This message just ruined Emily's and my night. We were going to catch up on the Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Pushing Daisies, but no. No. Thai people aren't good enough for online episodes. Sad face.
My apologies for all the long, long posts as of late. I'll try to keep them a bit more brief in the future for everyone's sake.
On Friday (1/23), Thai class got very interesting. We played a relay game where we had to perform basic math in Thai (with the goal of learning numbers - I'll have to remember this tactic for when I'm teaching). We were split into two teams, and whichever team could finish the stack of problems first won the relay. First off, my team won the relay, which basically makes us Thai masters. Second, it was pretty fun - and funny. It was great to see the enthusiasm of everyone (especially a-jaan John, who actually bounced up and down at one point) and the different competitive strategies each person employed. We also tried to learn the names of different foods, and failed miserably. Seriously, how were we supposed to memorize "sweet and sour stir fried vegetables with minced pork" and the like in ten minutes?
Friday night a-jaan Bob took us out to a restaurant that specializes in northern Thai dishes. He was most excited about feeding us fried raw pork sausage. It was better than I expected, but I still couldn't eat much more than a bite. I just kept thinking about the House episode where a woman almost dies from a parasite she picked up from under-cooked pork. So, yeah, the sausage was fried, but it was also still somewhat raw, and I have a goal to avoid worms at least as well as I avoid fungus (aka mushrooms, which I refuse to eat). The three different kinds of chicken and fish curry and fried pumpkin were way better than raw pork.
After our incredible dinner, Drex took a small group of us to the wine bar he promised to show me. It seemed more like the central locale for the European and New Zealand/Australia ex-pats, rather than the center of the GLBT community, but was a ton of fun nonetheless. Emily, Holly, Kacie and I were all finishing our drinks when the server came over with four smaller glasses and a carafe of more wine. Before we can correct his apparent mistake, he's distributed the glasses and is pouring us glasses of chardonnay. He says to us "This wine comes from Buddha" which sounds a bit sketchy to the group of us Christian foreigners. As we look at him a bit questioningly he continues "This means that someone has gotten it for you, but doesn't want you to know who they are. So, it's from Buddha."
From all of us - Thanks, Buddha. Your gift definitely made my night wonderful.
After we got sick of telling ghost stories over white wine, we decided to catch a song-taow back to the guesthouse. Our song-taow already had a few other people in it (a single lady, a couple and their child), so we took a detour to drop them off. When they got out the driver got in an argument with one of the riders. We think that we witnessed our first ride and dash and the driver wanted the woman to pay for herself and the three other people who ran off. Here's hoping that never happens to a group of us.
Today (Saturday 1/24), we went to see a famous temple located on a mountain that overlooks Chiang Mai. The ride up and down from the mountain top was INSANE. The road was originally built by buddhists trying to make merit, a way long time ago. I don't think the angles, curves, slopes - anything - has been reevaluated since the road was originally built for foot and cart traffic. Now it's a bit wider and paved, but still has crazy steep inclines and over 180-degree curves, many of which are blind. Also add into that mix Thai drivers' penchants for lane markings being suggestions, speed limits ignored, and you end up with the group of us wondering if the four-hour walk up the mountain might not have been a better idea.
At (almost) the top of the mountain sat Doi Sutep, a very grand wat. On the outer wall of the wat, a beautiful mural depicted the story of Buddha and his journey to enlightenment. Drexler took us around and told the story. Every once in a while we would reach a panel where he would say something like "And I don't know what this is, so don't ask me about it." After we explored the Buddha story, each of us wandered the wat on our own or in small groups. Some of us have begun giving offerings at the wats we visit, becoming a little more Buddhist each time. I find it calming and a great way to be spiritual or religious on this trip with a group of secularists. Give offerings and pray at wats, come home and say a rosary before bed. That's how I do.
Out side the temple itself there were a great many vendors selling everything from food to postcards to other souveneirs, secular and religious. We all ended up gorging ourselves on banana corndogs (a corndog, but with a banana rather than a hotdog inside), banana chips, and sticky rice in a bamboo tube (which has a Thai name, but I forget it). I got chased by a lady determined to sell me a bell.
After Doi Sutep, we went a little further up the mountain to visit a hill tribe village. I was interested to discover that the tribe we were visiting was Hmong, since I know many Hmong from the Twin Cities. The hill tribes - Hmong and others - that are native to Thailand apparently used to recieve all of their income from opium plantations, but unlike in, say, Colombia, the Thai government has been much more successful in helping the tribes transition from opium to other forms of agriculture and trade. That said, the tribes are also subject to great discrimination because many were forced to immigrate here from other countries and most are now denied Thai citizenship, so they live in this stateless limbo. At least the Thais aren't killing them, like the Chinese and Burmese were.
After the Hmong village, we went to visit a jade factory. I think Drex had built it up a little bit. It was interesting, but not as exciting as he had made it sound.
That night Patricia and I went out for coffee and to catch up, which was excellent. She's so happy and adorable right now. I tell her it's nauseating, but really, it just makes me smile. After, we got drinks at the bar. Mine was neon blue and called an Adios Motherfucker. Not as delicious as I had hoped. It was also Gen's birthday, so we had chocolate cake. For a country that loves their flavors - one of which is sugar - Thais really fail at making sweets. Patricia and I are thinking about walking across town to get dark chocolate M&Ms at the one 7-11 that carries them. Chocolate has become our black market.
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