The Starings

Every morning i have a pleasant 8 minute walk to work. This is far better than many of my coworkers. The shortest commute is about 30 minutes, and most come from 60-90 minutes away by bus or subway. It's not that they live abnormally far, this is just how long it takes to get from one end of the city to the other during rush hour.

Everyday, during my walk, i pass many people, restaurant owners, shop keepers, etc. I don't notice all of them, but they all notice me. I get a variety of different stares which i can break down into 4 main categories: men, old women, young women, and children. Let's go into more detail, shall we? Yes. Yes we shall.

1. Men- The men will stare. They are why staring gets a bad reputation. They will watch, turn their heads as i pass, and if i make eye contact, they will continue to stare. It doesn't matter how close i get to them. Mostly, I break eye contact first because i'm not used to it. If i smile and say "ni hao", they will reply happily, albeit amazed i can speak at all. Young Men are a subcategory but do pretty much the same thing, although are maybe a little more conscious about staring too long. They have not yet gained the confidence of the Old Men.


2. Old Women- The old women are stealthy starers. They catch me when i don't see them. If i do meet their eyes, they will normally look away very quickly, as though they were just surveying the scene, and didn't particularly notice i was the only non-black haired, non-brown-eyed, big-nosed person for kilometers.


3. Young Women- The women from about 18-30 want to stare. Oh, do they ever. But they are so bashful. When i catch them, they look away, giggle with their friends, and look back to check on me. It's cute, and probably flattering. I'm not sure, as i'm also too embarrassed to stare too long.


4. Children- Children are great. They will walk right up to me, tug on my pants, and say "Mommy! A foreigner! Look! Ni hao foreigner!"... all in Chinese, mind you. They will stand at the end of my table during dinner, and watch. They break the ice and give me a chance to show off my Chinese. I like them because they generally speak slowly and use words that are in my vocabulary. I will talk with them a little and, yes, my Chinese is just about at a kindergarten level. Actually, probably Preschool. To be fair, preschoolers probably know the names of all the zoo animals and parts of the body. But i know swear words! So let's call it even.

So yeah, those are the common ways i get attention as a foreigner. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. And since it's all about me anyway, it usually depends on my mood. When i'm in a good mood and i'm all smiley and "ni hao"-ey, they are all happy to see me, their friendly neighborhood foreigner! But if i'm in a bad mood or not feeling well, i'm frowny, and then i'm their strange, unpleasant foreigner.

There's an honorable mention slash 5th category, but it shouldn't qualify because it's the opposite of a stare. It happens when i go out with someone who looks more Chinese than me. When i speak to another Chinese person, even if it's a very simple question spoken in my reasonably competent Mandarin, they look at my friend as if to say, "Can you translate that?". They can't help it, they just don't expect Chinese to come out of my mouth.

~Kev

Thailand: Days 4-6

A beautiful sunrise the morning i left Koh Phangan.

I spent about 72 hours on Koh Tao, and 6 of those hours underwater. I completed my advanced open water training with a series of five technical dives (plus two extra fun dives)... night, navigation, deep diving, photography, and multilevel planning. Pretty cool. The deep dive was to about 100 feet and it was a completely different world down there. The current was strong and the flowing debris gave the impression of wind. Down there, watching my dive partners milling around the ocean floor, it felt like we were walking on mars. A completely inhospitable place where man was just not meant to be. Wow. Maybe it was the nitrogen narcosis. Just kidding, i was fine.

One thing i will remember fondly about Thailand was the food. There is an incredible restaurant right next to the dive resort i was at. I ate 6 meals there in three days and never had the same thing twice. Everything they served was gold and everything for $2.

So here's a handful of pictures from the last few days.

~Kev

p.s. Congrats to me and my 5oth post! Holy crap 5 months goes fast.

Thailand: Days 1-3

I've arrived safe, happy, and relaxed. This place is a paradise. It's cheap (lunch from $1-$3), it's beautiful (ideal weather at 78-85F), it's fun (traveling the islands by moped), and it's soothing. Here's a recap, as best i can with short time.

Day 0.5 Arrived Bangkok 10pm. Went to hotel. Had delicious food and a thai massage. Slept.

Day 1. Early flight business class to Koh Samui (Koh means island). Took boat to smaller island of Koh Phangan, pictured below in a photo from the plane.

Found great place to stay, The Chill House. My bungalow had an unobstructed view of my private bay just down the hill. Literally, mine. I would not see another soul down there the entire time i was there. My bungalow is visible in that picture, on the peninsula off to the left. And here's my view.

I just relaxed and visited the island. That night we had a BBQ at the place i was staying. I mixed Rum and Cokes and i shared the cuban cigars i bought at duty free. Furthermore, i played with their four adorable puppies.

And here's me doing my best Hunter S. Thompson impression.

Day 2. Spent most of the morning in my hammock, sleeping, reading (re-reading Life of Pi and loving every page of it. Do yourself a favor and buy it now!). Lunch, some snorkeling, more relaxing. Went our for a fantastic dinner... a Thai BBQ buffet. All the fresh meat, seafood, vegetables, and noodles you could eat for less that $3. You get to cook it yourself over hot coals. Indescribably delicious.

The forecast before i left called for 6 straight days of thunderstorms, but we've only had one, it lasted for 15 wonderful minutes, and left this in it's wake.

Day 3. Just came to Koh Tao this morning. It's about noon. I'm going to begin my Advanced Open Water Scuba Dive Certification... AOWSDC? No, i doubt that acronym means anything. And, that acronym contains an acronym, can you do that? So yeah, i'm going to focus on night diving, navigation, and underwater photography. This is also shark season! They've been spotting 6-9 meter long whale sharks all september. Excellent. Did i mention whale sharks are herbivores? They don't have teeth. Please let there be whale sharks.

Life is good.

~Kev