sounds like thailand

Noise. I remember when I thought Thailand was loud. A friend of mine has a visitor visiting and she mentioned how her guest house is loud. Or at least the surroundings are. And so as we walked around town I thought about how I used to think Thailand was loud too.

We walked by the school that she believes is the culprit. Then we continued past a parking lot where a stage had been set up. Some guy in pink was singing to an audience of people and plastic chairs. It was loud.

I thought about the temple bells, the PA system speakers that seem to haunt the streets of Chiang Mai blaring out the Thai anthem every 8am and 6pm. The motorbikes, the karaoke and the PA systems that also announce the news and strange music during seemingly random times of the day. I feel like I am in my own science fiction novel or movie living in a society that spoon feeds its residents, possibly brainwashing them without their knowledge.

Part of the reason why I moved 15minutes out of the city is to get away from the noise. But a municipal building has since been erected and now I hear a great many announcements. Sometimes I am convinced the PA system is broken because they play the same song over and over again. During holidays the announcements become more frequent and since today is a holiday, I guess that is why I am hearing the latest selection of music well before the appointed 6pm anthem.

When I'm in Lamphun during a celebration there is the obligatory stage of dancing girls with music on full volume. I can hear the music in my head because I swear on the Holy Bible they play the same songs over and again. Then there are the advertisement trucks, shouting deals, steals and sales, or the Muay Thai trucks informing us when the next fight will be. I've decided the announcer sounds like Count Dracula from Sesame Street and this makes me giggle.

The ice cream carts and traveling street vendors also produce their own brand of music letting us know, like when we were kids, that the ice cream truck is on our street. Living quarters are also build closer together and if you are fortunate enough to live in a building where you can't hear your neighbors, your friends consider you lucky cat lucky.

Oh and I can't believe I have forgotten this but the noise in the distance has reminded me, there is always construction noise, chatter and clamor. Somewhere you can be certain that someone is cutting cement and the shrill of that tune is a common one in Chiang Mai.

Nature is also very loud here. And I'm not talking about the pack of soi dogs that howl at the temple bells, the moon or lonely bark in the distance.

Maybe all this yakety-yak echoes the noise in our heads. Or maybe this is just culture in motion, a kind of progress like a motorboat moving across the water. I suppose the United States will sound like a whisper the next time I am there but I can't imagine moving back. Strange, isn't it?

Thailand may be a firecracker but my passport country feels like a fuse that never ends, you just follow the flame and wait for the BOOM. I can't say that I like all the noise here. I'm really a quiet kind of gal but I've gotten used to it. I'm more tolerant and I don't know if this is a good or bad thing, maybe both.

a very thai pillow

delicious...

lack of originality?

When I went to Vang Vieng Laos during a Christmas holiday, my friend and I saw something truly original, a row of street vendors selling the exact same thing. Four or five ladies with their carts very close together selling French baguette sandwiches on what appeared to be a darkish empty street devoid of anyone but tourists occasionally walking by.

“Do you see any difference?” He said as he leaned over to me, his eyes still on the vendors.

I scanned the menus carefully, “No. Do you?”

“No.”

We looked at each other then back at them. Then continued walking.

“Why don't they spread out or something?”

“Why do they sell the same exact thing?!”

We would experience this repeat performance with more baguette sandwiches and roti stands as we walked around town.

Back in Chiang Mai, I overheard a conversation not too long ago in the work room, where my colleagues were discussing how Thais copy everything like music and fashion from the Koreans or the Japanese. In other words, they lacked originality.

Since I have been only here a year, I'm no expert on Thai originality and whether it exists or not. But I would imagine Korea's burst into insane popularity didn't just happen one day, with say, Girls' Generation or Rain. They probably, dare I say, copied and emulated from their *gasp* Japanese neighbors and the wild wild west before they saw their name in lights.

The Japanese used to make fairly crappy electronic products before they hit their stride and took over the world wide IT department. And they did it by copying from the US first. Now the US can't be bothered with making quality products and Made in Japan no longer holds the Made in China title.

That said, I do feel Thailand is on the verge of pop culture change and excitement. Thailand is already world renown for it's Muay Thai and culinary genius so I think we can credit them with some originality. But I do understand what my colleagues were saying especially in light of my Laos experience and from what I've heard about Vietnam too.

Southeast Asian cultures seem to posses this group mentality that we Westerners find mind boggling. For Americans we pride ourselves on being original, unique, special and independent. We're business minded, me-first, I've staked my claim here kind of people so when we see a row of the same thing we're like, “What?!”

We're used to seeing the same products, rows of them but each product tries to stand out in it's own way: lower pricing, better quality, generic vs name brand, mom & pop vs factory made, etc. So this idea of everyone is equal like in a communistic way makes us wonder how do you get ahead? Well, you don't and that's the point.

i'm sooo high!

view from ferris wheel at royal flora ratchaphruek chiang mai!