back
the subject of this post has two meanings: i'm back, and my back has been troubling me ever since we returned on thursday.
i blame the back pain for making re-entry so difficult. the wedding went great, thailand was wonderful, and we had a very enjoyable weekend at my friend's wedding in maryland this past weekend. but i've been rather grumpy and withdrawn because of the back mess. i kinda wish i could hibernate until it goes away. i;ve been taking anti-inflammatories and i just got a muscle relaxant from the doctor yesterday. my stupid insurance doesn't cover chiropractic or accupuncture, which is the course of action i would much prefer to take than pills. i'll give it another few days, week max, and then perhaps bite the bullet and go for accupuncture anyway.
but rather than spend this post complaining, i will leave you with a list of elements i found very ubiquitous in thailand:
* mopeds, tuk-tuks, and songthaews
* energy drinks (so many different brands - they all came in small glass brown glass bottles and tasted like Red Bull without the carbonation). another drink offered almost everywhere was Ovaltine. my favorite weird drink in thailand, though, was the tomato shake, which is basically like a milkshake made with tomato juice.
* birds. in the south, lots of homes and establishments had nbirds in hanging birdcages outside the doorway. i felt a little bad for the birds, but later when i witnessed how some people sell birds jailed in tiny little baskets at temples, i felt far worse for those birds, as they had so little room! the vendors always uttered "good luck", as if releasing the birds at the temple would bring you good luck, but i always uttered back "but for the birds, it's bad luck". i suppose it's good for them to be released, but it's not a demand i wanted to support or create.
* smelling salts/anti-nausea potions. it seems like the whole country is sniffing these little stick/inhaler things. at one buddhist temple, dan received a little buddha amulet thing from a nun to whom he made donation, and i caught him smelling the thing a few times. i told him he should smell it in public like all the thais and their smelling sticks and see how they react!
* fruit. i'd never seen a rambuatn before (they look like little alien pods), and never had a fresh mangosteen. delicious!
* shrines. i loved the big temples, of course, but also the fact that spirit shrines are everywhere. in the first place we stayed, we noticed some cats living in (or at least hanging out in) a spirit shrine. i also like the fact that little dishes of food & drink are left out as an offering. dan and i talked of getting such a thing going on at our house (though i feel the squirrels would think it was for them, and we try not to invite them, as they make themselves far too welcome as it is).
* orchids & other flowers. i noticed a lot of the same flora as we saw in puerto rico. and i loved how orchids were used to garnish accent everything, from coconut drinks to ashtrays in hotels.
* "ronald mcboyfriend", as the lonely planet guide termed them. basically, older farang men dye their hair a weird shade of red to mask the grey hair and hence their advanced years when meeting the families of their thai girlfriends. not all of them had red hair, but i must say the ubiquity of the older farang man + thai wife/girlfriend was a little disconcerting to me
* monks! i loved seeing the monks walking around in the golden robes.
i blame the back pain for making re-entry so difficult. the wedding went great, thailand was wonderful, and we had a very enjoyable weekend at my friend's wedding in maryland this past weekend. but i've been rather grumpy and withdrawn because of the back mess. i kinda wish i could hibernate until it goes away. i;ve been taking anti-inflammatories and i just got a muscle relaxant from the doctor yesterday. my stupid insurance doesn't cover chiropractic or accupuncture, which is the course of action i would much prefer to take than pills. i'll give it another few days, week max, and then perhaps bite the bullet and go for accupuncture anyway.
but rather than spend this post complaining, i will leave you with a list of elements i found very ubiquitous in thailand:
* mopeds, tuk-tuks, and songthaews
* energy drinks (so many different brands - they all came in small glass brown glass bottles and tasted like Red Bull without the carbonation). another drink offered almost everywhere was Ovaltine. my favorite weird drink in thailand, though, was the tomato shake, which is basically like a milkshake made with tomato juice.
* birds. in the south, lots of homes and establishments had nbirds in hanging birdcages outside the doorway. i felt a little bad for the birds, but later when i witnessed how some people sell birds jailed in tiny little baskets at temples, i felt far worse for those birds, as they had so little room! the vendors always uttered "good luck", as if releasing the birds at the temple would bring you good luck, but i always uttered back "but for the birds, it's bad luck". i suppose it's good for them to be released, but it's not a demand i wanted to support or create.
* smelling salts/anti-nausea potions. it seems like the whole country is sniffing these little stick/inhaler things. at one buddhist temple, dan received a little buddha amulet thing from a nun to whom he made donation, and i caught him smelling the thing a few times. i told him he should smell it in public like all the thais and their smelling sticks and see how they react!
* fruit. i'd never seen a rambuatn before (they look like little alien pods), and never had a fresh mangosteen. delicious!
* shrines. i loved the big temples, of course, but also the fact that spirit shrines are everywhere. in the first place we stayed, we noticed some cats living in (or at least hanging out in) a spirit shrine. i also like the fact that little dishes of food & drink are left out as an offering. dan and i talked of getting such a thing going on at our house (though i feel the squirrels would think it was for them, and we try not to invite them, as they make themselves far too welcome as it is).
* orchids & other flowers. i noticed a lot of the same flora as we saw in puerto rico. and i loved how orchids were used to garnish accent everything, from coconut drinks to ashtrays in hotels.
* "ronald mcboyfriend", as the lonely planet guide termed them. basically, older farang men dye their hair a weird shade of red to mask the grey hair and hence their advanced years when meeting the families of their thai girlfriends. not all of them had red hair, but i must say the ubiquity of the older farang man + thai wife/girlfriend was a little disconcerting to me
* monks! i loved seeing the monks walking around in the golden robes.