Easter / Holy Week 2023

My Easter/holy week began last Sunday in Maehongson at the Huanam Mae Sakud church where Ninae talked about trees in the Bible, taking us from Genesis to Revelation, pausing midway to mention Christmas trees and the connection to the Cross. The Christmas decorations often are still up this time of year at this church but through 'high tech craftsmanship', they were magically transformed into crosses as the kids waved Palm branches while they sang.

Most of the week was spent at the beach which can always be an odd juxtaposition during a week commemorating significant suffering and loss. Yesterday (Holy Saturday) I had two good meals with friends in Bangkok - which is often/usually the best thing to do when suffering loss - be with people and feed yourself. Both the company and the food were so good!

This morning I realized I couldn't face a raucous Easter service but I needed quiet contemplation so I was up early - but definitely not before those sleeping rough on the streets and the street involved - making my way to the first of my favorite three parks here in Bangkok. It was starting to get light as I crept out of my guest house and across the khlong bridge where a neighbor I know from former visits, who is usually intoxicated at most times of the day, was frying up mackerel for the 50-60 cats he feeds, thereby helping to increase the feline population that roam this particular corner outside the temple where he lives.

At each park I joined the early morning walkers and joggers, contemplating/looking for signs of life overcoming death. At Rommaninat Park (stop #3) the site of the former Khlong Prem Prison, this becomes painfully obvious. Initially built by King Chulalongkorn, it was converted and officially opened in 1999 as a beautiful park - but cells and guard towers remain in place. At Saranrom Park there is a beautiful monument that King Chulalongkorn dedicated to his Queen Consort and young daughter who both drowned in a boating accident. (And if you're looking at the map in the photos, I did end up adding a 4th stop to my holy trinity of parks - seriously - if you are ever in Bangkok, they are all worth visiting.)

And so from beginning the week contemplating trees, to being nourished by the waters of Huahin to celebrating Easter walking along the waterways of Bangkok and through the beautiful green oases that contrast with the grit of the city, I am grateful for reminders of life overcoming death, providing reminders that death is not the end and that love wins. Happy Easter!

Duncan

Baby it's hot (and really smoky) outside...

As March continued to march forward, all of a sudden I could smell smoke creeping into my air conditioned room for the first time one night. Now I just smell like I have been living in a camp fire the past two weeks. This is the season of burning fields and forest hillsides throughout much of Asia - especially here in Thailand - even though it is supposedly illegal. If you look at any sort of map showing what parts of the world are literally on fire at the moment or check in on the air quality index, you will see that Thailand is mostly shimmering red at the moment. A hazy, hot, horrendous, smoky month of March is usually to be expected - but on a recent Saturday I woke up, thinking I would go for a usual morning walk/run and I realized it was worse than usual. I checked online to see what the AQI was and was quite surprised to see 549! The week before I had seen a news report that Maehongson and Chiangmai had the worst air in the world and it was only in the 240 range - but 549!? Needless to say, the run didn't happen that morning or for several weeks as the numbers just continued to rise

One night I went to a meeting at church and all the hills around us were on fire. I knew the next day would be bad - and it was. Often the temple on top of the hill - even the hill isn't visible in the morning.

Funerals and Friends

 I've been to a several Thai funeral cremations in the past. Most Thai towns and villages have an outdoor location, where after several nights (usually three) of funeral rituals and activities at the temple, the casket and body are taken and burned. Any remaining ashes and bones are gathered up the next day after the ashes are cool. 

When I first arrived here in January I noticed a tractor clearing a large plot of land next to one of the temples by the lake. I thought construction was going to begin on a new building or something - well I was partially correct as they were clearing the land for the cremation of one of the highest ranking (perhaps the highest ranked) Buddhist abbot in Maehongson province who had died some 100 days ago. Eventually an elaborate ornate funeral pyre was built and after a week of ceremonies and holding vigil, the cremation time was set for 3PM, Sunday February 12. The body and casket was pulled in a lengthy procession the day before and lay in rest overnight - lit up by ever changing lights. 

The grounds were set up with tents and pavilions for the many who would attend including the many food and drink stalls. (Hint - if you ever find yourself in Thailand and you are starving, all food and drink is usually provided free at a funeral.) I don't pretend to understand all that was said and done with many many dignitaries and hundreds of monks some from around the country (the abbot was a big deal) but eventually after all the officials had finished paying their final respects, everyone else was invited to come up and do the same. As the crowds surged toward the pyre, many others began removing elements from the pyre - ornaments, decorations, a truck pulled up and loaded up all the potted plants and flowers - and soon though still quite ornate, it was a little more bare. 

By this time the fire department was also in attendance and at three pm the official 'fire starter' appeared to do final checks. Once the ok was given, another senior monk lit a torch from a candle at one of the covered tents a couple hundred feet away from the pyre where all the priests were sitting and this was raised to a fuse that was lit and then like a screaming rocket went zipping across the now empty field toward the pyre. It zigged and zagged around the pyre until it rocketed into the top of the fire and instantly everything was an inferno. At the same time, huge bomb like fireworks were being set off into the sky. (see videos below) The fire fighters were in place for whenever the conflagration got a little too big and another fire truck began spraying water in the air over the tents where most of the people sat as hot ash was beginning to rain down on them. 

January 2023...Thailand...interrupted by Poland

And as winter settled in, five days into the new year, it was time to leave Seattle and head to warmer weather. And so after saying farewell to these lovely people above, it was back to Thailand via Seoul on Korean and after a couple of days in Chiang Mai onward to Maehongson. One unique thing I had never experienced before was that our flight path from Seoul to Chiang Mai took us literally over (or so close by) that I could see the lights of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Luang Prabang! I thought this was very cool!

Back to some of my favorite views in Maehongson.

Note, cool season blue sky still evident!

Ironically...after being in Seattle for the nine months last year, months that sometimes dragged on, when I would have been happy to travel anywhere for work...ironically, I was just getting over jetlag (I hadn't even been in Thailand a week yet!) when I received a call asking if I would be willing to go support a team from Ukraine that was having a logistics and planning week in Poland and they wanted some mental health support on the side. While the timing wasn't ideal, this is the life I have and the life I want - to be able to have the freedom to travel when needed to support the mental and emotional health of people working to make the world a better place. So my January airport passthroughs grew from SEA-ICN-CNX- HGN to include HGN-DMK-BKK-MUC-KRK-VIE-BKK-DMK-HGN! Whew! And I traded in my views above for...

View of Wawel Castle from my hotel window

It was a good week (hello, any new travel adventure tends to be a good thing:-)) and it is always a privilege anytime I am invited to provide even a small amount of psychological support and resilience to individuals in difficult places who are trying to make the world a safer, healthier place. And as with every conflict when you know names and faces, it makes it that much more real. It was no different with this team. Some had sons and husbands actively fighting. All live with the daily reality of trauma and uncertainty.

Yet they were meeting to actively plan and coordinate what must happen for Ukraine's health system to be restored after the war is over. Safety and job security must be guaranteed. Infrastructure must be rebuilt. These are necessary for doctors and other health professionals to even hope to return. And only then will the real work happen of attending to a country traumatized by aggression, to soldiers who will carry the literal and psychological scars and wounds of war and PTSD. Addiction of various forms will skyrocket. And the general health of a population that has not received regular check ups and care will need to be considered.

This team has been part of planning for the unimaginable reality of nuclear weapons being used against their cities. How do you plan for this threat, for mass casualties, for thousands of deaths and even more thousands dying slowing of radiation and whatever other destruction nuclear weapons unleash? I don't know - but they show up for work every day, determined to not let evil win.

Lies and misinformation are real. As are monsters. As is evil. All very real threats to their country and to the world, whatever country we live in. And, in the face of this evil, courage and resilience are also very real. Kindness is real. Bare knuckling grit and resolve to get the job done are real.

Today as write, I remember the courage of those fighting for their survival in Ukraine. Sláva Ukrayíni!

Though January is still the end of the 'cool' season in Thailand it was much warmer than either Seattle or freezing snowy Krakow! In spite of the cold, I ventured out as much as I could to see a little bit of the city. I told my taxi driver when I arrived that I was literally clueless knowing nothing. Poland wasn't on my must get to list of places in the world. Medieval Krakow is Poland's second largest city (though it doesn't feel like a large city) and still Poland's cultural hub and significant tourist attraction. I did know it was the birthplace of Pope John Paul II and you can still pass by the house he live and I attended a beautiful but freezing concert in the 400 year old church his parents were married in. And of course Auschwitz is only about 30 miles away. Though life continues as normal, it is sobering to feel the weight of history pushing up against the reality that is happening across the border in Ukraine.