19 September 2008 - Morning Visitors

Morning Visitors
Friday 19 September 2008

This morning as Duang was sweeping the front patio, her cell phone began ringing upstairs. I hurried up the stairway and answered the phone as best I could - basically saying "Hello, Duang two minutes" and brought the phone down to her.

It was her cousin the Number 1 Monk from the House Warming. He was travelling to Udonthani this morning and would be stopping by for a visit and to drink some water.

Twenty minutes later a blue pickup truck pulled up to the gate. A young man, who turned out to be one of Duang's many cousins - there seems to be hundreds, was driving with her other cousin, The Number 1 Monk, as the sole or was it "soul" passenger. Apparently in his duties as Number 1 Monk, her cousin travels around a wide area of Thailand teaching and lecturing other Monks.

Once inside the house, he sat on one of the couches and his driver sat in one of the wooden chairs. Out of respect people do not share the same seat with Monks.

Duang brought glasses and cans of Lipton Ice Tea with Lemon along with some packages of the homemade Thai Cracker Jacks (Kao Tawtek) from Tahsang Village for refreshments. I sat on the other couch. Although the Monk was a relative, Duang maintained the traditional rituals of respect for a Monk. She handed the glasses and refreshments to her young male cousin to give to the Monk. Women are not supposed to hand anything directly to a Monk. Duang also sat on the floor to ensure that her position was below the Monk's elevation on the couch and so that her feet never were pointed at the Monk.

I tried to not point my feet but I may have failed a time or two. With this being Thailand, a tolerant country, there was no notice made of any errors that I may have made.

In Wats the Monks are positioned on raised stages about 6 inches higher than the main floor where the regular people sit. When there is a formal ritual of feeding the Monks at the Wat, the Monks sit on a higher raised platform about 18 inches high.

Duang and her cousins had a lively conversation just like any conversation back home amongst family. Well maybe a little more personal than back home in that they asked how much money did we pay for the house and how much money did I make a week when I was working.
In the USA, such questions, if they were even asked, would be taken as impolite. Here in Thailand it is not.

According to Buddhist beliefs, we earn merit as we live our lives. After we die we return to Earth to continue the cycle until we reach Enlightenment. What creature we return as to live our next life is determined by the amount of merit that we earned in the previous life. The higher social and economic status that a person has in this life is indicative of the merit that they earned in the past life. So determining how much a person paid for their home or how much money they make helps to set the social pecking order and is in some way a sign of respect in that there is recognition of deeds past done.

Thailand is very class conscious. Monks are revered by everyone including the royal family. The Royal Family, including cousins, have special rights and privileges - they are considered to be angels sent down from Heaven. When a member of the Royal Family is travelling by car, there is a convoy of vehicles with several different police organizations escorting them. Roads are cleared of all traffic until the convoy passes.

Wealthy people also have a special status in Thailand. When you travel "Business Class" out of the main airport in Bangkok, there is a separate Security Checkpoint for First and Business Class passengers just outside of the Airline Lounges. I was shocked the first time that I flew out of Bangkok with a Business Class ticket. I checked into the Thai Airways lounge and asked how much time that I should allow to go through security prior to boarding the plane. The hostess smiled and said 5 minutes. Apparently to the look of astonishment on my face upon hearing that only five minutes was required, she explained that at the end of the lounge there is a security post just for First and Business class whereas the other passengers go through security downstairs. All that I can say is that it sure beats the zoo that you have to go through in Los Angeles or San Francisco. Many times I have been embarrassed to witness the behavior of TSA personnel at those airports. It is amazing the attitude that some people get when they put on a uniform. It is these uniformed people that treat Non-English speaking visitors, or rather guests to our country as if they were cattle. They issue short brusque commands and when the guests don't understand they only raise their voices to the level of shouting. The first and last impression that guests to the USA get is at the airport security checkpoints - perhaps the airport personnel should be better sensitized to that fact.

As a guest to many lands where I have no clue to the local language, I am always appreciative of the kindness and consideration exhibited by local authorities at the airport.

Other topics were discussed between Duang and her cousin such as why I have decided to stay in Thailand, why I decided to be with her, where we had travelled to, and remembrances of when he used to feed her children at the Wat when they were small and very poor. I learned that the younger cousin was not interested in dating women at this time in his life. He had dreamed about a large snake wrapping itself around him which is seen as a sign that he will be married soon. But he is dedicating a part of his life to taking care of the Monks. I have seen that throughout Thailand, a young man will travel with a Monk carrying the Monk's satchel, helping him to walk, driving a car for the Monk, and even carrying the daily food for the Monk in the morning. This service earns merit for the young man a sort of investment into his next life.

During the visit the Monk stated that he had forgotten to give us some things the other day at the house warming. He reached into his satchel and pulled out 4 cloths (paiyan) and four amulets. The cloths have been blessed by the Monks and the amulets are actually made by Monks out of clay, ashes from holy scriptures, and sometimes ashes from holy people. The amulets are blessed by Monks and are believed to offer protection to the wearer.

The whole aspect of amulets in Thailand is quite complicated and interesting. Shops, street vendors, market vendors sell amulets. There are magazines, newspapers and books dedicated to trading and the value of various amulets. Some amulets are sold for thousands of dollars.
Two of the cloths were lemon lime colored cotton 9 inches by 13 inches. On the cloth there was an Indian or Thai woman on a raised platform along with two filled sacks on the ground at each side of the platform along with two birds above the sacks. There were also many symbols printed in black on the cloth.

I have seen these cloths many places throughout Thailand. They are hung on the walls to ensure financial success.

Duang has decided to give one to her mother and we have hung the other near the front door of our home.

The other two cloths were much fancier. They are bright yellow silk 20 inches wide by 25 inches long with a white lace border. Printed on the fabric is an old present day Monk in the center with 7 drawings of Buddha statues arrayed around him with 4 stylized lions that look a great deal like the logo for Singha beer along with many symbols that I have seen tatooed on the body of Thai men. I understand that the purpose of this cloth is to protect us from and to keep ghosts (phii) away. Again this is another example of the interwining of the original Animist religion with Buddhism here in Isaan. One of the cloths is hung above the door to our bedroom and the other is hung above the Buddha shrine at the stairway alcove next to our bedroom. I suspect that we are fully protected now.

After about an hour, our visitors left to continue their journey and good works.

Today is another day and I have learned something new today - actually two things. The first is how to cook "Kao Knieow" (sticky rice). Kao Knieow is glutinous rice that is the basic food of the Loam Lao people. It is small grains almost round with a shiny surface. It is cooked and kept in woven reed baskets. There are large baskets to keep an entire day's amount of sticky rice. There are small baskets to serve an individual their kao knieow at a meal. The baskets have a sliding top that is attached to the bottom by a small string loop. The loop also doubles as a carrying handle. To me the assembly is an Isaan Lunch Box. The baskets can be quite attractive and are cheap to buy - about $1.25 USD for a small single meal for a person model. The baskets are woven out of bamboo in a herring bone pattern. They keep the rice warm and keep bugs out. The intricate and precise weaving maintains the proper moisture content of the cooked rice.

At the house warming, Duang's mother gave us an aluminum pot and a woven basket as a welcoming gift. The aluminum pot is shaped and about the size of a spittoon. The basket is a tightly woven bamboo truncated cylinder that sits down into the aluminum spittoon.

Yesterday Duang's sister used the assembly to steam some fresh corn on the cob for our spirit house celebration meal. One of Duang's uncles gave us about 5 kg (10 pounds) of kao knieow rice. This morning Duang cooked up one-half day's supply of the rice. I have cooked rice before. I have seen Duang use an electric rice cooker in Vietnam and in Thailand but this was completely different.

She first soaked the rice in plain water for about twenty minutes. She then drained the rice and placed it in the bamboo basket and set the assembly covered with a metal pot lid into the water containing spittoon shaped pot on the stove top burner. She boiled the water in the aluminum pot and after 20 minutes of steaming the kao knieow was completed. The rice was sticky and firm to eat - just the way it is supposed to be. I now understand why Duang said some previous kao knieow that we ate at a restaurant was "No good, not like".

The other thing that I learned today was to ask before I throw "garbage" out - it may be someone's next meal! Yesterday while I was alone, I reorganized the kitchen. During my efforts I found a small plastic bag of something in the cupboard. It was rather smelly - a combination of garlic and well at least to me - something rotting. I threw it away.

This morning after Duang had cooked the rice, she was ready to make something else - "paa daek" (fish water). Paa Daek is fermented fish. It is very popular in Lao cuisine. It is strong and very smelly. I don't know what it tastes like and I don't believe that I will ever be able to write about its taste - if I remain lucky! Apparently what I threw away yesterday was the starter for a new batch of the stuff. The fish and whatever else was in the bag are supposed to sit around for three days before it is ready. Ours only made it to two! There is a airtight container under our sink that is "old" Paa Daek. Duang is cautious to shut the kitchen door whenever she uses the Paa Daek or Nam Paa another variant of fermented fish. I confessed my transgression and we had a good laugh. This was not the first nor do I suspect the last time that the blending of our two cultures has created a good laugh.

I have not thrown out the tray of one-half inch shrimp that Duang has salted and boiled to dry out in the sun. I have tasted them and there is no problem although eating the shells gets some getting used to - crunchy and stick to the sides of your throat.