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Visiting the Monks
Visiting the Monks
The next morning, the 4th, the campers left. Before they actually left, Pat and I took off for the temple in the nearest town, so that she could pay her respects to the monks, on the occasion of her birthday.
She brought along two young workers and she delivered a few bags to a worker at the monastery, who disappeared with them and came back with the contents neatly arranged on a tray, which she took to the monk. It was ok for me to follow her upstairs to his room, where she kneeled and proffered him the tray and talked to him for a few minutes - I couldn't tell if it was "talk" or prayer but I think just talk. He accepted it, and the four of us kneeled in the "respect" position - kneeling and sitting sideways - while he went through his set chant of heaven know what kind of prayers to Buddha. After he finished, he gave the other three a little Buddha medal, and then spoke earnestly with Pat for a few minutes.
After all this she left and we drove on into the village, I assumed to drop off one of the workers since that seemed to happen all the time. We stopped and the boys got out of the back of the pickup truck and disappeared into a house yard. We waited a few minutes, Pat excused herself to go in to the toilet, and then I heard a loud squeal and realized that we were collecting the pig to be roasted to celebrate Pat's birthday! After a couple of minutes, the squeals stopped, though the grunts did not, and the pig was bagged into a burlap bag, tossed into the back of the pickup truck and eventually off we went again, to return back to the house. Pig delivered to kitchen up the hill.
The campers had left, so Pat and I cleaned up around the house - there are tile floors and so everything sweeps up quickly - and eventually we went up for lunch. The pig, quite dead, was being very carefully shaved out in back. Over the next few hours I checked the preparation several times: the making of the marinade to rub over the pig, then the roasting of the pig on a spit out in back, etc. The kitchen people of course are willing to have me watch, or at least pretend to be, and are quite happy to show me what they're doing and give me a taste. At some point I got within sailing reach of the ants which were being shaken In a large flat bamboo tray to gather ant larvae, which is quite a delicacy. Ouch!
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Just as we were about to leave for the center, around 2:30 or so (one must nap; it's the mad dogs and Englishmen thing although really the Thais are less lethargic than I am!) the Englishmen Gary and Andrew and Paul showed up yet again! This time to spend the afternoon haranguing Pat. Latest scheme is to buy a GPS, a camera or two, heaven knows what, to survey the area looking for wild bear, with the possibility of putting a radio collar on it to track it and see how large its territory is. This known, maybe someday one of the bears that is here now could be released into the wild. These bears currently live in small cages. They're very smart at least in appearance, but whether they could survive in the world I have no idea. No one has any idea. The plan is to first build them a realistic habitat which then would be used to teach them self-sufficiency. It all sounds rather stupid, if you ask me!
Finally they allowed Pat to leave, to go up to the center and I tagged along since there are some things I'm supposed to do there. Pat has a Pentium which has some real work on it which at least one of the girls working there can do. It's running win95 but short on ram.
At six we went up to dinner - pig skin featured. Also other snacks and "drinking food" - and there was a worker assigned to keep everyone's glasses filled. The officials from the station were there, and the headman of the village, and then Gary-Paul-Andrew, and joining them was the head of the breeding center. HE became the center of Gary's attention for the rest of the night. Everyone was drinking Son Tip whiskey, though mild drinks; the bartender was carefully mixing only a capful into each drink. There were several good dishes, though not as much variety as one might think, and no sign much of the pig meat. Just the skin! I assume we'll get it in days to come! The skin gets dipped into chili sauce; you eat the fat or leave it, as I did. It's funny, a dish like that is VERY fatty, but in general the meat is trimmed carefully and closely to omit all bit of fat or tendon.
One of the good dishes of the day involved mature jackfruit which had been cooked with chicken etc in a stir-fry. This had been collected from one of the villages we'd visited and it was quite good, with a taste surprisingly like artichoke, of all things. At most meals there is a dish of greens, a noodle dish or a dish to go over rice. The soups are served to go into the all-purpose soup bowls. We eat with fork and spoon. Knives are only for the kitchen.
I went down to bed by around nine, having talked to the officials for awhile; they were willing to try their English with me and were fine, of course, once they relaxed. The family pictures got handed around, etc. I don't know if any of them have family here; they certainly were not at the party. I was the only woman other than Pat, which I really didn't notice at the time but in retrospect! Pat came in about one, and about two the roosters started. They're training one, at least, for a cockfight, and I think the thing is frustrated; they keep him shut up in a bamboo hemisphere much of the time. He crows day and night, night and day, at about 30 second intervals (really!) - highly annoying. Maybe there are two nearby taking turns; there are certainly several around. He makes it difficult to hear the forest birds!
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