we arrived safely in BKK, or, in the local language, KrungTep. My self-study of the Thai language is going nicely, be it way slower then hoped for, I'm getting lazy hehe! But I can already read most of the stuff in Thai ... understanding what is written is another thing.
Now that we left HH, it's a good time to round some thoughts up.
Thailand never ceases to surprise me. The experiences in HH are just an example of that. The hotel in HH was mixed, both Thai and Farang. I could easily interact with the Farang, but it was impossible for me to do the same with the Thai guests who stayed in the hotel. They have the incredible capacity of pretending that they are the only ones who occupy the hotelspace. When I walk around, they stare in front of them, as if nobody exists except of themselves. When I swim in the pool, they create their own swimming space and nobody else exists in the pool. It's an unbelievable attitude. I'm really learning from them, although what they do is opposite of what I'm doing: they try to create their own space, whereas me, I try to share my space with others.
That being said, respectfully, the Thai guests are totally different when you meet them on a one-to-one-basis. Suddenly, all the boundaries can fall off, and one discovers a warm welcome. I could never imagine the difference between public and private so clearly.
Another example. Khun Luck invited us to the Kite Festival in Hua Hin. It was lovely. The Thailand team was getting ready to perform. Of course I went into the private space of the team, and tried to interact with the team members. Not an easy task, since I don't speak Thai, and the team members didn't master English. But in a strange way, we managed. The team members accepted me, and even invited me to follow them on the field to witness their performance. Before that, I played with the boys the hand-clapping game (always great fun), and one boy lateron put his head to my chest, in a movement that I interpreted as a sort of approval. Lovely.
Another example, about something else, hehe. Jumping from thought to thought, I hope you don't mind :-) The Thai team was all set to walk to the field to perform their skills, and suddently an older guy popped up. He was in his 60s, if not older. He was clearly the leader of the gang. You have to realise that the team was preparing for more then one hour already, and that the time had come to start performing. At that crucial moment, the older guy started to inspect the team-members. Something he could have done before, if he were time-concious. He wasn't. He started sighing ... me dai me dai ... and insisting changes on the clothing of some members. On top of the waiting, he managed another long delay before the team could hit the field. Nobody cared about the delay. Everybody cared about the dismay of the leader. Time was not an issue. Interesting!
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