The jcarandas were blooming in Nepal. It was either time to arrive or leave. This time, as in Nairobi, it was time to depart. Our friend, Maggie, said we would be "going to civilization." I was curious to see what she meant by that. The first thing I noticed about Bangkok was that drivers did not honk while driving, whereas in Nepal, the horn is a staple in the driver's diet. It is used to signal presence, a wish to pass, a warning, and a greeting. In bangkok, like Canada, the horn is held in silent waiting. The other difference was a little harder to get used to. Drivers actually stop for pedestrians here. We are no longer prey and it is most confusing. After months of framing vehicles as the large metallic enemy to be avoided, suddlenly they are cast in the role of friendly transportation complete with bow and a wave.
Our first morning in Bangkok, we went for a walk to Wat Pho. We walked through blocks and blocks of sidewalk fruit vendors. I drank in the wonderment of colors, textures, shapes and smells of the multitudinous variety of fruit available; including the rambotan that does a good imitation of a koosh ball with pink tentacles protecting its sweet, white flesh. The jack fruit whose yellow, sticky, slightly rubbery flesh is pried from it's huge green casing. The durien, who gets a bad rap because of its malodorousness and spiny exterior, tastes of jack fruit with the consistency of an avocado. Coconuts, bananas, pineapples, tamarinds, pomellos, and lychees round out the offerings. After all this, how can one go back to apples and oranges?
If the fruit wasn't enough to elevate one to culinary heaven, then Thai street food is enough to send you right up. Squid on a stick, pad thai, fish balls, taro chips, and roast chicken with head attached all await the adventurous diner. Thai food, like Thai nights, envelopes you in a spicy warmth that is a combination of hot water bottle and prickly heat. You are coocooned by both until a gentle breeze lifts the sweat from your lip and brow. The temperature in your mouth is eased by the ever-present rice while your body temperature is eased by the beloved fan in your room. Two can dine for about one dollar including drinks and fruit for dessert.
The other heavenly part of Thaland is the reasonably priced massages. Royal Thai massage is taught and practiced at the Wat Pho Temple in Bangkok. It is an ancient form of massage that I reckon is a combination of yoga, chiropractic, and barbarism. Your muscles are kneaded and compressed into your skeleton which is being twisted into many contorted shapes resembling pretzels and ripple chips. You leave the massage feeling stretched, invigorated and like you spent an hour in the ring with a professional wrestler. I've had seven so far I'm looking for alot more time in the ring!
When I haven't been eating delectable foods or having my tensions suished out, I've been watching match after match of football (soccer). The World Cup is big here-very big!!! During games, folks of all sorts have been glued to the TV. Pity the traveler who would like some service during a game. You might as well pull up a chair and join in the billions who are watching. It's easy to meet people from around the world as well during a World Cup match. Pull up a chair during the Korea-Spain match-up and you can be assured your neighbours hail from those parts. Same was true of the USA-Germany game. I'll be cheering for Senegal tonight-(love those underdogs!). We've been surpirsed by how much we've enjoyed watching the games and have been planning our itinerary so that we'll be in a good spot for watching the championship game. I think watching the games is a way to participate in the global community and to participate in a global sporting event. It's also a good excuse for drinking a pineapple fruit shake.
When mentioning Thai food, I cannot neglect a confession. I ate Alice. I didn't mean to-it just happened. t wasn't Alice exactly-it was her kin. I've rationalized it to myself as the next challenge in the vegetarian recovery program-to eat something or someone-to whom you were recently attached. The occasion of this culinary experience was a Thai wedding reception. Alice's cousin was the first course of many: pork leg (complete with hoof), soup with lung, pork balls wrapped in intestine, dried, shredded chicken that eats like cotton candy, soup with mushroom and asparagus and coconut rice. Not much of a critter goes to waste here and I realize that eating strange "mystery" meat just requires a mindful appoach that combines denial with speed.
The wedding reception was our welcome dinner for our two-week workcamp. We thought we would be residing in a Buddhist monestary for the program, getting up early in the morning, meditating, working in the temple garden and forgoing music for the week. Instead we were transferred to Kanchanaburi province to the rural village of Lameezu and were dancing and singing karaoke. The next morning we learned we would be teaching English in local schools. Thai people are very shy to speak English and the work camp organizers hoped we could helped students overcome this and get some practice speaking Englsih with farangs. From the moment, I arrived at my school in neighbouring Norprue village, I was treated like a queen and the Thai REALLY know how to treat royality. As I sat in the classroom surrounded by the heat of small bodies, the sweat on my forehead gave away the secret that I was sweltering. The teacher quickly noticed and ordered the children to give me more space, my water glass filled and a student to fan me. This is as close to Cleopatra as I get.
The two weeks were a whirlwind of teaching, village activities, field trips, and ceremonies. The principal immediately adopted us as his teachers as and had us receive flower bouquets from the students during the Why Kra day. It is a day, across Thailand, when student honour their teachers and bless the opening of the school year. The flower bouquets has specific flowers that symbolize the student's intellectual, physical, and spiritual growth. It was a tru honour to participate.
Thais show respect by whying (placing the hands together in front of the face or chest and bowing slightly). It took awhile to get the hang of it and to get used to students ensuring that they were physically lower than me. When I was standing, they would bow at the waist when they passed by. If I was seated, they would bring work to be corrected to me on their knees. The students loved learning English songs especially the "Hokey Pokey" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" (both useful for teaching body part vocabulary. During the party to celebrate our departure from the school. we sang karaoke. I was shy to sing at first-then my inner "lounge singer" and "inner DJ" came out to play and I was hardly willing to give up the mike. I do a great version of "Yesterday Once More" and "My heart will go on." At the end of the work camp, I felt as though I had been given a gift-both the group of volunteers and the Thai folks shared ourselves and our cultures with each other-like the exchange of gifts at Christmas or Hannukah. By the end of the camp, the villagers, teachers, and students were all speaking more English with us and we dared a few phrases in Thai. I also was able to do a small piece of research during the camp-an informal focus group on people's motivations for using their holiday time in the service of others. Some very interesting things were said.
Today we took a ride on the Death Railway. It was constructed during World War II by Allied P.O.W.'s and Asian laborors. It carries the Death moniker because 16,000 POW's and 100,000 laborors died during it's construction. The conditions in the camps were appalling and some sections of the line claimed lives every day. The museums here in Kanchantuburi do a good job of giving visitors a picture of the many horrors of war. The Railway was made famous by both the novel and movie "Bridge over the River Kwai." We crossed that bridge today but I understand some of the historical details may be different that the literary ones.
Tomorrow we're off to a floating market and Monday we'll head to Bangkok for a birthday bash. I've decided to spend this year's birthday getting a haircut (my first in over a year, a facial, several massages and perhaps, a tattoo. Tuesday, we'll head for Laos to spend a few days in the capital, Vientiene, so we can renew our Thai visas. Then we're off to Chiangmai for a two week volunteer experience at an elephant conservation center.
