Last weekend we and some of the other volunteers made a leisurely trip to Bangkok for a few days of sightseeing and, of course, Harry Potter viewing. We visited the King’s Palace, avoiding the many touts who annoyingly kept telling us it was closed and tried to steer us towards other places of business, and wandered around the grounds and museums and the stunning ‘Temple of the Emerald Buddha.’ The statue of the Buddha has three ‘outfits’ depending on what season the country is in. This being the cold season (lows of 23 degrees!) he had on a gold winter coat. During the rainy seasons he sports a large golf umbrella. I’m joking of course. The palace, including the temple, has a strict dress code and people caught in strappy tops, above the calf skirts or tight trousers are quickly shepherded off and lent more respectable garments before entering. So of course every tourist that stepped through the gates was met with ‘No short pants!’ or ‘Please borrow a free shirt!’ We volunteers, being members of communities who dress like that anyway (well they’re a bit more liberal) had much less trouble and caused much less offense.
The less cultural aspect of our trip was watching Harry Potter in a Thai IMAX cinema. Although this is not a particularly Thai experience, it was a new one to me and one which cost about the same as a one way ticket to the town centre back home. IMAX is amazing. If you’ve seen the latest Harry Potter film when I say that I thought I was going to be eaten by the snake. Seriously. The screen was so huge I almost fell over when I saw it.
Back in Lerng Noktha, we’ve been teaching the lyrics to Jingle Bells to children (and other teaches) so many times, I’m beginning to resent all one horse open sleighs though they provide some amusement when the students mispronounce the phrase. And it’s funny when they’re only interested in yelling ‘Hey!’ at the end if each rendition. I also taught one class to make Christmas cards and gave them stickers which they got very excited and quite violent over (the boys especially) at first but then seemed at a loss as how to use them. After showing them how to peel the backs off and stick them on things they produced some very lovely cards.
Our home has turned into a veritable Christmas grotto after we attacked it with tinsel, fairy lights Christmas trees and paper chains (thanks Mum!) and we’ve built up a respectable pile of presents each. On Christmas Day, some of the other volunteers are coming over so we wanted to make it as festive as possible. (though we may have gone overboard as the tree is now more decorations than fake pine needles.) Christmas here is an odd feeling, like celebrating On Christmas Day, some of the other volunteers are coming over so we wanted to make it as festive as possible. (Though we may have gone overboard as the tree is now more decorations than fake pine needles.) Christmas here is an odd and feels like having Easter in November or happily celebrating your birthday alone. It’s wrong. But hopefully we’ll make it work.
Stuffing and noodle soup anyone?
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