At Santisuk we are encouraged to spend time outside of class with our students. There is an evangelistic purpose to this, as we expected. However, we are also finding it to be pure pleasure. We have already had several significant conversations outside of class. And our early afternoon students are enthusiastically planning all the trips they can think of.
This past Saturday, Jina wanted to take us by bus to the famous JJ Market in Bangkok. However, when she consulted with an older couple in our class, they suggested that instead we all go to the countryside to see famous temples and markets. So at 9 a.m. Jina picked us (Jhim, Aun, Phil, and myself) up in her uncle’s car, and off we went.
Phil and I had no idea what we were in for. It was a 2 1/2-hour drive to the first temple, Wat Don Khanak, at Mueang Nakhon Pathom. It took us two hours just to get out of Bangkok, then another half hour through small, twisting country roads, past banana plantations, mango farms, coconut groves, and rice fields. We arrived at a 200-acre estate, featuring an ornate temple guarded by lions and a menagerie of intricate, fabled animals.
Wat Don Khanak, a major Buddhist temple built over a century ago.
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We wandered around and ate lunch together. Then we bundled back into the car and drove another 1 1/2 hours to the Wat Lam Phaya floating market, located alongside a river, where we sampled Thai delicacies and Jhim bought bags full of produce for a party she was planning the next day for our class.
The floating market consisted of hundreds of booths selling
fresh produce and fish and every imaginable food item.
The Thai version of fast food.
It was so lovely to be out of the noisy, polluted city and along the water.
A taco-like concoction of whipped egg whites, coconut, sugar, and shell. Delicious.
After two hours spent at the market, Phil and I were tiring and were hoping for a quick ride home. Nope. We got back into the car to head to yet another temple—the tallest temple in Thailand, Wat Phra Pathomchedi, another 45 minutes away.
Note the elephant pants. More about those in a later blog.
Apparently Jhim is an ardent Buddhist and felt that it was vital that we visit these shrines. She stopped to pray at many of the statues we saw, including these:
By the time we’d explored the temple, listened to a continuous drone of monks (on loudspeaker) explaining why donations were so important for upkeep, and watched many Thai on their knees, imploring the gods not to play tricks on them or their families, we felt like the statue below:
When we asked Jina what this statue represented, she laughed and said,
“I think it just means, oh my aching back!”
After wandering through yet another food market outside the temple in search of a bowl of noodles, we finally climbed into the car as the sun was sinking, and began the 1 1/2-hour drive back into Bangkok. By that time we were so tired that it was difficult to hold any kind of conversation, and some of us fell sound asleep.
The next day another older couple took Jina and us to another temple site, market, and petting zoo. Fortunately this was only 20 minutes away. We fed the goats, ate lunch, strolled through the market and temple area, and took a short boat ride on Bangkok’s famously polluted canals. (We are warned to never let the water splash on us.)
Two very full days, jammed with sight-seeing and requiring great effort to make conversation with hosts who have little English vocabulary. Trips and temples, indeed. But where were the treasures?
Here they are:
Jhim, Jina, and Aun
Ton, Nid, and Jina
It is difficult to convey the hospitality, kindness, and affection we have received from our students, and particularly from these couples and from Jina. They exude warmth, humor, and grace. They go beyond the usual pleasantries of friendship, welcoming us into their lives and homes. Though we find it difficult to communicate with words, the feelings of respect and delight are evident on all sides. These Thai friends are the treasure we have found.
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