Life in the Kingdom

Sabai de mai kha ?( Are you well? ) - Sabai is translated as "happy" but its use is closer to "comfortable" "relaxed" or "well". To Thais, happiness is not a state opposite that of sorrow... rather it is more like tranquility. Sitting by the seaside with the wind blowing in your hair is sabai. Winning the lottery is not.

I'll stay away from much talk of the political situation here as I expect you've had your fill with the recent Canadian election. I will say that it appears that anti government demonstrations and pro democracy groups in the streets of Bangkok will force this government to resign. We'll wait and see! We're trying to sift through the news reports and messages we've received and find the reality underneath.

I finally decided to start using the motorcycle taxis. It's amazing what one will do when the temperature is 35 degrees, the traffic is horrendous and there is a need to be at a work meeting for a certain time. For 10 baht ( 0.33 cdn) one can get to a destination in no time. These taxi stands and friendly drivers can be seen on almost every corner donning their orange vests. And actually it wasn't as scary as it appeared. Perhaps I've been lucky to get drivers who manouver through the traffic with some caution:)

I'd like you to meet Ben, one of the children at the Orphanage. I hope you'll understand the importance to me of introducing you to these children in this blog. I have come to know such life- giving beauty there - and although many have been abandoned and have major disabilties , the personalities and spirit of these children continues to inspire and touch me. They have so little, yet are filled with so much graciousness.

Ben is three years old and is blind. He does not speak orally, rarely eats solid food and still drinks milk from a baby bottle. He was abandoned by his mother . Her circumstances did not provide her with the ability to care for a disabled son. Ben is a "live wire". Although he doesn't have sight he has been able to use his other senses to function quite well. He loves to be held and touched and relishes the brief moments he gets outside of the ward.

We continue to leave the hectic pace of Bangkok behind on the weekends and travel to rural villages where we can walk about and mingle with locals.

Recently we visited a Karen tribe. They are commonly known as the "Long Necks"-signifying the practice of adorning their women in multiple brass rings around the neck, the arms and the legs. The rings are a prominent sign of female beauty and status. This neck ring adornment begins when the girls are 5 or 6 years old and the neck grows longer as additional rings are added with each passing year. They have a long history and their customs and traditions come from an ancient medium , the details many Karen themselves have forgotten.

A small fishing village in the south captured our attention on our travels. In areas where the children don't see many foreigners, they're always keen to say hello and check us out. The girl in the photo below was keen about trying out the little bit of English she learned and engaged me in some English banter in which I was happy to share.

Blessed with over 2500 kilometers of fertile coastline, Thailand has emerged as one of the world’s leading suppliers of seafood products to the world. Thailand ranks as the world’s leading producer and exporter of shrimp products.

In a developing country such as Thailand we observe many sites that would not pass any safety code in the western world. The country is developing at such a rapid pace though and in the year we've been here we have observed small noticable improvements in safety standards.

Near one of the popular beach towns is the Sanctuary of Truth, a gigantic wooden construction. Every square inch of the building is covered with wooden carve sculpture. The purpose of decoration with wooden carve sculptures are to use art and culture as the reflection of ancient vision of Earth, ancient knowledge, and eastern philosophy. Within this structure visitors go on a journey in an attempt to understand life, human responsibility, basic thought, cycle of living- overall the relationship between human beings and the universe. It's a phenomenal piece of work.

This sanctuary of truth was conceived out of the vision that human civilization has been achieved and nurtured by religious and philosophical truth. This sanctuary was created from goodness drawn from religion , philosophy and art. Walking througout this building is a reminder of this and whisks us away from the world filled with materialism, devotion to money and advanced technology. It offers reflection and hopefully some other truths to people who are after only happiness in this life, and those that believe that there is no life after this.

Approximately 100 kms from Bangkok is Koh Si Chang island. We took a 40 minute boat trip to reach the island. We spent a leisurely day- rented a motorcycle and enjoyed the day exploring the island and enjoying the local food. The geography of the island consists mostly of hills and a few small beaches. There is no resource of fresh water on the island. The locals have water transported by boat from the shore. The main source of income of islanders comes from fishery and we saw simple and traditional lifestyles of islanders here. The most important attractions on the islands are old European style buildings that are remnants from the early 20th century when King Rama V took refuge here during summer. Nowadays, there are a few small hotels on the island. Our first stop on the tour was the nearby Khao Yai Spirit Shrine which was situated in a Chinese Temple. This temple becomes very crowded during Chinese New Year. There are steps behind the temple that lead up to a viewpoint which houses a replica of Buddha’s Footprint. This was made during the reign of King Rama V from a sacred stone that was brought from the birthplace of the Buddha. The extra 300 hundred or so steps will pass by wild monkeys and there are wonderful panoramic views of the township below and the hills beyond.

The women in the Canadian Club of Thailand showed their stuff recently as models in a fashion show. All for a good cause, as the Canadian women walked the catwalk to support the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer a medical facility who assists underprivledged women get the care they need to heal or die with dignity from Breast Cancer . There is no universal health care here and woman who cannot afford the private hospitals are often not able to access quality health care.

Kelsey is getting much exposure to Thai family life through her relationship with James. James will be doing a few weeks in the monkhood on his 21st birthday- this being a traditional Buddhist custom for every boy and young man. He will have his hair and eyebrows shaved and wear the orange robe as he learns more teachings about Buddhism. They are however mourning the future loss of his "corn rows" hairstyle :) Her Thai is improving ( much better than mine) as well as James' English. Her school although small, provides her with an opportunity to make friends with people from other countries. On the balcony of our condominuim pictured below is Kelsey and her Norwegian friend Frieda.

Michel is off to China soon on a work trip. Sadly his father in France has been diagnosed with advanced bone and liver cancer. For now, we keep regular contact and hold him in our thoughts and prayers.

I began my French classes and have begun teaching a Conversational English class to French women once a week living in Bangkok as well as on occasion teach ESL to Thai children . Practicing using Thai is important to me and I continue to hilariously struggle with the tones. Future work with the refugee camp staff will require some more travel to the north in December. With her high school graduation soon to be a reality, Kelsey is now considering options for post secondary education next year.

This country and people still "wows" us. The paradoxes and beauty both in the landscape, culture and the people creates in us teachings that continually mould us.

It's a school holiday next week and we're off to Vietnam for 6 days. I'll share a bit about our trip in our next blog update.

Until then..... With love and blessings

Go well.

Dorothy, Kelsey and Michel

Life in the Kingdom

Sawwaadee kha.....Since we returned from our holiday and begin our 2nd year in Thailand we have been interested in following the political tensions that are filling up daily news and conversation on the street. The rumblings like the thunder here during this rainy season finds the country struggling to find a true democracy. Many Thais believing that our Western style democracy will not be effective here without some interim measures.

Before the State of Emergency was called here, we ventured out to the protest area to get a sense of what is happening. Despite the obvious rhetoric from both the government and the protesters we found the approximately 20,000 protesters to be well organized, festive and determined to see this through until the present gov't resigns. Some were anxious to spend time and talk with the few foreigners who were there. By occupying Government House on August 26, the People's Alliance for Democracy known as PADD has forcefully taken the long debate on Thai democracy to the next level. Despite an election in December 2007, the group's leader, says elections are only one piece of democracy, and money politics or vote buying among the "illiterate" and "rural poor" in Thailand threatens to destroy the political system. Prime Minister Samak has called the PADD the "People's Alliance for the Destruction of Democracy" and says that resigning or calling a new election would be giving into mob rule. So we watch and hope for reconciliation as the people of Thailand strive for accountability and transparency in government.

Despite the media reports, things appear to be moving along as usual here. As one taxi driver reportedly said after the government announced a state of emergency, "things are saibai saibai - gentle, gentle". Earlier in July we were pleased to have Peter and Flo Wallis visit us. Peter and Flo were in Thailand for a Lions Club International Convention and were able to stay with us for a few days. Peter is seen enjoying his first elephant ride. They also attended Canada's birthday celebration with us organized by the Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Flo, Kelsey and I are pictured preparing for a tug of war contest. It definitely was their lucky day and even though we didn't win the tug of war, Peter and Flo won and enjoyed a major prize which happended to be two nights at a luxurious resort in the south. Flo even got to experience an overnight Thailand train ride!

Before we left for our vacation in Nova Scotia Michel spent a week in Suzhou China. Although it was a working trip he always had his camera close by and found a little time for some site seeing. He came back and one of his first comments was " Mayonaise there's alot of people out there"! Following our return to Bangkok Michel is back to work and Kelsey is back at school to complete her grade 12. She's enjoying the Bangkok night scene on the weekends and recently began dating a Thai young man -she's said she'll let me share more about that in the next blog:) I plan to continue my casual work as a Learning and Development Consultant with the Thai Burma Border Refugee Consortium as well as spend time at the Orphanage. Teaching English through storytelling to children has brought out the kid in me and continuing to learn about Thai culture, religion and history through attending lectures and conducting tours at the National Museum all add to a full life here. After all these years I've decided to learn French and intend to start classes at the Alliance Francaise in October. At least I'll have a teacher at home :) Should be interesting!!!! The Club Canada women are active and I'm enjoying my friendships with them as well as others and value my involvement with the Welfare Committee.

Traveling continues to be in our plans. Weekend excursions and longer trips to parts of Thailand is a highlight for us as we continue to explore and learn about this country and neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.

The elephant in the photo is made out of sand- his name is Gnesha and he one of the Hindu gods who is very popular in Thailand especially with the youth. Since he is known to be the god of good luck, many young people can be found making offerings of sweets to him during school exam time:)

Recovering from the jet lag after the long journey back from NS took us a about a week and during that time we decided to venture through one of Bangkok's well known slums. Klong Toey Slum is one of the oldest and largest slums in Bangkok, having been around for about 50 years. The slum communities are made up of a majority of rural migrants from Northeast Thailand who came to Bangkok for job opportunities. They face threats of eviction from the authorities in Thailand because they have no legal right to the land that they occupy. Many who live there are not able to receive any basic facilities such as water supply, electricity and waste removal from the government. Poverty and health problems are just some of the difficulties faced by the slum community . There are groups whose focus is to help the urban poor and the work they do in Klong Toey was evident to us.

The Klong Toey slum might look like a cluster of old shacks from the outside. However, as we explored the slum, we discovered that there is much more to the place. The wooden shacks are built very close together, with a small lane in between (not more than six feet wide). It feels like a very compact mini town. It has about 100 000 people and felt very much like a close community. Typical of the Thai people, smiles were shared with us. It looks like a maze with passages leading to different corners by the small lane. Other than the homes, they have their own small food stalls that sell basic necessities such as canned food, sauce and other household items. Most other homes fit into our typical picture of how a slum would look . There is a damp and fishy smell that permeates the area. Yet, one thing does stand out. I noticed too that the Buddha shrines are always kept very clean with fresh flowers such as jasmine, no matter how old or run-down the place was.

A ten minute walk from our condominuim is Patpong, one of Bangkok's red light districts. Glaring neon signs on both sides of the narrow road, skimpily-dressed Thai girls standing on the pavement, men holding up signs for ‘pussy shows’ (“Cheap cheap for you, only two hundred baht!) Many look no older than 14 or 15. We've heard many of these women choose this way of life because of the lack of employment opportunities back home, responsibilities to their families- many young girls are sent by their families to make money to send home which is frequently seen in their village as a badge of honor . These women make up a significant part of the sex industry in Bangkok: stripping, performing in exotic dance shows, giving sex services in hotels and apartments . Drug trafficking is common and some try to marry foreigners in hopes of getting a better life and status. This got me reflecting about what a sex worker does just to get by, and how millions others the world over – live their lives this way. It brings home the reality that while we live our comfortable middle-class existences, there are pockets in every city where people put themselves out for sale.

One of the first tips we got from after arriving in Bangkok was “don’t eat the food from road side stalls”. Well, we've defied that and thank goodness. In Bangkok, all we can see is food! Chicken, pork, insects, fish, exotic fruits and vegetables and many well known thai dishes. We love getting to know the vendors and sampling their tasty dishes prepeared on the spot.

A trip to Khao Yai National Park recently was breathtaking. Khao Yai National Park is the second-largest park in Thailand. It was the country's first national park.. The park is home to some 3,000 species of plants, 320 species of birds and 67 species of mammals, including Asiatic black bears, Asian elephants, gaur, tigers, gibbons, Indian sambar deer, Indian muntjac,and wild pigs. Its waterfalls include the 80-meter high Heo Narok, and the Haeo Suwat falls that were made famous by the film The Beach. We combined the visit with a trip to a famous Khumer ruin called Pimai in the Northeast. The North-East is still the least known part of Thailand. During the times we've visited it we are impressed with its simplicity and its authenticity. Well that's all for now! Hope your autumn is stunning!

Blessings and Go well,

Love Kelsey, Dorothy and Michel