Here and Now - Wherever That Is: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Chiang Mai

I'm already in the year 2012, a little ahead of everyone in the US. Noah and I celebrated on the streets of Chiang Mai, where there were probably thousands of people out eating, shopping, shooting off fireworks dangerously low and close to the crowds, and sending up into the sky balloons representing new year's wishes. There were booths and booths of street stalls with everything from sushi, pad thai, meats and kebabs, fruit and fruit shakes, fried breads, french fries. Lots of fried things. I am hoping the pictures tell the story...... Happy New Year!
Street food: sausages with meat and rice inside.

Noah stands in front of piles of pad thai.

I think that's fruit on the left and squid on the right, both yellowish in color.

Midnight Massage: We both had an hour massage in the street.

Wish Lanterns: Firing up the fuel source

Lots of little lights, like stars, only much bigger lit the sky. There must have been thousands of these balloon/lanterns go up into the night sky. Eventually, they come down. They were all over the streets later in the night. I wonder how it will look in the day...... People keep things pretty clean here, so I imagine they will disappear soon.

Panda Lantern

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Tigers....

Visiting a 6-month old tiger.

There is a pretty tourist-y thing you can do outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is visit and pet tigers. Supposedly, these animals are being "saved" by your going and paying a bunch of money to pet them. It pays for their food, housing, medicine, whatever.

I'm not so convinced, after having visited there, that it's that great for the animals. I didn't like the way the handlers treated the tigers, very commanding and wanting them to do what they wanted, leaving little choice for the tigers to live how they wanted. But at least they did not use electric shocks to "train" the tigers, as some trainers do.

I really wanted to go, because how often does one get to pet a tiger? I struggled with the morals of what they do there vs. the desire to pet and be with them. In the end, we decided to go.

But, after having been there, I would not recommend it, as luring as it is.

Having expressed my dismay at the tiger situation, I'm posting some photos we took while there. I have mixed feelings about the entire trip. I am grateful to have been around these graceful and beautiful creatures, to have touched them and shared some time together. And I am saddened that I contributed to the continuation of their way of living.

With a one-month old baby.

Noah petting 1 month old tiger.

Noah with a 6-month toddler.

I still have questions:

Is it "fair" or "right" to have the exhibition of tigers for people to interact with? Is it "fair/right" for the tigers to be subjected to this type of life? Do the tigers have some unconscious agreement to have this type of life? Does anything need to be "done" about the "Tiger Kingdom" tourist place?

I keep coming back to what Byron Katie (and others) have said: Everything is perfect exactly as it is. Even if I am not always happy with the way it is.

Holidays in Thailand

Thailand is Buddhist country, right? Then why are they celebrating Christmas?

We spent Christmas at a guest house in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. Guest houses are different from hotels in that the family lives on the premises and runs the place like a small hotel, typically offering breakfast, coffee and tea and sometimes a restaurant.

We stayed at a place called Nuanpranee (not sure of the meaning) where they had a Christmas tree and fake gifts under it (to look real). But they went further and had a Christmas party for all the guests, most of whom were ex-pats or people traveling over the holidays because they care nothing of Christmas. Perhaps they even wanted to get away from the consumeristic feel of it in their own countries.

Well, we had a party anyway. Noah was really happy because there was a gift exchange, which meant he got a gift. We were instructed to buy a gift that costs over 200 baht (200 baht = ~$6.60). Noah and I looked in the night market and found nice shirts for men, because I saw mostly men at the guest house. I later found out there was about an equal number of men and women.

When the party started, I was very surprised to see that about half of the people were Thai, half foreigners. Food was provided, after which came agonizingly loud karaoke, with almost every Thai man taking a turn. There was actually one very good singer - the local colonel of the police. He knew all the songs with all the proper English intonations.

After a couple of hours of karaoke, during which time I tried talking to people, but just got a headache instead, we had the gift exchange. Everyone would draw a number which corresponded to a present /giver of the present. The giver came up to give the gift to whomever drew the number -- with a photo taken of every exchange. It was quite formal, and very fun!

Noah got a scarf/shawl that is part cashmere, part silk. I got a big fluffy pink stuffed dog and a round bolster-type pillow. They were perfect for a small child -- like the children we met at our next place we stayed, the Eco Resort. They were happy to receive "Pinky", as we started to call the dog, and the pillow. Their mom was very appreciative. (Darn, should have taken a photo of Pinky before passing him on.)

A French man got one of the shirts we gave. A Thai woman who drove a tuk-tuk (will explain this in another post) got the other shirt. The Thai woman and wife of the French man traded the shirt for a huge pink pillow. They were both happy! And the shirts looked really good on the French guy. All around a win-win!

So there's our Christmas story. Oh yes, I ended up singing karaoke with another American woman, both of us being too shy to do it by ourselves. And Noah danced with a bunch of Thai girls who were in the family. They really enjoyed our involvement; and we really enjoyed seeing them have such a great time!

We didn't take photos of the party, but later took these in the street.

This was a huge Christmas tree made of recycled materials. It must have stood 3 (maybe 4?) stories high. You can see in the following photos what it is made of.