Sakon Nakhon various impressions
A Thai friend in Sakon Nakhon สกลนคร
invites me to stay with him and he will take me various temples. A full
invitation: free accommodation, food, driving around.
Wed 15.07.2015
My first domestic flight in Thailand, DMK-SNO 17:50-19:05,
AirAsia 1100 Baht (can be had for half if booked a week in advance).
Small airport, our plane is the only one. B is there, with
his grandson T (about 15 years old) and driver D and monk M (actually abbot of
the temple where we will stay). Only now do I learn that will travel all five
throughout my stay. Monk has higher status than farang and gets the front seat,
I sit in the back with B and T, less comfortable than most public bus or van.
Arrive at M’s house, a few km out of SN. Rather spacious and
luxurious, same for another monk’s house I saw from inside.
Thu 16.07.2015
Trip to various temples and chat with monks there. In one
place, there is a gay monk. At a moment when we are alone, he says something
which I don’t fully understand but interpret as “I want to make love with you”
and pretend not to understand, then he gently puts his hand on my crotch and
afterwards shakes my hand, tickling my palm with a finger (invitation for
sex), and invites me to stay overnight, he would pick me up and bring me back.
He offers the same to T. I don’t spot any cute novice monks in the temple (unlike
the pink temple in Nakhon Nayok where there were three cute novice monks, I was
wondering if the abbot is gay and selects only handsome novice monks).
Later I would see M eat in the afternoon, hand money to a woman to pay for goods,
and observe another monk smoking cigarette. And the two houses I saw were
luxurious. Everything together very un-monk-like and deeply shattering my
beliefs.
Fri 17.07.2015
Trip to more temples, Kham Hom waterfall (dry) in Phu Phan
National Park (but no entry fee to waterfall) and Phu Phan palace (entry on the
palace grounds is permitted, nice garden, but palace nothing special). Visit
Catholic churches in Tha Rae subdistrict (my idea).
Back home, take shower. Returning from shower, I notice
someone was in my room, more precisely in my pants and in my wallet. I keep
used bus tickets in my wallet, and one is lying on my pants. Check my wallet:
money is missing, around 5000 Baht (low estimate 4000 and high estimate 6000).
Button of other pocket is open, but passport still there. Mobile and camera
still there (charging in remote corner my room). It was most probably D who saw
me wrapped in towel at the fridge before I took shower, and whom I shortly
spotted on 2nd floor (where my room is; D sleeps at his place
nearby). That was the only time I saw him on 2nd floor, I thought he
would use the bathroom because ground floor bathroom is occupied, but with
hindsight time was too short, he was checking if I’m in the shower!
Dress and go down, where I find D cleaning the car. Look
under all seats and ask him if he found money in the range of 3000 Baht,
because I just noticed I lost 3000 Baht during the day (better way to introduce
the subject than accusing anyone of theft, and give a lower amount so the thief
can “find” 3000 Baht and still keep the rest). Just when he replies “No”, he
gets up from cleaning the tire and hits his back, that must be karma!
Later I raise the subject (lost money) with B, T and M,
rather weird suggestion that the money must have fallen out of the car; we got
in and out many times and the pocket with wallet was next to door. Another idea
is that they sent T to bring me down, and T found I’m in the shower and opened
my pocket and wallet. B and M are well off and don’t need to steal money. What
would you have done? I didn’t want to accuse anyone or spoil the other’s mood,
but let the thief know I noticed.
Usually I split my money, half in my wallet, half in my room
(usually between the pages of a book – most Thais I know wouldn’t touch a book
with a barge pole). When I have a guest, I go into bathroom with my trousers on
and take them off there. But here, in friendly territory, I abandoned these safety
measures.
Sat 18.07.2015
Luk Nimit (the 9 stone balls that are buried under Bai Sema
to mark the borders of a Ubosot) consecration ceremony in a temple in Khon Kaen
province. Leave 5:35 (morning! I haven’t been up that early for a long time).
In the course of the day, the plan slowly unravels: Go to temple with Luk Nimit
11 for a short visit, go to Cobra Village around 12 then come back in the
afternoon about 13-15, and two more temples 15-17. Then to Khon Kaen airport.
Having tasted the sweet fruit of domestic air travel, and
trying to salvage at least Sunday (couldn’t take advantage of Friday night,
can’t take advantage of Sat night in KK due to lack of money and clean
clothes), and finally exploring if you can buy a flight ticket just before the
flight departs (I asked this question last year on thaivisa http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/761117-buy-ticket-at-airport-just-before-flight/),
I ask to be taken to KK airport. And indeed, 17:45 I can get a ticket for the
18:25 flight (AirAsia, 1796 Baht, pay in cash). Both flights about 80%
occupancy and hand luggage restrictions not enforced. Will do more air travel
in the future (places that have no railway station and airport conveniently
located – unlike Roi Et Airport which is 16 km out of town).
Conclusion:
Such home stay (with travel and food taken care of) would be
great for someone without experience, but I found that the advantages balance
the disadvantages. You can get to some places much faster (what can be done in
30 minutes by car can easily take 2 hours by bus and walking and hitchhiking),
but then I am taken to other places where I wouldn’t go. Change in daily
routine no problem (alone I would be up 10am-midnight, now 8am-10pm). At night
I am stuck at the house with nowhere to go, compensated by going to bed early
and getting up early. If I were in a hotel in town, I would tour the town in
search of gay activities. We eat together, which was not always when I was
hungry, but I can adapt.
A lot of time is spent socializing with people in village
and at temples, which quickly becomes boring. B would tell them all details,
from me picking up a paper clip from the floor of the airport to a
chronological list of meals I had to the fact that I sleep with light off and
curtains closed.
Weather was good throughout. Mostly clouded (I don’t like
sunshine: sunburn and shadows when taking picturs), little rain. From Sakon Nakhon
to Khon Kaen everything lush green, but on flight to Bangkok there were many
grey/brown fields visible from airplane. Apart from lack of water in Kam Hom
waterfall (Phu Pan National Park), there were no signs of drought in Sakon
Nakhon and Khon Kaen province.
T would look at me and mumble “Harry Potter” and later
switch to calling me “Harry”. Thai boys quite often liken me to Harry Potter
because of my glasses. Only one boy likens me to Steve Jobs.
Next year, T will go to New Zealand (student exchange?).
Currently, he speaks about ten words of English. B wants me to teach him
English by phone (which would be an exercise in futility and a waste of my
time, the boy had enough time to learn English in school, nonetheless I agree
to it, like I agree to all stupid requests – take someone to Germany for
holiday, find someone a German husband – knowing that nothing will happen).
When driving by car, B would open the window to throw out
rubbish. I observed this many times before (train or boat) that Thai adults
just throw their rubbish out of the window, but then it were strangers, now
it’s someone I know, in presence of a minor!
Having spent the entire time with my friends, I didn’t use
public transport, didn’t even go to bus station to take pictures of timetables.
Hence I cannot regale my readers with a list of public transport options in
Sakon Nakhon.
All other request to go to places (wats, national park,
waterfall, palace and churches) were answered positively.
During our trip by car all except me and driver would look
on a pad at a picture of an object that looked like ice cream with chocolate
splits and try to read numbers for the next lottery from this.
My request to go swimming at the waterfall (wasn’t possible
due to lack of water) caused great mirth, probably due to mispronunciation ว่ายน้ำ “to swim” and ไหว้น้ำ “to pray to
water”. Same for my reluctance to have a snake around my neck (not because I’m
afraid, but because I don’t want to participate in mistreatment of animals and
spend money on it) at the snake show (details soon).
We passed a shrine with a rhinoceros on hwy 2218 (southern side, before km 20) in Sakon Nakhon province.
We passed statue of crocodile and temple outer wall decorated with crocodile in Wang Sam Mo (Udon Thani province), spotted bus 4381 (Udon Thani - Wang Sam Mo) pass.
Copyright 2015 ChristianPFC
