Asia

We had a six-thirty a.m pick-up arranged for today again. If one wants to make “merit” with the monks early arrival in the market or at the temple is a must. We stopped first at the “Marble Temple” where a good number of monks stand ready to receive food and offerings. It is a very colorful scene as you drive up. The monks all wear a bright gold-orange color robe. Our stop here was just to take some pictures. We wanted to meet the monks in the market place. The vendors in the street market where we went next must show up about five in the morning. They already had pots full of cooked food and fruits cut. Cooked noodles are a common breakfast in Thailand. Some vendors prepare plates to offer the monk and the items are already serving sized in plastic bags. We bought our plates from one of these men. The monks are wandering the market holding a basket. First you bow to the monk in respect and then offer the rice, main menu item, bottle of water and whatever else. Once he put the basket lid back on we placed a small flower bracelet sized lei on the lid as an offering that he’ll put on the altar later. Some temple’s monks only eat once a day… sometimes two. The food they gather that exceeds what they need is donated and served to others in need or perhaps for some stray animals around. I’m sure none of it goes to waste. Women must be very careful that you don’t touch a monk. That is not allowed. We wandered this market and again bought a number of things we had not tried before and bought five or six kinds of fruit to try. We know we’ll have help eating all that today… You’ll see why later. One lady was cooking some kind of coconut puffs that we tried and then went back for more!!! They were wonderful!! She even let Jane cook a few. People are very friendly and polite. It really doesn’t matter that we don’t share the same language in many situations. It has been wonderful having Tong with us to explain so many things we would have missed!!!


making merit with the monk	Jane cooking coconut puffs	monkeys begging

After this stop it was time to get on the road. We were working around the tide schedule again today. We headed to a fishing village that was about an hour and a half away. Tong found this by accident one time when she was traveling with her family. She loves to share the out of way places that share the culture and allow her clients to see the area in a very special way. She has become friends with a fisherman there and arranged for us to go out on his boat. We could all six ride in the same boat to start with. The bay area where the river meets the ocean here is gigantic. The tide range is huge. I don’t think we have areas like this in the US. Maybe the everglades would be if it wasn’t full of grass. The tide was going out the entire time we were there. We rode out to the clam farms first. The fishermen and women here have long boards they sit on which leaves just their head and shoulders out of the water. Their hands can touch the bottom or they can use nets to get the clams out of the mud. The clams are sized with only the larger ones being harvested. The fishermen usually have on long pants and long sleeved shirts and wear a cloth facemask which eye openings cut out of them and often a wooden hat over their heads. They need all the protection they can get from being in the water for much of the day. There are many one room houses on stilts throughout the bay. This is not their full time home but a place where they can stay to guard their farms. We toured the oyster farms and the mussel farms. The oysters grow attached to strings hanging from bamboo frames. These are only exposed during the low tides. It takes about seven months for them to mature. Gary and Rusty enjoyed a few raw oysters on the spot. Now, that’s FRESH! The mussels are growing on pieces of bamboo that are about 6 feet long. Three of them are attached in tripod form and stuck in the mud. Only about a foot or so was exposed when we were in that area. The fisherman pulled one up to let us see how the mussels attached. It was all amazing. Catfish traps were common in the channels cleared marked for the boats. They are simply sticks stuck in a circle shape. They periodically add more sticks around the edges. The catfish just feed and grow and it becomes a trap. They get a great number out of one trap when they net around it to harvest the fish.

At one point the boat that had been accompanying us along the way pulled up beside us and we split into the two boats. We were headed to the mudflats and we needed to be lighter. The boats we were in were long poles. The propeller was way behind the boat at the end of a long pole so it doesn’t go very deep. We were all a little surprised when he took off over the MUD… it didn’t seem like there were more than two inches of water. Mud was flying everywhere off the back. It was so much fun. We went through an area there where the workers were lying on their boards or kneeling on one knee and pushing off the mud like they were on a skooter. They could skim across the mud as they were searching for clams. The tub on basket would be on the front end of the board.

Once we did our touring we went to the home on the water of our fisherman. His wife and family were there and she had prepared lunch for us. Crab, clams and fish were the entrees. It was a lovely meal and an unbelievable view for us. Tong teased that she had spent the night there with her family and it was a “hotel” of a million stars. I would love to experience that!!! After lunch they pulled out the bamboo frames used for beds (we had used one as the table) and we were able to doze and rest awhile in the cool breeze.

We fed the monkeys in the mangroves on the way out as we had done coming in. The fisherman would holler for them and they would come running out of the trees. They know him well. There is one albino monkey that will come right up in his boat and gorge itself on whatever you give him. Mango seemed to be his favorite. There must have been 100 monkeys. We had bags of fruit to share with them. We’d throw it on shore and they’d wash it in the water and chow down. Every now and then a fight would start over not sharing. We always aimed at the babies but it was obvious they had to eat last.

Today was a highlight for us in all ways. It’s always a quiet ride back into the city.. All are weary!!