One of the most frustrating things about international travel is jet lag. I maintain that it is more than just the time difference. I have a theory that every cell in your body is in shock from suddenly being transplanted to a whole new orientation to the magnetic poles of our planet! Going from the Eastern Time Zone in the US to Thailand has got to be the worst that it can get. It is a total 12 hour switch for your body to try and adapt to. Imagine being totally exhausted and not able to sleep! I woke up about 12:30, tossed and turned for about an hour and finally gave up. Opening my computer I began to write. I waxed eloquent on some big philosophical question for a couple of hours before drifting off to sleep, computer in hand. I wonder if I had a Eureka moment in there somewhere… I’ll have to go check what I wrote some time…
Interesting thing about Southeast Asia, for those who have never been…. they eat rice for breakfast! Then again for lunch… and one more time before they retire! Now some of you may think that is great, because you like rice, and can never get your fill. I, on the other hand, find that rice comes very close to stimulating my gag reflex, each time I partake. To make it even more interesting, our hosts are health reformers, of sort, who believe that the only rice worth consuming is brown rice. Since the group is cooking their own meals, and we are the only group staying at the “resort”, there is no ordering an “American Breakfast”, or pancakes, or granola, off some other menu.
Having travelled in this part of the world in the past, I have learned that if you simply sit silently by, hoping that the next meal might introduce some new grain like oats, wheat, barley, or corn, you are very likely setting yourself up for a major disappointment! If you had any illusions that a baked potato might come your way, you should know that ovens are not a common concept in this part of the world. You should also know that potatoes are considered to be a “poor man’s food” and even though you can buy them in the market, any host worth her salt, would not in her wildest dreams even consider serving you potatoes, for fear of insulting you!
While I am trying to become more of a health nut, the idea of spending the next five days eating brown rice three times a day left me a little shaky. Not even the little shpeal they gave me about how it would clean out my colon and that many clinics were using brown rice now as a treatment for cancer…. could get me on board. I started to talk about potatoes at the table and some of the other foreigners chimed in … As it turns out, even health reformers are OK with potatoes and they said they would put it on the shopping list.
Today would be a light day for me. From past experience, we have found that it saves a lot of tape if the ASAP staff can do all of the interviews first, pick out two or three of the best stories of the group that they might want to feature on their video, and then get me to film those, rather than all 15 that showed up to the training seminar. While they started the process of finding the people they wanted to feature, I set about locating a internet cafe and a place to get a haircut. Thankfully, Melissa, a fellow Canadian, and Andrews grad who has been volunteering in the region for the last five years, and most recently been working with Pastor Phamore, had been at the resort for a few days already, and was able to show me around. When we got to the barber shop I noticed the guy using a flat razor on his customer. I don’t mean to be too paranoid but I have to admit being just a little nervous about “sharing razors” in a country with a high HIV infection rate. In her broken Thai and a little hand motions, Melissa was able to let the guy know that I didn’t want to “go under the knife” and that he was to restrict himself to clippers only!
I sat a little apprehensively in the chair, wondering what I would look like at the end of the session. Not a word was spoken between us but about ten minutes later I was a new man, and it looked just as good as the cuts I get back home. The cost? $1.50. I gave him a 100 baht note ($3.00) and told him through sign language, to “keep the change”. He seemed grateful for the big tip! That’s me, the big spender!
I found the internet cafe and was delighted to discover that it was high speed, at least high speed enough to send a few photographs back to the ASAP office, and perhaps start this blog, even while here up in the “far north”!
In the afternoon I began to photograph the participants in the seminar. They are a beautiful group and I feel compelled to share some shots!
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