After school on Friday, Alana and I decided to go on a bike ride headed towards a national park about 3 miles from Prapradaeng called Bang Krachao, a.k.a. "the lungs of Bangkok." There are lots of beautiful neighborhoods that literally sit in the jungle with raised paths to bike along. It is beautiful.
On this particular adventure, we found a few new temples (surprise, surprise) and were invited into a crazy pink home!
On our way back we stopped at a stand by the side of the road for a cup of coffee. We sat down to take a break and started talking, in broken Thai and English, to the owner, Pi Goi (Pi is the title added to the beginning of the name of anyone older than you), who was incredibly warm and friendly. We talked about her family and her life in Thailand. She has four children, two boys and two girls. Her oldest daughter is grown and lives in Bangkok and her younger daughter, Kwan, is 18. Her two sons are monks and live at a Buddhist temple.
Pi Goi asked us if we had ever been to a Buddhist temple service and we said no. Her face lit up and she said, "you go with me Sunday meet Buddha at temple 8:00! I call see if Buddha speak English there!" Excited at the prospect of accompanying Pi Goi to the temple we smiled and nodded but I was not sure this adventure would pan out given the language barrier.
Well, 8:00 am Sunday morning rolls around and Pi Goi calls us up and tells us to meet her at her house and we would go to the temple together. Alana and I roll out of bed, put on clothes, and within twenty minutes are on our bikes en route to Pi Goi's house completely unaware of the lengthy but amazing adventure the day would become.
We arrived at Pi Goi's home which is quaint and sparse, except for the most immense barbie collection I have ever seen. In any other country, the magnitude of this collection would garner someone freak status, but in Thailand it's charming.
Traditional Thai Barbies
30 minutes later we arrived at a huge temple complex in the outskirts of Bangkok. After walking around a bit, Pi Goi directed us to a bundle of lotuses and a pile of incense and candles. She instructed us to take one of each and we headed to the temple's main shrine. After circumnavigating the central shrine three times while chanting something in Thai (with Pi Goi's direction of course) we lit our candles and incense, offered it to a Buddha statue, and knelt in front of it. After the traditional three wai's (seated on you knees, place your hands together at forehead level and then bow deeply place your forehead on the floor) we headed into the temple with a similar offering, this time of the lotus, to offer to another, larger Buddha statue. After giving our offerings we were directed to a second story room where the head monk of the temple was reading Thai and were instructed to sit with our feet facing behind us while the service went on. The monks read and chanted and we followed the crowd as they bowed and wai'd at various times throughout the service. Aside from the pain in my lower back and legs from sitting in this contorted position on a hard wood floor (Thai people must be built to sit like this because they don't have any trouble sitting like this for hours) the service was beautiful and incredibly peaceful, almost meditative.
After the service was over, Pi Goi brought us over to meet the head monk, who lived in America for a while and speaks English. We introduced ourselves and spoke to him for a while. Then we went downstairs for what would be the first of many meals we would consume that day.
Pi Goi kept saying something about it being her friend's birthday but we didn't understand her until we went downstairs and saw an assembly line of noodle makers setting up hundreds of bowls of noodles. It was Pi Goi's friend's (her Buddhist teacher and the owner of noodle shops around Bangkok) 53rd birthday and for his birthday he decided to come to the temple and serve noodles to everyone. It is amazing to me that Thai culture is so rooted in giving things to others that birthdays are for giving to others not about receiving.
We at lunch with Pi Goi's daughter while she helped her friend hand out noodles. The whole time I was watching the food preparation and having women feed me and then feed me some more I was reminded of one of the many parallels I see between Thai and Jewish culture. Thai women love to feed you and they won't let you stop until they are sure you are uncomfortably full.
After eating lunch, we were directed into a room where the monk's were eating and people were kneeling in front of them. We knelt down in front of the monk and he welcomed us, two American teachers, in front of the whole congregation. He thanked us profusely for coming to the temple and extended us a warm welcome to return anytime. He offered us fruit from his plate as an offering given to temple-goers for good luck and we accepted our "good-luck" fruit gladly. It was so nice coming into this temple as complete outsiders, looking and acting completely out of place, and being welcomed so wholeheartedly.
Pi Goi introduced us to one of her monk-sons. The younger, rebellious one, didn't go to services that morning because he was playing computer games. That's a funny mental image: a rebellious robe-clad monk battling aliens on a computer in some back room of the temple.
This is Kwuan
I'm in denial about my paleness until I am faced with photos such as this! But hey pale is beautiful in Thailand!!!
Although I am sometimes a bit unsure about my exact whereabouts from time to time, this was my first experience in Thailand where I had no idea where I was at all. We had blindly gotten into a cab with Pi Goi and her daughter and had ended up in some part of Bangkok we had never seen and we couldn't communicate well enough to ask, so we just went with it. Kwuan took us to some amazing temples in the same area as the her temple. We walked around for almost two hours taken in this wholly new and unknown area of the city. My favorite thing we saw on this adventure was a crazy Chinese Buddhist temple with insane sculptures of Buddhas.
Each day of the week is represented in Thai Buddhist ideology by an image of the Buddha with a different mudra (hand position). This big seated Buddha happens to be the Buddha for Thursday which happens to be the day of the week I was born! Yay for my Buddha!!!
We returned to our original temple to meet Pi Goi. When we arrived she informed us that we had been invited to her friend's birthday party that evening and asked if we were free. With no plans and nothing else to do, Alana and I decided to take this generous family up on their offer and attend the birthday party of our new noodle friend. We were told it was a surprise party and we shouldn't say anything to the birthday boy. We got into the car and headed out of the temple totally unsure of our next destination. Looking back on that afternoon I wonder what our new Thai friend thought we were doing riding around with his family, but he never asked and welcomed us with open arms.
We drove for almost two hours all the while thinking we were headed to a birthday party. Because it was a surprise, and because the birthday boy happened to be driving the car, we couldn't ask any questions about the party or its whereabouts. Alana and I were just about to "thai" up our party-pants when we arrived at a strange strip mall. We had no idea where we were or what we were doing there and our limited language abilities prevented any questions.
Everyone got out of the car and walked into what turns out to be a "food-court" (just a row of Thai food stalls) in this strange strip mall. Turns out, the birthday party wouldn't happen until much, much, much later. We came to this mall to hang out while the birthday boy and his family finished working at their noodle shop. So we sat and talked and were fed constantly for about four hours.
Lunch #2
No one was in any rush to get anywhere and everyone just sat around the table relaxing and catching up. It was actually amazing this group of family and friends interacting. They immediately took us under their wing and told us we were part of their family. They were so unbelievably kind!
FINALLY, at about 8:00 we leave the mall and head, to what Alana and I hope, will finally be the birthday party. We drive for another 45 minutes and finally pull up at this huge brewery. We walk inside and find ourselves in what looks like a huge hollowed-out train station with rows and rows of tables. At the back of the building, a crazy Thai Elvis sang and danced as his image was projected on the various jumbo-trons around the room.
We got to our table and the birthday boy insisted that Alana and I sit right across from him. We ate, again (I didn't think I would be able to force anymore food into my already filled-to-capacity stomach but of course I did), talked and watched him open his adorable presents. It was one of the most beautiful series of exchanges I have ever seen.
His daughters made him go to the bathroom to open his present and he came out wearing this.
Alana and I with Pi Goi and her daughter Kwuan
After dinner we all danced until almost 1:00 am and then the group finally tired out. We had been with this bunch, adventuring around the city, since 8:00 am and I was exhausted. We all left the restaurant an finally went home.
It was one of the most special days I have had in Thailand and I will never forget it!
This past weekend was Christmas and I spent it in Chinatown, just like a good Jewish girl should and then attended a Christmas party at a Jew's house with only Jews and Buddhists! It was wonderful. I am off to Ko Tao tomorrow for some good old 23rd birthday/new years fun, and some scuba diving adventures!
Although I have been having an amazing time, the holidays do remind me how much I miss my friends and family. Wishing you all a wonderful and fulfilling 2011, may it be all you hope for!
-Hannah
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