Back from Si Thep.

Hey everybody. Thanks for the nice comments about Paew and I. When she said she wanted to do those photos. I (like Harvey) thought they were going to be really stupid. The day we went to do it I looked at all the photos that they had on the wall. It was a mix of white tourists, and Thai people in various poses. I notice the difference right away. The pictures with the Westerners for the most part had the guy with a big grin on his face feeling stupid in funny clothes. The Thai guys looked really serious…bordering on hostile. Faking a little Thai machismo was all it took to complete the picture. The costume and set did the rest.

Harv and I just returned from our visits with our girlfriends families. I had thought we were going to Si Thep to celebrate Paew’s birthday, but we actually were having a house warming party. The house in Si Thep is finished, and looks great. When a home is finished in Thailand there is a ceremony that the Thai monks do to bless the house. The ritual takes place over two days. On the first day the family and friends gather at the house, and the monks come in the evening and chant. I wish I could have understood what they were saying, but it was all in Thai.

Speaking of Thai…when I go to Si Thep, I am “the farang”….not a farang. I say this because when I leave Pattaya I usually don’t see another Western face til I come back from Si Thep. I’m the only white guy for miles and miles. At the party I was the center of attention. This combined with my minimal ability to communicate in Thai made for some interesting, and sometimes uncomfortable moments. You would think that I would have Paew to interpret for me, but Thai culture generally separates the men from the women. For the most part the men sit in one area, and the women are somewhere else. My brother Patrick says the best way to learn a language is total immersion…..I’m definitely getting that. Not only do I not speak their language, but these people were fascinated by me, and wanted to talk about it. I quickly learned the phrase mai lou …“I don’t understand”. This all got more and more intense as everybody got drunk. Then they ‘really’ wanted to talk….mai lou….mai lou!

The second day of the ceremony started really freakin early….like sunrise! I actually spent my first night in the house, so when I got up I went out to the palapa, and there was all my Thai buddy’s sitting cross-legged drinking Thai whiskey (fire water). They offered me some, which I politely declined, then I was promptly served a beer….oh well, when in Rome…..The monks came back for more chanting, and a blessing with water flung about the house by one of the monks. Then they fed the monks. Apparently monks get no evening meal, they eat in the morning and at mid-day. After they ate the lead monk used a white paint/plaster to write a blessing over the front door. Overall it was a really beautiful way for the family to settle in to the new house.

The following day we went out Paew’s uncle Huew’s house in Si Khiu. That was a trip! Si Thep is like a farming town with a small main drag lined with shops. Huew’s house is in a village that is far more traditional than Si Thep. For the most part everyone lives in huts. They build a platform about five feet in the air, and then use rough hewn planking to make the walls. The roof is made of corrugated steel. This is the modern version of the hut. The old style had the same platform, but the walls were made of split bamboo woven together, with a roof made of palm fronds. It amazed me that they lived so simply. It looked like a pretty hard lifestyle, but at the same time it struck me with how happy everyone seemed.

I enjoyed getting some exposure to the non-tourist version of Thailand. One of the many benefits of having a Thai girlfriend is the entrée into the real life here. Thailand is a beautiful place, but one the most beautiful parts of this country is it’s people.