January 19, 2004
The street vendours of Thailand very successfuly menaged to sum up their selling philosophy in the above single sentence which is always a reason for some delight among the tourists and the locals. This is also the best description so far for the experience I had in the northern part of Thailand.
I took the night train to Chiang Mai to visit the friends and shop assistants of my Thai friend in Hungary (whom I misteriously met at my favourite Flamenco lesson before my departure to Nepal). Since this particular town of Thailand is regarded as one of the important cultural and shopping centre, I naturally ended up buying more presents, for the delight of my boyfriend who would have to carry it home soon, and hade one chin+japanese style readymade Thai silk dress done for me specially.
Of course I have my reasons to justify my shopping: It is all due to the fact that the 3-day trekking I took to see Lisu, Akha and Lahu villages was a disaster. Not only the villagers were disappointingly dressed in modern clothing and had their satellite dishes on each of their huts but the company of fellow trekkers (nearly all under 25, seeking for Opium experience) also added to it. You know the kind of feeling when you are the only one not having at least ten metal nail carefully positioned on your tounge, not using `fucking`as a fill-in after every second words of yours and your constant and seemingly endless conversation is not based entirely on drinking and various kinds of drug usages. So intensive is the feeling of being different that you begin to wonder maybe something is wrong with you. Maybe you are the last uncool, sad example of the disgraceful human race who have dirty thoughts concerning philosophical questions of Buddhism and the like (actually anything other than intoxicants). :)
OK, all I want to say it was a mistake to pick this trekk from an agency which boss was a pushy male she (ladyboy). I should have listened and went up to the more beautiful Chiang Rai near the Golden Triangle under Laos, or visit Mae Hong Son near the Burmase border where hundreds of ill day-trippers from Myanmar come to get an illegal and free treatment from emigrated Burmase doctors. It would have been more interesting than these very touristy places with the heartbreaking sights of the elephants being pulled by their ears with a huge spikey nail. :(
On the way to Sukhotai, the old capital of the Siam people I told you about last time, I read the exciting story of an Austrian woman who officially became the Mahadevi of a Shan state in Burma for then years until the beginning of the present military regime. In her memoir `My life as a Shan princess she beutifully tells the story which started out like a fairytale and ended with the disappearance of her beloved husband, the local prince. (You can buy in English, it is worth reading it because it is a `wonderful`description of the political situation of Myanmar.) (By the way, the Shans are not Burmese but rather an ethnic group closer to the Thai Siam people than anyone else, and they live across the border between the two countries.)
Sukhotai was a sleepy little town, where the architectural wonders tried very hard but could not really impress me after Bagan and Angkor. (I am sorry for that, really!) Although I have some great pictures of the huge curly-haired Buddhas holding various different attractive flowers in their hands collected from the park. (Oh, no. Not by me...:)) This was also the place where I met for the first time with woman travelling alone. (And not just one but 3, as if life wanted to make up for the lack of them so far.)
So, there we were: an Australian girl who is working on a project with locals in Chiang Rai for two years where they try to reintagrate the Thai village girls who were trafficed to Japan into their homeland society (while her Irish actor boyfriend is waiting for her in Europe), and a Dutch girl with a twisted kind of humor who married and divorced an Israeli because they could not live in each others` home country, a French physical education teacher who could easily play basketball with the big ones and is currently cycling around the world for two years now heading to Mongolia and China through Laos, and me representing Hungary at this special Christmas Eve party. :)
I love these spontanous things, wher you can easily see the Australian girl translating for a shy Japanese man from Japanese to Thai (none of her mother tounge!) to the humor loving guest house owners.
The last days in Thailand, or rather the busy Bangkok where shopping stalls which virtually sell everything never seem to close amid the noise pollution of the many motorcycles, were spent in the company of my boyfriend who came to spend the Christmas and the New Year with me. Before we flew together to Indonesia we visited the huge reclining Buddha in the Wat Po with the beautiful shell intarsia on his soles and the Royal Palace with its funny tale bearing pixy figures. Since the Wat Po is the traditional place for Thai massage, I had to try one - only to feel run-over the next day.:) In the garden of the palace we discovered a previously not seen species of flower which after getting ample attention by us gathered the entire number of present japanese visitors who all wanted to have a photo taken with the poor flower which was easily walked by them half an hour ago! :))
Another sociologically interesting experince was the songthew which took me down from Wat Doi Suthep to Chiang Mai scorpio and bug eating market centre. The two American girls tried desperately to communicate with the young monks in orange robes who spoke no English at all. At one point of their `conversation`the novices pulled out the latest version of some mobile phones to compare with that of the girls. I just had to laugh. I loved it!
Although, the mangosteens in the markets of Thailand have never gone unnoticed by tiglis the real era of manggis devours begin in Bali and Java in Indonesia. But this is another story told next time.
Happy New Year To You Al! May you all have the happiness, love and success you desire.
(And may you forgive me for not writing my Christmas Presi yet, which title by the way has understandably changed to `My New Year Present To You`. :)
Love:
Tiglis
PS: Dear Aravind! It was simply wonderful to have you call me and thereby letting Erwin to reach me when I was ill in Burma. So, I think it is me who should cook you something tasty when I am back to Hungary.