I just need to eat potatoes!

First of all I would like to clarify a few confusing details about where we live. We live in Muang Tak which means Tak City, but most people just call it Tak. It is the capital of the province of Tak. The province is considered huge and is the 4th largest of Thailand’s 76 provinces. I enjoy telling students that the province I come from is called Ontario and it is even bigger than Tak! In fact it is even bigger than all of Thailand! Then they gasp and I feel very satisfied. 

Wiki map of Thailand's provinces

Each week I have been testing out certain aspects of Thai culture that are different from Canadian culture. This week I went to get my hair cut. You might have thought that haircuts are standard across the world but no this was a totally different experience. I got my haircut in the back of the barber’s truck which was parked at a major intersection.   

We are starting to crave the luxuries that we’re used to back home. A few times Heather has come to me desperately saying “Connor, I just need to eat potatoes!” Luckily, we planned on satisfying her Islander desire by celebrating American Thanksgiving with the other foreigners at a North American style restaurant. However, when we arrived their mashed potatoes were actually mashed squash.... and they had pumpkin pie which was actually squash pie. All in all it was very tasty and a nice change from spicy food. The restaurant was also very welcoming and had the TV on a station that was airing a documentary about the construction of the Canadian railroad with occasional dog sledding interludes. Made me feel very proud to be Canadian. 

  

I went to the big Thai festival called Loy Krathong. I was expecting to experience a real sense of culture shock but surprisingly that didn’t happen until afterwards. One thing I learned to really respect about the Thai people during this festival was that they acknowledge that they mess up and feel the need to ask their gods for forgiveness and they do this buy floating a krathong down the river. I realize that I do not ask my God for forgiveness often enough and that there are many other life lessons that I can learn from these people.

As the night was coming to an end I was thirsty and felt a strong desire to buy a Sprite. Like Heather needed potatoes, I needed a Sprite. However, vendor after vendor didn’t sell Sprite. I was getting frustrated when finally I saw a beautiful Sprite bottle glimmering in the distance. My night was complete I went over to the vendor and purchased what I knew would be the perfect thirst quencher. The seller took a bottle opener and opened the Sprite for me which was very kind of him. Then he proceeded to pour my entire bottle of Sprite into a plastic bag! My jaw dropped and was still open as he handed me the plastic bag. I don’t understand this culture...

Release the lanterns

The royal kratong

Sweet dragon boat