Heat and Barefeet

HEAT.

I moved from the crazy busy streets of Bangkok up North about 100 km yesterday to a town called Kanchanaburi, home of the Bridge Over the River Kwai (some of you may have heard of this due to a book and movie by the same name-- it is a part of a huge railway built by the Japanese during WWII. It is mostly famous for the backbreaking labor conditions, which caused the deaths of numerous Allied PoWs and local workers during WWII). It is extremely HOT in Kanchanaburi. The heat is undeniable, climbing effortlessly to 100+ today as I wandered the streets, preemptively tracing out the path in front of me to maximize my shade-time. The moist air and strong sun rays make you SWEAT, I mean really sweat, and the cold shower back at one's guesthouse proves a heavenly refuge from the warmth.

Despite today's heat, I have greatly enjoyed my short time in Kan-buri (as it is referred to in short). It is a welcome respite from the business of Bangkok. The air is far fresher and the tourists far fewer. With this, of course, comes the stares of small children and the schoolkids practicing out their "hello," and "where you from's" on you. In my experiences travelling, this attention is endearing when in a good mood, and exhausting when all you want is to blend in, relax, and be any old person in town. Today it was fine, however, and reminded me how I am really embarking on something new.

There is so much to say right now that I don't know where to begin. This may be fairly stream-of-conscious so be prepared. I'll start with the most recent.

After exploring Kanburi today, viewing the museum for the Bridge Over the River Kwai, and actually heading to the bridge (filled with tourists of all backgrounds- even Thai- dawning their fannypacks and cameras), I headed for the ice cream/ coffee shop I noticed yesterday. The place is called "Famous Coffee," and attracted my attention due to 1) ice cream, 2) air-conditioning, and 3) the smiling face of the man behind the counter.

In my overheated state, I desperately craved an iced drink, yet feared the repercussion of drinking ice which may not be safe (something that could potentially lead to an incident much like my Mexican parasite-amoeba episode. I therefore stumbled through my Thai phrase book asking the man behind the counter if the ice was "clean," "for drinking," or "boiled." This absolutely confused him. He had no idea why this foreign person wanted an ice tea that was boiled. Boiling the ice would defeat the purpose of the whole "iced" aspect. As we stumbled around for about 5 minutes both in total confusion, but not wanting to give up, I hit a wall where I felt that type of confusion and misunderstanding that can lead to tears. All over some stupid ice. As I suddenly felt alone and very much like a foreigner, the coffee man smiled. I followed suit, smiling back. We laughed at the ridiculousness of this situation and our fumblings.

What almost caused a breakdown, instead ended up as a breakthrough (Coro-speak...), as I ended up sticking around the coffee shop for 2 hours, meeting Aek's (the barista's) wife Nong Lek, their son Nong Am, and the local police officer, Kui, who has a sister living in San Francisco. They are a incredibly cool bunch of people. It turns out Aek and Nong Lek just opened this little cafe about 2 months ago. They're from a smaller town close to Kanburi, but now live above the coffee shop. The best part of the place is their ice cream display, which looks much like that in any American ice cream shop, but has a scale in front of it. When I asked why, Aek told me it was to encourage the skinny people to buy ice cream. It dawned on me that this could only be a viable business strategy in Thailand (NOT the U.S. (see also: obesity epidemic))...

A word on Thai food: delicious. A few more words: I have realized some of this may be due to a key ingredient I didn't recognize before: sugar.

Some interesting observations:

• you know how in Thai restaurants you have the option of taking off your shoes? That is because it is a common practice here to take your shoes off before entering any household, some stores, and most other places, especially wats (temples) (i.e. I am barefoot in this internet cafe). The feet are considered very dirty. It is a show of disrespect and totally rude to point to or touch someone with your feet. In wats, you must sit with your feet facing away from the buddha.
• plants beautifying the sidewalk here differ from those in the U.S. in that they are "potted" in water. It is all water lilies and the like-- very beautiful.

Alrighty my dearies, off to go eat some ehan thai (thai food), hopefully some baah sot (fresh fish).

Puppies-

LK