Two random observations on Thailand.
Oct. 16th, 2007 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatarperegrine1. If I'd been among the first Europeans to visit Southeast Asia, I probably would have called it Indochina, too. Every moment I was walking around Phuket Town I was alternating between going "This is so like India" and "Wow, how Chinese." One moment you're passing a house shrine where people have offered marigolds and sweets to the local spirits -- um, are you guys sure you're not Hindu? -- and the next you're walking past a red and gold Chinese temple complete with dragons statues.
We spent the last couple days at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which I suppose epitomizes both of those influences. It's a Taoist festival, which was very much evident from the offerings we saw going on at the temples -- incense, firecrackers, burning pretend money -- but it is most known for the acts of self-mutilation that occur as men walk across coals, bathe in hot oil, pierce themselves with gruesome objects, or self-flagellate, all in order to allow themselves to become conduits for the emperor-gods of the festival. The books say the self-mutilation aspect of the festival is borrowed from a Hindu festival in Malaysia. So yes, southern Thailand really is a fascinating cultural crossroads.
Now we're in Chiang Mai, though, which seems culturally very different. We've been here for two hours, though, so I'll have to report more on that later. (Hooray for guesthouses with free internet!)
2. Other than the internet cafe in Phuket, I think that every building I have entered in Thailand has offered Thai massages, haircuts, and/or cooking classes. This is leading me to suspect that if you walked into any building in Thailand, public or private, and asked for one of those three services, you would likely find it.
We spent the last couple days at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which I suppose epitomizes both of those influences. It's a Taoist festival, which was very much evident from the offerings we saw going on at the temples -- incense, firecrackers, burning pretend money -- but it is most known for the acts of self-mutilation that occur as men walk across coals, bathe in hot oil, pierce themselves with gruesome objects, or self-flagellate, all in order to allow themselves to become conduits for the emperor-gods of the festival. The books say the self-mutilation aspect of the festival is borrowed from a Hindu festival in Malaysia. So yes, southern Thailand really is a fascinating cultural crossroads.
Now we're in Chiang Mai, though, which seems culturally very different. We've been here for two hours, though, so I'll have to report more on that later. (Hooray for guesthouses with free internet!)
2. Other than the internet cafe in Phuket, I think that every building I have entered in Thailand has offered Thai massages, haircuts, and/or cooking classes. This is leading me to suspect that if you walked into any building in Thailand, public or private, and asked for one of those three services, you would likely find it.
