Thai Times

2007-01-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

I used to think that the shape created by the physical layout and borders of Thailand lent itself to a kite- the body of it full and shapely, the string narrow and lingering. Following my sojourn in Thailand, I realized that Thailand is instead a bleeding heart.

In the Thai language, na-an jai is a noun that means "bleeding heart"- it is a type of person that all Thais can only hope to be. Being a na-an jai is almost like reaching Nirvana for the Thai Buddhist who derives their sense of accomplishment and self-worth by how much they can give of themselves and help others. Calling a Thai person na-an jai is the ultimate compliment.

In English, "bleeding heart" is a noun generally used as a slanderous weapon for one who is "excessively sympathetic" to the needs of others. It is not by any means a form of flattery nor is it generally a laudation.

Quite by irony does the form and function of Thailand fit the bleeding heart. Yes, they catered to my every need (and even needs that I didn't really have) but it was all done with the best intentions. From my American perspective it sometimes seemed overwhelming and perhaps even overbearing, but from the Thai perspective it was their duty and honor to help and please me. Had they not gone to every length possible, they would have thought themselves rude and unkind.

What a difference a culture makes.

2006-07-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

I had my first experience with Thai massage. It was incredibly intense but left me feeling so relaxed and stress-free. The style of it involves applying deep pressure with the fingers, elbows, and forearms, as well as stretching and pulling. Tonight, my hour-long massage was given by an excellent masseuse- she was the teacher for all of the masseuses at the spa that I went to. Ma told me that her monthly base salary is 500 baht (that is less than $20 per month) in addition to 20 baht per hour of massage (less than $1!). I asked her if she wanted to come back to the US with me as my massage therapist. She laughed kindly.

2006-07-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Reality Nights
Before our long drive home, we stayed at the house of a friend of Ma's friend. It was military housing as her husband is in the army. The house itself could probably be considered lower-middle class for the rural areas as it was concrete with a corrugated tin roof and running water. They had a stereo and a computer, and as most Thais do, a TV.

The second story had a bedroom big enough for a twin bed frame with a very thin mattress (where I slept), a bookshelf with old magazines, and a cloth "armoire" as a closet. The master bedroom had a queen sized bed with a mosquito net, a desk, and a similar armoire for clothes. The "family room" had a tv, a wooden bench, an old computer, and a picture of the king. Downstairs was a bathroom with the "floor" toilet (it doesn't have a bowl as it is built into the ground) and a spicket at about hip-level with cold water to fill the tupperware bowl for a shower. The kitchen table was outside under the porch (created by the master bedroom which was directly overhead) where it was protected from the rain. The wooden shutters on the window covered the ill-fit screen and mold was everywhere as it is impossible to keep it from growing on concrete, inside or out of the house, in such a wet, rainy environment. And the mother and son who lived inside the house were, of course, amazingly generous and so rich in spirit; they were very happy to have the four of us visiting, even though we used every clean towel and blanket that they had.

In giving this description, as with any of my blogs, I hope only to share as many details as possible of the circumstances that I have come to know. I don't have a picture of the house to share with you, as I didn't feel it prudent to be keeping that as a memory. Instead, here is a picture of the group of us in front of a sculpture of a lotus flower before it flowers at the local dam that we visited together.

The lotus flower is known in many cultures, (especially in Buddhism) as modeling the human attempt of reaching up to the divine, with roots in the mud and murkiness of material life. The lotus bud, untouched by impurity, is often helpful with meditation as it symbolizes the purity of heart and mind and represents long life, health, honor and good luck. In this respect, out hosts mirrored the idea of the lotus blossom as their beauty and grace were projected out from the status of their material world.

After the dam, we visited the oldest teak tree in the world.

On Tuesday, we visited a temple outside of Chiang Mai.

Picture of the week- Eating dinner at the river's side.

On the way back to Udon Thani yesterday, we stopped at a quaint riverside restaurant complete with background Thai music . Each "table" was a small, open-air room built over the water. The mosquitoes and ants were nice enough to take a break from me as their dinner (the big red ants are gnarly here!) and we had a relaxing feast of fried chicken bits with seaweed, som tum (spciy papaya salad, which became standard fare once they found out that I really liked it), sticky rice, and fresh cabbage, green beans, and a leafy veggie that tastes like black licorice. I also tried a new fruit that looked like grapes from afar, but had a thin, rough shell around the fruit along with the best dessert ever- fresh coconut pieces in gelatin inside of the coconut.

2006-07-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm now up in Chiang Mai in the north-west part of Thailand. The night before leaving, we went to "Paragon" which was a huge shopping mall in Bangkok. Unfortunately, Gucci was closed (open for appointment only) so I couldn't get another suit made there. Riiiight....Anyways, since I'm not much of a mall person or even a window-shopper, I got bored pretty quickly although I did enjoy the gourmet supermarket.

The drive up here was not bad. We drove half-way and stayed the night in a guest house before heading to a hot spring today. I got good and dirty with a mud scrub and now my skin is smoother than ever (price=150 baht or about $4). I love how low the prices for health-related goods and services are in Thailand. People really emphasize their health here. (Whenever we eat anything with garlic in it, Ma always says "for health!").

Now I'm trying to finish up my shopping at a market before going back to our guest house. Tomorrow we will do some sort of Thai-herb something or other... (I didn't really understand but I get the impression that it might be like a sauna or something else health-related).

From here, plans are (I think) to go back to Udon Thani before flying to Bangkok on Saturday morning for my flight on Saturday night. It will be a long 36 hour journey home, as I have a 12 layover in Seoul. Maybe I'll venture out of the airport for the day...

2006-07-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

My stay in Phuket was short but sweet. The fabulous picture of me at the pool that overlooked the beach was my only two short hours of relaxation, as the next morning we left that hotel and went in to the town of Phuket for Rotary duties all day long.

First, we helped deliver 885,000 baht to 11 local fishermen who were affected by the tsunami (about $22,000).
They will get brand new boats or repairs done to old boats which will enable them to get back in business. This was made possible by four Rotary clubs- Laurie Beach Sunrise, East Idaho Falls, Magkang, and Phuket.

This is a picture of me introducing myself to the group (in English of course and then translated by Ma)-

Afterwards, we went to lunch with the District Governor (DG) and several other leaders in the Rotary Club of Phuket at the "Islamic" restaraunt of the President. I was surprised to learn that about 80% of the Thai population on this island are Muslim, which explains why I see so few Buddhist shrines here. Many women use the traditional head scarves to stay covered up, which is such an interesting contrast to the flood of tourists who walk around in shorts and a tank top.

Afterwards, we went to a ceremony for the change in leadership for the Interact Club (a Rotary-sponsored service club for high schools).

I was so pleased by the presence of so many Rotarians- three of the 6 clubs had their presidents their, as well as the DG, and about 10 other Rotarians.

That evening, we went to the installation ceremony for all 6 incoming presidents for the Rotary clubs on the island. This is a picture of me with some Rotary Youth Exchange high school students. You can tell by our jackets that are covered with pins that were gifts from Rotarians or other exchange students from around the worl that we get to meet a lot of people!

One of the clubs, in Patong Beach, is comprised of mainly foreigners and conducts their business in English. It was amazing to see the slide show of all of the work that these 6 clubs have been able to accomplish on the island since the Tsunami struck.

The following photos are from Kamala Beach. It is a smaller area and not damaged as much as some other beaches on the island, but almost all of the building that were here were obliterated and had to be rebuilt.

Although many of the shops, schools, and houses have been rebuilt, empty lots or newly beginning construction sites are pretty normal to see around the island.

This plaza is only finished halfway-

One of several monuments on the island-

While talking with the new president of the Patong Beach Club, he said that rebuilding the infrastructure on the island is pretty much complete and that luckily, the hilly geography of the island kept many parts of it undisturbed. One thing that the club has identified as a source of need which will be ongoing, is to offer educational scholarships to young children who lost one or both of their parents in the tsunami and cannot afford the low cost of education. His club is currently sponsoring about 250 children which will guarantee them schooling throughout grade 12.

2006-07-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, these are my feet!

I'm in Phuket! We left Bangkok this morning and arrived here mid-day and ate lunch near Bang Tao Beach, which was destroyed by the tsunami a year and a half ago. All of the buildings were new, as well as the four-lane road, which replaced the old two-lane street. (This is much safer, considering the way that the Thais drive!)

Tonight we will stay at the Aquamarine Resort and Villa (http://www.aquamarineresort.com/), which is owned by a local Rotarian, and tomorrow we will go into the town of Phuket in order to take part in a celebration to give a new fishing boat to some local fisherman who lost their boat in the tsunami. The boat was made possible by a Rotary Club in Idaho.

As usual, I was a bit confused about the plans. We came down to the beach for dinner and ended up eating in the mall. This was a bit of a strange decision to me considering where we are at, but dinner was great nevertheless, mostly because the travel companions for Ma and I are the President of the Magkang Rotary Club (my host club in Thailand) and another member.

Right now, I'm waiting to go back to the tailor because I am having a suit made for me at a shop owned by a local Rotarian. I placed the order two hours ago and the jacket, trousers, and skirt will be ready for me when I leave on Saturday morning. Total cost= $150. Not half bad for a tailor-made suit.

2006-07-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

I think that today was the most beautiful day yet in Bangkok. Instead of smoggy, cloudy skies all day, we enjoyed an afternoon of Reno-like clouds and breeze. It was still very hot and muggy, and besides sweating a liter, it was great.

We woke up before 6 and were out of the house by 6:30 in order to go to a temple in Bangkok. What a difference it was from the forest temple, as about 50 people showed up with food to share. Instead of offering all of the food to the monks, we put a spoonful of rice into their alms bowl (which they mostly dumped back in to a big pot because they had too much) and then they got the rest of their food from the buffet line. Literally.

After the eldest monk blessed the food and all of us, he blessed some water in a pot/chalice-like cup that we each had as an offering so that "all people, dead or alive" would have food.

Ma and I then went on a bus for two hours to get to the other side of Bangkok to get to the Emerald Buddha Temple, which is probably the most revered temple in all of Thailand. It's main relic is a jade Buddha statue that was discovered in the 15th century (hence the name of the place, as all Thais call any green stone "emerald"), but there are many building, including a royal residence, a meeting area, pagodas with the ashes of former rulers, and a museum full of royal regalia and old coins.

At the museum, I learned that the king who is reigning in Thailand is the longest reining king that they have ever had (60 years this year!) and is currently the longest reigning monarch in the world right now. And let me tell you- the people here loooove him. Since I am from a country where democracy decides a new figurehead every 4 years, I don't easily identify with the regard that they have for him but actually I find it quite intriguing. Their dedication to him, however, was exemplified when Ma wanted to spend two hours in line to be one of fifty people allowed to buy two comemorative coins produced to celebrate His Majesty's 60th anniversary of his accension to the throne. Well, the two hours paid off, as we were the 50th people in line. She was so excited she screamed!

After that, we went to Chinatown and then I went with Tee to a Rotaract meeting which was very interesting mostly because their club is a university-based club and structured much differently than ours in Reno. Although it was unofficial, this was the first meeting of the new Rotary year. They are planning their first camp of the year (they have three every year- the 1st one is the shortest at 3 days, the 2nd is a week, and the 3rd is 14 or 16 days). They are in the first stages of deciding what their service project is going to be (most likely planting a mango farm in a nearby province) and will serve as a major recruitment tool in August.

2006-07-04T23:43:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

No BBQ or beer for me today. Instead, I went to an island in the middle of the river that runs through Bangkok to visit a town that is known especially for its pottery.

During a motorcycle trip around the island, we happened upon the shop of a famous craftsman who has been commissioned to create works of art for the Royal Family of Thailand. His intricate creation are made out of clay and fashioned into pagodas, deities, the royal barge, etc. Most take hundreds of hours of work.

Here I am with the artist and his father along with several pieces in the background-

Last night we went to the theater to see a Thai stage musical. It showcased many traditional Thai dances, games, costumes, music, and folklore and was very creative and dramatic. Its theatrical style and costuming was similar in style to the "Lion King" on stage. They had an elephant, goats, chickens, and even a real river built into the stage!

Although no cameras were allowed during the show, I did get my picture taken with one of the stars of the show-

And yes, that is a new hair color. It was an attempt to differentiate my 'do from Tee's. It cost about 300 baht for the dye at the store (about $8) and 100 baht for the hair stylist to put it in for me ($3), with a total of $11 (which is actually more than the 300 baht hair cut in the most famous salon on Thailand). Most likely I will dye it back to my original color before going back to the US because I am even less fond of it than the cut!

Anyways, tomorrow is another early morning. We will go to a temple in the city and help prepare breakfast for the monks that live there. I must dress in traditional "temple wear"- a long black skirt and a white shirt with sleeves. I'll pack something else to change into because tomorrow is bound to be another hot and humid day in Bangkok.

2006-07-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

I had a much-needed Thai massage in the mall today (30 minutes for 100 baht or aboout $2.80) because yesterday wreaked havoc on my shoulders! I wish I had pictures to share with you of my kayaking adventure but we left all of our cameras in the car so that they wouldn't get wet.

The day started out normal. We had breakfast in the hotel (I ate a fresh salad because they are hard to come by- all of the veggies are usually fried here) and were on our way in the caravan of people to the river.

We were one of the first cars to arrive and we had the choice to go on a river raft or kayak. Tee and I chose to kayak with the guides and everyone else filled up the rafts. While waiting for more people to arrive, we practiced in the water. He had never been in a kayak at all and I have only been in one once in Lake Tahoe, which was much calmer than the Class III-V rapids we were about to face.

Soon enough, we found out that there were not enough guides so go down with us in two-person kayaks so Tee and I would have to go together with me in the back to control. I was a bit unsure of that but once I saw how bad everyone else was, I felt a little bit more confident because Tee and I made a good team.

The group started out down the river and after the second rapid, we had to wait for the others who were already falling off of their boats. When four more boats came succesfully, we were told to go on ahead so we did.

We hit a pretty decent sized rapid and fell off. We got back on succesfully, however, and hit the next one. The next stretch was fairly calm so we decided to wait. We saw some empty boats coming down the river so we scooted to the side in order to relax.

After three boats and six oars passed us with no people in them, we started to wonder what was up. I remembered seeing quite a few people on the embankment taking pictures of us at one point so we began to think that that was where we were supposed to stop.

So we went slowly down the river and rested periodically by the side to see if the people who had gone on the rafts were down there. But we turned back around when no one was in sight and the brush began to thicken and the river began to thin. We went upstream hoping that by then someone would be coming- maybe one of the guides to come find us? But no one showed.

By this time we were back at the last rapid we came down and there was no way we were going to be able to paddle up it, so we turned around again and found a place down the river. I already had blisters on my hands and the both of us had cuts from the branches that were attacking us from all sides, so we found a spot to climb out and headed to what we hoped would be the road.

Well, it wasn't. It was a huge cornfield with rocky soil that we had to carefully pick our way through (since we didn't have any shoes on) to get to the road. Someone happened to be passing by in his tractor so he gave us a ride back to where we needed to go.

By the time we got there, everyone had already left, including most of the guides! They just figured that we would be ok I guess and when Tee told them the story they were just like "Oh". And apparently, if we would have continued we could have gotten very hurt because the rapids down the way were extremely big and dangerous. I don't think that the helmets we wore would have kept us from breaking any bones. :-o

2006-07-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Early Saturday morning, Ani (the eldest of host sisters who is 22), Tee (my exchange partner), and I began a two-day adventure to Saraburi province which is famous for its waterfalls, steak, and farms.

But first we went to a temple where a shrine was set up for a tree trunk whose guardian angel haunts the area. Legend has it that the tree was cut down in order to become the first ceremonial post for the creation of Bangkok as the capital. (Hundreds of years ago, when a new town was to be built, a huge hole would be dug and a tree would be cut down and used to smash a person at the bottom of the hole. This ceremony is no longer practiced.) After it floated down the main river and finally reached the right area, another tree had already been used. The tree stump then floated against to river's current and finally stopped at this area where a town already existed. Since the people of Thailand believe that each tree has its own female guardian angel (remnant from the traditional rural beliefs), the village people created a shrine for it in order to show respect.

After that, we moved on to different shrine where the "footprint" of Buddha is kept. When I saw it, I thought that the translation was bad and it was supposed to be the "foot path" of Buddha because the enshrined area was about 18 inches deep and two feet wide, but Tee confirmed that for a long time it was actually believed to be the print of Buddha, but now it is seen more for the idyllic aspects of it.

The silver, glass and gold staircases (from left to right) with 5-headed dragons gaurding them and the temple up top for the Buddha's footprint. Legend has it that if you make a wish at the top and don't breath until you get to the bottom, your wish will come true. I held my breath the whole way down the silver staircase...

Contrary to what you might think, this is not a picture of me. It is actually Tee- we just have the same haircut! He is ordering some flaky bread with different fillings (taro, chicken, bean, or pineapple) that is characteristic of this province-

2006-07-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

River Market/Tourist Trap

Before cars, rivers were the major source of transportation in Thailand. Only in a few places does it remain popular and it is mostly for tourists. On Friday, we went to the river market early in the morning.

Just settling in on the boat and getting ready for our excursion-

We navigated through many canals and finally reached the market with international patrons only. Prices were outrageous (800 baht for a silk shirt or about $21) but since Ma was with me, I was able to get things at a reasonable price (3 silk shirts for 750 baht or about $20). The market itself was small and few of the vendors were actually in their boats- most of them were in an open-air building right on the river.

She is making the tastiest coconut pancakes I'll ever have-

After the river market, we went to see the second largest pagoda in the world (the largest is in Malaysia) where there is apparently one of Buddha's bones, but we didn't see it because I got lost from the group while I was taking the following picture of a studying Monk-

Finally was the trip to the wax museum, "Human Imagery Museum" as they called it. This is me with all of the kings (from Rama I to the present Rama IX) of Thailand (Siam).

And these are some children in traditional garb with traditional hairstyles playing a game.

Studying chess moves.

Me and Abe just chillin'.

The figure on the bottom left is not a wax figure- her name is Risa, she is a past President of the Prahnburi Rotary Club and owner of a golf resort in Hua Hin. She is paying her respects to the figure of the monk.

2006-06-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

The Lone Fisher at Hua Hin Beach

My trip is about half over and we still have so much planned. Tomorrow I will go to the river market and this weekend I will visit a ranch. Next week, it will be Phuket and another Rotary installation in Bangkok, and probably something else squeezed in there, as the plans seem to change every day.

At first, I found the fact that things changed so often a bit difficult to deal with because I never really knew what we were going to do, with whom, or when and therefore couldn't prepare myself with gifts or Rotary flags or information about Reno to share with the people who would be helping host me. Frankly, it just isn't what I am used to, because although I am a "fly by the seat of my pants" type of girl (especially when I travel!), I am used to making my own plans.

When I was in Ayuthaya, however, our host told me that this is going to happen no matter what as "it is the Thai way- everyone wants to help take care of you," which is why there are so many plan changes. When I looked at it from that perspective, I began to understand and realized that I just had to go with the flow and let things happen when they were going to happen.

And definitely- people want to take care of me. It has been a little hard to get used to to be honest, because by "taking care of me" I mean that everyone wants to give me food, or refill my water or put more ice in it, or make me take a shower, or tell me to sit down and relax, or get up to go somewhere, or hold my hand and "escort" me into a building or out of it or up the stairs or down the street, etc. I realize that this is their way of showing affection and that they only care that I am well, but after living by myself for so long it is actually quite overwhelming.

The gestures are so sweet and I of course don't want to offend anyone by refusing their help because sometimes that proves to be more trouble than it is worth anyways. One time, one of Ma's friends said "Sit here!" and I said, "No thank you, I don't want to sit anymore because I just sat for 7 hours in the car." She didn't understand what I was saying and it took about 10 minutes to explain why I didn't want to sit. So especially when language becomes a barrier, I tried to adopt a skill that I learned in Japan- to accept what they are offering after the 3rd offer, even if I am not hungry at all, so as not to come off ungrateful. :-) Needless to say, it feels like everyone offers at least three times and it feels like I am eating all day!!

Given the crazy travel schedule that we have had so far and the fact that I am always with someone, today was the first opportunity that I had for "alone" time. I had two hours to walk around the beach and I found this lone person on the beach who seemed to be seeking the same solitude that I sought.

2006-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last night, another woman president was inducted (she's in the middle) but this time at the Rotary Club of Prhanburi.

Look how many women are in the club- what a great example!

The club's "bell"-

2006-06-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

Back in Hua Hin

We came back to Hua Hin this morning. Here are two pictures, taken at a shrine outside of the city, of the 7 meditating positions that Buddha taught, starting with Sunday and ending with Saturday.

2006-06-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

Rotary Club of Hua Hin

This is a picture of the installation of the new president of the Rotary Club of Hua Hin. She is second from the left. I love seeing women in leadership positions in Rotary, especially since they have only been able to be members for about 20 years, although Rotary has already celebrated its centenial year!

Immediately after the Rotary dinner, we got in the car and drove 3 hours to another temple on the beach. I was so tired and so much looking forward to getting a good nights rest in the hotel that Ma said was on the water. What a pleasure it would be, given that I've only slept about half of the nights that I have been here in a real bed. (All of the other nights have been either in the car or on a reed mat on the wood floor with a pillow.)

This was our "hotel"- reed mats and a pillow again in an open-air room!

Try as I might, I was still bitten by many mosquitoes. They seem to like only biting me (I was bitten at least 40 times when we were in the forest at the temple). At first I thought it was the soap I was using, so I changed it up, as well as my shampoo and conditioner, but it didn't seem to work. I woke up the next morning with quite a few more, but didn't mind as much when I could actually see where I was...

Gorgeous, isn't it? Our "hotel" was right on the lake that you see here, but a little bit more to the right.

Check out this shower-

The dog helped with the morning's alms rounds...

The fish got to enjoy the leftovers from breakfast-

Thai-tanic

I went for a swim in the lake and how great it was to have short hair since I didn't have a swim cap- I could still get a good work out. And work out, indeed I did, since the monk's boat that mom and her friend borrowed sunk while they were trying to get back in it after they had gotten out in the middle of the lake. Thank goodness it is no Lake Tahoe- it was probably only a couple hundred meters out to where they were but Ma's friend couldn't swim and I had to pull her in as she grabbed on to a piece of wood. Ma sat in the water and waited because she was too tired to paddle in, as she can't swim all that well either, so I had to swim back and and help her since none of the monks could touch her. Thank goodness for those lifeguard lessons back in high school!

Some people came to help find the boat at the bottom of the lake. By the time we left, however, the boat was still not recovered...

2006-06-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hua Hin

We took a shuttle to the beach today (about 2 hours from Bangkok) to visit Ma's friend. I'm actually in her Internat Cafe right now. We have a Rotary Installation to go to for the new officers of the sister club of Magkang, the Hua Hin Rotary Club.

Most of the beach resorts are shut down, as it is not summer anymore, but there are still a fair amount of foreigners here. There is a lot of property for sale as well and condos go for about 2.9 million baht or about $72,000. Any takers?

The water is warm but I didn't go swimming because there are too many jellyfish.

We also went to see a big Buddha on a hill.

And I almost was eaten by Buddha's dragon.

So, why does Buddha look different, depending on the rendition of his image? Well, the story I was told is that some woman was in love with him because he was so beautiful but since his practices don't allow for love relationships with women, he "intentioned" himself to be fat so that she wouldn't be as attracted to him anymore. I'm a bit confused though because the peaceful Buddha (the first one) is the most popular here and is from the Ayuthaya period, but I don't know when the fat Buddha started to show up, although either image is likely to be seen at any given shrine.

2006-06-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

It's a good thing that hair grows back because "Oh my goodness!" Truthfully, I'm not to fond of the cut but I'm getting used to it...and it will grow back. Maybe in about two months it will actually look like the hair cut in the picture that I showed the girl.

This hair will be sent to "Locks of Love" in order to be made into a wig for a child with cancer.

Getting ready to go out to a club in Bangkok with my host sister "Tik".

2006-06-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today started out with the now customary (to me) making of breakfast for the monks. We were just about to start presenting it to them in this picture...

...but then five more people showed up with more food! I'm telling you- if you want to eat well, bring some food to offer to a monk because there will be at least ten other people doing the same and afterwards it's a buffet!

Ayuthaya- the old capital of Siam
After breakfast, Ma's friends and I went to see some old ruins in the capital from the 15th century.

This is Buddha's face made out of sandstone. The body no longer exists but I thought that it looked rad wrapped up in this tree.

The Buddha taught 7 positions for meditation. This one is for "Friday."

2006-06-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in the Forest

Shortly after sunrise, we began making breakfast.

Scraping the coconut to make milk with fruit and coconut-sticky rice-

Yours truly, arranging a platter of fruit.

The ladies of the village doing their part-

After bringing breakfast to the monks in the temple, Ma and I went for a walk along the paths of the monks which led to many beautiful and interesting things:

Forest dwelling for a monk-

Meditation path-

Wild orchid-

2006-06-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a whirlwind of activity! I just got to Bangkok after having spent two days in at a forest temple, one day driving, and one day in Ayuthaya (the old capital of Thailand). I'll start from the beginning, but may not be able to finish right now because we are supposed to go to dinner soon.

Day 1-
Left Udon Thani with Ma, two of her friends, and thhe driver (who actually works at the tire shop but always drives long distances for Ma because she doesn't like to drive- like me!) at around 1:30am and drove until just after sunrise to the temple in the forest. We immediately began to prepare food for the monks along with some of the village people who walked up (like they do everyday) to help prepare the one meal that the monks would eat. (Forest monks eat only one meal per day and only drink liquid after that, versus the "city" monks who eat two meals).

Prepping the food in the "kitchen."

We prepared a nice feast of fried fish, sticky rice, white rice, fresh green beans and cucumbers, fried vegetables, a salad (with mainly green leafy vegetables that I have never seen before, as well as LOTS of garlic). Everyone brought it to the temple (one room building on stilts) to the two monks that were there. Once my shoes were off (of course- as no one wears shoes inside of the house and therefore would never dream of wearing them in the temple), I scooted over on my knees in front of the monks and Ma followed me.

Figuring that she was about to greet (hands placed in "prayer position" followed by the salutation in Thai) the monks, I put my hands in that position and said "Kap koom ka". Oops! What I said was "thanks" when what I meant to say was "salutations" when I really should have said nothing at all. What Ma was really preparing to do was show her respects by bowing three times to the Buddha and the head monk. Everyone got a good laugh at my obvious feau paux and I became the center of the conversation for a few good minutes, although I have no idea what was said. The head monk asked my name, to which I replied "Leelowadee" (my Thai nickname given to me by Ma) because that is much easier for Thai people to say. He replied, "No Rebecca?". Another laugh from the audience of course. :-)

After more conversation, one of the men passed each dish to the monks and they filled their alms bowl. (Ma said that the monks can't say no, but later I saw that they just passed the things on that they didn't prefer to eat). Before eating, the monks did a chant (prayer?) together, but again, I have no idea what was said.

And before we left them, they let me take a picture. :-)

So then we took a break to eat our own breakfast and then a short nap before heading down to the village school to start cooking what I thought would be lunch for the school children, but actually turned out to be dinner for the entire village (about 250+ people).

The head monk talking to some children while they waited for dinner-

Monks, Ma and friends (including me), and school children-

2006-06-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

The Rotary meeting was fun. We exchanged flags and I met two RYE (Rotary Youth Exchange) student who are just finishing up their year in Thailand. We all sat at a U-shaped table and everyone had microphones that they turned on when it came time to speak. Those who weren't speaking into the microphone were carrying on their own conversations, whether it be with the person next to them, across the table, or on their cell phone- obviously very informal, as Thai gatherings seem to be.

Well, I'm off to a temple in the forest and will write again ASAP...

2006-06-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

We woke up early again today for Tai Chi. But towards the end of it, a few small rain drops started to fall and everyone called it quits. I figured that they knew what they were doing, so I followed the leader and got into the car just before the downpour started. It is the rainy season in Thailand after all, so downpours like this are not uncommon.

The rain, however, did not deter us from heading to the market to buy food. On the way there, we stopped to offer several monks some food. They walk (with no shoes, of course) along the streets every day, rain or shine, in order to receive offerings of food from people.

I was surprised because I was under the impression that women were not allowed to hand a monk anything (they first are supposed to hand it to a man who will hand it to the monk), but apparently that is not the case with this. And I guess I didn't really hand it to them- I put it in their basket.

At the markete had to stock up on food because tomorrow morning at about 1 am, we will leave and drive about 5 hours to a wat (temple) in the middle of the forest where we will cook the food for the monks and meditate with them. In order to prepare me for this, Ma wrote the "Admonitions of the Buddha" that I am to meditate upon while there. I have written them here exactly as they were translated for me because I'm not quite sure of the exact translation (and this is definitely good enough).

1. Not to do anything evil.
- Not to kill anything
- Not to stole the other belonging
- Not to tell a lie
- Not to be adulterous
- No drink, no drug
2. To do good thing.
- Donate for the monk (food, medicine, clothing)
- Donate for poor people
- Ne jealousy, no gossip, no sarcastic
3. To purify the mind.
- Aspiration
- Effort
- Thoughtfulness
- Reasoning

In order to prepare myself further, I am to not eat dinner tonight. (This was an option given to me, of course- I don't have to.) Kind of a bummer since tonight will be a dinner meeting with the Magkang Rotary Club, my sponsor club, but I know it will all be worth it.

2006-06-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

What a way to start the day... tai chi in the park at 5am. It was a beautiful morning, especially because the city hadn't yet started to wake when we began the first (and quicker) variation of the traditional Chinese martial art. I wasn't too bad... at least I was almost keeping up with the 65 year-old (I'm guessing) teacher. :-)

After a breakfast of soy milk and mueslix, I was off to school to visit the classroom of one of the Rotarians who I met this past weekend. I taught two of her classes in the morning. In one, we used the Beatle's "Yesterday" and filled in the missing words from the lyrics; in the other I taught pronunciation.

It was fun being able to use my skills that I learned while getting my certificate to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) a few years back. I was offered a job immediately- $750 per month, which goes pretty darn far in Thailand. I had to decline, of course, because I have to finish school, but they said that the invitation will remain open...

This afternoon, Ma sent me to the mall to take some pictures in traditional Thai dress. It was pretty fun and the pictures turned out nicely (mostly because they did a lot of "touching up" to my mosquito bites!).

Afterwards, we at dinner at Sizzler and I captured the most beautiful sunset I've seen in Thailand (although I guess I only have seen four).

Here are some quirky cultural things that I thought you might find interesting:

CARS
-Cars all must drive on the left side of the road. If you are a motorcycle, a bicycle, a "tuk-tuk" (bike-like carraige) then you can drive on either side, but if you are on the right then you must remain on the shoulder.

-You can make free left turns on a red light. Right turns are on green lights only and you don't have to yield to oncoming traffic- it's whoever makes the turn first.

-In the parking garages, you can park perpendicular to the backs of cars (essentially blocking their way out), but you must leave off your parking break so that they can roll your car forward or backward if they need to get out while you are away.

EATING
-All meals are eaten with a fork and a spoon. The fork is used to guide the food onto the spoon. The spoon is often used like a knife to cut whatever needs to be cut.

SHOPPING
-You can barter in the shops in the mall. Unfortunately I learned this after paying about 290 baht (about $8) for a shirt. Ma told me that I could've asked for a discount and I probably would have gotten away with 270 baht. Next time...

Thai/Chinese Wedding

2006-06-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Ma and I went to a wedding this morning. It started at about 9am at a big hotel that is a few minutes from the house. The father of a bride is a Rotarian so I met several, including an exchange student from British Columbia whose Thai was well spoken.

This is a picture of almost all of the
Rotary-related guests at the wedding.

Having been to a Chinese wedding celebration in the States, I kind of expected that it would just be a party and a meal. It started out with the groom entering and sitting on stage on a couch. Then the bride came out and they sat together. She was wearing a Western-style white gown and he a white suit. The two of them received offerings from family members and exchanged rings. There was one anouncer (but of course I didn't know what he was saying) who spoke the whole time but it seemed that no one really listened, although everyone clapped together. It was a very casual affair, as everyone was talking throughout the ceremony.

Finally, a young girl (maybe a sister?) came out on her knees and offered the bride and groom some food. Once they began to eat, we did too. It was definitely a meal- a 10 course meal!

Mmmmm! Shark fin soup!!

Check out the mouth on that one.
(I'm talking about the fish on the plate!)

That was it. If they are Buddhist (which is most likely), I believe that they will have a private ceremony with a monk. Later, we will go back to the same hotel for another party for the same wedding. I wonder if we will eat again? I don't think I will be hungry until tomorrow...

2006-06-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I woke up and meditated before taking a shower and arriving late to breakfast (I was told that it started at 8am but it really started at 6 and the conference itself started at 8!). I ate salad, fruit, a fried egg, and fried bread with coffee. It was nice to have it brewed and black- yesterday at breakfast, it was served on ice with a lot of milk.

During the four hours before lunch, all of the Youth Exchange students made a presentation about their host country or state. This gathering was the last of 5 seperate gatherings that the students attended to prepare them for their year abroad- they knew that they would have to make these presentations since the first time they got together in April at their leadership camp. I was quite impressed at the depth with which they addressed the culture and customs, but especially at their language level.

During the conference, I noted one of the Thai cultural traits that I had read about in books in which they laugh at other's mistakes. At first, I was a bit surprised because it seemed like they were almost ridiculing each other for the way that they mispronounced different words, but then I remembered reading that they do this not to be rude, but rather to put the person at ease when they have messed up and point it out in a jovial manner in order to help them. It seems like a good practice because of the underlying meaning, which is, by nature, much different than the reactions that some Americans (especially high school students, according to some of the Inbound students) who laugh at other people's accents when they are trying to speak English.

After lunch came the best and definitely the most interesting part of the day because my lack of Thai language skills did not prevent me from understanding. It was a farewell ceremony between the students and their parents. All of the students stood behind their parents (everyone was in a U-formation facing the stage). It began with the Rotary District Governor (DG) lighting incense and a candle at the Buddhist shrine and saying a speech, followed by speeches from the Exchange Chairman and the Governor-elect. Then the DG lit a bit candle in the middle of the room from the original candle that he had lit. All of the District officers lit their own candle off of this candle and were met by the students who lit their own candle and thanked them with a "wai" (a bow with hands in a prayer formation). The students stood behind their parents with these candles and made an oath to be good examples during their year abroad for Thailand, their family, and Rotary. Then they bowed at their parents' feet (the "dirtiest" part of the body, according to the Thai culture) and thanked their parents. It was such a beautiful ceremony and so many people were crying that I felt the tears welling up in my eyes!

My host father and I left right after the ceremony because we had to drive the four hours back to Udon. We got back at 6:30 and went out to dinner. It was a Korean outdoor restaraunt (eating outdoors is normal, especially since it is still about 85 degrees and very humid at that time) in which we had our own hot plate (to cook our own meat) with a recess around it to make soup with vegetables and fish. It was tasty.

2006-06-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

The Trip Over and Day 1
I left Reno at 10am on Wednesday morning and got to Bangkok at 12am Friday morning (Thai time, that is...which I believe is about 15 hours ahead of Nevada). On the flight over, I read the DaVinci Code. It's a good book- you should read it next time you are on a 12-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean.

Upon arrival in Bangkok, I was met by my exchange partner, Tee, and his mother (Ma), as well as her friend and their driver. Tee lives in Bangkok where he goes to medical school and we had to drop him off before heading northeast for 5 hours in a car to get to Udon city in the Udon Thani province, where his parents live. On the way to his university, we drove by the palace of the king. It was awash in white lights in celebration of his 60th birthday (I missed the festivities by a few days). This picture is of one side of one of the gates to the King's palace.

After dropping Tee off and driving to Udon, we ate a Vietnames/Thai breakfast of boiled rice with ginger and a fried egg. It was pretty tasty. Once we got home (a three-story house on top of their tire shop on the main street of Udon), I had time to take a shower before going to the dressmaker (a friend of Ma's). She is tailoring a dress for me to wear at a wedding on Sunday and is also making me an outfit to wear for the "Cowboy Party" that they are having in my honor!!

By noon of the same day, we were on the road again to go to the District 3340 Conference for the Rotary Youth Exchange Outbound kids- there are 57 Thai high school students from this district alone who will go to about 10 different countries throughout the world. The conference was on the border of Laos and Thailand in a hotel that overlooked that river that creates a natural border.

The students put on a show with various dances from their respective provinces but I was so tired that I went to bed by 8:45pm. (No surprise, however, since I only slept a total of about 8 hours in the preceeding 80 hours!)

2006-06-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

4:08 am (less than six hours before blast off)

As you can see, I'm packing. I slept two hours before finishing some paperwork for work and delving into this project. I should be done soon. I doubt I will sleep, however, as I still need to take a shower, eat some breakfast, stop by work, bring my car to a storage facility, call the bank, mail some stuff to my parents, etc. Besides, I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm on the plane.

2006-06-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a copy of the email that I got from my exchange partner Natdanai about my Thai itinerary:

"Between 15 -17 she will participate in RYE outbound orientation in Nakornpanom. Maybe my younger sister "Tik" will come with her because she was ex-RYE student. Between 18-28 she will live in Udonthani and do some activities there and during that time my mom will take her to ChiangMai, famous city in the northern part of Thailand. On June 29th she will be with me at Bangkok and we will go
to my Rotaract's sponsor club installation.

Between 1-2 Rebecca ,my elder sister "Anny" and I will join the caravan to Saraburi,a city in the center of Thailand. It's famous for ranching and gardening. Next day we will go to watch something like Broadway in USA but it's Thai show. And we think that for the rest of the trip she will be in Bangkok and there's a 4-day weekend between 8-11 July.So I think we will have a road trip to Trad,a city on the eastern coast of Thailand and spend time on the island with me and my friends."

Sounds like an adventure to me. :-)

2006-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

I leave for Thailand in five days. Before I can go, I have to finish a lot of stuff at work and put the rest of my stuff in storage, write about 20 emails, buy gifts for people that will help me in Thailand, and a bunch of other things that I can't remember right now.

I'm hoping to be able to blog while I'm in Thailand in order to give you the best vicarious travel experience. Today, I'm off to buy a new memory card for my digital camera so I can take 5 million pictures (ok, maybe not that many....but a lot!).