This is Dan, and I apologize that no one has updated this blog in over a month. It has definitely been a busy month, but more than anything I think the strange sights and smells that inspired the early writing have fallen back to an "everyday life" status. When we first arrived in Thailand we were told that we would go through several phases of living abroad and looking at it now I couldn't agree more. After passing first through the "honeymoon" phase of seeing everything as new and exciting like a vacation, we passed into the phase of trying to make sense of our place here. This means comparing the USA to Thailand (unsuccessfully). Trying to compare the two cultures is a dangerous thing because it just reminds you that you are a foreigner and don't fit in. Everytime something bad happens it gets blamed on the country and that is not a fair way to consider the differences. Then we got a new girl who joined us at our school and we stepped into a position of authority over our surroundings and we saw how much we really do know about this place. I'm not sure where I stand right now but I am convinced that Thailand is a wonderful place to visit and travel in but I could not work here forever. The sense of work ethic and integrity is maddeningly different than western nations.
This is not to say we don't have great experiences all the time though! For example, 2 weeks ago our school coordinator took us on a trip to one of the tallest temple pagodas in Thailand called Phra Pathom Chedi in Nakhom Pathom. This pagoda is reputed to be "as tall as a free dove can fly," a description which I really like. At all Buddhist temples there are bells which followers will ring three times to elicit good luck from the gods. Erin and Whitney were able to do this without a problem but when I tried, our boss took the stick out of my hand and said, "If you don't ring them loud enough, the gods can't hear you!" The best part of it was how completely serious she was about this. She was also very nervous to go into a cave which led to a small altar because of the "ghosts" that were in that place. Thai people are very afraid of ghosts and they consider them to be almost everywhere. When we went swimming at night at the ocean once, a very worried Thai man came to check on us. This was not because he was afraid we would drown, but there are ghosts on the beach at night. My school kids won't go to the bathroom alone because they think that ghosts are waiting for them when they are alone.
After Phra Pathom Chedi, we went to a floating market. This is an elaborate system of canals dug first to provide irrigation and trade routes, but later used to establish a trading post right on the water. Shop keepers open up around 6am and the canals are full of long tailed boats, some carrying shoppers, some carrying vendors of fruits and others full of tourists like me.
Last weekend we wanted to get out of town but only had one night to do it. So we hopped on the northbound train for 27 baht (about 90 cents) and took it 3 hours north to Lopburi, an old provincial capital of the Siamese state. This town is now home to several temple ruins and several thousand macaque monkeys. They mostly live near one of the larger temples where they are somewhat protected and fed. We paid a man 20 baht to act as guardian against the more aggressive monkeys. Weapon of choice? Slingshot. Our friend Meghan was not a big fan of the monkey packs and immediately invested in a slingshot only to find that if you act afraid of them, the monkeys will not fear you. That night, we found a Thai motorcycle gang that was holding a party for the opening of a new bar in Lopburi. They fed us and to repay them we regaled them with American Karaoke until late in the night.
On Sunday, Erin and I are taking a 2 week vacation. Here is our tentative itinerary: Sunday night hop on a 12 hour bus south to Krabi in order to catch a ferry to the world-renowned islands of Koh Phi Phi and Phuket, Thailand. After 5 days of tropical Thai paradise, we will fly from Phuket airport to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We will stay only one night here and catch an early morning flight to Bali, Indonesia. We will spend 2 nights on the southwest beach area known as Kuta Beach. On Monday morning we will travel east to Ubud, in the central part of the island to enjoy local art, culture, and the terraced rice paddies for which Indonesia is famous. Spending only one night here, we will travel on the next day to the eastern shores of the island, near Candi Dasa. Here we will be close to many world-class snorkeling and scuba-diving sites, as well as several semi-active volcanoes. Not only are the volcanoes interesting sites on their own, but their stature and destructive force has long been a hub of religious piety and sacrifice and many temples have been built in honor of the volcano gods. After a week in Bali, we will head home to begin another semester with Yothinburana School in Bangkok. Erin recently bought a new camera and I bought an underwater case for it so that we can take pictures underwater, I am extremely excited and I look forward to sharing the pictures on here as soon as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment