Saturday, May 19, 2007


Saturday was regional learning day. We all met at the Tesco Lotus grocery store; about 15 minutes down the road from our CI site. The taxi ride (as usual was fun) was crazy because the traffic was nuts and the driver spoke no english (most of them do know a little bit). Once everyone somehow managed to make it there, we left for the slums, stopping first at the church which runs a facility called Home of Praise. In the slum area we visited, I couldn’t believe the conditions under which over 400,000 people are living in this one area. Garbage everywhere, sweltering heat, everything was just disgusting. The smells that you experience there are strong enough to make the strongest stomached person want to throw up. People live and work in filth beneath the freeway, their decrepit shacks constructed from rusting sheet metal. Rats and cockroaches rule the land. People collect and rummage through garbage, looking for things to salvage; anything with metal of value is broken down so they can see the material to make a few cents to buy some food. Skin and bones dogs and cats, many of them diseased roam the streets and often just lay down and sleep where they are. The slums we visited are definitely not even the poorest. House of praise operates to provide a place for children to go and escape the vicious cycle of alcoholism, abuse, and drug use. One of our CI groups this week is volunteering there this week.

After we left the slums, we caught all caught taxis to the church facility that we had first visited a week ago. There we had lunch as well as some Thai dance demonstrations. At 2pm, we boarded two busses and headed to the Canal. There, we boarded two long boats for our canal tour. The motors on these boats are massive and they were probably originally in cars. Long shallow propeller shafts allow the boats to ply the shallow canal waters. The water itself is quite dirty looking, with lots of silt and floating garbage. Our first stop on the tour was to the Royal Barge Museum, where all of the ceremonial canal barges that the king would use are stored. Our next stop, a ways down the canal, was at a Buddhist temple and we got to witness a traditional ceremony when a man becomes a monk. His head is shaven and then there was a big parade with a brass band and lots of people dancing, laughing and crying through the narrow streets. We also visited a foundry where handmade brass bowls are made, it was pretty cool, I wanted to get one to eat my cheerios out of, but they were far too large to fit in my suitcase. We later went and got back on the boat and headed out to the main canal where we were dropped of at our final destination that was a large mall and art gallery. We had supper on the roof of the building; which was the 5th floor so there was a pretty good view. On the way up I stopped in and looked at a few jewelry shops but it was mostly antique pieces. The way supper was served was quite interesting. They came and dropped a big flaming bucket into a hole in the middle of your table and over it placed a special grill. They then came and gave you a plate of raw meat to “bbq”. There was shrimp, chicken, beef, noodles, and some kinds of fish. I ordered a coke to drink, and as I found out, refills are definitely free, I’m sure I had 7 or 8 glasses. The sunset was quite nice from where we were. At the end of the day I was really tired for sure.