home sweet home

I am back sitting in my teek rocking chair in my 90 degree room with my fan on me. I got home last night after almost 3 weeks away from my town. I am just a little afraid to motivate and go outside. I still want to be on vacation. My parents left from Bangkok 2 nights ago and I have mostly been speaking English for the 3 weeks they were here, I fear i have forgotten all my Thai.

I had been looking forward to the visit from my parents for such a long time. I loved showing my town, my friends, my daily routines, my market, my thai language skills- basically my Thailand life to them. And they were appropriately impressed! I have integrated into my Thai life so much that it was fun to take a step back and look at my life the way my visiting parents must be seeing it. It's always nice to have visitors to see an outside perspective.

After the visit to my town we went up to Northern Thailand to visit some of the hill tribes. People there living in bamboo huts the way people have been living for 100s of year. The people were so kind and welcoming. My parents really enjoyed seeing that way of life. It is always a hard balance for me between being really curious about that lifestyle and wanting to see how people live, but not wanting to treat them like a museum exhibit, or zoo animals. I don't want their lives to be for the entertainment of people who are just there behind a camera. It is hard to see that there lives have already been influences by the tourist industry. Seeing the little kids begging for candy or school pens. Seeing the Satelite in the house of the man who gets tips from the tourists, while the other men are doing back breaking labor for the equivalent of $25 for 3 days. And that opportunity only comes up every few weeks.

We visited a Lisu hilltribe village where the lineage is origionally from China and Tibet and Burma. Many left because of the poor treatment of people in Burma. They have been in Thailand for 1-2 generations. But they only know a few Thai words, mostly they speak the Lisu language. The village head spoke Thai so he translated for me, but it was generally difficult to communicate. Still I stayed up after dinner by candle light while they sat around drinking and chatting and joined in on the festivities.

After the hill tribe we went to the large city in the North, Chiang Mai, where there were huge festivals for the Thai Holiday, Loy Gratong. This is a festival to the gods for the use of water during the year. Many Thai holidays have the same preparations, weeks before hand are set aside to prepare for a parade w floats, a beauty contest, possibly an aerobics competition, and often dressing up in traditional Thai wear, Loy Gratong is no exception. All of the country schools were canceled to plan dance routines and parades. With Loy Gratong people also prepare hat sized floats made of folded bamboo leaves and candles to be floated down the river. It is absolutely beautiful.

After Chiang Mai we flew to Northern India for 11 days in Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, and Udaphur. Visiting the Taj Majal on day 2 was certainly a highlight. My dad kept saying it is something that is so talked up that you go with such high expectations, but it still does not disapoint. It is impressive from afar and up close w all it's intricate marble inlay work.

After the Taj was built the king had the architects hands cut off so he could never make anything so fabulous for another person. So the man taught the craft to the boy who fed him every day. The secrets of the craft have been passed down in that boys family for generations and now they make beautiful inlay marble tables, boxes, etc. The secret formula for the glue used to keep the precious stones in place for 100s of years in the Taj is still not publicly known.

I will have to finish my India explination later. I am going to motivate outside to get to my tutors on time. Got to get back in the swing of speaking Thai...