Old People.

I have interviewed a cross section of the Chiang Mai public and there is complete consensus about where the old people are. They are at home in the country side. I am glad to know that they exist. This information certainly brought up the fact that many or most of the young people here, who are all the Thais I meet, have come here to work. For most it is good work unlike the girls from further north who go to Bangkok to prostitute themselves to support their families at home.

Working in the fields growing rice is back breaking labor and yields a few dollars a week. The boys who want higher education come to the temples and seem to get a very high quality education and a basic life for free. The temple schools teach many languages, a lot of history and more and more science. And, of course, Buddhism.

The past few days have been the festival of Loy Krathong. Like many festivals in many countries it seems to be many things for many people. For me, it has meant seeing more and more beauty, the little bowls made of leaves and flowers and candles floating down the river, the great lanterns floating while burning up into the night sky. But one of the big thrills is that the monks, the young ones especially, open their gates to all and share in profoundly buzzing rituals attended by thousands. Do not get the impression that this is tip toe, whispery, woo woo stuff. The crowds are having a blast, people come and go, the monks feed the crowds, the crowds feed the monks. A hilarious moment last night in the courtyard of a temple with thousands of onlookers, hundred of candles, lanterns of wild colors everywhere and a dog walked into the holy circle and started to lift his back leg on a Lama who was praying.  One after another the 8 year old novices give the dog chase, the dog got confused and kept going in instead of out. The monks started laughing, the crowd was hysterical. A good time was had by all.

I suppose it is just the same as our Christmas in the USA must appear to people of other faiths. For some of us it is an orgy of overeating and drinking, Santa Claus and shopping and shopping and shopping. For others it is an annual time to go to church and enjoy the decorations and the music and see friends. For others it is a most sacred time celebrating the birth of Christ 2,000 years ago. For me it is all three things, excepting the shopping part. Never had a taste for shopping.

Last night at the temple, I had a real Buddhist lesson. Or maybe it was Christian or maybe it was Jewish. I don't know. I had gone an hour early and found a seat in the sand right outside the circle. I got peaceful as the place began to get more and more crowded. Then hundreds of people went inside the circle to take pictures. I kept calm. I had a good mental picture. Then the big Who Ha came out and said that the ceremony was about to start and everybody had to leave the inside before the thing could really start. We are all exceptions to the rule, it would seem. More and more people pushed forward taking innumerable shots of this pretty picture. Finally they thinned out and I had my ringside seat right outside the line.

So, what is it with me and Germans? This German photographer. I'll assume that he was a photographer because he had a very big very expensive camera, kind of stepped on me as he shoved his way into the barrier and stood in front of me. He then proceeded to fucking fuss with his camera and sweat and grunt and swear as he was blocking our view, disrupting our tranquility, and stepping on me and another old lady beside me. Didn't anyone assume that National Geographic has been nailing this photo yearly for 100 years?

I looked at the lady beside me and she was not annoyed or disrupted by this putz in front of us. Then I started to laugh. At myself. Thank you Buddhism. I got unannoyed, accepted my karma with the Germans, and went off giving my place to another. I was in a good mood for the rest of the night. "What you resist, persists."