Palian- Julie's post

After the train ride into Trang, we took taxi mini van to Jenny's village of Palian. It's very remote, an hour outside of Trang, up in the mountains of this region. First, I have never seen anything more spectacular or beautiful than this area. We were in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

However, the terrain and the beauty of the surrounding areas can easily be described by pictures, but the people of her small village were much more complex and richer than the environment. I'd rather spend time speaking to the richness of the people I was fortunate enough to get to know over those few days.

First and foremost, I have never met nicer people in my life. It seemed as though the hundreds of people that lived in the village know Jenny intimately. As we rode our motor bikes through the hills daily, we'd see children roaming outside as they waved intensely and called out, "Jenn-eee, Jenn-eee!". It was beautiful.

Each night we spent with her host family eating dinner. They were her second family during her stay in the Peace Corps and hosted her during her first two weeks of her service. The family consisted of the 73-year-old Grandmother, mother, father, teenage daughter, 2-year old daughter, and 3-month old son. Their house was open to the elements. Although it had walls, many of the walls did not go all the way to the ceiling. They showered with buckets outside. There's no hot water in any part of the village. There are no telephone lines, although they recently have gotten cell phone towers, so nearly everyone has a cell phone.

Her host family's house had no doors, let alone screens. We ate on the concrete floor each night as they asked us questions while Jenny translated and vice- versa. Her host family's extended family came by nearly every night to see us, and speak with the family. Everyone in their family is within a short walking distance and the commitment they have to each other is remarkable.

What I experienced there pretty much can't be described in any words. It was extremely powerful to be among such strong people. Strong in the sense that what binds these people is not possessions, but each other, their family and community.

The first day we got there was pretty rough as the sun was beating down and the humidity felt a hundred times worse than in Bangkok. We were in the jungle after all. The rest of the days were better as the Monsoons came rolling in and dropped the teperature.

That first day we went to a local Thai mother's noodle shop outside of her house. Quite a few of the women in the village sell noodles, rice, coffee, snacks, or desserts to supplement their incomes. There was many places to choose from for breakfast and lunch each day, and we ate for $1-$3 USD each meal for the three of us. It was unreal. $0.33 for noodles or fried rice and a drink. I couldn't get over that.

The most stunning part of the entire trip to this area was getting to see this Muslim culture. It was so warm, so inviting, and we were treated like we were family. I never expected to be treated as outsiders, but just the amount of smiles we got as we rode motor bikes down the roads was incredible.

There were so many experiences we had with the local people that going through all of them would take too much time. I wish I had journaled more while I was there but I just wanted to take it all in and really relish in the culture. So, everything came out the way it was supposed to.

Here's a journal entry from Sunday 5-4
The beauty of being in a place like this is realizing how little is needed in life to live a comfortable and full life. Jenny's host family has been the epitomy of how a family unit should operate. Their devotion to one another, to Jenny, AND us is somewhat foreign to me. I've never met nicer people. They have hearts of gold and show it through their actions rather than words, much unlike the United States. Yesterday at the waterfall I got to transform my outlook on this trip. I had the realization, as I do many times in life, that finding your way in life does not always come easy. One must let go of some things in order to find that thing they're looking for. The only thing that we can change is our perspective and being with Jenny's second family made that transition easier. They made me feel so much at home. They eat on the linoleum floor, full of sugar ants. The 73-year-old grandmother, mother, father, and 3 kids. Over the course of the evening, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles...they all came over to say hello to us and to Jenny. How receptive and curious they were of Eric's braces. No one even knew these type of devices were available to people with disabilities. They asked many questions and were so sincere.

We are so far removed from this type of interaction in the United States, even coming from a tighter-knit family than most which values the importance of familial community, especially while we were growing up. Yet here, I've realized it's still different than that. It is a deep connection to the land and to each other that distinguishes this small S.E. Asian community from America. This guise we have in "our"world of security and semblance, it's all a constructed veil hiding the essence of our being. Just behind that thinly constructed thing we call security lies the true beauty of life. It's up to us whether or not we wish to move beyond that and to see what's truly important. What matters is not things, and yet we constantly say that to ourselves. Things like, "Possessions aren't important in life." Yet, we tend to say that a lot, but when do we really truly mean it? We know it's the right thing to say but who could really live without walls in their house, or ants on the floors, and mosquitoes flying and beetles roaming? How about a bucket to wash with and only cold water, or maybe no kitchen table, no washing machine, and no telephone? Could you kill your cattle for food, and harvest rubber from the rubber trees as your job?

All these necessities we live with in the western world seem to be just conveniences that distract us and keep us occupied just long enough to keep us sedate. Keep buying more, keep reaching, keep striving for something you don't have. Look for that job security because it's the only thing that can give you peace of mind. All of these things we seem to look for, or that hold importance in our minds...really they're all just this huge facade.

Changing your perspective means the real work would have to be done. The soul work required to find your individual purpose in life. Because really, is your job your purpose in life? Truly, is it your purpose? I found that in Jenny's village, no one looked at their job (mostly rubber farmers) as their purpose. No one's job was their purpose, as they didn't like or dislike their job- it was just something they did to make a living. I found that they grabbed onto the true meaning of life much more easily than most of the world, because the distractions of the modern world weren't there.

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