day we went to try Thai boxing (Muay Thai). Which would explain why I fell asleep during the afternoon.

Internet too slow for pictures today, I'll add pictures soon.

At last in Ko Lanta

Everyone ready to go.

It took us two days to get here, amazing isn't it? We didn't have any problems other than one waterfall being full of people.

Here is a short summary:

Day one: The kids were so excited about going that they woke up at 4 in the morning instead of at 6 as agreed. We stopped at a dam and took some pictures, sweated insanely in the truck only to then have a storm catch from nowhere and getting almost everyone wet. We then stayed in a local hostel that gave us a big discount then taught the kids how to slow dance. I think that's what we did.

When it rains it pours. We all took cover with blankets but still got wet. Jessie has two kids under that blanket by the way.

Games and fights were the rule.

Day two: Drove again for hours stopping only to eat and to pee. Camped at a national park, the kids went crazy in the waterfall, it was full of fishes and they tried catching all at the same time. They all failed. The kids were so excited about going that they woke up at 4 in the morning instead of 6am as agreed. We drove from 7.30am until 8pm. Reached the hotel at 8.30. All of us were quite ready to leave the truck.

We all tried to sleep during the trip.

Day three: Since I went to bed at 4 am, I woke up with a hangover and exausted, the kids however got up at 6 and begged the teachers to go see the sea. Only 1 of the 35 had seen the sea before. For the others it was the first time out of Sangklaburi. We went to the Sweedish school and spent the days wth some of their kids, they performed traditional Sweedish dances and songs and all kids went swimming. About 7 kids -and me- got stung by jellyfish. I can tell you now that it really hurts... Now everyone is relaxing, meaning, most are asleep...

Another adventure

Tomorrow morning I am going with the ngo Children of the forest to take some of their kids on a field trip. The money for the trip comes from sponsors, colections boxes and donations (some people donated food for a day or a free boat trip for example).

It's about 40 kids from 6 years old to 19 and 7 adults (2 farangs, only I don't speak Thai). We are taking them all the way to the South, below Phuket, to the Ko Lanta island. Most of these kids have never left Sangklaburi and they will see the sea for the first time. Among other things I am the designated photographer and life guard.

It will be 2 days driving there stopping to camp out and eat, 5 days there and another 2 days up.

While on the road there will be no internet I'll do my best to post often. That way cold Europeans and Americans can enjoy our beach photos.