TWOTD (Thai Word Of The Day)

Mâi ben rai, phrase: Don't mention it, or it's nothing. When someone says thank you, in English, we often say, "you're welcome," or "don't mention it." In Thai, mai ben rai means nevermind. It's kinda like saying "forgedda-boud-it" if you're a mobster.

Quick random fact: Nirvana's second album Nevermind was called Mai Ben Rai in Thailand.
(Okay, I lied, it was still called Nevermind)

Mâi means no.

This webpage Danielle found has a good lsit of phrases: http://www.learningthai.com/useful_phrases.html

We have a good idea of where we plan to go and who we want to visit. Now we need to hammer out some dates for the plane ride. Hopefully we can get a good idea of costs and a timeframe of when we're going to be there, as well as how long.


HINT: Our friends Danielle and Joe need to start posting a little something. =o)

Bonus: Friend in Thai is puen, pheonetically pêu•an. The U sound is similar to O in oven. I think that's right. Anyway, We gotta get moving on narrowing down the dates, so we can purchase tickets and get everyone passports.

A letter from Dad.

I guess I forgot to mention my father lives in Thailand and part of this trip will be to visit my family. I have not seen my father in 4 years. I've also not seen my step-mother and grandmother in 10 years. I've never met my half brother or half sister. This bit excites me and I'm even more motivated to go.

I received a welcoming letter from my father earlier today:

25.4.2006
Eddy
Sound good to me about the trip
Cheing Mai trip will be no problem I will set up a place to stay free of charge for you.
And Pataya your auntie Jessie has a place you can stay free. Use that as your base camp to travel one day trip or so.
In Bangkok, all of you can stay in my condo free too, but bring your sleeping bags.
All you need is plane and food money . In Thailand if you can survive on noddle and fried rice, I say $5 /day is what you will be spending. And all your relatives will like to have you and your friends to stay with them. Your uncle, my elder brother, who has a daughter staying with aunt Jessies back East, is always asking about you.
So I will be see you
Love,
dad

I didn't even know I had a female cousin... I didn't even know Dad had an older brother?

Looks like this trip is highly feasible. 5 bucks a day works out to be $70 each--or 2660 Baht. That's a lot of baht! I doubt we'll really spend that much on food since we'll be staying with relatives some of the time and if we decide to eat cheaper than cheap, we can hit street vendors that charge about a dollar a plate. Thai people put Mexican street vendors to shame. A full meal and an orange Fanta will cost a buck or less! I fucking LOVE orange Fanta.

I digress.

I had a good conversation with Danielle tonight. She's quite jazzed about the trip and has been learning Thai in bits and pieces. I try to help however much I can over the internet. It's quite challenging though since you need to learn the tones that go along with the word. I figure I'll keep eating Thai food and have her order in Thai. It'll be the easiest way to learn... though not quite the cheapest hehe.

Alright, I've gotten so excited, I stayed past my bedtime. So long, goodnight.

The Awesome Thailand Blog Post 1

We are approximately 6 months away from our trip to Thailand.

A little background:

I've always wanted to go to Europe. Backpack. Travel. See stuff. I asked all my friends for advice. Last November, I had my heart set on visiting Europe for spring break in April. Life really got flipped, turned up-side down and thus I never got to Europe.

Morgan had always told me about how much she wanted to go to Thailand and how, on past trips to Europe, people raved about how amazing Thailand is--and I agree having been there numerous times as a child and teenager.

Lindsay Morgan and I are not strangers to traveling. A few years back, Morgan, Markee and me journied to the long lost city of Bellingham, Washington. We dropped Markee off in Oregon because we didn't want her anymore. We traveled by car, a bitchin' camaro, now deceased. We have proven to ourselves we can travel cheap and live on couches. Of course, I was afraid of rats and fleas, but that didn't stop me.

Back to present:

We somehow got the crazy idea we'd both go to Thailand. I'm not really sure when, or how it happened, but I do know that last Sunday, Morgan and I got serious about it. We went to look for plane tickets, books on travel, translations--everything. We mapped out our stay and chose our travel companions. She said her roommate Joe really wanted to go. And I thought of Danielle, the person I would love to travel with the most because she's the most fun to be around in any situation--especially when everything else feels awkward, she makes me feel upbeat and positive.

So we have our four travel companions.

Joe - The Bodygaurd.
Morgan - The Cultural Advisor.
Eddie - The Translator and Navagator.
Danielle - The Innocent "Mary-Ann-type" who will get us free beer and possibly hookers. (Just Kidding)

---

I'm brushing up on my Thai. I used to be fluent. I can definitely understand it. I can speak it a little better than a 2nd language learner. I can also read some letters.

The biggest hurdle will be getting us there and back. We'll need passports and money for the plane tickets. This means I'm going to work my ass off to save up at least 2000 bucks. I know I can do it. I can take on whatever odd jobs I can find. I also get a paid vacation, so I should do my best at my current position as a Marketing Director. Maybe I can sell the Porsche if I have to.

This is going to be a great time. I feel like I have a great team. I'm going to need some Indiana Jones clothing and an elephant.

I'm ready.