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Published: June 14th 2011
India 2011 004
Day One in Delhi: looked out my window to see a man waking up on a wooden table outside.I'm missing the adventure of India; the surprises and disappointments of traveling that country; even the burdens we carried as middle-class Americans seeing poverty, government corruption and apathy, and a fouled environment for the first time. I think that I miss the novelty of being in a foreign country most of all. I miss it because Bangkok doesn't feel foreign at all.
Bangkok feels like home. I go to work, go to aerobics, and go back to my apartment. I haven’t been shocked by much here except having to eat with my spoon. It’s probably for the best sanity-wise, but I still remember how much India changed how I thought about things. Just don’t want to get stuck in a rut, is all.
Besides the cigarette-smoking-man on the overpass and a few sleeping hobos here and there, I’m sheltered from the poverty here as we are in the States. I have seen “the slums;” Mai pointed out this area on our way to the Wide Bridge Market a few weeks ago. Sure: there was a higher population of livestock. Sure: the people were washing dishes in the run-off from the street. But Ranee, they had houses. They had houses with four
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Wiring in India was quite the same as Thailand I guess.... walls. They had roofs of bamboo or shingles, not tarps. They used tarps to cover their outside belongings, like Dad covers the boat. Those weren’t slums to me, but that’s just an issue of word connotation, I guess.
As far as politics goes, I’m protected from negative issues or impacts of Thai government decisions as well. The people I’m frequently in company with do love their king; “My King,” they say with love. “My King lives in the palace.” “My King is ill.” Any objection to the King or Parliament is dismissed curtly in conversation. Just as an example, as we drove with Ajahn to the bus terminal one night, she pointed out protesters blocking a main road near Parliament. They have been there for some months disputing Thailand’s involvement in Cambodia and the border. As she explained this, the tone of her voice told me this: “Don’t ask. Don’t tell.” Many Thais are ashamed of these fellow citizens; they are effectively written off—deleted from the story of Thailand.
Lastly, the environment of Bangkok reminds me a lot of Minneapolis/St. Paul: bustling with activity—vendors, buses, mopeds, people milling about; there are areas of 20-story hotels, chic cafés, and shopping malls
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Kids in Delhi outside ISI. They didn't go to school, but stayed busy all day playing rock and coin games. with movie theaters, bowling alleys, and glass elevators; and still, there are blocks of old-brick shops on grassy, tree-lined boulevards. It is clean, green, and I feel like I’ve SEEN it before. It’s a wonder, though. Every vendor uses an insurmountable quantity of packaging (such as double bagging a cut up guava: Really? Do I really need two?), but there are few garbage cans and no recycling bins on the streets to dispose of this. Yet, everyplace I’ve walked in this city is exceptionally waste-free. I think that I will give credit to the Thais for that one. In fact, I find them to be more responsible with litter than Americans, keeping the garbage with them until they can throw it away maturely. (Americans, by-the-by, would still defeat the citizens of Dehli in the waste disposal contest by a tremendous landslide.)
Anyways, besides that moodiness/loneliness for India hahah, everything has been good here. I found a new shake that I love (pumpkin-coconut) and I think I’m going to start going to yoga-lates (yoga-pilates) on Mondays or Wednesdays at school. I tried on Monday and my legs still hurt today! I also finished my book tonight and finally get to start
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We went to Vijay's village where they grow cash cotton (for which their soil isn't suited) and these women were mad because they thought we were there to help them/take their daughters back to the U.S. the Game of Thrones series; I’ve been waiting to do that since…I was at the truckstop.
Until we meet again,
Amy
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elysa
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i wish there was a like button on these pictures. I like that comment on the last picture. hahahhahahah