Phi Mai

Friday, July 09, 2010—Nakhon Ratchasima to Phi Mai

I was up at 6:30, checked out of the hotel at 7:30, at the bus station at 8:00 and leaving for Phi Mai at 8:05. Perfect timing.

A Thai woman and an American man were on the bus and talked to me. She had married an American soldier stationed here during the Vietnam war. She moved to America with him and stayed there after he died soon afterwards of a heart attack. She married again, but that one ended in divorce after 11 years. Essentially she made it on her own in the U.S. by working in factories to support her and her two daughters (one for each husband). She is now retired and living on Social Security. The could not afford to remain in the U.S., so she returned here and built herself an American-style home in a farm compound where she has other relatives. The man was a friend of hers from Santa Rosa, California, who is here visiting. They met at a social dance and have been friends. She is very friendly and very social. She invited me to come visit her on her farm when I return to Thailand again.

I checked into a guesthouse I had selected based on Internet recommendations on WikiTravel. It is clean and fine, but it has mosquitoes. Even with air conditioning, they are in the room. I’ve killed 4 so far, and I have seen at least one more. I hope I can kill all of them before trying to sleep. I paid for two nights. That may have been a mistake if the mosquitoes are bad. The room is rather basic. It has a/c and hot water in the private bath, but there is no TV and no Internet. There is a TV in the lounge area outside, but it is not air conditioned there, and there are two remotes—one for satellite and one for TV—making it difficult to know how to operate it.

I’m the only guest at the guesthouse. I may be the only overnight tourist in town. I think most people come here as a day trip out of Nakhon Ratchasima. I am trying to use my time until my return to the U.S. by staying longer than most people would at each place. That’s why I came here for two nights. At each stop, I will be staying longer than would be normal for tourists, since I have about 7 weeks before I return to the U.S. and have decided not to make any other side trips.

After checking in, I went to the see the old Khmer ruins here. They predate Angkor Wat in Cambodia (where I visited last year) and apparently were the basis for the design of the great project there. The temple here looks just like what one sees in Angkor Wat, but on a smaller scale. It is a clean, attractive site. And there are lots of tourists, including many school groups. I went through the ruins taking photos, then I met with the Thai woman and American man again. We sat in the shade and visited. Eventually, some teachers with a school group joined us. They were asking the Thai woman how they could meet an American man. It upset her, because everything in Asia thinks you can just meet someone and live happily ever after. The Thai woman explained that Americans are like anyone else. Some are poor, some are wealthy, and others are in-between. Then she explained that it is very difficult to have a good relationship with anyone and that it isn’t logical to expect just to meet an American man and live happily ever after. But Asians tend to think that if they just meet a man they will have it all—love, happiness, money, etc.—forever.

I returned to the room in the hot afternoon and read some inside. Then I moved to the covered porch to read more. Eventually, I went exploring. I’ve been needing a haircut for a week now, so I looked for barber shops. In Nakhon Ratchasima, I found only stylist shops in which women cut men’s hair. Here, however, I found about 4 true barber shops. The nicest one was just around the corner from my guesthouse, so I went there and got my hair cut for a little less than $2 U.S. The barber wore a face mask which was a first for me. He did a good job of cutting the hair, although he was not as clean with his products as most places are that I visit. For instance, the combs were not in a sanitizer solution, yet they usually are in even the poorest countries. I think he did a good job of cutting it. I will know for sure after I wash my hair tomorrow.

Around 18:30, I went to the Night Market. There are many stalls selling prepared foods, fruits and vegetables, and clothing. I didn’t see anything I wanted there, however. I went down the street further and found a very clean looking food stall with tables on the street. I had chicken and rice with a very nice spicy sauce and a bowl of spicy soup. Then I went by the 7-11 and bought a large beer to bring back and drink on the front porch of my guesthouse.

I went back out one more time around 19:30 just to see what was happening in town. The Night Market was slowing down. I did pass a Buddhist Temple in which a group of monks were chanting with persons sitting on the floor in front of them worshiping. This is essentially a small village, however, so things were coming to a close for the day. Therefore, I returned to the room. I will play games on the computer (since there is no Internet connection) and read more. Then it will be time for bed.

Saturday, July 10, 2010—Phi Mai

The bed in my room is the worst I have had so far this year. It has a poor quality mattress that has been used enough that the springs can be felt. By the middle of the night, however, I figured out that it was better if I positioned myself in the middle of the double bed rather than on one side.

I walked to the National Museum of Phi Mai early this morning. The air was still fresh, and the temperatures were not too high. I didn’t go to see the museum. That’s because I know it holds mostly religious objects which have no interest for me. Instead, I went to relax under the large shade trees. I read for about an hour.. Then I reclined on two side-by-side concrete benches and napped for another hour.

From there, I walked outside of town 2 km (1.2 miles) to see Thailand’s biggest banyon tree. Actually, though, it is a bit of a misnomer. Banyon trees drop “roots” from their limbs. When they come in contact with the ground, they start the process of growing another tree. Well, over the years, people here have built concrete supports for the branches of the banyon tree limbs here so that they grow further and further out. What has happened is that the original banyon tree is now a cluster of about 50 banyon trees that have formed from dropping roots around the original. Anyway, I saw this site which is part of a large park complex along the Mon River which passes Phi Mai.

It was so hot that I returned to my room around 14:00 and stayed until 16:30. Then I went out exploring again. The Night Market was set up and was bigger than last night, apparently since it is Saturday now. I observed that two big events are apparently taking place here tonight (or maybe one big event with two venues). As I went past the old Khmer ruins, there were banners up and women in native costumes. Three large VIP buses pulled up and let out groups of passengers. Then as I went by the large playground near the night market, it was set up for an event with a stage, sound system, seating, etc. It seems to be somewhat of a Buddhist "Revival." The large image behind the stage shows a young man getting his head sheared in preparation for serving as a monk. And monks were involved in setting everything up. Therefore, the purpose seems to be to encourage young men to do their duty of serving as monks for a year of their life.

I went to one of the street stalls to have dinner—noodle soup with slices of pork. I was almost finished when I felt a drop of rain. I picked up my bowl and gulped the last 4-5 spoonfuls of broth from the rim rather than using my spoon, rushed to the stall to pay, and barely made it across the street before hard rainfall came. I sat at a table in front of a store with some other people waiting out the rain. Then I returned to my guesthouse and drank a beer outside on the patio.

While doing that, rain began again. This time there were high winds. I had to hold my beer bottle to keep it from being blown over. I eventually went inside and turned on the TV. The only English program I could find was Russian TV news. I haven’t written about this before, so I will now:

In China, the only English news I could watch was CCTV 9 operated by the Chinese government. Here in Thailand, this is the second hotel where I have been that has had RT News in English (probably provided for free to the cable company or over the satellite). It has been interesting to watch each. CCTV (China Television) seems to be rather honest and fair in its reporting of the West. It has commentators who feel that the US is wrong and that China is right, but they balance those with other commentators. Where there is a problem is that it is seldom critical of China at all. China is always doing what is right in the world according to CCTV. (Things got exciting once when a western commentator tried to say something negative about China due to its Communist government, and the show’s moderator quickly moved the discussion from him!) RT (Russian Television) News, however, is always quite negative about the U.S. They see Russia as being in the right all the time and the U.S. as being an aggressor who is always in the wrong. I've seen no deviation from this so far, and I have watched it several times.

Speaking of television, all the channels, no matter where they are from, right now are focused on the World Cup (for futbal, which in America we call soccer) in South Africa. The finals are tomorrow between The Netherlands and Spain. I doubt that U.S. citizens are much aware of what is happening related to this. But for the rest of the world, everything will stop tomorrow when that game is being played. It will be the most important event in the world at that point in time.