Trekking Through Thailand

OMG somebody's using my blog to send me spam! Like I don't get enough already having a university-associated email account.

Life is busy. Grant applications. Stacks of papers to read. Stacks of papers to grade. And very little time to train. Come to think of it, I don't have time to be doing this either.

- “If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise.”

I don't know what happened while I was in Thailand, but not long before I left IMAZ was run, and right after I came back I was able to follow IM MOO online. Both events were exciting, and I got a real kick out of reading the race reports, and seeing montages (especially of the AZ course where there was a stretch of marathon completely lined with posterboard signs).

But there was something else too.

I actually got into triathlon knowing that some day I wanted to attempt an IronMan race. Sure, it was also useful crosstraining for a runner who was always injured or on the verge of injured. But in the back of my head with every workout was the spectre of the IronMan.

Every triathlon distance is hard, and to excel at any of them you're pushing yourself to the extreme. But to the general population, and even to some extent among triathletes, there is a special awe reserved just for the long course. It's an event where just finishing is the first goal. I've heard IronMan champions admit to that. And there's something special to that.

I worked hard on the day after IM MOO to resist the urge to sign up. And I was successful. It's a committment I can't make. Not now. There's too much riding on next year. It was smart not to sign up....

wasn't it?

I've heard, and I fully believe, that you can never really be ready for an IronMan. Not just the race, but the journey to the starting line will tax every part of your life. Just look at IronWill (www.throughth3wall.com) and her journey. Maybe it's not that I've got too much going on. Maybe I'm just not ready for that committment to have my life overturned and shredded.

And I'm OK with that.

This year won't be my year, and probably next year won't either. But the struggle not to sign up, the regret at not making the leap, and the excitement I get from hearing about other people's races all reassure me. One day I will be an IronMan.

http://throughth3wall.com/

I had a decent ride today, but it was nothing compared to THAT!

So, things got hectic in Thailand. Every time I went to the internet café I had to deal with issues with the permit (which the DNP went and freaking LOST and we had to re-submit it) and finding a new roommate since my old roommate got a fellowship that took her to DC. Try finding a roommate via internet from across the planet with only sporadic email access. Not fun.

I didn’t get to run much, although I was constantly active while in the park. I did go for a few runs, trying to modify my form. One day I had the genius idea halfway through my 3 mile run to make it an 6 mile run instead. Only after mile 2 the run turned uphill and left the shade of the forest into open fields and the full heat of the sun. I don’t think I’ve felt oxygen debt like that in a long time.

One lesson I learned well is that if you want to stay more than one month you should really should buy your visa before you get there. You cannot buy a visa in the country other than the 30 day visa on arrival that you get at the airport. So I had to take a lovely bus trip across the border to Cambodia. It’s a 5+ hour ride from Bangkok, then you have to get out of Thailand, walk across the border to Cambodia ignoring all the people trying to scam you. Don’t ask for any help from anybody including people wearing official uniforms. And when you buy your visa, the price is US $20 not 1,000 Baht. (A difference of around 6 dollars). So you stand in the entry line in Cambodia, then move a few feet and stand in the exit line, then walk back to Thailand and re-enter. The whole process took a little over an hour. Then for the 5+ hour ride back to Bangkok. I got it all done in a day, but it was not fun. So when I got back to the park after that little escapade I resolved to leave the park as little as possible.

Highlights:
1) I finally observed the behavior that I was there to study.
2) And got it on video!
3) I got addicted to Spicy Fried Egg Salad and this Cashew dish. Oh, I might have to go out for Thai right now.
4) I saw a few elephants. Both times on the road, but still it was really cool!
5) I got to ride a moterbike back and forth from the house to the forest.
6) It tried to kill me by flatting out going downhill and around a bend, but it was still massively fun to ride.
7) And it belongs to a woman who hates me. Or rather she thinks that my advisor is poaching on her territory and since I was there and he wasn’t, I was caught in the middle of the pissing contest.
8) I got to name over 20 monkeys with names like Phantom, Tamora, Moby and Nob.
9) Several times I saw stupid people feeding monkeys from cars, and it made for good video as well as giving me awesome dominance info.
10) A case of beer costs $12.
11) And that’s for 12, 40oz beers.
12) A handle of rum or whisky is between $3-5.
13) Once I get a bike out there, there are some really massive hills that I can train on
14) You can squeeze the stomachs out of leeches. It’s terribly gross, but quite effective
15) I didn’t get lost out in the forest at night a single time
16) Even when I do check my email, I don’t have to answer anybody because as far as they know I’m out of contact.

Lowlights:
1) I hurt my knee early on and had to take a few days off from working
2) Monkeys have an uncanny ability to aim while defecating/urinating
3) Contact with monkey bodily fluids can give you a deadly disease….
4) that has symptoms similar to the flu
5) I caught a cold on the flight back which seriously freaked me out
6) Eating out doesn’t always agree with my stomach.
7) When you order something off the menu, don’t expect to get what you ordered.
8) The whole trip to Cambodia pretty much sucked.
9) Taxi drivers are HUGE scammers.
10) Asthma. It acted up pretty badly.
11) Bangkok.
12) The 24+ Hour trip home.
13) Arriving to find out that my ride had my arrival time off by 12 hours and I had to find a way from JFK to NJ on my own.

OK, now I'm pissed. Just when things were supposed to get interesting....they didn't. Majorly. G.G. was supposed to call me yesterday so we could get together and chat. He didn't. But that wasn't all that important, so I figure I can forgive him that....
But Ulrich and I need to meet before tomorrow. It's totally not cool that he didn't call yesterday. So at night I went to the hotel where he said he was thinking of putting up his current volunteers. Well the hotel people don't have him registered. *sarcasam on*Just great*sarcasm off* So I sent him an email this morning. Now I know that he has about as much access to email as I do (translation: he can walk downstairs to the internet access in his hotel, or down the street to one of the myriad internet cafes) so I didn't expect a call right away. But that was 7AM, and it's now 4PM and he hasn't emailed or called me yet. And I am getting more annoyed by the minute.
It would have been so much easier if he had given me his number. I had it stored on my old sim card, but that expired and so I lost the number. Ironically, his number was the only one I had recorded in the phone but apparently nowhere else. Perfect.
Really the only reason I'm online right now is because I was hoping for an email from him, but since I paid for half an hour I'm going to use it all, and ranting will serve that purpose quite nicely.
OK, well, I guess that's it. Since none of the things I wanted/expected to occur yesterday actually happened I really don't have much to update. I'm supposed to have a meeting tomorrow and head to the park after that, but we'll see if that happens...

Very shortly, as in this afternoon, I'm going to start having to actually do work. Soon after that I'll be on my way out to the field and start monkey chasing. So just when things get interesting, I'm going to have to stop updating as often.
On today's planner: meeting up with Ulrich, and connecting with G.G. Ulrich and I are going to have to discuss Monday's permit negotiations (and possibly getting me an ID card if at all possible.....) This might get hairy. G.G. wanted me to go the official route for housing so that I don't get his project in trouble - certainly a posistion I can respect. Ulrich wanted me to just show up and try to stay under the radar. I can't go halfway with the official route, but if Ulrich can't get me an ID card, halfway is the best I can do. *sigh* Hopefully there is no need to worry. I get the feeling any arguing is going to be between G.G. and Ulrich.

At least Mr. Advisor hasn't decided to call and check up on me yet.

I think I need a caffeine fix. Mr. Bean here I come. (No joke, that's the name of the coffee shop downstairs. I'm guessing that movie didn't make a huge impression on them)

I think the jet lag is finally over! I am the sleep master! I am now running on a normal night's sleep thanks to a handy sleep aid that I took last night before bed. Problem with those things is that I usually wake up feeling great but about an hour later I get tired again. They just don't wear out the way they're supposed to. Solution, get up, eat breakfast, and retire back to the room to read and rest.
It's wicked hot out today though. I was overwhelmed just walking the block and a half (including 2 flights of stairs) to the mall to get to the internet place. Luckily the place where the monkeys live is about 7-800m above sea level. Sadly, that also means there will be more rain there, but hey at this point I would gladly take a bit of rain in exchange for relief from this heat!
Well, I think it's about time I headed up to lunch. If I get there early I might even be able to get a decent seat in the food court and hang out for a while reading/playing SUDOKU/hoping that my advisor doesn't start calling me every day on my cell since now he has my number.

Wheeeee!! I actually managed 6 hours of sleep last night. And that after a nap that accidentally exceeded 30 minutes and hit a total of 1.5 hours right before dinner. I might actually be able to kick this jet lag thing pretty soon.

And to make it better.....I found the AC control in my room! And I thought I was doomed to swelter until the end of August. Now I get to wait until the 17th to swelter! Excellent.

Sadly, however, Mr Advisor finally contacted me via email asking both for updates and for my cellphone number. ARGH! I don't want to talk to him. This is supposed to be my time on my own where if I have to deal with it at all I get to think about it carefully and respond via email after the initial annoyance at whatever he's said has worn off. *sigh*

Well, now I have to go and figure out what to do with myself now....no plans all day and I've beaten all the interesting games on my cell phone. I might have to resort to my big book of Sudoku.

Jet lag is the current bane of my existance. That and humid air and asthma. My body is so confused that it has just decided that random 2-4hour naps are all it can do, and so I want to sleep constantly, and can only sleep for short periods. It really sucks. Plus, hydration is hard when you actually have to think about going out and buying bottled water.
I have managed so far to: think I forgot 2 very inportant things which I did not forget, actually forget one somewhat important thing that I was sure I packed, stay in two different hotels, buy a cell phone (~$200 US), have said phone break causing a major panic attack, get the phone fixed at the place where I bought it, contact a guy about housing in the park, and ask to set up a meeting with somebody else, who will go with me to meet with an official about getting my permit to actually be here.
Exhausting, right? Well, normally no, but add in high stress from not being able to understand anybody and it is quite hard.
I have also found the two WORST coffee joints I have ever been in (and had 2 cups of each....dang caffiene addiction riding on the stupid jet lag...)
6 days until monkey time! I can hardly wait!

oh, and PS, I totally haven't been practicing my Thai. D'oh!