|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 11:12:33 GMT
All of my pictures show the pretty side of Phuket but please bear in mind that what was, until the 1970s, an agricultural and fishing island (although tin was being mined too) is now being overlaid with swathes of concrete - wide roads, shopping centres, apartment buildings, large seaside resorts (shudder) and miles upon miles of shacks selling food, petrol, cheap clothes and sex. I was surprised to notice that the roads are in good condition without potholes although there are no pavements to speak of unless you're in the main parts of town. My dear taxi driver, her name was Aoy, is only 30 and she told me that until a few years ago there were only paths, no roads and she'd walk miles to get anywhere. The entire island was covered with rice paddies. Now farming has been abandoned and all food comes from the mainland. Even fruit has to be imported.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2010 11:22:49 GMT
Although,I've never been to Thailand,the touristization of it does remind me so much of the Yucatan. The first time I went to Playa del Carmen or Isle de Mujeres,there were dirt roads,little off the beaten path eateries (the best Paella I ever had was in Playa,and I saw the makings of it come right out of the sea!)Now,forget it...
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 14:12:32 GMT
I was told that 300 monks had gathered for a five day stay up on the hill overlooking Chalong and Kata at the site of the Big Buddha. www.phuket.com/magazine/big-buddha.htmSouth of Phuket City the Big Buddha can be seen from anywhere on the island. It has been under construction for the last 10 years and is nearing completion. The eyes of the Buddha will be 'put in' soon and I imagine that this will be a big event. You can see the scaffolding up at the front. I was fortunate to be able to donate 600 baht for a small rectangle of white marble on which I wrote my dedication in navy felt pen. The marble slab will be built into the Buddha and my wishes with it. I got there just in time. This is the view looking down from the Buddha towards Kata Theravaden Buddhist monks eat once a day and this must be before midday. Cooked food is offered to them by the faithful which confers merit on the giver. If food is not offered then the monks do not eat. They are renunciates, homeless people, who own nothing but their eating bowl, two robes and a razor. In return the monks offer Dhamma teachings to the people. Here you can see them gathered together chanting prayers before lining up to receive offered food. People stand in lines and as the monks slowly pass by they put a spoonful of rice into the proffered bowl. This ceremony is called Rice Pindipat. Then the monks enter the tented area in which cooked vegetables and other dishes have been placed. The first morning there was not enough food to go around so many monks went hungry. It was a Friday so most people were at work. I went up on Saturday morning and brought 2 trays of food but there were crowds offering plenty.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 14:47:24 GMT
On our way down we stopped for coffee at an interesting shack with a colourful display of Spirit Temples. I have seen them throughout Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. As far as I know, they have nothing to do with Buddhism. I have considered buying and sending one to England for my garden but having been told that most are made of concrete (rare to find wooden ones) I have given up the idea. Perhaps Hwinpp can tell us about spirit temples. I'm guessing that S.E.Asian animistic beliefs go hand and hand with Buddhism?
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 15:13:03 GMT
But now the time has come when I must seriously consider leaving my friend's house. She has become withdrawn, disapproving and has asked me to hire a driver to take me out and away. She feels unable to offer me hospitality, says she needs to be alone and I am feeling very awkward. I hope to stay several days longer with her whilst I sort out alternative accommodation. I know I can't stay anywhere upmarket and must find a cheap room somewhere although it's the high season and everything is expensive. I am deeply hurt because I had looked forward to spending time with her and maybe having some fun. I am aware that she has mental limitations but I thought she would have taken these into account before inviting me. But one morning she orders me out of the house for the day and I end up at a large shopping complex called 'Central' where I must spend 6 hours before I can return to the house. Having spent time and money at Jim Thompson (the famous silk emporium) I wander around having a foot massage, pricing digital cameras and computers, visiting opticians trying to buy coloured precription contact lenses (blue,grey,green,violet) and end up in a Japanese restauarant for lunch where I eat a satisfying o-bento and watermelon juice costing only 280 bhat. I find this form of transportation very amusing ~
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Jan 6, 2010 15:23:07 GMT
I first went to Thailand in 1985. When the plane landed at Don Muang airport in Bangkok I crossed to the domestic terminal to see what flights were available. A Thai flight to Chiang Mai was boarding and I was able to get a ticket. I was charmed to find that in the front of the passenger cabin there was a tiny spirit temple with a lit candle and an offering of a cup of rice.
It was a safe journey.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2010 16:02:13 GMT
Fantastic photos, Spindrift! So makes me want to visit, as always.
Sorry to hear about what happened with your rather unstable friend, we live and learn don't we?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jan 6, 2010 16:19:20 GMT
Spindrift, this is so interesting in so many different ways -- Your explanation of Phuket's progress sets the groundwork for an entire meditation or dialogue on rural self-sufficiency vs. expansion. Of course we are now hooked into the unpleasant drama and problems your friend's neurotic behavior has caused. Your sensitive explanation and beautiful pictures give a wonderful insight into the spiritual beliefs of the population. And even the photo of your lunch was illuminating. I had no idea that kind of Japanese lunch would be so robust. Your photographs are always a treat, and they're used to such good effect to help tell the story.
I'm just sorry this story had such an uncomfortable element for you in it, and really appreciate that you're willing to "tell all" in your travel saga.
Spindrift, perhaps you could ask around where you live or in London to make contact with a local Thai community. You might be able to commission a spirit temple for your garden, or find out where to buy one ready-made.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 17:19:49 GMT
I hadn't thought of asking Thai people here about where to buy a spirit temple! Of course I can easily contact Thais through the Theravaden monastery I go to in West Sussex.
I'd have to live in Phuket some time before I'd be able to comment on the locals' attitude towards rural self-sufficiency v development. However I did chat to the Thai lady who owns the beach restaurant and rooms were I stayed later on in my visit and she told me that she has been offered millions for her land but will not sell. She remarked 'if I had to move where would I go? and perhaps I might not like my neighbours!'. She is so right. She owns one of the last quiet and beautiful beaches in Phuket.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 19:01:36 GMT
|
|
|
Post by imec on Jan 6, 2010 19:12:04 GMT
Fantastic spindrift! Love the images of the monks. And I love the images of the motorbikes with the side cars ;D. I remember seeing young families of three on small motorbikes without sidecars quite frequently. We were always on the lookout for a familiy of four - which we never saw. We did, however, see a family of five!!! Two little ones on the gas tank, Dad driving, little one behind him and then the Mom at the back.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 20:57:08 GMT
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 21:07:12 GMT
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 22:46:39 GMT
One morning, without preamble, my friend stated that she would be driving me to her taxi/car office where 'I could change my ticket to return to the UK on an earlier flight'....Oh Yes? How dare she! I kept quiet and was driven to the office and she drove away....alone as she wished to be. I asked Aoy about the possibility of finding a quiet room on a beach without riotous tourists around and a cheap one too. Pity it was high season. The first place was totally unsuitable being on a noisy main road with just single men lying on sunbeds and waiting to pick up ~Thai girls...that hotel would cost in the region of 2,500 bhat a day (no food).....the next hotel was equally off-putting and also on the main drag and the third place was JUST RIGHT. I now knew where I would stay and I would keep the flight arrangements that I had made in England. Dear little Aoy had taken me to look at the beach of Ya-Nui from the top of a hill and it looked quite fetching. Which was a far cry from the Evason Resort hotel but my humble little (awful) room would cost a fraction of the price although I thought it was expensive at 1,400 Bhat, not including breakfast. And what do you think of my room ? outside ok but what about inside? there was a stonking great refrigerator in there with me. Actually I could have pushed the boat out and paid up a small fortune to stay at a decent hotel but frankly I didn't like Phuket much and I only had 6 days to put up with Ya Nui. At the very least I would be able to lie in the sun, swim in the sea, read and eat well. So I moved into Ya-Nui and wished my friend a final, very final, goodbye. I turned the page and started another chapter. I'm always doing this.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2010 22:55:56 GMT
That room doesn't look too appealing does it, Sprindrift? But what else could you do? Like you said, just as long as you could enjoy the sun and swim in the sea and eat what you wanted, then all was not lost. Do you think you will ever go back to Phuket? Maybe under better circumstances? It's sad to lose someone who you thought was a good friend, but we are not in control of what others think/want. And as for starting a new chapter, sometimes that is for the best and very cleansing in it's own way. What an experience, I'm sure you will look back on it one day and smile
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 6, 2010 23:15:02 GMT
Deyana - thank you for your encouragement. I'm getting used to these scenarios with 'friends'. In the not too distant past I've been *chucked out by a princess in Kathmandu, *abandoned by a manic depressive at Mysore who fled to Kathmandu then disappeared into thin air (madwoman)....and I had to flee from the hills outside Carcassonne when mine host turned alcoholic started shouting and abusing me bec. I was talking on the phone briefly to my fiance when he wanted someone to carry something from his car several floors down.
Will I return to Phuket? Never never never!
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jan 6, 2010 23:47:00 GMT
Whew, Spindrift.
Thanks be for your good angel, Aoy, and your resilience in salvaging what you could from this "vacation". I'm glad you got to see some of the real country and people while there -- something that would not have happened if you'd remained with the "hospitality" of that dreadful woman. There is surely some psychological and spiritual lesson to be had from these various disasters, although it seems that you're rather being hit over the head with the lessons. What gets me is that I've always thought you the most open and accepting of human beings. Perhaps that is the problem -- that others want something from you that they can really only get from within themselves.
As one of the beneficiaries of your wonderful pictures and adept story-telling, I'm very glad you went to Phuket. The picture of the young monk with the green shadecloth background is astoundingly good, as is the one of the stone balls*, and that of the three different fish together, and all of the boat pics below that. Really, they are all exceptional.
*I am guessing, but is it possible that the bits of gilding were put their by the faithful as an act of worship? Rather than lighting a candle or stick of incense, a worshipper might press a leaf of gold into the stone -- sound plausible? I imagine eventually the stone ball will be solidly covered with gold.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 7, 2010 9:37:44 GMT
Bixa - yes I am most open and accepting and I think people abuse that sometimes. I have a core of steel though which most wouldn't immediately recognise. That's why I can cope and move on. I am able to 'observe' now and amuse myself by guessing outcomes....
Those gilded balls - you are correct in saying that the faithful rub gold leaf onto them. I was wondering about their function. Aoy mentioned something about 'foundations'; perhaps they were buried long ago as a foundation of a temple? I know they had a specific purpose and are considered sacred but I couldn't understdand what Aoy was telling me.
|
|
|
Post by spaceneedle on Jan 7, 2010 10:05:17 GMT
Hi Spindrift, I am new here and read your story. What an ordeal. I have been fortunate to have been invited to many foreign destinations by friends who were wonderful to me when I was there. I always remember that when I have visitors- what is ho-hum everyday stuff to me, is fun, new and exciting for them... it makes you wonder why someone would invite you to travel all those miles, only to behave that way? Perhaps she is depressed and is unable to explain that. Depression makes people want to isolate... Your moxie is admirable, jesus approves too. ;D
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 7, 2010 10:22:41 GMT
spaceneedle - your reply is so funny..love it! Yes, sadly my friend is an anorexic with many issues. Her anorexia is at the stage when she can only tolerate eating carbohydrates and not many of them either. She exists on boiled carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, no salt added but a huge amount of pepper. She eats this with toast. She also eats a few fruits such as imported apples, oranges and a mango or two. She fits into size 6 clothes. It's a very bad sign when the body can no longer metabolize animal/fish proteins. Poor thing.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 7, 2010 11:27:56 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2010 11:46:00 GMT
What a delight this is,coming on and seeing more and more...don't ever want these posts to end! I hope you subtitle your book," Love and Tolerance", Spindrift. I'm so glad you found a room and your friend Aoy, a real "bodhisattva"it seems.(always seem to manifest themselves if we know to see them!) I love all the colors,vibrant and alive. The foods displayed in artisan fashion and photographed in like fashion. Do people eat horseshoe crabs? This is a new one for me. I will revisit this thread many times Spindrift,thank you.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 7, 2010 12:21:04 GMT
Casimira, thank you. Which are the horseshoe crabs? Do you mean the giant ones? they look fearsome. Yes, Aoy was truly a "bodhisattva".... .....from the evening market Aoy drove us towards Kata town and then up a very steep hill to her friend's little house. We arrived just before sunset and as the evening sky was propitious for a spectacular display she urged me to go onto the hill and take pictures. Friend's house ~ ..... whilst waiting for the sunset in the deep silence of the hills I noticed a lovely house next door owned by a rich Thai ....but then I saw that land on the opposite hill was being cleared for development (oh no!).... I resolutely turned my back on that sorry sight and concentrated on the sunset ~ ...by now we had been joined by two more Thai people and whilst they took over the pounding of (old) shrimps, herbs and spices in the kitchen and the gutting and fying of our fresh fish...they made me comfortable on the verandah by arranging Thai pillows for me, switching on a fan, pouring me bottled water (they don't drink it themselves) and telling the dog to sit beside me Thai pillows ~ This was our delicious supper although I forgot to photograph the fish soup. Those leaves in the little dish are tender cashew tree leaves, they thought I wouldn't like the taste but I did...I copied them taking bites out of the tiny cucumbers and they laughed and said 'don't do that in a restaurant that's how we eat at home!'.... ;D and we followed up with freshly peeled mango and pineapple. They picked some small bananas from the garden and showed me the black seed in them that cannot be eaten (they don't like them) and they brought me lots of passion fruit and asked me to take them away because they don't like them either. I must confess that I couldn't eat the pounded spice mixture, it was so very very hot. They laughed at me! And there I was thinking I could eat any chilli heat!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2010 12:30:32 GMT
The photo in reply #42,those things that to me have always resembled little army tanks with swords,are horseshoe crabs. I've always had a fascination with these but not as something that has ever crossed the threshold of culinary.
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Jan 7, 2010 12:31:56 GMT
Sorry I can't really identify the foods. Except eggs. A lot of Thai market/street foods are a mystery though they often taste wonderful.
|
|
|
Post by tillystar on Jan 7, 2010 12:38:30 GMT
Wow, looking that these pictures just before my lunch I am getting very hungry. Although I still woudn't be keen to eat one of those crabs, I never imagined them being eaten either!
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 7, 2010 14:17:53 GMT
Baz - those eggs are special eggs. They are for hatching (not what they seem).
|
|
|
Post by imec on Jan 7, 2010 14:20:42 GMT
More great stuff spindrift! Your second sunset photo is the one I dram of taking - absolutely gorgeous! And so much of this food is so mouthwatering! Fantastic job - thank you!
|
|
|
Post by bazfaz on Jan 7, 2010 15:16:39 GMT
Baz - those eggs are special eggs. They are for hatching (not what they seem). I got even the eggs wrong. I am not trying to say what anything else is.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 7, 2010 15:51:44 GMT
|
|