Thailand Journal IV: Massage and Elephants

Ganesha

Massage, not necessarily prostitution or erotic, is one of Thailand’s calling cards. You might call it one of the exports and also one of its greatest natural resources since practically every other storefront in a city like Chiang Mai is a massage studio and that can make for a lot of studios in an urban center with a population over 1 million—massage that is, and elephants. Here in Northern Thailand there are statues of elephants everywhere. The elephant has a kind of sacred status and almost functioning as a deity, though not quite. The Hindu god Ganesha which some Thais have adopted was depicted with the head of an elephant and Thailand itself is shaped like one, with the trunk representing its southern most portions. There are as many statues of elephants as there are statues of the Buddha. But as you leave Chiang Mai and head into the mountains, you feel you are entering sacred territory, a land of temples and ancient tribal civilizations like that of the Lanna kingdom and the Hill Tribe peoples. Buddhist monks with their shaved heads and yellow robes are as ubiquitous in Chiang Mai as are streimels worn by the Hasidic Jews in Jerusalem. Parenthetically Chiang Mai has its own little Jewish quarter replete with chabad, right along one of the major thoroughfares, Chang Klan Road. Despite the discos and karaoke’s filled with bar girls, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and other cities of the North are religious territory in which the sacred and the spiritual coexist uneasily with the profane. Right outside of Chiang Rai is the Doi Tung Royal Villa, which was built by the mother of the current king. It’s gardens are a Thai Giverny and inside are exhibits of sacred Buddhist objects. In the Buddhist conception the feet are low on the food chain with the brain and head at top. Perhaps traditional Thai massage which starts with the feet and ends with the head is a way uniting the high and the low.

Thailand Journal III: Muay Thai

Photograph by Hallie Cohen

Did you know The International Muay Thai Thaphae Boxing Stadium on Moonmuang Road in Chiang Mai won “the Muaysiam of north Aword, the best stadium of the year” in 2011? It’s a classic boxing ring in a poor man’s shopping mall, a large corrugated metal roof which is surrounded by concessions. Those who grew up under one of the old elevated subway lines which still exists in the outer boroughs of New York would  recognize the comforting claustrophobia and stench of the place. The banks of audience seats are almost totally filled with English and Australians who are served drinks by a waiter who’s androgynous nature is a far cry from the gruff bartenders you find in an American boxing venue like Madison Square Garden. But then again one recent Muay Thai champion is a lady boy. In America Michael Buffer, the ring announcer  cries out “Let’s get ready to rumble.” But Muay Thai fights at Thaphae however brutal with their knee and low leg kicks begin with an ancient ritual. The ring announcer plays a tune on an ancient instrument to announce the event, very much like the Jews blowing the shofar on the high holidays. And before any fighting begins two fighters do the equivalent of a karate kata, in which the conventions are honored in a choreographed pas de deux where no blows are thrown. Then it’s time for the bone crushing action to begin. The first fight are two l0 or ll year old boys who wear nothing besides trunks, gloves and mouthpieces. There are no helmets, shoes or other protections and the two fighters smile almost embarrassedly as they try to inflict severe injuries on each other. MMA fights that you see on Fox television have equal if not more brutality, but they lack both the ritual and traditions. They are simply about kicking, punching and submission. Could a Muay Thai knockout represent a form of Buddhist enlightenment?                 

Thailand Journal I: Chiang Mai Bargirls

The first thing one notices driving into the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai from the airport at night are the bargirls. Thailand is famous for bargirls and prostitutes, but this Northern city is particularly dark after sundown, with shuttered storefronts, weathered buildings and desolate factories epitomizing its backwater status. The only thing lighting up the darkness is the girls, hundreds of girls, dressed to the nines but for what? There's nothing particularly unique about a tableau of Thai bar girls, yet the disparity between their appearance and the hopelessness of their predicament is what is most dramatic. Where are the customers? Hardly any are in sight. Women turn to prostitution in countries like Thailand due to poverty and while it’s not legal, it’s plainly more than tolerated by the local authorities. However this is not Las Vegas. Chiang Mai is known for its culture of serious Thai massage, for Lanna architecture and for being the gateway to the temples of the Golden Triangle, It's a far cry from fleshpots like Bangkok and Phuket, with their legendary "soapy massages" where the wandering sybarite can find him or herself turned into the filling of a human sandwich. However there is still the matter of the girls. Why choose a profession for which the supply is so far greater than the demand? When you look at these creatures, whose supernal beauty, creates its own olfactory sensation, a kind of imagined perfume that can ignite a fever of longing, you’re reminded of the painted horses on a children’s carousel, moving up and down, turning round and round and going nowhere.