No more watting!
26 May 2007
Today was long, and insanely hot. We drove about an hour outside of the city to Ayuthaya, Thailand's capitol city before Bangkok, to view ruins of historic temples. I managed to place myself in the wrong van and the ride caused me to lose any shard of remaining respect I might have had for some of my traveling companions - their trans/homophobic remarks are a constant symphony I cannot tune out.
I never know quite how to react in a situation like this. I know that if I don't step up and say anything, no one else will, but sometimes its easier to try to ignore it and say nothing. Different environments and situations call for different responses. In this case, I have to share very close living and working quarters with these people and I don't want to make things worse than they already are. I'm on vacation and I don't want to have to deal with the gender and sexuality education I encounter daily in my classes and recreation at home. But I am still in a class, even if we happen to be gallivanting across Thailand, and I don't know how justified I am in complaining about people's behavior if I'm unwilling to address it. (But if their behavior undermines my sense of safety and wellbeing? I could argue myself in circles over this one.)
Our first stop was Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon ("wat" is Thai for temple) to view a reclining Buddha, gardens and ruins. My favorite part of the wat was the compound surrounded by restored Buddhas, and the orderly fashion in which they were aligned.
Next we stopped at Wat Phra Mahathat, which is famous for a Buddha head embedded in a bunch of tree roots. This wat was one of the first built in the capitol, and is in worse shape than the first wat we visited.
We took a break for lunch, stopping at some kind of market. Most of us wandered and observed, unsure of what foods we could eat without bringing severe gastric distress upon us. Meagan and I actually wandered quite far back into the Chinese corner of the market, where she found a soup concoction. I held stuff for her and Rachel as they used the bathroom, and I was incredibly amused by the torrent of water coming out the door. I opted to wait for the next stop.
After lunch we visited a third and final wat, whose name escapes me at the moment. It was beautiful and had incredibly steep stairs leading up to chambers with Buddhas nestled inside. We ran into the Thai National Army, and some people posed with them for pictures. Rachel was completely burned out at this point, hence the wonderful statement "no more watting!"
We drove back to Bangkok hot and exhausted, and got ready for dinner. We went to the night market (everything you could ever want to buy, outdoors and cheap- scheduled to be demolished later this year to make room for a shopping mall) and found a nice little restaurant. After dinner we shopped at the market before returning to the hotel.
Today was long, and insanely hot. We drove about an hour outside of the city to Ayuthaya, Thailand's capitol city before Bangkok, to view ruins of historic temples. I managed to place myself in the wrong van and the ride caused me to lose any shard of remaining respect I might have had for some of my traveling companions - their trans/homophobic remarks are a constant symphony I cannot tune out.
I never know quite how to react in a situation like this. I know that if I don't step up and say anything, no one else will, but sometimes its easier to try to ignore it and say nothing. Different environments and situations call for different responses. In this case, I have to share very close living and working quarters with these people and I don't want to make things worse than they already are. I'm on vacation and I don't want to have to deal with the gender and sexuality education I encounter daily in my classes and recreation at home. But I am still in a class, even if we happen to be gallivanting across Thailand, and I don't know how justified I am in complaining about people's behavior if I'm unwilling to address it. (But if their behavior undermines my sense of safety and wellbeing? I could argue myself in circles over this one.)
Our first stop was Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon ("wat" is Thai for temple) to view a reclining Buddha, gardens and ruins. My favorite part of the wat was the compound surrounded by restored Buddhas, and the orderly fashion in which they were aligned.
Next we stopped at Wat Phra Mahathat, which is famous for a Buddha head embedded in a bunch of tree roots. This wat was one of the first built in the capitol, and is in worse shape than the first wat we visited.
We took a break for lunch, stopping at some kind of market. Most of us wandered and observed, unsure of what foods we could eat without bringing severe gastric distress upon us. Meagan and I actually wandered quite far back into the Chinese corner of the market, where she found a soup concoction. I held stuff for her and Rachel as they used the bathroom, and I was incredibly amused by the torrent of water coming out the door. I opted to wait for the next stop.
After lunch we visited a third and final wat, whose name escapes me at the moment. It was beautiful and had incredibly steep stairs leading up to chambers with Buddhas nestled inside. We ran into the Thai National Army, and some people posed with them for pictures. Rachel was completely burned out at this point, hence the wonderful statement "no more watting!"
We drove back to Bangkok hot and exhausted, and got ready for dinner. We went to the night market (everything you could ever want to buy, outdoors and cheap- scheduled to be demolished later this year to make room for a shopping mall) and found a nice little restaurant. After dinner we shopped at the market before returning to the hotel.