An extravagant welcome requires me to start thinking and stop “driking”

I took Tylenol PM last night when I went to bed.  I didn’t want anything to keep me from sleeping.  I woke up at 7:30 this morning to learn that everyone was up and dressed.  The plan for the day was made and the only thing keeping it from being implemented was a Grandma who slept in.  I threw myself together and we headed out for a breakfast of jok.  It is a rice porridge with pork balls.  I had a soft boiled egg added to mine.  Melissa got a century egg in hers, which she assured me was cured but not for a whole century.  Jok is delicious.  On Christmas Day I had asked Chinda what she was most looking forward to about going to Thailand.  She said, “The food.”  I understand.  Jok was a great way to start the day.

We got another Grab to take us to the Erawan Museum.  You can see it from a distance.  

The museum is inside a huge three-headed elephant based on the mythological Airavata.  The elephant stands on a sphere which signifies that it is protecting the earth and the sacred and valuable objects placed inside.  Matt and I took off our shoes and went in to experience the inside of the elephant. It is incredible inside.  

There are symbols and mythology and history all around you.  Around the base are four pillars representing different religions:  Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism and Christianity.  This is the Christian pillar.

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A set of  stairs take you all the way up through the leg of the elephant up to its head.  On the first landing is the statue of a Hindu God.

We made our way up to the very top of the inside of the elephant.  The room is filled with statues of the Buddha that you are not allowed to photograph.  At the very front is a statue of Buddha in which people were making merit.  I went forward, bowed and received a small vial of holy water.  I felt the sacredness of the space and felt teary and a bit overwhelmed.

Below the globe is a circular museum where we saw some of the rare artifacts that Lek Viriyapant had collected. It was his dream to build this museum and include these sacred objects which date back to ancient times.  There was a plaque on the wall of the museum with words by Viriyapant stating that modernity must hold onto the sacredness of the past.  He wanted to build this place so people would come and see the beauty and sacredness of what came before us.  He wanted people to understand their history.

Outside the three-headed elephant are a series of statue elephants that you can walk under.  Some Thais believe that walking under an elephant brings you luck. Matt and I walked under every one.  There was a sensor at their base so that when you walked under one of them it would make the sound of an elephant trumpeting.

We reunited with Melissa, Chinda and Yves.  They had found us a cool place to sit.  I needed to recuperate from the heat and all the stairs.  Chinda got me a mango popsicle and a Durian fruit popsicle for herself.  

When we had rested and Yves had eaten we headed back to our rental.  When we got back Matt and I took a very short walk to explore more of our neighborhood in the light of day.  This was my favorite bar name — “Stop thinking, start driking”.  I love this typo of English for a bar name.  As my friends know, I only need a few sips of alcohol to make me tipsy.  It sounded like what I would do if I had half a margarita.

After a quick trip to the little grocery store around the corner, we ate sticky rice and Thai fried chicken at the large dining room table in our rental.  Melissa’s cousin sent a car to pick us up and take us to her home.  We spent the late afternoon/evening with Melissa and Chinda’s extended family.  We arrived down an inauspicious alley.  Melissa’s cousin, Soon, greeted us outside and led us through the garage past the 2 Porsches, 1 Mercedes and 1 Ferrari.  We took off our shoes and went into the foyer where slippers were waiting for each of us.  Soon, her brother Sun, and their parents moved into this house in the last six months.  I clasped my hands together like I was praying to greet each person and stumbled over the Sawadee Ka Matt had coached me to say.  This is the home of Chinda’s cousin and his family.  Shortly thereafter another female cousin arrived, another male cousin and his two children, and the widow of another cousin and her son.  Soon and her brother also had their boyfriend and girlfriend there.  It gave me plenty of time to practice my Sawadee Ka.  Soon’s boyfriend was Thai but had gone to middle school and high school in Melbourne so spoke English with an Australian accent.  He took me under his wing and explained everything to me and where to find the bathroom.  He took good care of me throughout the evening.

Everyone was excited to meet Yves for the first time but he was uncooperative.  Twelve new people joyfully celebrating the New Year in a home where he had never been after a 24 hour travel ordeal was more than he wanted to enjoy.  He slept or he cried.  Those were his only two modes of being.  

We were all given lovely presents.  I received a purse interwoven with a dried and braided vegetable.  

We sat down to a dinner….I mean extravagant feast…of whole shrimp, crab, crab fried rice, shrimp donuts, kra pow, papaya salad, fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, fried fish, chicken wings, etc., etc. etc.  I was overwhelmed with the amount of dishes.  I peeled a whole shrimp eyes still intact (with directions from Chinda) and tasted everything that wasn’t too spicy.  I loved the kra pow with the crab fried rice.  Every time I emptied my wine glass it was filled again.  I finally realized that I would have to leave it mostly full so that I didn’t get drunk and embarrass myself.

Soon gave us the tour of the house.  It turns out it was four stories and Chinda and I went up by elevator.  They have a prayer room, fitness room, putting green area, atrium, koi pond, three large bedrooms with huge walk in closets and impressive bathrooms and a maid’s quarter.  The master bedroom has a 10 ft wide bed.  It was impressive.  Eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture and the number 8 was found throughout the house, including a huge mobile of fish in a figure eight.

I think it became apparent to everyone that we were fading fast.  A car was called and we returned to our rental.  It was around 8:30 and I went to bed immediately.