Blog 4 - Orphanage and Market

Thursday and Friday mark my first introduction to the government run orphanage for young boys. Getting a “minibus” – essentially a tuk-tuk on steroids across the motorway, me sticking my head out the side enjoying the view. Kind of like a 6ft 3, trilby-hatted Labrador. Without the adorable ears and tail. Still pretty fluffy though.

We arrived and were greeted by a veritable hoard of Thai children running towards us. Put them in pointy helmets and arm them with swords and you have the battle of Stanford Bridge all over again. Except with only one Englishman. And an Australian and an American. And a distinct lack of sea, and a bridge for that matter. Fuck knows where Stanford is anyway. But apart from that, identical.

Where was I? Oh yes, Thai child hoard. We had our hands taken and were dragged towards a large, open building surrounded by fields and buildings. I was eagerly shown the turkeys and chicks, wild pigs and ducks that were kept and tended by the boys and staff. My camera was swiftly relieved from me and was returned after an hour or two. Some very odd photos, and odder videos. I’ll upload one when I get the chance. The kids love anything technical, my camera amused a group of them for most of the afternoon, they changed most of the settings and used programs I’d never even touched. I only use auto-focus, the photographical Philistine I am. Basketball was fun, as Kevin and I were soundly trounced by some unnaturally good 8 year olds. Still, I scored a few by virtue of being able to slam dunk and block most shots with merely a swipe of my arm. The rest of the afternoon was taken by being hugged by a mob of children, and having them hold my hand. Many of the children lived on the streets, more have some sort of mental disorder, so personal contact and reassurance is very important to them. Emily, the American girl, was in high demand for hugs. Can’t imagine why.

The kids were real posers. Moment a camera was shown, they immediately got in the shot. Fingers almost instinctively making peace signs, smiles appearing and heroic poses struck. It was a really fun couple of days, and I like to think we made a difference to them. I’ll probably be seeing them many times over the next few months.

I examined the market for a few hours today, and barely scratched the surface, as I’d guessed. Still, there were a few things that attracted my notice. Not always a good thing. For example, full suits of SWAT body armour, a T-shirt proclaiming “Always watching you” with a picture of a stick man drilling a hole in a wall and looking at a stick woman, and an anime Hitler t-shirt. Re-read that again. Take it in.

It was Adolf Hitler, in the 1940’s most fashionable Nazi attire, in anime style, big, round eyes, smile on his face, standing making the peace sign and leaning in the way all the cool kids do whilst “Adolf Hitler” was emblazoned in a big “funky” font beneath it. I was stunned, was this an example of irony, the fallback of many racists? A misunderstanding on a colossal scale? A tasteless joke? I considered buying one for my dad. He owns the documentaries; he owns the books, now he can own the t-shirt.

Plenty was going on in the market, I was wondering if I could wear a full SWAT gear and carry a 4ft Katana through customs. My next thought was that I could put fluid over 100ml in my hand luggage, and that would probably distract them long enough to sneak through. Would a sword fit in the overhead compartment? The next was the sheer amount of stuff for sale, gift shopping will take the same amount of thought and effort as a PhD in theoretical physics. Well, nearly. The compromise is finding something that is in the Thai style, but will still be worn and not gather dust in the cupboard. There were schools of Thai students wandering through the market. I frequently got the feeling I was being stared at, looked up and made eye contact with a blushing teenager, who then looked away. I do bang on about how attractive I am to Thai people. Not that I’m covering up some sort of deep seated insecurity or anything.

I’ll be uploading photos when I can, hope the weekend is good for all you.