The conversation tonight on the front porch of room 10 was very instructive this evening. I learned some of the culture of laundry. The traditional Thai way to sort laundry is male-female. To sort by colors is a foreign thing. Thai would never hang pants to dry above the height of their head. Thai hang shirts above pants to dry. Women’s clothing is not hung out to dry above men’s clothing.
The topic of vacation came up. I heard my neighbors’ take on just about every conceivable mode of public transportation from here to Chiang Mai. Which vehicles are full of bugs that suck your blood. Which vehicles you need to hide money in four different places, so that if a few of your pockets get picked, you still have some cash. Which buses change drivers midway through the night, and which don’t.
From vacation we arrived at the question of “did I want to visit Cambodia?” My “yes” elicited the question, “aren’t you scared?” This confused me, so I responded with, “afraid of what?” The answer was a word I didn’t know. So then they proceed to describe to me what I believe would best be called a medicine man in English. They explained to me that while medicine men in Thailand are quite good at healing people, medicine men in Cambodia are quite good at cursing people. Additionally, Cambodian medicine men don’t shy away from casting stronger spells, even ones that kill you.
Apparently generally such a curse is placed on or in something you will then wear or eat. For example, while I’m inside someones house (with my shoes left outside per cultural mandate), if someone doesn’t like me, they can come along and place a curse on my sandals. Then, I come out of the house, put on my sandals, and get a wicked stomach ache.
I’m glad I belong to พระเจ้าสูงสุด, the tallest God, God Most High.
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