Riding a boat through BKK

This past week I had the chance to ride a boat down the middle of Bangkok. The city used to be known as the Venice of the East because of the numerous canals, but now almost all of them have been filled in with cement to make way for the 10 million plus residents here. Interestingly, the road system is still based the method for city rivers. Over a hundred years ago Bangkok was navigated by main canals with sois or small, dead-end small creeks branching off each main canal. This little sois were like little water alleys that led to more residential neighborhoods. Now, these sois are filled with cement and make for terrible traffic—imagine a huge city of millions with thousands of dead end ‘soi’ streets that don’t lead anywhere. It is certainly more difficult to navigate than the grid streets of Salt Lake City, but I digress.

Anyway, I rode with Mot and her friend Jaan in the middle of a boat. The boats leave every fifteen minutes are filled with at least fifty people. When we finally started to leave the dock, a guy with a bike helmet held on to the side of the boat and collected each person’s fare. The boat is so crowded that there is no other way to collect money but by hanging off the side of the boat and walking/ balancing your way around the outside of the boat. The helmet, I was informed, was to protect him from low hanging bridges—which are everywhere.

The boat ride was novel, but we traveled pretty slow—I could run faster than we went. The view would have been more scenic except that the water was incredibly dirty. Pieces of dead plats and floating garbage filled my view as I watched out the side of the boat. Perhaps more dangerous were the unseen chemicals in the water. As we passed by a cement factory, I saw colorful chemical waste flowing into our river. Sadly, some of the poorest people live near the river and use the water to wash clothes and items. Now I understand firsthand how water sources can be a major detriment to health for a city’s population.

Thai Office Snacks

I am not sure if this is part of Thai culture or it if it an international phenomenon. Snacks in the office play an important role. I remember when I was working at ZCOM.com, a Chinese Internet company in Beijing last year. Office snacks—everything from crackers to prepackaged muffins, to instant noodles—were provided for employees to snack on. Here in Thailand, snacks seem to play an important role, although they GM does not supply them as the Chinese Internet company did.

When I worked in the GM Thailand Sales Department, for instance, the list of snack foods was diverse. Everything from dried mango to banana chips to candied fruits were generously donated to employees for all to enjoy. Several times employees would bring huge bunches of mini bananas plucked fresh from their own backyards. (There the various banana trees bear fruit at different times, allowing fresh bananas all year long.) T

One day I had the most interesting snack. I am not sure if it was Thai because Chinese characters were written on the box, but it was definitely not from the West. The candy is an extremely sticky, glutonous blob wrapped carefully in plastic. The consistency was between a fruit roll-up and jello, yet was the color black. My American boss, walked by and joked that I was eating tar. Although it did look like tar, the taste was only slightly better. Hint to the wise: skip out on the ‘tar’ snack if you can! On my snack-o-meter (1 is edible if starving and 10 is excellent) I would give it a 1. The fact that my coworkers wouldn’t touch the snack is probably misleading. I’m sure if you didn’t eat anything for three days you would find the snack quite tasty.

Today I had another interesting snack called sala bao. My coworker offered it to me, and I took it on a leap of faith. The bun was made of a mushy bread-like substance and was filled with a dark purple slightly sweet filling made from some kind of fruit that apparently has no English name. I found the sweet to be pretty good—a solid 5 on the snack-o-meter to be sure. In addition to the snack, Yoo, my coworker, agreed to take my picture with the sala bao as well.

Wedding Rings

The reasons and history of wedding rings in Thailand is more complicated than I realized. When I first started at GM in May, I met my coworker who has two children (she is the exception in our office of mostly single women) and noticing that she didn’t have a wedding ring. My marketing coworkers informed me that the wedding ring was required for women, but not for men. I had heard from someone else that in Thai culture it is considered normal for married men to visit brothels—and thus the wedding-ring-less husbands fit the picture. In mind mind, it is easier to fool around at a brothel if people cannot tell you are married.

The story became more complicated, however, when I had dinner with different three guys from the marketing department that informed me that although wedding rings were not part of the Thai culture—there were exceptions. One coworker, a sharply dressed Chinese Thai with strong marketing experience, informed me that his wife made him wear a wedding ring.

My third encounter was with a Jojo, the Thai who returned from graduate school in California, who wore an engagement ring. The topic of conversation came up, and she said that traditionally only one wedding ring was given—to the girl during the wedding ceremony. However, this had changed in the last 15 or 20 years. Now, rings are given to both women and men when they get married, although many choose not to wear their wedding rings on a daily basis.

Interestingly, I found a post card at the Chatuchuk market last Saturday that seemed to support the unclear view of wedding rings. The postcard had lovers holding hands. The woman was wearing a wedding band, but it is not clear if the man was wearing a wedding ring (since his left hand is not shown in the picture). (See the picture above.)

Choosing your University

Americans place more emphasis on freedom than Asians do. While this is a large, sweeping generalization with more exceptions than I can count, it does seem to apply to the college selection process in Thailand.

Think about the time you applied to university. You studied hard to get good grades. You did extracurricular activities like the National Honor Society and debate club. And you took the ACT or SAT several times. In the American system, you can do poorly one area, like test taking, and still get into a pretty good college. In any case, your ACT or SAT scores do not prevent you from applying into good colleges.

Not so in Thailand. While talking to my Jojo, my coworker, I learned that the college system in Thailand focuses almost entirely on test scores and restricts applications to five colleges. Jojo explained that 15 years ago Thai college placement was based solely on results from the standardized test at the conclusion of high school. Not knowing what the scores would be, students simply listed their top five departments at various universities. The test score would determine which program you were assigned to. For instance, my coworker applied to different programs in the Chulalongkorn, Thammasat and Rongkomhang universities (which happen to be the three most prestigious in Thailand). Since she tested well, but not exceptionally, she got into her 3rd ranked choice—the arts program at Thammasat University rather than at Chulalongkorn, where she wanted to attend. Had she known her scores before hand, she would have applied for the communications department in Chulalongkorn University which was not as competitive as the arts program. In short, although Jojo tested well enough to attend the university of her choice, the structured Thai college entrance system made her go to a different university.

The United States differs significantly from the Thai system. First, in the United States we wouldn’t apply to schools without knowing our SAT scores. Second, us Americans would feel constrained by the only-choose-five-colleges formula that is common place for all Thai high school students. Thankfully, modern Thai now have grades to bolster their test scores (15 years ago high school grades didn’t matter at all). Still, the end of high school test still plays the dominating factor in current Thai college admissions.

The final major difference in Thai and American college admissions involves choosing a major. In Thailand, as in many other Asian countries, students have to choose their majors before entering university. Students apply to specific colleges within a university and are confined to that college until graduation. When I first went to Brigham Young University I had no idea what I would major in. I switched between business and economics colleges before settling on the international program at the Kennedy Center. Personally, the ability to switch between colleges allowed me to find a major that I was both good at and interested in. While forcing students to decide on a major before college, as happens in Thailand, probably lessens time at college, I wonder disadvantages it brings to college graduates. I wonder if there is more dissatisfaction during college years, or if a greater percentage of Thai graduates change fields than their American counterparts.

Learning About Buddhism

Driving to the GM factory in Rayong today was an enlightening experience for me. Seeing me read the scriptures while driving to the Factory, Kalos, my Thai coworker, brought up the topic of religion. While he was politely disinterested in Christianity, I learned a lot about Buddhism from our conversation.

First, I learned that Buddhism requires Thai men to become temporary monks during their lives. Much like how LDS members go on missions at 19 or 21, so Thai monks usually become a monk at 20 years old. Ideally, the Thai believer is a monk for 3 months, but this time can vary depending on the situation. At an earlier lunch, I learned that another coworker was only a monk for seven days. Kalos, on the other hand, was a monk for several months.

Being a monk is not easy. Each Thai person has 5 rules to live by—much like the 10 commandments that is expected of Christians. Stealing, lying, killing, drinking and committing adultery are all discouraged by the five basic Buddhist rules. Being a Monk, however, is more difficult to live by: the rule list expands from 5 to 227. These additional rules include waking up early to say prayers, shaving the head, and wearing orange robes. Celibacy is taken to the extreme; not only are monks not to have spouses, but they are forbidden to touch a female. If a woman is presenting a gift to a monk, it is custom to set the present on the floor first. If a gift were given hand to hand this would leave a slight, unacceptable possibility of touching a monk’s hand. Also, monks are not allowed to eat after lunch (incidentally, this is why one coworker was only a monk for seven days—he says he couldn’t stand being hungry all the time!)

While monks exist in Catholicism, monks play a much larger role in Thai life than for the average Catholic. For instance, Mink, the secretary in the PR office, has a brother who has decided to become a monk for life. She sees him on occasion, but the rules for monks prevent her from hugging or having a meaningful conversation with her brother. Kalos, my other coworker, tells of his girlfriend’s father who is a monk. After being married for a time, the father decided to renounce his past and join the monk fellowship. Monks are common in Thai culture, whereas they are very minimal in western culture. While I consider becoming a monk to be an inefficient use of time and energy, my coworkers have great respect and admiration for those who enter the Buddhist service full-time.

The 8th Waterfall of Erawan Falls

Living in the urban metropolis of Bangkok, I sometimes forget that I am living in a tropical paradise. This past weekend I took a look at the tropical aspect of life as my family, joined with a BYU friend, Kit Burton, took a trip to the Erawan falls about 4 hours away.

Although the drive is a little long (our family did it in one day) we felt the trip was entirely worth it. First, Erawan Falls has a spot for everyone because there are seven different water falls within an hour’s walk. The walk is short enough for small kids to play in the lower waterfall, yet long enough for adults enjoy it as well. We admired the flowing waterfalls, turned an opaque blue by the minerals in the water. We also admired the growing vegetation, once again appreciating the vines that seem to grow around the trees. I learned that many trees have roots that grow out of the tree like branches, then descend and attach themselves to the ground. I have never seen anything like it.

The highlight of the trip, however, was when Kit and I discovered another waterfall in Erawan Falls. The waterfall is about 30 feet tall, and flows into a deep crevice between some rocks. The water is at least 15 feet deep (I couldn’t touch the bottom, so it could be deeper) and the cave behind the waterfall is at least 30 feet long. I stared in awe as we swam in this undiscovered waterfall amid the lush, green, Thai mountain landscape. I felt like Robinson Crusoe, having discovered a new natural wonder for the first time.

White Skin vs. Tan Skin

Generally, Americans prefer tan skin. Abundant tanning salons and sunbathers on American beaches affirm this fact. I began to take this for granted until I came to Asia. While in China I learned that most people look down on those with dark tans. In the States a tan signifies a healthy, outdoor lifestyle; in Asia tan skin indicates a poor background involving outdoor, physical labor. In China, for instance, many people (women in particular) take pride in their white skin. It shows that they are higher class and do not need to work in the fields to make a living.

This same sentiment exists in Thailand as well. For instance, I went golfing with my Dad the other day and asked him about the golf caddies. With long-sleeved shirts, gloves, gigantic hats and headbands I almost thought they were following modest Islamic dressing standards. I learned, however, that the caddies dressed this way simply to keep off the sun. While working as a golf caddie might not be a fabulous job, at least they wanted to keep that socially damaging tan off their skin.

Interestingly, a tan’s social stigma is not deeply ingrained in the culture. Unlike Buddhist beliefs or a respect for the Thai King, some Thais seem quite able to change their perceptions of a tan. One colleague, for instance, went to a graduate program in California. After being there less than two years, she adopted the U.S. view—tan skin looks good. She spent days out on the beach in CA. Now in Thailand, she laments not sunbathing in her bikini anymore because of the social stigma against tans and immodest swimming suits.

Next time your friends suggest you get a tan, just tell them that you believe in the Asian view of beauty. Bright, white, sun-starved skin is gorgeous!