2 Days in Bangkok for $100

Lodging

There are lots of places you can stay in Bangkok for 280 baht ($8) or less. Check out Asha Guesthouse ($8 for a private double, meaning just $4 per person per night) or Sukhumvit On Nut Guesthouse (205 baht for a bed in a 4-bed dorm). Use sites like Hostels.com to find the best option for you. If you’re traveling with a friend, you can get even cheaper deals by sharing a room. Set your budget around 280 baht per night for 2 nights to stay in the $100 overall budget.

Food

You can easily eat in Bangkok for 300 baht ($8.50) per day or less. Choose a hotel or guesthouse near a shopping mall and eat fresh, authentic Thai food for just 35 baht ($1) per meal. Both lodging options given above area near shopping malls. Small bottles of water from the 7-11 are only 7 baht (20 cents), so avoid paying double the price in tourist areas or restaurants.

Continue reading how to get the most for your money here

First ESL Workbook & Teacher’s Book Almost Finished!

Today I’m about to finish the first book/workbook/teacher’s resource kit in an ESL series for the Ali Institute. The course is called Everyday English 1, and it’s an 80-hour course for advanced beginners. I’ve got some minor editing to do, but the student workbook is 101 pages, the teacher’s lesson plan book is 170 pages, and there’s also 149 pages of photocopiable materials for quizzes, games, activities, and visual aids. Now I’ve got to figure out how to organize it all and get it published! Then I’m on to work on the English Language Teaching (ELT) post-graduate certificate program (3 months) and Everday English 2 (intermediate level English).

Family Outing to Old Lahore

Yesterday we went with Sergio (the stranded Italian traveler) and our landlord’s family to Old Lahore. Despite dark clouds threatening to dampen our day, the rain held off and we had a great time. We checked out the Red Fort (Lal Qila – tickets for Pakistanis 10 rupees, Foreigners 200 rupees), Badshahi Masjid, Makro, and ate at Kashmir Continental on Jail Road. Our landlord insisted that we should pay the Pakistani ticket price at the fort, because we are “just like Pakistanis” but the ticket collectors thought otherwise. If you are going with a Pakistani host, let them know that no matter how long you’ve been living in Pakistani you don’t stand much of a chance of getting in without a Foreigner ticket. We’ve tried it, twice. We ended up getting the Foreigner Tickets and going in.

Loadshedding – An Integral Part of My Daily Life

Before I moved to Pakistan, I’d never heard the word ‘loadshedding’ before. I actually remember the moment when I learned the word. I was starting a new adult ESL class and we were statements with the verb “like” in negative and positive. One student, Kamran, made the sentence, “I don’t like loadshedding,” and I had to clarify what it was. At that time, in 2006, the power cuts were only a few hours a day. Several people who have been following this blog are planning to move to Pakistan, so here’s a little snapshot of the daily loadshedding as of January 2009.

The power cuts are generally on the hour and go out for 60 minutes. Each neighborhood has a different schedule that changes after a few weeks. The schedule always seem to get out of whack when it rains for some reason. For the last week, the loadshedding schedule in Phase IV Defence has been as follows during the day:

6am – 7am Electricity
7am – 8am Electricity
8am – 9am Loadshedding
9am – 10am Electricity
10am – 11am Loadshedding
11am – 12pm Electricity
12pm – 1pm Loadshedding
1pm – 2pm Electricity
2pm – 3pm Loadshedding
3pm – 4pm Electricity
4pm – 5pm Loadshedding
5pm – 6pm Electricity
6pm – 7pm Loadshedding

Then a real treat, from 7pm to 1am (5 whole hours) there is electricity! Between 1am and 6am I’m not sure what the schedule is as I’m usually sleeping. I go to sleep around 9 or 10, so having such a long stretch of electricity so late at night doesn’t do much good for me on weekdays. In a few weeks the schedule will change and we’ll adjust our schedules all over again!

Lahore College MA TESOL Gold Medal Award 2009

During my time in Lahore, I’ve been able to be part of the MA TESOL program at Lahore College. I taught a few courses as visiting faculty and served as a research advisor for three students on their final thesis projects. After a long series of delays, the students defended their theses early this month. My group had finished their papers for the due date in September of 2008, but many of the other students did not complete their papers until over a year later. By the time the defense came around, the three students I worked with were all worried that they’d forgotten what they’d research or concluded. Despite having had such a long time lapse from the completion of the papers to the defense, they did fine before the panel.

Today I found out that one of my advisees, Sannia Hussain, got top marks on the thesis and the got the highest average GPA of the entire class. While most of the students in the program were fresh BA or B.Ed graduates, Sannia came back to do her masters after her children had grown up and were on their way to college themselves. After working on the thesis together, we’ve become good friends and I’m very proud of her for this accomplishment. Congratulations to Sannia and the entire graduating class of MA TESOL!

4 hours and 1200 rupees later

Well yesterday I finally did get my bag out of customs. For anyone else crazy enough, or patient enough, to deal with picking up cargo in Lahore, I’ll have an article about how to do it up in a few weeks. The short version is that I left my house at 9:30 and returned at 1:30 with my bag and less 1200 rupees for the delivery order, storage and handling fees, customs clearance, and customs paperwork fees. I arrived at the airport at 10:00. The customs officers arrived at 10:45, although the office opens at 9:00am.

In other news, we still haven’t been able to apply for the authorization code for Sergio’s visa, as he doesn’t have any internet banking or credit cards and American accounts can’t be used due to the sanctions on Iran. We’ve been trying for three days just to pay the fee to get the code. For anyone thinking of traveling to Iran, start the visa process early! Give yourself at least one month to get the code and visa, and make sure you have access to a non-American credit card or debit card.

Why Did I Believe ANYTHING in Pakistan Would be Easy?

I had a bit too much baggage when I left Bangkok, so I decided to take advantage of shipping 10 kg via ThaiPac Cargo on Thai Airways. When I got the final price for the baggage, it was totally not worth it, but by then I was on my way to my flight and had no other options. Anyway, today I got a call that my bag had arrived safely and I could come pick it up. I naively thought this would be a straightforward process. Well, after at least an hour at the airport and an hour in traveling there and back, I still don’t have my bag. I spent the afternoon getting calls on my mobile from some random guy telling me to meet him because he supposedly had my bag, being misdirected all over the cargo complex (a huge area), and having men harass me telling me I needed to hire them as agents. By the time I paid for my delivery order (yes you have to pay 400 rupees just to pick up your baggage, even though you’ve already paid $60 for it to be shipped) and found the customs clearance, there wasn’t enough time to complete the process. I was told the paperwork for customs take at least two hours, most likely more, and that I would need to come back tomorrow. Joy!

I’m bit concerned as other customers were telling me it’s impossible to clear customs without agent. I have no idea what they could charge me for my half-used toiletries and dirty clothes, but I’m sure they’ll find a way to get some money out of me and certainly a LOT of time. There goes my day tomorrow…Remind me NEVER to ship anything by cargo to Pakistan, or any developing nation, ever again in my life. This is ridiculous!

Asha Guest House: A Great Budget Option in Bangkok

Asha Guest House may be a bit removed from Bangkok’s main attractions, but it really is a gem when it comes to comfortable, clean, budget accommodation.

Location

Located in a suburb in the north of the city, Asha Guest House is a 15-minute walk (or 40 baht taxi ride) from the Saphan Kwai BTS (Skytrain station). The Saphan Kwai station is right next to a Big C mall and food court where you can get cheap food and buy anything you forgot at home. If you take a taxi to Asha Guest House from the airport, it should be about 350 – 400 ($10 – $11.50) baht, including the tolls. From Saphan Kwai station, you can get anywhere you need to in the city. The Skytrain is cheap, efficient, and comfortable. For just 40 baht ($1.15), you can go all the way to the other end of city by train. Asha Guest House’s location is great because it’s quiet and there’s not so many other tourists around. Staying here you get to see a normal Thai neighborhood, and you won’t come across any touts or scammers.

Continue reading review here

Sergio: The Stranded Traveler

Well it’s two days later and it looks like our surprise house guest may be in Lahore for a while. Our household has been a mix of communication between Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, some French words and English, and we haven’t been able to find the part for Sergio’s Fiat RV. Our landlord had the idea to purchase a whole new front suspension system from a Japanese vehicle and put it in place of the current suspension system in the RV. This would take less time than getting brake discs custom made, but would it even work? Sounds a bit risky when he’s got two continents to cover.

Surprise House Guest

Duarte returned from India yesterday with a surprise guest, an Italian overlander trying to drive from Calcutta back to Italy. All seemed well when I heard Duarte had caught a ride from the Wagha border to Lahore, until an hour later he called to say they’d broken down. Now, the car they were in was no normal car, but a massive Fiat RV with a full bed and stove set up inside! After I rescued them and got them some lunch, they spent the rest of the day driving around Lahore trying to find a match for the broken brake disc on the Fiat. Since nobody drives Fiats in Pakistan, and nobody drives RVs, the parts guys were not optimistic. Our new Italian friend, Sergio, may need to have a piece custom made or order it from Italy.

On top of that, he’s trying to cross the border into Iran and doesn’t yet have his visa authorization code. To get a visa to Iran, you need to first apply for an authorization code via private company, like Persian Voyages, and then wait a few weeks to get the code. When you apply, you tell them where you want to pick up the visa and then you can get it stamped in your passport at that location. If you don’t have a code, it seems it can take quite a long time to get it from an Iranian embassy or consulate.

Traveling is always an adventure, especially in this part of the world!