Walking With Monks

This morning I followed two monks from Wat Mahathat on their collection of food offerings. It was quite enlightening, as I didn't know where all of that food went before. Apparently, monks take the food back to their wat (temple), where they eat two meals a day, or sometimes one meal, which are eaten before noon. The remaining food (which there was plenty of this morning) is then available for the homeless, or people like us who accompany monks on their morning ritual. It was a beautiful experience to see people embrace Buddhism at such a normal, day-to-day level. As the people handed the monks their offering, I wai-ed the monks as a sign of respect. The monks then gave a brief prayer, which I thought sounded like a rap with a cool baseline, and then the person kneeled down for about 15 seconds in prayer. I'm not really sure who or what they are praying to since Buddhism does not give a clear definition of "God", but it was definitely a spiritual moment. I hope to do this again soon!

Bamboo

It's in everything! Houses and buildings are made of bamboo, because it is pretty abundant and turns out to be quite strong. Varying types of bamboo are stronger or taller, so one can get pretty creative with what they choose to design. I've always imagined bamboo to be pretty flimsy compared to other woods, but apparently it can create a strong structure along with a really beautiful, authentic Thai design. In my Art and Architecture class, we learned that bamboo is used cool roof structures and gates.  One of my favorite foods here is sticky rice inside of a bamboo shoot, and I'm also a big fan of bamboo in my noodle soups. It grows so well, so I'd like to plant some (in a contained area so it doesn't take over) when I get back home.

Meal with a monk

Charles took me to eat lunch with a monk at Wat Mahathat, whom he calls his ajaan, or teacher. It was really interesting to see all of the donation foods he collected today and I was honored that he shared with me and some other Thammasat students. He is a very nice man who taught meditation at a university in Arizona once upon a time. I hope to follow him on his walk tomorrow morning to collect food. I'll have to get up pretty early! I'm not sure what is appropriate for me to wear yet, or what exactly I will do as I accompany him.

Thai whiskey! Weeeeeeee...

Hong Thong and Sang Som are the cheapest that I've found in Thailand, and for good reason. I find them pretty repulsive, but they seem to be a favorite among many Thai people for what I assume is their ability to get you drunk at a fairly low cost. Buckets are a very popular way of drinking on islands and in very touristy areas, but the typical Thai will just drink their whiskey straight. No, thanks!

Travel agencies

I think it's pretty safe to say that Thai people want to make as much money as possible off tourists, and travel agents are no different. I booked a trip for 17 people to get to and from Koh Tao this past weekend for scuba certification, and quite a few of the accommodations we were promised were not actually part of the package! The absence of included food and free rooms for our 2 friends were the main letdowns, which  meant that we were on a much tighter budget than expected. We were told that we were given a discount because of our large size, but it ends up that the travel agency never even contacted the resorts that we had in mind, since they would not be able to offer the all-inclusive trip that we were interested in finding a discount for. It was a frustrating experience to find out the deliberate miscommunication once we had arrived, because it was too late at that point to make changes. In the future, I will just book my own travel.

Koh Tao!

Koh Tao is quite the tourist paradise because it offers scuba certification at an average price of about $280, including a resort to stay at for the 4 day process. The sites are pretty spectacular, but apparently there used to be loads of turtles (hence the island's name Tao, which means turtle). I am amazed at how many PADI certification resorts exist there, and how dependent the island's economy is on the tourists. The Thais understand that they can really cash out by offering a variety of adventure, entertainment, tastes, and knick-knacks. Kayaks, snorkels, motorbikes, food, clubs, tattoos, massage, clothing, and drinks are ways that tourists can spend a lot of money in a short amount of time. It amazes me how inexpensive things were in general compared to US prices, but I have become so accustomed to spending less money that the inflated prices on the island were a shock to me.

Thai TV

Most English channels show sappy romantic movies or cheesy action films. Discover Channel is worth watching, but that's about it, which is fine because I don't want to watch TV anyway! I've attempted to watch Thai channels to improve my Thai, but it's even worse than the below average quality of the English channels. The average Thai TV episode in a nutshell: couple fights, it is raining, girl starts crying, girl runs away, girl waits by the phone, boy talks to new girl, old girl and new girl get angry at each other and yell. I can't be sure how it ends since I've never watched an entire episode.