Kat’s Window

Gone are the days where I toss my feet up on my desk or table. No longer do I pat a child’s or friend’s head in a gesture of friendship. Well, at least I try not to. Sometimes I catch myself in a moment of automatic pilot about to make a blunder and then I say “Oops!”" Rules about head and feet have changed now that I live in Thailand. I have learned that the extreme ends of the body have extreme rules. Let me explain.

In Thailand the head is seen as the highest and holiest of body parts and is treated with due respect. A pillow used to sit on is never used as a head pillow. Objects such as books and drinks are not passed directly over someone’s head. If crossing in front of another person, it is a polite gesture to slightly bow your head. It is also a taboo to pat someone on the head except a small child or a really good friend. My rule of thumb is to pat no one on the head except for my dog.

Feet are seen as the lowest and dirtiest body part. In Thailand minding your feet is like minding your manners. To have the bottom of your foot exposed and pointing at someone is akin to flipping someone off. It is actually not even polite to talk about your feet in Thailand, so please excuse me as I continue.

While sitting on the ground, sitting in a temple, or sitting sharing a meal, feet should be kept neatly tucked to the side of the body. I have chosen to follow the basic rule of when in doubt and sitting in a chair, keep them planted firmly on the ground. If your feet are under a table and out of sight then you have more leeway with where you can place them. Other rules of thumb follow: showing someone a blister on your toe, moving aside objects with your feet or stepping over someone is also considered rude.

Pointing your feet at a monk or a Buddha image is the biggest of no-no’s. Thais pay respect to His Majesty the King and to the Lord Buddha by lowering their heads to the ground. In a sense this means “My head is beneath your feet.”

I have my own philosophy about this whole thing. I believe that as the goal of Buddhism is enlightenment, by using our minds in meditation (i.e. our heads) there is the ability to obtain this goal. Our feet are what attach us to the ground, to our realities, and hence to our suffering. I have seen some statues of the Lord Buddha where the scenes from his life are engraved on the bottoms of his feet. It somehow seems fitting.

On a side note, some Thais and some foreigners went on a trip together and I got to see the pictures one of the Thais took later. I noticed one photo very out of place from all the other scenery shots. There were two pictures of a foreign man riding in the back of an open tour-bus like vehicle. He had his feet up on the back of the seat in front of him and the bottoms of his shoes were pointing directly at a Thai person’s head a few seats forward. I believe this was a “Can you believe this?” photograph. The foreigner had no idea what he was doing.

I have also noticed that I often see Thai people dressed up very nicely and then just wearing a pair of simple flip-flops. This looks funny to me, but in Thailand feet are importantly not important. I would like to take a moment to talk about the flip-flop.

The flip-flop is the Thai national shoe. It is the most common, the most practical, and the cheapest form of foot wear. Shoes are removed before going into someone’s home or into a temple and flip-flops provide a quick exit. Flip-flops also dry quickly.

Thailand is famous for massage and specialized foot massage is a major feature. I gleefully attend a one-hour session every week. So, yes, in Thailand there is a time and a place for feet, it is just good to know where and when. The rules about foot and head conduct are a given in Thai society. They are as clear as eating with a knife and a fork would be for most western societies. Well, in Thailand it is also clear that you eat your food not with a fork, but with a spoon.

When I am back home in the States and someone sticks their feet up on the table, my first reaction is “OH NO! Don’t do that!” but then I remember where I am. I love to rub my brothers’ heads and tell them how adorable they are. Home sweet home. Time to put my feet up and relax. There is a time and a place for everything.

Back in my hometown in New England summer is coming to its close. It was a rainy summer indeed but still allowed people days of sunshine and sweat. Soon fall will raise its colourful head and the trees will explode in brilliant spectrums of red, yellow, and orange. Here in Bangkok it is raining on my head every day.

I am not sure if I have fully adjusted to having only three seasons and plush tropical greenery around me 365 days a year. I do realize that the rainy season brings with it its own reflections, patterns of behaviour, and phenomenon. If you are in Thailand during this time prepare to get wet.

Back in the States, rain always meant the smell of deep dark earth, worm-like in its aroma. In Bangkok, besides happening at a different time of the year, the rainy season is much less of a smell and much more of a visual spectacle.

Amazing flashes of lightning fill the sky. Mushroom clouds with wet tentacles fall to the ground and can be observed approaching from the distance. Areas of sky can be black as night while others remain blue and cheerful. Raindrops are large in size and can be blown sideways, thus rendering your umbrella entirely ineffective. One night while I was sleeping soundly, thunder struck so loudly I was sure a gun had gone off next to my head.

Sometimes I see the sun suddenly pop out and I decide to head outside and soak it up. I gather my things and by the time I have made it outdoors the sun has vanished. I once played this game for an entire afternoon and caught a maximum of 15 minutes of bright light for which I was grateful. While it may be pouring at my home, I can ring up a friend across town to learn the sun is shining.

The torrents of sudden rain make life in Bangkok even more unpredictable. Traffic worsens making travel by mule a sometimes more viable alternative. Potholes grow and give neck-wrenching bumps, and windshield wipers have no speed high enough to succeed with their chore.

Walking the streets becomes more of a challenge. In addition to all of the usual obstacles there is now the addition of small lakes, calf-deep water filling the streets, and all the other open umbrellas going by.

Husbands arrive hours late for dinner. Plans get cancelled. People become less willing to venture about. Massive flextime goes into effect. In Bangkok you can always be late because of the traffic. Now you can be double late because of traffic with rain.

Due to increased humidity, mold grows more rapidly on any surface from metal to paper. Photographs stick together and need to be plied apart with the longest and sharpest of fingernails. My hair gets bigger and bigger and the frizz forms a near halo over the top of my head.

During this season the mosquitoes gain speed. When it is extremely hot, they, like the rest of us, slow down. Now with the cool breezes blowing, they zip and zoom around making them difficult to catch. Ankles turn into feasting grounds and insect repellent is used generously.

With a hopeful attitude many of us venture out while the sun is shining, hoping not to get stuck in the rain and therefore find ourselves defenseless when the inevitable occurs. Conditions change within minutes. People cover themselves with tarps while riding in the backs of pickup trucks. Umbrellas are shared.

The Buddhist holiday of Khao Phansaa, also known as the Buddhist Rains Retreat, is based on this time of year. July marks the beginning of Buddhist Lent and during the next three months of heavy rain, monks stay at their monasteries to study and meditate. Many novice monks are also ordained at this time.

The Buddhists see the rainy season as a time for reflection and renewed spirituality. This is a practical approach to avoid the mud that takes over the country. This retreat is also at a time when the labor needed for farming is at is low-point.

Rain has always spawned a reflective mood in me. This is definitely the season to curl up with a good book and probably end up falling asleep sooner than expected. It is a lazy time. Time to do ’spring cleaning’ and remain indoors. Time to rent lots of movies. Time to have no big plans. Time to worry about your house flooding.

The rainy season reminds me of those dead-in-the-middle-of-winter days back in Vermont except that I have no woodstove to gaze into and no snow to shovel.I like the rainy season. It is an official excuse for lethargy. You can pop into a coffee shop and sit for hours waiting for a storm to pass. Time goes even slower. Days linger.

It is time to have time for yourself.

Every city has its major tourist attraction. While in Paris you check out the Eiffel Tower. Those in Cairo gaze at the pyramids. While in Rome you head off to the coliseum. London has its bridge and Pisa has its tower. Bangkok also has its standard list of things to see and do: The Grand Palace, The Floating Market, and the Reclining Buddha are some of them. I would like to suggest some additional things to do in while here.

Take a bus. Bangkok has busses heading in every direction. For a small amount of money – seven to twenty baht, meaning up to 50 cents – you can hop on and take your own tour of the city. Driving techniques and speeds vary. Get off wherever you like. There is always something interesting waiting for you.

Take a taxi. It is quite likely that the driver is not sure where you want to go either. Bangkok is huge. Give the driver a break, sit back, and enjoy the scenery. Watch out your window.

Use the sky train. It provides fast, efficient, if somewhat boring routes back to some destinations. You can have the taxi or tuk-tuk driver bring you back to one of these main stations and then take it from there. While on the sky train watch for how many people are talking on their cellular phones and check out the fashion trends.

Enjoy a boat ride on the Chao Phraya River. Public boats run up and down the river until dusk. You can also hire a longtail speedboat or take a rice barge. You get to enjoy majestic scenes of river life.

Sit in a park. People watching is an excellent activity. You are also likely to catch a game of trakaw. This is played using a little wicker ball and volleyball net. Everything but the hands is used to get the ball over the net and keep it from hitting the ground. The wicker ball reaches incredibly high speeds and is played with amazing agility and skill. You can be sure there are a few bucks placed on the game you are watching, as betting is popular in Thailand.

Visit a Buddhist Temple. If you are lucky perhaps you will catch the chanting of the evening prayers. As long as you obey a few ground rules such as dressing appropriately and neatly, not pointing your feet at any Buddha images, and not touching any monks, you will be received warmly and the monks will more than likely take the opportunity to practice their English with you.

Look in a local pharmacy. If you are familiar with some basic prescription drugs you will be very shocked at what is available over the counter here. Everything from birth control to what may be considered controlled to be substances in other countries is available. Looking, however, does not mean buying. These pharmaceuticals may just be copies of the real product, which does not guarantee their strength or effectiveness.

Visit a supermarket. If at one of the bigger chains, you are likely to see both western food and local items. Check out the prices. You can also see products that give you insight into life in Thailand. Skin whitening cream fills the shelves of the women’s beauty aisle. There is an abundance of insect killers, sprays, and traps. There are also many unidentifiable-to-the-western-eye vegetables on the shelves. Definitely take the chance to look into other people’s shopping carts.

Check out a local market. Anything you can think of is for sale. From light bulbs to lingerie, markets are a more interesting but more stressful solution to indoor shopping. Be prepared to bargain and make sure you smile while you do so. Get an overview of local prices. If an average Thai person makes less than 800 baht a day, paying 800 baht for a T-shirt makes no sense.

Try some Thai food at a local restaurant or food stall. You will not find spicier food at a lower price. If you are not sure what to order, point to what other people are eating and give it a go. For a few dollars you can get a large sampling of local cuisine and stand a good chance of finding something you will really like.

While in Bangkok even those with the most organized iterneraries will end up hopelessly lost if not on an organized tour, so why not make being lost part of the itinerary? This way you will avoid the stress of feeling lost and save the energy that goes into fixing the situation.

Take it slow and take it all in. You do not have to go anywhere in Bangkok; Bangkok will come to you. As long as you know your address (it is a good idea to have this written down in both Thai and English) you will eventually get home. Just go with the flow and enjoy.

Everyone has heard about the traffic in Bangkok. The sheer number of cars and exhaust pipes spewing black fumes in addition to the driving methods leave eyes wide and hearts pounding. Bangkok simply does not have enough paved surfaces for its traffic. The result is an interesting form of madness.

Traffic jams abound and the level of chaos rises and falls unpredictably throughout the day only with rush hour jams being a given. When one drop of rain falls, traffic halves its speed. If a car breaks down in the middle of the road, it rarely gets pushed to the side. Monsoon season creates an even more complicated ball game and people literally go fishing in the streets.

Bangkok roads resemble a can of worms. They spin and twine around each other. If you want to head north you probably first have to head south for five or ten kilometers to find a U-turn or perhaps you may need to head east for quite a while. First you need to know what direction all areas, suburbs, and roads of Bangkok lie in and where you are relative to them. Things are not stated in ‘Route 90 West’ terms, but rather ‘this direction to Rama IV Road’.

Some roads are one-way at all times. Other roads change status throughout the day. There is also the bus lane, which usually goes against the grain of the traffic driving on its side of the road. This makes passing or crossing the street a bit tricky.

I am from a ‘look left-right-left’ country. Here it is ‘look right-left-right-left-right and don’t forget there could be a bus or motorcycle hurling at you in the opposite direction’ method. Believe it or not, when I am on foot I usually cross the street with the street dogs. They seem to really know what is going on.

I find Thai people to be incredibly polite, easy-going, and friendly throughout daily life. This all changes when they get behind a steering wheel. Aggression is the only way to get your car out onto the road and keep it moving there.

The first rule of Bangkok traffic is that there are no steadfast rules. Want to enter a busy road? Just nose out enough until the oncoming car is certain to collide with you. This forces the driver of that car to slow down, at which point your car cuts him off, and cuts off several other drivers until it is in the correct lane.

Alas, the lane that you have just chosen to get into is moving too slowly for your tastes. Do you want to nose your car into the other lane again? Is there a space between one centimeter and one inch available? Just stick the tip of your front fender into that space, and away you go. A red light up ahead? An illegal U-turn? Do you see any police officers around? Proceed accordingly.

During these drastic maneuvers the drivers keep cool and calm faces even when almost having massive collisions. No one is flipping anyone else off, and the honking of a horn is seldom heard. The passengers do not pay attention to all the chaos. Magazines, newspapers, books, naps, and cellular phones provide plenty of distraction and also can be used by the driver when stuck firmly in a jam.

Enemy number one appears not to be the other cars but the hundreds of motorcycle drivers weaving in and out of the whole mess. If you hit these daredevils it is usually your fault, period.

I believe there is also a pecking order of sorts when it comes to nudging your car in. The brand new shiny BMW or Mercedes is given more leverage. The guy driving the 1963 pickup truck with broken tail lights and cardboard for a rear window probably does not want to end up paying for that very expensive scratch.

Taxi and tuk-tuk drivers can sometimes be given a break too, because everyone knows they are working for a daily wage, which averages out to be about 200-600 baht (5-15 US dollars) after rent on the taxi and gas is paid.

If a traffic jam is spotted up ahead, do not slow down as it grows closer. Go hurling towards it at 80, 100, 120 kilometers an hour and proceed to jam on the breaks in total surprise five meters before you arrive.

A steep curve becomes another interesting event. Do not stay in your lane as you go around the curve. Drive straight ahead as much as possible and turn the wheel when you run out of lanes. Do you not have enough lanes? Simply make another one. It is so simple. A two-lane highway is actually a five to six lane highway when used properly. Pity the traffic police. They have a tough job and drive like maniacs, too.

I recommend that you sit in the front seat if you get a chance to go for a ride in Bangkok. Your knuckles may be white and your heart pounding but it will be the ride of your life. Don’t worry, these very interesting traffic methods work somehow. People get to work and back again. They get a chance to vent their aggression. I see very few accidents. This is part of the magic in Thailand.