Wat?

The first person we met on our 16-hour hard-seat overnight train ride
was a young Thai man in his mid-20s named Wat. He seemed to be as high
and out of touch with reality as anyone I've met. Wat incessantly
spoke the simple English words he knew and offered my friend and me all
of his goodies. Wat warmly welcomed my friend and me onto our 16-hour
overnight train ride where we quickly learned that he had no home
(since he's lived so many lives), no parents, and appeared to have
nothing to turn to except for his 5 bottles of beer and whiskey and the
bowl from which he smoked numerous substances. ("Wat" we later learned is
the Thai word for a Buddhist temple.)

When I looked into Wat, I saw what looked on the outside so much like
one of my friends from home, probably with the same desires, motivations, and fears. But I couldn't help but be saddened by the lies he believes that have penetrated his heart to bring him into the situation that he is in today. Alone, confused, disillusioned, and filling that void with all that he knew could: alcohol.

In the middle of the night I noticed Wat disappeared, along with the 5
bottles. And after a thorough search of the train in the morning, we
concluded he had been removed by train authorities from the car. The
question will always remain: What became of Wat?

Tasting Thailand's Tourist Trap

Taste. Starbucks Caramel Macchiatos, Dunkin Donuts Apple Fritters, Tex-Mex restaurents, Burger King Whoopers, Baskin Robbins ice cream, and 7-11 Slurpees (on every corner)! All of which I've never dreamed of the last 6 months were at my finger tips the last few weeks! To top it off, you can actually talk with people in ENGLISH whenever you want (or if you just flat out get lost)! Well, its not central Indiana or southern California. Its Thailand!

Much better than familiar tastes and restaurant signs though, were the
unique sites, including meticulously neat green rice paddies, gracefully
slothful water buffalo, and immensely clean blue water AND skies (both
of which were a sight to sore eyes). I was also warmly welcomed by
kind-hearted Thai men and women that help any group of tourists (no
matter how confused or incompetent).

But the biggest surprise to me was definitely the number of Western
tourists! Whenever I heard about the biggest industries in the country,
the one word I always heard was TOURISM! And tourism it was: riding
elephants, white water rafting, and even renting a motorbike for less
than $5 a day (if you want to know the story on that one ask me
later. Lets just say I have a few wounds that are still healing from
that one).

Now I've been to countries before where there is a mandate that every
business must have a picture of the current president somewhere in the
building. And, though a bit strange, it was quite normal compared to
what I saw with King Bhumipol Adulyadej, who has reigned in Thailand
since 1946. It seemed that literally everywhere I looked there was a
picture of the King! And not just a picture, but usually decorated with
ornamented frame and a shrine-like display. Because it's hard to make
such nice displays everywhere, the place I saw his picture most was on
the light pole banners located every 20 meters on the side of the road.
I guess when you are grateful for the work someone does it's appropriate
to show your appreciation, but this was appreciation on a whole new
level!