Festival season: Buun Bung Fai and Phi Ta Khon

It's festival season in northeast Thailand and I've been traveling locally to take advantage of the cultural celebrations.  A few weeks ago was Buun Bung Fai, or Rocket Festival, just a few kilometers down the road at my friend and fellow PCV Keith's site.  This festival is celebrated every year in many locations throughout northeast Thailand prior to the beginning of the rainy season.  Northeast Thailand receives the least amount of rain compared to other regions of Thailand, even throughout the rainy season (July - October).  Rockets of all sizes are shot up in the air as a symbolic way of inviting the rains to come.  This celebration included a parade and plenty of local morlam dancing.

Parade floats

Dance performances

Rockets for sale

The following weekend I traveled to Dan Sai, Loei to see the Phi Ta Khon Festival, a celebration of spirits that includes a vast array of elaborately decorated, homemade masks worn throughout the weekend.  Ghosts and spirits are big in Thailand and many Thais have strong beliefs related to them.  A long time ago in Dan Sai people believed that ghosts came out of the forests to follow the Lord Buddha.  The weekend was full of a whole lot of masks, a parade, and of course food and dancing.

Mini ghosts - the kids were the cutest!

The masks are really incredible - fantastic designs and colors

So many ghosts, so many colors

Roaming the streets all weekend

Ghosts on bicycles

One giant mask in the parade

These men represent villagers that used to live in the nearby forests

Yaai (grandmother) overlooking the ghosts below

Dan Sai is a relatively small town and the festival doesn't usually see a lot of tourists, so sometimes it felt like we were as much of an attraction as all of the masks.  We spent a lot of time getting pictures taken of us and having people sneak into our pictures - such as the one below, that even the police wanted in on.  If only you could see the view from our angle, where a whole lot of cameras and phones were snapping pictures of all the farangs.

Temple in a Mountain: Wat Phu Tok

Buddhism is a big part of Thai culture; over 90% of Thai people are Buddhist.  I've learned a lot about Buddhism during my time in Thailand and have been able to see the many ways it is weaved into the culture and daily life of people throughout Thailand.  It's really interesting to be able to learn about it while also living in a country in which it is so ingrained.  I read about things that I see played out in my day to day life in rural Thailand.  The number of Buddhist temples in Thailand is remarkable, especially given their often ornately intricate designs and colorful exteriors.  I've long since lost track of the number of wats (temples) I've been to and yet I still find myself consistently fascinated by them.

Bueng Kan: Thailands newest province

  

I recently visited Wat Phu Tok in Bueng Kan province (the red part of the map on the left), a temple constructed on a mountain that requires a hike and no more than a manageable fear of heights for a complete visit.  It has 7 levels, each reached by various staircases and rickety wooden planks.  The different levels are related to the path to enlightenment in Buddhism and the different stages along that path.  

I started at the bottom and at the second level I had the option of two different staircases: one looked more direct and a little more reliable while the other looked a bit more roundabout and challenging.  I chose the latter, and was rewarded with the more challenging (and significantly more terrifying) ways around and up the mountain.

Entrance to the climb 

Wat Phu Tok from the ground

Starting up the many stairs 

 Each level became slightly more challenging as I continued further up the mountain.  A couple of the levels had walkways around the mountain that were simply a bunch of pieces of wood constructed into a walkway built on the side of the mountain.  If I looked down I could see just how far I'd go if one of these things gave out, which was not a very comforting thought.  

Walkways and staircases weaving around the mountain

Walking on the side of the mountain

Told myself not to look down, which didn't help me to not look down

Level 6 included a path that led out to a separate, small mountain peak that was detached from the main part of the mountain and included a walkway to a small covered pavilion with a few Buddha images inside.  The views and the feeling of tranquility on the top levels were pretty spectacular.  

Small detached peak off of level 6

Walking on air - almost 

The ascent to level 7 was the least developed and most challenging - less stairs and more climbing over trees.  I couldn't help but think about the symbolic values of each level as I climbed all the way to the top (choices about the path we take and the effort required to achieve 'success').  The final paths would through the trees and vines and eventually came to a small clearing at the top.  I made it to the top, soaked in sweat, and enjoyed the views for a few minutes before making my way back down.

At the top

On the way back down I discovered a few paths I had not yet explored, as well as the easy route up and down the mountain.  My anxieties about experiencing the 'side of the mountain terror walks' were eased as I made my way back down via the slightly easier route of solid walkways and mostly solid staircases.  

365 Pictures of Peace Corps life

I've just finished a 365 Project documenting a year of my life in Peace Corps Thailand through one photo every day.  Check it out here:  365 days of Peace Corps Thailand

Personality and culture: sometimes opposites are just opposite

Peace Corps is a two year experience of living, working, and integrating into communities of other countries and cultures, but it's also a long-term introspective study into our own personal beliefs, behaviors and perspective.  I've been living in Thailand for a year and a half now with most of that time spent on my own, attempting to get to know and integrate into a community that was completely foreign to me.  I've met a lot of people and integrated myself into a community that I now consider home.  I've also gotten to know myself in a much different way than I've ever been able to as I'm faced with new situations, environments and challenges.  I've had my fair share of down time, which more often than not means some quality time to get lost in my own head and ruminate on all sorts of things that I might not otherwise spend much time thinking about - like my own personal nuances and strengths and flaws and all things in between.

I've known for a long time that I'm more of an introvert than an extrovert.  I don't talk just to say things and I spend more time taking things in than I do talking about them.  There's a whole lot more going on in my head than ever comes out of my mouth.  I process things internally before ever beginning to verbalize them.  My mind is constantly on the go, processing, analyzing, interpreting, assessing, and asking questions.  I not only relish alone time, I need it for my own personal mental health.  I’m not good at small talk and would rather have in-depth conversations.  I hate being the center of attention and try to sneak toward the outer edges of big groups.  When faced with the prospect of public speaking, my mind immediately goes blank and I’m incapable of forming thoughts, let alone verbalizing them.  I need to be able to think through things before talking about them; I need to process things in my brain to come up with a well thought out response that might actually come out of my mouth.  I don’t prefer big groups and I’m totally comfortable doing just about anything on my own.  While these parts of my personality have certainly contributed to challenges and difficulties throughout my life, I’ve learned to appreciate and embrace them. 

My time spent in Thailand has proved to be a constant challenge to all of my introverted tendencies.  Small talk is an integral part of my daily life and rarely do I engage in deep discussions.  I’m usually the center of attention no matter where I go because I’m the only non-Thai person around.  I’m often forced into the center of large group gatherings, put in a position for plenty of people to stare at me.  I’ve been handed a microphone too many times to count while being put on the spot to introduce myself, talk about something or answer questions.  People accompany me as often as possible, sometimes just because they don’t want me to be alone (people ask me ‘are you scared?’ on a regular basis – regarding anything from running alone in broad daylight to taking a bus by myself).  While I’ve adapted and learned to deal with these things with a decreased amount of inner anxiety and loathing than usual, the idea that these things are all directly contradictory to the core being of who I am never escapes my mind.

Peace Corps is a myriad of challenges: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, personal, and everything in between.  I knew coming in that it would be hard in any number of ways, and I expected to be challenged.  But facing challenges that go against my personality and the very essence of who I am?  I’m not sure I knew what I was getting myself into.  Sure, I knew I’d be thrown well out of my comfort zone in a country that's much different than the one I was coming from and I was willing to deal with that.  I didn’t realize how hard it would be sometimes to force myself, against all my natural instincts, to do the things I usually shy away from – the things that generally terrify me.  Introducing myself to strangers in a foreign language on a daily basis?  It happens.  Engaging in small talk about what I ate, what I will eat, or what I will buy at the market to eat later?  It's part of my daily routine.  Having a microphone shoved in my face and being told to talk about myself?  I can't say I enjoy it, but I've learned to become a little more comfortable with it.  Dealing with my daily language struggles and mistakes, often getting laughed at for some error in tone pronunciation that turns an everyday word into a dirty one?  It's happened, probably more than I even realize.  

Living in Thailand hasn’t transformed my personality, nor did I expect or want it to.  If anything I often speak less, either due to inefficient language skills to contribute to a conversation or because the people around me are speaking the local dialect in a way that makes my head spin if I listen to it long enough.  I’ve realized, through conversations with and side comments from Thai people, that they often misconstrue my silence as lack of understanding or lack of interest.  My mind here works in many of the same ways it did in America, only now I do it in two languages instead of one.  If I’m not running through a list of questions that constantly badger my brain here, I’m mentally repeating the sentence structure of someone speaking because I notice I’ve been saying something wrong – or I’m formulating my own response in my head to a question in the local language.  I’m not totally sure how this comes across to Thai people all the time, and I’ve questioned it internally many times.  I often explain to people that my understanding of spoken Thai language is more developed than my verbal abilities and that sometimes it takes me a little longer to formulate a complete, verbal response to something, meaning that keeping up with a group conversation while also being able to actively contribute to it can be seriously challenging.  I've explained a few times that even in America I’m a generally quiet person; I’m ok with silence and I don’t feel the need to talk just so something is being said.  I'm not sure they really understand this, but it's important to me for them to see these parts of me and accept them while potentially altering their preconceived notions of farangs or Americans - so I try to explain anyway. With all the cultural and language differences and challenges I’ve faced in the last year, this often just adds an extra struggle to this already challenging experience.  Despite that, it's important to me.  While I want to integrate and get to know people and be respectful of cultural norms, I also want to be free to be myself in a way that allows my community to get to know me for who I am, not for who they think I might or should be.  

I’ve tried to adapt to these unique challenges like I’ve had to adapt to so many other things here, both physical and mental.  I push myself to engage in the small talk that's always been challenging for me.  I try to remember my name when a microphone is shoved in my face.  I smile when there’s hundreds of faces staring at me and try not to let my entire face show my internal anxieties.  I try to say things out loud sometimes instead of keeping everything in my head, at least so people will know I’m always interested.  Even with all the effort, it’s still hard.  Like any self-proclaimed introvert, I take plenty of time to myself.  I relish the weekend days I can spend at home with nothing to do.  I've often wondered if I feel a more pressing need for 'alone time' here because of the added mental efforts of hearing and speaking another language every day and constantly feeling like the center of attention and have often taken a bit more time to myself on the days I feel like I need it. 

I know I've changed in the 17 months that I've been in Thailand, in many small ways and probably some bigger ones that I won't truly realize until I'm far removed from this environment and experience.  Even considering that, I'm still going to go back to America as fundamentally the same person (with a lot of great/awful/gross/inspiring/heartwarming/terrifying stories).  Thailand won't make me an extrovert, no matter how many times they put me on stage or make me the center of attention; but it has made me more aware of my introverted nature as it affects other people, and I think that's something valuable that I can take with me from this experience.  

Summer Break

When the Songkran celebrations (Thai New Year) were over I had about a month left until school resumed for another year.  That month was mostly full of various activities away from site – a regional consolidation event, a weekend beach getaway with many other PCVs, helping out at another BTF (Brighter Thailand Foundation) camp and a quick island bpai tiao.  

The regional consolidation event was a gathering of volunteers by region to practice and discuss the details of our 'Emergency Action Plan', a plan in place for when natural or political disasters occur in our country of service.  Thailand has been experiencing some political unrest since November of last year, so the possibility of us having to consolidate or possibly evacuate the country in the event of a crisis is something that's been on all of our minds recently.

Group discussions on consolidation topics: what we do in an emergency

Next up was a weekend gathering of PCVs throughout Thailand in Hua Hin, a beach-side town a few hours from Bangkok and the home of the King's summer palace.  One of my fellow volunteers organized things and rented a house for us to use for the weekend that was so nice and amenity-filled it made me think I was back in America - real couches (not just wooden benches), cable tv (in English), air conditioning, a modern kitchen (inside, with sinks and a real oven and a dishwasher even!), and a pool just outside in the backyard.  The weekend was organized in an effort to spend more time with the new group of volunteers and get to know them as they were just a month into their service at site.  All in all it was a successful weekend, complete with pool time, beach time, small group activities and a Cinco de Mayo Mexican fiesta (with homemade tacos and margaritas made by yours truly - I'll always be a bartender).

Beach time at Hua Hin

Teamwork: making tortillas 

Fun and games

 After the weekend in Hua Hin I was headed to Trat, the eastern-most coastal province in Thailand to help with another BTF (Brighter Thailand Foundation) camp.  I'd previously helped with one of these camps in Nong Khai (the northernmost province in northeastern Thailand) and was looking forward to doing another one.  It's a leadership camp aimed at developing personal and leadership skills with a group of about 15 matayom (high school) students over a period of 6 days, the last 3 days of which give them the opportunity to practice their leadership skills with a group of bratom (elementary) students.  Each camp has Thai and Global ambassadors that come to help - Thai university students and usually a small group of PCVs.  The camp was successful and fun and a good reminder of why I enjoy working with Thai youth. 

My group for the week

Counselors

Group picture on the last day

The camp was 6 days of non-stop activities from wake-up until bedtime, so needless to say we were ready for a few relaxing days before heading back to site.  We hopped on a short ferry to Koh Chang, a large, nearby island for a few days of not doing much besides lounging, swimming, eating, or getting massages.  I'd been to Koh Chang almost exactly a year ago, on my first big trip out of site for the first time, and it was nice to be back and be able to reflect on how much has happened and changed in a year.
 

I can never get enough of the island sunsets

Watching showers from the ferry on the way back to the mainland

Eventually it was time to head back to site - the new school year was beginning in a few days and I was eager to get started on the second and last year of my Peace Corps service.

A sign in one of the many buses I took: No boob grabbing, no farting, and no dancing on the toilet

Songkran Festival: Thai New Year

After a few quiet days back at site it was time for the beginning of Songkran Festival – Thai New Year.  Every year Songkran is celebrated throughout Thailand with trips to the wats to make merit, spending time with family and ‘playing water’.  People pour water on each other as a way of cleansing off the old in order to bring in the new year and offer blessings and good wishes.  It’s the biggest holiday celebration in Thailand and lasts for at least several days – we officially had 3 days off work and a really long weekend.  In my community this celebration is kicked off every year with a day of parades, ceremonies, some water throwing and a beauty pageant near one of the local temples.  I went early dressed in the designated Songkran attire (a brightly colored, flowered shirt) and enjoyed the festivities throughout the day.  Events like these allow me the opportunity to see a lot of people I know from around the community in one place, including many students that were in the middle of their summer break from school.  That night I was headed to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to participate in one of the biggest Songkran celebrations in Thailand. 

Me with some of the local health station staff

They love pictures!

Beauty pageant. No one's sitting/standing in the space near the stage because it's sunny - everyone's in the shade

Parade

'Dancers'

Pouring water on the elderly

Waiting to perform

Chiang Mai is famous for their Songkran celebration and I was excited to participate along with a few fellow PCVs.  Chiang Mai’s old city is surrounded by a moat and much of the ‘water playing’ occurs on the main street running parallel around it.   April is the hottest month of the year in Thailand so participating in an all day water fight provides a welcome relief from the heat.  A word to the wise: if in Chiang Mai during the days of Songkran, prepare to get wet – it’s inevitable.  Everyone involved arms themselves with water guns while people pile in the backs of pickup trucks to drive through the streets and douse people around the city with buckets of sometimes ice-cold water.  There’s not really a way to escape it, except to avoid the area entirely.  The first day I got there I left my guesthouse, fairly unprepared except for putting my phone in a ziploc bag.  I went in search of some local noodles and came back half-soaked with a ham and cheese sandwich from 7-11 (after the first couple bucket-splashes I decided not to walk much farther and instead peruse the seven for something delicious).   

After I’d fully prepared myself and met up with a few friends, we donned our flowered shirts, waterproof bags and newly purchased water guns and took to the streets.  Within minutes of hitting the main street, we were full participants in the all out water fight.  The street was full of people, Thais and farangs, everyone throwing water at everyone else.  It was complete madness in places, and it was awesome. 

We took part in the water fight every day, walking up and down the streets shooting water at everyone and maintaining our soaking wet status. 

Even the local police joined in!

Getting water from (but mostly playing in) the moat

Armed and ready: the gun on the left broke the first day, so I got the one on the right - a dinosaur attached to a water bottle.  I named him Charles and he was so awesome I kept him and took him home

We camped out and took refuge in a bar for awhile, then splashed everyone coming down the street

One day I decided to go do a little temple sight-seeing before engaging in the daily water fight.  I did it all on foot and on my way down one street I noticed a small crowd of Thai people gathered in front of a restaurant and a few policemen up and down the street.  I stopped for a bit to see what was happening, and a few moments later everyone got out their cell phones, iPads and cameras and started taking pictures of someone I couldn’t quite see.  Soon enough I noticed the person being photographed – the Prime Minister of Thailand.  I stood around for a few minutes watching with the other Thais around before making my way to a nearby temple.  On my way back I decided to retrace my steps and see if she was still there.  Sure enough she was, and was getting ready to leave with her family.  Several people were taking the opportunity to get pictures with her, and wanting one myself I decided to make my way to the front.  Eventually I jumped in there and politely asked for a picture.  She asked where I was from, I told her and briefly explained that I was a volunteer in Isan.  She was very gracious and I thanked her for the picture – so unexpected and pretty awesome!

Me with the Prime Minister of Thailand

Monks working at one of the temples

A few pictures from the temples I went to