Behind the Noodle Curtain

Looking for Lao in all the wrong places

Been bouncing around the net this weekend. I usually don’t stray from my appointed rounds but needed to shake the cobwebs off. In doing so, I came across some interesting sites offering news, propaganda, advertising, esoterica and sex (DOWN boys! -- look at the screen capture above).

I haven’t found much on Laos, so I decided to look harder. First, there’s not much Lao info even at Thaivisa.com in the Southeast Asia Forum. The main source there has moved to Singapore. But he still keeps in touch, as only a man with a Lao wife would have to.

Another big expat site, Teak Door, has only two pages  of threads on Laos from the perspective of visa runners from Thailand.

When I was visiting Vientiane in January, I liked to read the Vientiane Times newspaper. There are two of them on the web though. The Vientiane Times (dot com site),  apparently beginning in late 1997, is an aggregator of news from newspapers, news agencies, propaganda machines and state communications departments. The Vientiane Times (.org.la domain)   creates most of its own articles, often focusing on government and community activities. So it reads a bit like a government handout sheet. Then again, being in Laos, the paper, operated by a foreigner, has to tread a fine line with the authorities.  The latter is the better one for local Lao news and is very up to date. But, if you don’t read the stuff fresh off the “presses,” the articles disappear behind a paywall, a very expensive paywall. Might be worth it but its only method of subscription is a wire transfer and they are expensive and complex. (In Canada, recent money laundering prevention regulations mean I have to appear personally at the bank to arrange the transfer.)  Two “expensives” make me feel lazy. 

A real disappointment is finding an intriguing URL with Laos in it and finding it’s just a tour and hotel site. So many of these cheats. Also came across some private blogs that hadn’t been updated for months or had only just been added to within six or eight months or year’s gap.

However, there’s one (partial) exception, Travel to Laos Tips. It has some pretty good info. The operator, however, doesn’t make it easy to find out who created it (I did find one reader comment with an answer by Mapanoy, who appears to be the creator of this one, as well as the blog How to Lose 50 Pounds. Hmmm.) Nor does the site provide visible article dates (although the URLs contain year/month dates). In a nutshell, it seems like the site had a very good start but has pretty much been abandoned (no answers to six-month-old reader queries and nothing’s been posted since October 2009). A shame.

A change of countries now . . .

I kid you not, there’s an English language blog on Thai governmental administrative regions. It’s thorough, detailed, up to date and full of esoteric statistics and administrative orders. When I saw a link for Changwat, Amphoe, Tambon, I raced there to see what intrigue may lie in wait. I imagined a merry soap opera romp following the hijinks between first-level administrative officers and the village headman’s daughter. And who’s paying off whom.  Uh, not so much!  Instead, I spent almost an hour reading about “Wrong Tambon numbers in preliminary census 2000 reports;”  “National symbols of Thailand;”  “Muban administration modeled after British colonial model;” “Subdistrict name romanization.”  Talk about esoteric. It’s an impressive piece of work.

Again from the "I kid you not" department is a fresh blog called Sextalk by a Thai woman writing in English -- at a level that would shame many (so-called) native English posters on a certain large expat forum. Her focuses are Thai language,  romance and foreigner-Thai relationships -- and she also answers readers' questions. Rather than rhyming off compliments on her observations and entertaining writing style, read this from her About page: "Before you get any wrong idea, no, I’m not offering any type of erotic services, so you may put away that credit card now." Yes, she has a keen wit. too. She has also written a book by the same name, which is available on her website and is reviewed in detail here at Women Learning Thai. The site appears to be just over a year old, going by the date of her introductory page. By the way, she's an avid and thoughtful commenter (nickname, kaewmala) on some Thailand blogs such as you'll find in my sidebar below right, Favourite Asia Sites, in particular, Women Learning Thai. (Whether you’re a beginner or advanced Thai speaker, I can’t think of a better resource for learning materials, spiced with cultural features and interviews with fascinating people who tell about their paths to Thai language education.)

I’m always happy to indulge myself by reading  really good blog writing. If the subject also happens be Thailand or Southeast Asia, even better. And that’s what I found following a link at Women Learning Thai.     A gentleman who signed a comment DrWill caught my attention. His site, simply called Religion, Sex and Politics, I almost didn’t bother reading once I saw the title. I dove in anyway and would say it is well worth the visit for his clean and straightforward writing style. His analysis of the Red Shirt protest over the past year  might give you a different  perspective.  

It was at  The Thai Report  that I found Changwat, Amphoe, Tambon. The Thai Report collected links to the news of the day and it became really handy. Notice I said everything in the past tense.  In a recent email exchange with the site owner, he said the site was growing rather slowly.  Next thing I knew he had posted an announcement that he didn’t have time to keep it updated, but left up many good links to news sites, news blogs and cultural and Thai life blogs.   A shame really. The Thai Report was not a fancy site but who needs fancy, frankly, as long as it’s simple to load and easy to navigate.

A few tips about Thai language schools

The language school that I chose and am now attending offers a free trial single class, which I found out after reading more thoroughly the small pamphlet from Pro Language. That might not be a bad idea.

I came to this conclusion after my first week of daily classes. Here are some things to look for in a Thai language teacher/school. But first, it really helps to have some exposure to Thai language, either through language CDs, music or hearing Thai people speak. Trying to learn something from language books is a good start, too. But going in cold to Thai language class just doesn't make sense to me.

I said it in an earlier post and I'll say it again, I think my teacher is great. Now, for teacherly recommendations:

• First and foremost, he/she speaks Thai well. Sounds strange but if you can sense that she's speaking clearly for you, then that's a good start. It really helps to have some exposure to Thai language. Lots of Thai in streets. Start by listening. What really helped me was talking with a fluent Thai-speaking  American often.  He said, if you don't get the tones, you have nothing. Seems obvious. In Bangkok, Thais might be able to figure out what you're sayig since they're exposed to the English accent. Outside the city, you won't have that luxury, he says. And I think he's right, based on my recent travels in Isaan, where they speak central Thai, Lao and Khmer (Cambodian), not to mention an Isaan dialect, but almost no English.
• Speaks English well. The teacher needs to be able to explain things and answer your questions. I hear there is a system of Thai teaching in which they speak Thai from the beginning. It's base on the idea that repeated exposure to the language will lead you to learn like children did. Ummm, maybe. But that takes something like 200 to 600 hours of classes. Who's got that time? Not to mention money. Some people are advancing with this system, apparently.
• Gives lots of background to why Thai is the way it is and why it's said or written in a particular way.
• Has patience to wait for you to answer a quiz or oral question.

Some school tips:

• Easy to get to class. My class is right at the Asok BTS/Sukhumvit MRT interchange line. No excuse to skip class because you don't feel like making the effort to get there.
• Really want to learn the language. I've found out how frustrating it is not being able to speak with Thais day to day and finally found the motivation. Hope I can keep it up. After my first week, I'm learning so much and am really glad I started this.
• Take the course one on one.  I get all the attention and cannot coast in class. This actually keeps me going. Most Thai-speaking foreigners I know urge one-on-one language learning. In big classes of 5 to 15 people, you can zone out or coast and you start falling behind. Also, you can't get all your questions in. The teacher also doesn't have to bring the teaching level down to the least experienced or slowest classmate. It's definitely the most expensive option at anywhere from 8000 to 10,000 baht for 20 to 25 hours.
• Manuals and workbooks should be free. If you're paying thousands of baht for a course in Thai language and they charge you for a basic course book, huh!?!?! That doesn't make sense.

[Might add more later]

Thai language teacher puts it all together

Yesterday, I attended my first Thai language class. What an eye opener.

I have spent many hours in self-study at home in Canada. I used one study series that had three CDs, which I recorded onto my iPod. There were many other conversational CD systems, plus reference works and supplemental books with different approaches.

But in all those hours, I really didn't form any useful Thai ability. I also listened to Thai music CDs  and karaoke VCDs. Have to admit I didn't put enough effort into that.

But at least I formed a bit of foundation, although I had many seemingly unanswerable questions and many gaps.   In an hour and 40 minutes, at Bangkok's Pro Language school, the teacher was able to fill in a hundred gaps in my knowledge and made me realize how much book/CD systems leave out. Important stuff.

For example, there are some combinations of English consonants that, said together, come close to the Thai pronounciation, such as "bp". I did not know, and this is important, that there's a hard "bp" and softer one, such that the English phonetical combo of ped said with a hard P means duck, and with a soft "p" means spicy. There is a difference. Both, by the way, are low-tone words. So you can see how you might order a spicy fried rice and get duck instead. The spicy ped is actually pronounced with a slight "ph" sound and actually spelled phonetically phed. The duck ped is a hard, quick word. Phew.

I decided to take the course because of the frustrations of visiting places outside of Bangkok and not being able to communicate to a degree I felt I should. Consequently, I missed out on opportunities beyond simple things like greetings and ordering food, with even the latter being a challenge for me because I was able to order eats in Bangkok because of vendors' ability to name things in English. And you miss opportunities to talk to the locals.

I decided to also do the course with a teacher one on one. My teacher is fantastic. She can explain things with as much background as she needs to, even anticipating typical questions before they're asked because of her knowledge, experience and ability. Very impressed, I am. Cost is 9,900 baht ($350 Cdn) for 20 hours. It's a start.

Time to end frustrations and learn Thai language

Next Monday, I start an intensive introductory course to the Thai language. It's only 20 hours total, two hours a day, but I will have a teacher in front of me, one on one.

I couldn't imagine a classroom situation working for me.  Classes of five or more students begin at set times in the month and during each day. I needed to get through this before leaving for Isaan and a month-long course is too long a wait.

Classroom setups also mean you are competing with others for the teacher's time and may not get answers to your questions. You've only got two or so hours per day, two or three times per week, unless you really want to steam through by taking up to four hours a day, every day. And you have to sit through others, like myself, fumbling through a Thai sentence. Could be excruciating for all concerned.

Now, 20 hours is not going to take me even remotely toward my goal and end the frustrations. But it's a start.

I've got a lot of hours under my belt doing various self-study courses at home in Canada. There's the Teach Yourself series, Pimsleur and numerous phrase books and reference works.

There are problems with such self-study efforts, especially since Thai is a tonal language. If you don't hear the language everyday, you will not learn to discern the five tones and therefore, the meaning of the words. And you have to really practise the tones, finish the exercises and listen to music CDs and watch Thai movies.

 If you don't pick up the books every day, or at least on a regular basis, say, through the winter, you will not make much progress. I've also learned how useful it is to have farang friends here who speak Thai. They understand my questions on say, how to say a particular word, and can explain my mistakes or how to say it properly because they can hear me struggling to say it. A Thai is unlikely to hear what you're trying to say because you are wrong.

My two Thai-speaking friends really worked hard at it. Every day. That means really listening to Thai conversations throughout the day. One American friend lived with a Thai family for a year and took a sink-or-swim attitude. He's pretty fluent and continues to build his vocabulary.

An example of the difficulty of tones can be expressed by the use of English phonetics: "mai" can mean  mile (mid tone), silk (rising tone), wood or question forming (high tone), new (low tone) and not (falling tone.

 

East Asia: Dreaming of new home

I first visited Southeast Asia in 2004 and I wish I'd had those years back when I didn't go there. I will make the best of the situation as it lies now by spending more than half a year travelling four, or maybe five, countries, including China. Just the thought of having an apartment in Bangkok from which I can travel in all directions makes my palate salivate: for the food, the culture, the scenery and the smiles, especially the smiles.

Coming from Toronto, you forget what an honest smile looks like. Now, when I go back to the big grey city, and actually see someone smile openly and without affectation and expectation, I think there is some hope there.

Now it's on to the first stop, the Land of Smiles: Thailand.

I hope the  following note will  encourage you to  come back some day and see if I have  herded some words into some thoughts. No doubt there will be a few stray ones and ones that ought to be culled. I'm on a learning curve about blogging, after all, as well as about travelling and living in East Asia, the subject of this blog.

First, I should be clear that East Asia to me includes China, as well as all the way east to Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and south to the tips of Thailand and Vietnam. Why bring this up? I will be travelling  for six months starting in October 2008 through some of these countries. I hope -- okay, now you see I'm  already thinking about failure to update this thing -- to tell some stories and show some photos of my travels.  I want to update this daily. That way, I'm not reducing and distilling incidents into generalities, not to mention banalities. I like details. I just need to tell them well enough to deserve your attention since you've given your  hard-earned time.

Second, I'll begin the stories before I set foot in Southeast Asia. For example, the visa chase is important  because some countries are very restrictive if you want to stay within their borders for any time greater than 30 days and go in and out. There are forms, bank statements, criminal record clearances, personal statements and, last but hardly least,  fees.

Note: I managed to delete my lead post a week after starting this thing. So I've appended original introduction to the top of post no. 2 (below). [Since doing this, I've rewritten the intro to make the thing more clear and attractive.] Thank Buddha for web publishing.

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No book deals in Bangkok

A trip today to a local book store that retails overstock  turned up Lonely Planet guides to Southwest China and Taiwan, each for $15, half the cover price. Turns out it's cheaper to buy some  Asian focused books here in Canada.  Related examples:  The Rough Guides to Thai and Vietnamese languages I bought at Asiabooks in Bangkok this spring were 295 baht each, about $9. In Canada, the cover price is $9.99. These two and another, Thailand Fever, are easily found for much less than at Asiabooks. (Thailand Fever, by the way, is a very informative book about Thai and Western culture. The authors set up lively clashes and then explain the thinking from both perspectives. Then they offer possible resolutions.)