Some of the stuff I've been doing

This is a new kind of blog post. 

 We stayed in an amazing resort hotel in Trat.  It is about as close to perfect as you can get this side of paradise.  Except for the mosquitos

 And I went to a wedding.  That is boss Somjet on my left and Kareem on my right.  The bride and groom are standing in the back.  Sara, is sitting on the far left.

And we're back in Trat.  Interesting architecture

The whole resort is in the middle of a mangrove.  At high tide the ocean rises and covers everything on the ground.

I asked if I could go swimming in the ocean.  They laughed at me.  But there was a very nice pool.

 I really liked the mangrove.  Mangroves are some of my favorite trees.  They have a special adaptation that allows them to filter salt water.

Mangrove trees supercharge some of their leaves with nutrients.  These leaves die and fall in to the water where they attract fish.  Fish eat the nutritious leaves and fertilize the mangrove roots. 

Sunset in the mangrove

Here is something unique.  I often hear people say, 'Oh, he worships money."  or some such metaphorical way to describe people who spend a lot of time thinking about their economic welfare.  To these people I can now say, "No, the people in Thailand who pay homage to a giant 1500+ year old golden coin worship money.  The person you're thinking of is just greedy."

 Ok, not sure why the computer rearranged the order of these pictures, but ok.  These are the most important people in their respective schools.  I get a kick of encouraging these bigwig directors to jump up and down and do other silly things.

The guy on the far left is a total goofball.

 This picture and the ones that follow are of Watnakornluang Temple.  We were the only human beings there.  The whole temple is built according to very precise geometrical structures.  Most of what follows is are pictures of cool patters in the building.

Christine and I feeling like Indiana Jones

Question:  How does a culture come to the conclusion that: a) feet are dirty and we should avoid showing our feet to anybody and b) the Buddha's footprints are among the holiest sights in Thailand?  It just seems like the Buddha might have left behind any number of things, but the Buddhists chose to revere something that came from feet.

Then we went to feed monkeys

These monkey's used to be an endangered species.  Now they live at a temple.

After feeding the monkeys we went to Thai Hell.  Yes there is Hell in Thailand, it reminds me a bit like Disneyland.

Here we have the tree from Hyperion.

 There are some scenes from the local mythology

 You can light a candle for the monkey god.  Oddly enough the name of the temple is Wat Gai, "Chicken Temple"

And then I went back and fed more monkey?

 Some more mythology

And now we must be in Hell.

Creepy

The whole idea, is that you take your children here at night and you tell them, "If you steal cookies from your brother, giant black demons are going to saw you in half."

What could that mysterious shadow be...

OH My GOD

I found it a little ironic that the monk giving us the tour denounced the evils drug use while smoking a cigarette.

If you have a phobia for needles best not look to closely at this picture.

Just your good old body soup.

Some thoughts on Thailand

It is very rude (so I'm told) to show another person the bottom of your foot. Feet are considered dirty in Thai culture and to sit cross legged so as to show the sole of your foot is the equivalent of giving somebody the finger. Today we hosted an English camp for school directors and I was surprised to see many of these school bigwigs sitting cross legged and displaying the bottoms of their feet. Confused, I asked my boss. In short, because they are directors and are very high on the social ladder they have earned the privilege of sitting as they do.

But I remain confused. It is not considered an insult when they sit and show their feet. So what exactly has their social status earned them? Not the right to insult those sitting next to them. (I would argue that because of this showing your foot is not at all like showing the middle finger) No, they have earned the privilege to be comfortable. I think this identifies a very interesting dichotomy in Thai culture. As a general rule, I would say that Thai people are free from unfounded social prejudice. Ie They are accepting of all religions and lifestyle choices. However, the population as a whole subscribes to a very rigid and occasionally illogical code of social conduct. Buddhist, Muslim, gay, straight whatever, who you are is your karma and as such you are accepted. But good heavens, don't show us the bottom of your feet.... unless you're an important person.

Which comes back to being comfortable. It is perfectly fine for everyone to be comfortable with who they are and what they do in private (eat, sit, speak, fuck however you like) But in public, only the highest members of society may continue as they were. In other words, their shit don't stink. The rest of the masses are expected to squeeze into the one size fits all uniform. Are the members at the top of the social pyramid serve as examples for our private lives? Are we expected to aspire to their ideals of comfort (correctness)?

Wrapping my head around this foot thing has been quite difficult. Arbitrary social regulation grates against me. Its just who I am. And I take an almost sadistic pleasure in inserting a little bit of social anarchy into the the lives of people who follow blithely follow these rules.

Social regulations are a necessary part of a culture. I think you would be hard pressed to find any culture that values social anarchy. So,

What is the value of social regulations (however arbitrary)?

Are social codes of conduct meant to be questioned?

Would a critical examination of these cultural nuances really make people happier? I think that stigma against feet is ultimately pointless and an unnecessary psychological burden, but maybe people need these weights to construct a sense of self.

Are people capable of constructing a self image without the holding to the arbitrary psychological rules their cultures provide them?