Last time I came to Thailand I spent most of my time in Bangkok and on Ko Toh – a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand. This time, due to work constraints I couldn’t travel too far from the ship which meant I got to experience the seedier, underbelly side of Thailand. How so might you ask? Well our ship was berthed two hours outside of Bangkok and the closest city to us was Pattaya – a city infamous for prostitution, drugs and sex tourism. What experience it was to see that side of life!
Here is how my time in Thailand played out: I spent the first couple days traveling to Bangkok for meetings for work. On day 3 I traveled back to Bangkok and met up with my dad. Yup – my dad just happened to be in Bangkok! He emailed me just a couple days before we arrived to let me know that he would be there the same time as me. So he and I spent the day in Bangkok – touring through China town and taking the water taxi up and down the river. I stayed in Bangkok with my dad that night and in the morning we headed down to Pattaya. For the next two days we spent time on the beach, eating good food and getting massages – I know, tough life, right? The last two days I spent splitting my time between work and more time in Pattaya on the beach.
So now back to Pattaya – what can I say? No matter what people say sex tourism is alive and well in Thailand. Everywhere you turned there were hords of prostitutes outside of bars trying to lure men inside, signs advertising services of women and services of men, signs advertising strip shows, go-go dancing, bondage bars, leather bars, fetish bars and all kinds of weird shows that I don’t even want to think about what they would entail. Liquor and drugs were widely available and erectile dysfunction drugs were particularly prevalent.
It kind of turned my stomach to see all these European and American men (mostly ugly, fat and obviously not the cream of any society) bargaining for the services of these Thai women and men; taking part in and drooling over all the shows, bars and “services” offered. I was particularly saddened when I walked down one street in Pattaya at 11:30am with bar after bar of women standing outside and there was one bar full of women (if you can call them that) dressed in catholic school-girl kilts. I don’t think any of them could have been older than 15 or 16.
Now I know that this kind of thing exists everywhere but I was just shocked by how open and how publicly all of this was advertised. The other shocker I had in Pattaya was to see how publicly exploited children were. As in many parts of Asia child labor is a big issue and a big concern in Thailand. Usually the issue is swept under the rug, hidden and not discussed openly. In Pattaya I walked down the street at 11:30pm and saw a girl who couldn’t have been more than 6 dressed in a tutu doing contortion moves and tricks with a hoola hoop. There was her mother (I’m guessing) encouraging her to do more tricks to attract more of a crowd and more money. A little further down the road there was a little boy who couldn’t have been more than 8 doing tricks with a soccer ball. Very sad.
Thailand used to be a big draw for pedophiles because pretty much anyone or anything is “for sale”. Now we were told on the ship that there has been a crack down on the child sex trade and that most of that scene has gone underground or forced into Cambodia. After what I witnessed my guess is that, unfortunately, the child sex trade is probably not too far underground and still very much alive and well in Thailand.
Lest you begin to think that all of Thailand is simply a haven for pedophiles, drug addicts, low lifes and sleazy characters I must stress that I was in a city infamously known for catering to this sex market. Thailand is a beautiful country with lovely beaches, majestic jungles and mountains, vibrant indigenous communities, fast paced cities and an interesting culture and history. The sex trade is a sad part of Thailand’s reality and I’m glad I got the chance to see it with my own eyes, but I’m also very much looking forward to coming back someday and exploring more of the positive parts of Thailand.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
A Whole New World
I keep saying that the song “A Whole New World” from Little Mermaid should be the theme song for this second voyage. It’s been amazing how different things are this second semester as opposed to last semester – mostly all good differences. We have policies, procedures and protocols; we have printers, internet and intranet systems; we have 50% of the staff that have sailed on a ship before and understand the environment; we have an Executive team that is present, involved and not living in bizarro world.
The students are very different too. I wasn’t expecting them to be so different. We have 50 less students which makes the whole community feel different but beyond that, in general, this group feels very different. They seem more laid back, less demanding, and flexible (you TSS folks reading this can stop giggling). It wasn’t that last semester’s group was hard to handle or super high expectation – I think we all lived in crazy world last semester and that impacted the entire community and how we interacted. I also think that last semester’s group was unique. I think it is a unique person who takes the risk on being the first on a brand new, untested adventure such as this one. We had risk takers, strong leaders, strong personalities and change makers. All good things but when you get 200 all together in the same community (plus add staff with similar characteristics) it surely creates some fireworks.
I am feeling pretty good at how things have kicked off. I feel totally supported by our Executive Team and the staff from all departments are in such a different place preparation-wise that we’ve been able to support each other’s departmental efforts and collaborate a lot more.
Now don’t get me wrong there is still a lot of craziness, chaos and frustrations going on but I don’t feel like I am going completely crazy and living in a completely unsupported, surreal, bizarre world (like I did last semester). I think the fact that there are only 3 months left makes it easier to have perspective too. I’m not wishing the experience away by any means, but last semester when things crept into psychotic world the thought of living in that world for 8 months scared the crap out of me. Three months? I can do anything for three months!
The students are very different too. I wasn’t expecting them to be so different. We have 50 less students which makes the whole community feel different but beyond that, in general, this group feels very different. They seem more laid back, less demanding, and flexible (you TSS folks reading this can stop giggling). It wasn’t that last semester’s group was hard to handle or super high expectation – I think we all lived in crazy world last semester and that impacted the entire community and how we interacted. I also think that last semester’s group was unique. I think it is a unique person who takes the risk on being the first on a brand new, untested adventure such as this one. We had risk takers, strong leaders, strong personalities and change makers. All good things but when you get 200 all together in the same community (plus add staff with similar characteristics) it surely creates some fireworks.
I am feeling pretty good at how things have kicked off. I feel totally supported by our Executive Team and the staff from all departments are in such a different place preparation-wise that we’ve been able to support each other’s departmental efforts and collaborate a lot more.
Now don’t get me wrong there is still a lot of craziness, chaos and frustrations going on but I don’t feel like I am going completely crazy and living in a completely unsupported, surreal, bizarre world (like I did last semester). I think the fact that there are only 3 months left makes it easier to have perspective too. I’m not wishing the experience away by any means, but last semester when things crept into psychotic world the thought of living in that world for 8 months scared the crap out of me. Three months? I can do anything for three months!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
China Highlights
Sorry for the delay in getting this posting out to you. So after two days of being anchored the fog lifted enough that we finally made it into Shanghai. We lost two days of our seven in port but I was ok with that since I was just there a month before. This time around it was cold, cold, cold! They were in a deep freeze and it even snowed one evening (a rarity in Shanghai). I have to say – I really could have passed on having any winter weather at all this year. It made going outside to go anywhere feel like a chore. It really reconfirmed to me, yet again, how much I dislike the cold weather. I guess I shouldn’t complain because essentially I only had to live through two whole weeks of winter this entire year. I know – tough life.
The one thing that did disappoint me about coming into port two days late was that I couldn’t have a coat made. At the end of our stay in Shanghai last semester I had made the decision that I was going to treat myself and have a coat made when I returned. With two less days in port I just couldn’t bring myself to go looking into getting a coat without having visions of 6 year old kids staying up all night to sew my coat. It was a bummer – especially when I was in the Fabric Market area and saw the perfect style coat. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
All in all my second week in China was pretty good. I think my favorite part of both visits were all the massages. I got a massage pretty much every other day – foot massage, Chinese massage, health meridian massage (that was the best!!!), Thai massage, massage done by blind people. Yup I spoiled myself. Here is the best part -- all those massages ranged from $10-$25 for 90 minutes! I wish massages weren’t so expensive at home because I really do believe there are a lot of health benefits. Often times I came out of these massages feeling relaxed, re-energized, better able to breath and just overall feeling great.
Lest you think my entire life has become massages and indulgence let me tell you that we have jumped right back into a crazy pace on the ship since we left China. I’ve been working an average of 10-12 hours everyday. With only 6 days until Thailand we are scrambling to get the staff and students ready for their next round of field programs. And to top it all off we’ve hit some really rocky water. Everything is sliding, shaking, creaking and sometimes flying. My gigantic nightstand console crashed to the floor at midnight last night and while I was trying to put everything back in the drawers in my shocked, sleepy state another wave came and the nightstand crashed over again – this time onto my head. Have no fear I am no worse for the wear other than a large, sore knot on the top of my head.
I know that I still owe a posting about how this second semester has kicked off. Maybe tomorrow I will work on that – I’m losing steam right now. Hope you’re all staying warm!
The one thing that did disappoint me about coming into port two days late was that I couldn’t have a coat made. At the end of our stay in Shanghai last semester I had made the decision that I was going to treat myself and have a coat made when I returned. With two less days in port I just couldn’t bring myself to go looking into getting a coat without having visions of 6 year old kids staying up all night to sew my coat. It was a bummer – especially when I was in the Fabric Market area and saw the perfect style coat. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
All in all my second week in China was pretty good. I think my favorite part of both visits were all the massages. I got a massage pretty much every other day – foot massage, Chinese massage, health meridian massage (that was the best!!!), Thai massage, massage done by blind people. Yup I spoiled myself. Here is the best part -- all those massages ranged from $10-$25 for 90 minutes! I wish massages weren’t so expensive at home because I really do believe there are a lot of health benefits. Often times I came out of these massages feeling relaxed, re-energized, better able to breath and just overall feeling great.
Lest you think my entire life has become massages and indulgence let me tell you that we have jumped right back into a crazy pace on the ship since we left China. I’ve been working an average of 10-12 hours everyday. With only 6 days until Thailand we are scrambling to get the staff and students ready for their next round of field programs. And to top it all off we’ve hit some really rocky water. Everything is sliding, shaking, creaking and sometimes flying. My gigantic nightstand console crashed to the floor at midnight last night and while I was trying to put everything back in the drawers in my shocked, sleepy state another wave came and the nightstand crashed over again – this time onto my head. Have no fear I am no worse for the wear other than a large, sore knot on the top of my head.
I know that I still owe a posting about how this second semester has kicked off. Maybe tomorrow I will work on that – I’m losing steam right now. Hope you’re all staying warm!
Friday, January 11, 2008
Stuck in the Fog
We are still anchored at the mouth of the Yangtze River waiting to see if we can get into Shanghai. Signs are not looking good – the fog is just not letting up. We are the only passenger ship trying to get into Shanghai. Here is an article about our situation:
Coal ships stranded as fog causes power crisis
By Dong Zhen and Lu Feiran
2008-1-11
The fog engulfing the city this week has had major flow-on effects, including a dire shortage of thermal coal, disruption to water, air and land traffic and a deterioration in air quality.
The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration yesterday opened emergency water channels to allow coal-supply vessels to make deliveries. Administration officials said continuous fog had caused water visibility to drop below 100 meters on the Huangpu River and waterways at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Shipping traffic was suspended, keeping regular coal-supply vessels out of city waterways.
By yesterday, the city’s coal supply for electricity generation had reached crisis point, prompting the authority to open green channels for large delivery vessels.
The administration is giving priority whenever possible to the coal ships that must use the deep-water channel to reach the city’s major power plants. Coal vessels with minor defects will also be allowed to operate as a temporary measure to help relieve the shortage.
Daqing 63, a vessel carrying 20,000 tons of coal pulled into Luojin dock under heavy fog yesterday. The coal arrived just in time to support continued operation of the Luojin Power Plant.
General shipping traffic at the mouth of the Yangtze was only open for about an hour after 9pm on Wednesday before all vessels were required to stop and anchor or return to ports.
As of late yesterday afternoon, shipping traffic was still suspended, with some vessels already stuck for days.
Authorities said yesterday more than 500 incoming ships were waiting at sea to visit Shanghai.
The fog caused delays or cancellations of nearly 200 incoming and departing flights at the two city airports from midnight on Wednesday until last night. As of 6pm yesterday, Hongqiao Airport resumed normal operations but Pudong International Airport had limited traffic.
Coal ships stranded as fog causes power crisis
By Dong Zhen and Lu Feiran
2008-1-11
The fog engulfing the city this week has had major flow-on effects, including a dire shortage of thermal coal, disruption to water, air and land traffic and a deterioration in air quality.
The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration yesterday opened emergency water channels to allow coal-supply vessels to make deliveries. Administration officials said continuous fog had caused water visibility to drop below 100 meters on the Huangpu River and waterways at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Shipping traffic was suspended, keeping regular coal-supply vessels out of city waterways.
By yesterday, the city’s coal supply for electricity generation had reached crisis point, prompting the authority to open green channels for large delivery vessels.
The administration is giving priority whenever possible to the coal ships that must use the deep-water channel to reach the city’s major power plants. Coal vessels with minor defects will also be allowed to operate as a temporary measure to help relieve the shortage.
Daqing 63, a vessel carrying 20,000 tons of coal pulled into Luojin dock under heavy fog yesterday. The coal arrived just in time to support continued operation of the Luojin Power Plant.
General shipping traffic at the mouth of the Yangtze was only open for about an hour after 9pm on Wednesday before all vessels were required to stop and anchor or return to ports.
As of late yesterday afternoon, shipping traffic was still suspended, with some vessels already stuck for days.
Authorities said yesterday more than 500 incoming ships were waiting at sea to visit Shanghai.
The fog caused delays or cancellations of nearly 200 incoming and departing flights at the two city airports from midnight on Wednesday until last night. As of 6pm yesterday, Hongqiao Airport resumed normal operations but Pudong International Airport had limited traffic.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Connections Halfway Around the World
Life was so crazed over the holidays that I didn’t get a chance to write about the end of last semester or my time in Hong Kong. Currently we are sitting at the mouth of the Yangtze River waiting for fog to lift so that we can head into Shanghai. Yup we are missing our first day in port just sitting and waiting. Since we have this extra day on the ship I’m treating it kind of like a Saturday (we don’t get weekends on the ship) and using it as a catch up day – finishing up work stuff, cleaning my cabin, catching up on emails, actually relaxing a little and writing a couple blog postings.
So after our week in China we headed to Hong Kong. We spent two days in Hong Kong and then we did the strangest thing. We went back out to sea for three days just to then come back to Hong Kong. We did that so that we had time to finish up classes and hold some closing activities. After all of the chaos, disorganization and craziness of the semester all of the students were crying and talking about how amazing this experience had been for them. Even during the worst parts I knew that students would probably feel this way. No matter what happens on the ship you can’t go halfway around the world visiting eight countries and not leave unchanged and unaffected by the experience. I’m thankful that for most students, in the end, the total experience outweighed the frustrations and challenges that wrought the entire semester.
Those last days on the ship and our last day in Hong Kong were a bit crazed for me. I didn’t know quite where to focus. Wrapping up this semester, preparing and planning for next semester, getting ready to go home for Christmas and saying goodbye to everyone from this semester. It was a lot to balance. When we arrived in Hong Kong I was trying to balance saying good bye to everyone and welcoming my dad to the ship. Yes – my dad came to Hong Kong to see me! That was quite fun. It was really nice to be able to show him the ship. The ship is my world right now and it’s weird to think that no one in my life has seen it or has any concept of what it is like. That’s why it was exciting to welcome him on board and show him around.
After many tearful goodbyes I left the ship and my dad and I spent two days together before I headed home. We actually spent Christmas Eve in Macao – it was a Portugeuse colony until it was turned back over to Chinese control in 1999. Now it’s like the Las Vegas of the East. I have to say it was pretty cool to see my dad in Hong Kong. We only see each other every few months so going four months without seeing each other was no big deal. But it felt like a big deal to be hanging out together halfway around the world. It was quite fun and I appreciate that he came all that way to see me.
The whole wrap up of the semester, saying goodbye, our time in Hong Kong, my quick trip home and now the start of this second semester have all been such a blur. I don’t think that all that has happened in the last month has totally sunk in yet. I haven’t had time to wrap my brain around it all and think about how I feel. Can you tell I'm feeling a bit scattered? I think to have a better sense of how I am feeling about last semester I need to write about how this first semester has begun.
That will be my next post – stay tuned!
So after our week in China we headed to Hong Kong. We spent two days in Hong Kong and then we did the strangest thing. We went back out to sea for three days just to then come back to Hong Kong. We did that so that we had time to finish up classes and hold some closing activities. After all of the chaos, disorganization and craziness of the semester all of the students were crying and talking about how amazing this experience had been for them. Even during the worst parts I knew that students would probably feel this way. No matter what happens on the ship you can’t go halfway around the world visiting eight countries and not leave unchanged and unaffected by the experience. I’m thankful that for most students, in the end, the total experience outweighed the frustrations and challenges that wrought the entire semester.
Those last days on the ship and our last day in Hong Kong were a bit crazed for me. I didn’t know quite where to focus. Wrapping up this semester, preparing and planning for next semester, getting ready to go home for Christmas and saying goodbye to everyone from this semester. It was a lot to balance. When we arrived in Hong Kong I was trying to balance saying good bye to everyone and welcoming my dad to the ship. Yes – my dad came to Hong Kong to see me! That was quite fun. It was really nice to be able to show him the ship. The ship is my world right now and it’s weird to think that no one in my life has seen it or has any concept of what it is like. That’s why it was exciting to welcome him on board and show him around.
After many tearful goodbyes I left the ship and my dad and I spent two days together before I headed home. We actually spent Christmas Eve in Macao – it was a Portugeuse colony until it was turned back over to Chinese control in 1999. Now it’s like the Las Vegas of the East. I have to say it was pretty cool to see my dad in Hong Kong. We only see each other every few months so going four months without seeing each other was no big deal. But it felt like a big deal to be hanging out together halfway around the world. It was quite fun and I appreciate that he came all that way to see me.
The whole wrap up of the semester, saying goodbye, our time in Hong Kong, my quick trip home and now the start of this second semester have all been such a blur. I don’t think that all that has happened in the last month has totally sunk in yet. I haven’t had time to wrap my brain around it all and think about how I feel. Can you tell I'm feeling a bit scattered? I think to have a better sense of how I am feeling about last semester I need to write about how this first semester has begun.
That will be my next post – stay tuned!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Around the World in Eight Days
After this voyage I can say that I have circumnavigated the globe TWICE on a ship. Only .08 % of the world’s population has ever traveled completely around the world. Now I’m on my way to having done it twice! It’s always the cool personal fact that I share.
But now I have a new personal fact that can top that:: I can now say that I have circumnavigated the globe in less than 8 days! Yup – completely around the globe in less than 8 days. I flew out of Hong Kong at 11:45pm on December 24. We flew West across Russia and Europe landing in London at 5am on December 25 (1pm Hong Kong time). I sat in Heathrow Airport for seven long hours then boarded another plane that left at 11:15am (7pm Hong Kong time) and arriving in Philadelphia at 2:30pm on December 25 (3:30am on December 26 Hong Kong time). Ok if you are doing the math that is 28 hours of travel – if you add my travel time to the airports at each end the number goes up to 30 hours.
I then spent 5 ½ quick days visiting everyone in VA, PA, MD and NJ (yup – made it to all 4 states). On December 31st I left at 4am for the airport and took off from Philly at 7am flying West to LA. I landed in LA at about 10am (1pm East Coast time). At 12:15pm we took off for Hong Kong and landed 15 hours later at 7:40pm on January 1st (6:40am on January 1st East Coast time). Again 28 hours of travel.
58 hours of travel for approximately 130 hours of time home in the States. And a complete rotation around the globe. Pretty crazy. Pretty exhausting. Pretty cool. And believe it or not….Pretty worth it. Home was just what I needed to re-energize me for the start of this new semester.
Now if I could just get over this WICKED jet lag – 5 nights of waking up WIRED around 3:30am and not even the slightest sign of improvement. I guess it’s the price I pay for putting my body through 12 hours of jetlag twice in one week.
I apologize for my long delay in getting a posting up – but as you can tell from my story – I’ve been a little bit busy globe trotting. I’m back on the ship now and the new semester has started (students arrived on the ship 11 hours after I got back on the ship).
I hope that you all had fabulous holidays and you’re all settling well into the new year. I’m pretty crazy busy with work at the moment but things should get better once we arrive in Shanghai. I should be able to post more and update you on how the new semester is going. Cheers!
But now I have a new personal fact that can top that:: I can now say that I have circumnavigated the globe in less than 8 days! Yup – completely around the globe in less than 8 days. I flew out of Hong Kong at 11:45pm on December 24. We flew West across Russia and Europe landing in London at 5am on December 25 (1pm Hong Kong time). I sat in Heathrow Airport for seven long hours then boarded another plane that left at 11:15am (7pm Hong Kong time) and arriving in Philadelphia at 2:30pm on December 25 (3:30am on December 26 Hong Kong time). Ok if you are doing the math that is 28 hours of travel – if you add my travel time to the airports at each end the number goes up to 30 hours.
I then spent 5 ½ quick days visiting everyone in VA, PA, MD and NJ (yup – made it to all 4 states). On December 31st I left at 4am for the airport and took off from Philly at 7am flying West to LA. I landed in LA at about 10am (1pm East Coast time). At 12:15pm we took off for Hong Kong and landed 15 hours later at 7:40pm on January 1st (6:40am on January 1st East Coast time). Again 28 hours of travel.
58 hours of travel for approximately 130 hours of time home in the States. And a complete rotation around the globe. Pretty crazy. Pretty exhausting. Pretty cool. And believe it or not….Pretty worth it. Home was just what I needed to re-energize me for the start of this new semester.
Now if I could just get over this WICKED jet lag – 5 nights of waking up WIRED around 3:30am and not even the slightest sign of improvement. I guess it’s the price I pay for putting my body through 12 hours of jetlag twice in one week.
I apologize for my long delay in getting a posting up – but as you can tell from my story – I’ve been a little bit busy globe trotting. I’m back on the ship now and the new semester has started (students arrived on the ship 11 hours after I got back on the ship).
I hope that you all had fabulous holidays and you’re all settling well into the new year. I’m pretty crazy busy with work at the moment but things should get better once we arrive in Shanghai. I should be able to post more and update you on how the new semester is going. Cheers!
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