where cider meets condensed milk: Around Sangkhlaburi town

where cider meets condensed milk

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Around Sangkhlaburi town

Some pictures of Sangkhlaburi: it's a small town northwest of Bangkok, close to the border with Burma (Myanmar). Walking around town is eye-opening-- there are some proper houses, various types of huts, and lots of shacks that are just boards or pieces of tin propped up against each other. I think about extremes: our neighbors back home getting sued by the homeowners' association for painting their house an unapproved shade of blue, whereas most houses in this area would be fortunate to survive one monsoon season. Or the fact that every cheap guesthouse I visited in Thailand is nicer than any house some families will ever live in. The town is on a lake, and the area would be prettier if not for the trash along the roads and everywhere. The lake was warm, and I went swimming alone one afternoon, but freaked out when I saw a little snake in the water and simultaneously convinced myself that something (or someone) brushed by my foot. As much as I love water, my intense fear of anything more than 2 meters below surface will prevent me from anything more hardcore than snorkeling. (Did anyone else read that scary Christopher Pike book as a child, about a girl that goes scuba diving and her evil "boyfriend" pushes her into a cave and rolls the rock over the entrace so she nearly drowns? The book cover has a corpse hand reaching up through the ocean floor, and that's what I pictured in my head when "something" grabbed my foot.) I swam as fast I could back to the dock before hyperventilating. (Maybe it's a good thing my mom banned Annabelle and I from reading Christopher Pike books, along with Sweet Valley High...) Early mornings around town were my favorite because it was still cool and quiet, and the roads were dotted with goats, walkers, and the occasional troupe of monks.

Walking to yoga/meditation one morning. Goats goats everywhere!

Monks collecting rice from villagers along the roadside. I'm unsure if they're only receiving food, or if there's more meaning involved.

We were sitting in the cafe when we saw a mama cow and her baby trot by, trailing lead ropes. A minute later the woman rushed by to collect her bovine runaways.

A huge reclining Buddha outside town.

Another Buddha.

We stopped at this bridge over the river Kwai en route to town our first day. I also went to THE bridge over the river Kwai while returning to Bangkok, of which I have pictures.

The teachers had us help out at their 2nd annual Environmental Day (which was referred to as "Littering Day", but none of the kids need to be told how to do that...), which was our 2nd gigantic event of the week. Hundreds of schoolkids descended on Baan Unrak for a morning of trash pick-up around town, followed by an afternoon of workshops (organized by the teachers and some JETs) and games outside (by the rest of us). It was a blazing hot day, and we were all wiped out by the end of the afternoon. I got sick and didn't help pick up trash in the morning, but I hear it was productive, if not frustrating. The trash-disposal situation in Thailand is to take your litter and throw it onto the side of the road. The teachers at Baan Unrak want to teach the kids how to respect the environment, yet it was difficult when storekeepers and families are tossing their rubbish into the ditch as the kids are walking around town with trashbags.

This was from a recycle-art workshop. I know what it should say, but with that misformed "a", this "I won't love you" masterpiece is the cruelest valentine ever made.

We tried to come up with recycling-oriented games: a recycle-sorting relay, PET bottle bowling, bottle basketball, and Steal the Bacon (inexplicably using Heineken bottles as bacon). Having 300-400 kids cycle through was exhausting.

My station-- basketball with water bottles. I also tried out "Pig" when I had a small group of older kids, but it disintegrated when every single kid in line missed every shot.

The orphanage also runs a weaving center that is operated by single mothers that live at the home with their children. The products are sold at a shop in town and online. There is also a cafe and bakery in town, which is where we ate all of our meals. The Ananda Marga philosophy forbids meat, onions, mushrooms, eggs, and garlic, so our meals were made without any of that, and every single meal was AMAZING. Like good vegetarian home cooking... if you had a sweet Filipino woman to whip up fabulous cuisine right in your very own aparto. They made faux meat using wheat gluten, which was tasty, though it has only served to kick-start my severe Tofurkey cravings. I also developed a new addiction to Ovaltine and dragged Richard into my choco-drink cult. The best was when they'd bring us fresh fruit icey shakes at most meals-- who needs meat or onions or garlic or eggs or cheese when you've got shakes and homemade Turkee/Chik'n/Tuno/Soysage?

Christmas dinner-- that's Clay and Annie in the middle. We had fresh-baked bread every day, and always a selection of exotic fruit.

posted by Raychaa @ 11:18 PM

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