07.10.11: Today we
learned about Thai herbal compresses, and about some of the herbs used to treat
illnesses. I wonder if I will be able to
source all of the ingredients in the US
or the UK. I know some of them, but not all. I will have to start searching around to see
if I can get either the plants or seeds and then find a place to grow them
myself. This seems to be the best
answer, but a very time oriented one.
We also started learning about the ten sen lines – the Thai
energy lines. They make sense. It’s a whole ‘nother set of anatomical
landmarks to memorise, but that’s ok.
That’s what I’m here for. I’m
trying to document as I go and it’s going to take me some time to work it all
out.
Thai yoga is called RueSi DatTon, and we are learning the
first 18 postures. Eventually we will
learn 32 of the 127. I will continue to
learn them after leaving here – after doing all the work for three months I
won’t want to let it go. It’s good for
me. We do RueSi DatTon every day, M-F
and rest on Sat/Sun. I have noticed that
I improve a little each day – I can balance on one foot longer and do a few
more reps of the various exercises. This
Saturday we have Muy Thai, but I think I may have to skip it this time due to
needing to study. It’s probably for the
best that I have no internet tonight.
I’ve discovered green mangoes. They aren’t as sweet as the ones we get in the UK, but the flavour is delicious! I
can’t get enough. I might have to buy
some more on Sunday. I've given up on the chocolate here, it's so waxy that it's just not worth the effort. Most of the Thai sweets/desserts I've tried are so sweet I can feel myself slipping into a diabetic coma before I finish the first bite - I'm not used to eating that much sugar in one hit. I am having too much fun trying all the new fruit to bother to much with dessert.
My English has gone slightly wonky. When speaking to people with a limited grasp
of English I’ve found it best to eliminate all unnecessary words and just speak
the noun and verb, and don’t use too much slang. It’s also useful to speak clearly and make
helpfully descriptive gestures. Do not get frustrated
or angry (not that I would, Thai people are way too sweet to get mad at!!!),
and in Thailand
one never shouts. Ever. I mean never ever. Keep smiling and stay polite and these unbelievably
patient souls will move heaven and earth to make it happen for you, once they've figured out what you're on about. Lose your cool and you lose face, and not
only is that a bad thing, you also won’t get what you came for in the first
place.
All the massage is starting to loosen off my tight shoulders
and back. My bones are starting to pop
back into place. I’m still sweating like
a mad sweating thing, but it’s water – my sweat has no smell which means I’m
not consuming any toxins. My diet is
pure good food and water. Every night
I’m fighting the urge to go to bed at 7:35pm and I’m not sleeping very well,
but I think it’s the combination of missing my husband, sleeping in a strange
bed, and the six hour time difference that’s thrown me a little.
My iFox data SIM card doesn’t want to know. It just doesn’t work in my HTC Desire, even
though I called HTC to check the APN settings.
I’ll take it back to the shop on Tuesday but I know I won’t get a
refund. Sigh. I can only try. My DTAC SIM works, which is cool. Sixy-nine Baht for the SIM plus another 200B
phone credit at 1B per minute. The SIM
comes with 300 mb data per month for 4 months.
I cannot tether my laptop though, and that disappoints me. I was grateful to escape the DTAC store with
a SIM card that worked, I wasn’t about to start demanding extras. None of the girls in the shop spoke any
English so they had to call DTAC customer service to get an English speaker to
help translate for them. I could barely
hear her because the music out in the mall was playing so loudly, so getting
the help I got was better than I had hoped for anyway. The internet connection via DTAC is slow,
painfully so, but better than a poke in the eye with a frozen carrot I suppose.
I better put on some Flaming Lips and do some studying
before I drop in my tracks completely.
Hi Cheryl!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having a grand time. Good thing you are used to being busy, because otherwise the heat would take a bigger toll on you. I suspect that you although you are losing lots of water through sweating, you may also be losing weight as a result of the change in your diet. I didn't even know there were more than one kind of mango!
It sounds like locating some seeds to take home is the best plan. Hopefully you can stash them in such a way they will not be confiscated at customs. It is often illegal to import foreign plants, and the same might be true of the seeds. If they get loose in the environment, they could be a risk to the local ecology. Of course, they might need to be grown indoors because they are used to a hotter, drier climate. Another possibility is to find out what is the active principle in the plants, then try to find out if there is something native to the UK and/or the US which can be substituted.
My grandfather (a pathologist) described some of the research he had to do to find a substitute for an ingredient in a stain he was using. The original (plant) source had become unavailable.
Do you realize that the last paragraph in this entry is totally incomprehensible to me? I have some idea about SIM cards, but none about the rest... You are the computer expert, I just use mine to the best of my abilities!
Maybe you will get that Lager this weekend! Here it is the Columbus Day weekend so there are sales everywhere. I don't need to buy much of anything, but there are other things going on that we might go to. Some involve free food!
I am enjoying your blog immensely. You have a wonderful way of describing your experiences. If you need something to supplement massage, you might try being a writer!!!
Love, Susan