Katie and Jonathan's Blog That Reaches Nirvana

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Thailand has been an amazing country to experience. So far, a majority of my time has been spent between local businesses and visiting wats. Recently, we visited a local ceramics company called Baan (house in Thai) Celadon (the Thai process for making pottery). I was surprised when we visited their "factory" at all the things I saw (or didn't see). There was no run-down building with poor ventilation and smoke stacks protruding from it. Instead, I discovered a gorgeous campus with wooden buildings propped above the ground. The owner bragged about the open space and the quality environment she was providing her employees to work and even live in. She claimed that the happiness of her employees was her highest priority and ensured this by providing them with superior working conditions and higher pay (with annual raises). Now whether her business philosophy played out in reality I could not tell, but on all accounts it seemed Baan Celadon was one example of a successful Thai business.

Juxtaposed against Baan Celadon was a bamboo lacquer company I had toured the previous day. This "company", if you want to call it that, was made up of a community of houses that made a variety of bamboo lacquerware products including lamps and plates. The owner of this company was obviously less educated than the owner of Baan Celadon as she did not speak English and had no concept of financial statements. Instead, the bamboo company only kept track of costs so that it could survive. That is, it worked to be self-sufficient in nothing more whereas the ceramics company was out to make a profit (and a large one at that). While neither company is the ideal way of doing things, it definately gave me an insight into the way Thai people do business.


Jonathan


One of the most impressive wats (temples) we have visited thus far is Wat Doi Suthep. We travelled by bus (on a very windy road, which was a bit scary considering the way people drive in Thailand) to the top of a mountain overlooking the entire city of Chiang Mai. The view, along with the temple, was spectacular. Ajarn, or professor, John Butt from Payap University accompanied us and gave a lecture on Buddhism. It was fascinating to hear him talk about this religion in a temple that he has visited over 600 times (and he says it never gets old). He told us of the life of the lord Buddha and explained that though the statues and temples are beautiful, they are not Buddhism -- Buddhism is found in the hearts of those who practice the precepts of the Buddha and strive for enlightenment.

Thailand is about 95% Buddhist, and they say that "to be Thai is to be Buddhist." I have discovered that to be Thai also means to be passionate. The last two days the women's and gender studies group has had the opportunity to visit a small village out in the rural area of Chiang Mai. Though we have spent almost all of our time in the big cities of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, most of Thailand is rural. And, this village, like many in Thailand has been hard hit by HIV/AIDS. The disease has left the village with the youngest and oldest generations intact, but many of those in the middle have died.

We were able to meet the pastor of the church in the village, who is incredibly inspirational. He is highly educated but has chosen to return to his village in order to give the children of the village hope of a better life. We were also able to meet a woman who has been infected with HIV. She lives in the village and sews clothing in order to make money to send her son to school. These experiences have shown me the strength and loyalty of the Thai people -- characteristics I hope to be able to emulate in a fraction of the ways that these two have.

Katie

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