One of the appalling aspects of this trip to Thailand has been learning more about the sex trade and the ways Westerners (farang) and men from other Asian countries support the explotation of women here. Prostitution is 'illegal' in Thailand, but it's everywhere. Go-go bars, massage parlors, shower bars - all fronts for prostitution. Dee, Alex's Thai girlfriend is 24 and quite lovely. She reports that she cannot go out on the streets of Bangkok (even with Alex) without being approached by men for sex. She says that being with our group is one of the first positive experiences she has had with Westerners, except for her relationship with Alex. Sex tours to Thailand are a hot tourist item, not just for heterosexuals, but also for gays as well.
Two of the young women in our group are studying women's roles in Asia and Alex and Dee took them to some of the sites in the red light district to interview the women. Although child prostitution still happens here, the women report that it is less frequent than earlier, and it's more likely to happen outside the established sites. Some of the bars require the women to have health screenings every 6 months and women can't work if they aren't 'clean.' But there's still lots happening out on the streets. One of the most depressing aspects for the young women who interviewed the prostitutes was that a number of them had college degrees, exploding their ideas that education would make a difference. Some of them said that the money drew them in, as they can earn considerably more than in a bank or office job.
At the bar they visited the women sit on stools behind a glass window with numbers on; men choose the number and the woman leaves to join him in another room. While Lacey and Kelsey were there, the women were not interacting with each other and just stared around straight ahead. The clients were a mix of Europeans, Americans, Thai and Japanese - all ages from early 20s to 60s. The women were mostly 20s and early 30s. According to their informant, the owner of the bar sets the price for each woman depending on her looks and his 'test' of her skills.
The whole situation is quite depressing. Once we heard the story, it was easier to spot the men on the prowl and the women who might be selling their services. Very sad to see this beautiful country 'infected' with this corruption. Seems so at odds with the Buddhist heart of this nation.
M
Monday, February 9, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Food!!
The food here in Thailand is incredible. Even the smallest hole in the wall noodle joint serves soups that are elegantly composed and rich with varied flavors that tease the tongue. (Hard to be a vegetarian here, however, also there are more tofu options than there were earlier, I guess.)
Last night five of us took a cooking class with a woman named Yui (who just recorded a show for the cooking network!). A great teacher, she learned her English by going to lots of English movies with English subtitles. Her English was very good.
She taught us how to make Panang Curry, Massuman Curry and Pad Pong Curry. She has a cooking school set up at her home with eight gas burners, woks and cooking stations outside under a veranda. First she cooked for us, walking through each step of the process and talking about the combinations of creamy, salty, spicy and sweet that are at the heart of all Thai cooking.
Then we each took our spots at our own woks and cooked an individual serving of the same dish. And then we got to EAT! Yum. We learned to cook Panang Curry, Massuman Curry and Pad Pong Curry. The last is my favorite. It's a northern Thai specialty, most often made with crab. They use soft-shelled crab and put the pieces in shell and all; we'd have to use shelled dungeness, which also would be declicious.
Before the class started she walked us through the vegetable market, the oldest in N. Thailand, and gave us an educational walk through all the varied vegetables and spices. I know that many of the things we saw aren't readily available in Bellingham, but some are and some can be found in Vancouver.
Very educational and LOTS of fun. She also gave each of us a cookcook, so once I get home I plan to host a Thai evening.
Last night five of us took a cooking class with a woman named Yui (who just recorded a show for the cooking network!). A great teacher, she learned her English by going to lots of English movies with English subtitles. Her English was very good.
She taught us how to make Panang Curry, Massuman Curry and Pad Pong Curry. She has a cooking school set up at her home with eight gas burners, woks and cooking stations outside under a veranda. First she cooked for us, walking through each step of the process and talking about the combinations of creamy, salty, spicy and sweet that are at the heart of all Thai cooking.
Then we each took our spots at our own woks and cooked an individual serving of the same dish. And then we got to EAT! Yum. We learned to cook Panang Curry, Massuman Curry and Pad Pong Curry. The last is my favorite. It's a northern Thai specialty, most often made with crab. They use soft-shelled crab and put the pieces in shell and all; we'd have to use shelled dungeness, which also would be declicious.
Before the class started she walked us through the vegetable market, the oldest in N. Thailand, and gave us an educational walk through all the varied vegetables and spices. I know that many of the things we saw aren't readily available in Bellingham, but some are and some can be found in Vancouver.
Very educational and LOTS of fun. She also gave each of us a cookcook, so once I get home I plan to host a Thai evening.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Pitluong Village
We took a sangtow far out of Chiang Dao, up roads into the hills and then on dusty windy dirt roads higher up yet to visit a hill tribe village. Once we left the paved roads, the lush green next to the roads turns to a monochrome dusty brown and before we got there we were all coated in a layer of dust.
The village is very small; wooden shacks on stilts to keep the homes dry during the monsoon season. The women were all in their native clothes, brightly colored woven garments, and had a market set up to sell some of their crafts, even though there were no outsiders there except us. Their hand work is quite beautiful.
We watched a woman weaving with a back-strap loom that I swear is exactly like those I saw Navaho women using in the southwest. Makes me wonder about the culture pathways of migration over the millenia, that in Thailand and in SW America, the same loom was developed.
Many of the women in the village chew beetal (is that how you spell it?) nut, an addictive stimulant that stains their teeth a dark purple. It's a surprise when they grin!
The small children in this village mostly were wandering around in just tee shirts, playing with stones and sticks in the dirt. Babies were rocking in outside cradles made from a blanket slung over two ropes in a kind of vee. We saw a little girl, perhaps three, with very blond hair and blue eyes and wondered if there were a farang family living in the village, but when Dee asked in Thai, the women replied that she was an albino.
M
The village is very small; wooden shacks on stilts to keep the homes dry during the monsoon season. The women were all in their native clothes, brightly colored woven garments, and had a market set up to sell some of their crafts, even though there were no outsiders there except us. Their hand work is quite beautiful.
We watched a woman weaving with a back-strap loom that I swear is exactly like those I saw Navaho women using in the southwest. Makes me wonder about the culture pathways of migration over the millenia, that in Thailand and in SW America, the same loom was developed.
Many of the women in the village chew beetal (is that how you spell it?) nut, an addictive stimulant that stains their teeth a dark purple. It's a surprise when they grin!
The small children in this village mostly were wandering around in just tee shirts, playing with stones and sticks in the dirt. Babies were rocking in outside cradles made from a blanket slung over two ropes in a kind of vee. We saw a little girl, perhaps three, with very blond hair and blue eyes and wondered if there were a farang family living in the village, but when Dee asked in Thai, the women replied that she was an albino.
M
Scouting
We had a plan yesterday (Friday) to visit some of the village schools near Chiang Dao, but the plans went south because of a four day Buddhist holiday - festival of flowers. We did go to one hill tribe school and found that it was 'scouting day.' All the children were in scout uniforms on the dirt playground doing precise military style drills with a drill master - boys in brown uniforms and girls in blue. There were also tents set up all over the yard and camping gear for cooking.
Dee says that all children in Thailand become scouts in middle/high school. It's an expected part of childhood. There are either wilderness scouts, which we were seeing, who learn woodcraft, wilderness survival and camping skills. There are also first aid scouts. I asked Dee about military service, since what we watched definitely had that flavor. She said that all young men are required to do three years of service, unless they have done a significant (longer than average I think) amount of scouting - maybe analagous to Eagle Scouts?
Thailand has lots of national parks; I think more than any other country in terms of % of national land, so these wilderness skills must be useful.
I wonder what our culture would be like if all children participated in scouting? I wonder if the Thai version of scouting has a similar value structure to ours?
M
M
Dee says that all children in Thailand become scouts in middle/high school. It's an expected part of childhood. There are either wilderness scouts, which we were seeing, who learn woodcraft, wilderness survival and camping skills. There are also first aid scouts. I asked Dee about military service, since what we watched definitely had that flavor. She said that all young men are required to do three years of service, unless they have done a significant (longer than average I think) amount of scouting - maybe analagous to Eagle Scouts?
Thailand has lots of national parks; I think more than any other country in terms of % of national land, so these wilderness skills must be useful.
I wonder what our culture would be like if all children participated in scouting? I wonder if the Thai version of scouting has a similar value structure to ours?
M
M
Spirit Houses
We've left Chiang Dao and the orpanage. Back to Chiang Mai for a few days before heading to Bangkok and then off to India. I've been trying to do a photo essay of the spirit houses that are common here in the north part of Thailand. Most of the people here are Buddhists, but also are deeply attached to their Animist roots. In Anamism, people believe that everything has a spirit and that the spirits - both good and mischevious - come to visit your home. So outside of most homes they build a small spirit house and furnish it with tokens, coins, food and even furniture, so that the spirits will reside there instead of in their homes. Sometimes these spirit houses are just twigs and sticks in the shape of a little home, but more often they are intricately decorated with gilt, peaked roofs, little inset mirrors and figurines. Bowls of food and flowers are set there daily.
When we were at the Chiang Mai Night Market last week, I noticed that there were small bowls with food set down near the bottom of some of the stalls. Since then I have found out that these offerings are also to appease the spirits. This deep belief in the spirits can also be seen in the forest. When we were hiking the nature trail, we found large trees with ribbons tied around them. The ribbons were put there to please the female spirits that live in the trees. Many of the Buddhist monks have Anamist tatoos across their backs and chests, easy to see as the saffron robes they wear don't cover one shoulder. Dee, Alex's Thai girlfriend, says that the belief is that the spirit and characteristics of whatever animal you tatoo on your body will enter you and protect and sustain you.
I would like to read more about Anamism. There's a bookstore near the Baan we are staying in and I may try to find a book.
M
When we were at the Chiang Mai Night Market last week, I noticed that there were small bowls with food set down near the bottom of some of the stalls. Since then I have found out that these offerings are also to appease the spirits. This deep belief in the spirits can also be seen in the forest. When we were hiking the nature trail, we found large trees with ribbons tied around them. The ribbons were put there to please the female spirits that live in the trees. Many of the Buddhist monks have Anamist tatoos across their backs and chests, easy to see as the saffron robes they wear don't cover one shoulder. Dee, Alex's Thai girlfriend, says that the belief is that the spirit and characteristics of whatever animal you tatoo on your body will enter you and protect and sustain you.
I would like to read more about Anamism. There's a bookstore near the Baan we are staying in and I may try to find a book.
M
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Baan Mitratorn in Chiang Dao
While we're here in Chiang Dao we're volunteering in an AIDS orphanage. Established in 1998 by the Sisters of St Paul de Chartes, it serves 60 children -- 44 who are HIV positive and the rest who have been impacted by AIDS, either their parents have died or they were abandoned or brought to the orphanage because their families could no longer care for them.
The facilities at the Baan are both stark and in an odd way, luxurious. The facilities are certainly better than most of the children would be living in in the hill villages around here. Wide open sunlite rooms with tile floors. But the walls are bare and the children sleep in one large room for each gender on mats on the floor. The youngest is three and the oldest is 17. Most seem to be in the 3-10 age range.
The children get retrovirals twice at day and all seem quite healthy. The drugs are free, funded by the Thai government - for all Thai people in fact. Far ahead of US policy! So even when these children leave the orphanage, they will have access to treatment. Some of the children have been adopted by foreigners - Peng showed us a book with many pictures of sweet Thai faces in France, Sweden and Germany. It doesn't seem to be part of the Thai culture to adopt a child not of your family, so most adoptions means the child leaves Thailand.
We walked over to the school to meet the children as they came out of classes = all in their uniforms. They raced up to meet us, climbing in laps and dragging us to see something, all the while chattering in Thai. From what I have experienced, this is not typical of Thai children, although they are far more comfortable with many adults than most American children. (There is a practice here that ALL adults look out for ALL children.) Plong, a little girl about four years old, crawled up into my lap and another little boy wanted to take pictures with my camera. Thank goodness for digital. He loved taking a picture and looking at it.
Other older girls (maybe 9-10) were pushing some of the little ones on a big swing, singing songs that had the cadence of the jump rope songs we sang as kids. One song tumbled into another, and finally they began to sing Chang Chang, the elephant song we learned from Judy Pine before we left. It was fun to join in with them and see the surprise on their faces as we began to sing along in Thai.
Tomorrow I'm going back to work in the school. It will be interesting to see the practices in the classroom. At the end of the day assembly yesterday, all the children lined up in straight rows by class to sing a song and listen to announcements. Far more disciplined and orderly than any middle/high school I've seen.
The high school girls at this school are all boarding students who come from the hill villages. They were all headed for the sex trade industry and were gathered in by the Sisters. Peng says that the incredible poverty in the hill villages makes it an almost impossible situation for the families when there are too many mouths to feed, so this schooling situation is a blessing. Sitting with the 13-17 year old girls with their open smiles and quick laughs, it is hard to think of them as potentially on the streets of Bangkok servicing some foreign tourist. They were curious about us and our lives, asking many questions, each one followed by a quick laugh. Each looking to the others. One young woman had the best command of English, and she asked most of the questions, but looked always to the others for confirmation of the appropriateness of her ideas, and the others offered quick suggestions in Thai.
Finally, the bell rang and all the children left the school yard to gather tools and cleaning equipment to clean the school before leaving for the day. After the grounds and building were cleared, the girls marching band formed and performed for us, including a complicated foot routine and some Thai dancing.
On Friday we will spend time in the village schools near Chiang Dao, then back to Chiang Mai.
More later.
M
The facilities at the Baan are both stark and in an odd way, luxurious. The facilities are certainly better than most of the children would be living in in the hill villages around here. Wide open sunlite rooms with tile floors. But the walls are bare and the children sleep in one large room for each gender on mats on the floor. The youngest is three and the oldest is 17. Most seem to be in the 3-10 age range.
The children get retrovirals twice at day and all seem quite healthy. The drugs are free, funded by the Thai government - for all Thai people in fact. Far ahead of US policy! So even when these children leave the orphanage, they will have access to treatment. Some of the children have been adopted by foreigners - Peng showed us a book with many pictures of sweet Thai faces in France, Sweden and Germany. It doesn't seem to be part of the Thai culture to adopt a child not of your family, so most adoptions means the child leaves Thailand.
We walked over to the school to meet the children as they came out of classes = all in their uniforms. They raced up to meet us, climbing in laps and dragging us to see something, all the while chattering in Thai. From what I have experienced, this is not typical of Thai children, although they are far more comfortable with many adults than most American children. (There is a practice here that ALL adults look out for ALL children.) Plong, a little girl about four years old, crawled up into my lap and another little boy wanted to take pictures with my camera. Thank goodness for digital. He loved taking a picture and looking at it.
Other older girls (maybe 9-10) were pushing some of the little ones on a big swing, singing songs that had the cadence of the jump rope songs we sang as kids. One song tumbled into another, and finally they began to sing Chang Chang, the elephant song we learned from Judy Pine before we left. It was fun to join in with them and see the surprise on their faces as we began to sing along in Thai.
Tomorrow I'm going back to work in the school. It will be interesting to see the practices in the classroom. At the end of the day assembly yesterday, all the children lined up in straight rows by class to sing a song and listen to announcements. Far more disciplined and orderly than any middle/high school I've seen.
The high school girls at this school are all boarding students who come from the hill villages. They were all headed for the sex trade industry and were gathered in by the Sisters. Peng says that the incredible poverty in the hill villages makes it an almost impossible situation for the families when there are too many mouths to feed, so this schooling situation is a blessing. Sitting with the 13-17 year old girls with their open smiles and quick laughs, it is hard to think of them as potentially on the streets of Bangkok servicing some foreign tourist. They were curious about us and our lives, asking many questions, each one followed by a quick laugh. Each looking to the others. One young woman had the best command of English, and she asked most of the questions, but looked always to the others for confirmation of the appropriateness of her ideas, and the others offered quick suggestions in Thai.
Finally, the bell rang and all the children left the school yard to gather tools and cleaning equipment to clean the school before leaving for the day. After the grounds and building were cleared, the girls marching band formed and performed for us, including a complicated foot routine and some Thai dancing.
On Friday we will spend time in the village schools near Chiang Dao, then back to Chiang Mai.
More later.
M
Monday, February 2, 2009
Chiang Dao
We're in Chiang Dao today. Little town north of Chiang Mai. This morning we rode bikes 6k from the place we're staying to see the once a week Tuesday market in town. An amazing mix of traditional vendors selling the most amazing vegetables ( there are so many I don't recognize and the smells of fish paste and chilis seep into your clothes) and the worst of globalization. Under the big canvas it is like a Wal Mart in stalls. Lots of plastic and glitter and cheap clothes, most with American slogans and labels.
This afternoon we're going to an AIDS orphanage to volunteer with the children for the afternoon. We'll probably do this a couple of days while we're here. There are 60 children there, 40 infected with the virus and the remainder taken in because their parents died or they were abandoned.
Time to leave now, so more later.
M
This afternoon we're going to an AIDS orphanage to volunteer with the children for the afternoon. We'll probably do this a couple of days while we're here. There are 60 children there, 40 infected with the virus and the remainder taken in because their parents died or they were abandoned.
Time to leave now, so more later.
M
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
