Since Christmas there have been nightly performances and markets set up in the middle Chiang Mai counting down to the New Year. The costumes are nothing short of fabulous. Here’s to a Happy 2013 สวัสดีปีใหม่
Entries from December 31st, 2012
>> Catching Up >>
30Dec
Unexpected mini trips, Christmas, computer problems…the past few weeks have kind of been odd and now I need to get back on the blogging bandwagon and figure out what I’m doing and where I’m going in 2013. A quick look about what’s been going on lately…
Northern Thailand is filled with mountains and jungles – it’s stunning. I’ve done several drives through the areas around Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, but have always wanted to go even further north to the town and province of Mae Hong Son. (Often in Thailand a province’s largest city shares the same name as the province.) After coming back from Malaysia, I haven’t even really left town these past few months and was itching to get out.
The town itself doesn’t offer much. It’s cute but small with not much to do. The real reason of the trip was for the drive – 1864 curves in the road between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son through sun-filled jungly mountains. I would have been completely content just driving around in circles all day…which is actually kind of what it felt like since the roads were so windy and it took about 6 hours.
While there are plenty of buses and minivans going between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, the most rewarding way to go would be by motorbike. Unfortunately, I did the trip by myself and didn’t feel comfortable driving that far alone, so felt like I was kind of missing out on fully enjoying the area. On the plus side, I managed to not get car sick. I have a strong stomach, but 6 hours in a full minibus with three little kids getting sick (1864 curves!) could get to anyone.
Wat Traimit, home to the world’s largest golden Buddha, in Bangkok
Roses and grasshoppers – how romantic…
A day after getting back from Mae Hong Son, I ended up going to Bangkok for a couple nights (still can’t believe that I can just decide to go to Bangkok one moment then hop on a bus to get there the next…) and finally tried eating some bugs. Check that off my list.
Just your typical Christmas Eve entertainment
Then it was Christmas, which in Thailand doesn’t feel anything like Christmas. Even spent with friends – who collectively managed to pull together and impressive spread of green bean casserole, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, roasted chickens, bread, wine and lots of chocolate – Christmas here just feels…like nothing.
Though the spontaneous Mae Hong Song and Bangkok trips helped with my itchy feet, I’ve been trying to be more proactive about getting out and seeing or doing the things I still haven’t done here – particularly trying to go on day or afternoon trips to areas just outside of town.
So there you have it – no big plans, 2012 recaps (although you can check out some of my most popular posts on Wanderlust & Lipstick here) or 2013 resolution posts for this girl, just a quick catch up and now onto getting back into a bit of a routine now that the holidays are (almost) over and I have a working computer again (fingers crossed).
>> A Moment of: Christmas in Thailand >>
24Dec
Christmas in Thailand looks a little bit different…
Which country do you enjoying being in most for the holidays?
>> The World of Thai Amulets >>
21Dec
One of my favorite discoveries in Bangkok is a large amulet market found close to the Grand Palace (about a 10-minute walk) on Prachan Road. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before and increased my interest to know more about the fascination with Buddhist amulets in Thailand. Why do so many people wear them? What do they mean? Why are they believed to have powers? How can you tell if one’s ‘real’ or not?
Amulets in Bangkok
Thai Buddhist amulets come in all shapes and sizes. You’ll see rich men with large pieces in gold and diamond cases, old men with more then ten dangling from a chain, women with small, tasteful gold Buddhas on a thin Thai gold (sooo yellow!) necklace and toddlers with a tiny charm. People seek the amulets out for their blessings, security and magical powers. Generally speaking, they are meant to protect you – protect you from harm, accidents, danger, bad business, bad people, bad luck (the belief in luck plays a very important role in day to day Thai life, but that’s for a different post). Some are thought to have greater protection for certain things or provide good luck in certain areas of your life.
What makes them so special? They’re made by monks, often who are well-known for their own magical or meditative powers, who put special symbols and blessings in the amulet. Amulets that have ‘proven themselves’ by protecting the wearer and got people talking become well known and sought after. There are many stories of guns not being able to work around special amulets or people wearing a certain amulet and coming away from an accident unscathed.
The amulets can be bought all over. Just walking down the street you’ll see someone with a table set up and men squinting through their magnifying glasses, examining the amulets and seeing if they’re real. There are also several eBay-type sites for people to bid, buy and sell. The older, more well-known and more rare they are the pricier they are, with some amulets selling for tens of thousands of dollars. People will then have their amulets encased in hard plastic to protect them and then have decorative handmade cases cases created to show off their piece.
While I definitely understand more now, thanks to some Thai friends, than I ever would have on my own, I’m still amazed at the sheer quantity of different amulets, knowledge it takes to recognize pieces from specific monks and know the story behind them or if they’re real, and the industry that’s been created around these charms.
What objects have you been intrigued by in other countries? Was there something everyone seemed to own?
>> Moment at: a Bangkok Breakfast >>
17Dec
Yummy…
On a quick trip to Bangkok, I got a local’s perspective walking through the streets, dodging motorbikes, vendors and dogs, with someone who was born there. Too embarrassed to play ‘the tourist’, I barely have any photos from the trip. A moment that stands out though is eating breakfast at about 8 am on our last morning there – fried fish, rice and chili sauce, made by a couple of old women in their 80s who looked like they had been doing the same thing for decades, washed down with Pepsi from a bag. Some people wouldn’t be able to stand this – I love it.
>> Moment in: The Middle of Nowhere >>
10Dec
Jaisalmer, India
Most travelers going through Rajasthan in the north-western part of India make a stop in Jaisalmer, or “The Golden City”. From here, there are many camel treks out into the desert on the edge of the city where you ride atop camel and spend the night under the stars. Sounds cool, right?
Kind of.
The trip completely depends on who you book through and how much they’re trying to scam you. If you’re like me and don’t plan ahead, time your stop over in Jaisalmer on the short side, have a guest house/tour operator all too eager to take your money, then have your travel partner succumb to food poisoning and become violently ill in the desert in the middle of the night while stray dogs are circling you, the experience may not be quite the romantic vision you had in mind.
But that’s a story for another time…for now, here’s a peaceful moment in the middle of nowhere.
>> Photographing People: Right or Wrong? >>
07Dec
I have an issue with taking pictures of people when traveling.
In the past year and half going through Thailand, India, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam I’ve come across several situations of travelers snapping away at locals. Sometimes it’s in a situation that I find okay – like, say, with a tour guide who really makes you laugh (and you’re paying) or when there’s some type of display, gathering or performance.
THIS is okay to take a picture of…he’s asking for it
But more often than not, it makes me uncomfortable. Like, really ,uncomfortable. Sure, I understand when you see something or someone different than you who’s intriguing that you want to capture the moment. People are always more interesting than things…and you see a lot of interesting people when you’re moving from place to place. But is it okay? Appropriate? Polite?
What if you go somewhere where people are part of the attraction – like a Thai hill tribe or artisan factory? (Interesting take on Thai hill tribes here.) What about the people just minding their own business working at a noodle stand? Or a group of students walking to school all in their matching uniforms?
I often see it as at least annoying, but usually invasive. Many times people are going about their daily lives, and while it’s different from yours, they’re not putting on a show for you. If I had tourists taking pictures of me while I walked from the train station to work everyday in Seattle, I wouldn’t have liked it at all and felt uncomfortable. I don’t want other people thinking that I see them as an object of amusement.
Take Luang Prabang in Laos for example – here is a place where the daily morning practice of giving alms to the monks is still very apparent. It’s one of the only places where you can easily see hundreds of monks walking through the city collecting food from the townspeople. It’s beautiful and and peaceful and so different from home. But it’s gotten to the point that while the monks are walking around, the streets are crawling with snap-happy tourists, many who don’t seem to think much about discretion. I saw travelers with huge cameras following the monks and crouching around them – or sometimes even standing above them which is considered majorly disrespectful – and shoving their lens into the faces of 8-year-old novices. Not okay.
Exhibit A:
I know I’m a hypocrite…but it’s for the sake of argument, dangit! And I’m keeping my distance.
It ruins a certain aspect of the practice and shows a clear lack of respect for the people living there trying to go about their normal lives. I visited during the rainy season, but I can’t imagine what it’s like in the high season.
Also…why, when you’re somewhere other than home, does it seem to be okay to take pictures of children? Would you ever see a cute, little kid at home and whip out your camera? No, probably not. It’s weird.
Oh, but he’s so cute…
Women from the Black Hmong tribe during a trek in Sapa
On the other hand, there have also been many times in the past 18 months that I’ve been the object of people’s viewfinders. Like in India, the land of staring and being too close for comfort, I even had someone thrust their baby into my arms and start taking photos. It’s natural to be interested in people who are different from you – who look different, speak differently, do things differently. It’s not necessarily rude or offensive, simply curiosity and genuine interest in other people.
But there still should be limits and awareness of other people’s privacy and anonymity.
What do you think? Where are your boundaries when it comes to taking pictures of people?
>> Going Against the Status Quo: Dating in Thailand >>
05Dec
There’s a stereotype in Thailand of the older, often balding, white guy paired with a younger, skinnier, more attractive Thai girl. And it’s true. Regardless of the…validity (?) or reason behind these relationships, it’s apparent to anyone who has landed in the Bangkok airport that there are a whole lotta white guys with Thai women and…zero white women with Thai guys.
Before I left home, friends teased me asking if I thought I would find a Thai boyfriend, get married and never come back. I said no. Not because I had anything against Thai guys (I didn’t even know any), I just didn’t think that was going to happen.
Fast forward a year and a half, and I’m not getting married or never coming home, but I may or may not have found a certain someone. And, by that I mean, I have a Thai boyfriend. In fact, he’s someone I mentioned briefly back in a May post on Wanderlust and Lipstick… That tattoo artist… Yep.
I’ve actually had people in the past couple months when they found out I was dating a Thai guy ask me, “How did that happen?”. Word for word. That’s not normally something you ask someone when you hear they’re in a relationship. I’m usually a pretty decent person, so I don’t think it was questioning how I could get a boyfriend, and it wasn’t meant rudely, though it sounds kind of harsh. It’s just that, really, you rarely, rarely see it.
On the road for a weekend trip
The only (few) couples that I’ve met or heard about with a white girl and Thai guy (sorry, is the term ‘white girl’ wrong? It’s just that here, we’re not considered European, or Australian, or American, or whatever, but farang or ‘white foreigner’), the guy is either a musician, a bartender or a tattoo artist. Why? My belief is that these are the few guys who are able, willing and used to talking with Western women. I (still!) don’t have any Thai friends even after living in Thailand, working in Thai schools and being able to speak a bit of Thai. It’s frustrating and hard to understand or explain – I usually feel very welcome here and people are polite. But that’s as far as it goes. (I once sent a message to a fellow teacher, who was my age and who had spoken to me several times at school, if she would like to get coffee sometime. I wrote it in Thai then again in English saying that I hoped I had said everything correctly the first time. She responded with, “Yes, you were correct. Good job.” Nothing about meeting up. ??!?! ) If it that’s difficult to make friends, how in the world am I supposed have a relationship with someone?
I don’t know if it’s an intimidation thing, a money thing, a language thing…I’m assuming a combination of all three. Whereas in the Western male/Thai female relationships it’s often assumed that the man has more money and is the care taker, maybe it’s more confused with Western female/Thai male. The guys who work in the bars and the tattoo shops and as musicians, depending on where they’re located, have more interaction with Westerners in general (I hate that label, like we’re an entirely different type of people) and have better English skills. Saving face is a huge deal in Thailand and there’s a fear, like with any foreign language, about speaking English and looking stupid if speaking incorrectly.
The Western women are with the bartenders/musicians/tattoo artists because they acknowledge us. I’m sure there are plenty more foreigners living in Thailand or traveling through that would LOVE to meet a Thai guy and have some sort of relationship, but someone needs to. make. a. move.
And then you may just get lucky and find one that cooks…
Somehow I managed to cross this invisible cultural barrier and have found myself now helping in a tattoo shop. With my Thai boyfriend. Who would have guessed?
Live or spent time in Thailand? What’s your take on this?
>> Moment in: Seattle?? >>
03Dec
Someone traveled a loooong way with a stencil and spray paint…
I’m from Seattle. The High Dive is a bar in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. I live in Thailand…and what do I see one night while walking home?
