Blair, Brenna, Calvary, Pooja, Maili, Emily, and I headed to Chinatown on Monday. Our original plan got a bit derailed because we missed the bus stop we were supposed to get off on. We were only on stop too late, so we decided to take cabs to Yarowat Road in Chinatown. We split up to get into the cabs and I ended up with Emily and Maili on a cab taking us through an unexpected tour of the city. We thought we were very close to Chinatown, because we were only one stop too late, but I guess either both our taxi drivers decided to rip us off, or we were farther away than we thought. Even if he was trying to rip us off, I was glad that he did. We saw amazing, majestic looking buildings and huge pictures of diplomats and royals that seem to grace every street corner here in Bangkok. We finally made it to Chinatown, but the other cab wasn’t there yet, so we decided to do some exploring on our own.
Yarowat road was exactly what you would imagine in a Chinatown. Street vendors telling Chinese and Thai food, pomegranates, durians, and coconuts. Huge red signs in Chinese characters popping out from the buildings. After taking in the sights, we decided to turn down a little side street that honestly didn’t look too interesting. I wanted to stay on the main road, but I decided to follow Maili down the little road. That road revealed a system of little back roads, where cars couldn’t fit but motorcycles and tuk-tuks could and did. There were streets lined with people selling fruits, veggies, tea, herbs, seafood, and everything else that is edible. We walked down a street where every tiny little shop was selling shoes! Unfortunately, most of the vendors selling jewelry and clothes were closing up by the time we got there around 6:00 pm.
We stumbled upon some really amazing Chinese temples hidden within the streets. One of my favorites featured a gorgeous Chinese temple as a background to a volleyball court in the middle of the backroads of Chinatown. It seemed as if it must have been some sort of community center because their were kids and adults all over the small concrete area playing sports and riding scooters.
We then went to meet the rest of our group at Wat Chakrawat. On the way there I experienced my first Tuk Tuk ride! For those of you who don’t know, a Tuk Tuk is a colorful golfcart type thing, but it is much less safe than a golfcart. However, it is so much fun! Feeling the wind in my hair as we wizzed through the streets of Chinatown and Little India.
When we arrived at Wat Chakrawat, I received a text from the rest of the group saying they were going to do there own thing. We were a little frustrated at first, because we had gone out of our way to meet them at the temple, and it seemed to be in an area with not a lot going on. We decided to make the most of the situation and visit the wat, then head back to where we originally were.
Walking through the road of the wat we, saw a few monks in their saffron robes. I always love seeing monks; it is neat to see them buying things in markets and taking water taxis with their bare feet (sometimes they wear flip flops), shaved heads, and unmistakeable orange robes. Maili decided to ask one of the monks if we could take a picture with him! Maili is always doing crazy things like that, and I am always becoming embarrassed of the things she says. However, in this case, the monk nodded his head in agreement. We all posed with the monk. Women are not allowed to touch monks; I am not really sure why, but he monks believe that they will be polluted if a women touches them. It is very serious for the monks. So we posed next to him, without touching him. Afterwards he started speaking to us in English! He asked us a few questions about where we were from in very slow english. He also told us that he was studying english and held up a Thai to English work book that he had in his hands.
We thanked him for the picture and went on our way, but then Maili asked if we could go inside the courtyard that was next to the monastery. “Oh no” I thought, Maili is being Maili again. I followed her inside, and the monk sat us down at a table. We started talking more and ended up having an hour long conversation with him! His name is Santirat Phaangmali, or ‘One’ for short. Almost all Thai people have nicknames because their first names are extremely long and difficult to pronounce. His nickname was “One” because he is an only child. We talked to him about life in the monastery and Thai culture. He has been in the monastery since he was 10 years old and he is now 20. He teaches younger monks during the day and is studying linguistics. He really wanted to be fluent in English, and he was well on his way. He had only been studying English for one month and already knew a considerable amount! I was very impressed! He could communicate to us relatively effectively, however he had trouble understanding us. At one point he went inside to get a pad of paper and pen so that we could write down what we wanted to say and he could read it.
It was so interesting talking to One. First of all, because he was a monk, and second of all because he was learning English and he had such a desire to learn. The only city he knew in America was Chicago, which we thought was interesting because we would think most people only know New York or Los Angeles. He gave us his email and we gave him ours, and he also friended us on Facebook! Yes, apparently monks have Facebook. I put a picture of One talking to Emily and Maili on Facebook and a bunch of other monks commented on it in Thai!
After talking to One for an hour we headed back to Yaorowat Road for some yummy street food! It was a great night, and talking to the monk was an unforgettable experience!
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