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?

Krabi

Beaches, Bunk-mates and Philosophy

(I find out the true purpose of a toilet hose and lose my best friend)

Dear friends,

When I last left you I was settling into my hostel and making friends with the young Scandinavian women sharing the other bunks. We spent that night talking and having drinks and playing Jenga at the bar that occupies the top of the hostel. The local musician who entertained us played a lot of western classics (everything from Van Morrison to Oasis). Being tired from my travels, I turned in early.

END SUNDAY

MONDAY

I had promised to meet Ashley and her mother for lunch at noon. But I learned pretty quickly to schedule all meetings according to Thai time. Instead I ended up going to the local market with Jo (pronounced “Yoo”) and having a coffee. Jo is from Norway, he's been traveling around most of SE Asia for 8 weeks. A very nice person with an affection for the phrase, “That's pretty good”

Eventually, I did meet Ashley and Donna, but for dinner, not lunch. We order a fresh fish and watch it grilled to perfection. It is delicious. Ashley, Jo and I signed up for a half day of rock climbing. Donna signed up for a cooking class. Today was a holiday in Thailand, though I didn't get the details. The difference between Thai holidays and American holidays: it is considered inappropriate to drink on Thai holidays. So we took our beers back to our room and I shambled through the catalog of songs I know by heart. Ashley and Donna seemed impressed (smiles). Anna, Kristina and Jo less so (wry grins).

END MONDAY

TUESDAY

The Rock Climbing crew wakes up early and prepares for whatever it is we'll be climbing. The journey to the cliffs is itself an adventure. We ride in the back of a truck to a ferry and then motor our way around the peninsula to the beach resort of Au Nong. Stepping into Au Nong is like stepping out of Thailand. White people everywhere. I have to check the huge looming cliffs rising out of the sea to reorient myself. The rock in Krabi makes for fantastic climbing. Its all volcanic rock pitted with great finger holes which the tide of centuries has worn smooth. Half day of climbing turns out to be an ideal. By noon our arms are sore and our knuckles are bruised. We find a little coffee cabana on the beach and watch the tide roll out. The sudden showers drive the local cats to the safety of our hideaway. Ashley is smitten with a playful kitten (whom she names Aria). Ashley and Aria promptly fall asleep. Jo makes some sketches. I do a handstand.

At 5:30 its time to unstick ourselves from the beach and make our way back to the ferry and our hostel. The other climbers agree to meet at our hostel (since it's the most awesome) for drinks. Another fun fact about Thailand: Liquor is served and measured in buckets. We put away a few buckets of something (I kid not) called “Black Cock”. Eventually, like all good things, the bar has to close. But Ashley and I, not quite ready to call it a night, stay up and hold the fort.

Our discussion swings away from the events of the day and broaches more esoteric waters.

At this point in my narrative I had intended to insert a truncated version of our discussion. However, I have procrastinated in writing this post so long for the reason that I wanted to do our discussion justice. I save that particular debate for another post. Suffice to say that our conversation ranged from the existence of the soul to the existence of god, the nature of love and free will, personality and the effect of social interchange on our daily lives.

We stayed on the roof all night and watched the sun come up.

WEDNESDAY

It had been my original plan to leave Krabi on Wednesday, but I was so tired that I paid for another night and spent the whole morning in bed. Ashley and her mother left at noon for Chaing Mai. I later decided to go to the beach with my new Scandinavian friends. An hour of two at the beach. We buy an overpriced lunch and come back to the hostel before it starts raining. I spend the rest of the day in bed, but make another appearance for dinner.

I had some pretty bad food poisoning sometime between Wednesday and Thursday. I will spare you the gruesome details expecting two. When you are on the toilet in your underpants holding the waste bin to your head being violently sick it is near impossible to keep the mosquitoes away. And two: the real purpose of the toilet hose is to spay down soiled waste bins.

THURSDAY

As soon as the pharmacies opened I bought some nausea medication and ibuprofen. Feeling much better but still very weak I buy a bus ticket back Krabi. Joo and I kill the time before my bus playing pool and drinking coconut shakes (best cure for food poisoning hangover). I had a blast in Krabi, but I was eager to get back to my own bed and sleep for about 30 hours.

Bus from Krabi to Suratthani

Bus from Suratthani to Bangkok bus terminal

Motorcycle taxi from Bangkok bus terminal to Bangkok train station

Train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya

Somewhere along the way I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had my hat. The bus to Bangkok I think. Three night without sleep and you start to lose your grip. You would have had to known me for some time to understand the importance of the hat, but to illustrate I had the hat for ten years and if you saw me I was probably wearing it.

A yoga instructor once imparted this wisdom.

“To catch a raccoon, place a shiny marble inside a box with a narrow hole cut into it. The raccoon will see the marble, reach in an grab it. However, the hole in the box is now too small for the raccoon's hand. He cannot pull his hand and the marble out of the box and he is too stupid to let go.”

The lesson of course being, “If you're a creature of a higher order than a raccoon you won't have a problem letting go of material possessions when their time comes”

I've been curious as to whether or not I really understood the “Open Hand” lesson. I pass.

FRIDAY

I finally make it back to my own bed and sleep for a good 10 hours. Later that night I meet my friend Taiyou for dinner.

SATURDAY

Ditto Friday. Taiyou is a cool guy. He's a great friend to have in Thailand. He is super posh and speaks English with the most baffling accent. I don't think he has many straight male friends so he really enjoys my company as well.

SUNDAY

I don't remember what happened on Sunday. Taiyou left for Australia. He'll be back in a few weeks.

MONDAY

Ashley and Donna come to Ayutthaya. They get here early and after getting settled we take a bike tour around the island. We visit Wat Mahatat, famous for the Buddha head in the tree. It starts to rain so we make our way back to the guesthouse. Later that day, after the rain has cleared up we go the boat tour of the island's well know temples. I Judith and we, along with some of our boat tour friends, have dinner at a really good restaurant (Judith's suggestion).

TUESDAY

Tuesday was a bit of a slow day. Roy, one of my bosses, asked me to come in in the evening to have a conversation with some of their private students in order to judge their level of English. Ten minute chat with some women.

WEDNESDAY

Back to work. We had a camp in the countryside around Ayutthaya. Seriously, one of the best lunches I've ever had here.