A video

When I went to Thailand this past January, I brought my GoPro along. I envisioned myself making an exciting travel documentary but I sitting down and editing is really tough for me. Last night, I threw this short clip together to give people a taste of my experience. There is more to come. I hope.

Bangkok Biking from Shaun Wilkens on Vimeo.

New Hiking Trail

The other day our the students in our english programs went on a hike behind our school. I went along to check it out and I was not disappointed. This afternoon I decided to go on this hike again. The students call it a mountain. I call it a hill. Here are some pics.

The trail starts right outside of our front gate. You begin by walking through some shacks and garden areas.

In  few minutes you are in nature. That's Neat.

Before long, our trail merges onto the nice private park trail.

Part way up the "mountain" you can see the schools courts and track.

Just about to the top.

At the top. From here you can see lake Taihu lake, one of the biggest in China.

A little further down the trail. A great view of the school. 

From a bus

I'm sitting on the bus from Bangkok to Chang Mai. I just got really excited because a monk in all his garb came and sat next to me. Unfortunately the stewardess made him move. Here's the weekend recap:

Friday night - Arrived in Bangkok and met Elizabeth, Pops, and Tera who brought me back to the school.

Saturday morning/afternoon - Explored Bangkok with Elizabeth via skytrain, taxi, and lots of walking. Of course I forgot the names of the places I went to but I did almost get Elizabeth to let a fish in a barrel bite her finger for a pic.

Saturday night - Went to the movie theater and followed it up with the most intense taxi ride of my life. Our driver felt the need for speed when the traffic let up a little. As we weaved past car and motorbike I asked myself "Has this guy decided that he's finally had enough of his taxi driving life?" After a few more moments of tires screeching and Elizabeth and Tera gasping, traffic caught back up with us and our driver realized that he couldn't squeeze the car through any more gaps. We returned to a comfortable speed and the next 30 seconds was filled with an excruciatingly awkward silence. The silence was broken by a hysterical laugh from our driver. This of course made me laugh hysterically. The driver let out an exhale; the way you do when you've been holding your breath for a long time mixed with an extreme adrenalin rush. I let out a shrill woot and we gabbed for the rest of the trip; he in Thai and I in English. It was one of those rare experiences when you can't understand a word the other person is saying but you know exactly what they mean. The only word I did understand was when he started patting his round belly and said "baby." I don't think that the driver had a death wish when he got all fast and furious on us. I think that being a taxi driver can be so monotonous that you need to occasionally do something that gets your heart pounding and reminds your body that it's still alive.

Sunday - Hung out with Janae for the day. We spent a good chunk of it watching a basketball tournament that their school was hosting. We also hopped on bikes and made our way across town to eat mango and sticky rice. Big thanks to Elizabeth for letting me use her fixie. Around six in the evening I made my way to the bus terminal via motorbike and skytrain. I will arrive in Chang Mai sometime tomorrow morning.

Here are a few glimpses of my time so far:

Chinese New Year trip

I am on day two of my winter break. My first stop has been in Hong Kong. I'm here to get my work visa sorted out then I take off for Thailand and the Philippines. Tommy Poole has been kind enough to let me stay with him while I'm in HK. We explored the city last night and I have to admit I'm pretty impressed by it. I hop on the plane to Bangkok around 8:00 tonight. Elizabeth Jones will be there to pick me up. It's fun to have friends spread out all over the world.

The Challenge

I have a challenge for all of you who frequently ride on trains. Here it goes. Next time you are on a train, get off at a stop that isn't your final destination. Go outside of the train platform and through the exit turnstiles. Rush through security and back to the entrance turnstiles. Hop back on your train. It can be done!

Here is the story behind how I stumbled across this absolutely pointless challenge. 

Today was not my day for timing my exits. It started when I missed the bus stop for the rail station. I had been distracted by learning Chinese phrases like "train station" on my iphone. I ended up getting off at the next bus stop, walking across the road and ducking through a fence that divided the four lanes of traffic. I waited for the next bus to take me back one stop to the rail station. When I hopped on the next bus, the driver looked incredibly familiar. I was getting back onto the same bus that I had just gotten off of. I then realized that this was the end of the line for bus 77 and the bus had just made a U-turn a block away to return in direction it came. I felt a little embarrassed. Now that I think about it, this was just a hint of what was to come.

I've taken the train from Wuxi to Kunshan several times. It's not complicated. Buy your ticket. Go through security. Shuffle your way through the crowd and turnstiles. Board the train and find your seat. Wait about twenty minutes for them to announce the Kunshan South stop. Exit the train. Follow the stream of people to the turnstiles. Find Lisa on her scooter. Never have I messed this process up.

While on the train, I was again very involved with my phone. This time I was trying to use it to write a blog. I remember hearing them announce the stop "Suzhou" and later I swear they said "Next stop South Kunshan." As the train was slowing down Lisa called to ask if I was at the station yet and I told her that the train was just arriving. The train came to a stop, the doors opened, and I was one of the first people off the train. I was in car 13, seat 22, so I was a fair distance from the exit. As I took the escalator down I thought to myself "something seems a little different." I sent my ticket through the turnstile and it accepted it but again, something seemed different. The exit was nothing like the station in Kunshan. I was underground. By now I was starting to figure out that something was definitely different.  Still, I was able to convince myself that I was in the right place.  It wasn't until I saw a sign that said "Welcome to Suzhou," that I realized my mistake. Panic time!

My shoes, Sanuks, are very slippery. When I try to run on the smooth tile that they seem to have everywhere in China, it looks more like a bear trying to figure skate. How do you say "look out for the tall white guy with the huge puffy jacket! He's out of control!" in Chinese? I rushed around to the station's entrance and spotted my trains number still in green on display board (When it turns red it means that you are too late). I tossed my backpack onto the conveyer belt at security and got an extra few pats from the guard to make sure I didn't have anything hidden under this huge poofy jacket. I maneuvered my way through people on the way up the escalator to the waiting area. I scanned in all directions for my train number to figure out which turnstiles I needed to enter through. I had to squint but I saw my number, still in green, across the waiting area. I slid and skated my way through the crowd but when I got to the turnstile, it wouldn't accept my ticket. I showed my ticket to a worker that was fixing one of the turnstiles and she said that the ticket was used. I quickly tried to act out the mistake I had made but it was hopeless. Just then I saw another worker letting some people in to the side. I showed my ticket to her and she let me through. I ran down the stairs and couldn't believe that my train was still there and the doors were still open! I entered the platform at car 6 so I rushed along the platform towards the back of the train. As I passed car number 10 I realized that the automatic doors were closing. It was too late to dash through but I still had almost enough time to stick my arm through. Memories of my Dad holding me under the automatic garage door (which didn't have a motion sensor) back at Milo shot into my mind and quickly pulled my hand back (not that those aren't fond memories). I WAS SO CLOSE!!! The phone rings in my pocket and now I have to explain my mistake to Lisa.

The proper thing to do now is go back and exchange/buy a new ticket. The other choice is to try to wait around on the platform for the next train. I decided to try to blend in with the new crowd that was forming. The jacket hood goes on as I hope that the security guards hadn't noticed the scene that was just made. The next train came and I planned out my "confused american" routine that I would use if someone asked to see my ticket. I spent the next portion of the journey in the dining car. One of the train workers seemed to be checking tickets so I got up to make my way to the bathroom. Squat pots on a moving train instead of a western toilet?!! I don't even have time to get into that.  The next stop was my stop, thank goodness, and I finished the trip as planned.

Although it's a little embarrassing, I'm glad I make mistakes like this. It gives me a chance to see and do things that you just can't plan. It's 5 minutes till Christmas  here in China and although I miss my family and friends back home, I'm thankful for the adventures and new experiences that are finding me here. Of coarse, I'm also thankful to be spending Christmas with my big sister, Lisa. Love and miss you all very much, and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Visitors

Last weekend we had a wonderful visit from Tommy and Tye. We spent Sabbath Evening in Shanghai and Sunday in Kunshan. Here's the visual recap.

Vanguard

Last night was grocery night. The school arranges transportation for the teachers to do their shopping once a week. We went to this place about 20 minutes away called Vanguard. One thing that I've noticed about China is a high level of conformity. Vanguard is no different. Everyone enters the grocery store on the 4th level and there is one general direction of traffic as you weave your way down to the third floor and checkout. In most stores back the the states it is a free-for-all as people enter through the door marked exit and scramble back and fourth through aisles. I guess with the dense population that China has, it would be impossible to freely move about the grocery store on a busy weekend. It's more efficient this way: like an assembly line.

I finished my shopping about an hour before the bus would take us back to campus. I wondered around outside for a while and saw a group of people doing their exercise/dance ( I really don't know what to call it). This dance thing is really popular over here. I've seen it in pretty much every city that I've visited. It reminds me a lot of the line dancing that we would do at our barn parties in Walla Walla. It was hard for me to not join in on the fun. Not only would I have been the only person under 60, but I would also be the only male. Next time.

After I watched them dance for a while, I went back inside to the KFC. I strongly dislike KFC but I only had a few options. I ordered some milk tea, fries, and a chicken sandwich. I sat in the corner and people-watched as I ate. Soon I noticed a few girls looking at me then looking away and giggling. There isn't a huge population of foreigners in Wuxi. In fact, when I see a foreigner, I usually give them the nod and they return with a nod. It's a weird sort of expat camaraderie.  Anyways, one of these girls gets up to order a coffee. She gets in one line, then as it gets to her turn to order, she gets in another line. She does this like three times. Finally she gets her drink and brings her tray to my table. I clear a space across from me and she sits down. This was an obvious dare and the poor girl barely new any English and I know even less Chinese. I couldn't help but chuckle because her eyes were facing the ground the entire time and her friends were laughing at her from their table. I was able to get her name out of her but I forgot it about as quick as she said it. I couldn't pronounce it anyway.

Finally, her friends came over and sat down with us. You would think this girl was having a panic attack by how nervous she was. We all introduced ourselves and they asked me questions about what I was doing in Wuxi. They ended up showing me a picture on their phone of the original girl, and asked me "does she, like boy?" I took this as "does she like boys?" I answered "yes" I immediately realized that they could have been asking me "does she look like a boy?" I Caught myself and said. "You are all girls, I assume you like boys." They just looked at me. Confused. They hung out for a while and mostly spoke Chinese to each other. I could tell that they were trying to come up with something to say to me but they didn't seem to agree on what it was. It was all kind of awkward and hilarious at the same time. The girl who seemed to be the one who made the dare, left first to go to school (at 8:00 at night?). And the other two girls continued to talk in Chinese for a few minutes. I was bracing myself for whatever question they had been discussing for the last ten minutes. Finally, they said "we are going shopping now" and left. I look forward to more awkward situations that are sure to come.