the beat goes on...

From Thailand, November 20, 2000
(The post below is from a group email I sent to my friends and family while traveling years ago. I include it in this blog as an archive to my travels. It remains in the the raw state that I originally sent it, foolishness of younger years intact, typos and sics untouched.)

i'm still alive, never fear...

North East Thailand, Ubon Ratchathani:

this volunteer thing i ended up doing is nothing like
i would have expected. the info beforehand was very
vague. but i ended up finding myself in this extremist
buddhist vegan commune! extremist in the reliogious
and work ethic sense, don't go thinking cults or
anything. i came in time for the rice harvest, so i've
been spending 12 hours a day in the fields. they
believe in sustainable agriculture which means, to
them, no tractors or farm equpiment, all man power and
buffalo fertilization. so we cut the rice with
scythes, bundle it with thin pieces of bamboo and
stack it to be beaten. then at some point we will
stomp it to release the rice from its coating. it's
all quite amazing and a beautiful experience. i wake
up to leave by 5am. we (me and 11 other people cram
into the back of a little pickup truck) drive a half
hour to the fields while watching the sunrise and
feeling the brisk air zip over our skin. we get to the
field, work until 10 and then sit for a meal. the
monks start eating first, then we join in after bowing
three times to them. the food is plentiful and quite
delicious. i'd never been on a vegan diet before, but
it is nice. and they stuff the food down your face.
the chillis are hot, the garlic zesty, the rice
filling, and the fruit exotic. the bananas and
pineapple are sweeter than any i've ever had before,
and there are so many exotic fruits i try every day
that you could never find back home. and its all
organic.

after eating and most people only eat one huge mean a
day(because that's what buddha did. i'll try it this
week...), we start the work again until they call it a
wrap. we then pile in the pickup and watch the sunset
on the ride home. i'm in bed by 9:30.

the people are all so good natured its almost hard to
believe. we get along quite well, we teach each other
our repsective languages and teach each other songs.
most speak no or little english, so often
communication is difficult but it never seems to get
frustrating. a cute little seven year old boy has
latched on to me and we our becoming good friends. his
name is pannee and he comes over every morning to
greet me when i wake, often sees me in the fields and
comes over every evening to see my 'banknotes'. he
loves seeing foreign money and it took a while for him
to understand he couldn't keep them. it must be
strange to be raised on a commune as a vegan since
birth. doesn't grip capitalism or what money is, but
knows he wants it. i on the other hand have thought of
communism, but have never experienced it. i must say i
have quite an uneasy feeling towards it, but
everything runs so smoothly and happily here.

but there are several strange things about living
here. there are people my age living here who are
completely happy doing what there doing. problematic
for me are the routine, and the sense that while
everything is being taken care of and you are fed and
heppy, what about the future? they don't see beyond
the commune. and they have very little interaction in
the bigger community and in the world around them. but
most problematic is the buddhist precept of no sexual
misconduct they must live by. they consider the love
between a man and a woman to be the lowest form of
love(in my rationale, is any form of love bad?!). so
all the people i've been working with in their
twenties are single and seem to lead no impression of
dating or even interest. a completely foreign concept
to the western mind.

and yet i've sort of promised to stay a week or two
longer so i can teach some students once they return
from holiday. it will work out good for me though. i
am very low on $ and here i live and eat in exchange
for my labor and smiles. it is all so tiring though;
not only the work, but more dedicating all my energy
to trying to communicate and to teach people a bit and
learn a bit. and everyone wants to talk to me. its is
so nice and so rewarding, but i find myself never
having enough time to myself. i read whenever i have
the chance. just to stay in my world a bit. i have one
day off a week. i sleep late(until 6), go into town
and have my only opportunity to have a soda, walk down
streets, window-shop, email, and enjoy a beer. but it
is good. i feel healthy, strong and fresh. that is
life these days....

jeff