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Alice in Thailand-Phase 2
Photograph calanders custom made of Alice Birney's 12 best shots from South East Asia
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Leaving the School - February 17, 2007
Well I guess it is time for another update. I have had quite the week. Last Sunday I left the school, packed up everything, said goodbye and left. I went to the group time before all the kids go to bed and basically said goodbye then cried my eyes out. Some of the children who speak English said something or relayed something too me. I remember Amee said “Thank you Khru Alice for Yoga” which is what the children say to me at the end of each yoga class. Fa said “Goodbye Khru Alice please don’t forget us” Wow that one really made me cry. Then most of the children ran up and hugged me. I tried to acknowledge each one by name and say I love you to show that I connected personally with each one of them and will miss them. Asama also stayed behind and said goodbye and gave me a hug. It is nice to know the Thai staff will miss me also.
To the Farm
So Goodbyes said and things packed I decided to go to the farm that night. No need to draw this out any further. Alicia drove me over and I was well received. Sunday night is potluck night so I thought that would be a great time to show up. Wrong. I was in such a crazy mood having just left the kids I was on a completely different wavelength than everyone else. Oh well I just tried to blend in. Then Shahar said he was going to lead an impromptu theater session. Great I am so shy with impromptu stuff I wasn’t going to go. Then EVERYONE else went so I did to, I also didn’t want to be alone. Well that helped with my mood. The theater thing was way more interactive than I expected so there was no real audience we were all just moving and acting with whatever request was offered. First was: Everyone is a monkey and A snake just got in and no one knows where it is. Then we made this human knot and tried to untangle ourselves. This was all fun and I could get in to it. Then we had to find a partner who we were comfortable with. This was crazy for me because I had literally been there for one hour. Luckily Christian came over and asked if I was comfortable with him so I didn’t have to choose. We were trying to work through our latest personal problem or concern. As we started meditating on our issue, mine of course feeling bad for leaving the kids, I actually started to cry. So that made the decision of who would share first. We talked through my problem and I cried. It was nice to be able to really talk it through, get a hug, cry and then let it go. I felt much better after that. I hope Christian felt better after sharing his concerns.
So now I am a new woman living at the farm! I have a lot to learn as almost all the chores are new to me. Even if one knows how to say water a garden, I still need to be taught which garden and where the water is and so on. I am trying to take some notes on my learning as well. In addition to the chores the other day we worked on a foundation for the new building. We had about 10 people and everyone took turns carrying buckets, mixing the concrete. It was great and very physical. Again I have been soar for two days but that is fine.
The next day Valisa showed up. Great! She met Josh an intern from Pun Pun in Laos and decided to visit him as I went to the other farm 50m away. So we have spent some great time together catching up and loving this wonderful earthen community. Nice when old friends and new friends all get together.
Celebrations
Truly a time of celebration. First it was Hadar’s birthday and we had a party complete with pizza and chocolate cake (and rice and soy milk and veggie stir fry. Hey we are still in Thailand). Then it was valentines day and we did a poetry reading. I am still a little to shy to read in front of everyone and I haven’t written a poem since high school but I feel more able to do so now. Maybe next time I will have a poem I have written.
Then several people left on the Superhero ride. I didn’t join them as it was just too much and I am free to do what I want now. It is great to be at that point in my decision making. I stayed and helped at the farm some more. We are short on water so that was the main issue to deal with.
Fire
Friday afternoon we all sat down to lunch and I thought I heard a truck pulling up. The noise just stayed in the background, what was the truck idling 20 feet away? No it was a forest fire. Everyone jumped up and ran over to that side of the farm. The fire was in the forest about 15 m from the farm. We grabbed shovels hoes and a sickle and started doing what we could. We were cutting down the tall grass and digging to create a dirt divide. Luckily some folks were thinking ahead. Ashley called the folks from Pun Pun and You Sabai (the two neighboring permaculture farms) and soon we had about 20 more people helping (to add to our 10). Everyone was digging and cutting as much as they could. I did get quite tired as hoeing is hard to do continuously but we took turns with the various tools and all did what we could. Luckily the Thai folks from Pun Pun had some experience and told us where to concentrate our efforts. They also lit some fires to try to burn back to the big fire and put it out by denying it combustibles. We also filled a huge bucket with water and brought it to Christians house (the closest house to the flame) so we could prevent the thatch from being engulfed in flame if a spark landed on it. Wow being a firefighter is hard work. Then a wonderful turn of events. Kay had gone to ask a local farmer to bring his tractor over and help. He plowed a path all the way around the farm. Yea for machinery.
It was intense and a hard day but in the end I just reveled in the tight community we have here. No one batted an eye they just all jumped up to help whether they were living at Baan Thai or not. Many people offered advice and labor and no one left until the work was done. We even had help moving the bricks so the tractor could get through. Disaster was avoided and all is well. However I am thinking a lot about the regular practice of “controlled fires”.
Learning - March 13, 2007
Well I finally have a minute to recap my experiences over the last month or so.
I left the farm to go to a going away party in Chiang Mai. It was sad to leave these kids too, but at least I already said goodbye so it wasn’t as intense. We watched the kids dance and everyone sang and had a great time. We played a few games and had lots of good food.
Next I decided to make all of my decisions for me. I had three weeks to travel before Eric then Beth are with me so now is my chance to be selfish. First I decided to take a cooking course. Luckily Yao and Krit from You Sabai have a cooking course. I love to help friends but it is even better when your friends actually have the best to offer. Three days living in natural buildings and learning to cook Thai food. I learned 23 dishes in all including how to make soy milk and tofu. Plus I got to live at Pun Pun, learn at You Sabai and visit Baan Thai, seeing all of my friends. Of course there were some strange looks when my friends from Baan Thai came over to You Sabai and found me there. I have only stayed at Baan Thai so far so I guess it was a shock. After the cooking course I stayed at the farms until I had to head back to Chiang Mai for my next class.
Next I left for a massage retreat I think I was destined for. After looking for the perfect massage class in Chiang Mai I found this retreat. A much better venue for learning Thai massage I believe. There were 17 plus 3 wonderful teachers in our group. We lived in a Lahu village two hours out of Chiang Mai near Chiang Rai. The village was in the mountains and all on stilts. This seemed strange to me but then I realized the houses are on stilts so all the pigs, chickens and dogs have a place to live. Many folks had a hard time sleeping because of this chorus below, but I was fine.
We started the day with meditation then yoga. Then breakfast and 3 hours of massage class. Lunch, siesta and 3 more hours of massage before dinner. The food was always sticky rice and veggies, sometimes fruit so I decided to love it and for the most part that worked.
There were several opportunities to go to the Lahu new years celebrations and watch them dance. I was invited to dance once so I tried my best. It is crazy how a dance can look just like walking forward to the beat and sometimes stopping, but when you try to follow it, the dance seems impossible. I had a lot of fun anyway.
My host family was great. Nafa the 10 year old daughter brought me flowers several times and we talked a lot. I talked a lot with her great grandmother too which is funny because none of us speak the same language. When I left grandma gave me a big root as a present. I later found out it was taro root, probably a normal present for them but I thought it was hilarious.
The class was wonderful and I learned a lot. The pace of learning was great as I was able to remember so much but 10 straight days was intense. We learned the background and theory of Thai massage as well as many poses. I have a lot of practicing to do (aren’t Eric and Beth lucky!). My wrists made it champion style through the first 8 days. Much longer than I expected. Unfortunately the last two days my tendonitis flared up so I am bandaged now. Oh well it just encourages me to practice the feet and elbow moves.
Our group was so great that we all decided to meet up the night we got back for dinner. I lived with one of my classmates Diana for a few days after too. What a great experience.
Now Eric is here and we are beginning our adventure together. We have a lot of great stuff planned so I am exited about the next leg of the journey.
I hope all of you are well and happy. Madalitso
-Alice-Free
Cambodia - April 4, 2007
OK so a little more about Cambodia. This is definitely the most intense of all the countries in SE Asia I have been to. The traffic is crazy! First off they drive on the other side of the road. Eric thought it was refreshing and I was confused as it looked wrong to me. In Cambodia they drive on the right side of the road and I am so used to Thailand and driving on the left, that I thought it looked weird. And the whole traffic signs and lanes being suggestions as I have seen in other countries… here they take it to extreme. When making a left turn, if you can’t pull in to the lane you want, just turn and drive towards the left side of the road into oncoming traffic! Then pull over to the right side when you can. And the whole notion of don’t put arms out the window, well here they don’t have any rules (maybe at all) like that but if you do, you could learn the hard way why it is bad when the driver passes way to close to a car, bike, sign or something. Of course we did get the pleasure of hearing the ice truck backing up bell, Jingle Bells, interesting choice.
The markets are crazy. That is saying something as I have been in markets on several continents. These aren’t particularly weird (although they have their moments… snack on a tarantula anyone?) or particularly pushy, but I would think twice about eating food made there. I guess it is dirtier than other markets I have seen, but again that doesn’t seem to fit. The pans of blood being leisurely tossed out and the killing and scaling of the live fish all being done with a pestle was rather disturbing. I don’t know but this place was unsettling to say the least.
Next we continued our adventure to Siam Reap or the town near Angkor Wat. Getting the bus was not a hassle but about 45 minutes in to the ride we stopped. This is where I realized how trusting and able to deal with a constant state of unknown you have to be to travel. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what happened to the bus (which I didn’t) it was that I couldn’t ask. I only know a little Thai after 5 months but now I am in Cambodia where Thai doesn’t help anyway. After a confusing half hour of sitting (105 in the bus), and or milling about outside of the bus (a cool breezy 95 outside!) a monk offered us this, “Change Bus”. There you have it, our grand explanation and detailed plan of events to come. So we waited and another bus came and we loaded our gear and, well, changed busses.
The remainder of the ride went smoothly but the sky grew dark early. It was strange to see at first. Then something happened that I haven’t experienced in months, 5 to be exact. IT RAINED. Wow a real shower that cooled and quenched the earth. It was nice to see rain again.
Angkor Wat - Next was Angkor Wat. It is a series of temples laid out to match the constellation Draco or the dragon (between the big and little dipper if anyone wants to find it). It was started about 1000 years ago but lines up with the constellation as it looked in 10,050 BC! Weird. There are dragon figures all over all of the temples. Many are being restored but some were left as is, with trees still engulfing the ruins in some parts. Many of the temples had huge faces carved in to the sides or towers. I was able to do yoga near the big temple of Angkor Wat at sunrise on the Vernal Equinox. Not bad. Enchanted forest feel, yes. Majestic temple feel, yes. If you have any more desire to figure out what I am talking about go, to google and type in Angkor Wat photos and you will see it all…
Well not all of it but that is why I am here. The other side of Angkor Wat involves Siem Reap the city just outside where everyone stays. At first we found friendly tuk tuk driver for very cheap prices. Then we realized they are all trying to rope you in to hiring them as your driver to the temple the next day. I don’t understand this whole tuk tuk brotherhood as we tried to hire our driver for the next day but he didn’t want to get up at sunrise so he sent his brother. Or at least the drivers outside of hotel that morning said he was the brother, but who knows. Oh well we got our ride. Apart from just rides there are folks all over the complex trying to sell guide books, postcards, jewelry, clothes, cold drinks, food and souvenirs of all shapes and sizes. They know all the scams and have heard all the lines a hundred times. So if you offer “I don’t know I will think about it and come back” they retort “You no come back, farang leave and never come back, I know”. Probably true but I still don’t want your black velvet and day glow green painting of, thanks.
The ultimate crazy story for me was the two girls that walked with us from the entrance of the temple across the street to the restaurant. Luckily street vendors are not allowed in either so we had a short break from the hassle. Before going in to the restaurant I told the girls I would think about it and maybe buy something. I did want postcards so I figured this was a fair enough answer. After breakfast the group of children had grown to nearly a dozen. We were actually scheming how to avoid them and tried to sneak out back but alas there was no exit. So we faced the music and walked right out the front. It took about 1 second for the girls to be back by our sides offering bracelets and postcards and laying it on thick. Eric even got “your girlfriend is beautiful she needs a beautiful bracelet”. I was offered postcards “look 10 nice cards 1, 2, 3, 4… this one you can’t take, this from the air” OK I wanted the cards so why not, I bought the postcards, but not the bracelets from these sweet girls outside of Angkor Wat… However they weren’t working together. This is every 10 year old girl for herself, so the girl with the bracelets was mad. “you say you buy, you no buy” Whatever I can’t buy from everyone. Then the pinnacle moment as I walked away the sweet girl looked at me with fire in her eyes and murmured “you fucking dog”. Well they do learn English don’t they.
Aside from the hassles outside the temples we had a great time in them. Some of the highlights were when we would sneak off the beaten track and meditate in a wonderful corner or by a tree growing over the ruins themselves. We took a back rout around one temple and the other side looked like the forgotten temple. A great place to explore.
Well that is part of my great adventure. Maybe soon I will be disciplined enough to sit in front of the computer long enough to write about the country I am actually in! Love love love to you.
-Alice
Well after Angkor Wat we had some intense travel time. First back to Phnom Penh to pick up our Lao visas. As we drove up to the embassy I noticed a sign that said they closed for 2 1/2 hours for lunch, in 5 minutes. Nervous I jumped out and asked the guard if they were closed and he just said "hurry up". Luckily we got our visas, no incidence, just the way I like it.
Then back to our favorite guest house, TAT. They are so nice, good food and very helpful, well good intentioned anyway. They helped book our bus tickets for the next day. The son Chang made the arrangements and the next morning the father gave us a ride to the bus station for free. Then after he drove off the conductor informed us we were at the wrong station! Oh well a nice gesture, so we had to take another tuk tuk. Ha ha ha.
Travel Days
Next stop Kratie where we just spent the night and bought our super convenient, all inclusive ticket for the next day. The ticket was a bus to Strom Treng, a ferry across the river, a sontao to the border, a truck to the pier and a boat to Don Det the Island we were heading. Now that is all inclusive! Unfortunately each time we changed transport we were dropped at a restaurant and informed not to worry it would be a little bit but we definitely had time to eat. Lovely. Again a little nerve racking to wait until the last possible moment to leave for the border. Borders close and the folks you would have to ask to let you through are usually not too happy to make special arrangements. Luckily a short stop for sticks and another for raw meat aside, we made it.
Border Crossing
The Cambodian side was a small shack with a hammock and a desk which housed stamps, a stamp pad and a notebook for our info. After we paid the one dollar (scam? standard exit fee? who knows) and received our stamps it was back in the songtao to the other side. I was again puzzled when we turned around went back the other way? Isn't Laos that way? Then we turned off of the beautiful newly paved road down this horrible windy dirt road. I thought I would be sick and it was only a 20 minute drive. We stopped again to unload cases of soda and such, me being impatient I helped and convinced Eric and Josh to help too. Then off to the border (finally). Then at the Laos side we halted the game of Bachie Ball long enough to get our stamps. This officer wanted 2 dollars? Being a Sunday night at 4:55 I wasn't about to argue. Our Aussie friend refused to pay and the guy actually closed up the desk and went back to his game. Reluctantly agreeing to pay Josh recieved his stamp but not before the man gave a speech about how ultimately he was in control. I guess he is right!
Don Det
I seem to have left off on Don Det, an island in southern Laos. This area is called 4000 islands, and I didn't count but there are many. At this point in the trip we could have biked all around and seen new islands everyday and such. My body wasn't up for that so I basically did nothing. Not true, I worked on my beads did yoga read and played cards. Definitely frequenting the hammocks, and with a good restaurant across the street we barely left the guest house. Eric got sick unfortunately, but at least we were stationary and not traveling. I am glad he got better in a timely manner as it is loads easier to relax and enjoy the vacation when well. It was really nice to have such a great group staying at the same guest house. We all got along well so it was basically a mini-community. Apart from days of relaxing we also biked to a waterfall on the next island over. Nice but not really a swimming waterfall as it was huge. Beautiful though. We also had a truly international card game. We played Euchre, a Michigan game with folks from Iceland, Finland and the US, using Belgian cards in Laos. Fun times. I never did go swimming in the Mekong but considering everyone who lives on the river bathes in it and the dead pig I saw floating in the river as we left, I don't think I wanted to.
Traveling
After much relaxing we were off to Thailand again. As we pulled away on the bus to the border the conductor came up with a sign that said 5B overtime for Sunday. 5 Bhat isn't much but we already payed for the ticket and it was Saturday. We and the couple across the way refused to pay a Sunday charge on Saturday so he went and talked to someone who could write in English, she crossed out Sunday and wrote in Saturday. What an interesting note. in the end we payed the 5B.
It was nice to get back to Thailand and it really showed me how everything is relative. When I first arrived in Thailand I noticed a lot of differences. It seemed somewhat dirty and there was a lot of waiting for things that didn't need to happen and just an overall air of disorder. After traveling in Cambodia and Laos and now seeing Thailand it appears clean, efficient and not corrupt (no one with 5B signs). It is interesting to me how my mind can change so dramatically just based on where I came from. Oh well I am happy to be back "home".
Here is your chance for the "I told you so". I have never been a fan of air conditioning as it is always cranked to about 60 degrees on perfectly comfortable summer days. Well comfortable for me anyway. I rarely get hot enough to want air. Not in SE Asia! It is hot here. Laying and doing nothing still produces beads of sweat unless you are directly in front of a fan. Being able to come out of the heat to an air conditioned room where you can feel normal again is wonderful. Mind you we were leaving 105 heat to a room cooled to 78. That is the situation where I want air conditioning. Luckily Eric feels the same way so air was a standard from that point on.
Next stop Ayutaya or the old capital of Thailand. there are many ruins of old palaces and temples but the reason I wanted to go was to see the Buddha head that has been surrounded by roots of a Bodhi tree. It looked cool in the postcards! So we arrived and of course the guest houses were full so we decided to stay in a hotel. It was expensive and we were way out of place there. The next day we moved to the comforts of a guest house.
Renting bikes we hit the town in search of some cool ruins. First we stopped at some nice ruins that seemed to pop out to us. We explored most of them but each corner seemed to look the same so we didn't cover every inch. Then off to the old palace with three stupas still intact. We also saw the majority of a large sitting Buddha and spent some time there in meditation. Next over to what I think is the biggest sitting Buddha in Thailand. Very large, very impressive and very gold. So now where is that Buddha head? We searched the grounds and didn't find anything. The map was confusing but we tried to follow it. Finally hot, sunburnt and tired we stopped for a cold drink. When we asked where to find the head the woman at the store didn't really know but gave us directions to the first place we went. Ahhh where is it. To tired and hungry to continue we decided to try again the next day. After some food a cool room and a little more research we realized it was at the first temple in the one corner we didn't go to! Oh well it was nice to see the next day too.
Then on to Bangkok. This time armed with reservations and the plan to stay I had a much better time. Ko San Road is not so bad when you are rested and have a place to stay. We spent most of our time shopping for things Eric wanted to take back. Fortunately we also went sight seeing for a day and went to Wat Po. This one has the largest reclining Buddha which was very impressive. Aside from the main attraction Wat Po is also a teaching wat. Traditional dance, massage, palm reading and probably other arts I don't remember are kept alive through this wat. Some of the temples have drawings and relief sculptures of the energy lines used in Thai massage. With this huge background of information we decided the best thing to do was to get massages! Good idea. Then came The Great Switch-e-roo. The end of Eric's trip was a little sad for me, but I had quite the distraction. After seeing him off I waited in the airport for three hours and greeted Beth. After a short stint in Bangkok seeing china town and Wat Po again we headed off for island paradise.
We decided to go to Ko Tao (turtle island) as it is known for snorkeling and diving. Our bungalow had a view of Buddha Rock and several times we just looked around and realized this is exactly where we both wanted to be. Of course we started with a bit of relaxation but we needed some adventure too. One day we rented a kayak and snorkel equipment and headed out to the next bay over (what was that called again?). Arriving on the beach we noticed something different, top less women which I was fine with. I guess that is why it is called Freedom Beach. Snorkeling was nice but shallow at first so we were in constant fear of scraping our stomachs even though we were far enough away. On our way out of the bay (called... I forgot) I saw this huge fish jump out of the water. Wow good thing it didn't hit the boat. After we got back we ate dinner and then had a fun night at the beach bar.
We went on a snorkel trip around the island. The first stop was that same bay from yesturday, called SHARK BAY. Yes that is right, sharks right there yards from where we were. I was scared to snorkel there at first but so many people were out and not getting eaten and it is intriguing so I swam towards where the sharks were. After a few minutes I started to have second thoughts, then I heard a young girl scream. She had seen sharks and was terrified. She was also only about twenty feet from me. Ok I am turning back! I put my mask back on and went to turn around. As soon as I looked down I saw three beautiful black tip sharks. I already am swimming with sharks! Still a little nerve racking but I stuck with it and even saw one chase a fish. In addition to this bay we snorkeled in three others seeing all kinds of coral and fish. Little and blue, large striped, greens, purples, browns, yellows and coral of all shapes and sizes. The most exiting for me was the cuttle fish. They look like a squid with two long fins on each side that ripple to propel them. I also found out that the little black and white stripped fish that are everywhere in big schools, bite. Oh well at least they don't bite hard.
The last stop was another island, but this one we had to pay to get on. We are notorious for not bringing enough money so after the unexpected 200 bhat we weren't able to even buy a drink. We did hike up to the top which was fun even though it was poring rain. Snorkeling in the rain isn't half bad either. Unfortunately that only took up the first hour so we had a wet cold second hour to deal with. Oh well it was too good of a day to complain about.
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Last Updated - 4/16/07
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