utthaya

Thank God for Mondays! I get a chance to rest after the week-end. Friday, a bunch of golf buddies picked me up at 11 p.m to go to a restaurant/bar/disco. I don’t know where it was, but I can tell you it was like the middle of the day. The entertainment area was lit up like a house on fire and nearby streets filled with stalls selling their wares were lit up with thousands of people shopping. It was quite phenomenal really. Now I am going to work in the back seat of a taxi and there are thousands of workers ( if not millions) going to work all wearing yellow ( the king’s colours). If these are the same people, and I suspect they are, they are absolutely amazing to be able to go with so little sleep. I am going to save up on sleep now for the week-end when I start the merry-go-round again.

Now back to massages. Before I went out Friday I played golf, then went to my local massage place beside my apartment. I got talking about Ayuthaya, the ancient capital which is 80 kilometers north of the city and the massage lady told me she had an uncle and aunt there and she was going to take the day off Sunday to take me.Having experienced something like this before in China with a young woman who met us at Tianamen square I must admit I was not that surprised.

I met her at the train station at 7 am, not a brilliant time for me considering I got home at 2 am. (I am getting more like Josh everyday), except I woke up at 7. At least the going to sleep part was the same!) Anyway, the train cost an amazing 15 baht or about 45 cents for quite a nice reclining seat. I am encouraged to try the overnight to Chaing Mai one long week-end, if I ever get another one. I got spoiled by the first two weeks of school when we got two in a row. To celebrate the Queen’s birthday and vote in an election. Surely one of the royal family must be having a birthday soon!

Anyway, when we arrived we walked about two blocks from the train station down an alley way seemingly leading nowhere. We went through some maze and I saw a hunchbacked, semi toothless old woman standing in a doorway smiling at us. I feared the worse, frankly and got the best. We were welcomed into her home, a large two story cement floor building, and as revered guests in her grandmother’s house we were given a mat to sit down on. I was extremely conscious not to point my feet at her or anyone else but unfortunately I have trouble sitting cross legged for more than 5 minutes and as we were waiting for her aunt and uncle it became almost painful for me to keep my feet tucked in. Thank God they eventually arrived and I was able to stand up again.

The uncle was a tuk tuk driver ( I think) and we went with the aunt and 3 kids all over Aysuthaya, something I am really grateful for. He took us to about 3 wats, a museum, lunch at a riverside restaurant and to the dock for our water taxi ride around this island. For me to have done all this alone, I would have had to pay a fortune, would not have got to see the ‘important’ stuff , nor see these things through the eyes of little kids which was delightful. It would have taken be two or three days to see what I saw in one and for the cost of a lunch and elephant ride for 6 people, what a bonus.

We started out taking an elephant ride through an old temple ruin.When I saw the elephant in front urinate, I only wish I had such power and volume in my sink or shower. It would cut showering time in half. The massage lady and the elephant driver talked throughout the trip because they were both from the same home town. When the ride was finished, I noticed she gave him a 200 baht tip. Considering she does about 3 massages a day ( which are 200 baht) and she only makes something on that, I found it amazing that she should be so generous. I also noticed that when we left Ayyuthaya, she slipped her aunt 1000 baht which I am sure is like 1 weeks wages. After a mild protest, the aunt took the money graciously since I am sure her husband lost way more in wages.

Another thing I noticed is how men, especially foreigners are treated like kings. We didn’t want to wait so long for the train coming back so we took a van packed with people like sardines. The owner of the van practically pushed people out of the way to give mje the seat of honour in the front. I declined, which did not make him happy, but is very typical of the way males are treated here.

If you look at the pictures, you will see how sophisticated life was over 500 years ago. Money and effort was obviously spent on temples, political buildings and large scale gathering places. Where there is a will, there is a way. It’s too bad, I guess, that they couldn’t put the same efforts into eradicating poverty or building better housing for the poor.

Look at the pictures and you will understand what I mean by the obvious opulence and wealth. I might opt for Jewish Bangkok this week and check out Habad or the Jews on staff might do our own thing. We shall see.