My Thai Times

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Crickets are kinda tasty





I didn't think I would ever do this, but I snacked on some crickets with lunch this afternoon. While we were having our afternoon repast, some Thai people sitting behind us offered us some crickets and a couple shots of rum. Since they were being so nice, I didn't want to seem ungrateful and decline such a generous offer. After the initial cricket (salty, kind of crunchy) I had several more with my fried chicken. Hey, don't knock it till you try it!

The Rocket Festival




This weekend Revonna and I travelled with sixteen other people from my school to Northern Thailand for the Rocket Festival. It was just like the Crab Carnival or Bay Days or the Oyster Festival except that everything is centered around the rockets. There was a long parade, lots of music, good food, and rockets of all sizes. Thailand is preparing for the rainy season and as kind of a tribute to the rain gods, rockets are launched. Of course, every farmer wants to have the biggest and best rocket. The missles themselves looked pretty primitive but boy could they fly. Luckily, none of them landed on us.

Northern Thailand



Little girl looking at one of the rockets shooting off into the sky.

A man selling lotus seeds.

Nothing like a little mud wrestling.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Koh Chang








For those of you who don’t know, my friend Revonna arrived in Bangkok last Wednesday for a three week stay. After she had more or less recovered from jetlag, I whisked her away to Koh Chang, a mellow island in the Gulf of Thailand, not too far from Cambodia. I had Monday off from school so we had a nice three day weekend to relax. We traveled with Courtney (I went to elephant camp with her) and Sunny, Daylin, and Mike (my Tiger Temple travel companions). Friday afternoon right after school we caught a bus down to Trad (a five hour ride) where we spent the night at Pop’s Guest house before taking the ferry over to Koh Chang in the morning.
Saturday we awoke to a beautiful and bright sun, which was a nice gift after nearly a full week of rain and clouds. (The rainy season doesn’t officially start until June, but for whatever reason, we have been plagued with rain.) We arrived in Koh Chang (the second largest island in Thailand) and Sunny had us delivered to White Sands beach. This stretch of beach is the most unpretentious and relaxed place I have ever been. I took my shoes off when we got there and didn’t put them back on until we left. Everything we needed was right on the beach or just a short walk away to the main street.
Along the beach there is a quaint string of slightly ramshackle guest houses and restaurants. We passed up the expensive place ($28/night) for one of the cheaper places ($12/night). This simple little bungalow is right on the beach, although I don’t know how much longer it will be there. At high tide, the water reached the bottom of the stairs to our little room and literally washed away the bottom step Saturday night. We had one room and a small bathroom. Quite rustic. In addition to the bed, the only other furnishing in the room was a complicated looking mosquito net piled up above the bed that we didn’t bother with. The two windows did not have screens or glass, they were just big rectangular openings through which to view and hear the sea. The shutter type enclosures stayed open the whole time we were there, mocking the padlock on the door. These open windows also allowed a fairly large lizard to sneak in and greet me when I woke up Monday morning.
There was something magical about the weekend. The way time seemed to be irrelevant while on the island. I felt totally removed from the rest of the world. No cars, no distressing news, no obligations—just the crashing waves, the ocean breeze, the busy sand crabs. The way the mist hung above the surf and framed the islands in the distance. I had planned on reading (I had packed three books) but I didn’t read much. I was perfectly content to lie on the bed and listen to the eternal rhythm of the sea. Happy to sit on the porch and watch the tide go out. I did get a massage one day and a foot scrub the next which was probably the extent of my productivity while on the island. I took naps, walked on the beach with Daylin, watched other travelers playing in the surf. After we were both wakened in the wee hours of Sunday morning by a terrific thunderstorm, Revonna and I stayed up and caught up on some lost time. The slow pace coupled with the beauty of the ocean, the way the colors changed from blue to green to gray, was simply sublime.

Henna anyone?

Sunday was a wash, but only weather wise. The thunderstorm that raged throughout the night was supplanted by a slow and steady rain for most of the day. We had originally planned on renting scooters and exploring the islands but the rain kind of nixed that idea. The torrential downpour also ruined any dreams we had of snorkeling. So Mike went to an internet café and worked on his online course. The rest of us floated in and out of Pen’s Bungalow throughout the day, an open air restaurant and bar that had rooms to rent and a tattoo parlor upstairs. A handsome blue-eyed Australian was often working and he was always amenable to our requests. We sat around, some of us read, some of us chatted with fellow travelers: the French law student and her English boyfriend or the couple from the Yukon. As I sipped on a coconut shake or snacked on some tempura vegetables, I furtively read the spines of other people’s books as they were cradled in their hands, hoping to glean some information about them (for those interested, the various titles included Globalization, Blink, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).
Since I wasn’t in the mood for reading, I made my way over to the corner where the tattoo artist had some pictures of his work displayed along with related materials, sample designs and such. I had seen this guy around the place on Saturday but had not talked to him. He seemed to be a very eccentric fellow for a Thai man. He might have been all of five feet tall, somewhere near forty years old, tattoos all over his body, several piercings (both nipples, chin, tongue, and eyebrow; one ear had a short pencil through the earring hole and the other one had a spiral wooden ornament through it). His nails were painted black and he usually had something on his head, either a wrap of sorts or a funky hat. He looked like someone you could have an interesting conversation with.
I flipped through magazines and through photo albums. Daylin came over before long to take look, too. We were joined by the tattoo artist, Sam (pronounced sahm) who told Daylin that he could get a henna tattoo done. Henna would wash off in about three to four weeks, something that perhaps his mother would appreciate. Of course, Day was pretty taken by the idea. He picked out a nice dragon pattern and had Sam put it on his upper arm. It took about an hour. Sam sketched it on Daylin’s arm first with some kind of pen. It was a pretty detailed dragon and I was impressed with Sam’s detail. Once the sketch was complete, he mixed a powdered solution with some liquid to create the henna ink. With a small brush, he painted the ink on. I sat across from Daylin for a while and just watched. He looked like a young soldier who was getting his first tattoo, his shirt off, his chin tucked to his shoulder as he watched the picture emerge.
Once the dragon was done, Daylin had to sit for thirty minutes. As the henna dried, it started to flake. I could tell he wanted to pull it off right away, kind of like the way some kids just itch to pick at a scab. When it was all dry, Sunny helped him wash the flaky part away and revealed a pretty bad ass henna tattoo.
Courtney was so impressed, she got one too. She chose a nice flower pattern and had it painted on her left hand. Very elegant.

Indelible passion


Passion—adjective
4 a (1) : EMOTION (2) plural : the emotions as distinguished from reason b : intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction
5 a : ardent affection : LOVE b : a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept c : sexual desire d : an object of desire or deep interest

What is it about a tattoo that intrigues me? I think the idea of the flesh being used as a canvas is fascinating. The notion of permanence is both foreboding and enticing. John Irving’s latest novel is about the tattoo culture and I think that has played a large part in piquing my interest. When I worked at Baker’s Crust in Richmond last year, many people had tattoos and I always wanted to strip them down and examine their ink, study the pictures, read the stories painted on their skin.
I can’t exactly tell you why I did it, but I did it. I picked out a Japanese character and took the plunge. I got inked. Sunny offered to stay with me, to hold my hand in a sense, but I said no. My main reason for declining was I didn’t want her to see me if I chickened out. If, after the first touch of the needle, I started screaming, I did not want her to witness it. So, everyone else went to dinner and I went upstairs to the very makeshift tattoo parlor.
Sam asked me to sit on the floor so he could sketch the character on my back. He suggested I have a drink or five because it was going to hurt pretty bad. He said he was joking but I got the feeling he wasn’t. So I ordered some wine. I didn’t think you were supposed to drink during tattoos because it thins your blood or something? After he sketched the outline, I laid on my belly and let him begin his work. It came down to the moment of truth. How much is it going to hurt? Will it bleed? Will I cry?
It only took an hour. The pain was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It was more annoying than it was painful. Like a scratching or a slight burning. I did grab on to the pillow a few times and had to focus on the colors in the painting that was propped up against the wall next to me. No tears though and no screaming. And then before I knew it, I was inked.