My Thai 'Fix'

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May, 2007
I'm visiting with my dear friend Vivyan for the weekend here in Toronto.

We head out for lunch to her favorite Bistro which happens to be a Thai restaurant. I miss Thailand a lot so I'm excited to go.
When we arrive I feel like a stalker as I hunt for some unsuspecting victim to practice my Thai on. A lovely woman takes us to our table. She doesn't look 'Thai' to me but I give it a shot anyway. "Sawadee krup" I blurt out to her. "Oh nice to meet you" she replies. It turns out Lily is from Northern China; not Thailand. We get talking and find out that she is living with a Chinese family here in Etobicoke (a suburb of Toronto) but is looking for a place of her own, or at least a place to share that would give her more space. Before you know it, Lily and Vivyan are talking about sharing Vivyan's place. Vivyan and I start to feel guilty because Lily stays at our table, talking for twenty minutes even though she's on duty. Finally we order our food. It's very good but I wouldn't call it authentic Thai food. But the best part of our meal is when we are leaving. As we pass the kitchen, I see the twinkle in the eyes of the women preparing the food. There are five of them and I can tell right away they are Thais. "Sawadee krup" I exclaim on my way past. Suddenly I hear a sound that's a cross between a sigh and a shriek. All five women are suddenly talking at once and letting me know they are excited that I speak their language. I'm on a roll now, so I add: "Aroi mak mah krup!" to tell them I thought the food was delicious. Again the shriek and a collective gasp of amazement. "Khapt khun kaw" one of the ladies says (thank you). We're just about out the door but just as we exit I reply: "Mai ben lai krup" (don't mention it). These ladies made my day. I really needed that.

Buddhist Celebration

Kohn Kaen, Thailand, March 23, 2005

Every day seems like a miracle here in Thailand but this day was the most touching.

When we left our heroes they had just polished off 4 bottles of whiskey and gone to bed at 1:30am Sunday night.

It's 6am and the house is suddenly alive. I get up and have a shower and suddenly I am being whisked into Uncle's Police Pickup Truck to parts unknown. I know we're not going to Khon Kaen because they don't want me to bring my knapsack.

We drive for two hours and I have no way to ask where we are going so I just enjoy the ride over bumpy country roads, dodging buffalo and chickens.

Suddenly we arrive at a small village where Thai music is blaring out of loudspeakers and a hundred or more people are sitting at round tables full of food.

Everyone seems to know everyone and Sit and Nu introduce me to several people. Then out comes the whiskey and Chang beer and a smiling young woman who introduces herself to me as 'Jenny' attends to our table. This is Jenny's Aunt I think, and 18 year old Jenny.

I am the only white person at this gathering so I am looked at as somewhat of a celebrity. Everyone seems to want to meet me and I smile and say: "Sawadee cup" and put my hands in prayer position as I do. As I do this the various people smile and return the greeting and nod, saying how nice I am and how happy they are that I could join them (all in Thai, of course).

Jenny is the only one in the whole gathering who knows any English and she keeps coming to our table to talk with me. I took a picture with Jenny and someone I think is her Aunt.

Our hosts insist I start eating and as I fill my plate I realize what these foods are. Dennis: remember when I thought we were eating liver in Kho Samet? It was chicken blood in cubes. (I owed you that one for calling me ugly).

I love the green Currie, and the pig heart chunks are chewy but tasty. I'm really not that hungry since it is only 8 am but I make a good show of enjoying the meal (which was very good actually) and I keep drinking my Chang Beer.

The music coming out of the speakers is a Thai dance song and I start moving my hands in the gestures that Sit taught me the night before and I hear a collective gasp of astonishment from the crowd and suddenly I'm being hauled up to dance.

A group of elderly ladies from the village begin to laugh and clap and encourage me.

Then the most senior of the ladies invites me to dance which Nu indicates to be a great honour. So away we go. Everyone is giving the thumb's up and one man with very big teeth is smiling his toothy grin and laughing at the enjoyment of the dance.

Children scurry around me and laugh as I pull out my camera and take their pictures.

When I finally get back to my table, Jenny asks me to join her as her honored guest at a Buddhist ceremony that is about to begin but Nu motions to me that we have to be going. I thank her very much and my party whisks me into the back of the club cab pickup truck. Before they can close the door, the man with the toothy grin throws a hand in for me to shake and tells me in a very excited tone how wonderful it was to meet me.

Just before the door closes, Jenny reaches in with both hands and grasps my arm and says in a very sweet tone: "You are always welcome in our village, Steve. My mother died yesterday and you made our celebration very special."
See the other adventures [Kohn Kaen Massage] [Kohn Kaen Karaoke 2] [Kohn Kaen Massage]

Khun-nah-rauk-mah: "You are most kind"

Dennis and I have had the extraordinary good fortune to get to know two Thai women in the last few days. They opened their homes and their generous hearts to us.

Toi (we call her Monkey because of her playful nature) is a 33 year old Sales Rep for a company that manufactures capacitors for Air Conditioning units.(I hope I got that right Monkey) This is Monkey standing beside a Monkey puppet.

Jook is 32 years old and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree. She is the Assistant Manager for her Sales division at Samsung.
Dennis met these two women while Cycling in Ayutthaya a few weeks ago, along with another woman who usually travels with Monkey and Jook. Her name is Tina. I haven't met her yet.

When we got back from Koh Samet on Sunday night, Jook invited me to stay with her and her two sisters for a few days while Dennis and I figured out our next travel plans.

This is Jook's apartment. She owns her apartment but Monkey just rents one here.

This is the hallway just outside her apartment. You notice how much bigger the hallways are here? The concept of living and space is very different here. You don't just live in your own little box. Everything is connected here.

This is Cheemah. He is the security guard at the apartment complex here. He and Dennis hit it off right away and so Cheemah started saluting Dennis whenever he passed through the gate. This ritual now includes a 'high five' each time he goes past now. When Jook was with us the other day and Cheemah saluted, she looked up at me puzzled and I replied: "It's a Canadian thing."(The building in the background is the Apartment complex Monkey and Jook live in. To the right of it is a Steel Mill. Yes, you read that right; a Steel Mill.

On Monday night, Jook prepared a typical Thai dinner for us.

As you can see, fish is a big part of the Thai diet.

Here's an esoteric event for you. As I was sitting in Vancouver Airport, I was talking to a dear friend of mine and I suddenly saw a movie showing of a hummingbird going from flower to flower collecting nectar. The first morning I was staying with Jook and her sisters, Jook was wearing this night shirt.

I suddenly realized that the print on it was the exact hummingbird and flower I saw in the film.
Both of these women work very long hours. They get up at 5:30am, go to work by 6:30 and usually don't get home til 8pm. Then they listen to some music or watch a bit of TV and go to bed. That's why they like to arrange trips as a threesome, so they can enjoy life and not just be in the same rut.

On Monday night they took us to a large Mall that is North of their city. It looks very much like the Malls back in Canada. Many of the brand names are the same too. But the prices tend to be about 25% to 50% of our costs.
This is a Thai restaurant they took us to for dinner afterwards. Speaking of which, the one thing we really had to catch onto was that they would pay for everything if we didn't watch out. There were so many times when I would carefully watch as Jook would talk to the waiter. It seemed that she only spoke a few words to him and then the next thing I knew, we had a four course meal sitting in front of us.

Last night, they had arranged for us to go to a special Puppet Theatre but we got there late, so we just walked around an Art Gallery in the place and took pictures of Monkey and Jook wearing their elegant dresses. Jook bought this dress just for this night.

I warned the two women that when they had these pictures taken they would now be famous and it was very likely they would be mistaken for Movie Stars.

We headed just outside the Gallery to an open air restaurant (is there any other kind in Bangkok?)

People keep asking me about the food so I like to embarrass myself in public places by shooting photos. The waiters seems to like it though.

Now this is what I was talking about. Jook just reaches over and starts putting things on my plate for me. Then she explains which order to eat everything in and what sauces to use. These two women just made us feel so special.

They are very different women. Jook is innocent and naive in many ways and Monkey is very worldly in her understanding of life. But both share that same nature I have encountered again and again in this mystical country; that open loving heart for all people.
When Jook was helping me to learn to speak Thai she taught me something new to add to thank you (cup une cup). She said that when someone does you a great kindness, you say these words and put the accent on the last word, to acknowledge a deeper sense of appreciation. So I'm sure Dennis joins me when I say to you, Monkey and to you Jook:

Cup-une-cup,Khun-nah-rauk-mah: "You are most kind"