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March 12, 2006
September '05- Khorat and Ayutthaya
So it was quite the eventful weekend. Friday night, knowing that I was waking up at 5am Saturday, I decide to take it easy...or that was the plan. I finally splurged for a Thai massage at a bargain price of 200 baht=$5. Let's just say this was not created for the faint of heart and in fact unleashed my inner masochist; knowing that this was a bit painful I surrendered to a long time Thai tradition. I mean hey, I'm doing everything else native; I can handle a couple stretches. Long story short- contorted would be a conservative description of what the 80lb Thai lady can do to one's body. I emerged so limber that I was immediately short listed for Cirque de Soleil. At one point I started laughing because I was bent in half and the lil' lady was just chillin on my back. In a future attempt to isolated pain I will resort to foot massages.
Saturday, Morgan invited me to go with her up north to visit one of the fellows in her organization. She works for Asoka; this organization funds local entrepreneurs. We head up north to a small city called Khorat. We again jumped in the Griswald family van with two Singaporean dudes' who were interested in Asoka's ventures. We arrived and were greeted by a team on 5 Thai's who had planned the entire day leaving little room to even break for the loo. We had two drivers keeping each other company and drove so erratically that I hardly noticed us passing truck loads of elephants. Quite an odd sight and at a blazing speed, one might just mistake it as a hallucination. We first visited a traditional Thai house. It was beautiful, very open and of course they started serving us food. Thai people give us Jews a run for our money in regards to continuous feeding. Try a telling depression era elder that you are not hungry anymore when food is still left on your plate. Impossible. No is not an answer and to avoid causing offense you just keep eating until you must physically stop. They smile, stare, watch you eat and then just want to keep giving you more. We then toured all the villages around this city, each of which is responsible for a certain trade. I was guided through the silk making and pottery processes. It was fascinating. The women kept petting my skin as if I had soaked in white powder. They kept pointing to this Hawaiian statue that was short, white, carrying bananas on her head and had a huge belly and saying.... Same...same to indicate the similarities between me and what appeared to be the white version of aunt jemima. I've never been so praised for paleness.
The children in the villages are precious and it was magical to turn a digital camera around and watch them see the first picture of themselves. I had trouble placing my emotions during these visits as whether to feel grateful, happy or sad. All these children seemed so happy, yet school is not an option because taking a bus/buying a book is out of the family budget. Instead, they help their families on their trade. This one little girl so diligently helped her parents put designs on pots and at first I found myself confused and did not really know what to make of the situation. Here was a family, living under metal sheets on sand and yet they seemed content and were so excited to have visitors. How sad I felt for the children who had no choice but to help their parents and while they were clearly healthy, their living conditions were so sub-par to decent living in the U.S. that I could not help but wish better for them. In my western mind they were denied such a basic right, but I guess that is a luxury of living in an industrialized country. This day was amazing and going home to take a cold shower and sleep in a hot apartment on a mattress no longer seemed like such a bad thing.
Sunday, we went to Ayutthaya, the second capital of Thailand. It is about one hour outside of Bangkok . I hop on the train and of course I go to use the bathroom only to be confronted with a gem-probes(MY) worst nightmare. In my attempt to balance and not touch a thing in the itty-bitty bathroom I grab onto the half ajar window. Note: windows on trains open down. So naturally train halts, the window flies down and voila...there I am in a squatted position starring at the line of Thai people waiting to get on the train. J We arrive and rent bikes for the day to move about the city and see all the old Buddhist temples. My bike made grandma's tricycle in Lake Worth look like a Bentley. So I peddle along on my rusty bike constructed for a 5' person past the always emission friendly cars and do my best not to pass out along the road from carbon monoxide poisoning. I feel victorious making it to the top of the bridge as my knees knock against the handle bars only to realize that for 75 cents brakes are not included. Lucky for me the only causality was the treads on my new Asics. So much for making my sneakers last an extra couple months. We continue the journey along the 4 lane road and the proverbial motorcycle taxi men crowd the sidewalks in hysterics as three totally displaced white girls try to navigate the unruly Thai streett. We saw the exquisite temples and ventured a bit more around the city. The way home I jumped in my perfectly suited third class car jammed with what you envision when roughing it in Thailand. Again, some of the smells in this country are so noxious that removing your nasal cavity is my best recommendation.
Posted by rpropper at March 12, 2006 9:55 AM
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