Adopt to Give a Better Life

I spoke with my partner about possibly setting a time frame to move to Thailand. He said when we live together we will take his immature sister’s twin boys to take care of them. This is so we can make sure they do well in school and have a better future than she would have provided. They were an ‘accident,’ and I have known about them since before they were born. I carried them when little, so they know me as grandpa farang. If they stay in their home village they end up being laborers with less schooling. There are few roll models around that push school. At times I have helped with money for their school at times. But since my partner is not there making sure they are diligent, their future is less than rosy. I also worry about them since their Father is out the picture, and their Mom is often in Sweden with new husband…leaving them with grandma. My mother-in-law knows I love her son, and trusts us with the twins and can rule over any concern her daughter has. One thing nice about having to do most of the care of the two boys, Grandma reigns.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

The problem with coming back after a great time with my partner, is that home becomes a lot less like home. You are such in a fog of jet lag and delirious behavior that you can’t really focus. I flew out again after four days to see family after quickly doing all my bills. I do marvel at the fact that super shuttle has shown me more of my city, that I would not normally see. The return trips are even more a mad hatters ride of non-sense. They logged in my zip code(to make me feel that they got this under control), 15 minutes later told me which van to get on, and sure enough I went downtown with tourists far from my home. So, I decided to ask the driver once they all got out, if he could stop by an ATM to pay him. I even toyed with the idea of asking him, if he wanted to stop for a drink. But he looked as happy as I was and I nixed the idea. Since we drove way across town with me alone, effectively canceling any time savings I would have by not walking home from the airport. It never makes sense when my house is the closest to the airport freeway, and normally I would be first in, first out. So, I took this as yet another lesson in patience and put on the ipod.

Time for Reflection

"All that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing." Buddha

If there is one thing that could help you in life... it is this realization. I am working on it.

No Worries

My partner bought a jasmine flower wreath for the Buddha that was given me by a monk a month ago. With our room smelling like fragrant jasmine we went to sleep, and I dreamt I became a monk. It has been in the back of my mind as worthwhile way to end your life.
So today, with the dream still alive, so I went to temple and did a prayer and sat for 1/2 an hour that had string tied from every Buddha to web hanging in the room. I think this is consecrated string from the eye opening ritual of a new Buddha image. Some joker would call it Wat Silly String. Then after I bought two more Buddha amulets from a monk out in front of this same temple. On the way there I was approached by two black men from Liberia, and being in an open-hearted frame of mind we chatted for awhile and exchanged numbers to meet a couple of days later. But as the day wore on, it seemed in my mind the real life spam characters who just happened to meet me, a single man with ipod on. It began to smell fishy, and two phone calls later plus a text message, I think they thought they had found a ‘mark.’ Count me out.
Venturing on, to get amulets in cases I ran into a street seller who spoke enough English to engage into an hour-long conversation about my Buddhist temple and practice. I also had with me Buddhist teachings by Luang Por Liem Thitadammo called “No Worries.” We talked about the importance of Dhamma and meditation to find the peace of mind to self-examine our actions. It was a good talk, with the two of us agreeing about everything. We parted when he had to pack up his wares for the day. I went by the river to have coffee and wait for the sun to go down some more so I could shoot at the golden hour. While walking down I ran into a Check tourist looking for the boat to take him back to his hotel area and walked him to the port and pointed out the boat to get on once it had arrived. Then killing time talking a hard sell boat trip man while waiting for the light to be just right for what really is a typical shot of Wat Arun.

Pure Rainbow

I traveled up the Chao Phraya river, while reading The Four Nobel Truths, written by a monk that I found in the free books pile in my lobby appearing new that day. It was actually great to read Dhamma written by a new person, and see what examples he used to make his points. It doesn’t matter how many times I read Buddha’s teachings, that I don't find several applications in my life. It was concise but not dry, reminding me to continue on the path. The journey took about a hour, because they did not have an express boat that day. My intent was to find the kids I took photos of and give them copies. This was the second trip I have made with this intention. I knew where their school was, and I walked by it going to the nearby Wat park to continue to photograph. Then around 4:30 I started to walk from the park through the small town deciding I would not ask the kids playing at the school if they know my photos subjects. As I walked down a narrow soi, out popped on of the kids, smiling and yelling, “Hey, Farang!” It was Ton pictured here, and quickly three more of my subjects came running out of their homes. Within minutes I gave all the copies away as it started to rain and I ran back to the river crossing ferry to catch my boat going back south. As I paid my fare, soaked by the warm rain this rainbow appeared. It was full and from my vantage point running to the port it looked like it encompassed the port terminal with a crowd waiting out the rain.

Joke Out of It

With this day to day existence here, I am enjoying my time with my partner. Each time I come here, I assess whether this is a place where I can live. We both have long-range plans together, if not here than in another country we like. We have the time on our side while he’s busy finishing college. Sure, I know that problems follow you and new one suddenly appear. New surroundings just make them a little less until you settle down. I have a firm relationship, to fall back on, but we don’t need any more unseen problems disturbing it. Sometimes our different natures can be a head butting point, but we quickly come back to our love. That is natural with our extrovert and introvert personalities. We both like to joke, so we use that when the other partner is upset.
Lately my partner’s work has been jerking him around, again. They gave him a new position, but now they want to change back to the old one. I have seen what the long hours, and the factory mismanagement does to him. So I proposed to him to be firm and if things don’t work well, quit and I will support you until university ends at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, I am getting very familiar with our daily ritual. We do enjoy a lot of the same foods, some that most Americans would shy from. Our typical dinner is tuna, boiled vegetables, nham pik, and pla nin. I can eat better here for less money than at home.

A Visa Run

Went this week on a Visa run to the border of Cambodia. With a van full of various foreigners, who were pretty quiet. Except when a few people told the driver we would like to return in one piece. He was driving crazy. Not just fast but driving right up within 3 ft of the vehicle ahead of us then whipping out to pass…welcome to the third world! Anyway, I made conversation with an older Vietnamese man, as the young guys from US were not talking. He is a Dr who escaped the Vietnam war by going to Paris to study in 1960 and staying and not returning. After time he and his wife bought a cheap hotel there. Then later moved to Australia, where he said that like a 1/3 don’t work and it is a rich country. He has since retired in Bangkok and has a condo here, yet his wife remains in Paris taking care of the hotel. Once we arrived at the border, we waited for the paperwork to be done. Walking to the Cambodian side and bought fruit candy for the beggar kids hanging an driving into the creek at the border. Figuring that would be better than giving them each a Baht. They surrounded me, some getting grabby. So when they did, I would stop giving them away until they calmed down. So I could make sure each kid got some. I know that they will beg and it hasn’t changed on bit in the two years since I was last there. They did come across the border, and thanked me for the treats, as no other person paid any attention to them.
The way back went fast, The Dr. and I talked about his friends here in Bangkok and Buddhism.