Portraits at a Thai market

One of the many things I enjoy about living in Thailand is its profusion of open air markets. One can hardly travel more than half a kilometer without seeing at least one local market (often several), with customers swarming about buying clothes, hardware, fresh fish, coffee, hot and spicy Thai dishes, sweets, or fruits and vegetables. No two are the same. They reflect local resources and culture, sometimes a merging of several, especially in the melting pot that is Bangkok.


For this essay, I concentrated on the faces of people I met in a single day at one of Bangkok's largest local markets located in the easternmost district of Bangkok province. My intent is to have these portraits speak for themselves, to show the personalities of the hard working vendors, who put in very long hours but remain positive and fun-loving, or "sanuk" as the Thais call it.

Notes about the cameras used are at the end. All photos by the author, all rights reserved. Do not use without permission.

 

 

 

For this photo essay, I used two Canon digital cameras, an EOS 350D SLR and an Ixus 115 HS pocket camera. No telephotos were used, but I did crop a few to make the images bigger in the frame.

Work and relaxation on Phuket Island, Thailand

Islands near Phuket, on approach to Phuket International Airport.

Even if one has never heard of Phuket, Thailand's largest island and one of the country's top tourist destinations, it is apparent upon approach to the airport that this place is special: beautiful jungle-clad mountainous islands thrust out of the Andaman Sea all around the "Pearl of Thailand". Phuket itself is covered in thick tropical forests that blanket the island's many mountains.

(Photos by the author, all rights reserved. Do not use without permission.) 

Most people who come to Phuket (Be careful: it is pronounced "poo-ket") do not wish to venture into the forests with its dazzling waterfalls or the many pineapple and rubber tree plantations: they come for the beaches and nightlife, as well as exploring the many other nearby islands in the Indian Ocean that lure snorkelers and divers.

This beach, far from the hustle and noise of the more popular spots, is tranquil by comparison. One comes here to relax. Note the few occupied chairs. This is not where you go if you want the young beach scene: those are farther south along Phuket's west coast.

The end of the beach that is frequented mainly by westerners has an array of casual bars and restaurants, as well as inexpensive (US$15, 500 THB) motels. There are also two upscale hotels (US$45+, 1500+ THB) with swimming pools.

Since the tragic tsunami that smashed into Phuket in 2004, evacuation signs are seen everywhere. There has been no effort to minimize damage from the next one, however. New bungalows and shops are being built right on the beach, exposed to any deadly wave that comes.

Once paperbacks, now kindles are read on the beach.

Kite boarding has become a popular recreational past time. Thankfully, no annoying jet skis (yet), like other beaches in Thailand have allowed.

The bars and restaurants offer relaxing breezy spots at night. Unfortunately, as in many other places in Thailand, this once quiet beach now has music blaring from speakers; for some reason this is typical of the country's beaches, where it is thought that patrons prefer electronic music (of the owner's choice) to that of the ocean waves.

At the other end of the beach, next to a national park, are the "salas" where mainly Thais go. No music, no kite boards, no beach signs or people calling to sell something. If one wants quiet, this is where to find it.

Fresh seafood on the grill.

Friendly beach dogs patiently await a handout.

A beach vendor seeks customers.

Casual is casual: No lifeguard ever occupied this chair. Come to think of it, there is no chair! This is an example of a good idea never completely thought through. This is the only life guard stand on the entire stretch of beach.

Offshore storm clouds help create beautiful sunsets.

Sometimes the most beautiful sunset scenes are not where you might expect. This is looking east on the other side of the island during a sunset.

Although most of Thailand has a variety of delicious seafood, Phuket, due to its location, is considered by many to have the best.

Beach pub

Bath time!

Pickup loads of workers, many from Burma, come to work on construction crews each day. Despite long hours and low pay ($5 a day), they remain surprisingly cheerful.

If you have never experienced the aroma of durian, you will not understand this sign.

The main reason for my trip to Phuket was to teach a three hour biology lesson on animal behavior to 10th graders (M4 in Thailand) at a high school's English Program division for a video series on teaching inquiry science. While I and three colleagues flew down, the camera crew drove for 12 hours with the equipment.
Here, two students test the response of insect larvae to different grains in an experiment they designed. I used the same animals for lessons at three different levels: Primary 4 (4th grade), M2 (8th grade) and M4 (10th grade). The content differed according to the students' experience, scientific skill level and content knowledge.

Phuket town is an old seaport that once saw lots of commerce between the east indies and China. Located just north of the mouth of the Straits of Malacca, it still retains much of the Portuguese architecture which now houses mainly Chinatown shops and Thai businesses.

Traditional Chinese altars are seen on the sides of buildings in the Old Town.

These altars are believed to bring good luck to the inhabitants.

In a Thai "spirit house" sits a serene figure with a pleasant smile. According to one Thai I spoke to, this is probably a well-loved village elder from a past era who now watches over the restaurant where it is located.

If you don't want to pay US$22 (700 THB) for a trip to the airport in an air conditioned minivan ($30, 1000 THB TO Phuket FROM the airport), you can hop one of these "songtaos" (two benches) for $3 (100 baht). It takes longer, and you have to share with other passengers and their bags of groceries, including a bag full of durian that was placed right next to me, but it is the "real" Thai experience. You may have to ask around to find the right one, though.

Many buildings of colonial-era Portuguese design can be found in Phuket Town. Because it overlaps Chinatown, colorful paper lanterns are often part of the decorations.

Motorcycle side cars not only offer ways to transport produce, but families as well. Not safe (although more stable than four on a motorcycle, which is seen often throughout Thailand), but economical.

Thailand adoption challenges

(See October 2013 update at end of post)

I was recently contacted by a couple who live in Thailand and want to adopt a Thai child. Their questions were typical: Do we have to go through an agency? Are we too old to adopt? Where do we start? I have not shared our experiences yet, as I wanted to be sure that we completed everything and had the final adoption papers before sharing the joys and the frustrations of the process. Truthfully, the joy came only at the end; the frustrations were frequent and often discouraging. Here is an edited version of the reply I sent:

I have two adopted Thai daughters, one now 23, the other, 9. Each experience was very different from the other.

First, private adoption in Thailand is not possible. You may find some agency that will help, but ultimately you MUST go through social services (Department of Social Development and Welfare, or DPW--department of public welfare as it is commonly called) to finalize any adoption. An agency may be able to speed things up; it may be worthwhile to find out, but they will of course charge a fee for their services. For my first adoption (this was in 1989), we were asked to adopt a baby girl; the mother contacted us through friends. The mother was staying at a women's shelter. However, we had to go through the DPW for everything. It went rather quickly (5 months), as we did all the leg work, taking papers to various places to be signed, and we had a Thai friend helping us with translation issues. If we had not done so much of the traveling, who knows how long it would have taken? The adoption center is not known for its efficiency. However, everyone's experience is different. And, as I said, an agency may be able to do all that legwork. However, I am not sure that they work with in-country adoptions.

The laws have tightened since then, and it is not unusual for an adoption to take 3 years, although it could easily be done in one. It is now a legal requirement that adoptions take longer than a year, as the family records and child history must be thoroughly checked. This is a safety measure for several reasons, including wanting to be sure the child is not being "trafficked". Apparently, even an abandoned child may be "reclaimed" by the family (it doesn't have to be a parent) up to 364 days after being given up. It took us 3 1/2 years this time. The social workers are overworked and the offices understaffed, so it can be frustratingly slow. To underscore this, more children come into the system each year than are placed with adoptive parents, so the number of children waiting to be adopted is increasing. This is so very frustrating, as there are prospective parents around the world who would love to share their home with a Thai orphan or abandoned child. 

Adoptions in Thailand cost no money, except for paperwork processing fees at the end, so beware of anyone who says they can help you for a fee. (I still question the exorbitant fees charged by agencies out of other countries who assist in the process.) Your ages are not an issue. Don't believe any social worker who tells you differently. It seems that some social workers will tell a prospective parent that he or she is "too old"--in one such case one of the parents was 50. I was 62 for the latest adoption! So, there is no rule: that social worker formed a personal opinion, and simply made up the requirement. 

To show how slow the process is, we adopted a beautiful, smart Thai girl, who was 8 1/2 years old, and had been in foster care for 7 1/2 years! And, we were told that girls are hard to find. I still cannot understand why it took so long to place her. She was available at one year of age! You can speed up the process ("speed" being a relative term here) if you are willing to accept "hard to place" children, such as older kids or those with disabilities.

Your social worker is also important. Unfortunately, ours was not very competent, and not at all efficient, but you take what you can get. You just have to stay on top of things, and keep sending emails or calling to check on the progress. For example, for several months, we simply did not hear from our social worker. When we called or sent an email to check on things, I would receive a reply stating that "the board wants to know..." such irrelevant things as "How much money does your daughter in the U.S. make?" or some months later, "Is your daughter a Thai or American citizen?" (Uh oh, is there a correct answer to this?) Often I would get questions that I had already answered. This went on for nearly a year. At the time, I thought maybe she was just hoping we would give up.

We were not given much notice when we were matched with our daughter. It just came out of the blue. It was somewhat unbelievable, as we were getting used to being put on hold. We met our lovely daughter one day before taking her home. As mentioned before, she had been living with the same foster family for more than seven years, and then was taken without much warning by two foreigners to their home in Bangkok. It was pretty upsetting for her. I keep wondering what people do who take an older child out of Thailand, and who do not speak Thai. I can't imagine the emotional upheaval. In our case, we were fortunate to be able to speak Thai--our daughter spoke no English--and we live in a Thai neighborhood. Even so, the transition was very difficult. Why had she been in a foster home for that long? It was the only family she had known. It was painful to watch the goodbyes.

Again, this was only one experience. Yours may be much smoother.

So, back to the matter at hand: you want to adopt a child from Thailand.

Your first move is to make an appointment with Social services at the Child adoption department on Rajwithi Road near Victory Monument in Bangkok. You can reach them by email (they may respond quickly, maybe not) at adoption@loxinfo.co.th. Or, just go to the center, located at 255 Ratchawithi (Rajvithi) Road. It is near the Payathai Home for Girls, which taxi drivers may know better. Don't call--you MAY reach a social worker, but also may just be put on hold until you hang up. Sometimes you get lucky and reach a social worker who speaks English.

Here are some links that may help (one has a map for the adoption center):

http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/child-adoption-thailand.php

http://www.adoptinginthailand.com/about-thailand-adoption.htm

Update October 10, 2013: Now in the process of moving to The U.S., we are finding more challenges, particularly getting an immigrant visa. If a child is adopted IN COUNTRY, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security must review the case and make a decision about whether the child qualifies for an immigrant visa. According to the Hague Convention Agreement, an adopted child must live for two years with the adoptive parents before being considered for an immigrant visa (our daughter has not yet met this requirement). Stay tuned: we are in the process of finding out exactly what options we have.