Who Doesn't Love A Good Wedding?

Just a few weekends ago I was blessed with the chance to attend a traditional Thai wedding. Thanks to the director of my volunteer teaching program, Jason Nontaken, I got to witness something I would have no chance of seeing on my own. I don’t care where you live wedding invitations aren't just handed out to backpackers walking down the street.  This thing was something else. The over mining concepts of the wedding were very similar to the weddings I have attended in the United States. Good food, good drink and good people all coming together to celebrate the life of two individuals being united as one. What’s not to love about that? Nothing. They’re even better when I’m not the one getting married so this one was hitting on all cylinders.

While I did say the concepts of the weddings were the same there were a few major differences. Thanks to Jason I was able conduct a small interview with him after the wedding to get an exact understanding of what was going on and whether or not some these things are common in all Thai weddings. Here is a list of some of the differences.

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     1.)    The ceremony setting. Instead of having the ceremony (vows, ring exchange, etc) in front of all the guests the bride and groom were placed in a smaller room where the guests filtered on through to give a more personal exchange of congratulations. Once the guests rotated through the room they went back to their respective tables.

Guest seating area 

Small room with Bride, Groom and close family. Bride and Groom dressed in the white to the right of pole

2.)    Influence of religion. Aside from the various forms of dress and offerings one thing that stood out included a seashell and holy water (the holy water came from the closest temple that was blessed by monks the previous day). During a particular part of the ceremony guests were asked to walk through the small room. They were handed a large seashell filled with the holy water. As each guest walked through with the seashell they poured it through the clasped hands of the bride and groom. The pouring of the holy water symbolized rebirth of one of the Buddhist gods Shiva. I was given the wonderful opportunity to bless the bride and groom with the holy water as the picture below shows.

Blessing the Bride and Groom with the holy water

3.)    There was an announcer! As I said prior the bride and groom sat in a small room while the large masses sat at tables just outside the room in the reception area. While the guests slowly walked through family by family there was an announcer relaying all the happenings to the ones sitting down patiently. While my feelings are questionably inappropriate I found this part highly comical. It’s literally just how you would imagine it. The gentlemen sat off to the side of the bride and groom with a microphone while multiple loudspeakers scattered throughout the tables echoed his voice. I couldn't make out anything he was saying but it was probably for the better.

The announcer himself 

If I were to really get into detail this list could go on and on with differences but we can just leave it at that as these three really stuck out. Religion was the main culprit in most of the minor differences, (such as the white connective headdress pictured above) which makes sense due to the major influence of Buddhism in a lot of Thai lives.

The wedding was such a beautiful day and I feel so fortunate that Jason let me tag along and be a part of something so special. And when I mean be a part of it I literally mean I was in the opening ceremonies. In a picture below you can see bringing in some of the opening offerings. So awesome! 

I stick out like a sore thumb

My One and Only

This has nothing to do with my travels but it has everything to do with the most important woman in my life, my mom. Today is her birthday so I wanted to formally wish her ​​a Happy Birthday! 
Without question you're the role model everyone should have. As I sit here struggling to find the right words to encompass everything about you I wonder if that's even possible. One thing I can say is that you live your life unselfishly constantly giving kindness and compassion to the world. To say you positively effect others around you doesn't even begin to do justice as you inject a feel-good sensation into peoples lives. You're like the end of the first book in a trilogy, always left wanting more. Your smile glows with optimism while your constant support and unselfish actions back it up. 

It's a little tough to read but it gets the point across. Got some of the kids together to wish you a Happy Birthday from across the globe!

Thanks for everything you have done for me!

Happy Birthday Mom! I truly hope you have a wonderful day! You deserve it more than anyone.

Love, Woody

You Ate What????

As my player card sits I stand over most people at over 6'3" but weigh in at just 180 lbs (Or 190 cm and 82 kg). Don't ask me to help in a fight cause this skinny wuss will run in the opposite direction. Now looking at me one might think I don't eat a whole lot or persist to be one of the pickiest eaters around. Neither of which are true, more so the latter. In my short life of 24 years on planet earth I have yet to come across a certain food that I hate, seriously.  Sure there are some that I'm not super thrilled with but if you put it on a plate in front of me chances are I'll eat it. These eating habits have suited me well so far. I have gotten the opportunity to try some pretty outlandish food and I wanted to elaborate on a few so far.

What I love about traveling from a western to eastern culture is its not hard to find something "different" to eat. One of my favorite things to do is walk into a convenient store or street vendor and pick something completely off the wall just to give it shot. Now some of these items are so mundane to the average local I get weird looks when I take pictures of said edible (I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my food) because to me it's a first. Take this gem for example.

This tasty treat was a seaweed sandwich with what tasted like a mayonnaise based sauce blended in. Can't find these in North Seattle. Sure this isn't the craziest thing one could eat but it's different. It had to be given a shot and the results didn't disappoint. These things won't be giving Subway a run for its money or anything but by the end of my trip I could see myself being a serious seaweed sandwich connoisseur.

This next edible is a tad more "outlandish" as the pictures below show me munching down on some deep-fried silkworms. MMMmmmm. Honestly once you popped those little guys in your mouth it was just a rush of grease and salt down the throat. Not too bad.

These silkworms were actually given out as samples at a silk factory outside of Dalat, Vietnam where they produce mass amounts of silk to be made into ties, dresses, shirts, etc. You think your life sucks? Think of a silkworm! Imagine if someone could iterate the process of how their life was going to go "Alright, once you are a full grown larva we are going to need you to produce a beautiful silk cocoon. Once you have finished binding your cocoon we are going to unwind you from it to then make mass profit. We will then release you into a massive bucket with hundreds of other homeless silkworms where you will eventually be deep fried and salted to be handed out to tourists as free samples". I now wake up thankful I'm not a silkworm. 

Silkworms still with their silk cocoons pictured below.

"Oh you have not had *fill in the blank with meat miscellaneous* before? It tastes just like chicken". I feel like I hear that every time trying a new poultry item. Well in this case IT WAS TRUE. I swear on my first hamsters grave. It was Crocodile. Maybe it could have been the way it was prepared I'm not too sure. In Cambodia their signature dish is called amok and one night out for dinner about a month ago I gave crocodile amok a try. Give it a look.

The idea behind amok is that of a coconut milk based sauce with sautéed veggies and a particular meat or seafood (I tired mutable kinds of amok). If it was not for the surprising texture of the crocodile I would have ran back to the kitchen and called BS on this guys "crocodile amok" because it honestly tasted like chicken. But taste is only part of the food sampling check list. I would have to say it was top 2 favorite meals in Cambodia.

This next and final dish is one for the books.

One evening in Siem Reap, Cambodia I was headed back to my guesthouse and up to my room when the owner and his best friend caught me just before the stairs and invited me to sit down for dinner with them, without question I sat down. The fact I had just come back from dinner held no weight, after all, the best friend said the owner had just made soup from today's "fishing" trip. I thought, "Oh great, I would love some fresh Cambodian fish, check that one off the list". Stupid Woody. When the owner said he went fishing what he really meant to say was "I went to the river and killed anything that moved excluding fish". Our soup du jour was rice soup with eel, frog, snake and snake eggs. Caught me a tad off guard when he said it but I was so game to give it a try. They were all delightful in their own right. The eel, snake and frog sit in the picture below from left to right.   

Here is the snake egg. Veins and all.

The eel tasted similar to what I've had before at sushi restaurants, the frog (leg) had the texture of chicken with a more "outdoorsy" taste to it, the snake tasted like snake (go figure) and the eggs had little flavor with the texture of a crayola crayon. None of them were completely offsetting but I would say the soup broth was my least favorite part. Just a whole of wilderness in one broth. Aside from the tiny snake bones I just finished pulling out of my teeth a few days ago I enjoyed it.

The aftermath of bones and leftovers

With plenty of time to go I'm really hoping to add to my list of "You ate what????" and add it here. So we can consider this PART ONE.