Life lately

I should start with what is on my mind.

People here are obsessed with aromatic inhalers.

I see them everywhere, on everyone; everyone sniffing these chapstick-shaped inhalers, sometimes letting them dangle out of each nostril while walking down the street. Coworkers have pulled them out at the lunch table, sniffing constantly. Friends take them out at dinner, sniffing and giggling at the same time. At first I thought, Jesus Christ. Are they getting high off these things? What is in them? What is making them DO this all the time? It was starting to baffle me, quite frankly. While waiting for a friend to meet me and Pee Fah (coworker) for Thai BBQ, a bus passed by with an image of a smiling, beautiful – whitewashed – woman holding an “aromatic inhaler,” according to the ad. She looks so refreshed, it’s mindblowing. Loaded with a Google search-term, I type “aromatic inhaler + Thailand” into the engine of knowledge. I get this article that discusses the culture of ya dom – the Thai nasal inhaler. The conclusion – no, they aren’t getting high, but quite possibly physiologically addicted to clearing out their nasal passages, since scent is important in this culture.

Okay, now that that is cleared up – pun well intended – I can talk about what has been going on regarding life in the east.

Did I mention Thai BBQ? Yea, that was crazy. Imagine an entire buffet line of raw meats – whole crabs, shrimps, pork, chicken, et al… all for the taking, right? Stowing it on a plate, and heading back to your table where you cook it all on a coal barbeque grill. During dinner, two elephants came up to our table. I wasn’t expecting this. They were being ridden by men exploiting them for money, obviously. I strongly oppose this practice. Yet, the market of tourism perpetuates this industry. Come ride an exotic elephant, whitefolk. After initially feeling disgust towards the men choking the elephants, it occurred to me it wasn’t just the elephants who were being exploited. It was obviously also the men towing them around – the capitalist market forces Thailand to compete,  plunging them into whatever industry earns them a living. It’s a cycle of exploiting each other, starting with the most powerful government on the earth. Cue music: “Proud to be an American.”

I went to this bar last week with a few of the ladies from Rainbow Sky. We passed out condoms to patrons and then rewarded ourselves with whiskey icees for all of our hard work. Blueberry, strawberry, and grape – and obviously snacks like tom yum soup to go with it when we got hungry. Oh dear god, and I also met an icon in Thai sexuality research – Megan Sinnot!!! She was just SITTING at the table with her research assistant when we got there, waiting to interview my Rainbow Sky associate friends. She asked me why I was here, and I asked her the same – she said she was here doing research. I go: You’re not Megan Sinnot ARE YOU? And her face turns red, and she is blushing at my recognition of her. It was sort of cute. She is here doing research on ghosts now. Oh, academic rockstars. Sooooo cool.

This past weekend, rather than shopping day in and day out I decided to journey to a temple on Saturday. It was spiritual and interesting. At first I had no idea what was going on, being that it was crowded and disorderly with tents on every side of me and people lined up and seated all around. So I strolled around the side of the temple, which is just lovely – comprised of rivers and bridges and statues. I even stood by a man who had huge sunglasses and a track jacket, and was smoking hand-rolled cigarettes. We had to be friends, despite a language barrier, I decided. You will find his picture below. He even looked at me through hand-binoculars. After staring at the huge fish in the river for a really long time, I took off my shoes and wandered inside the temple. I’m not sure if I was actually allowed to take photos, but others were filming and snapping pictures so I considered it okay, but it felt strange and taboo, so I tried to limit it.

That day it also poured like I have never experienced rain before. Maybe because I have never been outside in such dire conditions, but the rainy season gave it to me hard and wet when I was on my way to Kaloang Home Kitchen, a restaurant on the Chao Phraya River. What made it worse were the filters on the roofs of buildings, which would pour the rain on me in buckets as if I weren’t soaking enough. The rain dropped lightly at first – “Ah, how refreshing, on this warm day,” I think to myself, or even say out loud. (I have been talking and singing to myself a lot lately.) Then, within a minute, or block and a half of walking, it is war between the sky and me – rain is thrashing on the sidewalk, and I am shelterless. I stand under a phonebooth to look at the address of the restaurant in my Bangkok city guide book, hail a tuk tuk, and the rest is frustration after frustration, until I finally get to the restaurant with the help of a taxi. The day I forget my umbrella..

And work has been going really well. Coworkers and I have lunch everyday, and they know I only eat seafood and they are always really accommodating. On Wednesday I am meeting a volunteer’s sister who works at the hospital to hear her experiences working with people.. Apparently it is also a long weekend and my boss invited me to her home in Chiang Mai, so if that’s still a go – I’m so there.

I am still in the process of working on the Global Fund for Women grant, which has been an interesting one. It involves communicating with the staff here in meetings through Pee Pat, who speaks both English and Thai. I like grant-writing. Which is good, because that seems to be what my job is. Oh, and today, a staff member/volunteer whose name I don’t know says to me: Can you tell me about pride? And although I think she means gay pride, I’m not sure. So I ask her, what kind of pride? She tells me she is coordinating Bangkok Pride, and we sit and brainstorm ideas about what she can do. I show her images from my friend Nikki’s Facebook of San Francisco Pride, and suggest she add marching to the agenda. She shows me images from last year’s event where everyone got a rainbow umbrella. I google-imaged Pride parades, and found an image of people marching with rainbow umbrellas. She loved it. Sometimes you just don’t need words!

Also, without being in the company of other people much of the time, and if and when I am in the company of people, they don’t speak English, I notice my internal monologue beginning to define itself. It is a little hard to explain, and I’m not sure what I fully mean either, but my own thoughts and voice in my head have taken a shape of their own. I mentioned how I talk to myself but that is only part of it; that is sort of keeping myself company when I am bored walking on the street (on my way back from Dusit Park, I sang songs from Franki Valli to Usher.) But the other part has to do with my thought process – it is sort of like I am trapped alone in my own head, but not in a bad way, and so my own head has gotten to know its thoughts without someone influencing it. I went to the market with Umm and Nana, and I was looking at a shirt, and Umm said “I don’t think so.” I appreciated her opinion but at the same time, I like my own voice to tell me what to do. I think that’s the best example I can give at this time, shallow and superficial as it is.

I can’t believe this is already my fourth week! Where..does..time…….go?

Here are some pictures of Wat Benchamabophit, a marble temple, Abhishek Dusit Throne Hall, and other miscellaneous items..

Chatuchak Park

The view from the Rainbow Sky Office

Wat Benchamabophit

Shrine

Beautiful table, perhaps very holy

Prayer

More prayer

The cool guy

Sign outside of a coffee store

Dusit Park

Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall

King Rama V statue

Chao Phraya River

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~ by Monster Femme on June 29, 2009.