IAESTE Thailand traineeship

back home

2007-11-05T14:41:00.000+07:00

in the night of 3rd of november i finally reached cold and rainy austria. it is strange beeing back home after working and travelling for the last 5 months. everybody is speaking german and looks like a "westerner". also i have to start with the serious parts, studying and learning for examinations, working,... i had a very nice, interessting time in thailand and i would like to thank everybody back there for giving me a so great time. stay in touch and most important of all, "SABAI SABAI"

diving and chill out

2007-11-05T14:31:00.000+07:00

after cambodia i went to kho tao to make my diving course and to kho phi phi for relaxing before going back to austria.
beach at kho toa
beach at kho tao
diving with my buddy ross from ireland
friends i met on kho tao: devon(uk), lauren and ross (ireland), fabian (ger), ?, ?(canada), me
relaxing my feet on the beach of kho phi phi

cambodia

2007-11-05T14:19:00.000+07:00

cambodia was great as i earlier mentioned; the people are sop friendly and compared to thailand, they can speak english. also the young children are aible to make a whole conversation. the country itself is very poor and the infrastructure is, after havinf war in the last decades of years, very bad. we needed for instance 6h for a distance of 200km from the thai border, aranyapahtet, to siam riep, where the famous angkor wat is located. angkor wat is imposant and a very very big complex of temples. after angkor wat we went to a national park to swim at a waterfall and to a lake, where a city was located on the lake. but now enjoy some of my pics:

petrol stationtransporting some pigs
at angkor wat
traditional dancer at angkor wat
our group:diou, akos, boris, markus, peter and stefan

at the national park

cambodia

2007-10-25T20:09:00.000+07:00

cambodia was reallz great, interessting and soo exotic.
currentlz i am sitting in chumporn waiting for mz ferrz to depart for kho tao where i am going to do mz scuba diving course.
i ll put some pictures and more information later on the blog...

Kanchanaburi

2007-10-17T17:27:00.000+07:00

last weekend we made a trip to kanchanaburi, where the bridge over the river kwai, a tiger temple and the famous erawan national park is located. a very nice trip with my iaeste friends! the next planned trip is going to cambodia and, back in thailand, doing a diving course. if there is time left i would like to go to kho phi phi bevor going back to austria o 3rd of november.

simba x 2

bridge over the river KWAI
erawan national park stephan, nadine, johannes, sebbi, antonius, tim, markus
a natural swimming pool :-)

antonis

beverages

2007-10-09T21:20:00.000+07:00

a short introduction to thai-get drunk beverages:
LEO

my favourite, the 6.4 %vol elephant beer - CHANG
SINGHA
dont forget about the whiskeys
100pipers
and benmore

Phu Hin Ron Kla - national park

2007-10-08T15:43:00.000+07:00

two days hiking in a national park with magnus from norway showed a lot of interessting and for us unusual sites:
let´s start with our way to the national park
flooding of the street and surrounding areas for about two kilometer. looks really bad but the people managed this crisis with patience.
at the national park we found some strange formations of rocks. also the temperature was quite cold. 10 to 15°C maybe. for thailand this is very cold.

in the nat. park there was the headquater of the thai communist party until 1983 who lived there (~4000 member) and fought against the thai military.
magnus from norway...
poisonous? green snake on our way back to our bungalow.

IAESTE Phitsanuloke Weekend - II

2007-10-04T13:24:00.000+07:00

on the second day we went to sukothai and visited the historical park.
markus and nadine in front of wat mahathat.

markus, pedro, markus and nadine
the whole group with lots of different nationalities: germany, switzerland, norway, greece, brasil, japan, usa, austria and thailand.
on the rafting boat
markus, markus, yukanko and raquel. (left to right)
second boat in action...

IAESTE Phitsanuloke Weekend - I

2007-10-04T13:11:00.001+07:00

starting the weekend with a visit of a waterfall, named Sakunotayan. on the picture: markus, pedro and markus

after swimming and rafting we had karaoke singing.
the two stars on the picture are nadine and antonios
the organising team: markus and usa, the hotel manager.
a nine months old cute elephant
our lunch in sukothai: ostrich and gop (frog)

Free Burma

2007-10-04T12:14:00.000+07:00

chiang mai - III

2007-09-22T02:31:00.001+07:00

hej alois, eine super zeit haben wir da in thailand gehabt. hat mich gefreut, dass das wandern und treffen zustandegekommen ist.
lass dir die anderen photos bei zeiten mal zukommen.
und nicht vergessen: einige elephanten sind zum trinken da!

chiang mai - II

2007-09-22T02:20:00.001+07:00

our hiking group in between
of a ricefieldkaren village in the mountains
our sleeping place
karen child
jungle hiking
elephant riding
waterfall
alois taking a refreshing
bath in the jungle
lunch wrapped in some
leaves and using
selfmade bamboo-
chopsticks
another waterfall

chiang mai - I

2007-09-21T21:37:00.000+07:00

after a 6h busride i took a tuk-tuk to the airport to pick alois (my friend from austria) up. aferwards we went to our rendevouz hotel and startet with sightseeing. but in chiang mai there are just a few imposant wats (tempel) and the very big and crowded nightmarket. so we decided to go on a 3 days hiking trip to see some native people (karen), swimming at some waterfalls and doing elephant riding and bamboo rafting.
we also found a very nice restaurant, probably one of the most expensive in chiang mai and spent about 700.- baht there.
on the next day our guide, charly picked us up and we drove to the mountains in the south of the town.
during a burning hot midday we startet walking for about 2h and saw the first two karen villages and we had our first bath under a waterfall.
we also stayed at the karen village overnight in a small hut without electricity and other comfortable and useless stuff.
next day, after sunrise we started for another walk to other karen villages; 3 more waterfalls gave us the needed refreshing cooling after walking in the hot and humid forrest.
finally we reached another hilltribe where we stayed over night until the next morning. the peaceful area was only disturbed by scary dogs and their serious dogfights.
after another night in our woodbeds , which caused a painful morning, we got a shaking massage while riding on elephants.
and because we got a dirty and muddy elephant-shower, we started with our bamboo-boat ride.
back in chiang mai, dirty, smelly and wet the luxuiosity of having a shower was something really great.
hiking in this area and seeing the karen people was adventureous, interessting, fun, painful, hot and sweating, chilling in the nights,... something i will remember.

now it is halftime of my traineeship in thailand and the holiday with alois gave me motivation and energy for the second part here at the university.

my buddish monks

2007-09-07T23:15:00.000+07:00

every friday i can join a group of english learning buddhish monks. we talk about differences between thailand and austria and they can ask question and so. on the lefthandside of the picture you can see kibriow from tadjikistan, another iaeste student here in phitsanuloke; but she leaves in 2 weeks :-(
and two other exchange students are coming soon: this weekend marit, the girl from norway will arrive and in about 4 weeks a girl from brasil is coming to my faculty :-)

friends - rainforest - elephants

2007-09-04T21:33:00.000+07:00

this weekend i stayed in Phitsanuloke, met some friends and organised the "1st IAESTE Thailand Phitsanuloke Weekend".
This is Jamie from England with his girlfriend. Jamie is english teacher as well as Norman from New Zealand. Every Wednesday we are meeting for dinner and playing cards later on. Most of the time we are ending at some bars/clubs until 4am in the morning.

With Rung, a microbiologist at PSRU, we went to the greatest restaurant i have ever seen.
The Rainforest Restaurant! So you are sitting in between of a lot of plants in a small hut and the river is also floating in front of you. Some strange creatures are also standing along the path to the water.

Rung and me

at the Rainforest Restaurant
The hotel i picked for the IAESTE weekend is called "Sappraiwan Grand Hotel and Resort" and has got everything for spending a beautiful day there: pool, sauna and rafting as well as some elephants for riding. There are also some waterfalls in the area but it was too dark for taking pictures the last time.

at the elephant hotel

my elephant and i played a while together but then he decided to try the taste of my arm, but still we are good friends *gg* sunset somwhere around Phitsanuloke at 7pm.

Bangkok

2007-08-29T13:07:00.000+07:00

the official thai name for bangkok is:
Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit!!!

so i started my bustrip on friday night and arrived at 4am in the city of angels. still very tired i went to the wonderful wat pho to see a huge laying buddhastatue. on the other side of the street there is the big wat phra keow and the grand palace. the wat phra keow is one of the most important wats (temples) in thailand and has got a very unfamiliar but impressing architecture.
the grand palace, which can not be visited inside, is still used of the king for official representations.
the national museum with its stones and museum stuffs reminded me at home, at working in my museum.

on the next day i went to the king mongkuts institut of technology - KMIT where i met some IAESTE thailand members as well as other exchange students. during the day i had a lot of fun in playing soccer, volleyball, basketball and badminton with them although my bones and muscels are still hurting.

here are some photos:
wat pho
wat pho
wat phra keow
wat phra keow - detail
wat phra keow

at the grand palace
my friend ploy
my friend dusan from macedonia - after i lost the badminton final

my -new- hometown: PHI-LOK

2007-08-21T19:47:00.000+07:00

nun hab ich es jetzt auch einmal geschafft, mir meine eigene stadt anzuschauen. dabei hatte ich meinen japanischen freund als quasi stadtführer dabei, damit ich auch keines der wenigen sightseeingspots, die phitsanuloke zu bieten hat, vermisse.

sind also zum wat yai das eines der schönsten buddhastatuen in ganz Thailand haben soll, gegangen, und wahrhaftig ist es eine sehr schöne statue; wat jay ist sogar so überragend, dass sich bei den anderen tempeln in ph. kein einziger tourist tummelt.

ein weiteres highlight ist natürlich der nightbazar entlang dem mae nam nam (fluß), den ich schon des öfteren mit meinen thailändischen freunden besucht hab.

einen nationalpark mit ein paar netten wasserfällen gibt es auch rund 40km entfernt von hier, was alerdings ein bissi schwierig ohne auto zu erreichen ist. hab aber noch zeit um da was zu organisieren...

arbeiten tu ich auch noch, und das sogar ganz fleissig. bei nächster gelegenheit werd ich dann einmal ein paar Lactococci, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus (eigentlich Lactobacillus delbruecki ssp. bulgaricus) und einige Streptococcus thermophilus hier zeigen.

Ayutthaya

2007-08-20T14:09:00.000+07:00

zweites langes wochenende, zweiter ausflug, zweite ehemalige königsstadt

ein inkludiertes mittagsessen im bus war ein guter start um ayutthaya zu besichtigen. vorbei am wat mahathat, dem wat thammikarat und dem wat ratburana ging es zur ehemaligen größten tempelanlage von a., bis sie von den burmesen fast vollkommen zerstört wurde, dem wat phra si sanphet. eindrucksvoll und sehr lässig machen sich diese tempel unter anderem auch, weil sie zT von der vegetation überwuchert werden und so an verlassene und verschollene tempelruinen im dschungel erinnern.
neben dem wat phra si sanphet gibt es ein kloster mit einer der größten buddhastatuen thailands - geschätzte 15m wird der buddha groß sein - und nennt sich wat mongkhon bophit.

deutlich mehr touristen gibt es hier schon als noch in sukothai, was sicher auch daran liegt, dass bangkok nur noch eine stunde von a. entfernt ist. auch der große markt der an das kloster anschließt ist gut besucht und mit unmengen an verschiedenen essens und souvenierständen bestückt.

am nächsten tag wa ich in einem interessanten museum, dem ayutthaya historical study centre, das A. auf verschiedene weisen darstellt (A. as a capitol, port city, central state and its traditional village life and external relations)

zurück in Philo (=phitsanuloke) bin ich mit meinem japanischen freund noch muscheln und anderes meeresgetier essen gegangen.

second weekend, second trip, second king´s city after lunch inside of the bus going to ayutthaya i had a good start with doing some sightseeing. on my way i passed wat mahathat, wat thammikarat and wat ratburana for finally reaching the biggest and most important temple, wat phra si sanphet. nowadays most parts of the wat are destroyed, caused by the invasion of the burmese a long time ago. but still the temples have got a very exciting atmosphere; a lot of plants are growing on the ruins, looking like forgotten tempels somwhere in a jungle.

close to wat phra si sanphet there is a monastery with one of thailand´s biggest buddhastatues, named wat mongkhon bophit. on the next day i visited a modern museum about a.(A. as a capitol, port city, central state and its traditional village life and external relations)

back in phitsanuloke i went out for dinner with my friend from japan, and we got some shells and other seafood.

sukothai

2007-08-16T09:54:00.000+07:00

(alt-) sukothai war echt spitze! in der riesigen anlage stehen einige grosse und viele viele kleine tempel, die man am besten mit dem rad abklappert. sehr eindrucks und stimmungsvoll waren diese tempel auch am abend, da sie dann beleuchtet sind. und da ja am sonntag muttertag war hat es auch ein grosses fest gegeben; mit livebands und feuerwerk, aber auch mit einer traditionellen zeremonie und musik. ganz nett fand ich ja dass das ein fest von den hier lebenden thais war und nicht irgendsoein fest fuer touristen.

tja liebe angelika und romana, da habt ihr doch einiges verpasst. haettet doch irgendwie noch in alt-sukothai bleiben sollen...

zwei freunde aus wien hab ich dort naemlich getroffen. schoene gruesse an euch beide-ich werd erst in rund 4 wochen nach chiang mai fahren, da weilt ihr ja schon wieder im 10.000km entfernten oesterreich.

ein sehr netter wie unerwarteter zufall war das. aber da die welt ja ein dorf ist, sind solch zufaellige treffen ja eigentlich nix besonderes...

auf der uni hab ich schon ein bissi im labor arbeiten koennen, wenngleich es nicht allzuviel zutun gibt. bleibt mir aber mehr zeit um mich auf die bakk.arbeit zu stuerzen, oder ein buch zu lesen und stundenlang im internet zu surfen.
...oder ein bisschen zu schlafen, da ich doch in den letzten zwei tagen mit meinen thailaendischen freunden fort war und das bier bzw whiskey nix kostet, bin ich nun ein bissi muede.
lustig wars auf alle faelle, auchwenn die kommunikation manchmal schwierig ist.

old-sukothai was great. while riding a bike you can see and enjoy some big temples (called wat) as well as a lot of tiny temples from earliert times. the city is supposed to be the rise of thailand culture, with creating the written thai language.during the night the temples were lightned which made a great atmosphere over the whole area. and because of mothers day last sunday, there was a ceremony/event taking place in sukothai with traditional music, fireworks, live shows and so on. the good thing about this event: it was not made for tourists, which made it more authentic!

i also met two of my austrian friends without knowing that they are in thailand right now. so it was really unexpected but we had a good time together.

back at the university i could start with my work in the laboratory which is verz interessting for me and although everything is quite different, the microbiology-work is something i am familiar with.
and i still have plenty of time for surfing internet, checking my emails and (maybe later that day) i can think or even start writing for my bachelorthesis.

in the last 2 days i met my new thai friends and we went to a club, drank some beer and had fun together. you know, the beer and the whiskey is really cheap here in thailand ;-))
maybe it s too cheap because i am very tired today and you know, my head is still dizzy...

lecture: artificial fertilication

2007-08-11T22:50:00.000+07:00

einen kleinen rundgang durchs unigelände hab ich mal unternommen und hab bei einem kurs der landwirte zu künstlichen befruchtung von kühen zuschauen dürfen.

heute (samstag) hab ich mal ausgeschlafen und den nachmittag mit kibriow verbracht. morgen starte ich dann mal ein bissi mit meinem sightseeing programm - und zwar geht es nach sukothai, der wiege thailands.

on a walk through the university campus i joined the lecture "artificial fertilization" of the agricultural students.
today (saturday) i slept a long time and spent the afternoon with kibriow. tomorrow i want to go to do some sightseeing. i am going to suktothai which is supposed to be the origin of the thai culture.

the institute of food and agriculture and the river Mae Nam Nam

in phitsanuloke

2007-08-11T22:39:00.000+07:00

einige leute hab ich ja nun auch schon hier kennengelernt, wobei die meisten nicht direkt aus thailand sind; va japaner und engländer bzw. neuseeländer/australier sind als lehrer hier an der uni angestellt. trotzdem sind hier in phitsanulok nur sehr wenige touristen zu sehen.
gestern war ich dann noch im besten hotel der stadt essen; das selbstbedienungsrestaurant mit allerlei chinesischen, japanischen, thailändischen und internationlen speisen hat für uns pro person gerade einmal 2,8,-- euro gekostet. essen ist also wirklich spottbillig hier.
eine spezialität und ziemlich köstlich ist "sticky rice with coconut milk and melon"

so far i got to know all the people from my institute as well as some other exchange students who are living in the same dormitory like me. kibriwo, another iaeste student, jamie from england, norman from newsealand and a girl from japan. all of them, expect kibriwo, are working as language teacher at the university. in phitsanuloke you can only see a few tourists. we met some of them at the topland plaza, which is a hotel and a big shopping mall in the town. the selfservice restaurant with thai, chinese, japanese and international food was really good and very very cheap. we only paid 2,8.-- euro per person. in the evening we got some thai speziality: "sticky rice with coconut milk and melon"

this is something i found at the newsboard of my institute:
(ok, the quality of the picture is bad, but it s me on the left side of the paper surrounded with lots of thai letters)

first day at the university

2007-08-11T22:28:00.000+07:00

mit einem gratis shuttle bus bin ich auf das uni gelände gefahren und hab dann eine kleine führung durch das institutsgelände bekommen.
auch hab ich schon meine ersten abstracts zum lesen erhalten. prinzipielles thema das mich die nächsten monate beschäftigen wird ist, das untersuchen von nativen LAB (lactic acid bacteria) auf fischen, und in folge das isolieren ebendieser bacteria mit dem ziel einen stamm für die industrielle fermentation zur herstellung von fermentierten fisch (plara) zur verfügung zu stellen.
ein doch recht ungewöhnliches thema, klingt aber spannend.

zum ersten mal regnet es auch recht ordentlich hier in thailand.die hitze ist eigentlich eh ganz angenehm, schätz so knappe 30°C wird es hier haben. deutlich unangenehmer ist die hohe luftfeuchtigkeit, die ja auch während der nacht nicht weggeht.

sawatdi krab

with a free shuttle service i reached the university campus in the morning and got a tour through the area. i also received my first abstracts to read, to get familiar with my topic i am going to work in the next 3 months. my work will be something really interessting but unusual for europeans: isolating LAB (lactic acid bacteria) from fermented fish (=plara).

for the first time i can see and feel the tropical monsum rainfalls. the temperature is similiar to austrian, about 30°C which is about 70 to 80° fahrenheit. more uncomfortable is the high humidity.

first day in phitsanuloke

2007-08-11T22:14:00.000+07:00

also an meinem ersten tag hab ich nun mal bis 2h geschlafen und dann hab ich eine erste erkundung durch phitsanulok gemacht.ist ja doch ein bissi anders aufgebaut als europäische städte, aber sehr nett und interssant, weil ich halt nix versteh. das meiste ist dann doch in thai beschrieben und nicht in englisch.

aber räucherstäbchen hab ich bestellen -oder zeigen- können und im supermarkt hab ich auch zeugs bekommen.
dann später am abend hat mich mein supervisor(mein betreuer auf uni) zum abendessen mit ein paar von seinen leuten eingeladen. also hab ich mein erstes thai essen auch schon gehabt.

nun aber ein paar bilder von meiner wohnung und so...

first of all i slept until 2pm, then i started my first walk through phitsanuloke. it is very uncommon and weird that i cannot read any of the signs and advertisements on the street, because the thai language is totally different to the european languages. enlish is also not very well known by the people (exept the people from the university) therefore the communication is difficult, but with using hands and feets i can order something in the supermarket or in the restaurant.

in the evening i was out for dinner with my supervisor and some of his (international) friends from newsealand and england.

here you can see some pictures from my accomodation...

vienna-munich-bangkok-phitsanuloke

2007-08-11T21:59:00.000+07:00

nach einer kleinen ewigkeit in diversen fliegern und flughafen bin ich nun wohl in phitsanuloke in meinem studentenwohnheim angekommen. wobei studentenwohnheim sicher nicht der richtige ausdruck ist, hab ich doch ein rund 40qm große wohnung mit tv, sofa, dusche wc,kühlschrank und wireless internet. wunderbar also.
morgen wollte ich ja schon hochmotiviert arbeiten gehen, aber nein morgen ist frei für mich und für die anderen studenten.
eine zweite iaeste praktikantin aus tadschikistan ist auch hier. hab aber jetzt nur mal kurz hallo gesagt. schließlich ist es ja schon spät.(11.30pm)
mir gehts also gut, bin nun auch über skype erreichbar (markustomek)
photos kommen dann bald einmal.

lg m

after changing airports and airplanes for several times i finally reached phitsanuloke in the middle of thailand. my supervisor from university picked me up at the airport and drove me to my acomodation. it is a 40sqm big appartement with balkony, tv, refrigeraor, furniture and bed, of course.
tomorrow i have got a resting day; so i will go to the city and do some sightseeing.
there is also a second iaeste trainee from tadjikistan here.
anyway, everything is fine here, so far.

greetings
markus

sawatdhi khrab

2007-08-10T23:28:00.000+07:00

die seite ist ja wirklich ein bissi besser...