Koh Tao

Hua Hin is a resort town for Thais. But Koh Tao is a resort island strictly for foreigners. Both destinations offer an incredible range of services, from restaurants to hotels to shopping. But the difference between Hua Hin and Koh Tao is a visible racial divide. In Hua Hin, foreigners mixed with the Thais on the streets. But in Koh Tao, almost all the tourists are European, Australian or American (there’s a smattering of Japanese here as well, but they seem to only like to hang out at the Nangyuan Island Resort). So what you see as you walk around is a clear division of races – all the people being served are white and all the people doing the serving are brown. This divide is also felt in the interactions between the races. Sure, all the Thais are very friendly, but in Hua Hin the smiles seem more genuine. In Koh Tao, it’s abundantly clear that they’re only interested in your money. That said, it’s still amazingly cheap here even with Koh Tao’s inflated prices. Typical entrees are $2 to $3 at authentic road-side Thai eateries. An amazing variety of fresh seafood barbecue can be had for about $10. Our roomy air conditioned bungalow by the beach was $40/night but smaller ones can be had for $20 without “aircon.”

In Koh Tao, we decided to stay at a beach community called Sairee Beach mainly because of the abundant variety of accommodation choices available. As is our habit, we booked one night at a random hotel on the Internet, then walked around town to see what else might be available. Pictures on a web site don’t always tell the full story and there’s nothing like asking to see a room before you take it. So after shopping around and looking at several places, we discovered the AC Two Resort (not listed in the guide books and not on the Internet). It was a perfect location at a great price -- right on the beach “boardwalk” and within easy walking distance were dozens of eateries, massage parlors, travel agents, etc. But the hidden gem on the island was a lady-boy bar called the Queen’s Cabaret with a nightly show of enthusiastic drag queens who lip-synch their hearts out with elaborate costume changes between sets.

After 6 nights in Koh Tao, we decided to move on. Next stop, the island of Ko Phangan.

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Hua Hin

After 3 nights in Bangkok, we were rested enough to continue our journey. We decided to venture south because we wanted to see what Thailand’s famous beaches were like. Thailand’s eastern gulf coast has 3 islands that are famous tourist destinations, so we decided to start with the closest one – the island of Koh Tao. To get there, we could have taken an 8-hour bus ride to the ferry, but since we had time on our hands, we decided to break the trip up into more bite-sized chunks. Because the town of Hua Hin is only 3.5 hours south of Bangkok, it made sense to for us to make a pit stop there.

Hua Hin is a resort town that is the equivalent of "the Hamptons" for well-to-do Bangkok city dwellers. The town is a miniature version of Bangkok and has everything Bangkok has to offer packaged in a much more manageable size. There are 4-star hotels as well as small cheap guest houses in hidden alleys. Since we had a budget of $100 per day, we decided to splurge a little and booked the Araya Hotel. Araya turned out to be a comfy mid-range hotel within walking distance of some of the best seafood restaurants in town, an excellent night market, and lots of bars with pretty young Thai girls just hanging out looking for "action." I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised to also see an unusually large number of older white men with younger Thai women walking around town as well.

Just like in Bangkok, there was an abundant selection of amazing street food to try in Hua Hin. Every night, certain streets are transformed into a giant food fest, all set up with makeshift temporary kitchens that are dismantled by midnight. In order for regular restaurants to compete, they're forced to also bring out temporary kitchens onto the street to attract passersbys. This makes for a wonderful spectacle of street theatre every night as vendors and waiters beckon you to try their unique specialty. After 2 nights of overeating and indulgence, it was time to head for the ferry to Koh Tao.

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3 Nights in Bangkok

Bangkok is a super megapolis that is indeed the crossroads of Asia. As an international hub with thousands of international travelers from all over the world criss-crossing here, it's no surprise that Bangkok has some extreme contrasts. Bangkok has everything any big city has – pollution, traffic jams, dirty alleys with rats. But Bangkok also has some of the best food we've ever tasted and it’s very, very cheap.

There is no way we could do Bangkok justice in three days, so we didn't even try. We booked the Shambara Hostel for 3 nights which was just enough time to recuperate from the long flight. The hostel was in a great neighborhood known as Khao San Road which has a bustling night market and plenty of dining options just steps from our door. Ever since watching Anthony Bourdain’s TV show, I've been fantasizing about Thai street food. So as soon as we got up the next day, we went out to hunt up some breakfast grub. Just by luck, we stumbled upon a little street vendor that had about 20 dishes already prepared and ready to eat at 6am. Yes, the dishes were spicier than what we’re used to in the States, but it was a really flavorful and potent spicy jolt that clearly announced that we’re no longer in Kansas. The next day, we discovered that within one block from our hostel was a “vegetarian alley” lined with several restaurants that specialized in healthy and organic options. Naturally, we had to indulge. And my find of the day was a street vendor selling stir-fried insects, which she seasoned with a little fish sauce and some secret spices. Yum!

For contrast, we also took a tuk-tuk to the city’s premiere shopping mall, the Siam Paragon. This was a super high-end mall that somehow took all of Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile and stuffed it into one big building. But the real reason we went to Siam Paragon was to take a peek at their famous food court. In the lower level of the mall was every type of street food available in Bangkok served up in a pristine sanitary environment. The food looked fantastic, but for some reason it just didn’t taste as good as the real thing. Maybe it was just my imagination, but there’s something special about Bangkok’s street food that just can’t be duplicated in any other environment.

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Taking Off

It’s New Year’s Eve and it’s time to take off. We decided to do a one-way car rental from Champaign to O’Hare in Chicago to solve one nagging little problem: What do you wear when it’s 20ºF in Illinois and 80ºF in Thailand? We definitely did not want to be carrying winter coats with us for 3 months. Our other options (Amtrak, Megabus, Lex Express) would all involve freezing our asses off trying to get to our Korean Air flight. And as it turned out, the rental car option was cheaper than our other options, so we lucked out. As is our habit, we stopped by Whole Foods on the way to the airport to pick up some tasty snacks – just to make the other passengers jealous.

The 19-hour flight from Chicago to Bangkok was uneventful. We had a 2-hour layover in Seoul and Bonnie had the right idea: she indulged in a massage. This is the second time we’ve flown an Asian airline across the Pacific and both times the service was impeccable. The stewardesses looked like dolls dressed in very stylish uniforms. And their demeanor was completely different than American stewardesses. It may sound like a cliché, but these girls were softer, more subservient, more eager to please. Was this just a cultural difference or was this Korean Air's training? Korean Air also had nice little touches even for passengers in economy class: slippers and toothbrushes were provided for everyone. And the individual seat-back entertainment center had more movies than anyone would want to watch. I would definitely fly Korean Air again without hesitation.

Kindle vs. Kobo

With prices for e-readers hovering around $100, we decided it was time to jump in. What better excuse do we need? With lots of time for relaxation and rejuvenation on our sabbatical, it's definitely time to catch up on some reading. But who wants to lug a bunch of books all around southeast Asia? Before committing to a Kindle, I tested an iPad in bright sunlight by the pool and the reflection on the screen bothered me quite a bit. When it comes to replicating the feel of reading a real book, the iPad just didn't stack up to the Kindle. Besides, it's more than twice as heavy as a Kindle and its battery life is only 10 hours as compared to two weeks for typical Kindle users.

Since my partner and I were both in the market for e-readers, we decided that it would be fun to buy two different brands just to compare. So that's how we ended up with both a Kindle and a Kobo. For pure reading pleasure, both devices performed extremely well -- the type was sharp, the contrast was good, the screen reflection non-existent and the battery life very very long. The Kindle 3 was definitely a faster device, but the graphics and user-interface on the Kobo was more visually elegant. Typing was painful on both devices, so even though the Kindle had wireless capabilities, I didn't use it. Instead, I managed all book downloads on a laptop and synched the files to the devices the same way I would synch a computer to an iPod.

And that's where Calibre comes in. Not only does this amazing free application manage your e-book library for you, it also translates between various e-book formats seamlessly (the Kobo accepts epub files while the Kindle accepts mobi files). Amazingly, the software is free and it is well documented and supported. As a bonus, Calibre can also download hundreds of magazines and newspapers in e-book format for free (Amazon charges for the same service). The only format Calibre chokes on is PDF (but then, so do other applications that attempt to reformat PDFs into e-book formats). The only complaint I have so far is that the graphics-rich color layouts of magazines and newspapers don't translate well to the small 600x800 black-and-white screens.

Preparing for Traveling

Besides obtaining visas, getting vaccinations, and researching electricity adapters, preparing for an extended trip takes a lot of planning and paying attention to details. For example, malaria is a problem in India and Westerners are usually not immune to the bug. Anti-malaria drugs are available, but they are not recommended to be taken for long periods of time. So we opted for industrial strength mosquito repellent and patches instead. After doing some research, we settled on repellents with lemon eucalyptus oil (the alternative would have been using a product with DEET). Getting our finances together for a long trip also took a lot of planning. All our bills are now either paid automatically or being managed with ebills at our Bank of America online banking account. We've decided to carry very little cash with us. Instead, we've opted to carry two Capital One credit cards with zero balances because they don't charge any international transaction fees. We also have two debit cards to use at ATM machines. Lastly, I decided to splurge on a new backpack and I opted for this Osprey model with wheels plus a matching day pack. But the find of the day was this very comfortable inflatable travel pillow designed for long flights in economy class.

Sabbatical Project

Parkland College's policies state that sabbatical leave shall be granted based on the rankings of a sabbatical leave committee. Every year, faculty compete with each other by submitting proposals to the committee based on written guidelines. Since the proposals are competitive, a great deal of time and energy is spent writing and revising the proposals. In my case, I had to submit my proposal three times in three years before it was approved. In each case, the committee members had different feedback and I aligned my proposal to their priorities. In the final proposal that was accepted, I included a professional development component in the form of a service learning project: "By volunteering my services to a non-profit organization, I hope to be able to help solve some of their marketing communication needs with a dynamic and creative web site design. Many non-profits do not have the budget to hire professionals to design their websites. By offering my services and creativity, I will be volunteering my time for a good cause, learning new skills and gaining personal satisfaction at the same time." After considering several options, I made a commitment to the University YMCA to re-design their web site because my personal priorities aligned with the organization's mission statement and objectives. For them, the timing was perfect because their national office has just rolled out a new branding initiative with a new logo. The entire design process has been recorded on this project page: www.electric-pictures.com/staging/ymca.