BOY

*Sniff*… boy. http://grab.by/dkNa

A White Boy Writes About Race and Ethnicity in Thailand

Bangkok is a strange place for me, compared to my home of Washingon, DC. They are both diverse in the sense that you can see people from around the world, but in Bangkok a much higher percentage of the people of foreign origin are tourists. There are immigrants, though-the main immigrant population here is Chinese. Still, I don’t look around me and see people of many different races and skin colors all speaking Thai the way they would speak English in the US. Many immigrants feel more like what I would call “expatriates:” immigrants that haven’t really assimilated.

Though race is relatively homogeneous here, there are different ethnic groups within Thailand. Most of them look pretty similar, though. For example, many of the working-class people in Bangkok come from Isaan in north-eastern Thailand. They speak a different dialect of Thai (generally in addition to Bangkok or “central” Thai). Some of them, like my taxi driver yesterday, also speak Lao, because parts of Isaan are close to Laos (Lao is pretty much mutually intelligible with Thai). I’m sure Isaan people have a different accent when they speak Bangkok Thai, but my ear is not nearly good enough to tell. There are also Thai Muslims, many of whom wear head scarves and who are usually from the south near Malaysia, mixed Thai Chinese people and hill tribe people like the Mon (I recommend reading about their involvement in the Vietnam war and weird deal with the US government – it’s amazing). There is also a large Indian population, many of whom are Sikhs, but they look quite different and the men are distinguished by their turbans.

It’s interesting not being able to tell by looking at someone whether they are likely to be middle-class, wealthy or working class based on their race. In the United States many ethnic groups are very easy to distinguish and one can make assumptions about them based on stereotypes that are sometimes accurate. For example, short, Hispanic, first generation men in my neighborhood in DC are likely to work in construction.

Though I would guess a Thai could make similar guesses about someone based on their heritage here, I am still relatively blind to the relevant differences. I like this. I know I’m not making unfair assumptions about people and I can keep an open mind. I don’t think I have unrealistic ideas about race in America, but I can’t know for sure how my subconscious is operating.

However, not being able to recognize these differences is also a sign of not understand Thailand very well yet. Though I am appreciating having a fresh perspective, I’m also looking forward to being able to recognize and know about the different groups I come in contact with.

Your White Skin is Very Beautiful

A friend here, who is Russian by heritage, told me that she recently had her first creepy cab driver encounter. He told her that she was very beautiful because her skin was white. I think she was kind of taken aback. The thing is, Thai people find light skin really attractive for some reason. They’ll do a lot of things to make their skin white, even put creams on themselves.

I hadn’t heard of skin-lightening cream before I came here. People use it for cosmetic reasons-apparently some black people use it in the states. Here it is THE THING. Pretty much every skin product (and there are a lot of skin products) advertises lightening along with moisturizing or cleaning or whatever else it does. I’ve seen skin-lightening deoderant. There are even these ads with pictures of people holding up little color swatches to their faces to show that they are this light or that light. Men as well as women! What is this all about?

Thai people’s natural skin tone varies depending on their heritage-some are very dark and some are much lighter than me. People say that Thais are into looking lighter because there is a traditional association of light skin and enough wealth to afford to stay indoors. But why does that persist? And why is has it become so entrenched in the Thai idea of beauty? I can’t really say, except that I think it has something to do with Westerners having light skin as well. Apparently a lot of Thai celebrities and models are half-white, and they are considered beautiful for their paleness.

I find this whole thing sort of disconcerting. It’s superficial for one, but it’s also colorist/racist. What if you’re born with dark skin? Does that mean you can’t be beautiful? The Thai people I’ve talked to about it don’t really have strong opinions on the matter-they just kind of see it as how it is. Maybe it’s not as big a deal as I think it is and my American “accept every skin color” triggers are going off out of context. I’d like to know more.

Getting Food Poisoning

That’s what I did Friday night. It wasn’t just me, though-five of the other fourteen people in Bangkok got it around the same time. Nobody is sure what caused it though. I did do something to help bring it on, though. All I had for dinner was flavored soy milk, a scotch and soda and peanuts. A humorously nausea-inducing combo. It sucked for sure-I had diarrhea and barfing simultaneously and eventually ended up in the hospital with a shot to end the nausea and a saline drip to rehydrate me. It worked, but I had to lie there half-awake for like four hours.

The Thai hospital was pretty nice. The emergency room felt basically like an American one-I was impressed. They got a little confused, though; they weren’t keeping good track of what had already been done so they tried to give me a pill twice. Another impressive thing was the price. The whole trip, all five or so hours of it at the hospital, including the cab and drugs, came to under ten dollars. I felt like giving a donation.

Their English was pretty good. At one point, though, the doctor said “we’re going to give you some fluid,” but her accent made it sound like “food” because Thai people have trouble with consonant blends. I was like “Sunil, go tell them I’m a vegetarian.” It was sort of funny. The best part of the experience, actually, was that Sunil was really supportive (he’s my roommate). He went with me to the hospital, filled out paperwork, paid for me and everything. It was great. I owe him one.

PICTURES!

A lot of people have been asking me for them. Sorry I wasn’t more clear about this. You can access them by going to the “Pictures” page from the link in the sidebar on the right.

Phom Ghin Aahaan Jae (I Am a Vegetarian)

So far, being a vegetarian is neither easier nor harder in Bangkok that in Worcester or any other US city. It’s different, though. Almost everything has fish sauce in it (Thais are said to use fish sauce the way Chinese use soy sauce). However, the concept of vegetarianism is much more widely understood. There’s a yearly Buddhist festival, which is about one or two weeks, during which almost everyone in Thailand eats vegan. All the restaurants change their menus, so they understand how to cook vegan. It is slightly confusing to the them to meet a vegetarian who eats eggs, because the word for “vegetarian” in Thai (you just say “phom ghin aahaan jae,” meaning “I eat vegetable food) actually means vegan. Because of this, it’s hard to ask for food that doesn’t have meat in it, even if it has meat broth. Too bad, because right now I’m letting myself eat things with non-vegetarian broth because I want to broaden what I can eat a little bit.

The difficult thing is that the traditional Thai way of eating in a group-sharing everything-is difficult when some people have dietary restrictions. I want to experience this way of eating more, because it really appeals to me. I’m going to get some of the other kids who like vegetarian food (there is only one other complete vegetarian) and go to one of the vegan restaurants I’ve heard of around here. Then we can try it.

Good foods I’ve eaten here so far:

• Root cake (was this carrot, taro or turnip? I really don’t know)
• Mushroom soup with weird little mushrooms that look like pasta (I think they’re called “ghost mushrooms”)
• Pad Thai, obviously
• This weird dessert thing where you get a bowl and fill it with your selection of a whole lot of little jellie-jello things made from plant starch, ice and sweet cocoanut milk
• McDonald’s french fries
• Thai Red Bull (this was the original version of the drink. A Finnish guy saw a taxi driver drinking it here and thought he could market it in the West. This version comes in a tiny glass bottle and isn’t carbonated, but it tastes about the same. Way cheaper.)
• Nori seaweed-flavored Lays (there is a picture of sushi on the bag)

People keep going “I can’t wait until we get you to eat meat again.” There is enough interesting stuff here for me without having to do that.

The Rooftop Farmers (My Project)

The official reason I’m here is to work on my Interactive Qualifying Project or IQP, which is a graduation requirement for students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Most people do their IQPs on campus, but many go abroad. I’m in Thailand for a total of 9 weeks, about 8 of which will be spent on the project (starting with this one). In short, our project is to work with the Wat Pathumwanaram School, which serves kindergarteners through ninth graders, to integrate a hydroponic garden into their curricula. My team consists of four WPI students (Neal, Ivana, Brianna and myself) and two Thai students from Chulalongkorn University. Here’s the abstract from our project proposal, the most in-depth document we’ve written so far:

“Developing countries seek an educational program that is relevant to the lives of students leaving school to enter the workforce at a young age. Thailand is creating such a program through multiple education reforms. Wat Pathumwanaram School, in the heart of Bangkok, is looking for ways to implement hands-on education through hydroponic gardening. The WPI project team will propose classroom activities for integration of the school’s existing garden into the curriculum. The team will also perform repairs and improvements to the existing garden and design a new garden to expand the school’s vocational program.”

If you want to see more of it, just request it in the comments.