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Cindy's World Trip Blog

March 5, Month 10

Thailand - Don't Point Your Feet At The Buddhas

One of the driving forces in Thailand, like in much of Asia, is Buddhism. Wats (Buddhist temples) dot the land like freckles dot a red-head. They are everywhere! It's not like they are tiny little buildings either. They are usually quite big, ornate buildings that dazzle with details. The roofs are peaked and trimmed in curvy, upside-down icicles. Somehow the decorations give the buildings and innocent-stately look although it seems curvy dagger-shaped objects should have the opposite effect. Housed within the Wats are Buddhas of varying sizes and composition.

I have seen more Buddhas than I can count... literally. I gave Amber and Sophia a challenge to count the Buddhas one day. They lost track after the first one we visited, which had over 350. Some of the most memorable Thailand Buddhas are the one that was solid gold and an enormous reclining one. There is one they call the Emerald Buddha that is made of jade. It is revered with the most honor. They even dress him in different clothes for each season that the king himself changes.

So the caution, "Don't point your feet at Buddha" may seem like silly information at first glance, but if you care to see amazing buildings and culture in action, it IS pretty important to know (by pointing your feet I mean the feet should never be out in front when sitting. People sit crisscross or in other forms with their feet beside or behind them to show respect).

The kids have found almost as much interest in the Buddhas and Wats as we have. It isn't hard to be taken with their beauty. It comes at a price of lots of hard work. One Wat we wandered into was having some restoration work done. We watched the six ladies work on a platform for 10 minutes or so where they hand-cut small pieces of mirror to glued each piece back in place. If it were one or two pieces it wouldn't be so bad, but in just the area they were working in there were hundreds of these pieces. It would be tedious to cut and place them all.

Admittedly, the kids have grown tired of looking at Wats faster than we have. Part of their fatigue has come from having completely undo their tennis-shoes and remove them to go in and re-tying them once we have come out.... again... and again... and again (I should have bought Velcro shoes for them). One very hot day while on our way to see a Wat, Amber was a little grumpy. She just wanted to go back to the A/C of the hotel and I asked her, "Wat's the matter Amber?" Since then it has become a game for the family to see how many phrases we can come up with like, "Wat are we doing today?" or "Wat is that." We all usually direct our comments and questions at Amber... she doesn't find them as funny as we do.

Wat is also fascinating to me is the transportation here. We have used not only the typical modes of transportation: metros, trains, buses, and taxis, but many more. Within our first 24 hours we were introduced to two forms of transportation we hadn't seen before (We've read that some other countries have similar things, but it was new to us.): Tuk-Tuks and ssssss which we refer to as "songs". Tuk-Tuks vary by the region you are in. In the South, they are motorcycles with a tarp-roofed side trailer with bench-seating for our whole family. In Bangkok and the North, they were a roofed 3-wheeled vehicle that we could barely pack into... that is if one of the kids sat on a lap and the other the floor. The driver of this vehicle had a gear shift between his legs. Just a couple hours north of Bangkok, the vehicles are also 3 wheeled, but the driver has more room up front and the back is designed with 2 bench rows of seats - seating for our whole family. Unfortunately, the roof is so low that Richard had to hunch significantly to fit into it and every time we went over a bump, he hit his head. Regardless, we love these little machines. The name tuk-tuk comes from the noise they make "tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk."

"Songs," we called "truck-buses" before we knew their name because that is really what they are, are truck-beds that have been fitted with 2 rows of bench seats lining the long sides. Then the whole top is covered with a shell that still allows for air-flow through windows or completely-open bars. They are even fitted with a bell to push so the driver knows where you want to get off. If someone wants to go to a certain area, they just look for a particular color of truck since the trucks are color-coded to indicate the areas they go to (ex. red trucks go one place, yellow another...). If you don't want to follow the route of everyone else, the Songs can also work as a taxi at a higher negotiated price. There are no Song schedules or guides to the color-coding, but locals all seem to know what goes where.

Riding in Tuk-Tuks and Songs has been a big treat for the kids. They have been really annoyed at times when we have taken "traditional transportation" instead too. I can understand why... the rides have been pretty entertaining. Once we were on our way to a neighboring town and the only real way to get there was a song. We let several pass us because they were so packed. We kept hoping we would get one that was less full, but by the third (and 45 minutes later) we decided to join the crowd. Already people were, how should I say,... cheek to cheek, sitting on the floor and hanging on to the back and standing on the section for over-flow. The girls had been begging to ride on the back on the over-flow ever since they saw it was possible. It is hard enough for me that they are not wearing seat-belts let alone having them stand on the back of a moving truck. I had always said "no." On this particular occasion though, I could fit Elizabeth and Sophia in the back of the truck, but I couldn't fit Amber. Richard, as dad's always do, feels like I baby the kids too much and felt like she'd be fine... So she got to stand on the back of the song with Richard and I. Her pleasure in the ride was obvious as the wind blew in her face and she held on through the turns and bumps in the road. It didn't even bother her that Richard and I each had an arm around her to make sure she didn't fall off. (The other too were not happy that I didn't allow them to hang off the back of the truck though).

Another form of public transportation widely used is motorcycles. Yes, I said public transportation... they actually have motorcycle taxis. The driver wears a special vest to let people know that he is a taxi and will take people wherever they want to go. The drivers aren't even biased to just one person as a passenger either.

Thais use motorcycles like Costa-Rican's use bicycles. My mouth has fallen open more than once at how many people or things have been stacked on a single bike. I'm talking using the bikes as a family car - 4 and 5 people - one bike.

Anyway, the motorcycle taxi doesn't seem to mind having lots of people too. One day I was walking alone with the girls and I got honked at (their way to ask if you want to take a taxi) by several motorcycle taxi drivers... that would mean he'd be hauling 5 people. It is not like the roads are the calmest places either. It is very chaotic... people all over the place with no regard for lanes. Sometimes motorcycles even go the wrong way down a one-way street. I shook my head "no" and thought, "What? Do I look crazy?"

Maybe the Chaos of the streets is part of the draw of the calmness of Buddhism. Although there seem to be no rules on the street, there are rules in the Wat.

If you would like to know more of how to act in the Wat, just ask Amber, "Wat are the rules I should follow?" She'll probably grumble at you before telling you to get some good Velcro shoes.