It occurred to me today that that I may be living in the best of two worlds. Though Myung and I sometimes take forever to communicate a thought, we are getting better at it. This means there is some content to our conversation. It adds value to our relationship and fulfills the need in us to release our pent up desires to be understood and to understand. At the same time, we don’t just babble away like most native speakers. Yes, there is chit chat, but when you have to actually put some effort into talking this way, it loses the point of making just any kind of contact or satisfying a tiny need. The little efforts to reach out are then more satisfying. So, too, are the frequent silent periods. During these times we can both retreat into our reveries, compose out thoughts, mull over the issues that we have in our minds. I’m finding I like it in there. She says she does too. It’s easy to read or space out around each other, so we’ve come to be fine just sitting together and sharing the experience of knowing we’re in our own places with our playmate outside when we want to come out. It’s too early to know if we are compatible, but there is an ease to this which instinct tells me is a good sign. It’s hard to believe I’ve only been back with her for 11 days.
For that matter, it’s hard to believe I’ve only been back on the road for 11 days. It’s almost like I never left. I guess not remarkably, it feels like I’m not so much in Thailand instead of India now, but “on the road”, whatever that state of mind is made of. It just goes to show what feeling at home really is, definitely not being at a physical place for everybody, not me. At home for me seems to be about moving on. I’m moving on to the next stop, the next mood, the next experience of whatever. This time it’s not so much about the next place as the next step with Myung. Obviously this is a time of relationship development for both of us. We’ve gotten past asking if this will amount to anything. It has amounted to something and we’re trying to make more happen. Do I care if I’m in Thailand? Well, yes, it’s interesting and all, but I can’t honestly say it is in the forefront for me. It gives us something to chit chat about.
We do a lot of comparing and contrasting with our previous experiences here. I was here nine years ago and she was here four years ago. As you can imagine, a lot has changed and a lot has remained the same. Some things will never change much. The Royal Palace and wats (temples) around Bangkok are just as they were, picture postcard perfect images of Thai tradition.
Of course, there is the present. Here is a “water bus”, a comon mode of public transportation along many of Bangkok’s canals.
We hung out in Bangkok for a few days, refamiliarizing ourselves with each other and going on some of the basic excursions to a few of the popular places. She had been there for a while before I returned, and I didn’t feel the need to hang around much, so we went up to Ayutthaya, the site of the capital of Thailand before it was moved to Bangkok in, what, 1763 or around then. There are a number of often heavily restored temples, stupas (called chedi here), palaces, etc.. I’ll just put in pictures of one place, one taken during the day and one at night.
Here is a famous Buddha statue. All that shows of this stone image is the face peering out through the tentacles of a banyan tree.
Something has to point us in a direction, so so far it’s been the tourist trail northward. The next stop was Sukothai, the 13th-15th century Thai capital before Ayutthaya. It was the first capital of a united Thai people not ruled by Burmese, Khmer or earlier nearby civilizations. We’re here now. Today we’re just hanging out. Yesterday we went to the Historical Park. What a lovely ride around on a motorbike that was! I had forgotten what a pleasant place it is.
I remember this elegant, androgenous Buddha from when I was here before. This replica of statuary of this type during the Sukothai period was new and still shiny black when I was here before. It’s the rust brown of the brick ruins now, fitting in well. I still think it’s beautiful.
Tomorrow we’re going to step off the tourist trail a bit and head over to Mae Sot, on the Myanmar border not far to the west of here. I was there before. It, and all along the border, is an interesting mix of Thais and minorities from Thailand and Myanmar. As I recall, the streets are full of people of many different look, dress, color aesthetics and behaviors. I think it will be interesting. Interesting also should be trying to see through the surface. These border areas are a a haven and a hell for many. Trafficking of all sorts, illicit and otherwise goes on here. Most of it is below the radar of the average tourist. It will be interesting to see what I may still have the ability to discern regarding that. Of course, it will be even more interesting to see the village where I spent a couple months working with refugees for a couple of months back in 1999. That is a couple of weeks off, though. For now it’s to Mae Sot and up to Mae Hong San in the far northwest.
I’ll write again before too long. It shouldn’t be as difficult as in 1999. At that time there was exactly on computer in Mae Hong San where the public could access the net, and it was long distance dial-up at a prohibitively dear cost. Be well, all of you.