Above: The Notebook Cover / Where This Entry Begins Transcript Buriram to Bangkok 5.5 hours via bus to meet up with a friend flying in from Toronto. First impression of BKK post floods - there was a lot of debris left on the side of the streets. Second impression of BKK post floods - everyone on average was incredibly friendly (I had forgotten). 4 days/3 nights of shopping, Japanese ice cream, a movie … [Read more...]
TRAVEL MEMOIR - LAURA DAL FARRA
You've found my nomadic journals and muay thai training memoirs. My style of living the nomadic life is one of fully living in the present, while investing, not grasping for the future. My mode of travel is one that focuses on quality experiences rather than travel materialism where the quantity of destinations override the experience. I also like to get silly sometimes.
Notes From The Road: From Mukdahan To Nekromantix, Buriram
Transcript Hey People, On a short stop back to Buriram. Got kicked off the bus on the way here after six hours. Bought the ticket in Mukdahan, which is the starting point for the trip. The woman made a typo on my ticket, so essentially I had a no seat ticket despite buying the ticket 24 hours in advance (when few were sold) and paying full fare. To make a long story short - told to skip = me contesting and showing all other info on the ticket, people waiting, waiting - I go to be left at night in a town and told to wait for the next available bus, could be a couple of hours, could be many hours. Driver still had my ticket, which … [Read more...]
Notes From The Road: From Thailand To Laos And Back
Transcript Hello Pig!!(Gies), Buriram - Mukdahan - Over The Friendship Bridge - Hello Savannakhet, Laos. - Mukdahan. Savannakhet is a mellow little place and is the only place, other than cities within close proximity, (i.e. Surin) that remind me of Buriram. I wonder if this is similar to what Buriram looked like 5+ years ago?? To Note: Upon arriving at the hotel in Mukdahan, the guy working laughed while speaking to me. Apparently I was speaking Isaan. This further puts things together as I thought I was speaking Thai.?? Let's see what happens when I get out of Isaan … [Read more...]
Notes From The Road: On The Bus
Transcript Get on the 16:30 bus after agreeing to buy a ticket to sit on the floor until a seat be made available (fingers crossed on would prior to my destination which online is 4 hours away, the guy I tried to buy a ticket off earlier today (but couldn't - he just told me to show up) said it was 5. And the women who actually got me on the bus said it was at least 6 or 7. As I'm illiterate, I'm assuming I'm on the right bus, although it is practically empty. Read the next memoir, From Thailand To Laos And Back, here. Read the last memoir, The Beauty Of Sickness, The Grandeur Of Silence, … [Read more...]
The Beauty Of Sickness. The Grandeur Of Silence.
One week of illness. The body's reaction to medication I had mistaken for an antihistamine. Eczema, perhaps psiriosis covered thighs made walking painful. The rubbing caused the affliction to spread, my thighs to bleed. My face. Back. Neck. Hands. Few places were spared. Then a fever of some genus arrived. Nineteen hours of sleep one night. A forgotten amount the next. And the next. Small pieces of verbal exchange during the week. Buying calamine and antihistamines early in the week. Answering my phone to inform someone I wasn't available. My nightly walk to the lobby to purchase that which I've been sustaining myself on since I … [Read more...]
Racism in Thailand – a Day in the Life of a White Woman in Buriram
There is racism that is intended and there is the innocent racism that arises out of ignorance. Let me give you an example of the latter... Hmm....scratch that first draft. I'm conjuring numerous instances of racism I've faced in Thailand, most notably in Buriram, and with each instance that currently comes to mind, there is the ever pervasive thought....I don't know if that's innocent, but I do know it wasn't intended to harm, at least not overtly (in the way many of us Westerners have come to expect of racist remarks and/or actions). Rather, the intent was to remind me of my place. In the Thailand I know, someone in a position of esteem and/or power reminding someone … [Read more...]
KO’d At Sitmonchai
The intent was to make the seven plus hour trip to Sitmonchai Gym, Thamaka, Kanchanaburi to hook up with friends, write a review of the gym and pick up on Sitmonchai's style of delivering devastating punches and low kicks. Low kicks score minimal points in Thailand. As a result a number of gyms pay them little mind. For example, I had the habit of annoying a past trainer by delivering low kicks during our pad sessions. He kept telling me they were ugly. Not mine particularly, just in general. Sitmonchai fighters in contrast are known to utilize low kicks to disable their opponents by KO. Ironically, one sentence into this post and I received a text that … [Read more...]
Rain Veins On My Window Panes
Generally I keep track of my training. I've got a little creme coloured imported Thai day planner I picked up at a Dollar Store in Canada I reference. I do this to keep tabs on the coin I owe the gym (I pay by the day) and to take note of my health. I'm sick often out here. Ninety percent of it is due to msg poisonings and other allergy and / or (dirty) food related issues. For example, when reviewing the last eight weeks of my life, I realized I was sick for five of the past eight Mondays. If I don't take this all down on paper, my brain efficiently washes it way. I don't see the patterns, I just live in the present and push forward. Keeping tabs on my … [Read more...]
A Moment Of Gratitude – Buakaw Por Pramuk vs Sataban Tor Ratonakiet
An integral aspect of muay thai culture here in Thailand is reverence for those who teach you. Each fight commences with what is called the Wai Kru, a pre-fight ring ritual of respect. The Wai is a Thai gesture of veneration and Kru is the Thai word for teacher. A few days ago, my pre Lookchaomaesaitong Sit Namkabuan kru, Gai, a.k.a. Sataban Tor Ratonakiet called to let me know a fight of his was on YouTube. This was new as he neither owns any footage of his career as a nak muay, nor could we find footage anywhere, other than a K.O. highlight lifted from the standard entrance cd given out at Lumpinee stadium. The following is a fight between … [Read more...]
Changes – Finding A New Muay Thai Gym
Finding the right trainer and/or muay thai gym in its homeland can be a difficult task, particularly for those here long term. If I had to generalize, I'd estimate that your average Foreigner who is on limited time and of limited knowledge has a fairly easy time finding the right fit. New is beautiful. Again, if I had to generalize, I'd estimate that those of us here long term generally tend to develop discerning tastes. We know what we want, we know what we don't, and oftentimes other elements influence our decisions. Among them, our financial situation. A number of us stepped away from our employment and saved considerably to follow our passion for muay … [Read more...]
If You’re Good…On Being A Foreign Woman In Thailand
Thai massages generally last two hours and during that time multiplied by a few visits, you can get to know a lot about the person administering the massage, and them about you. It's sort of reminiscent of getting your hair cut in the West. Today, as I sat with my legs crossed and head bent, signifying the end of my massage, my massage lady rubbed my back softly and in the tone one uses when one wants to impart wisdom and comfort said, "You have the soul of a man but the body of a woman." Her hands paused and she squeezed my shoulder blades lightly. "If you're good/do well, in your next life you will be born a … [Read more...]
Western Mind, Eastern Mind And The Space In Between
Excerpt from an email sent to a friend..... "Please tell me delicious stories of Canadian life. I'll call it Canadiana and hold it close to my heart..... I've been out here long enough where I'm fucking up English words... i.e. on the TV I saw written in English (on Thai dubbed Bugs Bunny yesterday)..... BOX OFFICE..... Because there is no real transliteration for Thai here, meaning, there is no standard spelling/use of the Roman Alphabet so people spell words however the fuck they feel like it... I read BOX OFFICE as... BOX OF FICE... meaning BOX OF RICE? BOX OF ICE? What is this they speak of?.... Haven't quite lost my mind, … [Read more...]