Jacqui and Richard Abroad: January 2018

Sunday, January 28, 2018

January 2018 - Teacher Appreciation Day, and Downtown Bangkok

The first week back at work from holidays is always tough. Things got better in the second week! On Tuesday, January 16th, the school held its Teacher Appreciation Day. It consists of a Wai Kru ceremony, which is a Thai ritual where students pay respect to their teachers, express their gratitude and formalize the student–teacher relationship. On this very special occasion, students are encouraged to show respect and thanks by offering flower garlands. They will wai to teachers, and teachers will wai back (to wai consists of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion). Also part of the ceremony was the reciting of a prayer for teachers to recognize their hard work and for having taught their students well. It is quite impressive; such a respectful society.

We went downtown Bangkok for one overnight on January 27 -28th. It feels like a holiday even though we are less than one hour away. But it is such a different world, going from the suburbs to downtown. We visited Chinatown, which in a way was overwhelming. So crowded in such small places, so much food that I don't have clue what it is, so much stuff for sale. You have to see it; it is very different than what the Thai Markets are like.

After a drink on a rooftop bar of a hotel, where we bumped into three of Jacqui's colleagues (what are the odds in a city of 14 million people!?!), we went to check out Soy Cowboy (the most red street of the red light district of Bangkok). It is a tourist attraction, so we had to go! It is a bunch of strip joints all line up side by side. I told Jacqui I would keep the car when she goes to work on Monday; she didn't seem to worried!!

On Sunday afternoon, we went and visited the Jim Thompson House, an american who helped develop the silk and textile industry in Thailand. It was quite interesting. We didn't know how they make silk from cocoons, but now we do!!

Jacqui's colleague and her student exchanging a wai

Jacqui receiving a flower garland from one of her student, and waiing back. Notice the position of the hands on the student in the back ground: the higher the hands in relation to the face, the more respect you get.

Some of the flower garlands that Jacqui received on Teacher Appreciation day

Having dinner by the water

Yes, the urinals are outside!

The place is awesome! So many trees and the water nearby; it's great!

Welcome to Chinatown, Bangkok

So many shops and not much room to walk (but scooters still manage to make it through!)

Chinese lanterns

View of the Chao Phraya River, downtown Bangkok

Across the river from our hotel

At Jim Thompson House

Silkworm cocoons, which will become silk filaments

The cocoons are softened in hot water and silk is removed as a thread

The silk thread is placed in a basket

The silk is then prepared for spinning, and eventually weaving

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

January 3rd - 7th : Seoul, South Korea

We left Ottawa on Tuesday the 2nd in the morning. Had a flight to Toronto then to Seoul, South Korea. We finally got to our hotel by 6:30 pm on Wednesday night! It gave us three full days to visit Seoul and area.

Thursday was a pretty quiet day. We both were a little jet lagged, so we just visited the area around our hotel, on foot. Right across the street from where we stayed was the Namdaemun Market, which is one of the largest and oldest market in Seoul. It was pretty amazing as the whole block was the market. You could buy pratically anything! We then walked to the Lotte Department Store, in the fashion district of Myeongdong. It consists of a combination of three department stores: Lotte which has 13 floors, Avenuel which has 11 floors and Lotte Young Plaza which only has 9 floors. If you want to shop, this is the place!

We booked a tour on Friday to go visit the DMZ (de-militarized zone) and the Third Tunnel, which was built by the North Korean in an attempt to invade South Korea. The DMZ is 4 km wide - 2 km on each side of the border between North and South Korea. It is no man's land! It was quite interesting to see! On the way back, we visited the Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was originally built in 1395, but rebuild in 1850 ish after it had been destroyed by fire during a war with Japan.

Saturday was another walking day in Seoul. We went to visit the Myeongdong district, with its Cathedral and multiples stores - a lot of them being high-end stores. It was pretty cool to see: streets after streets of shops and stores. Someone with money that likes shopping would be in heaven in that neighbourhood! We then walked to the N Seoul Tower, to get a look at the city from the top of the tower that is located on top of a small mountain which is basically downtown. It was amazing to see how big the city is, and how it is built around the mountains in the area.

We found Seoul to be a very modern city; everything seemed to be new. It was as clean as can be, and people were very nice. We really enjoyed our short stay there and wish we could have spent more time.