KANCHANABURI AND THE JOURNEY TO THE 7 TIERS OF THE FALLS OF ERAWAN FALLS

Friday late morning Malhar, Grace, Julia and I took off to Kanchanaburi, a town in Kanchanaburi province about 2.5 hours away. Beth’s boyfriend was visiting from the Philippines so they would meet us and the other UNC kids in Bangkok at the environmental studies field site were also coming Saturday morning. We took a taxi to a bus station about 40 minutes away, but we actually didn’t get to the bus station. We weren’t sure where we were so we got out where we saw some buses in roughly the same area- it wasn’t the right place. We asked for directions to sahtahni-rotmay (bus station in Thai) and asked some people in front of an old bus. They started shouting at Malhar, friendly shouting though, that this was going to Kanchanaburi, but it was only 15 baht (about 50 cents), which can’t be right. We ended up getting on and Malhar called his Thai friend to talk to the driver. It was actually a 30 minute bus ride to another bus that would take us to Kanchanaburi. I passed out, mouth wide open and even dreamt. The next bus was a charter bus and cost 50 baht ($1.70) for the 1+ hour ride to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi is a relaxed town with one main street. We got two bungalows literally on the water, as in the rooms were on rafts that were anchored to land- it was awesome.

After we checked in it was 3:30 so we decided to walk to a few of the local sites. We stopped at a war museum, which had one room with weapons and photos from WW2, and then another building that focused on Thailand-Burma conflicts. Each floor was one room (about the size of a large bedroom) and had a case of historical artifacts and then the walls were covered with murals depicting famous Thai-Burmese wars. The stories were written in Thai, and sometimes also English, below the pictures. You could also access the roof and balconies, which gave us a nice view of the river and town. Right next to the museum was the Bridge over the River Kwai aka Death Railway. This bridge and 415 km railroad was constructed during Japanese occupation of SE Asia in WW2. The Japanese wanted to build a railroad through Japan to get supplies to Burma. They used 200,000 laborers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and other countries in SE Asia and 30,000 POWs from USA, Australia, Holland, and Britain. In the construction, 100,000 laborers and 16,000 POWs died, hence the nickname Death Railway. By the end of the war, the bridge and parts of the railroad were bombed by the Allied forces and unusable. After the war, Britain sold the railway to Thailand, who repaired the railway and still uses it today. It is still slightly controversial if the railway should still be in use, and making money, considering the terrible conditions under which it was constructed. I personally think it should remain standing in memorial, but should no longer be running.

The next day was unbelievable- one of my favorite days in Thailand. We woke up early to make sure we had time to go to Tesco to get sandwich supplies and get to the bus stop by a quarter till 8 to make the 8 am bus. The bus was about 1.5 hours to the 7 Levels of the Falls of Erawan (which totally sounds like it could be in LOTR). It was just the 4 of us since Beth’s boyfriend was sick and running a fever and the UNC kids were still in transit so we would meet up with them at the falls. Erawan National Park is most famous for Erawan Falls, which is a waterfall that drops a total of 1500 meters. There are 7 levels, but some levels have a few tiers, so I’m not really sure what designats a level. The 7^th level at the top is said to resemble the head of Erawan, the 3 headed elephant from Hindu mythology. We first jumped in at level 2, which had a wide fall with rocks behind the downpour extremely clear water. The water was chilly but nice and it was unreal going under the falls and then hanging out on the rocks behind the sheets of water pouring down in front of us. Before you can walk to the 3^rd level, you had to give 20 baht for every plastic water bottle you had, which would be returned on your way out when you show that you still have your bottles. I think this is a great incentive to not litter and hold on to your waste. The third fall was also lovely, but we didn’t swim again till the fourth level. This level had a nice swimming pool with fish nipping at the dead skin on your heels (freaked me out every time) and two boulders that made natural slides! We had a great time playing on those. After this level, the hike became a little more rigorous and we were going higher every time. Around the 5^th level we ran into the other 6 UNC kids, who hadn’t been swimming yet and were going to swim on the way down. We went into this fall, which was like small-tiered pools spilling in to each other. Level 6 was by far everyone’s favorite. When we first looked at it we joked about how we would need spiked cleats to climb the waterfall, but then a few tried it and realized it wasn’t that slippery. We climbed to a rock, then grabbed on to a rope like branch and swung over to the slope of the fall. The water was pouring over a few different places, so some areas were a little harder to go through than others, but it was a great scene and everyone was so happy. Part of the waterfall fell over a cave which we all crawled in together- it had a muted jade color and glass like texture. We finally made it to the 7^th level, which was near the peak of the mountain, and we had a picnic. It was so unreal- climbing, swimming, jumping in waterfalls and bright blue pools and hiking through the jungle with great friends. On the way down we stopped at a few falls but we needed to get down by 4 to catch the last bus back.  The bus was pretty much full, so I sat on the stairwell in front of the open bus door and the boys were on the roof (girls aren’t allowed to because of cultural traditions). I ran in to a couple on our bus later and they told me I was lucky the bus never took a sharp left otherwise I could’ve flown out the door. I was fairly stable in my seat but they’re right that any very fast and unstable movements wouldn’t have meant good things for myself, or the boys on the roof. Transportation standards are so lax. That night we all went to dinner and had a great night checking out the town. 

            After breakfast on Sunday we went to the POW museum. It was also small, but much more informative than the other war museum. The best part about it were POW’s personal accounts published in newspaper articles. Soldiers were near starving and worked brutally hard, so obviously their immune systems were very weak. Minor cuts would turn in to open ulcers, which would become so infected that one would have to scoop out maggots with a spoon. Amputations were pretty common since these wounds became too infected, but were done without anesthesia or any pain medication. Honestly, I didn’t realize Southeast Asia played a role in WW2. I assumed that when the US established bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War, it was the first US involvement in Thailand. Actually, SE Asia was involved in the Pacific War and I hope I have more opportunities to learn about those events. 

Sugar Cane Bungalows

The cave on the right is where we all climbed in to

My Experience with Health Care

So first off, drugs are less regulated than in the US and can easily be bought over the counter. At the pharmacy a few meters from my dorm you can get anything from amoxicillin to Xanax. The only drug that I know is strictly regulated- I think its actual very illegal- is Adderall because Thailand has a meth problem and because employers used to give their employees really high doses to increase productivity and there were major public health issues that followed. Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I got a sinus infection. I was achey all over and extremely congested and was coughing up a lot of gross things but nothing new- I just netty potted a lot and took mucinex and clariton and advil and drank a lot of water. On Wednesday night I ate Mexican food to celebrate a friends’ birthday and ended up getting some mild food poisoning. I woke up with some stomach pain that night and ended up having to run out of my 10am to vom. I went to the school nurse and she gave me stuff to rehydrate, nausea medicine, fever medicine, and antibiotics for my sinus infection. She had me take 7 pills just sitting there, which was very surprising at first because I have never had a school nurse who could prescribe me medicine. I declined the anti-b’s because I try to avoid them as much as possible to decrease my chances of later resistance, but she was persistent and I realized that I really should avoid sickness at all cost while I’m in Thailand because it’s harder to recover. Anyway, my stomach was completely fine by the afternoon and I completely recovered from the sinus infection after 5 days.

 

The next Monday night a bunch of the exchange students went to a local pizza place called Mamma Mia, owned my an Italian immigrant, to eat pizza and watch the superbowl. Since the super bowl was aired at 6 am Monday morning for us, we watched the recording, projected on the wall. Most people avoided internet that day and didn’t actually know who won, and there’s a bunch of San Francisco students, so it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, at about 3:30 am I woke up with a pretty intense stomachache but I thought I just needed to burp so I went to the kitchen and found some 7-Up. Instead I ended up throwing up for the next few hours, pretty much until all the water in me was out so there was nothing more to get out. The pain in my stomach intensified, and I became hysterical because of severe abdomenal pain. It felt like my intestines were being squeezed and twisted. I went to talk to my friend Taylor, who I shared a pizza with, and Beth, who I shared a drink with, and both were fine. At this point I decided I needed to go to the hospital, but needed to wait till I could calm down and manage the pain. Also, I was still very nauseous and I wasn’t sure if I would make it through a whole cab ride so I needed to wait to make sure any food or liquid was out of my body before I would go. My university, Mahidol, has a hospital near the campus so I had a cab take me to school and I planned on finding someone who could direct me there. I was pretty pleased with myself because I was able to use the Thai I had just learned to ask directions to get to the hospital, but after talking to 10 people walking near a street on campus (mostly students, but guards too) I was getting pretty antsy/just trying to stay calm and eventually we went to the International College and the receptionist had a map to show the taxi driver. Once I got in the hospital, someone immediately walked me to talk to a nurse, who had me fill out some paperwork and then to another place where I filled out more paperwork and had my picture taken and given an ID card. Then the women gave me my folder and told me to find another room- her English was broken but she was very sweet told me she liked my cheetah print dress. Everything was in Thai and I was the only non-Thai person, but I think people could tell I had no idea what to do because someone, even other patients, was always directing me where to go without me asking. I think I looked pretty rough too- I was pale and my eyes were very swollen from all the crying. Once in the room, I talked with the nurse who spoke the best English. She asked me to speak slowly and repeat myself, but I think mostly understood what was going on and then took all my vitals, which were normal. They gave me a number that would be called out when it was my time. I know my numbers, but there were a bunch of other announcements and I realized I wouldn’t be able to figure out when I was being called. I went up to the nurse and handed her my number and she smiled and took my number away and when they called it they did it all in English, which was sweet.

            The doctor was a woman and spoke perfect English. I was most surprised that upon entering and leaving she did the wai to me, a bow of respect given to those higher on the social hierarchy. The wai is done from younger to older people, employees to employers, students to teachers, and people in the service industry, like a waiter to his customer. I suppose doctors wai because they provide service to patients, but they are so educated that I expected patients to be showing respect to them. She basically told me it was some sort of GI infection, probably from food poisoning, and the abdominal pain is called GI spasms. She prescribed a bunch of medicine and wrote me a doctor’s note. I took the piece of paper the doctor gave me to the pharmacy, where they gave me another slip to bring to the cashiers, where I was given another slip to take to the pharmacy. An older Thai man walked me from the pharmacy to the cashier and back, showing me when to stand in line and what to show the staff. He also didn’t speak English but had a very sweet smile. I was given nausea and vomiting medicine, pain medication to relieve the GI spasms, an anti-biotic, headache and fever medicine, and powder to make into an orange tang drink to help me re-hydrate. All the treatment and medicine was free because the hospital is part of my university, so students are treated for free! Afterward, I went back to my dorm and because I needed to eat to take my medicine, ate half a granola bar, and went to bed. I went to school the next day, but still could only eat a little oatmeal and plain rice, but by three days later I could eat a normal meal! I noticed my appetite has shrunk quite a bit, but that just means I am full after a normal sized Thai meal- I was eating a ton at the beginning because the food was so good, but it was not very healthy.

            Malhar, Beth and I went to this place called the Magnum Café last week. You can go and get a milk, dark, or white chocolate Magnum ice cream bar and then pick from 20 different toppings from peanuts to chili flakes to white chocolate chips. I got pistachio, marshmallow, brownie, and chocolate sauce on mine, which was excellent. We were talking about our worst experiences here. Malhar is Indian, and Thais can be prejudice against Indians, as well as black people. Both Malhar, and our other friend Ivan, have had some bad interactions where people are less than friendly and harsh, to making full on racist comments (someone yelled ‘monkey’ at Ivan when he was running at a local park recently). Thais are typically very sweet and non-confrontational people and I never really considered open prejudices until I got here. Beth said that her worst experiences with the people have been with other students at school, which I understand. Especially at the beginning of school, the girls were very unfriendly and stared, and then whispered in a circle. For her, the only friendly students are boys. The staring is among of the most awkward things. Sometimes we will be walking to catch a taxi near our dorm and walk past people eating at street stalls and entire groups, usually men, will literally stop talking and all stare and sometimes stand. We live in an area with no tourists so I think it can be surprising for locals to see Westerners all styled. Malhar then asked if me getting sick was my worst experience. It was definitely one of my worst days in the last few years, but I think I still count it as a good experience. The hospital was competent, helpful, and free, and I was greeted with so much kindness across the board. I’m really lucky to be around such good health care because there are so many places in SE Asia where care of this quality is unavailable.

           

Pattaya

A handful of other Americans in my dorm came to Thailand through a 3^rd party program called Global Links. Through that program they went on a trip to Pattaya, the closest beach to Bangkok (about 2 hours by minibus), for a night and day. A few of us decided to take a day trip over and do some beach time with them. Pattaya was once a small fishing village, but during the Vietnam war, thousands of American soldiers were stationed there, and thus the sex tourism industry began. Pattaya is now known as the sex tourism capital of Thailand, if not Southeast Asia. It is famous for its concentration of brothels, hourly hotels, “massage” parlors, go-go bars and its masses of ladyboys. It is also become a pedophile hotspot for western tourists, mostly German and Russian. The children are typically orphans or young adolescents that need to send money back to their families. It is not uncommon for poor families from small villages to pressure their daughters to enter into the sex industry because they have an opportunity to make more money than they ever would otherwise since they don’t have access to an education.  

When we got there we took a taxi to the water, where we would walk to a pier, meet up with our friends, and take an hour ferry to an island and nice beach. The taxi had a professional and understated advertisement for a brothel, claiming that all the girls were hospital STD/HIV tested, non-photo shopped photos could be bought, and if the client is not satisfied, you got a refund. After we got near the water, we walked about a half an hour through the streets and down the infamous Walking Street, which is particularly famous for its night life. Pattaya is grimy, creepy and smells bad. We saw many a 60+ Russian man holding hands with a Thai girl who looked no older than 20 (but Thai girls look young so they may have actually been older). This is a big tourist destination for Russians. Usually if another language beside Thai is printed on signs or menus it is English, but here is was all in Russian, because they provide so much of the cliental. What confused me is that I saw a lot of older couples and young Russian women- it seemed so unlikely that they were here for the sex tourism- and Thailand has stunning beaches and this beach could nowhere compare to what else is available. However, if you are Russian and don’t speak English and want to come to Southeast Asia, this is where you would come because they cater so much to Russians where the rest of the region does not at all. Also, it’s common for older men to come with their wives and families and then leave at night to indulge in the sex tourism. The Walking Street was stacked with strip clubs, massage parlors, bars that advertised porn for 5 baht, piles of trash, and Russian restaurants.

The beach was on an island off the coast. It was stacked full of tourists- also primarily Russian- but was nice, it was just a really overcast day. I saw so many old hairy Russian men in speedos and their 60-something wives in thong bikinis- it was just a little shock and pretty funny. I don’t blame them though, they have probably been bundled up for the last 3 months and will be for another 3 months that they probably are just happy to not wear clothes and also be warm. It was unfortunate seeing the state of the beach by time we left. Trash was everywhere, as well as bottles and cigarette and cigar buts. Environmental standards are very low here and at this rate, these pristine beaches and dive sites will quickly deteriorate.

The best part of the night by far was the dinner. We went to this open air restaurant where each table got this thing that had was like an elevated in dish with coals in it and placed on top of that was another tin thing that was kind of like an upside bowl, but flat on top where a piece of fat was cooking for flavor and you put raw meat there to cook it and then around the upside bowl was a moat of boiling water, where you could cook noodles and eggs and veggies to make a noodle/soup dish. We picked out whatever meat, sauces, veggies, noodles we wanted and then cooked them on the table- it was so fun! I used what I learned at the thai cooking class to make papaya salad and sauces to marinate my meat in. The food all turned out really good, probably because it was so fresh. I would definitely go back to that restaurant again, or one like it, but I have no desire to ever visit Pattaya again.  

Introduction to Religion in Thailand

I am in a class called Thai Society and Culture taught by a mid 30-something English professor, with a doctorate in Thai History, who also has red hair (so I obviously like him even more). The teacher is very organized and knowledgeable, and lectures on Tuesday, and then on Thursday he lectures for the first hour and during the second hour we discuss our weekly assignment, which is a reading and worksheet related to that week’s topic. The best part about the class is that it is half Thai and half international kids (about 30 kids total) so I always get to hear the perspective of a young Thai adult, especially when we get in small groups (the Thai students get extremely nervous/quiet in full class discussions). This last week we talked about religion in Thailand: how it came to Thailand, spread, combined with other religions, and was influenced by the monarchy or government. 95% of the Thai population is Buddhist, but many people are Buddhist nominally and thus don’t really practice. Thai people typically practice Theravada Buddhism (as oppose to Mahayana), a more orthodox sect of Buddhism that focuses on the teachings of Buddha and meditation for the goal of reaching nirvana, but gives little instruction on how to live in this world and life. Simply, Buddhism teaches that life is suffering and impermanent- there is no permanent self and we shouldn’t get attached to anything (ourselves, things, desires, people) because attachment is the cause of suffering. Reaching ultimate enlightenment, nirvana, can only be achieved by freeing oneself of suffering and thus give up everything. It is extremely difficult to reach nirvana unless you are a monk, which only men can become. Since most Thais believe that it is unlikely that they will achieve nirvana in their lifetime, they instead focus on earning merit so they will be born into a better life in the next lifetime. This is a part of what’s called Karmic Buddhism, where a person acquires merit for doing “good things” and demerit for doing “bad things.” I don’t know enough about that to explain it well- I think it’s pretty complicated. However, the state of one’s present existence is a result of actions in the past life, so if you are wealthy it’s because you accumulated meritin the previous life. Likewise, if you are poor or handicap it is because you did bad things in your past life. Since the Thai government is Buddhist, I asked my teacher if this affects policies and social programs affecting the poor and disabled, because according to this line of thinking, being poor or mentally or physically disabled be the person’s own fault. He said that probably not because you earn merit for helping the poor. I still wonder if a Buddhist person born without arms or perhaps with downs or in extreme poverty feels like they deserve this, or if that’s the collective idea from those of a wealthy status, or if this is a facet of the religion that few still subscribe to.

There are two other aspects of Thai religion called Brahmanism and Animism. Brahmanism is grounded in Buddhism, but focuses on this world (as oppose to future lives) and was adopted from Khmer during the 14^th century, so it has a long history in Thai culture. Remember that Thailand was artificially and where present day Thailand is was once several different kingdoms and tribes and so its hard to look at the history of Thai religion collectively because it differs depending on what region you’re talking about. Brahmanism uses rituals and ceremonies to call to heavenly Buddhist beings, and if done correctly, are immediately effective. Animism is about communicating with spirits that reside in that particular region, but spirits are temperamental and unpredictable. There are people, typically women, in Thailand who are processed by spirits, called spirit mediums, and there are also spirit doctors, who can communicate with spirits. These people give advice, help people who are hoping for a job promotion, and even tell people what numbers they should pick in the lottery- all for a fee. It is very common to see small houses outside a building, called spirit houses, where people put offering like flowers, food, or drinks, to honor the spirits so they will be nice to you.

In the last 30 years, there has been an increase in people practicing animism and a decrease in people actively practicing Buddhism and entering monkhood in Thailand. Monks are at the highest social standing that you can be at in Thai society (they don’t have to do the wai, a bow of respect, to anyone including royals) and in the past have been a way to increase social status, especially for the poor. There has been corruption in the monkhood where monks are sleeping with women (monks are celibate and should have no contact with women), drinking and smoking, and buying things like cell phone- all clearly prohibited. Joining the monkhood is free and gives you free food and shelter, so some men join to avoid work while also offers asylum for criminals, so you can escape a criminal offense by joining the monkhood. Thus, men are becoming monks for the wrong reasons and aren’t fulfilling their duties properly. Becoming a monk slows you entering the workforce, so those who can afford an education don’t want to limit their opportunities by having to take a long break from working or school. When we talked about this in class and our teacher asked if any of the male students were going to join the monkhood, they laughed. Some said they hadn’t been to a temple in years. This was surprising to me- like I said 95% of the population is Buddhist so I assumed some of the students would practice. I was in a small group with 2 Thai girls and a Thai boy. None strongly believed in or practiced Buddhism, but both of the girls practiced animism, and one had very strong faith. Both of their parents had a medium come to the house to tell them what god to pray to, based on the spirit that was in their house, and had a spirit house on their property (but not in their house) that they frequently made offerings to. They believed that if you wronged the spirits they could seriously hurt you. I told them about a tv show that some of the Thai girls I lived with were watching (I couldn’t understand it but they translated) that centered around a medium that would talk to people that have disrespected spirits and communicate what they needed to do. In the show, a man was drunk and destroyed a spirit house and didn’t make amends because he didn’t believe in spirits. He had a young baby whose leg was soon shattered- the girls said that it just happened, that nothing caused it except the spirit. The girls in my group believed that spirits could do that and that disrespecting spirits in such a way could warrant harsh revenge. They said that, in short, that they got more out of animism, which affected their current life than Buddhism, which only affects them after this life’s death. After seeing all the statistics about the population being almost entirely Buddhist and the temples everywhere I never really questioned how the average person views religion and it was so interesting to meet a handful of young people who didn’t match my previous understanding and assumptions at all.

Skitos

So I have been very lax with the bug repellant and have gotten some pretty sick mosquito bites. I only had about 15 but they were a deep vibrant red, about the size of dimes, and some were blistering even though I wasn’t scratching them. After 1-2 weeks of little improvement I started taking Benadryl’s before I went to bed, which definitely chilled them out and lessened the color. Then I went to BKK Tuesday night to hang out and get dinner, and I ate at a street food place on the side of the road and then hung out outside for a while. The next day I counted 150 bites just from my knees down (because my dress was covering everywhere else). They surprisingly aren’t that itchy but totally freak everyone out and the nurse gave me some medicine and anti-itch cream so they won’t bother me as much. Today, still a little itchy but manageable but they have gotten much darker so I think they are headed for the blood blister look- but i do look cool.

Skitos the day after they happened

Bites today

I forgot!!!

The best part about the rose garden! So we were eating our first lunch of the day and the chair I was sitting on had metal legs that we sharp on the bottom. I was adjusting the chair and accidentally placed it on my big toe and sat on it and cut open my toe. It was bleeding quite a bit so I went to bathroom to clean it up. As I was sitting on the floor adding pressure and trying to clean it, one of the thai employees cleaning the bathroom squatted next to me. She had seen me and gone outside a picked of part of plant, and then brought it to me, cut it open, and was now applying goo to my toe and rubbing it in, eve, though she was getting blood on her! It kind of resembles an aloe vera plant, especially the way it was thick and had goo inside, but I’m pretty sure it was something different. Anyway, it looked so much better by the end of the day and was almost completely healed 2 days later!

comment on the students

There is a bit of a paradox I’ve noticed with the relationship between teachers and students. On the one hand, there is a clear social standing between a teacher and a student- the teacher is always superior and deserves the highest respect. Students have told me that they would never talk back to a teacher and questioning the teacher aloud is very rare. However, the thai students are always either talking in class, or on their phones. There is very little participation and I have yet to see any thai student really engage themselves with the class, professor or material (except in small discussions, sort of). My neo-marxist American professor is very eccentric and has a lot of criticism for the US and is just all around odd (but very interesting, I really enjoy his class), so I thought it was weird when he asked me to stay after class one day. He told me that he was going to be absent February 21^st and that he couldn’t find any colleagues to sub for him but he really wanted to show a movie. He said that he trusted me and thought I was responsible and was wondering if I would put in the movie and take roll. He acted like he was asking this huge favor from me and was so grateful when I said yes. He asked me how someone so good could come from a state with Jan Brewer as their government haha. I was just very surprised by how he thought he was really putting me out. I think it reflects the relationship the students and teachers have- the students don’t give anything to the classroom, and the teachers don’t trust them. Some of the kids in our class have been in 1+ classes with him before, but there was no relationship built, like there would be in a US college classroom after several semesters (especially when the classes are 15 people). I also wonder why the students act like they do in the classroom. I would imagine to be able to speak English at a college level as your second language, and to get in to Mahidol, would require the kids to be very focused in lower school and high school, so I wonder why that behavior doesn’t transfer and why the students seem to lack critical thinking skills. Malhar suggested that their previous education may have just required memorization and a very structured setting, so by removing the structure and the need to memorize and instead critically think, the students don’t know how to respond.