I spent the afternoon with a Dang today, a textile shop owner who buys fabrics from the Northern hill tribes and brings them back to make clothing, bags, and quilts. She is the first Thai woman, aside from my teacher that I had an extended converstion with. I talked to the market and vendor women, but those were short and in passing. Mostly my interactions have been with men, so when Dang pulled out a stool and offered me water and pomelo I didn't say no.
We talked for hours about food, fabrics, Thai herbal medicine, massage, farangs, and Buddha. The latter two are topics I really wanted to write about here, but the words just are not ready. I felt a bit worn out from being foreigner over the weekend. There is just nowhere to hide, and the more I interacted with Chiang Mai the more I felt my farang footprint. It's a loaded topic, and one that is best spent over a bottle of wine and good food.
The summary though is that this trip has shown me how comfortable I am in my skin now. That
I have grown to be a person that is so much more open to taking the
world in than I used to be. That I am still drained by too much social
interaction, but that I don't want to be alone or hide away. And that what
I do for a living and how I live my life are truly seamless.
I'm so glad that I recorded some of my tales here and that you indulged my story telling. Thank you, and see you soon.
