The first days in Iran

We have now been in Iran a couple of days, and the first impression is very good. People are friendly and polite, and almost everyone has a relative in Norway (especially the Kurds). When we are walking in the streets looking confused about the direction, someone will stop and ask where we want to go.

After just one day in Teheran we left for Isfahan yesterday afternoon, and while Teheran was a big city with boring buildings and smoggy air, Isfahan is very interesring. We have just been seeing a little of the city today, and I am glad we have two more days to explore everything here. We have been seeing a couple of mosqes and in the early afternoon, a gentleman approached us, asking where we come from and what we have been seeing in Isfahan. Then he showed us around some nice "hidden" places in the Bazar area. He also took us to see some handicraft shops. We are not really sure if he was hired by the shops, but anyway we had a great time with him. We finished the walking tour by going to restaurant with him, having the best meal in Iran until now.

Last night I got an sms from Marit, asking me to describe the city where I am in five words. Here are my answere with explanation:
Vennlig/friendly - Everyone is really nice here
Ferietid/holiday - We arrived in the middle of the celebration of the Iranian new year and many Iranians have one or three weeks holiday. Isfahan is a popular destination for domestic tourists, so the streets are crowded by Teheranians on holiday.
Toert/Dry - The climate is hot and dry, warmer then what the guidebook say is normal.
Homburger - You don't travel to Iran because of the food. By all means, the food is ok, but not spectacularly so. Iranians love fast food "Pizza" or hamburger, sometimes misspelled homburger.
Mannsdominert/Domination by the men - Yes, many of the women are covered in tents (chador litterarly means tent), but quite a lot of them wear a hijab covering only half of their hear (and they wear so much make up). We are almost only approached by men, but then again, some women dares to talk with us, and I know that the educational level of the women here is as high as for the men.

I have been taking some pictures with my new camera and I will upload some pictures next time I blogg. Comments are encouraged :)

Til Iran

I dag reiser jeg fra Thailand til Iran, der Haavard og jeg skal vaere i to uker. Reiseruten er som foelger:

29.3 - 2.4: Isfahan

2.4 - 5.4: Yazd

5.4 - 10.4: Shiraz

10.4 - 12.4: Teheran

Jeg er sikker paa at det blir en spennende tur. Jeg er usikker paa hvor rask internett-tilgang jeg vil faa tilgang til, men jeg haaper paa at jeg skal faa blogget litt underveis. Klikk paa kartet for aa se detaljer.

Buddha in the three

I guess all what it really is, is a coincident by nature. After beeing a great city for centuries, Ayutthaya was destroyed by the Burmese about 250 years ago, and then deserted and left for nature to deal with it. Threes are growing, and this three didn't care about the fact that it was a Buddha head it is way. So that is how the Buddha in the three was created.

Today it has become a tourist attractions. The 20 minutes we spent next to it was shared by a couple of hundreds japanese, german and thai tourists. But still, I believe it is has something peacefull, like a humble attitude. It might be the smile of the Buddha, it might be the way the three encapture the head - the head is lying on the lap of the the three - and the colors of the Buddha that is almost excactly the same as the three itself. It is just nice.

Yesterday I was visiting Ayutthaya together with Marit's three oldest children, two teachers from the Norwegian school run by the missionaries in Mukdahan, and one more pupil from the school (Ida Marie). We reached Ayutthaya by a crowded train, and visited just a few of the sites the ancient capital has to offer. The kids made drawings of the Buddha in the three and learned about the history of the city. But the main intention of the day was to have fun, and I believe it was a success for all of us. The kids were playing in the threes close to the ruins, and Oen borrowd a bicycle taxi when the driver was not there for a moment.

Before we went back to Bangkok, we dropped by the royal summer palace - a European style palace area (a mix of all kind of European arcitecture).

This day I got to be a real uncle for the kids :)

Nytt onkelbarn

En av de viktigste grunnene til at jeg er i Bangkok akkurat naa, er at Marit har gaatt hoeygravid. I den tiden har jeg faatt blitt bedre kjent med niesene mine som jeg ikke ser saa mye til siden vi bor i ulike hjoerner av jordkloden. Paa loerdag var ventetiden over, og jeg fikk enda en niese! Jeg er veldig glad for at jeg fikk vaere i Thailand akkurat naar dette skjedde.

Ekstra spennende var det fordi vi ikke visste om det kom var en jente eller gutt som skulle komme. Det ble altsaa en liten pike, saa naa har jeg fem nieser. Det er ikke endelig bestemt hva hun skal hete (bare nesten), saa forloepig heter hun lillesoester. Hvis noen har veldig gode forslag, saa er det bare aa sende en tekstmelding til Marit. Det vil forundre meg om lillesoester ikke faar to navn, slik som soestrene sine.

Spebarn liker ikke saa godt aa reise, saa vi forblir i Bangkok et par uker til (det vil si Marit og de minste barna, selv reiser jeg til Iran paa fredag).

Jeg vil gratulere Marit og Satad saa mye og gleder meg til aa vaere ennaa mer sammen med lillesoester og de andre niesene mine ikke bare denne uken, men ogsaa de neste aarene.

Se ogsaa bloggen til Marit for flere bilder (link oeverst til hoeyre)

Tigertempelet

Det er ikke bare jeg som har tatt en lang paaskeferie i aar. En kollega av meg, Karine er paa en lengre ferie i Asia sammen med samboeren sin, Tor. Jeg traff dem da de var i Bangkok denne uken. I loepet av de siste ukene foer jeg reiste fra Norge, snakket Karine flere ganger om at hun skulle besoeke et tigertempel i Thailand. Det viste seg at de hadde arrengert en tur fra Bangkok, og tilboed meg aa vaere med. Det takket jeg ja til, og angrer ikke.

Tempelet ble bygget for ca 20 aar siden, og ligger i naerheten av jungelen som skiller Thailand fra Burma. I jungelen lever det utrydningstruede tigre, og munken bestemte seg for aa starte et prosjekt for aa ta vare paa dyrene. Det begynte med 2 tigre for 7 aar siden, og naa har de over 25 dyr. Bestnaden vokser stadig ved at tigerunger blir foedt i tempelet.

Tigertempelet er blitt voldsomt populaert blandt turister, og det er lett aa forstaa hvorfor. Hvor ellers faar du gaa rundt sammn med tigre som hverken er innestengt i egne bur eller lenket fast? Jeg kan forsikre om at det var en spesiell opplevelse og ha hodet til en 200 kg tung tiger paa fanget! Visstnok har det aldri skjedd noen ulykker ved tempelet.

Et av hoeydepunktene var ogsaa aa leke med tigerungene. De var litt villere enn de stoerre dyra, men likevel harmloese. Dette er en dag vi sent vil glemme.

Paa vei tilbake stoppet vi ved en elefantcamp og red paa elefanter en halvtimes tid. Morsomt det ogsaa, men sammenlignet med tigerkosing blir til og med elefantridning lite eksotisk.

Les mer om tigertempelet ved aa klikke paa tittelen.

Jungle and Beach in Pranburi

I don't know what it is that makes Thammasat university such a romantic place. But the fact is that Helene and I met there, my cousin David met his girlfriend there, and I know that many other couples met while attending the Thai Studies program. One of those couples are currently living in Pranburi, and I went to visit them last weekend. As I have been away from Thailand for such a long time, I managed to take the wrong minibus (Rot To) - I went to Petchaburi (or Phetburi as it is pronounced) instead of Pranburi (just south of Hua Hin). Lucky for me, both of the towns are south of Bangkok, and eventually I got to see my friends without too much delay.

Struan and Tan are a British-Thai beach-couple. After running a bar at Ko Pangan for a few years, they have now settled in a more relaxed area, just next to Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park. There is also beach closeby, the Dolphin beach. Together with a friend they are now starting up a new bar there.

It is not just another bar, this one have sitting groups beneath palm threes, a pound with fishes (you can borrow fishing equipment there) and a soon-to-be-finished 18 hole minigolf/crazygolf. The minigolf is sponsored by restaurants and other businesses in the area, but also by friends of Struan and Tan. The sponsors have been allowed to design their own lane, and this has resulted in the "Everton Football hole" "The Katoey hole", etc. Actually quite funny. On the picture, the Katoey hole is beeing made

During my stay in Pranburi, we went to visit a wat not that far away from where Struan and Tan lives. The wat is actually inside the national park, and the sorroundings make the wat very nice. This picture only gives a hint about how it is to visit a temple with jungle all around.

This time, I only stayed for one night in Pranburi. I hope it won't be long until I can go back there again to spend some days doing nothing at the beach, but sipping beer and breaking the minigolf record score... And by then I will hopefully meet Struan jr. who is expected to meet this world next month (on the minigolf picture, Tan is not fat, just pregnant).

Rediscovering the past

I lived in Bangkok for one whole year, in 2002, when I was studying at Thammasat university. Last Thursday, I decided to go to this part of Bangkok and visit all the places I used to hang around. First, I took a walk from the Grand Palace area to Thammasat university, where pretty much everything looked as before. The cafeteria area was busy at lunchtime, all the student were still wearing the white and black school uniform (and yes, the female student are still competing to have the shortest skirts), and even though I could see some renovation work going on, there were few signs that 6 years have passed.

Then I took the ferry across Chao Praya, that is from Tha Phra Chang to Tha Phra Pinklao. This was my favorit way of getting to school, because my apratement was situated on the Bangkok Noi side of the river. From there, I walked all the way to Soi Thepnakarin. As six years earlyer, I still found 4 street restaurants and vendors selling som tam and bbq pork on sticks. I sat down on "rubber boots" restaurant where I was recognised at once. The owner used to find it so surprising that my Thai was so good back in the old days, and he always got a laugh when I tried to read the Thai language newspaper "Thai Rath". His daughter (I think), also working on the restaurant, got a baby since I left, and thy made some changes on the meny (they no longer sell Macaronii and Pad Gaeng). The Milk Shake Ladies still have their shop on the corner and the Kafee Ban (Ice Coffee Shake) still taste delicious and only costs 15 bath (2,50 kr).

In the afternoon, I went to the shopping plaza Pata (used to be big in the seventies) and Central Pinklao (is still big today). It is funny how the smells and sounds you get when going to certain places put you in a very particular mood. As I took had a frozen frappochino at Starbucks at Central Pinklao, I realized that Starbucks will always remind me of Thailand, Owen and Helene.

In the late afternoon, I met ajarn Chonticha. She was my professor in Thai language in Thammasat, and together with Owen, I was able to go on several field trips with her and her research team that were making a study of the Thai dialects. Coming along on these trips was really some of the highlights of my year in Thailand. This thursday afternoon we had dinner together at Thanon Phra Athit, talking about old days, and what have happend since then. After dinner, we ended up with a coffee and a piece of cake at "Coffee and more", also one of those places that brought back memories

This article might sound very mellon collie, but this was my home for one year, and I haven't been back since I left. And sometimes enjoying good memories is a very nice thing to do.

Til Surin

Etter et par dager i Mukdahan, kjoerte Satad og jeg til Surin, naermere bestemt den landsbyen hvor han kommer fra (som jeg aldri husker navnet paa, men den ligger en kilometer fra grensen til Si Saket og fem kilometer fra Kambodsja). De er veldig mange som bor i Thailand, kanskje de fleste, som ikke er av etnisk Thai opprinnelse, og alle som bor i denne landsbyen er Khmer. Jeg kan snakke brukbart thai, men skjoenner ikke et ord khmer. Siden alle snakker khmer i denne landsbyen med mindre de maa snakke thai, saa maatte Satad traa stoettende til som tolk for at jeg skulle faa med meg hva som ble sagt.

I loepet av de to dagene vi var i Surin, fikk vi med oss et fint bryllup. Bryllup i Surin er vel som bryllup flest: hoeytidelige sermonier, mange gaver og en stor, stor fest. Bildet viser en av sermoniene: brudeparet vasker foreldrene sine.

Jeg har ogsaa laert meg en ny metode aa fiske paa. "Soop Plaa" eller pumpe fisk kaller de det. Metoden bestaar i aa finne en liten dam i risaakrene og pumpe alt vannet ut av dammen med en maskin som vanligvis brukes i forbindelse med risdyrking. Naar nesten alt vannet er borte, gaar man saa aa plukker opp fisken som ligger igjen. Ganske effektivt i grunn. Vi fikk en passe stor fangst, men fisken var for det meste veldig liten. Vi grillet og kokte en del med en gang, men de som var med i fisklaget fikk ogsaa rikelig med fisk med seg tilbake etter at vi var ferdige.

Grilling i Mukdahan

Etter aa ha blitt kvitt jetlaget i Bangkok, reiste jeg fra Bangkok til Mukdahan hvor Marit og Satad bor (se kart i forrige innlegg). Marit, Ingeborg Anna og Hanna Olise er fortsatt i Bangkok, men jeg hadde veldig lyst til aa treffe Satad, samt de andre som de bor og jobber sammen med.

Torsdag formiddag kjoepte Satad en griseunge. Den levde et kort liv som husdyr, for om kvelden fikk vi besoek av laererne fra barnehagen og spraakskolen, samt arbeiderne som har bygget husene til misjonaerene i Mukahan. Det resulterte i slakting og grilling og et haerlig maaltid i hagen.

Paa det foerste bildet forsoeker grisen aa gjemme seg for slakter Satad, paa de neste bildene ser vi at den ikke lyktes.

Min reise vaaren 2008

I mars og april 2008 er jeg paa en seks ukers reise, fire uker i Thailand og to uker i Iran. I den perioden har jeg tenkt aa skrive litt tekst og legge ut noen bilder som jeg tar underveis. Reiseruten er omtrent som foelger:
2. mars - 4. mars: Bangkok
5 mars - 9. mars: Mukdahan og Surin
10. mars - 28. mars: Bangkok
29. mars - 12. april: Iran (naermere reiserute kommer senere)

I Thailand kommer jeg for det meste av tiden til aa vaere sammen med Marit som forhaapentligvis kommer til aa foede i mens jeg er her, og Iran skal jeg reise rundt sammen med Haavard.

Jeg har tatt med et kart over Thailand slik at du kan foelge med hvor jeg beveger meg.