Big Adventure - 19

Long Live The King

Today is His Majesty The King’s Birthday. May His Majesty have many years of happiness.

Possibly the single most important thing to understand when you come here is how important the monarchy is to Thailand and Thais. Until recently this was a Democratic Monarchy. Now, and numerous times before in recent history (there have been 18 Constitutions in the past 74 years! ), it has lost the Democratic designation, but through it all, and above all, it is a monarchy. King is the longest reigning monarch in the world (60 years) and he is absolutely beloved by the people of Thailand. The quickest and easiest route to a stay in jail here of undefined duration would be to disrespect the King – with or without a democracy.

I bought an orange rubber bracelet that says “Long Live The King” which I wear proudly. You can’t live here – especially through the coup – without coming to understand and appreciate the importance of the throne to the overall stability of the country. After a few Thais commented with such excitement that I loved their King I found out that indeed the Thai words on the bracelet say “I Love My King” . That’s okay, and at least now I know. So when the woman barbequing my pork on a stick in the morning says, with a huge smile and a thumbs up, “You not love me, but you love my King!” I understand that it’s not a come on ( although Jacquie thinks she really likes me – a lot)

So today, on the occasion of the King’s 79 birthday, almost everyone is wearing a bright yellow shirt in His honour (we got ours at Tesco for 49 Baht ($1.50). And we have the day off to sit on the beach and swim and reflect upon the importance of the Monarchy to the country, also in His honour (I must admit that I left my bright yellow shirt off after my swim – it’s a nice heavy cotton, and even with the sea breeze it’s a bit too warm for in the sun).

Yesterday we bought a DVD player with speakers. We wanted a set of speakers for the beachfront, but discovered that we could get them with a DVD player for almost the same price. So now the iPod (again, a warm thank you to PDCLR and staff for that most perfect parting gift) is providing the perfect accompaniment to the pounding surf (surf is way up today – perhaps the leading edge of tropical storm Durion, which it is feared has killed over 1000 people in the Philippines while it was still a typhoon). The bad with the good.

It is also Fathers Day here today. On the Queens birthday they celebrate mothers day, and on the Kings, Fathers Day. Happy Fathers Day dad. Wish you were here.
As I think I already said (but am too lazy to check), Matt is coming for Christmas. We are all getting excited – it’s been a year since we’ve seen him (last Christmas when he flew home to surprise us). He and Jacquie are flying up north to Chiang Mai for a few days, then spending a few days in Bangkok before coming here to join Sami and I on Christmas eve. We were going to cook a turkey for Christmas, but are now rethinking that. There is a place near here that is selling turkeys stuffed, cooked and delivered. That sounds better to us. The tree will probably be decorated before Jacquie leaves – or at least hopefully Jacquie will have finished making all of the ornaments.
I think she will have more time than we thought – the trial of work at the Beautiful World showroom did not go great. Turns out the owner is not a very supportive guy, and Tuktak, the Thai clerk, got tired of him yelling at her and has left. Worst of all it appears immigration officials were in sniffing around, and if Jacquie works without a work permit she can be deported, a risk we are definitely not prepared to take. So no work for sure until we get a permit, and not there in any case. The whole experience has helped her appreciate the leisure a bit more, so I think we’ll focus on getting her a motorbike, Thai language lessons, and Matt’s visit.

Hey, who knows – she may end up decorating freelance (not just the Christmas tree). There certainly is a huge demand.

I know I mentioned Mike and Yen , the couple from Toronto that Jacquie met on her Visa run to Malaysia. They came back here from Bangkok – a whole lot nicer here they now realize – and we have become friends. They are very nice, and very much like us (well, younger versions of us). They have just snared a beach house a little ways up our beach, which they are thrilled about, and now plan to stay as long as they can wangle with the folks at immigration. He is working on his third album, which isn’t “working in Thailand” so won’t get him thrown out. Sami loves them – goes swimming with them everyday. It is certainly nice to have people around to speak English to – although I won’t learn Thai as fast with that crutch. Mike just got contacted by the New York Times – a story with photo will be in this weekends Arts and Leisure section. He is understandably pretty thrilled.

Well, weather updates all around. Durion (the storm not the fruit) strengthened over Vietnam and is now back to being a Typhoon, leaving more dead and missing, in Vietnam this time. Meanwhile, I hear a big snow storm has hit Nova Scotia. I’m only smiling; I’d be laughing if Durion (the storm not the fruit) wasn’t headed straight for us. I guess everyone but me woke up last night from the noise the rain was making – no power for quite a while this morning. And Durion isn’t even here yet. I do understand from the weather reports here that none of our precipitation will be in the form of snow.

Wow. Halfway across the gulf, at the last possible moment, the storm took a sharp turn south and missed us. All we got was a beautiful fresh 30 cm deep blanket of white sand on our beach. The bottom step is covered, but I’m NOT shoveling!!

Jacquie has been going every day up to the “Wound Dressing, Ear Toilet, Preg Nancy, and Motorbike Rent” place to have the burn wound cleaned there by a nurse. She has received that service from the nurse there for $3.00, then $1.50 after a few visits – volume discount. Today she came home to tell me about the guy before her who walked out with an IV, carrying the bag of whatever he is getting intravenously, then hopped on his motorbike and drove himself home – holding the bag up as he drove with the other hand. What a photo that would have made!

The things I love about these people are the laid back contentment with their lives, the understanding that happiness doesn’t come from having more stuff and that worry about things you can’t change is pointless (okay, a lot seem to also not worry about things they could change). The things I hate about these people are the laid back contentment with their lives, the belief that happiness doesn’t come from having stuff and their complete unwillingness to worry about things you can’t change, as well as about things they could change).

With the acknowledgement that I am generalizing:

-they don’t care at all about the environment, and seem to litter and pollute with no remorse at all. They look at you funny when you pick up garbage – your own or anyone else’s, A few days ago a boat moored off our beach spilled or dumped diesel fuel into the water. A few Thais continued to swim as it washed ashore, past the fishing boats. Um um good
-there is a general lack of knowledge about anything in the world beyond supper. Most I spoke to didn’t even know a storm was coming. None knew about the 1000+ dead in the Philippines, and seemed confused that I knew or cared.
-today a little poodle was killed on the road in front of my office. Jacquie came to get me, in tears of course, because no one was stopping to move it, so I had to go and do so. We went to the women across the street who were watching and wondering why we did that, to ask if they knew who’s dog it was, and they said oh yes, it was the woman next door, then one of them tried to tell Jacquie she should not worry. Their reaction freaked us both out – our first chance to really see the Buddhist philosophy up close. Complete inability to understand why anyone would be upset. I’m a long way from there – so is Jacquie. I thought I was preparing myself for the inevitability of seeing that. I wasn’t prepared.

As I sit back down to write some more – a week later – I realize that my life is filling up, and thus time for writing this is getting scant. But this is a good thing, because my life isn’t filling up with work. Doing stuff takes priority over writing about that stuff.

A morning swim most days, work most days, basketball most days, an evening swim most days, walk with the dog most days (some days he swims so much he’s too tired for his walk), then out for food or drink or sightseeing or shopping or all of those things. I sleep like a log – exhausted and worry free. Like the ad on TV for Bowflex – I’m in the best shape of my life.

Last week we bought a motorbike for Jacquie – a sort of retro, "Vespa" like scooter called a Yamaha Fino. Cream and black with a tan leather seat – Jacquie did after all need to choose it based on looks. I’ll append a little picture of it, small so as not to clog anyones email. It drives great – automatic, electric start, and cute. A little too pretty for taking to basketball, but it’s fast so it’s worth it.

So now she has some independence back and will I hope start to really love it here.

Jacquie drove the scooter with me on back two nights ago when we went to a bar in Chaweng with Mike and Yen to see “the best band in Thailand”. We were all in awe. Maybe not the best (at least I hope not for Thailand’s sake) but probably the hardest working - what a show! They didn’t take a break. Mostly 70’s music (I think they were playing to the 50’s something white males in the crowd) from five people dressed like a heavy metal band – the two women had BIG black “Kiss” boots. They did a memorable rendition of the Beatles classic, “Ret it Be”.

The reason I finally do have a few moments is that Jacquie left this morning for Bangkok, to meet Mathew and head to Chiang Mai. Meanwhile, it has poured here with lightning and thunder all morning (poor Sam is terrified of the thunder) so for the first time in a long time there is nothing to do but brush him and catch this up. I could do some work, but I need to leave something to do on Monday.

The tree is all decorated with red and white mini lights, and the ornaments Jacquie made from white shells and ribbon and glue. Jacquie and Matt arrive back here on Christmas eve. The turkey with stuffing and gravy we ordered will be cooked and delivered at noon on Christmas day. Can anyone send me a recipe for eggnog? – it’s not for sale anywhere here.

There’s no snow yet, and I don’t think we’ll have any for Christmas. It sure feels weird. We’re planning a diving trip to Koh Tao over the Christmas break.

Merry Christmas everyone, from all of us here. And Happy New Year – in case my life stays too full to write all through till then.