To the Top of the Hill for Petchaburi Festival

Saturday, 5 February 2005

Yeah, I am definitely NOT a country girl. This morning, a HUGE spider the size of my hand was on the wall, right on the other side of where my head was lying down to sleep last night. I had Ray come and throw it outside, just like I’d scream at my dad to get the geckos out of my room when I was young. Tonight, as I was going to sleep, I heard a squeal up above, looked up in the wooden rafters and tin roof, and saw a rat scurry down above my head. I hope it headed outside to the roof (There is about a foot opening from the top of the walls of the house and where the roof sits.) rather than being behind the curtain when I was sleeping last night. Using a cold shower and the squatty potty in the wooden outhouse reminded me of being at Camp Kualoa as a kid (well, the cold showers anyway), or at home in Hawai’i when someone forgets to flip the water heater on. But, the squatty potty and using no toilet tissue, just a pail with water, is definitely Thai. So I got to be a Thai country girl this weekend.

On our way to the market at 7:30 am, I was taking pictures with my digital camera, while sitting in between two people. The following are my rules for riding a motorcycle with three people on it:

1) If you situate your body correctly, with straight back posture and your pelvis flat, body to body contact, you can “comfortably” (varies depending on who you ask) with three people on a motorcycle. Families of four can fit on a moto. The baby usually stands in front of the driver.
2) Being in a “hamburger” position (As Aw would call it) – the skinnier person on the inside – is definitely the safest bet…And for riding at night, it’s the warmest.
3) Only the driver is required to wear a helmet. But most times Ray did not wear a helmet, unless we were in a cop infested area.
4) If the driver gets uncomfortable, he may stand up while riding at least 30 mph with passengers screaming behind him. (not advisable)
5) If the feet holders are broken or missing, you have to use your thigh muscles to hold your feet off the ground (especially if you are tall and have long legs like myself…Fortunately, most Thais don’t have this problem.)
6) Sit sideways on the motorcycle when you are wearing a skirt. (I advise not doing this when being packed on a bicycle. More to come on that in a different blog entry.)
7) After you go to the market, you can hang as many as five plastic bags of vegetables, meat, and other food from the motorcycle handles. You can put a travel bag by the driver’s feet. You can carry huge garbage bags of vegetables, pigs, laundry, furniture, almost anything really, if someone wedges you in and you can drive with one hand.
8) If you have long hair, tie your hair back so you don’t look like Frankenstein when you get to your destination.

We headed to the festival in Petchaburi up on the top of the hill in the late afternoon and stayed all evening. Aw was a bit leary at first of hiking up the hill, but after some encouragement, she had fun and welcomed the exercise! We visited various temples, took a ton of pictures, enjoyed a beautiful sunset, and got to visit many exhibits on Thai food, Thai Boxing, Thai dance, crafts, etc. I bought some keychain trinkets for my students and a wooden bracelet with my name in Thai on it for 5 baht each. It was a long day with a lot of walking. But, it was so beautiful to see all of these different parts of Thai culture, and the hill and temples were so beautiful at night! Besides, Aw and Ray wanted to make sure we made it worth our while for our 20 baht (50 cents) admission to the festival!