so many things in a day...
we're in Hua Hin now, at the VIP Condominium Resort (that's pronounced Wee I P here cause there's no V sound in thai), a strange sort of liminal hotel/dorm combo. It used to be a resort between these two beach cities but apparently it was too far from either to attract tourists so it went out of business and was bought by webster university as dorm space. So it still has these hotel furnishings (the weird headboards for the beds and mauve colored wooden furniature) and a pool but its also got stuff like writing on the wall in orange highlighter that says "homesick" and guys playing guitar in their rooms with the doors open.
I guess the biggest concern tonight has been the bugs, which are gigantic and scary and perhaps carriers of malaria (though probably not). Everyone's all on the Deet (that gives ya cancer) and the citronella (that doesnt).. yep. There are geckos all over the walls in the lobby that run around eating the bugs. So far I haven't seen any giant cockroaches, but I hear they're around.
We did some cool stuff in Bankok last night: we went to a thai restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms that gives a large amount of their proceeds to AIDS edu and prevention. Then we walked thru the red light district. John said he thought it was something we ought to see. It was horrifying, in an incredibly sad way. It wasn't quite how I expected; I thought it would be all short jeans skirts and overdone lipstick and dyed hair catcalls in front of sleazy bars. It's more institutionalized. There are legit bars, and all the women stand out in front, sometimes holding signs saying "we have what you want" or "ugly girls here" or something equally degrading. The girls from a bar are all dressed alike, in those cheap clingy black or red dresses or in school girl outfits.. It was intensely disturbing. I got to the end of the street and turned to look back and just couldnt keep from crying.. so many women. There's white men (farangs) all ove the area walking around with a tiny thai girl on their arm, or leering at any asian looking girl they pass. I couldn't believe how pervasive it was.. I can't imagine what those girls lives must be like.
Rosie and I went to a night market afterwards a few kilometers away. It was equally intense, but in a more amusing way. We got there and there was this giant stage with thai pop performers in tight little jeans and matching outfits singing and dancing choreographed moves. We laughed for a bit, then went off to the stalls... rows and rows of them! It was amazing to see so much stuff in such little space. Most ofthe aisles were hardly big enough for people to pass one another. Probably the most amazing part, though, was that nearly nothing was unique.. it was all the same stuff over and over again. Thai silk scarves (for 90 baht, about $2.50), carved wooden elepahants, tiny tank tops and dresses, those lose cotton pants and skirts erica brought back.. there must have been dozens of vendors selling each of them. I didn't buy anything. roies bought a handkerchief and some little bug magnets. Then we rode this giant ferris wheel and loked at the city from above. It was all bright lights and mopeds.
This morning we visited Sulak Sivaraksa, one of the main thai engaged buddhists. He invited us to his house, where we spoke with him for a few hours and lunched on thai street vendor food. It was a good visit. I'm not sure what to make of it.. I have to write about the experience with sulak for the journal our class is going to publish when we get back, so I suppose I'll have to collect my thoughts eventually. But now, I dont feel like I have a solidified opinion of him. So more on Sulak later.
Tomorrow we have two seminars on buddhism and key engaged buddhists, then a tour of Hua Hin and the night market here. Thursday we are off to Chayapoum (that's definitely the wrong spelling) to visit Prah Phaisal at his wat (temple). I'll post some more after we get back.
I guess the biggest concern tonight has been the bugs, which are gigantic and scary and perhaps carriers of malaria (though probably not). Everyone's all on the Deet (that gives ya cancer) and the citronella (that doesnt).. yep. There are geckos all over the walls in the lobby that run around eating the bugs. So far I haven't seen any giant cockroaches, but I hear they're around.
We did some cool stuff in Bankok last night: we went to a thai restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms that gives a large amount of their proceeds to AIDS edu and prevention. Then we walked thru the red light district. John said he thought it was something we ought to see. It was horrifying, in an incredibly sad way. It wasn't quite how I expected; I thought it would be all short jeans skirts and overdone lipstick and dyed hair catcalls in front of sleazy bars. It's more institutionalized. There are legit bars, and all the women stand out in front, sometimes holding signs saying "we have what you want" or "ugly girls here" or something equally degrading. The girls from a bar are all dressed alike, in those cheap clingy black or red dresses or in school girl outfits.. It was intensely disturbing. I got to the end of the street and turned to look back and just couldnt keep from crying.. so many women. There's white men (farangs) all ove the area walking around with a tiny thai girl on their arm, or leering at any asian looking girl they pass. I couldn't believe how pervasive it was.. I can't imagine what those girls lives must be like.
Rosie and I went to a night market afterwards a few kilometers away. It was equally intense, but in a more amusing way. We got there and there was this giant stage with thai pop performers in tight little jeans and matching outfits singing and dancing choreographed moves. We laughed for a bit, then went off to the stalls... rows and rows of them! It was amazing to see so much stuff in such little space. Most ofthe aisles were hardly big enough for people to pass one another. Probably the most amazing part, though, was that nearly nothing was unique.. it was all the same stuff over and over again. Thai silk scarves (for 90 baht, about $2.50), carved wooden elepahants, tiny tank tops and dresses, those lose cotton pants and skirts erica brought back.. there must have been dozens of vendors selling each of them. I didn't buy anything. roies bought a handkerchief and some little bug magnets. Then we rode this giant ferris wheel and loked at the city from above. It was all bright lights and mopeds.
This morning we visited Sulak Sivaraksa, one of the main thai engaged buddhists. He invited us to his house, where we spoke with him for a few hours and lunched on thai street vendor food. It was a good visit. I'm not sure what to make of it.. I have to write about the experience with sulak for the journal our class is going to publish when we get back, so I suppose I'll have to collect my thoughts eventually. But now, I dont feel like I have a solidified opinion of him. So more on Sulak later.
Tomorrow we have two seminars on buddhism and key engaged buddhists, then a tour of Hua Hin and the night market here. Thursday we are off to Chayapoum (that's definitely the wrong spelling) to visit Prah Phaisal at his wat (temple). I'll post some more after we get back.
posted by Liz @ 8:33 AM
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