Hidden thoughts and interests

Not so hot anymore
I got back from Thailand on Friday. It was a very spur of the moment kind of thing when I decided to go there. I didn't want to go during the summer, because it's short enough already and needs to be enjoyed to the fullest right here, so it was now or never.

I had a pretty good time. Did a whole lot of nothing, really. I'm not that big on seeing the sights and anyways this wasn't my first trip to Thailand. I've ridden on an elephant and done all that stuff before already. Btw, this time on the way back to the airport, I spotted two elephants right in the middle of very busy Bangkok traffic. That was strange.

All in all the different culture takes quite a lot of getting used to. It is also really weird to look so different from everybody else. I spent hours and hours at different shopping centers, never seeing another white person. People stared. A lot. And they weren't shy about it either. One person nearly fell off his motorbike as he drove past me and then proceeded to stare at me further over his shoulder, instead of looking where he was going. It was hard knowing that no matter what I did, I could never fully fit in. I imagine the foreign-looking people in Finland feel exactly the same.

Everytime I walked into a store, in 1.2 seconds there was somebody attached to my side. Despite what I did, they kept very close to me and followed me around. Far closer than I am comfortable with. A lot of times it felt like people were following me around, although I am sure they weren't. On several occasions somebody would be practically breathing down my neck as I walked along. To shake them off, I'd stop suddenly at some booth and what do you know, my follower stopped there as well. When I moved on, they moved on. Enough to make a person paranoid.

The grocery stores are always an experience. There's all the usual stuff, but to be honest, some things remind me more of a petstore. At least in Finland that's where you find such things as dried pigs ears, rather than in a grocery store. For a lot of the stuff, it's impossible to tell what it is. You can't even say in which food group it belongs to. The -candy- section is filled with dried fish and dried seaweed. Very popular with the kids. I thought I had seen all the possible weird chips (crisps) flavours in England (vegemite, worchester sauce etc), but Thailand introduced quite a few more, such as seaweed or green tea flavoured chips. Everything came in a green tea flavour, ice cream, muffins, drinks... I still think the weirdest item was a package of fresh chicken's feet, claws and all.

So, when people say that they really love Thai food, they should realize that it's all fancy restaurant stuff, possibly even altered a little to fit that country's taste habits. The real homemade Thai food is quite a different thing.

We went to Pattaya for a couple of days. It's a very big touristy place and as such, quite depressing. The place was packed with white men. Everytime you saw an old, bald and fat white man, there was a young Thai woman by his side. Without exceptions. Well, no, actually sometimes it was a young Thai man instead. I found that depressing and shameful to my own race, although I suppose I shouldn't really feel that way. The men can finally find some companion to spend time with, while the women get to enjoy the men's money for a while. A beneficial agreement on both sides, I guess, but still... I had absolutely no wish to see any of the nightlife in a place like that.

I got to go to a Thai funeral. They usually last at least three days, I only went on the last day. I know this sounds so inapproriate, but in all honesty, the funeral was very boring. We were there close to three hours and only 5-10 minutes of it consisted of the actual ritual. A couple of minutes of action followed by half hour of waiting, then another two minutes of action followed by more waiting. There's a lot of sitting around and waiting, in excruciating heat with no air-conditioning.

The funeral was held in a large Buddhist temple area in Bangkok, with a lot of similarly built buildings scattered around it, so you could hold several funerals there at once. There was a kind of a temple, with a stage in front of it and further off chairs facing the stage. The middle of the temple was a big cremation chamber (not sure what the correct term is). Next to the temple was an open building (two walls, ceiling) where the coffin was held. On the third day the coffin was lifted onto a stretcher with wheels on it. A monk went first, then the coffin and then everybody attending the funeral followed as the coffin made its way three times around the temple. It was then lifted onto a pedestal on the temple stage. Then eventually a monk came onto the stage, did something (the chairs we sat on were too far away to really hear or see anything) and then everybody walked up to the stage. We were given a flower made out of wood, which we tossed onto a tray below the coffin. Then the coffin was pushed inside the chamber and the fire was lit. They didn't completely close the door at first, so I got to see the whole thing engulfed in flames. Everybody got an umbrella as a souvenier from the funeral. Then we left. People were smiling and chatting all the time. It really didn't feel like a funeral at all. Maybe their belief in being reborn again is so strong.

I also got to visit a Thai hospital. Not that I needed a hospital, but apparently that's where the best doctors hang out. It's so embarrassing. I went swimming and got myself a tennis elbow! Never happened before. Good news is that I'm on sick leave until Wednesday. A nice prolonged holiday! Yay!
Posted 18:03

I'm amazing
I am a fairly rabid fan of the television show Stargate SG-1. So I often visit Gateworld, the best site for news about SG. Sometime ago they asked the readers to contribute their thoughts on what they most anticipate about the upcoming season 8. My response got "published"!

"Unfortunately, we're only able to include a small percentage in the page below -- so if you find a letter you wrote, you might have to reevaluate how amazing you are. You beat the less than 0.5 percent chance!"

I would like to see a definite closure for Sam and Jack's relationship, for good or bad. I think the argument about regulations has been drawn out far too long. It has made the two of them seem like immature children for not being able to discuss their feelings with one another. It has also made for bad continuity -- now it's hinted that they really like each other, now they don't seem to care one bit. I am not expecting steamy sex scenes, nor do I think they fit in with the show, but just seeing Sam and Jack finally sit down, openly acknowledge what is going on and decide where to go from there. Like the President said: they are allowed to have feelings, after all. Just admitting the existance of feelings does not automatically mean acting on them.

Essi

Posted 16:41