Dear DGHS Girls
Sa wa dee ka or hello from Thailand!
It has been a crazy week here in Bangkok - it is very, very hot and sticky here - Durban's summer cannot touch the heat here!
The traffic is also awe-inspiring: a trip of 10kms will take about an hour and part of me thinks that walking is faster - if a lot sweatier - than taking the bus.
Thailand is a lot like Africa in many ways: people drive like maniacs but there are fewer accidents here as people go far slower. Things take a long time to happen; "Africa time" has its equivalent here in "Thai time" but the people here are far friendlier and are much more polite than people in Africa. We are very impatient in Africa, whereas everyone here is very patient and polite.
Food here is much easier to get hold of than in SA. There are vendors along all of the streets and they serve really fast food that is absolutely delicious. Learning how to order it, is very difficult though.
Victory Monument
As an English teacher I am fascinated by how different languages conceptualise the same ideas and objects. Counting here is very different to English. Whereas we have separate words for thirteen, fourteen, fifteen etc; Thai simply says "ten-three," "ten-four" etc and for thirty, forty and fifty you say "three-ten," "four-ten" etc. Hopefully I will learn enough so that I do not land up ordering chicken foot soup!
We also spent a day in Dubai on the way here and that was also an brain-rocking experience! Everything there is enormous and excessive! It was a very interesting day indeed.
The Burj Khalifa
I will be keeping you updated on what I am doing and I will be starting and running a new blog about my travels etc. I need a good name for it though - let me know if you have any ideas!
Thailand is a lot like Africa in many ways: people drive like maniacs but there are fewer accidents here as people go far slower. Things take a long time to happen; "Africa time" has its equivalent here in "Thai time" but the people here are far friendlier and are much more polite than people in Africa. We are very impatient in Africa, whereas everyone here is very patient and polite.
Food here is much easier to get hold of than in SA. There are vendors along all of the streets and they serve really fast food that is absolutely delicious. Learning how to order it, is very difficult though.
Victory Monument
As an English teacher I am fascinated by how different languages conceptualise the same ideas and objects. Counting here is very different to English. Whereas we have separate words for thirteen, fourteen, fifteen etc; Thai simply says "ten-three," "ten-four" etc and for thirty, forty and fifty you say "three-ten," "four-ten" etc. Hopefully I will learn enough so that I do not land up ordering chicken foot soup!
We also spent a day in Dubai on the way here and that was also an brain-rocking experience! Everything there is enormous and excessive! It was a very interesting day indeed.
The Burj Khalifa
I will be keeping you updated on what I am doing and I will be starting and running a new blog about my travels etc. I need a good name for it though - let me know if you have any ideas!
No comments:
Post a Comment