Though I may sound like a broken record, it has been HOT here in Thailand lately. Yes, I grew up in the humid high temperatures of Virginia and Tennessee, but Thailand takes things to whole different level. There is no respite. Cold water showers, cooling powder and sitting in front of the fan all help, but take away just one of these elements and I am left dripping yet again.
Powering through the hottest couple of weeks in recent history, I was looking forward to a trip to Bangkok to supervise the newest members of the Volunteer Action Committee, as my tenure is now over. Because of the tense political situation, we were asked to take day buses to Bangkok and proceed with caution, staying in certain parts of the city for the duration of our time. Meeting up with good friends after my daylong bus ride, I could hardly tell anything was different from usual in the city. That quickly changed.
As it got dark we discovered that the rest of the committee had been asked not to come into Bangkok and that the meeting would be cancelled. When we wanted to order food to be delivered for dinner, we found that road blocks prohibited such a purchase, and when we finally met with Peace Corps staff the next day we were asked to leave Bangkok as quickly as possible.
Heather and I hopped on a van and headed out to meet Porscha in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand and about an hour outside of the city. Since we had come all that way, we figured we could make the most of our weekend and see some sites.
After checking into our sublimely air conditioned room we headed out for burgers and promptly felt better about everything. We spent the weekend eating amazing food, including some of the best Italian I have ever had, studying for the GRE, playing games, lounging by a pool, and having good talks. We were also able to take a tour of the ancient city through the guesthouse where we were staying. To beat the heat the tour began in the early evening and continued after dark as the temples, ruins and restored areas were lighted.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the city of Ayutthaya:
The Ayutthaya historical park covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, which was founded by King Ramathibodi I in 1350 and was the capital of the country until its destruction by the Burmese army in 1767.
In 1969 the Fine Arts Department began with renovations of the ruins, which became more serious after it was declared a historical park in 1976. The park was declared a UNESCO World heritage site in 1981. According to "Tourism Asia," thirty-three monarchs including King Rama IV governed from Ayutthaya.
It was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese (Annamese), Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the city walls. In the sixteenth century, it was described by foreign traders as one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the East. The court of King Narai (1656–1688) had strong links with that of King Louis XIV of France, whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris.
Before Ayutthaya fell to a Burmese invasion, its vassals included the Northern Shan states of present-day Myanmar, Lanna (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Yunnan & Shan Sri (China), Lan Xang (Laos), Champa (Vietnam), and some city-states in the Malay Peninsula.[1]
According to foreign accounts, Ayutthaya was officially known as Siam, but many sources also say that the people of Ayutthaya called themselves Tai, and their kingdom Krung Tai or 'the Kingdom of the Tais'.
I am so glad that I got to see and explore the area. We had a great time taking photos, climbing the stairs of the tall wats and just being silly in general. We met some nice Italians on the tour with us, who were in Thailand to study Muay Thai. Though their English was not great, we took it upon ourselves to show them the hospitality that Thai people show us everyday in this country. We took them to the night market and ordered them authentic food…not too spicy of course. I left the group to scout out some weird looking, but delicious fruit and spicy papaya salad for everyone to try. I think they liked our recommendations and we joked that hopefully they would not get sick from the spiciness. We taught them some basic Thai to use at the markets and wrote some notes for them. All the while, Heather and Porscha and I joked that our Thai friends and communities would have been so proud of us.
From there the three of us headed out, determined to find an ice cream cake with which to celebrate Porscha’s upcoming birthday. Dairy Queen came through in the end and we ate the entire cake with spoons in our pajamas! It was the perfect ending to our amazing weekend.
Again because of political unrest, our travel plans changed as we learned we needed to be home by nightfall of Sunday night. Heather and I headed out at 5 am in order to make it home to the far reaches of Isaan in time. Once all volunteers on weekend travel had returned home, we were told that we should stay in our communities and only travel to the cities if necessary (i.e. banking or food). The tension in quickly spreading throughout the country and as of now there is no way to predict what will happen. It is a crucial, but difficult time for the system of governance in this country and I hope that it can be resolved in a timely manner. Most of all I hope that the violence stops. I am deeply saddened by the violence that has occurred as I now call this country my home. I know my friends and neighbors also feel this sadness.
I feel frustrated and anxious, and certainly tense. Though as I fell asleep last night, listening to the crickets compete with the songs of the neighbors karaoke machine, I found it hard to believe that I was anywhere but a beautiful and peaceful place.
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