Eating Like the Locals? NOT!

In China, I always prided myself for eating like the locals. Well, less pork, but other than that.... Here, I don't think so, not even close. Most Thais eat meat 3x/day, and most of that is pork, frequently deep-fried. Um, and then there's the sushi, sold from carts every evening. It's displayed proudly, without ice or refrigeration. I don't get it; the fruit sellers all sell their fruit displayed on crushed ice. I guess the Thais like their fruit cold and their sushi room temperature?

Christmas at Lek's

Lek the artist (pictured here with Nong and baby Daaeng Mooi) loves hosting parties. Annick from Belgium wanted Christmas. She had unexpectedly returned from Cambodia to nurse her nasty wounds from being attacked by a pack of dogs (yes, really, yuck) .

Lek bought Santa hats for all of us; another first for me! Never mind that she's a devout Buddhist who spends considerable time praying at her altar each morning. The Thai's love to celebrate; and Lek and Nong are no exception.

Lek and Nong created QUITE the Christmas tree. It's actually a post, not a tree, complete with streamers cut for the occasion, blinking lights, and a raindeer mobile (hard to make out in this picture).



I splurged and bought imported olive oil and balsamic vinegar and contributed a huge salad to our meal. The largest bowls that Lek and Nong own are soup bowls. If you look closely, you can see that I arranged the salad in an extra wok (Noi was using the other to make a Thai stir-fried pork and basil dish). And while shopping at the big fancy (read "expensive") market at Gad Suan Keuw, how could I resist buying some imported Swiss Lindt chocolate as well? YUM!

Study, Teach, Study,Teach

A break in blogging as I complete my TEFL training program at Chiang Mai University. What a whole different life than what I was experiencing my first month in Thailand. I'll bring my camera to campus and post a few shots in the next day or two. I feel a strange sense of satisfaction knowing that I'll be attending class and teaching a class on Christmas! That's a bit different from being in the States....

A Week of Radical Amazement

One week I'm in the Yunnanese village of Mae Salong, playing with a Chinese-speaking little girl in who's rolling in the tea leaves being dried for her family business;





















... politely offering a "wai" (bow of respect) to the monks waiting with me (different seating area of course) at the Chiang Rai bus station;



















...and chatting with a toothless, red from beetle berry grandfather as I hike toward an Akha village.


The next week: Chanukah in Chiang Mai. I skipped nightly candle-lighting at the Chabad house, it felt too far to travel from the University after a full day in school. But I wanted some celebration in community and thus created a"renewlesque" Chanukah. The chanukiah (menorah) above was made with a plastic tupperware container, rice, and Buddhist candles.

There were 11 of us including Thai and Japanese devout Buddhists, an Israeli woman who brought teachings on Chanukah from her favorite Breslover rebbe, a Rasta guy who sang both "One World" type songs on his guitar as well as sharing a traditional tune to Psalm 23, Brits who'd attended Yeshivah all their growing up years, and more. Here's part of our motley crew, post yoga, getting ready to enjoy latkes, brownies, wonderful local fruit and tea.
















Noriko from Japan, who had never heard of Chanukah before, accepted the tongue-in-cheek "challenge" I put out for somebody to make and bring latkes. She looked up a recipe on the internet and made a huge batch, using organic potatoes that she had on hand. They were SO good!
















Of course, being a Tammy-esque Chanukah party, it "had" to include a 3-part "Jewish Yoga" session. The 90-minute pre-party practice was attended by all but two of the party-goers. We utilized the ever-increasing miraculous light of the chanukah candles for the purification of the defiled Inner Temple . The "fallen away" former yeshiva-buchers completed the practice in a state of radical amazement; they had never been exposed to the rich transformative teachings of the Jewish tradition.

What a great celebration it was. I was a very happy camper.....

Visiting with the Akha women

I had seen the Akha women in their full dress at the Night Market and other touristy spots. But I thought it was mainly to attract the attention of the buyers. I had NO IDEA that the outfit was still worn by some on average days in the village until I visited the Chinese village of Mae Salong. My first afternoon in town, I started walking the 3 km out to an Akha village. I never got there as I had so many interesting encounters with Chinese and Akha folks along the way. It's only a percentage of the Akha women you see in full traditional garb. More common is a mix of partial traditional and partial contemporary dress, like the woman below in the very commonly seen headscarf worn by many Akha women.

I was invited to join an Akha woman at her small fire. It was COLD up in the mountains. We had an amazing time sitting together, sharing in pantomime and silence. I was sad to have to refuse her multiply mimed invitation to come to her house, sleep at her house, wake up at her house, and have breakfast at her house. But I had learned in the excellent Hilltribe Village Museum in Chiang Rai that if you cross over the threshhold of their home, it's considered extremely rude to not accept and eat/drink all that is offered. And it was pretty clear that there was no bottled water around, as all the Thai's consume. If it meant a couple of days of traveller's diarrhea only, it may have been worth it. But I've met too many travellers who have dealt with so much worse..... It was hard to say no, but it didn't seem worth the risk.

China?

So many stories to tell. But right now there are huge numbers of dogs WAILING ferociously as I type. I've never thought of myself as particulary scared of dogs, despite the time I was bit while living on Vashon, but here it's a different story. Especially since moving out to the Chiang Mai University area. Three times now I've been literally scared stiff when faced with packs of dogs in front of me and growling with very mean looks in their eyes.... the last two times when I was out for a run, once at a beautiful nearby forest monastery which I now have "x'ed" off my destination list.

But, a digression. Since writing last, I've travelled north to Chiang Rai, Mae Salong and Mae Sai. I'm now back and have begun my Teaching English certification program. It's going well, but YUCK, I'm a lazy gal and I was enjoying my open time and now I'm in class 5-days a week from 9am - 5pm (sometimes later for teaching practice) and a ton of homework. Those of you who know me well will LAUGH as I quote my classic Tammy line: "Why am I in this program when I don't even really want to teach English?" With the word English, feel free to "fill in the blank" : don't want to be a Counselor, don't want to teach Yoga, don't want to be a Rabbi, um, I'm sure there are more. Luckily I can laugh at myself as well.














Above is my friend Yao (I promised a picture earlier) making peanut butter. And a picture of the "Martyr's Memorial Museum" in Mae Salong, a town of 9,000 Yunnanese Chinese up in the mountains. I FELL IN LOVE WITH MAE SALONG! It was so beautiful, and though I'm not interested particulary in returning to China, what an absolute gift it was to be with Chinese people, culture, food and Language!!! I could speak to people in their native tongue. It made me so happy.

"120 Years of Japanese-Thai Friendship"

In addition to Loi Krathon (see entry below), this month marks "120 Years of Thai-Japanese Friendship". I put that in quotes, as I don't know how they're able to count the 1941 Japanese invasion of Thailand as years of continual "friendship".

Aikiko invited me to a big Japanese-Thai celebration that was to include Japanese participatory dancing. She offered to bring an extra yukata and "dress me up" for the event. How could I say no? Five of us went together (the other four Japanese women).

I was a bit surprised to arrive and watch Japanese Sumo Wrestling and Thai Boxing and a whole lot else. It was great fun to see so many Japanese men and women in traditional garb. I'm afraid that once again I was the only Caucasian in the mix (that wasn't in street clothes). Made me famous though --- well, just kidding. But a couple of nights after the event, I met a couple from Argentina who had arrived to participate in the 3-mos internship of earthbuilding and more at PunPun. Their first comment after we were introduced was, "Oh yes, we saw you in the Japanese dance the other night!" I guess I sort of stuck out....

Loi Krathon is Here!

Loi Krathon is here! It's a holiday celebration throughout Thailand, but nowhere so elaborate as here in Chiang Mai. Folks travel here from all over Asia, especially Japan, to celebrate this honoring of the Water Gods. Would you believe I made that Krathon (picture on the left above)!? Today was the last day of our Thai language class, and after class Petchara, the Director of the school, instructed us in the creation of this beautiful offering.

We wrapped the base of the Krathon (a round from a banana tree) with banana leaves, and then learned two different fold-styles to create the "boat". Surprise, surprise that Mieko (from Japan and experienced in Origami) made two in the time each of the rest of us made one. Tonite Annick (from French Belgium) and I will go to the Mae Ping River, and along with countless others. We'll light the incense and candle, add a coin, a piece of hair and piece of fingernail, and launch the Krathon while giving thanks to the River for the gift of water and asking for forgiveness for all the ways we haven't respected her throughout the year.

The festivities are well under way. For days now, firecrackers and fireworks galore have been set off, as well as huge rice paper laterns sent afloat with fire, hundreds already; this weekend there will be thousands of them! I was surprised last night to find roads near my guesthouse blocked off and a stage already set up with speeches (including the mayor of Chiang Mai) and performances. For weeks now people have shared that the holiday is on the 24th (Saturday night, the Full Moon), but I had no idea it lasted for five days.

Tomorrow night will be a 3-hr parade ---- from the sounds of it, it will make the Rose Bowl Parade look like small potatoes. Sunday more of everything. I postponed my travels further north and across the border of Myanmar until Monday (instead of today's planned departure) in order to participate in the festivities.

Haircutting at Chabad

Here we have Mama (the Rebbetzin Elisheva) adjusting the tzitzit.
Chaim waiting, as if saying, "when are we going to get this show on the road already...."

Strange to be in Chiang Mai for this ceremony. I met two Americans, otherwise every single person (of the 100+ there) was from Israel except for the Thai cooks/servers. I must say, it was the first time I've seen Thai servers treated with such rudeness; that felt quite uncomfortable for me. Otherwise, it was a fun event! Very lively. A TON of yummy Israeli food. All the boys and girls under thirteen invited up to recite some Torah (they had been prepped in advanced which pasuk from Torah or Pirke Avot or elsewhere). Balloons, a raffle where you got to choose which of the ten or so prizes you wanted to put your name in for; I won a kiddush cup and plate, hey, hey! Chayim, the 3-year old, was wearing his tzitzit for the first time, recited his aleph-bet and p'sukim with very little help. Clearly a strong and smart little boy, very poised except his tears when a piece of candy that was thrown HARD hit him in the cheek.



The ritual has begun. Papa (the Rabbi Moishe) with Chayim, sharing in Hebrew a long, long teaching about the olah sacrifice and Esau and all the reasons we do this ceremony. I only caught words here and there. Above Chayim is a picture of the late Rebbe Schneerson.

Lady Luck Led Me To My Home Away From Home

It was my second day in Thailand that I found the tiny guesthouse where I've been staying. I was SO LUCKY. Here's the sweet soi (lane) that the guesthouse is on, and the biggest scorpion dead on the road that I've ever seen. I didn't know scorpions got to be so large! I wish I had set my foot in the picture so you see its size; 6" long at least.

I'm staying at the intersection of 4 inter-connected communities. I'm at Canvas Guesthouse owned by Lek and Nong, shown here with their 4-mos baby Daaeng Mooi.


In the courtyard, there's a brand new vegetarian restaurant named Plenty, owned by Yao and Khrit (no picture yet, but I'll add one soon). Yao and Khrit run a 4-day Organic Cooking School program on their land in Mae Tang, an hour from here. They live next door to PunPun (http://www.punpunthailand.org/cfabw/en/index.php?action=home), co-created by a Lao man and American woman. It specializes in organic farming, seed collection, earth, straw-bale and other sustainable building and more. There's also a connected permaculture farm nearby. All amazing folks doing wonderful work.

In doing a Google-search to find a weblink for Khrit and Yao's cooking school, I found a blog's post that has a terrific picture of the Yao and Khrit. Check it out! http://joshkearns.blogspot.com/2007/02/thai-cooking-class.html

Bride's Family

In contrast to the bride and groom, the bride's family and many of the guests had a great time. Interesting to notice the vast difference between the dresses of both of these Thai women (both married to Thai men) to some of the Thai women from the home neighborhood in the wedding procession. The woman in pearls is married to the Japanese man beside her, and is the sister of the bride. The woman in pink also married to a Japanese man.

Wedding Dresses

A sister of the bride was already married to another Japanese family. From the previous dowry given, the Thai family went from being ordinary (relatively poor) country folk to extremely rich by local standards. I've heard that Thai weddings are elaborate affairs in any case. But I'll have to find out whether it's common for a Thai bride to wear 3 gorgeous dresses. In this case, there was a red wedding dress for the ceremony (shown in the last post), followed by a white (western looking) wedding dress at the beginning of the reception (here are the bride and groom being presented after leaving at the end of the ceremony, and, as traditional, being escorted to the bedroom). Later still, she came out in this beautiful kimono when it came time for after dinner toasts, speeches and performances. Both these pictures show the bride smiling ----- but trust me, those smiles were RARE for the bride, and I never saw a smile on the face of the groom. The young woman in red and white was translating Thai to Japanese and Japanese to Thai so "all" the guests (except 1, me) could understand the speeches.

The Bride & Groom

Arriving at the home, the groom is not allowed in. A gate is set up. Then folks from the procession run to the front and push the groom away, so he can't even get close to the gate. It's all in fun, of course. And seemingly a very old custom.
Sadly, this was the most unhappy appearing wedding couple I have ever seen.

Arriving at the Wedding

Aikiko had thought that it was a Thai-Thai wedding. But no, it was a Thai woman to a Japanese man. And sadly, the most unhappy looking bride and groom I've ever seen. Above is a picture of the wedding processional. We walked with the groom for about a kilometer (not all the guests, but whomever wished) from the bride's uncle's house to the bride's parents house where the wedding took place. The Thai "countryside" people were "rocking out" at the front of the processional. The Japanese people not dancing. And some of the Chiang Mai city-folk dancing and others not. I was walking with the largely Japanese "contingency" as the procession began, but after a bit I started "loosening up" and moving with the drumbeat. A Thai woman from the front saw this, ran back, grabbed my hand, and dragged me to the front. And how much fun we had! I was the only caucasian present, and I'm not sure if they were laughing at me or with me, but we had a blast. Different women (only the countryside women, not the city women) would approach me, grab my hand, and start dancing with me as we walked. Everybody, myself included, would laugh and laugh at the scene.

By request

Araya requested a picture of me. When I arrived at the park this morning, Sviwaphorn was just finishing what appeared to be a fashion photo shoot with Naanthapon. Turns out they're both physical therapists who were just playing around. Anyhow, here's a shot of me and another with me and Naanthapon. I have NO idea what we were laughing at, but S. is a good enough photographer to have captured something beyond the "1-2-3 Smile"

The small world of Chiang Mai

Saturday morning, 6:45am, I was heading to the park for "sahmahtee" (a meditation). I was about a 10 minute walk from my guesthouse. I stopped to buy fruit and snacks at the local market. And then turned to take this shot of traffic. A driver stops and flashes a big smile. Whoa, what's this about? It took me a moment to recognize Lek, the guy behind the counter at one of the two internet cafes I frequent. They open at 7am. I asked if he was on his way to work, but no, he was on his way to a college class and then would work in the afternoon.......

Translation please.....

Though within my own computer and through my internet provider and on blogspot I request ENGLISH, I'm frequently having challenges like this one. I just tried to post on blogspot. After lengthy spinning, I was given the following message:

ขออภัย เราไม่สามารถดำเนินการตามคำขอของคุณได้
เมื่อรายงานข้อผิดพลาดนี้กับฝ่ายสนับสนุนของ Blogger หรือในกลุ่มความช่วยเหลือของ Blogger โปรด:

อธิบายสิ่งที่คุณกำลังทำ ขณะที่ได้รับข้อผิดพลาดนี้
ระบุ รหัสข้อผิดพลาด และ ข้อมูลเพิ่มเติม ต่อไปนี้
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ข้อมูลเพิ่มเติม
host: www.blogger.com
uri: /upload-image.do
ข้อมูลนี้ช่วยให้คุณสามารถติดตามปัญหาและแก้ไข ขออภัยในความไม่สะดวก

SAY WHAAAAT???

Teaching the Monks Conversational English

Here are a number of my students at Wat Jet Lin. The woman in the picture is Aikiko who’s from Osaka. She introduced me to the Temple and the monks, and had the idea for me to start teaching them conversational English. She’s also fluent in Thai which is very helpful at times. We started with 2 students and have grown quickly.

Question/Answer Exercise With the Monks

I think I’m a better teacher than student these days. And these young monks are a total delight. We laugh a lot. Yesterday’s lesson was, “How many?” How many years have you studied English? How many years have you lived at the Temple?

Learning Thai

I love languages. I loved studying Spanish, and I loved studying Hebrew, and I loved studying Mandarin. But I am having a tough with Thai. Ok, granted I’ve only been in the country a week, and today is only my 5th day in class. But can you imagine--- a language with 44 consonants, (many with no English equivalent)? And 32 vowels (yes, really, that's 32 vowels, think about it). Not to mention five tones which change frequently for mysterious reasons, (as opposed to Chinese tones which were very consistent). I’m fortunate that Lek (owner of my guesthouse) said to me, “Ok Leelahnut, as of tomorrow, it’s Thai only for you.” Yeah, right. In any case, here’s Ajahn Sompop, my Thai language teacher.

Two big events coming up!

I have been VERY blessed with wonderful connections here. It's been years since I've been to a wedding in the States; and I've never attended the Jewish ceremony for a young boy's first haircutting at age 3. (Perhaps somebody out there can remind me of the Hebrew name for the ritual). But this upcoming week I'll be attending both. My new Japanese friend Aikiko has invited me to be her guest to a Thai wedding this Sunday. She'll pick me up by scooter at 1pm. I've been instructed to bring 200 Baht (a bit under USD $7) for a "red envelope" for the young couple. And next Wed at 5pm I'll go to the Chabad House for the Jewish ritual, followed by a celebratory dinner. Pictures to follow next week.

Eating Cross-Continentally

Why should I be surprised? Most often, if I went out for lunch in Fremont, I would choose Thai or Mexican. Yet somehow it seems strange to see the McDonald's delivery person arrive as I'm eating Thai Basil Chicken over rice. To be fair, it's a rare sight. Though this is a very international city, I've only seen one McDonald's, one Burger King, and two Starbucks. The only common U.S. franchise I've seen is 7-11. But unlike the 7-11's in the States, here they have a good assortment of snacks and goods (like umbrellas) at very reasonable prices.

Scooters, scooters, everywhere....

All Chiang Mai ex-pats here have their favorite noodle shop, "Give it a try, it's the BEST in town!" So Monday, after my first day of Thai conversation class, I decided to walk over and give one of the recommended stalls a try. I invited Betsy, a Dutch gal I had met at the school to join me. She said sure, and suggested we go on her scooter. (Clearly, she's been here in Chiang Mai a bit longer than me!) I hesitated. It's not a familiar form of travel for me. Actually, the last time I was on a motorcycle was in 1983 when I lived in Taipei. But off we went. I was grateful that she was a conservative driver! Men and women all drive scooters here. It's not uncommon to see a family of 4 all crowded on one. I'll see if I can get a shot of that. It reminds me of China, where you would see a parent holding a child and vegetables and live chicken as he or she negotiated the busy streets by bicycle.

Getting Around Chiang Mai

I'm easing in. It was a few days before I felt brave enough to wave down a red songteuw for a ride across town. These "buses" (actually red pickup trucks with benches in the back) don't have any scheduled routes. You flag one down (but not Western style, that motion is considered offensive around here) and tell the driver where you want to go, and he says yes or no depending on where he's bringing his other passengers. Then there's negotiating the price, which is not quite fixed. I've been told it's really important to set that up BEFORE getting in and accepting the ride. A guy from my Thai conversational class told me that he doesn't negotiate price but just gets in, and when he arrives he "throws 20 Baht" (about 70cents) at the driver and runs! Others have told me that it's usually 15B unless you're going a really long ways. So I offered 15B, he accepted, and I got to the Temple landmark that I requested. Now to figure out more of those landmarks and in order to get closer to where I'm going!

Yummy breakfast and a great view!

It was challenging to order my first day. Was it the jet lag? I was unsuccessful in my attempts to communicate, "I want what that guy has" in rudimentary charades. But the proprietress, in her kindness, lifted the cover off each of the pots so I could choose. It was good to the last morsel! Above you see a woman waiting to order. And at a momentary break in traffic on the busy street I was on (see below), I was able to take a shot of the scenery on the other side of the street: the remains of the North Wall of the Inner City of Chiang Mai.