After the monkey temple we went to our accommodation for the night. Kung told us we were staying in an earthen lodge, and images of tribal Africans in mud huts came to mind. I figured I could sleep almost anywhere for one night and that I would survive. When we pulled up, it was much nicer than I expected. The only thing earthen about the lodge was that the walls were made of earth, but they were hard and painted and I probably wouldn’t have noticed had I not been told. There were wooden floors and a thatched roof, hot running water, electricity and even a fan! It was luxurious compared to what I expected. We had some downtime before dinner, and while Molly and I were relaxing in the breeze of the fan, we heard something scampering around in our thatched roof.
We were told dinner was to start at 7:30, but around 7:00 we heard a mass of people in the dining pavilion so we went to check it out. There was a large group of eastern Europeans who looked like they were finishing up dinner, so Molly and I sat down and waited for someone to tell us what was going on. We sat there for a little bit, then the lodge staff cleared away the dishes and the group got up and left. It turns out they were just a group that was there for dinner, they were not staying the night, and it was once again Molly and I. Story of our lives. Eventually we were joined by the only other guests staying the night, two German girls about our age who were backpacking through Thailand during a school break.
We invited Kung to sit with us, but due to regulations of the tour company she had to eat in the kitchen with the lodge staff. After dinner we convinced her to join us, and we chatted with Kung and the German girls for about two hours. We learned Kung was 25 years old and that arranged marriages are still very common in Thailand. Kung had a boy that her parents wanted her to marry, but also had a boyfriend on the side who her parents didn’t like. Her parents didn’t know that she was in such frequent contact with her boyfriend, and she figured that eventually she would have to give in and marry the boy her parents liked but this thought made her very sad. She told us Thai people believe that obeying your parents you will allow you to find eternal happiness in the afterlife. America would be quite different if kids believed this as deeply as Kung did.
Picture: The earthen lodge.
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