On Bus 48

a story.

I met a monk yesterday. I was roaming the courtyards surrounding Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) just after a heavy rain, stepping sideways to narrowly avoid fresh puddles while wrestling with my camera strap to get that PERFECT shot of the orange-robed monks shuffling around the base of the nearby chapel as tourists and Thais recited prayers and lit ceremonious candles. So anyway, naturally I was caught off gaurd when a smiling monk approached me and asked where I was from.

"Er...New York City" I replied lamely, sure that he was going to reprimand me for using a camera in the temple grounds.

"Ah, the United States of America" he nodded, making me realize how presumptious I was to assume everyone knows every city in America. Way to go.

We started chatting, mostly about the U.S., he telling me about a trip he made to Calfornia a few years back, having been sponsored by an American woman who wanted the monk to teach her son Thai.

It all seemed quite ordinary, until he asked me if I wanted to teach English. At first I thought he was inviting me to sit in on one of his classes about Buddhism, which I learned he taught often through a series of tidbits of information and the giggling group of Thai schoolgirls standing behind him who he referred to as his students. When I was handed a cell phone by another monk - yes, monks carry cell phones tucked into the pockets of their robes- who had already dialed a number, I realized I was talking to an English speaking woman on the other end who asked if I would be interested in teaching an English class to students at the Temple. I told her, YESYESYYES!!!!...ok more like, "Um, well yeah, definitely, I'd be very interested"...and then she told me to meet her at the Temple office on Sunday at 9:00 am.

So there it is. A sign. The ONE thing I have always been sure I'd be good at, or at least find worthwhile, finds me in Bangkok, Thailand.

Fin.

P.S. To be continued...

P.P.S. Isn't the little girl behind the gate beautiful?

On a self-guided walking tour of Bangkok today I was blown away by the normalcy of the environment. I have no frame of reference for the scope of the effects on the city post-protests since I've never been here before, but from what I have seen it appears that people have sprung back from the devastating deaths and military involvement during the red-shirt riots with much ease and vitality.

The street carts are bustling, mysterious foods (to me, atleast) frying and grilling on open flames while business men eat lunch at the setup tables on the sidewalk, the vendors selling everything imaginable for 150 baht ($5), and Thai teenagers filing into Siam Paragon shopping multiplex in straight lines, hair in ponytails and uniforms straight and clean, giggling and holding hands.

The sky train feels like a glimpse into the future; as I rode the escalator up to the platform the whole city was suddenly laid out before me.

I caught a glimpse of an old woman flipping meat kebabs on a rusted streetcart while silver skyscrapers rose serenely in the distance - just one of many examples of the astonishing cohesion of simple village life and the industrialized modernity that exists in Bangkok.

The photos above are of the buildings that burned sometime last week during the red-shirt protests.

color-coded.

I feel self-conscious in front of the Thai people. When I interact with them in the village and on the street I find myself averting my eyes, or otherwise trying to catch theirs quickly, fervently, hoping for a fleeting connection, or some sort of acknowledgment that I'm just like them.

I know, to them, I look like just another white Westerner, here for holiday to drink beer on their beaches and buy cheap souvenirs. They see visitors as dollar signs, and nothing more. After witnessing the throngs of tourists in their expensive Diesel shorts and Ray-Ban sunglasses traipsing through the alleys of Phi Phi village, demanding cheap Pad Thai and back massages while shoving money in the locals faces, it feels like a bit of a cliche to even be here. I find myself hoping I look appreciative, respectful, understanding of the Thai people, their lifestyles and customs. The tourists on holiday are a messy, rambunctious vaccuum sucking up all that this little island has to offer, and watching the way they act makes me nauseous to be associated with such an inconsiderate mass.

The least I can do is smile in earnest when I come in contact with a local, and do my best to learn the basics of the language.

Kob Khun Ka- Thank You (when female is speaking)

Sawasdee ka - Hello