Chiang Rai Songkran excursion
4/13/11 I decided last minute to go on a day trip to Chiang Rai at 6am where John is from. He wanted to show me the white temple and waterfall.
I wake up at 5 am like always even though my alarm is set for 5:30a. I wear my bathing suit, excited to swim in the hot weather. John is a half hour late and I wait outside with mosquitos swarming around my exposed skin. I am hungry already but we drive a ways and take a break at a geyser. We had noodles with pork balls for breakfast (khao lao luk shin).
The drive to Chiang Rai was beautiful and I was thinking it would be a great bike ride. It took 4 hours to drive there by car, but John is a slow driver. If I were driving it would have probably only taken 2!
We went to the white temple which was smaller than I expected after seeing pictures from a documentary. The temple itself was made of cement or plaster and then there were mirror tiles placed within to make it pretty and sparkly. The temple was lavishly decorated with lots of dragons but at the entrance there were hands like in purgatory reaching up from hell.
Inside I couldn't take a picture but there was a big buddha picture with a smaller buddha statue in front with a meditating monk in front of that. I thought the monk was real. The walls had beautiful painting but with random images of the matrix star wars and other images from the modern age that seemed a bit strange in the temple grounds. We went to the museum of paintings of the architect and they were really beautiful and original.
We drove further to meet his mom and friends. We joined them drinking white whiskey. Commonly, Thai people mix their whiskey drink with soda water, water and ice. I preferred it straight on the rocks and they cheered for me. We sat on a raised platform on the side of the road and while they ate fried crickets and small, green, bitter berries. They all wanted to take pictures with me because its rare to have foreigners come to their town.
John and I walked home and ate dinner of fish and steamed rice with side dishes. His parents and brother had many friends over and they were excited to see me drink their homemade whiskey.
The tradition is similar to Korean drinking culture. The eldest man, or most affluent guest holds the bottle and pours a shot for each person in the circle. After laughing and taking the shot, they fling the glass to get out the leftover and hand the shot back to the old man who will pour for the next person. When it was my turn, they were laughing and joking with each other (in Thai so I do not understand) and he pours a full shot for me. I joke that mine is fuller than the others. I take the shot and they cheer.
It was late at night and the air was warm. As we all sat in the house which is open to the outside, the mood was jovial and inviting. I told the men I wanted to work in the rice field with them and they laugh at me.
That night I slept in a room with open windows and mosquitos buzzing around me. I woke up early and watched his parents cook a traditional meal for this holiday. They diced up the beef that was freshly slaughtered for the town the night before, sauteed the organs and mixed it all with blood. They also made veggies pulled from her garden sauteed in pork fat and fried pork. Breakfast was great, except for more whiskey his dad made us drink!
We went to his grandmothers who tied white strings on our wrists for good luck. Then we went to his sisters house and I began to feel sick as they were tying on more white strings and saying a prayer. I ran to the outhouse and threw up meaty chunks. Raw meaty chunks.
They took me back to their house where I continued to throw up. John and his mother were worried I would die and wanted me to go to the hospital. I laughed at them and tried to sleep.
When I woke up it was dinner time and the smell of more pork cooking made me nauseous. I had nothing left inside of me to expel and I was feeling better. His mom and friend tied more white strings on me. I was beginning to look like a mummy. His mom's friend wished me good luck and said I would have twins and live to be 120 or more. She said we would see each other again. I felt happy and sad at the same time. That weekend I had been hosted by a family who didn't know me, embraced by friends who treated me with such kindness and generosity and fed me and drowned me with alcohol and didn't expect anything from me. They were just happy to meet someone new who embraced their culture and traditions.
We left with sad goodbyes and promises to return and visited John's friend Biyuk who gave us white milky whiskey like Korean macgolee. He made me drink some even though I told him how sick I was. When I said goodbye I touched his head. Whoops! His friends and family in the room gasped and acted surprised by my action. I totally forgot it is not polite to touch peoples heads. The head is sacred and it is disrespectful to do so to any Thai person!
I wake up at 5 am like always even though my alarm is set for 5:30a. I wear my bathing suit, excited to swim in the hot weather. John is a half hour late and I wait outside with mosquitos swarming around my exposed skin. I am hungry already but we drive a ways and take a break at a geyser. We had noodles with pork balls for breakfast (khao lao luk shin).
The drive to Chiang Rai was beautiful and I was thinking it would be a great bike ride. It took 4 hours to drive there by car, but John is a slow driver. If I were driving it would have probably only taken 2!
We went to the white temple which was smaller than I expected after seeing pictures from a documentary. The temple itself was made of cement or plaster and then there were mirror tiles placed within to make it pretty and sparkly. The temple was lavishly decorated with lots of dragons but at the entrance there were hands like in purgatory reaching up from hell.
Inside I couldn't take a picture but there was a big buddha picture with a smaller buddha statue in front with a meditating monk in front of that. I thought the monk was real. The walls had beautiful painting but with random images of the matrix star wars and other images from the modern age that seemed a bit strange in the temple grounds. We went to the museum of paintings of the architect and they were really beautiful and original.
We drove further to meet his mom and friends. We joined them drinking white whiskey. Commonly, Thai people mix their whiskey drink with soda water, water and ice. I preferred it straight on the rocks and they cheered for me. We sat on a raised platform on the side of the road and while they ate fried crickets and small, green, bitter berries. They all wanted to take pictures with me because its rare to have foreigners come to their town.
John and I walked home and ate dinner of fish and steamed rice with side dishes. His parents and brother had many friends over and they were excited to see me drink their homemade whiskey.
The tradition is similar to Korean drinking culture. The eldest man, or most affluent guest holds the bottle and pours a shot for each person in the circle. After laughing and taking the shot, they fling the glass to get out the leftover and hand the shot back to the old man who will pour for the next person. When it was my turn, they were laughing and joking with each other (in Thai so I do not understand) and he pours a full shot for me. I joke that mine is fuller than the others. I take the shot and they cheer.
It was late at night and the air was warm. As we all sat in the house which is open to the outside, the mood was jovial and inviting. I told the men I wanted to work in the rice field with them and they laugh at me.
That night I slept in a room with open windows and mosquitos buzzing around me. I woke up early and watched his parents cook a traditional meal for this holiday. They diced up the beef that was freshly slaughtered for the town the night before, sauteed the organs and mixed it all with blood. They also made veggies pulled from her garden sauteed in pork fat and fried pork. Breakfast was great, except for more whiskey his dad made us drink!
We went to his grandmothers who tied white strings on our wrists for good luck. Then we went to his sisters house and I began to feel sick as they were tying on more white strings and saying a prayer. I ran to the outhouse and threw up meaty chunks. Raw meaty chunks.
They took me back to their house where I continued to throw up. John and his mother were worried I would die and wanted me to go to the hospital. I laughed at them and tried to sleep.
When I woke up it was dinner time and the smell of more pork cooking made me nauseous. I had nothing left inside of me to expel and I was feeling better. His mom and friend tied more white strings on me. I was beginning to look like a mummy. His mom's friend wished me good luck and said I would have twins and live to be 120 or more. She said we would see each other again. I felt happy and sad at the same time. That weekend I had been hosted by a family who didn't know me, embraced by friends who treated me with such kindness and generosity and fed me and drowned me with alcohol and didn't expect anything from me. They were just happy to meet someone new who embraced their culture and traditions.
We left with sad goodbyes and promises to return and visited John's friend Biyuk who gave us white milky whiskey like Korean macgolee. He made me drink some even though I told him how sick I was. When I said goodbye I touched his head. Whoops! His friends and family in the room gasped and acted surprised by my action. I totally forgot it is not polite to touch peoples heads. The head is sacred and it is disrespectful to do so to any Thai person!
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