Water war!(click)

What could be more lucky to celebrate the Songkran Festival ( Thai’s New Year) in Chiang Mai? The most famous spot for tourism during this period, you see people rushing in from all around Thailand, including the foreigners, getting ready for action. “A chance to get hold of all the best looking boys in Thailand!” commented a girl friend.

• First, you had a choice, land or at the back of the truck, then you choose your tools. For land, you just need to find a spot along the busy road next to the Klong (river that was filtered, cleaned specially by the government) , and buy a 20 baht bucket with the string;
• For the back of the truck, you need to get a driver( to stop for water refilling and who is not tempted to play) , then a big bucket of water or ice water, and small pails.
• Procedure: you grab the string and throw the bucket into the Klong as fast as you can, fill up the bucket and start splashing on whoever you see( well, you usually look for the good-looking ones, or handsome foreigners!). For maximum effect, wear a sexier top, or light color shirts and shorts that can instantly revealed your body shape!
• Well, the actual meaning of the Songklan is of course not to soaked into a water war, but more like a new beginning, washing away all the bad lucks or wrong doings and start new. At the beginning of the day, a trip to a temple to ask for forgiveness and make donations (make merit) is a must!
• It is a day to loose all your guards towards people, a day to only allow happy emotions flow in, a day to give the biggest smile to a person worth giving, even you have not seen him or her before, the only effort to grab his or her attention is just as simple as a water war!

Another New Year?!(click)

• The initial plan was to visit Yushan in Naan one week before she returns to Singapore, turns out that there are third parties who were doing the same! Flew in from the familiar part of the north hemisphere, Somlak made her connections with Game’s and Mee’s parents, and surprised me and Yushan with a RCN gathering in the middle of the Naan jungle!

• Yushan’s volunteering work is very different than mine; it was more on the development and preservations on the environment. For the first time, I found out complicated process of agriculture and also how people avoid long hours of work by just burning the remaining of the plants after harvesting.

• Took ten hours or more to reach Naan, the province very north of Thailand, ( read a good book: Mister Pip) then the very next day, Game’s father brought us south to the Sukhothai Province, the oldest city/kingdom of Thailand, or so it was speculated.

• Besides taking all the MTV shots with the Historical Park of Sukhothai, acknowledge by the World Heritage of UNESCO, we had endless conversation in the car, during meals, in the park; I only got to know Somlak so much more besides the fact that she was the House Mentor of Finland House, not to mention all the juicy memories she has about all the Finland House members back to the time beyond my existence there!

• The most beautiful golden Buddha in Pisanulok, the province next to Shukhothai, stood right infront of me- it was believed that the god has sent a craftsman from heaven to make this golden statue and he disappeared once it was done! I wish I could have a longer glimpse on it for we had to catch a train which was scheduled half an hour later, only to find out that it has been delayed for 4 hours~!

• An actual road trip. I hopped in my colleague’s car half way in Kam Peng Phet from Sukhothai and there I was, taking on a road trip, stopping in every province along the way to see the most-talk-about-temples, food stalls, fruit stalls, and local snacks. Hey, that’s what Thailand is made out of- temples and food!

• Wat Rong Khun, an outstanding temple designed by the contemporary artist, which related me directly to the Sagrada de Familia in Barcelona. A pleasant surprise in Chiang Rai. How come it has not gotten as much attention as the Cathedral?

• On the other hand, Bangkok has turned into a strange city. A city so quiet and slow. The smooth traffic and the unfamiliar accent from the ticket collectors all showed signs of the huge change of crowd. The city was abandoned for home, and the outskirts find job slots to fill in during the peak period of traveling, half of the city is gone.

• One place to another takes only half of the regular timing, and the ticket collector’s friendly outskirt’s accent reexamined the distance between the attitudes of the Bangkok citizens. This temporary friendliness of the city only last for a few days, and it’s a bit annoying, because you know the familiar smoky, nosy, noisy Bangkok will be back again.

Meeting the 'Cownadians'

Being the only Malaysian among the Thai is sort of like adapting. But being Malaysian in a group of Canadian is another story.

Saturday was the day when I have met the largest group of Canadian gathering in one place, Bangkok. I think it was the same situation for Jodie and Misty too.

From initially the connection from Jodie where her neighbor’s nephew is working in the Canadian embassy, we ended up mingling with all the diplomats who has been traveling half the globe and have tones of different cultural experiences.

Listening to their story is like one of those career talks that you can imagine what is like to be in their working field. Dangers, negotiations, bureaucracies, decisions…Especially when Chuck, a Lebanon born Canadian described his facing of the Tsunami attacks and how he walked on the beach to identify corpses and dying Canadians back to their country.

Singapore, Japan, South Korean, Pakistan,

Friends who have been colleagues in different countries gathered to celebrate the fellow colleague’s birthday. A party which was not exactly how I imagine, there were more talking than dancing or loud music, and all three of us ended up thirsty and leg soured.

I have always been interested in a work where traveling is a requirement, to face the different challenges and also to solve problems which I may never handle before. Then there is a problem of identifying the term “Home” and “Settling down”. What if you have a spouse and children, how will they adapt to your work and situation? Will they have to quit their job and follow along or you will commit into a long distance relationship?

We chatted about all those problems and questions that just popped up in my head, and of course about those funny encounters when you meet the locals. But that night, neither of us are locals.

Meditation Trip (click)

第一天的坐禅—脑海里一直在寻找熟悉的佛理、道理。可是这里的“窿坡”和尚（驻持）根本没有在帮忙。说泰语还不太要紧，可是讲的时候根本没有张开嘴巴，那才糟糕，真的是在考验我的定力！后来我才发现，他已经在那山上的那座庙住了整整的三十四年，说教了整整二十几年，也从此没有再下山了。他在今世的使命就是说教，让有智慧且诚心的凡人可以上山去领悟到佛法佛道。当然，这已经挑起了我的不甘，我当然得有智慧了！

戒、定、慧；贪、嗔、痴；我潜意识里知道佛教就是围绕在这几个字里，可是我这几天将会挣扎着从医对泰语中找寻它们的影子。这里的尼姑都特别漂亮，和尚们也非常的好看，对不起啊，我这凡人就是观察着这些，当然我对漂亮的诠释是看起来特别有智慧，有仪表，且非常高贵。尼姑们在和尚没有说教时教我们念泰文佛经。因为听起来特别酷，我在空闲时教孩子们读给我听，好让我用拼音记下他们的读音……

不知道是否实习佛的人不杀生，这庙里到处是猴子和流浪狗，活像西游记的水帘洞，还有少不了的灵猴怪癖，老爱偷吃，偷看，偷内衣内裤；而流浪狗就老爱趁钟声响起时长啸个不停；容纳着三十四个人的小睡房的地板中更是藏着我们所不知的小小动物乐园，在我们熟睡时过来咬我们的衣服不指，还想吃我们的肉！

这庙就让我想起小时候拿来玩弄别人的故事：从前有座山，山里有座庙，庙里有个小和尚，小和尚在讲故事，他说：从前有座山，山里有座庙，庙里有个小和尚……只要把‘老’字代替‘小’字，这里真得很像那座山。从没有钱时的山洞中打坐，到现在的富丽堂皇，金色佛像建座沿在山岩中，小和尚也都变老了，不变的是他每天都在“讲故事” ……

这五天里的作息就是：早晨四点半在暗暗的山洞里念经；六点吃粥；七点“走”禅；七点半听 “窿坡”说教； 十点最后一次吃饭（对，晚上没得吃）；一点活动；三点再听教，四点念经；七点听老师简说佛法；还有最后一次的听教在晚上9点。十点熄灯。

第一天下来，我都快不知所措了。幸好，我坚持下去。 念经时享受孩子们的童音；听教时，学习运气到身体的各部分（还包括打瞌睡）；活动时教孩子们画画（还画幅肖像画给尼姑）；最值得的是我可以听明白老师的简说佛法， 她以丰富的经验和节奏用故事来吸引小孩子们的注意力，进而让他们吸收她所要表达的教诲。 我曾经是个爱听故事的孩子，这让我有了很大的灵感，想要找更多的故事来继续我在曼谷的教书“生涯”。最后一晚，我还有幸的和这一位老师聊天，说着这几个月来教书的烦恼。

人生里，有多少机会让你慢下来？听着你自己的呼吸声？一步分三个步奏来走：右、准备、踏；左、准备、踏……当时我都快跌倒了，因为没有试过走那么慢！真的有轮回这回事吗？我只听进尼姑的这句话：“在这陌生的地方和语言，你都能这么容易的被接受，这证明前生，你和这一班人是非常要好得家人，朋友。也可能，是因为你的可爱吧！”

Disasterous Phuket(Click)

Who will believe that the fantasy Phuket trip has contribute to the worst case scenario that I would never imagine?

Headache, Dhirea, Fever all came to me at once, pounding through every inch of my skin. My god! Food Poisoning!

Must be the Seafood, must be the water I drank, must be the street vendor's pancake, must be the crabs, must be I have accidentally kill a crab! Must be.......

Only glimpse of the white sandy beach, clear blue sky, my journey was focusing on the sea gypsy kids and the other students from different high school from around Phuket, where some of them experienced the devastated Tsunami four years ago.

It was a top choice for travelers, royalties, celebrities, but its huge tourism didn't really help the kids in Phuket to go to school, access to education, learn to write or read. The Government once declared that Thailand has gotten 96% of the population out of illiteracy. What a joke! the Chief of Kids sponsorship said.

Besides having workshop for them, sponsoring their education, one of the big upcoming projects is to have the sea gypsies come to Bangkok and live in Mercy Centre. Learn English! Father Joe announced it boldly.

To explain the term Sea gypsy. First , its nothing like the Gypsies we understand from the European culture and the fortune tellers. They are the ones who live in the sea more than land, to sail, to fish, to work for a living. The elders will always be out in the sea, leaving the young kids at home, no where to go, no school to attend, know nothing about the big world beyond the sea.

So, what a huge task it is to bring them out from their HOME!! They should go to school, they should start read and write!

So, once again this challenge has fall into the hands of Mercy, and onto the fellow volunteers. Teaching these slums kids are already challenging, what more than sea gypsy kids?
Let set a limit bar?? What is good enough for us to celebrate after that?

"Imagine, a sea gypsy kid going abroad, learning English and other culture..."

Follow ups of my mumblings (click)

Well, the classes turn out to be not as bad as I thought.





The graphic room is filled with colors and laughter. Not to mention the whole excitement after the opposition 'won' in Malaysia's election. That's all I talk about when I am talking with my friends and family. I was energized and determined to show the kids 'grown up' paintings.

Some of them seem reluctant to get out of their own box, where they color using monotones and thick splat of acryllics on canvas. Using logics and lights requires more thinking, and mixing the right color is difficult! But some are like , wow, they never see how much you can do with colour! They are eager to draw something different.

Before this, they are always drawing themes like kids playing, animals, flowers, but nothing specific where they can improve their painting skills. So I started my first class with water color: at the Beach, introducing different techniques with water colors. How to paint the sky, the water the sands,and the trees.

Even the hyperactive boys calm down and focus on their coloring for the short one hour and a half. I am definitely pleased:P.

Not to mention that my 6 years old have graduated from school!
There was this grand ceremony at Mercy where Father Joe will hand out certificates in his PHD robes , asking children in their grad suits to continue schooling despite any circumstances.

" Do you go to school if your father's drunk?"
" Do you go to school if your mothers not around?"
"Do you go to school if you are sick?"
"Do you go to school if it is raining?"

"YEs, yes yes yes!!!!"

Fears and Holidays

For those we don't know, March and April is the end of Semester Break. ALRIGHT.
They just have a one month break on October, didn't seems too long ago.

Actually I contridict myself. I wanted the kids to have holiday because then I can spend more time with them, and know them personally, thus I can have classes in the day time, instead of early mornings and late evenings.

But then, Holiday is nightmare to think about, because its when discipline comes loose. They don't have tight schedule anymore. The mercy centre which based solely on Head over head over group leader over this leader etc ( Imagine how many stations to go for creating an activity) will not have full control to send them to different courses organized by the volunteers based on their individual wants. ( They usually send them in groups)

What will happen when only 2 of them will join the Art Class and the rest of them Recreation? They don't have a data entry to jot down names, nor to find out who goes where. Its freaking scary, if I think of it, what if one didn't show up in both sides? Where are they hiding?

Not to mention that the Centre already send some of them ( dunno how many ) to three or four camps outside Bangkok. Perhaps I am the only one panick about the unknown. How many and who and when? Thinking back in the RCN days, its totally up to us which activity to join and even if there are VIPs coming to college, it is still up to us to decide whether to attend the presentation. So activities are created....what's next, I will only know next week. So far, Me and the new volunteers from Canada, Misty and Jodie, planned 'Recreation', Drawing, Painting, and Dancing.

That is just problems inside Mercy. Out in the streets, holiday is when the kids gone wild. Nope, no guardian in ther house. No locks in the house. No activities, No fun games. Who will they meet during the day, What will they learn?

Although kids are just kids, but think deeper, Its hard to believe that they are still pure as snow. They know how to loosen hardware from the Air-conditioning and break in Staff Rooms to steal metal for money, they know how to get forbidden materials, they have DVDs not to mention what genre it is...I have seeing little boys copying the big boys, breaking hardware into pieces by using their toys as experiment and try to bring it together again.

All these recored that has piled up. Mercy called for an off. Not a day or two. But Two whole months. Mercy 1, the home for older rebelious boys, will be dismissed tomorrow for two months. They will have to cope with their own problems after they committed a crime, not Mercy. Their family, if there are still one, have to cope with these problems too. They have to learn how to deal with the consequences.

So , for two days, bedsheets were taken to wash, Beds are kept, all prepared to leave. Some boys are moody, one wouldn't even focus in his English class, probably the family he has got left, is not someone he loves, not someone he knows deeply to love. Those who have nobody, will be helping in the villa of Mercy, planting veges, and learn about farming.

Lastly, I am not a really good in following up . So this two blogs, from my new friends, will be helpful for those who want to know more.

http://jodieinthailand.blogspot.com
http://mistyinthailand.blogspot.com