The importance of a comfort zone.

It is one of those things you don't realize you need until you've lost it. And right now I have.

I'm in Taiwan. And feeling really isolated and out of place. People giving me weird looks doesn't really help. Yes I'm an Indian. Probably the first one you've seen in real life. Get over it. Maybe next time someone does that I should just show them the finger. Or yell something in Hindi. Ok I know you will say that I should 'enjoy the attention, 'feel special' and some other bullshit now. But right now I'm too cranky and pissed off to bother looking at the bright side.

You need to experience the 'discrimination' for yourself before you can know what I'm saying. I am not blaming anyone. I do not expect anyone around to know English. This is not a blame game. It is just a means to vent out my frustration. And the fact that no one right now can understand how I feel. Except maybe the one other Indian in the group. Because it doesn't even strike the others what it feels like to be left out of every conversation. Or feel guilty that they have to really strain their brain to find a way to translate what was just said especially for you.

In Thailand it was the food. In Taiwan its the language. Makes me feel hell guilty. And it shouldn't. But it does.

Non-veg people feel weird when they have to eat a totally veg meal. If for one meal they are taken out of their comfort zone, they feel it. Imagine having to live like that for 15 days. I'm very picky about food. I do not like to try out new things. My choice of food is limited to Indian. And junk. Chinese veg is never my choice. And here I need to feel grateful to get rice (for every freaking meal) and some boiled veg. No thank you. I would rather not eat.

If this article offends anyone, well I'm sorry. But I'm really really pissed off right now.

I am as much a vegetarian by birth as I am by choice. Nothing really is holding me back from eating non-veg. My sister eats it. My mum used to. So I do not appreciate it when people 'pity' me about it and say "Oh don't you ever feel tempted to try meat?" NO I DON'T. I feel repulsed by it. I'm not asking you to change yourself. You can go ahead annihilate whole species of whatever animals you want. But don't make me feel like a lesser person because I choose to not join you.

And about Taiwan, most of the people in the group have been here before. Many times. So they know the place quite well. Which makes it even worse. I don't even know the names of the places where we've been to so far. That is why I would rather stay in the hotel room and watch HBO rather than go out with the rest and feel like an illiterate fool.

I really wish I could carry the people in the group to India. And leave them each separately in a different city. Maybe it'll help them understand. I would never EVER have chosen to come to Taiwan of my own free will I think. Or even if I came, it would have been with non-chinks. So we would at least all be stupid and illiterate here. Like we were in Thailand :(

Bloody hell.

Night markets..

So its 12:50 at night (yep same time as sg) and I'm sitting in some random guy's ( :D ) room coz my room net doesn't work. Stupid cable thing. The whole thing disintegrated into my hands when I tried to use it. And chatting. And missing Indian food. I'm sick of having to always be a trouble and ask for special meals. And I'm sick of eating rice and Chinese Vegees. Sigh.

So we went night market before this. And I bought this random funky cap which I would normally never ever have bought. So fun :D And then the hanging thing for my phone, a necklace, bracelets, random top and, accidentally, leggings. But they were only 19 Taiwan Dollar, which is like less than 1 SingD, so who cares. Who knows, I might even end up using it.

Oh I've been talking sooo much Singlish here. OMG. But if I don't, no one will be able to understand what I say and I'll have to repeat a million times.

Oh and we went to Dharma Drum Mountain today. Its so freaking cool. The place is so hilly and pretty and clean and beautiful. The evenig service was in Cheeni so obviously I couldn't follow. Even though they gave us the English translation version. But it was very musical. And I like their uniforms. And I really liked the teachings of Sheng-Yen, the founder. He looks like one of those pure guys who are uncorrupted even in the midst of society. And what he says can appeal to both lays and monks.

And one dear friend of ours yet again asked a very smart question: "Are your flights to Malaysia and Singapore free when you go for public outreach?" And the other day he asked the Abbot (or was it Deputy Abbot?) what they pack in their bag when they go to other monasteries. So you see he makes our trip very interesting. I think I shall take the personal vow for tomorrow to speak no evil the entire day. Let's see how it goes :D

I think I should go sleep now. Though I'm not sleepy yet. Sigh. Why did I have to sleep so much yesterday night.

And I think I really have to do something about my appetite. It seems to be getting smaller and smaller by the end. And I'm tired of making up excuses to people about why I don't want dinner.

Ni hao ma :D

So we're in Taiwan now. Cheena cheena :(

I shall feel even more illiterate and useless here since at least in Thailand none of us (except Ajaan) knew any Thai.

And I got a hangover. Zomg I sound like such a boozer.

FAQ for the trip: Where is Xin Zhao :D Where is the banner?

Ok I can't think of anything to write. So I shall do this later.

Day 2

5:30pm local time

So we are in Nakhon now. Went to Suanmok in the morning. It is a monastery that was set up by Buddhadasa about 75 years ago and is something after my heart. I so like the whole concept of back to nature, instead of the insipid rituals and well adorned temples and statues. Though it has lots of dogs, whom I was obviously scared of, though they seemed harmless overall.

Then it was on to a temple. And the Chaiya National Museum. Weird place. But they were nice enough to not charge us, so we gave them one of the USP pens :)

Then the shopping mall was like so sad. Though I did get to eat vanilla chip ice-cream, which tasted more like butterscotch than anything else.

Everything in this country is in Thai. Majority don't speak any English. So it's very interesting to try to communicate with them. Like to ask when Carrefour closes, tap on watch, then make a curtain closing sign. Haha.

And now that we have internet at our hotel, I'm using it. And realizing how useless it is. I should really renounce the world and become a forest monk and go pray in like the Himalayas or something.

I should go up and sleep now. But before that we should be having a boozing session :D Let's see how it goes.

Swadika!

I'm in Thailand now. Woohoo! :D
And here's the 'diary' that I am keeping. And hopefully will continue to keep.

Day 1: 16th May 2009

12:30 local time

Phuket => Surat Thani

So we are in the bus now, on the way to Surat Thani. With our guide talking. He doesn’t seem to ever stop talking, I’m rapidly learning to become wary of the moment the mike is brought out. He keeps reminding us about “shoot the rabbit” and whatever “pluck the flower” or something (which means to go to the loo). So irritating.

Flight in the morning was ok. Managed to get to the airport in one piece with passport and all. Thank God for Salvation Army. Without them I wouldn’t have remembered about the passport thing. So as I was saying, flight today morning was quite ok. Even though I got the much feared neighbour. He slept half the way and the flight was only 1:20 hours. Then we got to Phuket and realized that the tour people thought we were coming by the 2pm flight. So we had to wait for him to rush to the airport. So I got to buy my first stick of chewing gum. And drink Minute Maid from a glass bottle. As Jie Hui pointed out, why does Singapore have only plastic bottles?
And we went to some random temple by the name of Wat Chalong or something which sounds like that. And I was re-reminded that it’ll soon become impossible for me to figure out what photo is for what temple.

Why does the guide not stop talking? “Phi” means older brother, and we’re supposed to call him that. And call Prof Pattana “achan”. Haha. Achar.

And he was talking about the monastery. And got me scared about how strict they will be. I don't know how to use chop sticks :(

It was super sunny when we were at the temple. And now its raining. Which is quite good. Cooler. And the guide stops talking. So I should sleep/look out the window/read “Children of the New Forest. Hmm.

Quote of the day: intelligence turns me on :P

11:00 pm local time

Ok. So the river cruise was very nice. I've never seen fireflies before. And they were amazing. Whole trees blinking one after another like Christmas lights. So pretty. And then the process of trying to catch one. And then Alicia making her clock blink. And Elvis getting one on his hand, which refused to leave and he didn't want to blow on it in case it fell into the water and drowned. Hahaha.

And then the Karaoke. And the love triangle. So fun :D

And the dinner was quite good. They made special veg food for me. Which also tasted decent. I’m hoping Thailand food will be ok. Coz Taiwan I am sure will be quite bad.
The hotel has no internet. So I cannot post this on my blog.

And I want to get drunk. Yet again. I'm sure we’re going to be doing that at least 2-3 times before we leave.

Nicknames

So the fakeiplblogger guy has inspired me to assign nicknames to people. Pretty obvious ones, most of them, but not all. Any suggestions are welcome :D

Actually I can't think of any, so I shall just write down old, and probably forgotten ones.

Kake Ganbaldihookyer Gattu Akki Dopey Jeet Danda Sri Lanka Tweety Chotu Doggy

The names Kanchenjunga Godbole and Pepper Potts are still up for grabs, so contact me if you want them :)