Iris, Reinvented

After months of allowing this blog to die a slow death, I have now moved on and started a new blog hosted on my own domain. This is now the place that I call mine: Goddess-I-Am.com. Hope to see you there!

I’m All In!

One of the many perks about living in Thailand is that it never runs out of noteworthy people. Indeed, some of the most interesting people I’ve met in my entire life, I met in Thailand. There’s the fabulous Filipino couple that got me here in the first place. There’s the Internet cafe owner who tirelessly persists on teaching me Thai phrases every time I walk through her doors, even when it’s a losing battle. There are the locals that I sometimes have long chats with on the bus, and tourists and backpackers whose brains I just love to pick.

Not the least of all these fascinating folks is the Lost Boy. Twice we’ve been in rather close proximity to each other and twice we’ve missed out on meeting up. I found him by chance while I was reading back issues of The Guru magazine and I just had to meet him. He’s a fantastic writer and a great buddy to have. Now he’s giving away $100 out of the goodness of his own heart. Who am I to turn down an easy buck? Neither can any of you, my loyal readership of 15, and fortunately for all of us, we all stand a chance. Throwing your hat into the ring is as easy as pie and is certainly not rocket science.

So there you have it. I’ve sung the praises and created the blog post. In poker talk, I’m all in! Now to make that list of the things I can buy with $100…

Wander with Me: Phi Phi Islands and Ao Nang

Since we were already in the area, the plan was to take the ferry to the Phi Phi Islands, wander around a bit, and take the only ferry to Ao Nang in Krabi in the afternoon, where we could spend the night before leaving for Bangkok the next day.

 

We were picked up by a mini bus from Game Mansion bright and early on Monday morning and taken to the Phuket dock (the name of which escapes me), where we got on the ferry to Phi Phi Don. The trip took about an hour and a half. We spent the first part of it inside the boat because again it was drizzling. I tried to get some writing done but I felt kind of sick in the ferry’s cramped cabin. The rain eventually stopped pouring and we decided to stay outside to get some air and take lots of pictures.

 

We were pretty much unsure about what we were going to do in Phi Phi. We had about 5 hours to kill before we had to leave for Ao Nang and the best plan we had was to eat and swim. I suppose he overheard us because Joe, a Thai man who works with the ferry company, approached us and offered to take us along on a snorkeling and sightseeing tour of the Phi Phi islands with the rest of the tour group on board for only 200 baht. It sounded like a good idea, especially since the alternative was much too boring.

 

As instructed, we didn’t get off the boat in Phi Phi Don with the rest of the one-way ticket passengers. We then proceeded to Phi Phi Ley and snorkeled for about an hour. It was quite an experience. I’ve snorkeled a lot before but most of the fishes I’ve met were rather timid. The fishes of Phi Phi Ley were complete show offs. It was cute, except when some of them mistook me for a piece of watermelon and started biting my backside. My snorkel wasn’t working right, my life vest kept trying to float up over my head, and I was gulping in a lot of seawater so I was kind of struggling for a bit. D wasn’t much help because he kept laughing at me. I suppose I must have looked funny with my hair all over the place and I started laughing hysterically too. We probably spent half the time just giggling like mad until we had to get back on the boat.

 

After snorkeling, we were then taken on a sightseeing tour of the islands, which pretty much meant going past it on the boat while the guide gave background information over the loudspeakers. D and I found a perch at the front of the boat where we could get some sun and lots of air. We saw more beaches, some caves, and Maya Bay, the beach where they shot the film, The Beach. It looked so beautiful and I was so disappointed that we weren’t going in to swim. I was very much looking forward to it.

 

Back in Phi Phi Don, we got off the boat, thanked Joe, and parted with the rest of the tour group. We found a seaside restaurant with a fantastic view and were just about to order when they told us they didn’t have food. It was unbelievable. D and I both were getting quite cranky because we were so hungry. We eventually found another restaurant on a side street. The food was passable but nothing special. There were several used bookstores in the vicinity and I took a look but they were ridiculously overpriced for used books. There were some very, very good selections, though, and I wished I could’ve bought some but money was dwindling fast so I had to pass.

We had a couple more hours to kill before heading to Ao Nang so we decided on more swimming. The beach was calm and the view was fantastic. The sand wasn’t powdery but it didn’t hurt my feet so it was all good. What I hated about it was the number of speed boats parked close to the shore. I think they were there for banana boating. There were just too many of them and it made swimming difficult because they sort of float up behind you when you’re not looking. It was totally annoying, but it was good fun watching people fall off the banana boats.

We boarded the ferry to Ao Nang around 3 PM. I was really looking forward to a nap. Unfortunately, D was still halfway through his new Harry Potter book and kept waking me up every time something good happened. I gave up trying to sleep. By this time, I started feeling the tightness of my face and I realized with horror that I was rather horribly burnt. I didn’t even think about sunblock until that very moment and it was obviously too late. I suppose I was too complacent. The sun was hidden behind the clouds the whole time, after all. Apparently, I was being stealthily roasted. Sneaky. Very sneaky.

We arrived in Ao Nang late in the afternoon. Once again, we looked for a cheap guest house to stay in, preferably with wireless Internet. We weren’t so lucky this time. Most of the guest houses we went to had rates of at least 500 baht per night and didn’t offer Internet access. We finally settled on Nongeed Guest House because the owner agreed to give us a room for 400 baht instead of their usual 550 baht. We also bought our bus tickets to Bangkok for late the next day at 500 baht apiece. I took a shower and tried to get some writing done but I was too tired. D and I decided to get dinner and just call it a night.

I was planning to wake up extra early because I haven’t written a single article, but I must have been really tired because I woke up rather late. We didn’t have to leave for Bangkok until 4 PM but we did need to check out by 11 AM. That didn’t leave a lot of time for swimming because we obviously wanted to shower before the trip to Bangkok. Still, we wouldn’t pass up the chance to frolic in the water even just for a while. The current and the undertow were quite strong and the waves were pretty big. I stayed close to shore. After we posed for the necessary photographs and had our fill of Ao Nang’s beach, we went back to the guest house, showered, packed, and checked out.

I spent the next few hours writing frantically. I was finally able to send my articles to my editor around mid-afternoon. Internet cafés in Ao Nang were ridiculously expensive at 1 baht per minute. Still, I couldn’t complain. It rained for quite awhile and I was stuck in the café. When it let up, I took a little walk near the beach and watched the town for a bit. I then headed back to the guest house where we were waiting to be picked up for the final trip to Bangkok. D was napping on the guest house’s reception area, so I ended up watching a really bad Thai soap opera.

We were picked up by a mini bus around 3 PM and driven to yet another travel agency in Krabi, where we stayed for over an hour. We actually thought in horror that we would be on the same mini bus all the way to Bangkok. We were looking forward to being on a comfortable VIP bus. The mini bus drove us all the way to Suratthani where we finally boarded a VIP bus with blankets, reclining seats, and all that jazz. I was asleep within minutes and didn’t wake up until we arrived in Bangkok at 6 AM. They dropped us off on Khao San Road. I didn’t really have any idea how to get home from there. D took a cab home but I couldn’t. I sort of wandered around for over an hour before I finally took a bus to Mo Chit and another bus home. I had spent about 1,500 baht on the Phi Phi Islands – Ao Nang leg of the trip.

It was a hell of a trip. I’ve never felt so alive and so free. And though I enjoyed it with all my heart and would do it again in the blink of an eye, it still feels good to be home. Well, at least, until I start burning to wander again.

Wander with Me: Penang

I’m back in Bangkok, still reeling from the events of the past 7 days. After being unceremoniously fired from my teaching job, I decided to write freelance full time. In a matter of days, my laptop literally became my entire life. In less than a week, I’ve dragged it across 2 countries while the beachcomber in me ran around free in my Billabongs. It was the trip of my dreams, and I still can’t believe that I lived it.

Since I wanted to stay in Thailand but was virtually unemployed with no possibility of a non-immigrant B visa in sight, I decided to get a tourist visa instead. I flew to Penang via Air Asia on Thursday morning. From the airport, I had the taxi take me directly to the Royal Thai Consulate in Georgetown. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that tourist visas were given to Filipinos gratis. That saved me about 2,000 baht. The visa wasn’t available for pickup until the next day, so I had the taxi take me to Chulia Street, the haven for backpackers in Penang.

Chulia Street was long and narrow and lined with guesthouses and hostels. I shopped around for a bit and eventually decided to stay in Malibu Café for 25 ringgit (1 ringgit is about 10 baht) a night, including breakfast and an hour’s worth of Internet access a day. I had my trusty laptop with me, however, so they just gave me unlimited wireless access at no extra cost. I was quite touched.

The room was as basic as can be. It was kept relatively clean and the bed was surprisingly comfortable. Showers and toilets were shared but they were quite clean so I couldn’t complain. I had a fantastic meal of pasta with white sauce, Cajun chicken, and bananas at Ecco Café across the street from Malibu. I checked out the used bookstores for a bit but found them grossly overpriced. Other than that, I didn’t explore the city much on my first night because I had to get some writing done and I was dead tired.

After a good night’s sleep, I was quite ready to see Penang. The “concierge” (for lack of better words) at Malibu haggled rather furiously in my stead for a taxi to take me to the Consulate then to Penang Hill. They finally settled on 24 ringgit total for both trips, which I figured was quite reasonable as taxis in Penang were horrendously expensive. I got my passport back and my tourist visa without a hitch and off we went to Penang Hill, or Bukit Bendera, as the Malaysians called it.

The idea was to ride the cable car right to the very top and back down. I got a roundtrip ticket for 4 ringgit. The ride itself was rather unpleasant. The cable car was filled to capacity with Indians, Muslims, and Arabs and it stank to the heavens. By the time we made it to the top, I had a nasty headache. The fresh air and the beautiful sight that greeted me, however, made it all worth it. I had a sweeping view of the city of Penang and it was gorgeous.

I walked around Penang Hill for awhile, just taking in the view and eating corn in a cup. I eventually headed back down when it started drizzling. The ride down the hill on the cable car was worse than the ride up, if that was even possible. I caught a taxi back to Chulia Street and killed the couple of hours before dinner writing a few articles.

Dinner found me in Cinthra Street where all the fantastic Chinese restaurants were. I’ve always been a huge fan of dimsum and I’ve been sorely missing it. I was looking forward to having some good old-fashioned dimsum in Penang more than anything and I was not disappointed. I found myself in Tai Tong’s where I had Yong Chow fried rice, dumplings, and a custard pie. I wanted to eat so many things but all the servings were huge and I was alone. It was the best meal I had in ages, though, so I was quite happy.

I walked around the nearby streets for a bit but the rain was really starting to come down hard so I just headed back to Malibu. I was leaving early the next morning and I wanted to get some sleep. It was impossible, though. In the middle of the night, the Norwegian couple next door came back drunk from somewhere and was having a huge fight right outside my door.

 

It was quite an interesting end to my Penang adventure. I spent a total of 198.50 ringgit, excluding the airfare I charged to my credit card. Not bad at all.

Next stop: Phuket!

Iris, umm, Fired

I didn’t come to Thailand with delusions of grandeur. I didn’t come here to get rich or to become famous. I was just another girl trying to make my way through the world, daring to go beyond the confines of my own backyard. I’ve been brave, yes, and I take pride in that more than any other.

Teaching has been something I dabbled with for the past year or so. There were the unsuccessful forays into corporate training and the unfinished professional education course. It was something I always wanted to do, but it never came naturally to me the way writing always has, so when I was offered a teaching job in Thailand for the first time, I left my comfortable office job and took the challenge. I knew I had a lot to learn but I was determined to succeed. With the constant assurance and encouragement of the person who hired me, I believed that, given time, I would become a great teacher. Everyone around me kept telling me to take it slow, that I’ll get used to it in time. How was I supposed to know that time will be cruelly taken away from me? I never really had a chance.

For the past couple of weeks or so, my blogs have endured an upsurge of criticism. What used to be two obscure little websites with barely 15 visitors per day suddenly gained immense popularity – and not in a good way. Along with my loyal readership of good friends and family, strangers have found their way into my little sanctuary, strangers who dare to judge and hate somebody who have never done them or anybody wrong. I have suffered the indignity of being labeled some very choice words from the English language, but I didn’t care. After all, to each his own, right? These are my blogs. I can write anything that I want on it and anybody can comment as he/she sees fit. That’s how the free world supposedly works.

Imagine my surprise when last night I received a rather cruel email (didn’t even bother with the courtesy of calling) from my employer terminating me from the school after a week of labor because of an article I wrote days before I got the teaching job. My lifestyle apparently does not conform to the acceptable teacher’s way of living (if there’s such a thing). They were afraid that at some point I’d start writing about the school and tarnish its precious and rather inexistent reputation, and I wasn’t a good enough teacher.

For one thing, why would I write about a school? Who wants to read about some stuffy private school in Phahon Yothin Soi 37? The thought of writing such a piece is enough to bring me to a kind of stupor. For another, I was not aware that teachers were not allowed to have private lives. If they were worried that students will come across my blogs at some point, they’re gravely mistaken. The Thais are so ingrained in their own culture that they really can’t be bothered to read 2 obscure English blogs from an unknown person. They spend their time reading Thai comic books and perusing websites in Thai, for crying out loud. Honestly, most Thais don’t exactly exert extra effort (The 4 E’s were not intentional.) to make English a part of their lives. Why do you think we’re here teaching English in the first place? And as for my capability as a teacher, I made it clear right from the start that I was virtually inexperienced in the field of education and have had no proper training, but I was told by the person who hired me that with my language skills, I can do it and I will be given enough time to adjust and prove my worth. I wasn’t even made to do a teaching demo, he just hired me outright. Looking back, a teaching demo could’ve saved everybody a lot of grief.

Though these were the surface reasons given for my immediate termination, reading between the lines of the fateful email suggests otherwise. The person who hired me is a farang. I believe he and his friends took the article I wrote as a personal attack on farangs. That is simply unfair. The piece was written about one person and one person only. I have nothing against farangs. Heck, most of the friends I’ve made in Thailand are farangs. I find most of them intelligent and interesting. Conversation is never dull, which has always been something that I valued. The world is a huge place and I believe people from different races and cultures have a lot to learn from each other. When I wrote: “Honestly, is there still a farang in Bangkok who isn’t just out to dip his wick in as many Asian crevices as he can?” it was meant to be a question (question mark, duh!) and not a generalization (as my boss labeled it on his email). It most certainly isn’t a concrete statement saying that all farangs are scum because they’re not. Though I may not have met many, I know there are still some good guys out there. And contrary to what most of my detractors believe, I am not here to have sexual relations with every farang in Thailand. I date, I have fun, and if I feel its right, I consent to sex, which is not often at all.

The double standard is appalling. They say the world has come a long way from the middle ages, but to be honest, it hasn’t. When a man sleeps around, he’s a bachelor or a playboy, but if a woman does the same thing, she’s a slut, a whore. If I was a man, I would be having my hand shaken and my back patted right now. I am, however, a woman, so having casual sex makes me a pariah. And as if being a woman is not bad enough, I also happen to be Asian, which puts me in the lowest possible minority. I have been insulted in the worst possible way, and though I’ve been encouraged to reveal the school’s name and the person behind all this, I will not sink to the same pathetic level of disrespect that they have shown me because I, at least, know how to respect without judgment the choices that other people make to live their lives. That alone makes me worth ten of them put together.

But I will say this to a Ben Thomas (the person who sent my boss the links to my blog via email) and Aussie Jake: It is people like you who will never amount to anything and I pity your sad, sorry existence. I also want to say something to Melody, the jackass Aussie’s girlfriend, who supposedly discovered my blog. So we come from the same city. You’re possibly my age and probably feeling just as lost as most single girls our age are, but really, why do you put up with your pig of a boyfriend? Look at how he and his friends treat Southeast Asian women in general. You deserve better than this chauvinistic Neanderthal. We all do. And that’s what I’m here to advocate.

The piece I wrote was meant to be quirky and funny, the way most of my pieces are. It’s just too bad that some people are too backwards to realize that. I will not shut down my blogs. That will be like asking me to cut off my limbs. I will, however, protect my posts, my babies from those who wish me ill. Some of my pieces, especially those that are sexual in nature, will be password-protected and may only be accessed by a select few. To request for a password, email me at irisgodd3ss at yahoo dot com and I’ll decide if you’re worthy to enter my private domain. It kills me to have to do this but this is for survival’s sake. I made the mistake of speaking out and baring my soul in a place where people are not ready for it. But no, Iris and Wander Girl are not going anywhere.

So here I am in this foreign land with no job, no prospects, and very little money. I have a choice. I could cower, get on the first flight home, and expect my mommy to fix everything for me. Or I could lick my wounds, gather my thoughts, and keep on fighting until all hope is lost. I know I will never forgive myself if I admitted defeat and went home now. Things are looking bleak, but as long as I still have a single baht to my name, I’m not going anywhere. I may have been beaten, but I will not lose.

I may not be a particularly good teacher but by God, I can write. If I ever doubted that before, all this fuss has just confirmed that I can be a very powerful writer if I want to be. And yes, I want to be. Thank you for the comments, nasty or otherwise. Thank you for getting me fired. And most of all, thank you for finally giving clarity to what it is that I’m supposed to be doing with my life.