Hey
Monday (the day off at the center) Joe, Fon, and I embarked on an adventure. Our mission: get in the car headed towards Khon Kaen, look at the guide book, pick places to go in the area.
Our first stop was a 12th century Khmer temple, recently restored. There is a something about anything that has been around for nine hundred or so years. Not sure how to describe it in a fitting way. The stones it was made of where large. The lintels were carved into fascinating shapes.
Stepping away from the ancient grandeur, nearby we saw some buffalo standing around this water. Next thing we knew a buffalo’s head came up from out of the water. In then went back down again. I don’t know if it was doing anything more than staying out of the sun, but it was fun to watch.
Next stop was Chonabot. It’s a silk making village. We were given silk cocoons. We watched ladies weaving silk on looms. We watched other ladies sewing the material together to form clothes. I bought a shirt. We also had a very good meal.
Our final stop of the day was the King Cobra Club. This place evoked a mixture of emotions. The cages each containing a different kind of snake were a little sad. The signs on the cages were hilarious. Here are some examples: “Habit: kind but fierce,†“Habit: like to fight with man,†“Food: Young beautiful snake,†“Habit: friendly with young female snake and tourist,†“Habit: being a star, able to put around neck for photograph,†“Habit: fierce and like to take photo.†If any of you have doubts about these reports, I have photographic evidence.
A second mixed bag of emotions was a show they put on for us. It opened with Thai dancers dancing with pythons around their necks. At one point they put the snakes’ heads in their mouths. Next came the impressive and sad part (FYI: my family has pet snakes). They took out three cobras one at a time, and one at a time three different men “boxed†the cobras. The cobra was set on the stage the man would poke at it. If it tried to leave, they’d pull its tail until it came back, hood flared. They’d then stab at its neck with their fingers again, the whole time the snake would have its hood flared, it would be half striking, not actually making contact, partly because the guys were dodging, but you don’t just dodge a cobra. The cobras usually didn’t fully run out of neck (striking distance). I didn’t understand what was exactly going on. I was impressed. But I felt a little bad for the snakes, especially when they pulled them backwards by their tale (this results in their under scales being pulled the wrong way).
It was a good day, a full day. I recommend seeing ancient ruins. I recommend watching people make stuff, even if it’s only on Mr. Rodgers or Reading Rainbow. I even think it is worth checking out the Cobras. I do not, however, recommend that you personally try boxing with venomous snakes in your backyard.
I only have five more consonants to go in the Thai alphabet. I have yet to learn any vowels. Today in the preschool class at the center Fon had a game where she wrote letters on the board and whoever said the letter first got a point. It took me a while to get going, but I pulled in to the lead, before Fon ran out of letters to write. Maybe I shouldn’t take to much pride in beating preschoolers in an alphabet game, maybe I shouldn’t have even tried to beat them. But it was a hard fought victory. I was pretty elated with my win.
Peace
Micah
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