getting down to business
This is too good to be belived.
Mark scooped me up and we went to a nearby northern thai restaurant. He asked if I was vegetarian, and said that maybe we should go someplace else. no no, I said, I'm flexible. I was willing to work around it, one has to make compromises. He quickly ordered an array of dishes in very good Thai (if only I sounded that good ::sigh::). Som tum (green papaya salad), a green eggplant dish, some pickled cabbage, fried pork, chili paste, and sticky rice. It was tasty but my god was it hot. even with lots of rice. sweat was pouring down my face (Mark was of course cool as a cucumber wearing jeans, closed shoes and a short-sleeved oxford shirt--but then, he lives here). I think I burned my stomach; I don't know if that's possible, but I had pain that wasn't heartburn or gas!
Mark is friendly, casual, down-to-earth and INCREDIBLY helpful. Philip Hirsch and Jonathan Rigg, some of the foremost authors on what I'm looking at? good friends of Mark's. Prominent NGO workers? his coworkers. He says that nearly everyone comes through Chiang Mai, and he knows most of them (after all, it's a pretty small field), and starts listing off people he'll introduce me to. He even gave me advice on picking an outside member for my dissertation committee. He's a fucking gold-mine!
He drove me around the campus, pointing out who works where and how to get in touch with them. He took me to his office, where his library and internet access is available to me (free, although he secretly thinks the whole campus is run off a 300 baud modem in a closet, so I have to get there early in the day). He introduced me to his assistant (Mae), who set to work finding me an apartment. we lined up a couple likely candidates (many have penalties for short-term rentals), and then she took me to look at them on her scooter. getting on a scooter behind someone I don't know and outmass by a factor of 2 took quite a bit of faith, since there was nothing for me to hold onto, and it would've been inappropriate for me to hold on to her. but it worked out.
Mark strongly recommended the more expensive one, saying that I'd get more for my money. It has 2 rooms, a bed, sofa, kitchenette, AC, hot water, even a little deck! It's in an area that has few foreigners besides NGO workers and academics, and near the bar that they all hang out in. I am here to *meet* people after all. I take his advice, and don't even bother looking at the less expensive one. this one is 3500 bht/mo, with a 500 bht deposit. I pay for electric, phone calls, water (I don't have a sense of how much these'll be, since they're priced per "unit". I'm actually paying for a little longer than I'll be here, but I think it'll be worth it.
It's actually close to Central, the mall I went to, but the rest of the area I know little about for the time being. I'll move in this afternoon, even though it means that I'll have to pay for tonight (only 50 bht, no big deal).
This is so amazing, I never imagined Mark would be so helpful. I can't believe this!!
Mark scooped me up and we went to a nearby northern thai restaurant. He asked if I was vegetarian, and said that maybe we should go someplace else. no no, I said, I'm flexible. I was willing to work around it, one has to make compromises. He quickly ordered an array of dishes in very good Thai (if only I sounded that good ::sigh::). Som tum (green papaya salad), a green eggplant dish, some pickled cabbage, fried pork, chili paste, and sticky rice. It was tasty but my god was it hot. even with lots of rice. sweat was pouring down my face (Mark was of course cool as a cucumber wearing jeans, closed shoes and a short-sleeved oxford shirt--but then, he lives here). I think I burned my stomach; I don't know if that's possible, but I had pain that wasn't heartburn or gas!
Mark is friendly, casual, down-to-earth and INCREDIBLY helpful. Philip Hirsch and Jonathan Rigg, some of the foremost authors on what I'm looking at? good friends of Mark's. Prominent NGO workers? his coworkers. He says that nearly everyone comes through Chiang Mai, and he knows most of them (after all, it's a pretty small field), and starts listing off people he'll introduce me to. He even gave me advice on picking an outside member for my dissertation committee. He's a fucking gold-mine!
He drove me around the campus, pointing out who works where and how to get in touch with them. He took me to his office, where his library and internet access is available to me (free, although he secretly thinks the whole campus is run off a 300 baud modem in a closet, so I have to get there early in the day). He introduced me to his assistant (Mae), who set to work finding me an apartment. we lined up a couple likely candidates (many have penalties for short-term rentals), and then she took me to look at them on her scooter. getting on a scooter behind someone I don't know and outmass by a factor of 2 took quite a bit of faith, since there was nothing for me to hold onto, and it would've been inappropriate for me to hold on to her. but it worked out.
Mark strongly recommended the more expensive one, saying that I'd get more for my money. It has 2 rooms, a bed, sofa, kitchenette, AC, hot water, even a little deck! It's in an area that has few foreigners besides NGO workers and academics, and near the bar that they all hang out in. I am here to *meet* people after all. I take his advice, and don't even bother looking at the less expensive one. this one is 3500 bht/mo, with a 500 bht deposit. I pay for electric, phone calls, water (I don't have a sense of how much these'll be, since they're priced per "unit". I'm actually paying for a little longer than I'll be here, but I think it'll be worth it.
It's actually close to Central, the mall I went to, but the rest of the area I know little about for the time being. I'll move in this afternoon, even though it means that I'll have to pay for tonight (only 50 bht, no big deal).
This is so amazing, I never imagined Mark would be so helpful. I can't believe this!!