Bangkok

The trip began in Bangkok.

Our first experience, after completing some 26 hours of plane travel and crashing in a hotel when we finally did arrive, was to wake up and go to the Imperial Palace, home of the Emerald Buddha. Inside a vast, glittering temple sits a small Buddha made of jade, perched way up high on a mountain of gold. Only just a few days ago the king of Thailand changed the Buddha's clothes from his winter outfit to his summer outfit (next comes his monsoon outfit). The king, whom everyone reveres, is the only one allowed to perform this task.

But what caught my eye the most was not the glitter or the gold but a single man, in a loose fitting shirt and jeans, who was sitting next to the wall of the temple with a fine tipped paintbrush in his hands. He was carefully tracing over an ornate floral pattern that lined the entire temple, covering up the old paint with a new more vibrant coat. He sat there carefully painting away, listening to music over his headphones, while just a meter away was an old monk in orange robes, cowtowing in front of the Emerald Buddha.


Later on during the first day I was walking through the streets of Bangkok with a few of my closest friends on the trip, including Kelsey Sloan and Zach Hyman. Zach went on this program three years ago, and he's come back this year to be the program assistant. He is a wonderful person. Lurpie in stature, kind in heart, and a Chinese and Political Science (IR?) major, since graduating he's been studying Burmese and has spent the past several months living in Yangon working as a market researcher and refining his language skills. As we were walking through the streets, we passed a man with a large pole suspended from his shoulder, to both ends of which were attached a half a dozen wicker baskets or so. As the man passed us Zach stopped and said:

"Now look at that man, for example. Where do you think he's going with all those baskets? Where is he coming from? What does he put in those baskets? Who made those baskets? Did his wife make them? Where does he live? What kinds of plans do you think he has for expanding whatever business he has in the future?"

Zach wasn't trying to be profound or insightful. He hadn't meant for this to be some kind of teaching moment. These are just the kinds of questions he's in the habit of think about. They're also exactly the kinds of questions that we have come here to train ourselves to ask. The purpose of this whole trip is to walk around, look, touch, smell, and ask questions. How do these fleeting micro experiences tie in with a greater macro economic/political picture?


Another good friend with whom I've reunited is Seth Lin. Seth is actually Burmese (unlike Zach, who's just trying to become one despite his lurpie western pastyness). He graduated from Carleton last year; we got to know each other when we were both in Romeo in Juliet--he was Tybalt and I was the Friar. He's now back in Burma, working as a teacher in the same school where he was once a student, teaching history and sociology.

In addition to being a simply fantastic person to be around, Seth is particularly interesting to talk with because of his knowledge and experience in Burma and Southeast Asia more generally. Our first night in Bangkok we took a dinner cruise down the city's major river and for most of the evening I sat across from Seth, picking his brain about the current state of Thai politics (I'll share more on that later). We've also talked about the challenges of living in Bruma, and in our case the challenges we may face getting into and out of Burma. The trouble is that getting 40 or so American students into the country and touring them around to talk with a bunch of people wokring in Burma's small private sector, as well as students and other progressive types, will certainly come to the attention of the junta military government. The concern at the moment isn't so much for our own sakes (there's no way they could get away with harming 40 American citizens), but for the sakes of the people we go to meet with, and whether they might feel any repercussions. Everything is being done with the utmost care however, so don't start worrying, Mom and Dad.

There's a lot more to tell but no time anymore. Who knows when I'll be able to post again. But until then,
Take care!