At first the transition to Thailand wasn't easy. I stepped out of the airport tram and into the street and was almost toasted by a scooter within the first 30 seconds. Turns out the they drive on the other side of the street here. Look right, then left before crossing ;)
My head was buzzing for the first 24 hours just trying to comprehend the difference in the pace and structure of life. But now that it's been five days, I'm beginning to lean fully into it (going for all the crazy street food I can, attending a Thai boxing match alone, letting Thai kids play with my beard, etc) and I love every second of it.
As is my blogging tradition when entering a new culture, I try to lay out three key observations and dive into them. While by no means representative of the entire culture (how could it be?) and not meant to stereotype in any way, here's what's been most striking to me thus far in my first far-east experience. I'll do my best not to sound TOO much like Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai when describing his eastern culture observations. But no promises.
True gentleness and kindness comes from within
I think one of my least favorite aspects of Americans is their volatility and capacity for rage. Because we live in a country where expectations are so high, life is fast-paced and our "I-deserve-this complex" permeates our being, Americans just always seem like they're on the verge of exploding. Only when you separate yourself geographically from this mentality do you realize just how unattractive it is and how taxing it all can be. We burn ourselves down to nothing and at the end of the day what is it all for?
Thailand seems composed of gentle spirits. Every time I walk down a street, sure I get the stares, but I also get the smiles. The welcoming faces. And people willing to help me, even if there's no money involved (tourism is a massive industry here and is the driving catalyst for most street-side dialogue with locals). This gentleness begins inwardly and radiates outwardly through the eyes. And it informs the way Thai people treat one another. Not once have I seen a Thai person raise their voice in anger at another person. I see tough love in places but at the end of the day, it is still love.
People here appear to exist independently of time and through nature. Nothing seems forced. All is in its place and appears content where it is. Do people here dream? I'm sure. Do people here yearn for more? Absolutely. But it seems clear to me they don't let these dreams and hope for their future keep them from enjoying the present. Read that sentence again.
An inner peace exists here that I yearn to one day achieve. While we can't change the values and pace of our culture, we can cultivate inward stillness. We can focus on giving ourselves and others breaks. We can breathe deeper and appreciate more. As much as our culture composes our DNA, we are not slaves to it. We can still lead with love.
Your work is your passion and your identity.
My first day here I spent in the markets of Bangkok. I saw a flurry of merchants, cooks, friends, dogs, flies, vegetables, sauces, bins, supplies, shirts, signs, and humidity all mashed together in a way I'd never seen before. People running to and fro, deep-fried fish and insects here, Bangkok novelties hawked a few feet to the left and a pack of scooter boys having a smoke a few feet further. No barricades between operations - just a shared space where everybody knows everybody and anybody asks anybody for anything. With the proximity and interplay of business, there were no barriers. Nobody can wall up and do their own thing. Nobody can create a service that trumps all others and forces the mom and pop shop out of town. Everybody instead leans on everybody else, thrives as a result of their interconnectedness and because a rising tide lifts all boats, nobody bitches and moans - they just put their heads down and do their work because that's how they get by and how they support their families and the greater community.
Perhaps as a result of the shared business experience, there's an extreme ownership over one's work. Your trade is your passion. Your craft is your lifeblood. Your work puts food on the table. And what was even more intriguing? There's joy in one's work. How do I know this? Well if you compare just the amount of smiles and laughs Thai people have when they're doing their work against the number of smiles and laughs Americans share when they work, I have a feeling the result would be sad for us. Because of close proximity to other businesses, because your colleagues are your friends and because your work is such an integral part of your life, work seems actually enjoyable. I doubt many Thai people feel depressed on Sunday nights before having to work Monday mornings. While work is work and it needs to happen no matter the culture, there's something to be said about how work needn't be a dread or a bore - it can be a haven and a purpose.
I fully realize I'm taking surface-level observations and making deep speculations. I know that. And I know that just because my foreign ass saw something for thirty minutes one day while in a foreign country, doesn't mean it's true. But observing a culture only becomes truly useful when you can stack the observations against yourself, your own life and your own culture. And that's all I aim to do here.
If you can smile, you're winning
It's incredible the power a smile can have. Smiles and laughter - the power they have over a person and the change they can create in communities are the reasons I want to dedicate my life to comedy in all its forms. In Thailand there's no comedy theater with shows. But there's comedy everywhere. The same joy that opens people up in the audience of a live comedy show back home opens people up on the streets here. The exploration of universal truths that break down barriers back home is a force here. And even though I've only been here five days, I've smiled and laughed an incredibly high number of times. When walking through the streets of America, people keep to themselves, they have places to be and they silo themselves off from others. Here people have time to look around, they make an effort to meet the eyes and they know it doesn't take much to make a smile.
I've experienced smiles that welcome me. I've experienced smiles because "that tall white man's head just does not fit into this train car". I've experienced smiles because I've spent the better part of the day playing around in a cafe with a two year old named Kia who always finds new ways to play with his bag of chips. He's sitting on my lap as I write this and he keeps pjuaying wdrith theeeee k3yboorde. Maybe it's because I've grown so used to meeting new people in my four months of travel that I'm able to relax and smile more easily. But I notice this same smile-off between locals and other travelers. Life is often crazy here, it's not always easy and the economic disparity between groups may be the highest I've ever seen. But just because you are at Point A and you need to get to Point B, it doesn't mean you can't smile in between. Smile more.
Without further ado, here's Kia:
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