Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Back from the jungles of Palian - Eric's summary


So we are now sitting on the beach, at Trang Beach Resort, about to get another Mai Thai and I figured I would give an update. Before I do I've gotta say, this resort is not only the most beautiful place I have ever been to in my life, it's also the most drastically different place than Palian, Trang, Thailand , deep in the jungles of SE Asia, where we just spent 4 days. It would take me probably 20 days and countless pages to describe my experiences in Jenny's village so I will summarize the highlights instead and expand on them in future blogs. (Yes, that's what our room here looks like. Yes, that's our view.)

First I want to give you an idea of life there in the village and at Jenny's house contrasted from a Western perspective of the things we are used to in a "town" or "house". Jenny's house had no running water. The lights worked sometimes... seemingly when they felt like working. None of the houses have doors or windows... they are basically large huts with room dividers (Jenny's house had screens due to Peace Corp requirements). No furniture... everyone eats, sits, sleeps on the floor.... with all the bugs and critters. No toilet paper... cleaning yourself after a "deuce" consisted of either using a "butt gun", which is like a hose with a spray nozzle on it and you spray your butt, or, if there is no butt gun, you scoop water out of a nearby bucket and pour it over your butt while you rub and clean with your hand.... rinse and repeat. Seriously.

Funny side story: I was in Jenny's host family's (host family = family that took her in initially when arriving in Thailand) house eating lunch when I had to deuce, quick... now I had spoke to Jenny regarding the bathroom situation and was informed they did not have a butt gun and they used the soup ladle approach to cleaning. Like I said, I had to go quick, I didn't have time to jump on the motorbike, and go back to Jenny's house... but it wouldn't matter anyway because even though Jenny had a butt gun, she had no running water. Anyway, so I buck up and go to the bathroom there. When I'm done I begin wiping and cleaning myself with my hand.... half way through I look over to my right. Apparently they got a butt gun recently that Jenny was unaware of... needless to say I finished the cleaning with the butt gun and walked away fresh and clean. Honestly, those things get you really clean.

Here's a pic of a typical thai bathroom... the only real variations is that some have western toilets, but they don't flush on their own and don't have toilet paper.


Now on to the fantastic experiences:
  • Motorbiking with Julie around the 3km loop that is Jenny's village... complete with winding, rolling roads, lush tropical landscape and scenery, and a giant dominating waterfall.
  • Visiting a self-sustaining house deep off the main road through a 1.5km dirt road. A man and a woman built this paradise and were completely self sufficient... from cows and chickens, to a fish farm, water treatment, full garden and a beautifully landscaped living space.
  • Swimming at the base of the waterfall.
  • Witnessing the Halal killing and butchering of a cow by the village butcher at 6am in the middle of the jungle.
  • BBQing and eating that cow for lunch.
  • Meeting the local village people. Getting double-takes from locals as we passed each other on motorbikes.... with the exception of Jenny, some of these people have never seen Farang (farang = westerners) in "real life".
  • Visiting Jenny's school for her going away party... complete with drunk teachers, a P.A. system that was WAAAY too loud, an MC that loved to hear himself talk on the ear piercing, echoing system, flying beetles the size of my fist, and last, but oh so not least.... Thai Karaoke. Complete with Engrish versions of everyone's American classics. It was awesome.
  • Eating with Jenny's host family every night... the sense of family, community, love, and genuine interaction was touching and heart-warming to say the least.
Funny story about eating with them. So admittedly, before this trip I had a bit of a bug-phobia. Remember, these huts are deep in the jungle with no doors or screens to keep stuff out... and they eat on the ground. So we arrive the first night and enter the house for dinner... the entire family is sitting around in a circle and three spots await us. As I'm removing my shoes I look down and see ants and bugs (mostly ants) EVERYWHERE. haha... I got woozy. My first thought was... "hell no".. but I also couldn't be rude. WTF was I going to do? I looked around and Jenny took a seat, completely oblivious to the bugs, and the host family obviously didn't mind.... so I took a deep breath and just sat down. Turns out the ants were sugar ants and not concerned with people... they don't even crawl on you. And apparently only like sugar, which the dishes didn't contain, so they basically ignored the food as well. I completed the meal a new person. What an experience.

Well, that's all for now... I'm off to sit on the beach, work on my tan, then off to a Thai language class. The islands have been closed due to crazy monsoons, but I believe they open today, so tomorrow we're going to the island of Ko Hai for two days, then on the 10th we're flying way north to Chiang Mai.

- Eric

1 comment:

Mack said...

Dude, the room view is sick. The room is nice too.

Great blogginz.