Thamkrabok

Today was my final day in Thailand! So sad. I’ve loved being here and learning about a part of the world I knew very little about.  Since we were in Bangkok for a day before I left. Kari, Cathy, and I went to a little town called Thamkrabok. It houses a Temple (of course), and has an interesting history.  The temple houses a rehabilitation center that is quite reputable (giving success rates that are quite high). Treatment involves living at the temple, and an initial process of purification that lasts 5 days in which you can only drink water and this herbal drink that makes you throw-up (they say it’s to rid you of the drug toxins).

Additionally, it was also the site of a “refugee” camp. I put that in quotes, because it was never officially classified as a refugee camp, but for all intents and purposes, it was one. All of the families were Hmong (mostly from Laos), and there were thousands of families (estimates range from 13,000 to 50,000 – so I don’t know how to size it for you).  But about 3000 of them came to Minneapolis/St. Paul as refugees. Because of this, Kari studies the young men and their school achievement, adjustment, etc. So this is how we ended up here today.

There is a student here studying the Thamkrabok history for his Masters’ thesis at University of Wisconsin, so he was able to show us around and talk with people (he’s fluent in both Hmong and Thai).  We talked with a Monk all morning about the history of the temple, the town and the camp. It was really interesting and we talked of some of the current challenges. 

Monk we talked to

David, Monk, Me, Cathy, Kari, with a statue of the Abbot who founded the temple in the background.

What the camp looks like now. There are a few foundations left (and this squatter), but mostly it's over grown now.

In the afternoon, we talked with three current Hmong refugees living in Thailand, but from Laos.  Due to the sensitive nature of their situation, I’m not really willing to put up a lot on the web, where anyone can read it (or put their pictures up for that matter). While the likelihood of anyone reading this is minimal, I wouldn’t want to unintentionally make things worse for them either. If you’re curious, I’m happy to talk about it in person.

We had dinner back in Bangkok with Cathy’s family. And it was lovely. We got to eat on one of the rivers.  

View from dinner. Perfect way to spend my last night.