Friday October 28, 2007: Hello Africa!
The music is just like home. In fact, the second song I heard in the airport after landing in Jo'burg by Clarkson. I knew things would be just fine from then on out.
At the lab, we completed the second rounds and had much better results! That was a huge relief.
Unfortunately, the amazing weekend on Koh Samui had ended and work proved to be sub-par to say the least.
We were up very early getting ready to go snorkeling- in fact we almost missed the shuttle van... okay, I almost missed the van. We had to have all our stuff out because we were going to miss check-out, so we left our bags with the front desk and left for our tour. We met up with about 25 other people at a dock on the north side of Koh Samui. We were given blue ribbons to wear around our wrists while the rest of our group had pink ribbons. I surmised we were the only ones to opt-out of the kayaking portion of the trip. We had a quick breakfast and boarded our motorboat for a 45 minute journey to Ang Thong Marine National Park. The boat ride was full of amazing views. Ang Thong (pronounced Ayeng Tong) is a group of about 40 small islands, most of which are uninhabited, and uninhabitable. We stopped at one such island and were allowed to go snorkeling. There wasn't much instruction other than to stay off the coral and only stand on white sand. We donned our snorkels and masks and jumped in! I had only been snorkeling in a swimming pool in high school, so this was amazingly beautiful! There were so many different species of fish swimming around, I reall felt like I was in an aquarium. The water wasn't blue-green, but it was definitely clear. The coral almsot looked fake. There were huge mounds of caramel colored coral with bits of sea life all around it. The fish were every color of the rainbow, and some even looked like a rainbow. A few times I dove under and got a real close-up of the fish and some anemones. There were large, black spikey 'plants' that looked sharper than a needle. The water was aout 10' deep or more near the boat, and about 40 yards to shore. I was very suprised how effortless snorkeling is. I remembered from high school that you don't need to kick, only breath regularly and move yourself along with your arms. It was quite peaceful and the fish hardly noticed I was around. We snorkeled for 45 minutes- 1 hour and then boarded the boat again. Upon boarding, a large school of silver fish hung out underneath the boat. That was pretty cool to see from underwater. Also, as we were running out of time snorkeling, two or three other rour boats came to our exact location. I'm so glad we were there first and had the whole area to only share with the fish. The last 10 minutes or so was unbelievably crowded. Children in life-jackets clung to their parents and were excessively loud and boisterous.
We woke up fairly early and booked a rental car for two days. It took way too long to arrive, and as a result, I was extremely antsy. We had a whole island to discover and we were sitting there, twiddling our thumbs in the open-air lobby of our resort.
Mew and I each isolated RNA from 10 plasma samples and ran RT reactions for all using my protocol from Boston- primers, reagents, and conditions alike.
We had some promising results from the past days' experiments, so tomorrow we'll begin some larger protocols and really start pushing through data.
Daily lab duties, PCRs, etc. Nothing exciting to note.
sorry it's taking me so long to post new blogs! they internet connection is pretty slow here, and uploading pictures takes a lot of time. i have been taking lots of pictures and journaling everything, so as soon as i get to a high speed connection i will post more! unfortunately, that may not be until i get home. :(
We were in the lab by 8:30am today. Our PCR finished and we discovered that the high spin doesn't work as well for these samples as the normal isolation. We ran a few more second round reactions, diluting the high spin template further and we'll see how things progress from here. Sunee treated us all to lunch at a local restaurant. We had a delicious dish of papaya salad with soft shell crab, dried mini-shrimp, and fish sauce. It was excellent! They also prepare the same dish with fried papaya and that was great too. Their soda comes in tall, thin, glass bottles and is smostly flat. It's still quite good though, especially the Fanta (orange soda)! We also had stick rice, some type of white noodles that looked like spaghetti and tasted like over-cooked spaghetti. There was fried chicken and soup with lemongrass and shrimp. Thais eat their meals with only a fork and spoon. You use the fork to anchor the food, and the spoon to tear it to bitesize pieces and deliver it to your mouth. It's a little inefficient, but I'm also learning that inefficiencyis a key element to Thai society. Thai's use 1/4 of a 2-ply napkin. Unfold a paper napkin so it's rectangular, and cut into 4 peices. A napkin that small has almost NO effect, especially if you're eating something particularly messy. Thais also don't keep toilet paper in the bathrooms. Our lab uses toilet paper (on the roll) to wipe up spilled reagents, and opposed to using the more expensive laboratory Kim Wipes. The same toilet paper appeared on our conference room table during lunch. You must also take a few squares with you to the bathroom or "water room" as it translates directly from Thai to English. Why not just leave some in the bathroom? Well, that's just too efficient. They also don't flush their t.p. A waste basket sits beside every toilet (in the lab) and you dispose of your contaminated t.p. in there. There are also waste baskets beside the toilets in the hotel. I still flush, however.
Today was our first day in the lab at Chulalongkorn University. Sunee met us in the lobby of our hotel at 9:15am and walked us to the hospital, about 10 minutes away. A conference room was waiting for us, along with the other employees of this Thai lab. Kiat, the director gave a quick presentation of the data they had gathered thus far. Next, Todd presented an overview of what was expected from each site for the contract (Peru, Thailand, China, as well as Boston's role) by the end of this month, the end of year three for Contract II. There's a LOT to do in Thailand! Todd included a list of more specific duties that need to be worked out while Liz and I are here. This should really help Thailand get up to speed with their part of the Contract.
I met Todd and Liz for breakfast ~9am. We headed to the Weekend Market which is much like the Night Bazaar, but larger! Todd bought a pair of Pumas for 425 Baht, about $10! In the states, the same pair of shoes would have been at least $60. We all bought linen pants/capris because Thais don't wear short shorts at all, and they are forbidden inside wats (temples).
All the same, the boat tour was amazing. It was exactly what I was hoping to see on this trip. People live in houses right above the river, hang their clothes to dry outside, and live simple, impoverished lives. Little boys swam in the river, old men sat on cement stairways- just living.
The river is brown and absolutely disgusting, however. Twelve inch catfish swarm and fight for bread that's thrown in to feed them. A six foot snake appeared in the river and little boys threw bread at that too. The snake was a good 18" in circumference, and the head and tail were underwater. Who knows how long it really was?!
We passed by many temples along the river, and many beat-up bungalows and homes with holes in the walls, floors, and roofs. the houses had no window panes, just wood panels to cover the window space in inclement weather.
We next took a Tuk-Tuk, a three wheeled scooter to the Golden Mount(ain). Large wrapping staircases lead up to the pinnacle at which a temple lies. Once inside, after removing our shoes, we saw a gold Buddha (gold leaved) and many small Buddhas around the "shrine". Upstairs, on the roofdeck, was a large cone structure of gold leaf and numerous jewels. The roofdeck also gave a great panoramic view of the city of Bangkok. The city is huge!
Next, our Tuk-Tuk driver forced us to go to TAT, or Tourism Authority of Thailand because the government gives them a gas coupon for sending tourists there- at least that's how we understood it. If we decide to go on any mini-trips, we'll likely book with them since they are government run businesses. We then stopped at the Lucky Buddha - lucky because it's sustained over 300 years. You cannot wear shoes in the temple, but ironically, you can take pictures and talk on cell phones. In front of the Lucky Buddha were many more gold leaved Buddhas, along with candles and incense. Only monks were allowed on the platform closest to the large Lucky Buddha, but we took a picture in front where others are allowed.
Finally, our Tuk-Tuk brought us back to the Grand Palace, King Rama the first's palace. We saw many of his temples, and buildings, a library where only the King is allowed, the outside of the ballroom where the King hosted parties with royalty, and where the elephants were kept during such events. Each structure was most elegant with excessive jewel-work, much gold and all colors of the rainbow. (Dare I say gaudy?) You see smaller scale things like this at amusement parks in Disney World, but the difference is these buildings were actually used by the King, and only now are they available to the tourists. You cannot enter the buildings because the present King still uses them. These gorgeous and delicate looking structures put our cement high rises, and "prettiest" city halls to SHAME!
Monks wore orange or brown robes and bald-shaved heads. Young boys who want to be monks, sat and prayed. Any male who lives as a monk for >5 days, is allowed into "heaven". Women are not allowed to touch monks as it is considered very disrespectful. The King must be a monk, in order to be King, so the current King served his 5 days and fulfilled the requirements. The current King is the longest reigning King in history, celebrating 60 years this year. He also turns 80 this year! The Thai people are EXTREMELY loyal and devoted to their King. They wear "We love the King" wristbands that look identical to our LIVESTRONG yellow bracelets. There are pictures of the King everywhere! Street signs, in hotels, on advertisements, in peoples' homes, on the side of 30+ story buildings, EVERYWHERE! Thais also wear yellow polo shirts every Monday (of this year) because the King was born on a Monday, and yellow is the color for that day. Everyday has a color, for example, August 12th is the Queen's birthday, and she was born on a Friday, so everyone will wear blue on that Friday. We see so much yellow everyday of the week, it's nauseating. But, I'm sure I'll buy a yellow shirt before I leave. :)
The whole time we were on this tour of the palace, we had a tour guide named KJ. She approached us as we entered the palace. For whatever reason, she thought Todd and I were dating! Todd is my boss, btw! The whole 2 hour tour, she kept referring to each of us as 'sweety' or 'honey'. "Aren't you going to pay for your sweety?", she'd ask Todd. It was hilarious! KJ was very entertaining throughout the tour. She made us count "1-2-3-sexy" for all our "postcard" pictures inside the palace. She was often inappropriate with remarks about Todd only lasting 15 minutes, but if he had the fruit of this very specific flower, he'd last 2 hours. SO embarrassing for ALL involved, but Todd was a very good sport and took it all in stride. She made sure to point out all the statues without bottoms on, as "sexy statues". She randomly read our palms telling Todd he's very concerned with buying land and property, he's a family man, and I'm his "last station", meaning ?? According to KJ's palm reading skills, I'm a sweety and a mother-in-one, and very focused on family, "a good deal". And Liz thinks too much and is a worry-wart causing her to get an upset stomach. Mind you, KJ is Thai, and we had to do quite a bit of deciphering along the way. KJ also knew a lot about U.S. pop-culture and used many references to keep us laughing. For example, the half woman half chicken was "not KFC", the monkey type jesters were "X-men", Todd was a "7-11", and if Todd ran in the next US election, he could stay in the palace like Bill Clinton did, "and Monica (Liz) could come too". Apparently Tiger Woods had also been to the palace at some point. KJ showed us this gigantic mural depicting ancient Thai history. The detail was amazing! On the way out, KJ referenced Superman and Superwoman, showing us paintings on the buildings suggesting Todd was Superman (though she claimed he looked like Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox, and Tom Hanks all in one) and showing a 1/2 woman (with legs), as well as 1/2 mermaid (with one mermaid tail) painting as being Superwoman because of her dual capabilities. She then asked Todd if she looked like me, "like your sweety?". I could have taken it as a compliment, but "Superwoman" had no shirt on... How embarrassing?!!! We were all laughing and trying to make an otherwise ridiculously uncomfortable situation really fun and entertaining.
Lastly, we viewed the Reclining Buddha, which is gold leaved and lying on it's side. It's absolutely enormous! It's quite a site inside this temple that's barely big enough to house it. Again, no shoes. the bottoms of the Reclining Buddha's feet are made from Mother of Pearl and have extremely intricate details.
We all decided we had had enough of KJ, as she was a bit much, and took a taxi to the Flower Market. Here, we found blocks and blocks of outdoor markets with beautiful, vibrant, exotic flowers. It's amazing to see the gross number of flowers as well as the many different species that grow in and around Thailand. Liz and I have a favorite flower, it's this orange-red color that resembles a flamingo head. It's very durable and almost waxy. We WILL be getting some for our apartment!
We finally went back to the hotel, freshened up, and reconvened for dinner at Lemongrass, a delicious Thai restaurant. We dined outside, on NIH's dime, and it was remarkable. Liz, Todd, and I had excellent food, excellent conversation, and really enjoyed reflecting on our days' events together (sounds cheesy, I know.). We talked for quite some time, but decided to check out the Night Bazaar close to our apartment. We were told by one talkative local, that the market was for the "high so" or high society, and things were more expensive there. We did a lot of browsing, but made no purchases -- we will though! We then headed to a massive ferris-wheel and took a ride for 100 Baht, only $2.50. There was a pretty decent view of the city, but more remarkable was the (almost) aerial view of the Night Bazaar! It was HUGE! Block after block of stuff for sale. We also caught a little of a free concert with a Thai cover performance of Shakira.
What a day!