There's a salutatory/farewell gesture in Thailand called the wai (rhymes with sigh). I'm a big fan of it, though I've been very confused as to when and how to perform it. It's basically a simple bow, with your hands placed, palms-together, in front of you, although exactly where in front of you is where it gets tricky. If you're wai-ing a monk or, Buddha-be-blessed, the King, then you want your hands in front of your face, thumbs touching your nose, and you bow, and I mean seriously bow; let the blood rush to the noggin a little. I also give these head-rush wais to the Catholic sister-nuns at my school (yes, Scooter Boot works at a Catholic school. more on the irony of that later.). Wais are generally given as a sign of heart-felt thanks, and can be given casually to anyone on the street or in a shop, though you should lower the hands a little, so as not to make a false idol out of your waitress. One thing you must never do, and I found this out amidst a bevy of laughter, is wai someone younger than you, especially if you're a teacher wai-ing a student. I was told by a particularly peeved little girl that I had just wai-ed a year off of her life (her explanation of this was classic; some people actually believe that if you wai a younger person, they lose a year of their life; some believe it's seven years of life). She wasn't the first child I had wai-ed, and it soon dawned on me that I had done more damage to the lives of Thai children, with my well-intentioned wais, than second-hand smoke.
Seems there's no copyright enforcement over here in the Eastern Hemisphere (shit, I'm in the Eastern Hemisfuckinphere! That still boggles the mind). You can find carts at any major night-market filled to the brim with the most recent blockbusters. Or you can walk into an iPod shop and choose from thousands of albums and movies to download for less than $3 each. I'm talking about shit that's still in theatres. I bought DVD's of Quantum of Solace, Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and the like for about $7 a pop. Luckily I have a few friends who are downloading fiends, so I've been able to see films that way as well. My two recent faves are Gran Turino (could be Clint's last film, and it's a fucking gem), and Slumdog Millionaire, a movie brilliant beyond description. It takes place in Mumbai, but reminds me very much of Thai people and locales. Just see it.
Remember those big glass soda pop bottles from back in the day? We got those over here. Damn I missed those.
Thai people love the shit out of some Cranberries. I catch my students singing "Zombie" in the class-room all the live long day. That and Flo Rida's "Low" are currently the two most popular Western songs in Thai existence. Another funny story featuring "Low" coming soon.
Chickens and roosters are abundant in this country. They're everywhere, from the sparsely populated countrysides to the seedy back-alleys of Bangkok. But there's something wrong with these fowl, and I ain't talking about Avian Flu. It's obvious that they're not eating well, and the roosters boast the most pathetic doodle-doo's I've ever heard. If there is such a thing as a chain-smoking chicken, with tuberculosis, then Thailand's got loads. I've got a family of them living quite literally outside of my bedroom window, and every morning I wake up to the scratching chalkboard of their cock-a-doodles. It's very painful to listen to, but a great deterrent for over-sleeping. One night, I decided to fuck with their poultry little heads, and I set my cell-phone alarm clock ring to rooster. It sounds more like a rooster then the poor bastards outside my house, and it's pretty loud at that. So the next morning, seven o'clock rolls around and off goes my alarm clock. I held the phone up to the window to demonstrate a proper cock-call. I think it blew their tiny little minds, but soon only incensed them to try harder. Kinda felt bad after that. Can't believe I just wrote a whole paragraph on roosters. Don't even get me started on the ducks.
Tan skin is a blemish in the eyes of Thais. Men and women alike are constantly trying to make their appearance whiter. I'll even see little kids walking around with white powder smeared all over their face. At first I thought it was some religious thing that I didn't understand. Turns out it's some cosmetic thing I don't understand. My friend Jeab and her girlfriends weren't convinced when I told them that people in the Western Hem (the very people they try to emulate) all want to be tan as can be, and would envy the color of their skin. They just dismissed me and threw more baby powder on their faces.
Best way to pass the time in Thailand is to read. Best way to pass the time anywhere actually. Books are hard to come by though, outside of BKK, Chiang Mai, and the resort towns. And they're not nearly as cheap as movies. Most used copies cost more than a new edition back home. Copyright infringement doesn't really hold sway over literature in this country as well. I recently bought a copy of Breakfast of Champions that had been completely photocopied and pasted to a mock jacket. Still reads well though. Books I currently have my eye on are White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, recent winner of the Booker Prize, and Obama's book, but not the new one Audacity of Hope; the one he wrote in the nineties whose title I can't remember at the moment.
We saw both Gran Torino and Slumdog Millionaire and loved them both! I thought about you during each one.
ReplyDelete