Hey,
I've uploaded the best photos from the first half to my Picasa.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Gigileet
:)
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, Cambodia
SO heres a raw blog about Cambodia! yay! mom told me i should finis up my blogs of Thailand, and shes right. So i'm getting started on that project.
Angkor Wat and Siem Reap
Stone temples carved out of the jungle, hundreds of children trying to sell the same cheap souvenirs, riding our bicycles through the ruins, dancing all night in streets that literally flowed with muddy beer…..
Angkor wat was great experience to balance out my view of south east asia. It was both my first in-depth encounter with mega-popular tourist destination and sad and desperate poverty.
-
Getting there was quite a trek. I was invited to go with a group of friends that was already going and it was really nice for me because this was a group I hadn’t gotten to know very well yet and it gave me a great experience to try traveling and spending time with a new variety of people. We took the 11 hour bus to Bankok (Martha, Clay, and Adam brought a bottle of 100 pipers for the ride there) and then another long bus ride to the border. I ate a bag of fresh passion fruits on the bus.
(before which I forgot to go to the bathroom and had a very stressed first three hours before going up and asking for a stop… which turned out to be in 10 min. The bus attendant was unnervingly friendly once she discovered I spoke Thai, and gestured for me to share a seat with her, and proceeded to write all sorts of phone numbers and other strange symbols all over my ticket which speaking extremely rapidly in Thai. At one point I caught she was talking about her aunt, another the return bus…I never quite got what she was going on about. I nodded politely and kept my eye out for the bathroom. I think she may have insisted on holding my hand at some point).
The border was an adventure. The bus dropped us off on a street corner in the middle of no where. The only other thing on this street quarter were about a dozen hawk-like Tuk Tuk drivers to take us to the border for 200 Bhat a Tuk Tuk. Eventually, resigned to this kind of annoying and possibly un-necessary expense we loaded up and were shuttled to what we hoped was not just around the corner. (thankfully? It was a bit of ride to get there… which perhaps increased our susceptibility to accepting which ever thing came our way). We were dropped off at a “border station” (a big tent next to a parking lot) where we were rapidly separated and wisked to processing talbes. Here we were told we had to pay 1,000 Bhat (33 USD) or 20 USD for a visa. Only we had to pay in Bhat. This was very confusing to us, and we didn’t get very satisfying answers. Eventually, we caved and coughed up the money. I was chatting with my attendant guy and so I guess he like me and didn’t try to push the rest of the scam but other people in the group were charged an additional 200Bhat “Service Fee” . Martha was great. She was charged this and caught on, flat out refused, and got louder and louder until the guy dropped it. We took up what sounded like a good deal for a van to take us all the way to our hotel in Siem Reap (the city outside Angkor Wat, about 4 hours from the border) and we were convinced to pre-pay the 150 dollars in cash.
Quite a bit poorer than we anticipated we were dumbed out onto the dusty curb. Where we were slowly processed the painful reality that we had been scammed –before- we had even entered the country. There on the other side of the tent, was the –real- border crossing. (and hopefully on the other side of it, our van). It turned out they had, at least, given us real Visas (if for a high price) and once we got thorugh a rather nervous wait in line, our van was waiting for us. Phew. A little bruised in pride we continued on.
The first thing that greeted us on the other side of the gate was a giant statues arches build to look like the ruins, vendors, and BANG! We, our guide, the vendors, jumped, bolted, ducked, or started and looked wildly for the source of the would be murderer, kidnapper, criminal, gun firing rebel…
…Which turned out to be a guy standing in the middle of the street with a wooden cart. He and the cart sort of awkwardly topple over and that’s when we realize the noise was just a tire exploding.
“Welcome to Camobodia!” shouts our van driver in his pin stripped black shirt, and laughs.
With only moderately more annoying fees, bad information, pushed nerves, and bickering we made it through a labrith of buses and fees, services, customes, tips, tricks and guides, and through the four hour drive to Siem Reap.
Alright well… I’ve done it again. There is no way I can get through all of the rest of my trip at this rate. So condensed version here we go~
From the top of our lovely hotel called the Red Piano, we could see roof tops, and a school or something full of kids next door who waved and waved and giggled and shouted hello. And other short phrases the knew in English. At one point the asked Marth and I to dance. From the roof we could see the sun set over the roof tops. Two little kids played together in an ally way.
I got my organizing on, and we rented bikes from next door (for 1 dollar a day per bike) to get up before dawn the next day to bike to the ruins. (3o min away). We went out to dinner at the red piano restaurant in the bar strip, and passed the circus-mirror-fun-house-prostitution-nest and dozens of hawking Tuk Tuks drivers, restaurant greeters, and other Cambodians engaged in what would be just the beginning of the consistant pounding to get tourist attention, and patronage. This was uncomfortable, frustrating and sad. I think neither of us enjoyed the people we had to become in this unfortunate routine. I expect the locals no more liked to be the harassers, shouting above each other, running into the street to intercept the tourists paths, than we like to became cold faced jerks, rushing past avoiding eye contact –and muttering or shouting No thank you! No! NO! as we passed.
I met up with Kaite that night ( I still can’t get over what a amazing chace it was we were both there) I rode up to her five star hotel on my bicycle with a head lamp on! I asked the coufours where to park my bike and one guy escorted me to the tiny motorcycle parking lot in the back couldn’t meet up with Katie but enjoyed walking around the palance of the a place and high speed internet so I could acutally look at some of Tor’s pictures on skype and miss him loads. It was also a really neat cultural experience… I mean…This was the kind of place where they pull out your chair for you in the internet room!!! wow~!
Katie eventually found me at the Red Piano and we went out for a beer. It was cool because she was the first family I had seen in 4 and a half months. In retrospect I can see that I did a bit of the classic returning from study abroad “over tell” and enthusiastically ranted about my whole experience, my host family, ext…. anyway, It was so nice to see cousin Katie, and so surreal!
The next morning bike ride was incredible~! (expect for getting up at 4). But how nieve were we! Some how we had still half had imagined a dark and peaceful ride to sit with a few others and watch the sun rise over these famous and majestic ruins. HAha! VROOM VROOM. We cycled down the road side and were blown passed by streams of tuk tuks, taxis, motorcycles, and hundreds of tourists had the exact same plan as us. Regardless, it was quite beautiful. We walked around the raised sidewalk-way and perched on some crumbled ruins to see the sun come up over the ponds and the central temple. The reflections were fabulous. As was the company. I did a quick water color. Hungry quickly, we succumbed to one of the restaurant hecklers and had breakfast nearby. My pancake was ok, but everybody else ordered eggs, which turned out to be the the only food in all of SE asia that ever gave me a stomach ache (I ate their left overs). After that we wandered around the ruins, and my camera promptly ran out of batteries, which was probably good because it made me just live in the moment more, although it would have been a blast to capture some great shots of the place.
I did some rubbings, (you know like we used to do in kinder garden) off the walls of the temples. And wished I knew more about the history of the place and enjoyed hearing so many different languages. It was quite warm, the ruins were immense. The best part of the day was riding our bicycles around and around between the patches of ruins. The patches of ruins are connected by long straight roads through the forest. Sometimes lined with stone walls. (with hundreds of identical busts carved their immense length, just the effort put into carving those walls is dizzying). Some kids helped us get help to fix a bike that had a flat tire. I bought some water and post cards from them. The vending that made me saddest were the women outside each attraction who would should “FRESH PINEAPPLE, COME EAT AT MY RESTAURANT, COLD WATER! Sir?! Lady?! COME EAT?!” I can’t even remember now… what the exact phrase was but dozens would rush out and all demand you come eat at their restaurant, demand or beg. I’m not sure. It was awful. And we were only there a few seconds each time before running into the ruins, they must hate it, every day, screaming like that. But like… it works… you go to the one who grabs you first, its hard to like
seek out the quiet ones you know?
I want to remember the good too though. Biking was truly the best part. We just flew on our single speed bikes through giant stone gates, and over bridges with slow blue rivers. My favorites were bridges were lined with huge stone states of men pulling on one long serpent. Often their faces were mystically chipped, but sometimes they were restored … each face unique! The grey stone was flecked with colored mosses, fuzzy with vines,and/or splashed by the sun. Once we saw, down river of the bridge, some Cambodian boys were net fishing at the rivers edge. We rode passed temples or stopped and went in and strode through twisting passage ways, clambered over blocks. Even though there were tons of visitors, there were just so many temples it was easy to get away and be alone with all that stone, and detail, and rubble.
My favorite temples were the ones with the big trees still in them, they had so much character. I stayed and did a water color of one, while JJ took a nap. And then the two of us rode our bikes on an epic 26 mile loop around all the temples, through a bit of a village, past a resivour, and home again into the bustling city of Siem Reap just waking up with lights, and traffic, for dinner.
That night was new years.
We went to an indian restaurant for dinner, which was delicious expensive, and exactly the kind of thing I don’t every want to do again. It was a good counter experience. To see that people can come all the way here. Eat food not from here, drink imported wine, sit on a balcony on the tourist street and be in their own convenience bubble. Ignoring it all.
The party was huge. The night was epic. Lights strung from the restaurants on one side ot the other. First works flying and bursting above the crowd. The street was packed. The dancing sweating singing tourists, smelly backpackers, but also local employees, and then more tourists, prostitutes, johns … Speakers blared globalized music. Beer and mud ran in the street. We danced and danced and danced. People would throw buckets of ice water over the crowd. It was blazing hot. Right after the countdown Black Eyed Peas “tonight's gunna be a good night” played. The token song of study abroad for our program. And my group we went nuts.
That night really exemplified the whole emotional Cambodia experience for me. I ended up trapped out there with my group (we found out around 1:30 that we accidentally left the key at the desk, so we couldn’t get back into our room, so the plan to pull an all nighter and “dance all night until sunrise” suddenly became my plan too). The night, would oscillate between really fun and exciting, an experience! And then the bubble would pop and I’d look over my shoulder … once I saw some young Thai woman dancing with a balding, greasy, white dude and he grab her and try to kiss her and shed just… grimace and try to dance more and avoid it. Other times you’d look down and a 5 year old kid would be standing there at your hip, in the middle of a sea of bodies, just watching and watching. Then she’d put her hands out and ask for a dollar.
Britney caved at this, squatted with them and talked to them in soothing voices, and pressed a dollar between their hands. Maybe I’m imagining the kids looking vacant at this, maybe the nodded, I don’t remember. they were wearing little dresses. But they took off when they got the money, and then there were more kids, of course.
I chose not to pay them. I figured it would just be enabling it – if it is profitable for their families to tell their girls to do this, then they would continue to do it I guess. But I can’t say I didn’t feel like a huge jerk. I can’t say it didn’t make me sick. .. I also I can’t say I didn’t have to keep justifying it to my self that way. I can’t say I realized I would be out of dollars really soon.
Eventually Martha pulled me away, she couldn’t stand it anymore. We went back to the room (to crawl in with one of the couples (JJ and Hanah) who had their own room and had returned to it). She was in a fit of furry, disgust, sadness, that no one saw it, at our hippocracy, our heartlessness. She was so full of every emotion that I should had been feeling. I couldn’t really help her. I had put up a barrier I guess, to keep my sanity. Hannah helped her out. She called home. … my barrier was that you can’t solve every battle, you can’t fight every problem. My battle is for the environment.
I took a shower – maybe I was still in my clothes, they reeked of beer. My flip flops, feet and legs were caked in mud, it bled into the drain. JJ gave me a dry shirt. I crawled into bed with him and Hannah, apologizing a lot. A few minuets later everyone else came arrived from the party. Turns out we hadn’t left the key at all, Kerri had taken it… But when Adam went around asking us all if we had it, she forgot, and said no.
I remember right before we left the other four had started –really- dancing with eachother, and I had been all pre-occupied with trying to figure out if I could get inot that action or not. God! I was thinking of that, and all that reality was right there, literally staring at me and asking for charity. I felt dirty, and exhausted. I was glad when Martha and I left. Its amazing. How thick that cloud of denial can be.
((detail. The group took really good care of me, considering I was kind of the outsider. They bought me drinks, and checked often to make sure I was having fun. Later, on the Tuk Tuk back we were having a conversation about how anything could be controversial to ISDSI kids. The Adam came up with the killer point that no one could contend that “New Years was Awesome” ! I looked at Martha, she wasn’t saying anything. I didn’t either. ))
.
The next day we took it easy, and took tuk tuks on a two hour drive to get to one of the temples that is still mostly eaten my the forest. We got to climb all over this one. Kerri and I went on an unofficial tour with and had things pointed out to us and explained in simple Thai. The boys played human jungle gym with some kids that leapt and scrambled over the ruins, ran along crumbling roofs, climbed towers and vines! (I would have done this, had I know, but I had a good time, too with Keri). Everyone else got tired of the ruins much quicker than I did. I went off alone at the end and got stuck way out on a rickety vine and dead leaf covered roof. We rode back home. It was a long hot ride.
Going home I started work on the coloring book of the Karen Village culture. right before we left I ran out to look for supplies. With about 10 min to spare I found an art gallery that sold art done by local artists and kids of the temples. I explained I was looking for a sketch book and they gave me one for free~!!! Another example of unbelievable generosity. This was the kind of place I wanted to support, buying art was the sort of thing that I thought was perfect for I tourist money could support that would help people, not keep them trapped selling cheep junk. I bought two pieces one of a butter fly in b and w and another of one of the temple statues. A boys was practicing drawing in the studio. He was drawing from a glossy pamphlets for Angkor wat. At first I assumed it was because its easier to draw from pictures than real life, before feeling like an idiot and remembering its frugal. Most Cambodias have never seen Angkor Wat, the national heritage treasure of their country, because they can’t afford the 20 USD entrance fee.
I felt good supporting the artists, but I also remembered all the money I had spent following the easy way – the restaurants, the chintzy souvenir bracelets I didn’t actually want, the drinks, the donations to the street performer who swallowed string with a bottle cap on the end and pulled it back out his throat, who’s act culminated when he lept through a flaming ring of steak knives. (his shoulders nicked with scars) I wondered if when you summed it all up, good and bad, if it was good that I come here at all, for the country.
Good bye Cambodia.
Angkor Wat and Siem Reap
Stone temples carved out of the jungle, hundreds of children trying to sell the same cheap souvenirs, riding our bicycles through the ruins, dancing all night in streets that literally flowed with muddy beer…..
Angkor wat was great experience to balance out my view of south east asia. It was both my first in-depth encounter with mega-popular tourist destination and sad and desperate poverty.
-
Getting there was quite a trek. I was invited to go with a group of friends that was already going and it was really nice for me because this was a group I hadn’t gotten to know very well yet and it gave me a great experience to try traveling and spending time with a new variety of people. We took the 11 hour bus to Bankok (Martha, Clay, and Adam brought a bottle of 100 pipers for the ride there) and then another long bus ride to the border. I ate a bag of fresh passion fruits on the bus.
(before which I forgot to go to the bathroom and had a very stressed first three hours before going up and asking for a stop… which turned out to be in 10 min. The bus attendant was unnervingly friendly once she discovered I spoke Thai, and gestured for me to share a seat with her, and proceeded to write all sorts of phone numbers and other strange symbols all over my ticket which speaking extremely rapidly in Thai. At one point I caught she was talking about her aunt, another the return bus…I never quite got what she was going on about. I nodded politely and kept my eye out for the bathroom. I think she may have insisted on holding my hand at some point).
The border was an adventure. The bus dropped us off on a street corner in the middle of no where. The only other thing on this street quarter were about a dozen hawk-like Tuk Tuk drivers to take us to the border for 200 Bhat a Tuk Tuk. Eventually, resigned to this kind of annoying and possibly un-necessary expense we loaded up and were shuttled to what we hoped was not just around the corner. (thankfully? It was a bit of ride to get there… which perhaps increased our susceptibility to accepting which ever thing came our way). We were dropped off at a “border station” (a big tent next to a parking lot) where we were rapidly separated and wisked to processing talbes. Here we were told we had to pay 1,000 Bhat (33 USD) or 20 USD for a visa. Only we had to pay in Bhat. This was very confusing to us, and we didn’t get very satisfying answers. Eventually, we caved and coughed up the money. I was chatting with my attendant guy and so I guess he like me and didn’t try to push the rest of the scam but other people in the group were charged an additional 200Bhat “Service Fee” . Martha was great. She was charged this and caught on, flat out refused, and got louder and louder until the guy dropped it. We took up what sounded like a good deal for a van to take us all the way to our hotel in Siem Reap (the city outside Angkor Wat, about 4 hours from the border) and we were convinced to pre-pay the 150 dollars in cash.
Quite a bit poorer than we anticipated we were dumbed out onto the dusty curb. Where we were slowly processed the painful reality that we had been scammed –before- we had even entered the country. There on the other side of the tent, was the –real- border crossing. (and hopefully on the other side of it, our van). It turned out they had, at least, given us real Visas (if for a high price) and once we got thorugh a rather nervous wait in line, our van was waiting for us. Phew. A little bruised in pride we continued on.
The first thing that greeted us on the other side of the gate was a giant statues arches build to look like the ruins, vendors, and BANG! We, our guide, the vendors, jumped, bolted, ducked, or started and looked wildly for the source of the would be murderer, kidnapper, criminal, gun firing rebel…
…Which turned out to be a guy standing in the middle of the street with a wooden cart. He and the cart sort of awkwardly topple over and that’s when we realize the noise was just a tire exploding.
“Welcome to Camobodia!” shouts our van driver in his pin stripped black shirt, and laughs.
With only moderately more annoying fees, bad information, pushed nerves, and bickering we made it through a labrith of buses and fees, services, customes, tips, tricks and guides, and through the four hour drive to Siem Reap.
Alright well… I’ve done it again. There is no way I can get through all of the rest of my trip at this rate. So condensed version here we go~
From the top of our lovely hotel called the Red Piano, we could see roof tops, and a school or something full of kids next door who waved and waved and giggled and shouted hello. And other short phrases the knew in English. At one point the asked Marth and I to dance. From the roof we could see the sun set over the roof tops. Two little kids played together in an ally way.
I got my organizing on, and we rented bikes from next door (for 1 dollar a day per bike) to get up before dawn the next day to bike to the ruins. (3o min away). We went out to dinner at the red piano restaurant in the bar strip, and passed the circus-mirror-fun-house-prostitution-nest and dozens of hawking Tuk Tuks drivers, restaurant greeters, and other Cambodians engaged in what would be just the beginning of the consistant pounding to get tourist attention, and patronage. This was uncomfortable, frustrating and sad. I think neither of us enjoyed the people we had to become in this unfortunate routine. I expect the locals no more liked to be the harassers, shouting above each other, running into the street to intercept the tourists paths, than we like to became cold faced jerks, rushing past avoiding eye contact –and muttering or shouting No thank you! No! NO! as we passed.
I met up with Kaite that night ( I still can’t get over what a amazing chace it was we were both there) I rode up to her five star hotel on my bicycle with a head lamp on! I asked the coufours where to park my bike and one guy escorted me to the tiny motorcycle parking lot in the back couldn’t meet up with Katie but enjoyed walking around the palance of the a place and high speed internet so I could acutally look at some of Tor’s pictures on skype and miss him loads. It was also a really neat cultural experience… I mean…This was the kind of place where they pull out your chair for you in the internet room!!! wow~!
Katie eventually found me at the Red Piano and we went out for a beer. It was cool because she was the first family I had seen in 4 and a half months. In retrospect I can see that I did a bit of the classic returning from study abroad “over tell” and enthusiastically ranted about my whole experience, my host family, ext…. anyway, It was so nice to see cousin Katie, and so surreal!
The next morning bike ride was incredible~! (expect for getting up at 4). But how nieve were we! Some how we had still half had imagined a dark and peaceful ride to sit with a few others and watch the sun rise over these famous and majestic ruins. HAha! VROOM VROOM. We cycled down the road side and were blown passed by streams of tuk tuks, taxis, motorcycles, and hundreds of tourists had the exact same plan as us. Regardless, it was quite beautiful. We walked around the raised sidewalk-way and perched on some crumbled ruins to see the sun come up over the ponds and the central temple. The reflections were fabulous. As was the company. I did a quick water color. Hungry quickly, we succumbed to one of the restaurant hecklers and had breakfast nearby. My pancake was ok, but everybody else ordered eggs, which turned out to be the the only food in all of SE asia that ever gave me a stomach ache (I ate their left overs). After that we wandered around the ruins, and my camera promptly ran out of batteries, which was probably good because it made me just live in the moment more, although it would have been a blast to capture some great shots of the place.
I did some rubbings, (you know like we used to do in kinder garden) off the walls of the temples. And wished I knew more about the history of the place and enjoyed hearing so many different languages. It was quite warm, the ruins were immense. The best part of the day was riding our bicycles around and around between the patches of ruins. The patches of ruins are connected by long straight roads through the forest. Sometimes lined with stone walls. (with hundreds of identical busts carved their immense length, just the effort put into carving those walls is dizzying). Some kids helped us get help to fix a bike that had a flat tire. I bought some water and post cards from them. The vending that made me saddest were the women outside each attraction who would should “FRESH PINEAPPLE, COME EAT AT MY RESTAURANT, COLD WATER! Sir?! Lady?! COME EAT?!” I can’t even remember now… what the exact phrase was but dozens would rush out and all demand you come eat at their restaurant, demand or beg. I’m not sure. It was awful. And we were only there a few seconds each time before running into the ruins, they must hate it, every day, screaming like that. But like… it works… you go to the one who grabs you first, its hard to like
seek out the quiet ones you know?
I want to remember the good too though. Biking was truly the best part. We just flew on our single speed bikes through giant stone gates, and over bridges with slow blue rivers. My favorites were bridges were lined with huge stone states of men pulling on one long serpent. Often their faces were mystically chipped, but sometimes they were restored … each face unique! The grey stone was flecked with colored mosses, fuzzy with vines,and/or splashed by the sun. Once we saw, down river of the bridge, some Cambodian boys were net fishing at the rivers edge. We rode passed temples or stopped and went in and strode through twisting passage ways, clambered over blocks. Even though there were tons of visitors, there were just so many temples it was easy to get away and be alone with all that stone, and detail, and rubble.
My favorite temples were the ones with the big trees still in them, they had so much character. I stayed and did a water color of one, while JJ took a nap. And then the two of us rode our bikes on an epic 26 mile loop around all the temples, through a bit of a village, past a resivour, and home again into the bustling city of Siem Reap just waking up with lights, and traffic, for dinner.
That night was new years.
We went to an indian restaurant for dinner, which was delicious expensive, and exactly the kind of thing I don’t every want to do again. It was a good counter experience. To see that people can come all the way here. Eat food not from here, drink imported wine, sit on a balcony on the tourist street and be in their own convenience bubble. Ignoring it all.
The party was huge. The night was epic. Lights strung from the restaurants on one side ot the other. First works flying and bursting above the crowd. The street was packed. The dancing sweating singing tourists, smelly backpackers, but also local employees, and then more tourists, prostitutes, johns … Speakers blared globalized music. Beer and mud ran in the street. We danced and danced and danced. People would throw buckets of ice water over the crowd. It was blazing hot. Right after the countdown Black Eyed Peas “tonight's gunna be a good night” played. The token song of study abroad for our program. And my group we went nuts.
That night really exemplified the whole emotional Cambodia experience for me. I ended up trapped out there with my group (we found out around 1:30 that we accidentally left the key at the desk, so we couldn’t get back into our room, so the plan to pull an all nighter and “dance all night until sunrise” suddenly became my plan too). The night, would oscillate between really fun and exciting, an experience! And then the bubble would pop and I’d look over my shoulder … once I saw some young Thai woman dancing with a balding, greasy, white dude and he grab her and try to kiss her and shed just… grimace and try to dance more and avoid it. Other times you’d look down and a 5 year old kid would be standing there at your hip, in the middle of a sea of bodies, just watching and watching. Then she’d put her hands out and ask for a dollar.
Britney caved at this, squatted with them and talked to them in soothing voices, and pressed a dollar between their hands. Maybe I’m imagining the kids looking vacant at this, maybe the nodded, I don’t remember. they were wearing little dresses. But they took off when they got the money, and then there were more kids, of course.
I chose not to pay them. I figured it would just be enabling it – if it is profitable for their families to tell their girls to do this, then they would continue to do it I guess. But I can’t say I didn’t feel like a huge jerk. I can’t say it didn’t make me sick. .. I also I can’t say I didn’t have to keep justifying it to my self that way. I can’t say I realized I would be out of dollars really soon.
Eventually Martha pulled me away, she couldn’t stand it anymore. We went back to the room (to crawl in with one of the couples (JJ and Hanah) who had their own room and had returned to it). She was in a fit of furry, disgust, sadness, that no one saw it, at our hippocracy, our heartlessness. She was so full of every emotion that I should had been feeling. I couldn’t really help her. I had put up a barrier I guess, to keep my sanity. Hannah helped her out. She called home. … my barrier was that you can’t solve every battle, you can’t fight every problem. My battle is for the environment.
I took a shower – maybe I was still in my clothes, they reeked of beer. My flip flops, feet and legs were caked in mud, it bled into the drain. JJ gave me a dry shirt. I crawled into bed with him and Hannah, apologizing a lot. A few minuets later everyone else came arrived from the party. Turns out we hadn’t left the key at all, Kerri had taken it… But when Adam went around asking us all if we had it, she forgot, and said no.
I remember right before we left the other four had started –really- dancing with eachother, and I had been all pre-occupied with trying to figure out if I could get inot that action or not. God! I was thinking of that, and all that reality was right there, literally staring at me and asking for charity. I felt dirty, and exhausted. I was glad when Martha and I left. Its amazing. How thick that cloud of denial can be.
((detail. The group took really good care of me, considering I was kind of the outsider. They bought me drinks, and checked often to make sure I was having fun. Later, on the Tuk Tuk back we were having a conversation about how anything could be controversial to ISDSI kids. The Adam came up with the killer point that no one could contend that “New Years was Awesome” ! I looked at Martha, she wasn’t saying anything. I didn’t either. ))
.
The next day we took it easy, and took tuk tuks on a two hour drive to get to one of the temples that is still mostly eaten my the forest. We got to climb all over this one. Kerri and I went on an unofficial tour with and had things pointed out to us and explained in simple Thai. The boys played human jungle gym with some kids that leapt and scrambled over the ruins, ran along crumbling roofs, climbed towers and vines! (I would have done this, had I know, but I had a good time, too with Keri). Everyone else got tired of the ruins much quicker than I did. I went off alone at the end and got stuck way out on a rickety vine and dead leaf covered roof. We rode back home. It was a long hot ride.
Going home I started work on the coloring book of the Karen Village culture. right before we left I ran out to look for supplies. With about 10 min to spare I found an art gallery that sold art done by local artists and kids of the temples. I explained I was looking for a sketch book and they gave me one for free~!!! Another example of unbelievable generosity. This was the kind of place I wanted to support, buying art was the sort of thing that I thought was perfect for I tourist money could support that would help people, not keep them trapped selling cheep junk. I bought two pieces one of a butter fly in b and w and another of one of the temple statues. A boys was practicing drawing in the studio. He was drawing from a glossy pamphlets for Angkor wat. At first I assumed it was because its easier to draw from pictures than real life, before feeling like an idiot and remembering its frugal. Most Cambodias have never seen Angkor Wat, the national heritage treasure of their country, because they can’t afford the 20 USD entrance fee.
I felt good supporting the artists, but I also remembered all the money I had spent following the easy way – the restaurants, the chintzy souvenir bracelets I didn’t actually want, the drinks, the donations to the street performer who swallowed string with a bottle cap on the end and pulled it back out his throat, who’s act culminated when he lept through a flaming ring of steak knives. (his shoulders nicked with scars) I wondered if when you summed it all up, good and bad, if it was good that I come here at all, for the country.
Good bye Cambodia.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Knock Knock - so close and so far!
So i'm writing this from the front desk of a shwanky, glorious huge hotel at the city outside of Ankor Wat. The kind with very friendly staff to pull out your chair for you at the internet booth. And i rode up to its circular drive, in the dark, on my bicycle, with a headlamp, passed a strech limo. I am looking for Katie Greene, my cousin, who is staying in the very hotel! We both independetly planned new years at Angkor! (and only found out a few days before we both left) but now, we can't find eachother. So close and so far! Katie!!! where are you!?
Love, Gigi
Love, Gigi
Friday, December 25, 2009
Chistmas
I can even get over how fantastic Christmas dinner with my host family was.
If I had to sum up Thailand with only one photograph this one might be it:
Rew standing on a chair at the dinner table. He is wearing a red Santa had with light up plastic red stars around the rim. He is taking a huge bite of a fried chiken leg, as he poses next to the decorated table tree. The only food you can see on the table is bottle of Coke (spelled in Thai), a plate of sausages, the plate of friend chicken, and a huge grilled fish. Leap is in the back ground grinning over a bowl of rice.
The original plan was for me to make American food for the family for chirstmas dinner, so I went to Tops (the American grocery store) and bought tons of delicious ingredients for the traditional dinner feast:
-Hamburgers
-Mashed potatoes
-my favorite honey/lemon salad
-nachos
(actually just foods I miss and know how to make esp. without an oven)
Also, while at the mall (seeing Avatar Oh-My-God-I-Love-Enough-Said), I was inspired to get a Christmas tree as well! This was pretty much the best idea I’ve ever had. It’s no Christmas without a tree (in my family?) and it was a huge hit. It –made- it Christmas, which made it the perfect gift. I bought one of those kind of junky (7 Dollar) table tree at the mall. It was pre “decorated” with glued on gold beads and plastic apples that had mostly fallen off in the box, and bought garlands for it. Next went on a bunch of gold wrapped candies and chocolate with twist ties and rubber bands from our room. I set it up all nice and put it in a big red plastic tote.
Dinner planes changed when Mae left her phone at work and Paw and I got confused over the phone, and I ended up getting picked up an hour and a half late. So she just went ahead and made diner while they were picking me up.
Oh yeah, by the way while waiting for Paw ourside our apartment, I almost got hit by a motorcycle. I was sitting on the front steps of the building and he came roaring towards the driveway to pull into the building and hit a pole and then hit the motorcycles parked right in front of my legs knocking the down like dominos, before dragging up his bike and going down the drive. (I was fine, no worries, I’m surprised something like this hasn’t happened sooner). I wish I could say I used my rapid survivor instincts to whip my legs out of the path of danger, but actually I just stared at the guy and thought “huh, hes going really fast. those breaks are really loud. he just hit that pole. If those bikes had fallen on my legs it would probably have hurt alot”
Anyway, when Paw and the boys pulled up I held up the tree and they went nuts in the car which was just the beginning of a crazy fun night. Rew gave me my hat then (with gold moons and stars and santa and his reindeer lights on the front (<3 <3 <3 ). We sang chouses of Christmas carols for the drive home.
When we came in with the tree everyone was singing and running around and taking nuts pictures, and Mae was just bringin in the Christmas feast to put under the table: Tom yum Gung, cook cucumber-egg-ish mix, sausage, fish, chicken, fries, coke, all of which delicious especially Maes famous tom yum gung, (shrimp soup). Everyone adored the tree and Mae brought out gold wrapped cookies for it. I can’t remember any moments really just great feelings. We sang a lot of them coming in for famous lines. Paw and Mae were flirting, and playing with the kids, and the kids and I were having a ball and I even got the boys to wait to eat any candy off the tree until they had finished all their rice. There was general chaos of getting ready and a happy happy quiet of the first few bites of delicious food. We gave cheers to Christmas and just joked and I think I was one of my very favorite moments in Thailand. At dinner Mae said “we have so many Quam Suk (good things)”. It certainly made me miss my Christmas back home less because I could share the wonderful joy of the holiday with my Thai family who have been so generous to me for this whole journey.
I guess one moment I can remember is when I took off my hat for the first time (the first time I had looked at it since it got stuffed on my head when I jumped in the car) and I saw how Rew had picked out such a nice one, and thought was a great festive touch they were. (something I would never have though of as being necessary to Christmas, but may always be necessary for me, for chirstmas, for the rest of my life) and I leaned over and fave him a Thai kiss on the cheek. This means leaning right over like your going to kiss their cheek and giving them a big sniff. Mae saw and told him to give me one back, which he definaly wouldn’t do, but I felt I had truly passed into a being a real thai-integrated-family-member that the first reaction I had to my cute little brother was to give him a sniff-kiss he wouldn’t dream of returning even when mom told him to.
Namwng May was grinning and part of the festivities too, although she disappeared for actually eating dinner as well and wouldn’t take any candies off the tree afterwords (too many calories!) even when I stuck my pack of sugar free tooth cleaning gum up there. We’ll be hanging out tomorrow, cooking the American food I bought and doing art (I think/hope).
After dinner the family took a big paper lantern out into the drive way and lit it together. Nawng Leap took some amazing pictures of the flame (way better than any pictures I’d been taking!) and I chased him around and complimented his photography and his dad beamed proudly. (leap actually camptured dad with his true, glorious, smile). Paw told Leap to take a pictures of him with his daughter, and Rew ran to be in the picture and Paw and I had a laugh about that. The lantern was proablby four feet tall and when it fills with hot air: its so wonderful. We all let it go when it gets too hot and boyant to hold on to and Rew lit the rocked on the bottom and it lifted into the sky with a shower of silver sparks.
I can now understand almost every thing that’s said amongst the family around me and with Mae there to understand when I don’t know a word in Thai and I communicate anything I want to.
After the landtern the boys wanted to watch zombie t.v. so I went upstairs to find Mae and she wasn’t in her study or her room, but the TV was on in the hall so I stopped of a second to watch and …
“Hello?”
Oh My God! Tok Jai! Gave me a freight.
Mae has this big silver insulated box in the hall which Rew told me ‘she uses to make her skin white” it looks like spaceship kind of and has a little wooden chair inside and she was inside it, a foot from me, with her head sticking out of the hole in the top (its got a hood on the sides so I didn’t see her when I came up the stairs) and steam is sneaking out around her head. Omg. It was the most startling hilarious thing I have ever seen. We laughed and laughed about that for a long time too. I guess it’s a portable house steamer/sauna, (I gave it a try and, indeed, it was quite warm and humid).
Rew kept biting me that night and it was hurting so I laid down the law and snapped at him when he did it, and he got upset and left before bed so I thought I might actualys leep alone …but he came back a bit later.
Since Mae is leaving for a business meeting the next two days, they told me to make my hamburgers for breakfast. However, that was too much culture shock for me. I couldn’t make my whole big “Christmas dinner’ for breakfast. (+ that would have meant getting up at like 5 in the morning) But hwne I work up at 6:00 and Rew went to take his shower I was inspired to make American breakfast so I went down and made eggs-in-a-basket.
The only problem is the only cooking imstruments they have are pots and woks. I tired a pot, but it burned and I couldn’t flip it so I tired a wok, and Nawng May (who was helping me) said not enough oil! And dumped in the usual amout of cooking oil (about half a cup) and so they were fried, very very crispy, eggs in a basket. Which we ate with soy sauce. Which were actually better with soy sauce, than salt and pepper on account of the oil.
It was really funny, Leap (if you remember very picky) wouldn’t eat them. (I got to overhear this whole thing in Thai) And said “where are the hamburgers’ and Mae said “no hambugers today, but no no try these, you will like them, their delicious!” and simultaneously dad said “they are hamburgers!”. Leap stopped (he is five) and looked at them very carefully. And said “hamburgers have this shape” and made a hamburger shape with his hands, and Paw said “they are omelete-fried-egg-and-bread-hamburgers” and Leap still wouldn’t try them. But once Mae and Paw were looking the other way he reached out with his fork and tried to stab one of the center circles. It fell off his fork back onto the plate and he looked quickly around and Mae was still looking the other way and I grinned and covered my eyes and looked the other way really obviously so he stabbed it again and stuck the whole thing in his mouth really quick before Mae turned back around.
It was great.
Today I got dropped off again, and Cody and I went out and went to the cultural center in chiang mai wehre a delightful, kind, generous man named Ajaan Lek (Professor small) taught us how to paint umbrellas and fans. (Cody is learning crafts for her ICRP) The little room was full of colorful mobiles, and paitnints and umbrellas and fans. And Ajaan Lek patiently and infinitely supportively taught us to paint a scene with birds on a flowery branch first on paper and then on the fan. Every time we would do anything (particularly good or bad) he would say things like “perfect! Very good! Oh beautiful! Oh wouln’t this be even more beautiful?” and he was so undyingly patient and wonderful. We had no idea until we checked the time, but we were there for four hours. So plans to kayak the river through town were delayed.
How nice Thai people are example # 2:
I had a coughing fit in the middle and went and stood in the hall/balcony area and when I came back him he had gotten me a mug of hot water from his thrermous and some herbal medicine throat numbing seeds (like mustard seed sized) that were absoluly fabulous. I’ve never had hot water after a coughing fit but it was perfect!
How nice my friends are example # 2:
Erin bought me some blackcurrent super nice coughdrops from like sweeden or somewhere which are delicious.
Together my medicines did the trick for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I’m just typing away, waiting for Khun Paw and thinking we probably miscommunicated again. I should really go back to my original rule of never saying OK if I don’t understand everything…. Hum…
Merry Christmas everyone! If not “home” sick I’ve been fighting the “people” sick. I think this weekend it’s off to see my Host families extended family in some town outside Chaing Mai and after that me and some people are going to Angkor Wat for a 5? days (half travel). It should be super fun as I don’t know the people going as well yet, and it will be quite a different kind of adventuring than we’ve been doing. (traveling alone to a world famous (maybe touristy) sight). Then my ICRP starts which will go for 4 weeks, part in the mountain villages in the north and part in chiang mai.
P.S. Grandma, the leaves you ironed for me are taped all over our walls (in cool patterns) along with colorful lanterns, elephant wall hangings, my watercolors from on course, a paper tree with paper presents, little tiny stockings, and photographs from our trip so far. They are lovely! People often comment on our walls when they come in. (we have a great room, wonderful mood lighting, pretty clean).
Merry Christmas / Holidays,
Love. Gigi
p.s.s.
What else can I type about since Paw hasn’t come yet?
Did I ever tell you’all about Tuk Tuks? Tuk Tuks are great. They are motorcycles turned into passenger vehicles. They have a little roof and a bench. I just saw one go by that was decked out with lights. Hillarious. Tons of blue and red and yellow flashing blinking lights. Tuk tusk are the way you get home from the bars at the end of the night because they run later than the Rot Dangs (pick-ups turned taxies), and they are also what tourists ride because they are much more expensive but they are so. fun. Especially when your coming home from the bars at night.
If I had to sum up Thailand with only one photograph this one might be it:
Rew standing on a chair at the dinner table. He is wearing a red Santa had with light up plastic red stars around the rim. He is taking a huge bite of a fried chiken leg, as he poses next to the decorated table tree. The only food you can see on the table is bottle of Coke (spelled in Thai), a plate of sausages, the plate of friend chicken, and a huge grilled fish. Leap is in the back ground grinning over a bowl of rice.
The original plan was for me to make American food for the family for chirstmas dinner, so I went to Tops (the American grocery store) and bought tons of delicious ingredients for the traditional dinner feast:
-Hamburgers
-Mashed potatoes
-my favorite honey/lemon salad
-nachos
(actually just foods I miss and know how to make esp. without an oven)
Also, while at the mall (seeing Avatar Oh-My-God-I-Love-Enough-Said), I was inspired to get a Christmas tree as well! This was pretty much the best idea I’ve ever had. It’s no Christmas without a tree (in my family?) and it was a huge hit. It –made- it Christmas, which made it the perfect gift. I bought one of those kind of junky (7 Dollar) table tree at the mall. It was pre “decorated” with glued on gold beads and plastic apples that had mostly fallen off in the box, and bought garlands for it. Next went on a bunch of gold wrapped candies and chocolate with twist ties and rubber bands from our room. I set it up all nice and put it in a big red plastic tote.
Dinner planes changed when Mae left her phone at work and Paw and I got confused over the phone, and I ended up getting picked up an hour and a half late. So she just went ahead and made diner while they were picking me up.
Oh yeah, by the way while waiting for Paw ourside our apartment, I almost got hit by a motorcycle. I was sitting on the front steps of the building and he came roaring towards the driveway to pull into the building and hit a pole and then hit the motorcycles parked right in front of my legs knocking the down like dominos, before dragging up his bike and going down the drive. (I was fine, no worries, I’m surprised something like this hasn’t happened sooner). I wish I could say I used my rapid survivor instincts to whip my legs out of the path of danger, but actually I just stared at the guy and thought “huh, hes going really fast. those breaks are really loud. he just hit that pole. If those bikes had fallen on my legs it would probably have hurt alot”
Anyway, when Paw and the boys pulled up I held up the tree and they went nuts in the car which was just the beginning of a crazy fun night. Rew gave me my hat then (with gold moons and stars and santa and his reindeer lights on the front (<3 <3 <3 ). We sang chouses of Christmas carols for the drive home.
When we came in with the tree everyone was singing and running around and taking nuts pictures, and Mae was just bringin in the Christmas feast to put under the table: Tom yum Gung, cook cucumber-egg-ish mix, sausage, fish, chicken, fries, coke, all of which delicious especially Maes famous tom yum gung, (shrimp soup). Everyone adored the tree and Mae brought out gold wrapped cookies for it. I can’t remember any moments really just great feelings. We sang a lot of them coming in for famous lines. Paw and Mae were flirting, and playing with the kids, and the kids and I were having a ball and I even got the boys to wait to eat any candy off the tree until they had finished all their rice. There was general chaos of getting ready and a happy happy quiet of the first few bites of delicious food. We gave cheers to Christmas and just joked and I think I was one of my very favorite moments in Thailand. At dinner Mae said “we have so many Quam Suk (good things)”. It certainly made me miss my Christmas back home less because I could share the wonderful joy of the holiday with my Thai family who have been so generous to me for this whole journey.
I guess one moment I can remember is when I took off my hat for the first time (the first time I had looked at it since it got stuffed on my head when I jumped in the car) and I saw how Rew had picked out such a nice one, and thought was a great festive touch they were. (something I would never have though of as being necessary to Christmas, but may always be necessary for me, for chirstmas, for the rest of my life) and I leaned over and fave him a Thai kiss on the cheek. This means leaning right over like your going to kiss their cheek and giving them a big sniff. Mae saw and told him to give me one back, which he definaly wouldn’t do, but I felt I had truly passed into a being a real thai-integrated-family-member that the first reaction I had to my cute little brother was to give him a sniff-kiss he wouldn’t dream of returning even when mom told him to.
Namwng May was grinning and part of the festivities too, although she disappeared for actually eating dinner as well and wouldn’t take any candies off the tree afterwords (too many calories!) even when I stuck my pack of sugar free tooth cleaning gum up there. We’ll be hanging out tomorrow, cooking the American food I bought and doing art (I think/hope).
After dinner the family took a big paper lantern out into the drive way and lit it together. Nawng Leap took some amazing pictures of the flame (way better than any pictures I’d been taking!) and I chased him around and complimented his photography and his dad beamed proudly. (leap actually camptured dad with his true, glorious, smile). Paw told Leap to take a pictures of him with his daughter, and Rew ran to be in the picture and Paw and I had a laugh about that. The lantern was proablby four feet tall and when it fills with hot air: its so wonderful. We all let it go when it gets too hot and boyant to hold on to and Rew lit the rocked on the bottom and it lifted into the sky with a shower of silver sparks.
I can now understand almost every thing that’s said amongst the family around me and with Mae there to understand when I don’t know a word in Thai and I communicate anything I want to.
After the landtern the boys wanted to watch zombie t.v. so I went upstairs to find Mae and she wasn’t in her study or her room, but the TV was on in the hall so I stopped of a second to watch and …
“Hello?”
Oh My God! Tok Jai! Gave me a freight.
Mae has this big silver insulated box in the hall which Rew told me ‘she uses to make her skin white” it looks like spaceship kind of and has a little wooden chair inside and she was inside it, a foot from me, with her head sticking out of the hole in the top (its got a hood on the sides so I didn’t see her when I came up the stairs) and steam is sneaking out around her head. Omg. It was the most startling hilarious thing I have ever seen. We laughed and laughed about that for a long time too. I guess it’s a portable house steamer/sauna, (I gave it a try and, indeed, it was quite warm and humid).
Rew kept biting me that night and it was hurting so I laid down the law and snapped at him when he did it, and he got upset and left before bed so I thought I might actualys leep alone …but he came back a bit later.
Since Mae is leaving for a business meeting the next two days, they told me to make my hamburgers for breakfast. However, that was too much culture shock for me. I couldn’t make my whole big “Christmas dinner’ for breakfast. (+ that would have meant getting up at like 5 in the morning) But hwne I work up at 6:00 and Rew went to take his shower I was inspired to make American breakfast so I went down and made eggs-in-a-basket.
The only problem is the only cooking imstruments they have are pots and woks. I tired a pot, but it burned and I couldn’t flip it so I tired a wok, and Nawng May (who was helping me) said not enough oil! And dumped in the usual amout of cooking oil (about half a cup) and so they were fried, very very crispy, eggs in a basket. Which we ate with soy sauce. Which were actually better with soy sauce, than salt and pepper on account of the oil.
It was really funny, Leap (if you remember very picky) wouldn’t eat them. (I got to overhear this whole thing in Thai) And said “where are the hamburgers’ and Mae said “no hambugers today, but no no try these, you will like them, their delicious!” and simultaneously dad said “they are hamburgers!”. Leap stopped (he is five) and looked at them very carefully. And said “hamburgers have this shape” and made a hamburger shape with his hands, and Paw said “they are omelete-fried-egg-and-bread-hamburgers” and Leap still wouldn’t try them. But once Mae and Paw were looking the other way he reached out with his fork and tried to stab one of the center circles. It fell off his fork back onto the plate and he looked quickly around and Mae was still looking the other way and I grinned and covered my eyes and looked the other way really obviously so he stabbed it again and stuck the whole thing in his mouth really quick before Mae turned back around.
It was great.
Today I got dropped off again, and Cody and I went out and went to the cultural center in chiang mai wehre a delightful, kind, generous man named Ajaan Lek (Professor small) taught us how to paint umbrellas and fans. (Cody is learning crafts for her ICRP) The little room was full of colorful mobiles, and paitnints and umbrellas and fans. And Ajaan Lek patiently and infinitely supportively taught us to paint a scene with birds on a flowery branch first on paper and then on the fan. Every time we would do anything (particularly good or bad) he would say things like “perfect! Very good! Oh beautiful! Oh wouln’t this be even more beautiful?” and he was so undyingly patient and wonderful. We had no idea until we checked the time, but we were there for four hours. So plans to kayak the river through town were delayed.
How nice Thai people are example # 2:
I had a coughing fit in the middle and went and stood in the hall/balcony area and when I came back him he had gotten me a mug of hot water from his thrermous and some herbal medicine throat numbing seeds (like mustard seed sized) that were absoluly fabulous. I’ve never had hot water after a coughing fit but it was perfect!
How nice my friends are example # 2:
Erin bought me some blackcurrent super nice coughdrops from like sweeden or somewhere which are delicious.
Together my medicines did the trick for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I’m just typing away, waiting for Khun Paw and thinking we probably miscommunicated again. I should really go back to my original rule of never saying OK if I don’t understand everything…. Hum…
Merry Christmas everyone! If not “home” sick I’ve been fighting the “people” sick. I think this weekend it’s off to see my Host families extended family in some town outside Chaing Mai and after that me and some people are going to Angkor Wat for a 5? days (half travel). It should be super fun as I don’t know the people going as well yet, and it will be quite a different kind of adventuring than we’ve been doing. (traveling alone to a world famous (maybe touristy) sight). Then my ICRP starts which will go for 4 weeks, part in the mountain villages in the north and part in chiang mai.
P.S. Grandma, the leaves you ironed for me are taped all over our walls (in cool patterns) along with colorful lanterns, elephant wall hangings, my watercolors from on course, a paper tree with paper presents, little tiny stockings, and photographs from our trip so far. They are lovely! People often comment on our walls when they come in. (we have a great room, wonderful mood lighting, pretty clean).
Merry Christmas / Holidays,
Love. Gigi
p.s.s.
What else can I type about since Paw hasn’t come yet?
Did I ever tell you’all about Tuk Tuks? Tuk Tuks are great. They are motorcycles turned into passenger vehicles. They have a little roof and a bench. I just saw one go by that was decked out with lights. Hillarious. Tons of blue and red and yellow flashing blinking lights. Tuk tusk are the way you get home from the bars at the end of the night because they run later than the Rot Dangs (pick-ups turned taxies), and they are also what tourists ride because they are much more expensive but they are so. fun. Especially when your coming home from the bars at night.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Museum of World Insects
12-23-09
So my favorite part of my day / whole life in Thailand is when Khun Paw drops me off on his motorcycle. Today was “cold!” (probably like 65 degrees) when zoomed off into the late sunrise. The air rushes by my legs and hands and cheek. He always gives me the helmet. We zoom down the street, whizzing by other cars. When there’s a red light he just makes a left turn, crosses the street and makes another left turn to keep going. When the cars are stopped we weave between them snaking towards the light to meet up with the pack of motorcycles that accumulates at the front of the line.
Yesterday Erin and I went on an adventure to the Museum of World Insects. This really should go with accompanying hilarious pictures, but my card reader is broke… The place is just this old house turned museum. The guy who runs it is crazy. Like, he’s seriously had malaria one too many times. (apparently he’s had every kind of malaria there is… probably because his wife is a mosquito researcher and he is a malaria researcher). You would think being a malaria researcher would make you a mosquito’s enemy, but this guy is the biggest mosquito advocate ever. He wears a t-shirt with a hundred holes cut in it, which he called “mosquito feeding stations”. He has signs everywhere like “get to know them and you will understand” and “every creature is part of a natural cycle of nature made by God’ confusingly right next to people with horrible disfiguring tumors from mosquito born disease…??? I tried to start some conversations with him about what should be done to control disease and he had some decent points like when they fog for mosquitos they are killing the wrong species where they fog, and that people don’t finish their meds and make super strains of the disease, but he wouldn’t answer how malaria has been mostly gotten rid of in Thailand (my killing tons of mosquitos). Mostly he got side tracked telling me about he manager of my body (presumably brain?) that could take me on trips to the moon, and get rid of head aches, and he knew a man who researched headaches who’s manager showed him a three-faced girl and the girl could make his migraines go away.
The whole place was a hoot. He had paintings of women in the forest holding body-sized mosquitos, and huge idealistic painings of mosquitos tenderly touching arms together while poised on flowers with the sunset behind ect. He also had a present from the first visitor to his musueam (an elephant off the street when the place was under construction) which was a pile of elephant dung in a case. Upstairs he had the most extensive insect collection (he found them all dead (didn’t kill any) by following trails of ants through the jungle to find where the bugs went to die and the ants went to eat them….) and signs that said stuff flike ‘I, the insect, donate my life to science to educate people”.
We are all becoming regulars at a café/coffee shop/internet place called Zane’s café. Its cool, we are getting to know al the people there. Theres an amazing ramen shop right in front, and a garden with tables, and many couches ect inside. Its pretty near the dorms.
That night at home, Paw and I lay on the floor and watched TV while the boys played GTA (Grand Theft Auto) on the computer. Paw and I watched a show about stunt drivers, and played balloon games with Rew. Rew and I drew some before bed.
Today I’m going to go see Avatar and then go grocery shopping at the foreigner grocery store. I’m making American food for my host family for Christmas dinner tonight (a day early cause my Mae has to work tomorrow). I think it will be hamburgers and mashed potatoes… (there are no ovens in Thailand).
So my favorite part of my day / whole life in Thailand is when Khun Paw drops me off on his motorcycle. Today was “cold!” (probably like 65 degrees) when zoomed off into the late sunrise. The air rushes by my legs and hands and cheek. He always gives me the helmet. We zoom down the street, whizzing by other cars. When there’s a red light he just makes a left turn, crosses the street and makes another left turn to keep going. When the cars are stopped we weave between them snaking towards the light to meet up with the pack of motorcycles that accumulates at the front of the line.
Yesterday Erin and I went on an adventure to the Museum of World Insects. This really should go with accompanying hilarious pictures, but my card reader is broke… The place is just this old house turned museum. The guy who runs it is crazy. Like, he’s seriously had malaria one too many times. (apparently he’s had every kind of malaria there is… probably because his wife is a mosquito researcher and he is a malaria researcher). You would think being a malaria researcher would make you a mosquito’s enemy, but this guy is the biggest mosquito advocate ever. He wears a t-shirt with a hundred holes cut in it, which he called “mosquito feeding stations”. He has signs everywhere like “get to know them and you will understand” and “every creature is part of a natural cycle of nature made by God’ confusingly right next to people with horrible disfiguring tumors from mosquito born disease…??? I tried to start some conversations with him about what should be done to control disease and he had some decent points like when they fog for mosquitos they are killing the wrong species where they fog, and that people don’t finish their meds and make super strains of the disease, but he wouldn’t answer how malaria has been mostly gotten rid of in Thailand (my killing tons of mosquitos). Mostly he got side tracked telling me about he manager of my body (presumably brain?) that could take me on trips to the moon, and get rid of head aches, and he knew a man who researched headaches who’s manager showed him a three-faced girl and the girl could make his migraines go away.
The whole place was a hoot. He had paintings of women in the forest holding body-sized mosquitos, and huge idealistic painings of mosquitos tenderly touching arms together while poised on flowers with the sunset behind ect. He also had a present from the first visitor to his musueam (an elephant off the street when the place was under construction) which was a pile of elephant dung in a case. Upstairs he had the most extensive insect collection (he found them all dead (didn’t kill any) by following trails of ants through the jungle to find where the bugs went to die and the ants went to eat them….) and signs that said stuff flike ‘I, the insect, donate my life to science to educate people”.
We are all becoming regulars at a café/coffee shop/internet place called Zane’s café. Its cool, we are getting to know al the people there. Theres an amazing ramen shop right in front, and a garden with tables, and many couches ect inside. Its pretty near the dorms.
That night at home, Paw and I lay on the floor and watched TV while the boys played GTA (Grand Theft Auto) on the computer. Paw and I watched a show about stunt drivers, and played balloon games with Rew. Rew and I drew some before bed.
Today I’m going to go see Avatar and then go grocery shopping at the foreigner grocery store. I’m making American food for my host family for Christmas dinner tonight (a day early cause my Mae has to work tomorrow). I think it will be hamburgers and mashed potatoes… (there are no ovens in Thailand).
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Waterfall Playing and Balloon Popping
12- 22 -09
The day before yesterday I discovered my favorite place in Chiang Mai. It isjust up the street from our apartments (about a 40 munite walk, or a not too long Rot Dang Ride). Im starting to think my Chur Len (Nick name) in Thai should just be Nam (water) because I am so fascinatedand enthralled with all things water on this trip. Water falls, snorkeling, kayaking, fountains, rivers, but really… mostly waterfalls. This is the Huey Gaow waterfall (we live at Huey Gaow place on Huey Gaow Road).
We got off the Rot dang and there were tons of little food stalls, and we walked up the path towards the falls. It turns out the falls are a tumbling river running over rocks, in little pools, little falls, running rivelts you can slide down like a waterslide. The whole park, on a hill side, is nesteled among trees with grassy nooks, and little stone brides over the water. We climbed up along the river/falls and there was a view out over the Chiang Mai Valley, the high rises emerging out of the green trees and haze. Tons of Thai families picnicked next to the water, or splashed their feet in it.
Near what we originally thought was the top, three thai boys about our age were sitting, dancing and splashing in the falls – one giggled and shrieked in a voice Ihigher pitched than I though it was possible for any guy to make. They splashed around in tiny underwear, and a large older Farang man sat on the rock next to them watching (Sex tourism much?).
We ate tiny hard boiled quail eggs and soy sauce next to the falls and climbed on. Past a really steep waterfall like spot we found a pool swimmable deep and overlooking the city. It was so cold! I forgot what it feels like to get into the water and be barly able to swim because you muscles are cramping up! It was almost like lake mi in august!!! Haha.
Up and up the woodland “trail” we went, crossing the waterfall here and there over rocks. And far far up, after navigating some brush and briary spots.
Wow.
We came out into a secrete garden of a dream tean hangout area. A few groups of young thai friends chilled next to a glorious stony sweap of water slides. A group had started a campfire on the rocks next to the water. A boy was playing the guitar. A twisted figtree watched down over the spot. Boys were zooming down the slipper rocks into pools. One maybe 6-8 foot fall rushed down into a tiny but very deep pool (next to the guitar players), which we soon learned was a natural waterslide and dunk pool! We made friends a bit with the Thai kids there and they told us how was best to slide of the waterfall….
It was so awesome.
The rock was slippery, and the water just wisked us off free fall and splash! Into the deep freezing water. The Khon Thai (Thai people ) laughed when we went off ‘Now mai?” they asked. “Cold?” It was over our heads deep, and toes barely touched bottom, before we popped up again. There were rocks (so close it seemed) but they stayed well out of the way. I don’t think you could possibly design anything more fun. The Thai boys showed us up by summersalting and flipping off the jump. The whole place was so romantic and gorgeous. And exciting. I can’t wait to go back.
The only catch was the littering / circle of concern thing I talked about earlier. There was trash and broken glass scattered all around and we had to be very careful of that. When we left I filled a trashbag with bottles and loads of broken glass but there was still much more. When the guitarplayers group left they left their food wrappers, bottles, plastic bags, and they left the camp fire still burning.
Philip and I each got a little glass bite on our hands and Erin bruised her heal. But, I’m kind of surprised we escaped the spot with as few injuries as we did considering all the glass, and going off waterfalls, and sliding down slippery rocks into pools…
Our time there was cut short a bit because I was getting picked up to go home to my host family. I spent the last two days there. It was so great to see them again, and it made me miss home much less. That night Rew and Leap taught me a great game where we tie a balloon to our ankle and then put our other foot touching in the center, count to three, and go! Try to stomp-pop the other peoples balloons> it was insanely hilarious. We went nuts, screaming and jumping and tussling. Three kids and many balloons = very loud and very happy. We had the hot pot for dinner where you add tons of stuff to boiling soup.
Nawng May seems to be living with them now. She is 17 and I think she quit school. She has a shy, beautiful smile. She helped Bah May Pen at her restaurant, but now she cleans house for us. It’s a little awkward for me because I want to help her clean but she says oh no no I can do it myself. She doesn’t eat with Rew and Leap and Me....
Yesterday I went to work with Mae. I also came down with a cold and I could barely focus. As an aside for what good care the host families take of us, I had a sore throat so my host mom sent her staff out to get me medicine, which ended up being amoxycillan (can’t spell). Then I awkwardly had to explain why I wouldn’t take it…. Um that’s way too strong, I have only a little sick. That’s antibacterial and this is a virus.” But then her doctors friend stopped by so he could explain better.
Anyway, I got to go to work with Mae. I felt really bad because after a bit Mae said “you look like you not enjoy being here”. Really I was super happy to be there, but I felt very awkward. I wasn’t dressed nice (baggy boy pants and a yello t shirt, flip flops) and everyone was dressed so nice. Also I didn’t realize exactly what it meant to be the director of such a big foundation in Thai culture. Everyone stood and wai-ed to us when she went anywhere, and stooped down to walk by her, and she just carried herself with such poise and grace. Then we ran into her boss and I got all tongue tied again. Oh. She delivered me to the big open sided warehouse room where they make the prosthetic legs, so I could see how it was done. I was so shy at first, and I just watched and didn’t say anthing because I couldn’t think of questions that didn’t involve complex vocab, but eventually I got talking a bit and made friends with the workers and felt much much better. Pi Boon and Pi La both dropped by for lunch and seeing them was great. Pi Churn (new, met him there) let me help add the plaster to a prosthetic leg!!! It was so cool!!
It was so interesting to be in such an international space. The visitied people from Africa were going back tomorrow (they are ready to start their own clinic there) but one guy was in there trying to respray paint his prosthetic hand (it was too dark) but kept making it look worse and worse (patchy pale and dark) and the Pi Churn was poking fun at him. Also Mrs. Idon’trememberhername next door neighbor from Japan was popping around talking with everyone an dhelping (they both speak English and some Thai). Then I was there, and all the Thai workers… it was just really really neat. I hope to go back when I am less exhausted and without sore throat to make a better impression. We all had lunch together out back from a long table with stick rice and lots of dishes.
After than I went home and slept the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. We ate dinenr together (they bought a pizza for a snack and it was great comfort food) then Paw and the boys and Nawng May and I watched a movie (day after tomorrow) in Thai and Paw and I talked about it as it went along and he taught me a few more Thai words, ant the boys played balloons in front of the TV and paw went to bed and Rew started another movie about “gangs” of boys who have park wars and it looked like the dream childhood (the main character was three years old but the size a of 17 year old because he ate mushrooms as a baby, that had a chemical in them explained Rew) and he wached with his head resting on my legs so although I was tired I didn’t have the heart to go to bed. And when it was done he kept trying to wake up Nawng (his Pi) May to tell her to turn off the lights, and I kept trying to keep him from watking her/knocking on the door. (fun)
and I clean up and we went upstairs and crawled in bed and did our ritural of him trying to tickle me while I’m trying to fall asleep, which melted me heart, then he fell asleep with our bodies curled up like two spirals facing eachother, my hand on his shoulder, and I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time and just lay there thinking about life and feeling fortunate, and alive, and trying not to cough because it might wake him up, and loving basically everything and everyone I know.
The day before yesterday I discovered my favorite place in Chiang Mai. It isjust up the street from our apartments (about a 40 munite walk, or a not too long Rot Dang Ride). Im starting to think my Chur Len (Nick name) in Thai should just be Nam (water) because I am so fascinatedand enthralled with all things water on this trip. Water falls, snorkeling, kayaking, fountains, rivers, but really… mostly waterfalls. This is the Huey Gaow waterfall (we live at Huey Gaow place on Huey Gaow Road).
We got off the Rot dang and there were tons of little food stalls, and we walked up the path towards the falls. It turns out the falls are a tumbling river running over rocks, in little pools, little falls, running rivelts you can slide down like a waterslide. The whole park, on a hill side, is nesteled among trees with grassy nooks, and little stone brides over the water. We climbed up along the river/falls and there was a view out over the Chiang Mai Valley, the high rises emerging out of the green trees and haze. Tons of Thai families picnicked next to the water, or splashed their feet in it.
Near what we originally thought was the top, three thai boys about our age were sitting, dancing and splashing in the falls – one giggled and shrieked in a voice Ihigher pitched than I though it was possible for any guy to make. They splashed around in tiny underwear, and a large older Farang man sat on the rock next to them watching (Sex tourism much?).
We ate tiny hard boiled quail eggs and soy sauce next to the falls and climbed on. Past a really steep waterfall like spot we found a pool swimmable deep and overlooking the city. It was so cold! I forgot what it feels like to get into the water and be barly able to swim because you muscles are cramping up! It was almost like lake mi in august!!! Haha.
Up and up the woodland “trail” we went, crossing the waterfall here and there over rocks. And far far up, after navigating some brush and briary spots.
Wow.
We came out into a secrete garden of a dream tean hangout area. A few groups of young thai friends chilled next to a glorious stony sweap of water slides. A group had started a campfire on the rocks next to the water. A boy was playing the guitar. A twisted figtree watched down over the spot. Boys were zooming down the slipper rocks into pools. One maybe 6-8 foot fall rushed down into a tiny but very deep pool (next to the guitar players), which we soon learned was a natural waterslide and dunk pool! We made friends a bit with the Thai kids there and they told us how was best to slide of the waterfall….
It was so awesome.
The rock was slippery, and the water just wisked us off free fall and splash! Into the deep freezing water. The Khon Thai (Thai people ) laughed when we went off ‘Now mai?” they asked. “Cold?” It was over our heads deep, and toes barely touched bottom, before we popped up again. There were rocks (so close it seemed) but they stayed well out of the way. I don’t think you could possibly design anything more fun. The Thai boys showed us up by summersalting and flipping off the jump. The whole place was so romantic and gorgeous. And exciting. I can’t wait to go back.
The only catch was the littering / circle of concern thing I talked about earlier. There was trash and broken glass scattered all around and we had to be very careful of that. When we left I filled a trashbag with bottles and loads of broken glass but there was still much more. When the guitarplayers group left they left their food wrappers, bottles, plastic bags, and they left the camp fire still burning.
Philip and I each got a little glass bite on our hands and Erin bruised her heal. But, I’m kind of surprised we escaped the spot with as few injuries as we did considering all the glass, and going off waterfalls, and sliding down slippery rocks into pools…
Our time there was cut short a bit because I was getting picked up to go home to my host family. I spent the last two days there. It was so great to see them again, and it made me miss home much less. That night Rew and Leap taught me a great game where we tie a balloon to our ankle and then put our other foot touching in the center, count to three, and go! Try to stomp-pop the other peoples balloons> it was insanely hilarious. We went nuts, screaming and jumping and tussling. Three kids and many balloons = very loud and very happy. We had the hot pot for dinner where you add tons of stuff to boiling soup.
Nawng May seems to be living with them now. She is 17 and I think she quit school. She has a shy, beautiful smile. She helped Bah May Pen at her restaurant, but now she cleans house for us. It’s a little awkward for me because I want to help her clean but she says oh no no I can do it myself. She doesn’t eat with Rew and Leap and Me....
Yesterday I went to work with Mae. I also came down with a cold and I could barely focus. As an aside for what good care the host families take of us, I had a sore throat so my host mom sent her staff out to get me medicine, which ended up being amoxycillan (can’t spell). Then I awkwardly had to explain why I wouldn’t take it…. Um that’s way too strong, I have only a little sick. That’s antibacterial and this is a virus.” But then her doctors friend stopped by so he could explain better.
Anyway, I got to go to work with Mae. I felt really bad because after a bit Mae said “you look like you not enjoy being here”. Really I was super happy to be there, but I felt very awkward. I wasn’t dressed nice (baggy boy pants and a yello t shirt, flip flops) and everyone was dressed so nice. Also I didn’t realize exactly what it meant to be the director of such a big foundation in Thai culture. Everyone stood and wai-ed to us when she went anywhere, and stooped down to walk by her, and she just carried herself with such poise and grace. Then we ran into her boss and I got all tongue tied again. Oh. She delivered me to the big open sided warehouse room where they make the prosthetic legs, so I could see how it was done. I was so shy at first, and I just watched and didn’t say anthing because I couldn’t think of questions that didn’t involve complex vocab, but eventually I got talking a bit and made friends with the workers and felt much much better. Pi Boon and Pi La both dropped by for lunch and seeing them was great. Pi Churn (new, met him there) let me help add the plaster to a prosthetic leg!!! It was so cool!!
It was so interesting to be in such an international space. The visitied people from Africa were going back tomorrow (they are ready to start their own clinic there) but one guy was in there trying to respray paint his prosthetic hand (it was too dark) but kept making it look worse and worse (patchy pale and dark) and the Pi Churn was poking fun at him. Also Mrs. Idon’trememberhername next door neighbor from Japan was popping around talking with everyone an dhelping (they both speak English and some Thai). Then I was there, and all the Thai workers… it was just really really neat. I hope to go back when I am less exhausted and without sore throat to make a better impression. We all had lunch together out back from a long table with stick rice and lots of dishes.
After than I went home and slept the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. We ate dinenr together (they bought a pizza for a snack and it was great comfort food) then Paw and the boys and Nawng May and I watched a movie (day after tomorrow) in Thai and Paw and I talked about it as it went along and he taught me a few more Thai words, ant the boys played balloons in front of the TV and paw went to bed and Rew started another movie about “gangs” of boys who have park wars and it looked like the dream childhood (the main character was three years old but the size a of 17 year old because he ate mushrooms as a baby, that had a chemical in them explained Rew) and he wached with his head resting on my legs so although I was tired I didn’t have the heart to go to bed. And when it was done he kept trying to wake up Nawng (his Pi) May to tell her to turn off the lights, and I kept trying to keep him from watking her/knocking on the door. (fun)
and I clean up and we went upstairs and crawled in bed and did our ritural of him trying to tickle me while I’m trying to fall asleep, which melted me heart, then he fell asleep with our bodies curled up like two spirals facing eachother, my hand on his shoulder, and I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time and just lay there thinking about life and feeling fortunate, and alive, and trying not to cough because it might wake him up, and loving basically everything and everyone I know.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Islands part III - In which I go night diving
Ok. So guess where I am as I am writing this….
I’m at a second story spa, looking out over a busy Chiang Mai street…. and my feet are being nibbled by hundreds of tiny fish!!! Erin and I just found this crazy place. You sit with your feet hanging in cool tanks of water and the tiny cleaning fish suck, and nibble and TICKLE you toes. At first I just died laughing, it was way too tickly but now I’m doing pretty good… except when they go in between my toes… The info sheet says it is called: “Fish Spa Skin Pampering and Nibbling Treatment” ! who knew!?
The whole thing was only for 6 dollars (we got a special discount for being adorable and speaking thai) we get to stay as long as we want (provided too many other customers don’t come, and then need to switch us out.) Apparently this is the popular thing for Thai and Chiang Mai people. Its great.
Also it has free wifi.
Overfishing, global warming, tourist and anchor damage, and even more over fishing have left the reefs missing most of their best sea creatures. Although each of us 30 students snorkled for maybe 10-20+ hours on the program (hundreds of total observation hours) all over the archipelago no a single one of us ever saw a shark. But I was very lucky.
One morning on the Lipe part of the islands course Marica and I got up early to do a dawn snorkel by ourselves. We went down to the beach right off the resort, and swam out. The reef as patchy and more sandy than other reefs, but still in surprisingly OK condition considering its proximity to all the development. We had just reached the big reef shelf (pretty far out into the channel) and I was looking around, and suddenly I see a very familiar shape right there below me. A sea turtle!
I couldn’t believe it, their basically ecologically extinct from the area. Island fisherman have gone years without seeing them, and there he way! The siz of a trash can lid. I was so startled I shouted into my snorkel, and threw my head out of the water to call marica over. As I did so he started booking it over the reef, and the moment I put my face back in the water he was gone.
My best guess was he was the sponge-eating hawkbill sea turtle, wandering around looking for a new home. It was such a special moment, I felt so lucky to have seen him. It also made me feel conflicted and sad. There used to be many tutles breading in the archipelago but people at all the eggs, and trawlers and fisher nets caught but the adults. I’d make me so sad to think this was a tutle “sink” a place roving turtles went to and didn’t come back from, drawing down the total world population. On the other hand maybe it’s a good sign he was there at all.
The night dive:
It was late on the last night on Lipe, when Marica and I went out for our night dive. We were armed with two half broken underwater flashlights. The night was perfectly clear, zillions of tiny stars in the sky. There were the lights from Mountain Resort on the hill overlooking the water. Across the channel Adang island was tall and dark. To make it all the more mysterious and amazing heat lightning cracked in the clouds over the ocean. The dark water sloshed up on the beach, and hiss back across the sand. It was so scary, and so amazing. Marica and I put on our gear and turned on the lights; from the surface they illuminated bright teal patches in the dark water, underwater they opened up halos in the darkness. We kicked out towards the reef. Dark patches of coral glowered under us. It was truly just like flying in a lucid dream. When the heat lightning flashed we could see it from under the water. Horror movie flashes of errie grey light. We got way out, the dark surface rolling beneath us. We flicked off the lights. I stuck my head under the water, and shouted with shock and with glee! The water was filled with bioluminescence – tiny marine organisms that glow when you bump into them. Tiny sparks of light glittered in oras around bodies and kicking fins. For all the stars above there were dancing stars under the water. We splashed and summer salted and shook around under water. If Marcia was a little ways off and I couldn’t see her in the dark, I could just see the glow of her phantom ghost. Trembling and tumbling through the water. When she dived to check out the coral with the light her front half of her body swam ahead and shadow legs trailing stars followed.
The reef was a sleep. It was dark grey, not the rich brown of day time. There were a few ragged and sleepy fish hiding inbetween the corals, urchins empty annenomies. A few red red fish scurried over the reef with buggy black eyes. It was like going forward in time 10 or 20 years, to see what the reefs will be like when they are empty and degraded.
But we did see one creature of interest: one of the floating nearly clear rocketship of a things that I don’t remember what their called. You could just make out the neon lines of is cone shapped body and trailing fins. I cupped it in an underwater hand, it felt like jelly.
Our lights started running out of juice so we made our way back. When we got in they were basically dead.
I notice that most of the memories I want to lock into writing are diving ones. I’ll try to record some others, too.
The wait staff at the Mounton resort (where we were staying) were all super friendly. They came from the mailland to work there half the year. Several of them were lady-boys “Pu Ching” (men become women), which was cool to have to opportunity to meet them. Every evening if I walked through the restaurant to get to the beach we would stop and all chat together, or when I walked down for breakfast there would be a chorous of hellos. It was such a small island that it was cool to make relationships over the week we were there. Restaurant owners waved and smiled asking “by nai crahp?” where are you going? All the time.
The area where the trash was sorted was in the center of the island, hidden by a patch of forest. We walked passed it so many times before we were shown the secret path in. Once we started paying attention, when we walked the road to town during the day we could see smoke wafting out of the trees from the burning. So there is at least one patch of woods that will remain s tanding on Koh Lipe (Lipe Island)… the one that hids the trash pit.
On our first visit to the trash area they were burning what looked like a refrigerator sized plastic crate, it smoldered toxicly. Five urak lawoi women sorted heaps and heaps of rubagge into packs of cardboard, cans, glass, burnables ect. One interesting thing we learned was that the tourists (mostly western European) are conditioned to sort their rubbage, but that the Khon Thai (Thai people) don’t do this. Pi Pooh wanted to hire Urak Lawoi for his projects to give them an opportunity at employment, and so maybe if they sorted at work they would bring that home to their resident families, too.
The same applies for littering… in Thailand throwing you trash on the side of the road is super common if there isn’t a trash can right there… or even if there is. This comes back to the circle of concern: things are much more relationship based, things outside the circle are disregarded however huge amounts of consideration and respect and generosity for those in the circle is accorded. Every thai house I’ve been inside is spotless. It makes me have appreciation for our common courtesy, but the importance put on relationships and greng jai (respect and consideration for others and social harmony) is something I’d like to take back to the states.
...
I'd like to thank you all for reading, and for you e-mails ect. Sorry if this is way too much information, and that is rather choppy. (Its easiest for me to just post my journal up in big chunks.) I hope you are all having wonderful holidays, and Merry Christmas to my family back home! The holidays seem very bizarre here; the only hit to the season is the coffee shops, and airports are all hosting fake Christmas trees. You are in my thoughts.
Love, Gigi
I’m at a second story spa, looking out over a busy Chiang Mai street…. and my feet are being nibbled by hundreds of tiny fish!!! Erin and I just found this crazy place. You sit with your feet hanging in cool tanks of water and the tiny cleaning fish suck, and nibble and TICKLE you toes. At first I just died laughing, it was way too tickly but now I’m doing pretty good… except when they go in between my toes… The info sheet says it is called: “Fish Spa Skin Pampering and Nibbling Treatment” ! who knew!?
The whole thing was only for 6 dollars (we got a special discount for being adorable and speaking thai) we get to stay as long as we want (provided too many other customers don’t come, and then need to switch us out.) Apparently this is the popular thing for Thai and Chiang Mai people. Its great.
Also it has free wifi.
Overfishing, global warming, tourist and anchor damage, and even more over fishing have left the reefs missing most of their best sea creatures. Although each of us 30 students snorkled for maybe 10-20+ hours on the program (hundreds of total observation hours) all over the archipelago no a single one of us ever saw a shark. But I was very lucky.
One morning on the Lipe part of the islands course Marica and I got up early to do a dawn snorkel by ourselves. We went down to the beach right off the resort, and swam out. The reef as patchy and more sandy than other reefs, but still in surprisingly OK condition considering its proximity to all the development. We had just reached the big reef shelf (pretty far out into the channel) and I was looking around, and suddenly I see a very familiar shape right there below me. A sea turtle!
I couldn’t believe it, their basically ecologically extinct from the area. Island fisherman have gone years without seeing them, and there he way! The siz of a trash can lid. I was so startled I shouted into my snorkel, and threw my head out of the water to call marica over. As I did so he started booking it over the reef, and the moment I put my face back in the water he was gone.
My best guess was he was the sponge-eating hawkbill sea turtle, wandering around looking for a new home. It was such a special moment, I felt so lucky to have seen him. It also made me feel conflicted and sad. There used to be many tutles breading in the archipelago but people at all the eggs, and trawlers and fisher nets caught but the adults. I’d make me so sad to think this was a tutle “sink” a place roving turtles went to and didn’t come back from, drawing down the total world population. On the other hand maybe it’s a good sign he was there at all.
The night dive:
It was late on the last night on Lipe, when Marica and I went out for our night dive. We were armed with two half broken underwater flashlights. The night was perfectly clear, zillions of tiny stars in the sky. There were the lights from Mountain Resort on the hill overlooking the water. Across the channel Adang island was tall and dark. To make it all the more mysterious and amazing heat lightning cracked in the clouds over the ocean. The dark water sloshed up on the beach, and hiss back across the sand. It was so scary, and so amazing. Marica and I put on our gear and turned on the lights; from the surface they illuminated bright teal patches in the dark water, underwater they opened up halos in the darkness. We kicked out towards the reef. Dark patches of coral glowered under us. It was truly just like flying in a lucid dream. When the heat lightning flashed we could see it from under the water. Horror movie flashes of errie grey light. We got way out, the dark surface rolling beneath us. We flicked off the lights. I stuck my head under the water, and shouted with shock and with glee! The water was filled with bioluminescence – tiny marine organisms that glow when you bump into them. Tiny sparks of light glittered in oras around bodies and kicking fins. For all the stars above there were dancing stars under the water. We splashed and summer salted and shook around under water. If Marcia was a little ways off and I couldn’t see her in the dark, I could just see the glow of her phantom ghost. Trembling and tumbling through the water. When she dived to check out the coral with the light her front half of her body swam ahead and shadow legs trailing stars followed.
The reef was a sleep. It was dark grey, not the rich brown of day time. There were a few ragged and sleepy fish hiding inbetween the corals, urchins empty annenomies. A few red red fish scurried over the reef with buggy black eyes. It was like going forward in time 10 or 20 years, to see what the reefs will be like when they are empty and degraded.
But we did see one creature of interest: one of the floating nearly clear rocketship of a things that I don’t remember what their called. You could just make out the neon lines of is cone shapped body and trailing fins. I cupped it in an underwater hand, it felt like jelly.
Our lights started running out of juice so we made our way back. When we got in they were basically dead.
I notice that most of the memories I want to lock into writing are diving ones. I’ll try to record some others, too.
The wait staff at the Mounton resort (where we were staying) were all super friendly. They came from the mailland to work there half the year. Several of them were lady-boys “Pu Ching” (men become women), which was cool to have to opportunity to meet them. Every evening if I walked through the restaurant to get to the beach we would stop and all chat together, or when I walked down for breakfast there would be a chorous of hellos. It was such a small island that it was cool to make relationships over the week we were there. Restaurant owners waved and smiled asking “by nai crahp?” where are you going? All the time.
The area where the trash was sorted was in the center of the island, hidden by a patch of forest. We walked passed it so many times before we were shown the secret path in. Once we started paying attention, when we walked the road to town during the day we could see smoke wafting out of the trees from the burning. So there is at least one patch of woods that will remain s tanding on Koh Lipe (Lipe Island)… the one that hids the trash pit.
On our first visit to the trash area they were burning what looked like a refrigerator sized plastic crate, it smoldered toxicly. Five urak lawoi women sorted heaps and heaps of rubagge into packs of cardboard, cans, glass, burnables ect. One interesting thing we learned was that the tourists (mostly western European) are conditioned to sort their rubbage, but that the Khon Thai (Thai people) don’t do this. Pi Pooh wanted to hire Urak Lawoi for his projects to give them an opportunity at employment, and so maybe if they sorted at work they would bring that home to their resident families, too.
The same applies for littering… in Thailand throwing you trash on the side of the road is super common if there isn’t a trash can right there… or even if there is. This comes back to the circle of concern: things are much more relationship based, things outside the circle are disregarded however huge amounts of consideration and respect and generosity for those in the circle is accorded. Every thai house I’ve been inside is spotless. It makes me have appreciation for our common courtesy, but the importance put on relationships and greng jai (respect and consideration for others and social harmony) is something I’d like to take back to the states.
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I'd like to thank you all for reading, and for you e-mails ect. Sorry if this is way too much information, and that is rather choppy. (Its easiest for me to just post my journal up in big chunks.) I hope you are all having wonderful holidays, and Merry Christmas to my family back home! The holidays seem very bizarre here; the only hit to the season is the coffee shops, and airports are all hosting fake Christmas trees. You are in my thoughts.
Love, Gigi
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