E: The day started with my first "tall American" moment. Honestly, I didn't expect to have any of these, as I'm a little short, if anything. But as I was walking through the kitchen doorway at our guesthouse, I racked my head on the 5'3" door frame. I spent breakfast holding a towel with ice on my forehead and absorbing the laughter of the Thai employees and guests alike.
In the morning, Tanya 16, Carrie, and I searched out more temples. Carrie: Tonya's a lot of fun to do things with because her perspective is just a little askew of our own and her reactions nearly always catch me off guard. She and the other Tanya do this thing where they blow from the lips, sometimes with a shrug. It means annoyance or indifference, or that they aren't going to bother finishing the sentance. "We were going to go but, phhhu." I thought it was a German thing until I saw a French girl say it. Anyway, I've started doing it now.
I was going to say that I like hanging around with the Tonyas because they are a bit like Eric, jumping to action, and I think it will do him good to have some action packed companions ready to grap the naga by the tail.
Eric: At the 600-year-old Wat Chedi Luang, monk novices sit at tables at the entrance and talk to visitors. We convinced one of them to take us around and explain some of the stuff. His English was pretty good, and we got some questions answered about the purposes of some of the buildings. They have two interesting buildings at this complex that house was statues of famous monks in mediation, with some relics of monks from that monastery. However, the language barrier did prevent us from getting all of our questions answered.
That has been a source of frustration for Carrie and I throughout the trip: we go to these magnificent cites, but we don't speak Thai so we don't really get to learn much about what we're seeing.
After this temple, we went to Wat Phra Singh. It was beautiful, but by now, beautiful is almost ho-hum. We want to learn. On the site there is a school for both young novice monks and young boys. The highlight for both Carrie and I was seeing these little monks running around, acting just like their non-monk peers and playing and watching soccer.
Also, some guy from Phuket struck up a conversation with us as we were watching the boys, and we felt this sense of both relief and gladness. It wasn't until then that we realized how much we were craving conversation with Thais who weren't trying to sell us anything. He is the one who told us about the school and that although Thai Buddhist males are required to enter the monastic life once in their lives, many families send their boys to the monkhood because of the free education.
After templing, we headed to the women's prison, which has a massage business. Women in the last 6-months-or-so of their sentence get to learn Thai massage and work in the on-site spa. The money they earn giving massages gets put away until they are released, at which point they get it. That way they have a trade when they are released from prison so they can get a running start.
Anyway, when we got there, we learned that they were booked for the day. On our way out the door, the prison guard receptionist motioned to some flyers in English about another spa and suggested we go there. We agreed, and then this older guard in full uniform said something like "I drive," motioned for us to follow him, and headed out the door. While we were apprehensive about getting in the car with a stranger, headed to a destination unknown, we were also hesitant to disobey a guy with a badge and a gun. We got in.
It turns out that we were headed to the Lila Massage Clinic, where the recently-released inmates work. Carrie and I got the 1-hour, full-body massages for 150 baht apiece. We even got free tea and internet while we waited. It was divine.
Carrie: Well I guess it was divine. But also much like a sports massage. I get a bit squeamy about my calfs. And it still seems very strange to pay someone money, so I can lay there all relaxed. Shouldn't I at least know her name? They also do this part where they kneel on the back of your thighs and pull your arms up and back until all your vertebra line up. But we did come out smelling minty. Yum.
Eric: We ended the night by going to the Night Safari, where you drive through areas where animals (except for predators) are kept and allowed to mingle. Several times, we had to wait for zebras or warthogs to clear out of the road before proceeding. They also had a laser light/water show that was very well-done.
The announcers on the English buses had the thickest accents we've ever heard, and their announcing came in the form of three types of sentences: informing us that "more animals are waiting for you," whenever we left an area, as if every animal was on tenterhooks until, at last, Eric and Carrie would complete their lives by looking at them; extolling the beauty of every animal; or pointing out the painfully obvious (e.g., "the tiger has beautiful blue eye and pink nose"), and nothing else about the animal.
While the announcing was more comical than informative, it was still fun to see the animals at night, because many are naturally active at this time it makes for better gawking than going to the zoo where all-to-often the animals are sleeping.
Getting home was bad. The taxi refused to use the meter and quoted us an inflated price. Carrie: This was more complicated by the kind tour driver that was going to give both of us a ride back for a fraction of the cost. But because the taxi had driven out specifically for US, it seemed bad to just ditch her. Thais have a strong aversion to conflict, and don't fight among themselves. It is avoided at all costs, and so what ended up happening is more and more people were called over to "help."
The ticket girl spoke the best English. (Much better in fact than the zoo tour guides, "Iz lion. About his face iz hair. The lady lion, she have no hair.") And she was trying to repeat back and forth what the taxi driver and we already knew. We wanted the meter, she wanted 250 baht. We had another option, and she had already driven out. So then the big manager was brought out and the whole story relayed to him. With nothing resolved.
Finally we took the taxi because we didn't want to be jerk Americans. And the ticket girl and the big boss and the taxi driver and Eric and I stood there bowing and smiling to each other and looking much relieved. Much ado about nothing. It actually ended better than it sounds, but we will be careful to avoid getting in that situation again.
