Back to the USA

Here is the Noodle Lady at the SWU canteen who made my lunch for me everyday. The last day she gave me a double of everything in the noodles (2 fish balls, 2 wantons, 2 tofu chips, 2 porks, etc.) for free! I ate every bite. This is only a 10 second video.

Here is Malin. She will take over my classes. She just learned that her Masters Thesis will be published!







My students on the last day. It was a great trip! Before I left people asked how I could travel to Thailand all alone, and wouldn't that be lonely. It easy to do because of my Thai colleagues who are also dear friends. They took excellent care of me, introduced me to all kinds of wonderful food (Tom Yum Noodle Soup), took me to beautiful places in Bangkok and to the sea, and showed me great kindness. Another great person in all of this has been Tom. He was very supportive even though I was gone during one of the busiest times of the summer! And Dan has become quite skilled at doing the laundry. Thanks for checking out my blog!

President and VPs, Classes, and Wallipan's Home

This is after the meeting with the president of SWU, his 2 VPs and other VIPS.






Malin and T co-teach the Sustainable Tourism class. Here they are calling the roll.








And here are their 90 students! I gave a special presentation to their class.










Wallipan, the founder of the Sustainable Tourism program here at SWU, invited us to dinner. Here she is with a picture of her late husband in their beautiful home in North Bangkok.





For dinner we prepared Tom Yam Noodle Soup, my favorite.
Wallipan had all the ingredients ready to go. Everyone was eager to show me how to make the soup.







Here is her mansion, actually, she has several homes!







Wallipan is lovingly referred to as the "royal mum" to everyone at work.

Munnork Island Resort

Munnork Island Resort is about 250 km south of Bangkok and an hour boat ride into the gulf. Before we boarded the boat, Noon saw this woman sorting fresh crab on the pier and ordered a few kilos for our dinner.






Munnork is a private resort serving well-to-do Thais. Of the 50 or so guests, I was one of 2 farangs (foreigners). We enjoyed the white sandy beaches, snorkeling in the nearby coral reef, and good seafood.





I enjoyed the bungalows. No TV, outdoor shower (private, of course), AC and electricity for all but the hours between 9 am - 1 pm. Very relaxing.






Thai fish sauce with lots of red and green chiles. Mmmmm!







Here we are hiking around the island. There were areas along the hike where you could see trash that had washed up on the shore from other boats. Traveling to an island like this makes you think a lot about what it takes to run a sustainable tourism operation, especially on an island in the middle of the sea. So much to ponder: issues of trash disposal, waste water, fresh water, facility maintenance, and the list goes on. Then there are the recreational activities and their impact on the marine life and coral reef...

This squid was caught by one of the resort workers. I'm sure we ate this guy at some point.






Here are the trusty boats. The little boat travels between the bigger boat and the island since it is so shallow. Our return to the mainland was the roughest trip on boat any of us had ever experienced. There were about 20 on board so we were a light load, causing us and the boat to pitch in the swells. The captain received quite a few tips upon our safe return.

It was a wonderful weekend!

06/06/09 Birthday Celebration

Here are some pictures that others took of my birthday last weekend at Pattaya. First is another look at our hotel. Remember to click on a picture if you want a closer look.







Ronald McDonald is offering a hearty HELLO or SAWATDEEKAH and wai (the prayer-like gesture).












Out on the town before the surprise party.








And to think, only 27 years old.











Here we are: T, Nun, Pampim, Barb, Malin, Daow, and Ant. Ant took all of these fabulous pictures. She just graduated with her PhD in Biology from ISU.








Telling Tom about the surprise birthday party complete with chocolate cake and red wine from Australia!

Working by day and playing by night

I'm teaching 2 classes (3 hours each!) every day. The students are 3rd year university students in the leisure / hospitality management program, which is housed in the International College. The entire program is taught in English and the students' command of English (both written and spoken) is impressive!

There are 48 students in the classes. After the first class we all get our lunch at the university canteen. I order the same thing everyday: noodles. By now the Noodle Lady recognizes me (the farang) and whips up my bowl with a smile. It costs me all of 60 cents. I eat it with chopsticks and a spoon. It is spicy and sweet at the same time.

Here we are meeting with Dr. Napaporn, another wonderful administrator at SWU. We talked about the significance of their program as it relates to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Yesterday Panpim invited her staff and I to a lovely restaurant on the river Chao Phraya. It took 90 minutes to get there during rush hour. We took a motobike taxi, the Skyway, the water taxi in the river, and a short walk.

Here we are zipping through a small alley. My female Thai friends ride side saddle and barely hang on.

Pagoda on the river.

The International College Staff

We then went for a drink at the Dome at Lebua. It was an open air bar and restaurant 64 stories high.

Pattaya, Thailand

We had a retreat at Pattaya, Thailand. US GIs put Pattaya on the map from 1959 as they set out for fun and frolics along the coast. While today Pattaya is trying to change its image to a more family-friendly destination, it is still well known for its sex tourism.






We stayed at a neat hotel called Z by the Zign. Our hotel rooms had glass floors that looked down into the pool. It took a while to get used to walking on it.

Thailand is a seafood lover's paradise. There is some jellyfish on this plate. It tasted crunchy. I also ate fried pork intestines and the stinky durian. I preferred those foods over the jellyfish.






The woman on the left, Lillipan, started the sustainable tourism management program 13 years ago. She is 73 now and she accompanied us to Pattaya. Thais show great respect for their elders. When walking from place to place, the group walks at the same pace as the oldest person. We arrived in the rain, but the group didn't abandon her to get out of the rain. Everyone stayed together. She was a ball of fire and she loved speaking English to me.

Bird of paradise?










This picture shows a western man sitting next to a Thai woman at the beach. This scene is also common with much older men and very young women, or same sex couples, and the list goes on.






Prostitution is illegal and prosperous in Thailand. My former graduate student, Malin, told me she thinks the industry is getting worse. They took me to see the red light district and it left quite an impression.






About 100 years ago, the Chinese came to Thailand to do manual labor. They are still here, but they quickly moved into business ownership and are well positioned today in Thailand. Manual labor nowadays comes from Burma. These are some Burmese fishermen.





The bright colors of the fishing boats.










Turtles relaxing.












We took an afternoon trip to a Buddest Temple in the eastern part of Thailand near the Cambodian border. Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside temples. Eastern Thailand is known for its fruit, especially durian. The lovely people I was traveling with bought 2 durians. The fruit stand owner sliced them up and double-wrapped them in plastic. The plastic wasn't very effective, though.


Roadside fruit and vegetable market.










Our group is sitting at the 2 tables you see in the picture. The bottom picture shows the durian eaters who moved downwind from the other table.

VPs, Campus, Tailor, and Food

Meeting with the VP of International Relations to discuss the wonderful relationship between SWU and ISU over the past 30 years.







SWU is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2009.

My tailor.









My first meal was Chinese roast duck and shrimp. We also had tofu, rice, chicken and noodles, and much more.








This man is cutting durian, a spiky-shelled fruit that is a pungent delicacy in Southeast Asia. It smells so bad that it is banned from airlines, buses, and hotels. I didn't try any (yet).

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Sustainable Tourism team and farang (foreigner).

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Panpim, who makes the continued relationship between ISU and SWU possible. She earned her doctorate from ISU and is now Dean of the International College.