Thailand

I haven’t put anything on this blog for a while. I feel like hanging out in my room now so I’ll write something.

I’ve been doing some work in the garden the past couple of weeks. Mostly watering! But also helped plant some tomatoes, some cabbage or kale, a few eggplants, and sowed lots of seeds. Everything is looking okay.

I’ve also been pulling weeds. Last time I pulled weeds it was in the spinach bed. I put the weeds onto bare spots on the bed. After finishing I pulled wild legume plants from the edge of the garden. I put those on the spinach bed too.

The old lady (again, her name is Kong Yang-ju, which means person who makes food for monks) was there in the garden, not too awfully far from me. I pulled the legume plants pretty close to where she was. I pulled them from one spot, and walked to the spinach bed with them. So I figured she must have some idea what I was doing.

When others pull weeds they toss them to the side. So soil on some parts of the bed is bare. Exposed to the sun. Not good. Dries out the soil, kills bacteria, insects find other places to hang out. Not good. I think I’ve read somewhere that people want to kill the bacteria. Figuring this might be the reason behind why others pull weeds then throw them off to the side, I decided to see what would happen if I covered the bare spots with dead weeds. It’s called mulching.

This is really such a good idea. I won’t go into it. I don’t know of any real difficulties that arise from mulching.

So I decided to do it on the one bed and see what might happen when someone finds out.

A few days later (a few days ago) Kong Yang-ju was pulling weeds in the potato patch. I saw her and offered to help. She looked at me and blurted and barked out something. I didn’t catch a word of it. But I got a look at the expression on her face and in her voice. That resonance and communication get through clearly enough sometimes. Not always, for sure. Oh, no, I did get one word. The Korean word for spinach!

I apologized and walked away. Found something else to do in the garden. She continued. We were both there until about lunchtime. She never said another word to me. I took that brief bark and the ensuing silence as a condemnation of what I’d done in the spinach bed. I’ve decided to not do the same thing again until I can explain why I did what I did. I should probably wait until I can understand her answer, but really, that day may never ever arrive.

I dislike a few methods of gardening that I see here. Hopefully something will change someday but I feel that little or nothing will change while I’m here.

Talked with Sunim a few days ago about organic gardening. Sunmi told me a while back that Sunim wants organic gardening here. But after talking with him, through Sunmi, it’s now clear to me that he himself has allowed some synthetic fertilizer use in the garden. Apparently we don’t use a lot. I don’t know how much we use and don’t know how much I myself would consider “a lot”.

Just yesterday I got permission from him to take a small piece of the garden to do some organic gardening myself. It’ll be fully organic. Except to say that I don’t know if the spot that I’ll use has “clean” soil or not.

I want to get some training first. There are some organic liquid fertilizer recipes that I had some exposure to in Thailand. I made some a couple of times and used them more than a few times. But I never did get good at making them. The method comes from right here, Korea. What I learned was a modified version, suited to Thailand. Now that I’m in Korea, I’d really like to learn Korean style. Plus, the climate here is temperate. Thailand was tropical or subtropical. More than likely I’ll live in a temperate climate after I return to the US. So, learning this style here makes sense. One because I’m not in a Thailand climate! And two, I’ll likely live in a climate more similar to this.

Just this morning Sunmi called the place that pioneered this liquid fertilizer. The name of the place is Korean Natural Farming Association (KNFA). (The head of this association has visited Thailand a number of times. He taught the Asoke people how to make these fertilizers.) There’s nobody there that can teach me in English how to make the fertilizers. I’d need an interpreter. So I asked Sunmi to call back and ask if they know of anyone here on Jeju island. The lady at KNFA told Sunmi to call back in the afternoon. In the meantime, the lady would look for someone here on Jeju. There’s gotta be someone here who makes and uses the fertilizers. If we can find someone, we can contact them and ask them to come here and show us how to make and how to use the fertilizers.

I don’t know why we do some of the things here we do in the garden but I want to try something different. I know I know, I’ve never been good at gardening in the past, why don’t I just quit? Never. Or, at least not now. I have no intention of giving up until I feel I should give up. I don’t know have that feeling. Just still lots of fire to do it.

It’s 3pm now. I’ll get off this computer soon. I suppose Sunmi will be here soon. And I hope she can call the KNFA for me.

This one’s longer than most of my entries, sorry.
Enough.

HIYA!

I was at a friend's house in BKK until just recently when I decided I'd rather settle down for a while.

I've been planning on going to teach at an English camp for some time now. This is as planned. I have been looking and am now waiting for a reply. I was recently asked if I wanted to do a two month camp. I said yes emphatically. The pay was great. But they got someone else. So now I'm waiting on a 6-week camp to reply. They say they want transcripts. Well, there's no way I can get transcripts in time. No way. I wrote to the camp last night to tell them and I'm now waiting for them to respond. That camp starts on July 16. They don't have much time. So they'd better get on the ball if they want me.

If I don't do this I will perhaps take two month teaching job near this city where I'm staying now, Hua Hin. I was approached last night. It's temporary. The pay is fairly low but it's enough. Until the end of August, the guy says. If I take this, then in the meantime I'll look for a steady teaching job, probably in Japan. I was looking around yesterday for work in southern Japan and found a few that I'm interested in. I sent a resume to one. But if I get this 6-week English camp, I'll just do this. And if I do get it, then I might just stay in Korea and teach there. My heart says Japan but we'll see.

The 6-week English camp is on an island, in the south. I'd really like to go there. And if I do get regular teaching work in Korea, boy it'd be nice if I could get something there. It's gotta be the warmest spot in all of Korea. The southernmost spot. Gotta be the warmest.

That's really all I've got to say for now.

Troy.

HIYA!

I had a great time walking. Now I'm done. No regrets.

I got some cuts on my feet which got infected. My left leg swelled up pretty big. I didn't want to go to the hospital because I knew they'd just prescribe antibiotics. But the Sa (she's one of the Asoke members whose house I stayed at until the end) said it looked pretty bad. So we went to a local hospital and, of course, got some antibiotics. I took them but the swelling didn't go away completely. So I took more! Even now, there still seems to be some swelling sometimes. I'm also sitting alot at the computer looking for work and sitting a lot doesn't help. I'll take care of this once and for all before I go for work.

I think walking is a great way to travel. Staying at temples too was a terrific part of the experience. In a way I was thinking to recommend walking like this in a blog entry solely to recommend walking as a way to travel. But I decided after a bit of thought that it's not such a great idea.

Walking in itself is a great idea. But where would a traveller stay if they don't stay at temples? When you get into the countryside there are few hotels and such things where you could rent a room for a night and set out again on the road the next day. And for travellers who don't speak Thai to try to manage the request to stay at the temple for a night and manage all the things that go into it, would be difficult for everyone. Few monks or anyone else at temples speak much English. That could be part of the fun and the whole experience, true. But mostly it seems to me inappropriate for a person to use a temple just as a place to sleep for the night. Temples are places, ideally, where a person practices Buddhism. Sor for travellers to go there and use them as hotels seems inappropriate to me. So I decided to not recommend this to others.

And I could never imagine doing this in the US though I know there are people who have and perhaps still do walk around the US. But if you're not staying in people's homes, then where are you gonna sleep? Sleeping in public places is illegal. I don't think churches allow travellers to stay overnight. Buddhist temples and Hindu temples might but they're few and far between.

So, that's it as far as a walking blog is concerned. In a few minutes I'll post another entry about what I'm up to now. Maybe I'll use this somehow to keep in touch with people. So when sending emails, I may sometimes copy what I write in my blog and send that as an email to one or more people.

I'm now in Hua Hin, a coastal city on the peninsula. The king has a palace here and spends lots of time here though I've never seen him. Did anyone see anything on TV or in the papers about the celebrations of his 60th year as king? It was quite the thing here in Thailand. 25 countries sent kings and queens, princes and princesses. It was something else. I'm really really surprised that Thais so love the king. I sometimes wonder if it's more brainwashing than anything. He seems to be a good guy, doing lots of things for the country that can be seen in a positive light. But other things can be seen by many environmentalists as not so good, like dams. But even with so many environmentally and socially helpful projects underway, why such adoration and veneration? Man o man. I guess it's harmless really to love the king so much. I doubt the government or the royal family would use the love and trust that Thais have for the king in any evil way.

The prince will be the next king. But lots of people would rather have the princess. And the things I've heard about the prince are shocking. Shocking. We've all heard and read of kings and princes of centuries and milennia ago fighting, killing and doing whatever it takes to each other in order to gain power. Well, this guy seems to be doing just those things. I've been told that he himself has tried to kill his sister the princess. And on one ocassion he shot the king by accident while trying to shoot I think it was the princess. Abominable. I've heard from a very very reliable source that he is behind all the political chaos the people have been slugging and flogging each other around with for the past four or five months now. His machinations. Is this guy a creep or what? I was hoping one of the members of one of the royal families that came for the recent celebrations would have snubbed the guy! It was broadcast live and just imagine the prince being snubbed like that! Whoever snubbed him might not have lived very long once back in their own country though!

That's it. Hope you got something worthwhile out of these blog entries.

Troy.

HIYA!

I know I've been away for a while and yet I still am not going to give this entry much attention. Really, I could say lots of things but I won't.

I've only been two places since I last wrote and they're both very close together. I haven't walked much at all since I last wrote.

I stayed at an Asoke person's business for two days. The lady buys bananas for export to China and Taiwan. So I helped with the work for a day. She asked me to stay another day or two so I stayed one more day. She wanted me to stay another day or two but I really didn't feel very comfortable there I have other places to go. Learned some things about the banana business though.

One of the big side reasons for this trip is to learn about the food business. All aspects of it from farm and beyond, but mostly the farm part of it. Anyway, this was a good lesson.

Oh, somewhere along the way I stopped at a farm that grows a wonderful fruit called dragon fruit. I stopped to ask about whatever I could ask. I didn't ask too many questions but the lady who was washing her car when I got there ended up telling me lots. Very helpful and generous with her time and knowledge.

Stopped later that day at a small grape vineyard. That was a neat experience too.

I'm really glad that I've got the balls to stop at the people's homes and ask questions. Also, knowing Thai people as I do, I know them to be, for the most part, open and accepting. If they can communicate with a foreigner, many are thrilled to do it.

Well, I don't remember just when I stopped at these two farms but it was before the banana place.

Anyway, after leaving the banana place I walked about two hours to a small village where I expected to meet another Asoke person. Her name is Sunisa. I had a phone number but every time I called knowbody ever answered. So I just walked into the village asking if anyone knew of this lady. And I said that she grew fruit organically. I asked at the village leader's house but the lady there said "everybody uses (agricultural) chemicals (here in this village)". Then someone came along and said he knew who I was looking for. He agreed to take me but I insisted on walking and so he just gave me directions and then said he'd point out further directions when I got farther along. I met him again later and he pointed to a road for me to walk up. He said it was the third house on the right. About a half km walk up the road. Less than 10 minutes.

I arrived at the house and one of the family said, "Ah, you've finally arrived!" That was nice to hear. The monk at the Asoke community I'd stayed at several days before had called and told them I'd be coming. Actually, I met Sunisa's husband Jok several months ago at the Santi Asoke temple in BKK and he gave me an address and two phone numbers. I just haven't yet gotten around to putting the info into my little notebook of people and places I intend to go to!

I arrived right before noon and so had some food that the banana lady had given me and some food that these people gave me.

Sat and talked with the people for a little while with Sunisa and her husband Jok but Jok left shortly. Sunisa hasn't stopped talking since I got there. What a motor mouth she is. She's wonderful. Absolutely a gem, a real treasure of a person. But man o man I get tired of listening to her talk.

Actually, of course, what I get tired of is not listening to her talk. I get tired of the irritation that I feel when I resist her talking. This is deep. But, think about it for a moment. When we get tired of something, how could it be that we are tired of that person or that thing? If we just put up with the way things are, didn't resist what's happening, how could we ever get tired of anything? We'd just be observing what's happening all the time. And by never resisting anything, we'd never "get tired of anything" would we? For the most of us, this is theory, but there are, I believe, a few people in this world, who realize this in their everyday lives. For the rest of us, we either work on ourselves to let go of resisting things in life, and so thereby become more and more free with every "success", or go with the wind as it blows and we blow there with it. Emotional rollercoaster, you might call it.

I'll mention a couple of things about living in this house and then call it quits for today.

Thai houses can be incredibly messy. I mean incredibly. This one is a bit cleaner than most so I feel pretty comfortable physically. It would be nice to have some space though of my own. I've been living in their living room for a week or so now.

Sunisa is a model or giving. The things she has told me that she does regularly and has done in the past are an example to my. Zowie. She's amazing. Sometimes I admit, I get the feeling that she's bragging. But even if she is, the things she does for others is an example. She has not let me pay for anything except once. She took me to the hospital and paid for my medicine!

I got some cuts and scrapes on my feet and one of them got infected and then my leg got infected. So we went to the hospital and got some anti biotics. Should be fine in a few days.

Doctors and nurses say that eating durian is not a hindrance to their healing if I'm not diabetic, and I'm not. Traditionalists say that durian IS in fact a hindrance. After my episode yesterday with two big durians, I feel that the doctors and nurses have got it wrong. So now I'm going easy on the fresh "snack".

The parents are fruit farmers. The miseries that these and other farmers go through is abominable. Misery is abominable, I guess! Sunisa especially tells me of things that just should not happen in a society of human beings. The middle-men (and women) are theives. Bandits. Crooked to the bone.

I am now curious to know more about how things are for American farmers. I think it's much the same yet can't say for sure.

That's it.

Love, Troy.

HIYA!

Just had the most wonderful massage. For the past couple of days my legs have been painful and stiff. I was thinking that I understood why. A couple of nights ago I was a little cold and had only one small blanket to sleep with. So I slept on my side and curled up my legs so I could my whole body under it. I woke up the next morning feeling okay. But after a couple of hours walking started to feel the pain and stiffness. Later that day it occured to me that my sleeping position and the cold was the cause. I've done this before and have always felt the pain and stiffness.

Thought it would have gone away by now though.

When I saw a sign for a traditional Thai massage at a temple I decided to have a try. Wow was that ever wonderful.

The pain and stiffness in my legs disappeared as I lie down. She massaged my stomach and it hurt so I had her stop. She said it's because I've been walking so much and haven't had a massage.

I really felt much better overall. After getting back on the road my legs hurt. There's a temple just a few kms from here so I'll stop there for the night.

I'm two or three days away from a friend's house who grows lots of organic fruits. I expect to meet up with some other friends there and we'll have a little durian party!

For whatever it's worth, I'm still on hwy 317, at the northern tip of Pong Nam Ron sub-district.

Love, Troy.