Sukhothai: The Dawn of Happiness

Oh boy. More history, my favorite!! So as the title of this entry indicates, Sukhothai roughly translates into “The Dawn of Happiness” from some mix of Pali and Sanskrit – it’s not modern Thai is what I’m trying to say. It declared its independence from the Khmer empire based at Angkor in 1238 AD and existed as a kingdom until 1438 AD, whereupon it was ceded unto the kingdom of Ayutthaya (see Ayutthaya entry). Thailand as we know it today did not exist in the 13th century. The Thai people lived in various kingdoms that co-existed in something resembling the feudal system in early Medieval Europe. Sukhothai was the first independent Thai kingdom, but it was by no means powerful enough to exert control over the other Thai kingdoms, most of which were tributary states to other Southeast Asian empires such as that of the Khmers or the Sri Vijayans. Still, because Sukhothai was the first independent Thai kingdom, it is credited for being the first capital of the Thai people. Additionally, it was during the Sukhothai period that the modern Thai alphabet was developed by the great king Ramkamhaeng.

The first picture shows laterite -- it's what most of the structures you will see in the pictures below are constructed from. Of course, they look smooth in places because they were covered with something like cement afterwards. Apparently, laterite is commonly used in this part of Thailand because it is so plentiful. It was explained to me that it is soil that has undergone some kind of chemical reaction. The "holy" look is a result of gases that had worked their way in and left little air bubbles. Bricks are extracted from the ground and allowed to dry out. They can then be used as light-weight but strong building material. I'm not sure if there is any firing involved...


And now, a collection of the photos I took as I went through the provinces of Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet and Phitsanulok. I think I should win some kind of award for them =), hah hah. One of the observations that was made as we saw the millions of Buddha figures that can be found in Sukhothai (well, everywhere in Thailand) is that some of them have "farang" noses. Farang is the Thai word for foreigner, if you didn't already catch that in an earlier entry. The thing with Buddha figures, just like any kind of anthropomorphic depictions of gods, etc (sculptures, paintings, carvings and so forth) is that they reflect the society they come from, right? So Buddha figures from the various kingdoms of ancient Thailand looked slightly different depending on where they came from. One particular figure that we saw in a museum had a big-time farang nose. Khruu Bong (the other AUA teacher) explained that the particular figure in question was sculpted in the Indian style. He told us that Indian Buddha figures have "Western" noses because when Alexander the Great arrived in South Asia, he brought with him figures of the Greek gods. From this meeting of cultures and societies, the Asian Buddha received the Western nose of a Greek god. Interesting, huh?








With background out the way, I can move on to telling you how I found myself in Sukhothai. Occasionally, the AUA Thai program sponsors field trips and my visit to Sukhothai was one of these. We had two of the Thai teachers leading a group of 9 students from levels 2 through 10. The objective of the trip is for the students to be exposed to hands-on learning outside of the classroom. Of course, the entire trip was conducted in Thai so what you get is an intensive weekend of Thai because for many of the students, English is not their native language. Therefore, in order to communicate with everybody else, you needed to speak Thai in whatever capacity you had at your command. Also, you can’t just go back home to whatever language it is you speak there.


This is Khruu Jaeng playing tour guide followed by a picture of her with two AUA students. One is Emma from France/Morocco and the other is Makiko from Japan:


This is a picture of the moat surrounding Wat Mahathat...like a mirror, no?



One of the things that Sukhothai is known for is its silk-weaving industry -- most of the production is at the cottage industry level and therefore does not make use of machinery. What you get is beautiful handwoven fabric instead of the cheaply made stuff you will find just about anywhere in Bangkok. I got a beautiful silk ka-prong (Thai skirt) for my mom...



The problem with taking students that come from different levels of Thai proficiency without English as a common base is that the teachers have to make it so that beginner students can understand what is going on and the advanced students don’t get bored. Currently, I’m in level 3, which puts me towards the lower end of Thai proficiency. What I found, however, was that I was translating for students at all levels aside from the ones at level 10. As a result, a couple of the level 2 students stuck close to me. It’s a good thing that they are likeable people =). I’m just glad there weren’t any level 1 students, I would have felt awful for them! We left Bangkok fairly early on a Friday morning and got back on Sunday evening. I will forever be known as the best “eater” in the group as I was always reliable for finishing up the extra food we always ended up with. The big joke of the weekend (which was a response to Hong, you’re not full already, are you?) was “in twenty minutes.” They found it hard to believe that my 5’8” and 135lbs self could pack away so much food ~

This is a picture of Khruu Jaeng and Xiang Ling from Taiwan. They are buying mangosteens. I think the group consumed about 6 kilos of mangosteens in two days. This is excluding the bananas, guavas, pineapples and watermelon. Below this picture is one of the trip favorites: Sukhothai noodles. I think between the 11 of us, we consumed about 25 bowls such as this in one sitting.

Reflections on being an Asian-American in Thailand During A Visit to Ubon Ratchathani University

I wrote this article for the Fulbright Thailand newsletter a little while back. Mostly, it is a publication intended for circulation among the Fulbright network here -- current and past Fulbrighters, member of the Board, etc. It's a little cheeky, but I'm just doing my darndest to be the perfect little angel ~~ Hah hah =). Just kidding Phi Tip (aka Executive Director of Fulbright Thailand)!!!!


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On a recent trip to Ubon Ratchathani University, I was asked to reflect on a number of issues that I would share with audiences of educators and students. Among many other questions thrown my way, I was asked to address the following questions in particular: What inspired me to come to Thailand? How does it feel to look Thai but be American? What do I hope to achieve in my time here? In beginning my discussion of these topics, perhaps it will be helpful to answer the first question that I am asked after people learn that I am not Thai – where are you from?

My parents and I are immigrants from Southeast Asia. Although my ethnic background is Tae-Chiew Chinese, all of us were born in Cambodia and fled the country in 1983 to escape the tyrannical Khmer Rouge. We were political refugees who found safety first in the refugee camp at Khao I Dang, in Sakeo Province here in Thailand and then in the Philippines. Finally, in May of 1985, we settled in Los Angeles, California in the United States. What makes it complicated when people ask me the question, “where are you from?” is that I don’t always know how long of an answer they are interested in hearing. Do I say America? If I do, the next comment will invariably be, “but you look Asian.” So do I say Chinese? Or should I say Cambodian? Eventually, I come up with something like this – I’m Chinese, but I was born in Cambodia and now I live in America. It’s enough to confuse many people.

So what inspired me to come to Thailand, you ask. The simple answer is that I wanted to reconnect with my roots. But what does that really mean? Since I grew up in a household with a mix of cultures and languages – Chinese, English and Khmer, I always had a hard time with forming an identity for myself. Earlier I touched upon whether I should say that I’m American, Chinese or Khmer. In the end, I acknowledged that I felt a certain draw towards Southeast Asia when I had to pick first the region and then the country that I would go to for my Fulbright grant. Why not China or Cambodia? Truthfully, my Chinese isn’t good enough to operate in China and Cambodia’s Fulbright program is still very much in its formative stages. In contrast, Thailand does not have a language requirement and the well-established Fulbright program here has been in existence for over 50 years now. Also, my topic is in business and economics and Thailand provides a much more interesting case study than would Cambodia as the former’s economy has experienced a lot more growth and has taken advantage of its potential in a much more effective way than the latter. Besides, Thailand’s culture and society shares a lot of common threads with Cambodia and the majority of the large Chinese population in Thailand is Tae-Chiew, the same ethnic group as my family. For these reasons, I felt like Thailand was the right choice for me.

With regards to looking Thai but thinking and operating as American in Thailand – well, it has its ups and downs. For example, I don’t get honked at by the tuk-tuk drivers as I’m walking down the street. The street vendors aren’t always aggressively trying to sell me their wares and trinkets. I don’t get the same types of solicitations from the Thai women who work in the various bars whenever I walk down Sukhumvit Road. On the flip side, most Thais begin their interaction with me in Thai. These days, I do fine with it because I have managed to learn enough Thai to know what they are asking me and to be able to answer them. However, when I first arrived in Bangkok, it was routine for me to feel quite foolish and helpless. I would sheepishly admit that I don’t speak any Thai and felt quite embarrassed about it. Still, all was not lost as my parents did a good job of instilling some important Asian values in me. Respect for elders and for religion, proper social conduct and the ability to be aware of and show sensitivity to different cultural practices. Strangely, I feel very much at home in Thailand now. The values, customs and cultural sensitivities seem like they have always been there. Coming here just awakened them from deep within me. In the end, I do have to add that daily, I encounter things that confuse me and amaze me. To conclude, however, I should say that there are things that Americans and Thais may learn from each other. Perhaps Americans should be more jai yen. Maybe Thais can learn to check their email more frequently and reply in a timely manner.

Before I left Seattle and came to Bangkok, I had dinner with a few of my former professors at Seattle University as a sort of farewell and congratulations. One of them asked me, what are you expecting to learn from your time in Thailand and what criteria will you use to determine whether or not it will be a success? At the time, I told him that my trip to Thailand will be my first time out of the country on me own and that I don’t really know what to expect. I told him that I just hope to learn as much as I can and let things run their course. To some extent, my answer has remained unchanged. I am doing all I can to be open to new experiences. I’m eating as much food as I can and going on as many weekend excursions as I can. I’m also telling “my story” as to why I’m in Thailand to as many people as will listen. From this, I have been able to meet and get introductions (or at least contact information) from many people who will perhaps play a role in helping me to learn and accomplish more of what I came here to do. I am doing my best to learn the language here because I don’t think you can fully grasp a culture and people if you cannot speak their language. Fortunately for me, I have found Thai to be more than manageable as it shares many words in common with Khmer and grammar is very similar for the two languages, although they come from different families.

Speaking of languages, one of the things that the student audience found quite amusing was the fact that I could entertain them by speaking short phrases in Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Khmer and an entire presentation in perfect English. I did my best to encourage them to go out and explore the world and let them know that although it can be challenging, it also comes with rewards. I encouraged them to study hard and not to be afraid to ask questions and engage their professors in conversation, for which I received applauses and praise from the educators in the audience.

In closing, I just have to say that in my short four months here, I had learned much more than I was able to appreciate as I went. It is only in reflecting back and the “looking into the mirror” effect that comes from being in a culture and society that is different from my own that I have come to appreciate our differences and mentally document my learning and growth. Much thanks to Fulbright and the wonderful staff at TUSEF for giving me this life-changing experience!

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You can also follow this link to read the short article I wrote for the website. You will find pictures there and a little bit more of a description of what went down:

http://www.fulbrightthai.org/knowledge/read.asp?id=215&type=news

What you won't get the inside scoop on from either article is this one funny thing that happened after the presentations were concluded. So I don't think I mentioned that all of the students in the audience are college freshmen (a large percentage of whom are female). When I stepped down from the speaker table and microphones, a bunch of them came up to me and asked to take pictures with me using their mobile phones. One of them asked me for my email, whereupon I produced my card. All of a sudden, I found myself handing out all the cards I normally carry around to give to people I may run into who might be able to help with my research. One of the girls even asked me to sign my card for her!! Later, I got an email from one of the female teachers saying thanks for stopping by and sharing my thoughts. She also told me that she spotted me as wallpaper on one of her student's computers. Isn't that crazy? That was my brush with celebrity-hood. It felt a little strange...heh heh. The most important thing that came out of my trip was that I got the contact information for one of the premier scholars in Thailand on it's very special brand of economic theory -- Sufficiency Economics! YES!!

Dream World: The Magical Kingdom

The awesome foursome (that would be me, Mai, Sacha and Jeremy) along with another Thai friend of Mai and Sacha, Tra took a day trip to Dream World in nearby Pathumthani province. It’s like a mini Disneyland, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Knott’s Berry Farm and Raging Waters all rolled into one. This description is coming from somebody who used to live in Los Angeles, where most of these places are located =)…sorry if you’re not quite getting what I’m describing because you’ve never been. Anyway, it was quite a fun-filled and wet day because Jeremy, Sacha and I thought it would be a good idea to ride some of the water rides. The three of us made fun of Tra, who decided she would get one of the ponchos available for purchase. I mean, who wears ponchos on a water ride, right? Apparently, all the Thais do. Hah hah. Mai, who knew better, decided she would just sit out =). And so Jeremy, Sacha and I walked around for much of the rest of the day in moist undies.

Chiang Mai: The Jewel of the North and The Royal Flora Ratchapruek

So my friend Arion flew in from Taipei to meet me for a short trip up to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s “Jewel of the North.” Arion is actually a friend from Seattle who is studying Mandarin at the National Taiwan Normal University. I had originally wanted to include a short trip to see one of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants up there, but once I figured things out, we would have been hard-pressed time-wise to make it happen. Especially since our other goal was to go see the Royal Flora Ratchapruek – a horticultural expo – I say horticultural because it was more than just flowers and plants, as the official name suggests – in honor of HM the king’s 60th anniversary on the throne. Well, technically, the word flora refers to the plant life of an area in general, but the gardens, many of which were adorned with plastic, wood, metal, stone, fountains and even televisions, deserve more than “flower show.”

We jumped into a taxi right outside Bumrungrad International hospital, which is right next-door to my building. If you listen to NPR a lot, you’ve probably heard of my famous neighbor, renowned for its promotion of medical tourism. Anyway, as soon as we had loaded our stuff into the taxi and got in, the taxi driver turns around and tells us that it will be 300 baht to the airport, not including tolls. It’s normally 185 plus 65 in express-way tolls. Freaking A**. This ONLY happens when I’m with white people. Hah hah. Sorry, there’s no other way to say it. So I tell the taxi driver no and insist that he use the meter (in Thai) like he’s supposed to. He gives me some sort of lame excuse that there’s no service there at this time. I later figured out that he meant he wasn’t going to get a fare coming back at that hour (it was probably a little after 11am). After a bit of struggling back and forth, Arion butts in and says, “let’s just do it.” Despite my irritation with the whole situation, I gave in. I mean, our luggage was in the trunk and we were already moving along. I wouldn’t want to have to deal with a disgruntled taxi driver driving off with our stuff…anyway, we’re talking a difference of like $3 US. Still, it irritates me sometimes that there’s a Thai price and a foreigner price…ra-kha Thai and ra-kha farang – one can’t help but feel ripped off.

So we get to the airport way ahead of time; mostly because our flight was delayed for almost an hour. Arion had never been to Suvarnabhumi (pronounced Suwannapoom, I know, weird) prior to a few nights earlier, when he came in from Taipei, so we took some time to explore the world’s largest, newest and most dysfunctional airport – dubbed “Corruption International” by the Thais. If you want to read more about it, go to my friend Jeremy’s blog – jeremyinc.blogspot.com. Arion started right away with what would end up being the first of a collection of hundreds of photographs of all sorts of random things from the weekend.

As soon as we got off the plane in Chiang Mai and claimed our luggage, we were herded towards a tour desk and talked into getting a tour package to the famous Doi Suthep temple. All we originally wanted was some help with a hotel for the couple of nights we’d be there since our attempts at searching beforehand were foiled by the fact that the flora expo was in its last couple of weeks, so accommodations were tight. Anyway, after a little bit of bargaining, we got him to include transfer service to the hotel and drop-off at the Royal Flora Expo the next morning.



This collection of photos is from the famous Doi Suthep temple. The word "doi" means mountain in the Northern Thai dialect. Not sure what the "su" part of "Suthep" means, but "thep" means heavenly or holy. It is so named because it sits on the mountain named Doi Suthep. The full name of the temple is Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.









Speaking of the expo – it was lovely. Still, it’s nothing I can say too much about. It was just a big park with a whole bunch of exhibitions from various countries from around the world. I don’t remember seeing one from the US, although I did see a very sad one from Cambodia…




This is me flossing my threads ...er clogs at the Netherlands exhibit.


This was just one of the millions of orchids that were featured in the gigantic orchid garden. Apparently, they grow as easily here as cosmos grow in the Pacific Northwest -- well, except that they live longer. I know there are some of you out there who are like, if only I can get my orchids to flower a second time...heh heh.


This pumpkin has been carved with the royal insignia.


This picture was shot in the garden submitted by Bhutan


This series of photos feature the royal temple, the gardens surrounding it and of course, moi ~ By the way...does the lion make me look tan?






These two photos are from the Lanna exhibit. Lanna was the ancient Thai kingdom to the north. It's center was in present day Chiang Mai. It is known for its very distinct architecture and art (painting, wood carving, scuplture). Sometimes, as a tourist, you can choose to stay in hotel rooms decorated in the "Lanna Style."



This particular exhibit is the famous teak house that Laos gifted to Thailand to commemorate HM the king's 60th anniversary on the throne. They have a very strange relationship, Thailand and Laos. Thailand calls Laos it's "Little Brother." The culture and language between the two countries is very similar, but for some reason, Laos has failed to develop at the same pace and with the same success as Thailand has.


All in all, I think Arion and I both found Chiang Mai to be a rather enjoyable city. The weather was unlike Bangkok. For the first time since coming to Thailand, I didn’t feel enveloped in what is at times suffocating heat and congestion. I’ve since gotten used to Bangkok’s warm and humid climate that is a result of its location in the Chao Phraya River delta, but it was really quite nice to see mountains and green trees again. Chiang Mai is a big city (it is Thailand’s second largest and has a population of over one million) with a small town feel.


And it even has its own Starbucks! Actually, the ONLY TWO reasons I go is because it seems to be the only place that offers soymilk. Being lactose intolerant in Thailand is usually ok because dairy is not widely used in Thai cuisine. However, they give me a confused look when I ask for it anywhere else. The other reason I go is because Starbucks is the only place that actually serves BREWED coffee. If I ask for hot coffee anywhere else, it's usually a gross liquid concoction resembling and Americano.


In Chiang Mai, I can get my Starbucks fix and then walk down a side street and buy these guys: (1) mangosteens (2) rambutans (3) fruits galore...