Diary Entry - Day 5

By Nandhini Radhakrishnan

After being in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, the city that never sleeps, heading to Buriram was a rather refreshing experience for all of us. Having seen only the Mechanai Pattana School, Cabbages and Condom Restaurant and the convenience store nearby, we were pretty excited to explore and discover more of Buriram. The day started with us waking up excitedly for Breakfast, where we were spoilt for choice with a buffet of toast, coffee, tea and more authentic Thai dishes, such as pork porridge and fried rice, delighting the rice lovers. 

Thai local explaining the benefits of the herbs in Nong Ta Kem Herbal Medicine Centre

After filling our tummy, we headed to Nong Ta Kem village, where we visited the local herbal medicine centre and we were introduced to the Village’s Bank Manager who explained the dynamics of the system in place. The village has 125 families totaling the number up to 759 villagers. The villagers adopted the sufficiency economy model, introduced by HM The King, where villagers will engage in activities such as agriculture, live farming where they grew vegetables and flowers and breed poultry and cattle. These efforts are part of the rural development efforts to allow the farmers and villagers to be self-dependent in an effort to balance the economy.

He also explained that the Village Bank, consisted of 90 committee members, supports such entrepreneurial efforts by lending out money for those wishing to start up their own businesses. All you need is two guarantors and you can borrow up to ten times of your current savings at an interest rate of 1 Baht per 100 Baht every month. A successful business model, which is the Herbal Medicine, where natural herbs are grown and processed to be contained in capsules, which can then be used to cure dizziness, high blood pressure and alleviate menstrual pain.  In the midst of the presentation, we were given fresh coconuts by the Thais and all of us were rather touched by their warmth and friendliness towards us.

Towards the end of the demonstration, we looked at their Herbal medicine shop, where some of us bought these natural herbs and honey. Soon after, we headed to the area where the herbs were planted and the poultry were reared. We also got to see the IT Hub, which was a room comprising about 30 computers, where the locals could browse the Internet and use the computer. They were given a manual to aid them in the process, which was rather interesting.  After visiting the IT Hub and farms, we headed to the local market, where the Thais were selling vegetables and fruits, which were grown in their gardens. This was a refreshing outlook on the concept of markets as the line of production and sale were the same.

IT Hub with computers - Microsoft is a Partner of Mechai Foundation

Local market selling organic vegetables

Shortly after, we headed back to the Herbal Centre where we were treated to a sumptuous meal of mushroom tomyum soup, fried vegetables, stir fried vegetables with pork, Phad Thai and it ended off with a fresh serving of Dragonfruit and sponge cakes. Many of us were overwhelmed by their warmth and their desire to give us multiple servings, even though we were on the verge of feeling bloated.

Being intoxicated by food coma, we headed to Nonh Ta Kai Village, where we went to learn about the process of silk making. After a 20 minutes drive from Nong Ta Kem village, we reached our destination. We were introduced to the process of silk making, where the more daring ones tried the boiled silkworm cocoons. Last I heard, they tasted like peanuts. We got to see the process of silk making and one of our travelers, Catharine, boldly took the challenge to weave the silk, as one of the Thai locals demonstrated the method. After learning and watching the process, we headed back, where some of us decided to get scarves for our mothers and sisters, having decided it’s probably the best gift for them.

Later that day we headed to Sayamha market, one of the markets, where local produce was sold. The market, was clean and sold fresh local produce, so much so that live fishes, eels and frogs were sold. Walking along the aisles of the market, we were greeted warmly by the locals, who were often inquisitive about our country of origins, as they couldn’t place a finger on where we could be from, given that races as diverse as Indians, Chinese, Sudanese, and Maldivians were walking together. That was an amusing part for all of us as we explained where all of us were from. After grabbing some local delicacies and the ever-so thirst quenching Thai Iced tea, we headed back to the hotel, where we rested before going for dinner at Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant where we treated to a sumptuous meal of Deep-fried fish served on special Thai chill sauce, mixed vegetables, chicken soup and longan as desserts. With a full tummy, we are all ready for a good night’s rest to prep us for tomorrow and not to mention the awesome Spain vs Portugal match tonight!

Nandhini Radhakrishnan, 20, is a double degree undergraduate majoring in Banking and Finance/Communications and minoring in Journalism.

Diary Entry for Day One - Muay Thai & Chatuchak Market

The thing that I realized after today’s session is some people wanted to do Muay Thai in order to get fit, some people just want to learn how to fight, and some people want to be professional Muay Thai fighters. So which category are we? The answer is none of them. We completely did a great job at today’s Muay Thai session.

We started our first activity with a 2-hour morning workout starting at 8 a.m in Jitti Gym. We spent a lot of time on the basic techniques and it was awesome as everyone got so enthusiastic. Most importantly, everyone had a smile on their face. The thing that we liked the most about our first day of training was the trainers who were so helpful and friendly.

Ladies in action

The training was so much fun

Following the tiring Muay Thai workout, we headed to watch a Muay Thai match at 2 p.m. It was so crowded and it did not seem to be an event that many females would attend as it was majority of the population there were men. All of us were enthusiastic at as the match started kicking in.

Standing amongst the locals in the crowd as a spectator was a fun experience as they were rather friendly to us. An interesting point to note is that the galleries, which were the rather rowdy sections, where most locals sit and start betting on the match. The thing that I personally found interesting was the gestures used by gamblers to communicate about their bets.

At the back of the Channel 7 stadium with the crowd

After watching a rather interesting Muay Thai match, all of us went to Chatuchak Market, also known as the JJ Market.  A lot of cheap stuff were sold in JJ Market and this showcased the difference in the attitudes towards shopping between male and female, as the girls got really excited towards shopping. This was evident with girls turning up with their hands full of shopping bags after spendign 2 hours shopping.  Shopping in Thailand equipped us with much bargaining skills as eventhough the price may feel ridiculousy low,one should not feel guilty to bargain. Bargaining means lesser money spent, so yay you!

A common practice amongst sellers who cannot converse in English is the communication through the calculator where they key in the price and they expect you to key in how much you are willing to pay. This little fight for the final price is one that is quite a fun and awesome experience. Lastly, don’t forget the power of your beautiful smile in Thailand. Catharina even got a discount for her stuff just because she smile at the merchant. So, please do not forgot to bargain in Thailand  as it is a must, especially in  Chatuchak Market, as it is a paradise for bargain hunters.

After walking around Chatuchak Market, we decided to fuel our body with some food. With much options for dinner, some of us decided to try the best boat noodles in Thailand. Surprisingly, the bowl was so tiny and all of us gobbled down three bowls. It was so cheap,  priced at 10 baht each, allowing us to eat as much as we want.  If possible, make sure that you have a strong knowledge about the menu or a little bit of Thai to help you along as people there cannot speak English fluently. So you might have to resort to using body language to communicate with them. It can be complicated but it is pretty fun. All of  us enjoyed today’s session as it ended off on a rather pleasant note with heavier luggage and lighter wallets. L All, in all, it was such an adventurous day. Big thanks to Dr Joel!

Nova Wijayanty, 20 is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and International Studies 

Diary Entry Day One - The Start of Our Short Adventure

By Sharon Chew
Photos by Esther Chung and Amanda Sangeetha Thomas

Waiting excitedly to go on board!

At approximately, 12.05pm, Thailand time (which is an hour earlier of Malaysia time), we reached the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Everyone was tired and hungry due to the long traveling time and not to mention that we were definitely not morning people. Neither did the long queue at the immigrations counters nor the food advertisements playing on the TVs help our rumbling tummies.

Waiting patiently in line while waiting to go through immigration.

 Met with some issues regarding Visas of our fellow travellers, we finally sought out to fill our tummies before embarking on our journey.

The first train ride from the airport are pretty comfortable with plenty of empty seats, which gave us a chance to mingle around, however, what proved to be the challenge was the transit to Phelon Chit, where our hotel was located.

Reaching Paya Thai, we had to transit to a different line and this required us to purchase Rabbit Cards, which either came with both stored value or day trip passes which would allow us to get around during our 9 day trip. 

Counting the tickets for the students.

The train upon its arrival was full and we had to squeeze our way in to the tiny spaces and carrying our huge luggage along did not aid the situation, causing some of us to take the next train.

After squeezing in with our luggage for four stops, we finally reached Phleon Chit stop, where we got off and started lugging our luggage down flights of staircases. After dragging our luggage along the roadsides, across a railway track, we finally turned in to a little alley, where our hotel was located. Walking along the streets of Bangkok on our way to our hotel, we got a little whiff of Bangkok, with the tiny massage centres and laundry shops, which got us all excited to explore Bangkok.

After much lugging and heaving, we finally reached Golden Palace Hotel. A simple and nice, 2-storey hotel, it proved to be a clean and spacious hotel with a nice little pool.

Thai Restaurant that showcases authenticity of Thai cuisine.

Upon checking in, we rested our worn out bodies and got ready for our first session about LGBT issues. We headed to Asok via the Sky Train, which proved to be a challenge again as travelling in a huge crowd in the same train was simply impossible due to the crowd. After finally uniting with the rest at Asok, we headed to a Thai restaurant called Baan Thai Suk to meet our representative. The walk from Asok train station to the restaurant caused many of the shutter bugs amongst our travellers to gape in awe as they paused to take snaps of the beautiful sunset across the skyscrapers and billboard advertisements. As we continued on to Baan Thai Suk, although situated in a dark alley, it turned out to be really authentic with their rather classy ambience and lighting. We were given a private room, where we met our LGBT representative who went on to discuss about the issues facing the LGBT community in Thailand, which turned out to be a rather eye opening talk as we learnt about issues that we never knew about. The Q& A session, followed by the presentation, allowed our eager travellers to satisfy their quench for knowledge about Thailand and its LGBT community. While some of us stayed on to have dinner in the restaurant, others headed out to explore the streets of Bangkok. After all the lugging of the bags and exploring, we are finally back in our hotel rooms, tired, dirty and grumpy but definitely more enlightened and happier. 

Sharon Chew, 23 is a mediocre student who loves food but always forgets to take the food photos. Loves to daydream but never remembers them.