Monday, June 2, 2008

wat tham sua



Hey man…

So today was the first day of shooting on bitter/sweet. And it lived up to the title, mostly that bitter part. The actual shooting and movie making aspects were perfect-great crew, awesome food (totally thai breakfast of seaweed soup, rice, fried eggs with chili peppers in oil, and stir fried octopus and veggies), fun cast, and not raining. Those were the sweet parts. The bitter parts were the unbearable heat and the location. The location is actually one of the more beautiful things to see in all of southern Thailand-wat tham sua (wat is temple, tham is cave, and sua is tiger…or shirt if you are whitey and say it wrong). What made it so bitter was my costume. Stupid brian has to be all cool about things and wear a polo shirt (on him: light cotton long sleeve button down, perfect for those early fall cookouts while hanging on to the last nights of the summer on Nantucket, roll up the sleeves for that casual look or pull them down for the office, in stripes of pea soup, butternut, ochre, and aubergine on white, page 32) and corduroy pants (a classic of the city bound wilderness lover, these long knap cords keep you warm and smart in the chilly onset of winter-easily goes from subway to office to Christmas get together, available in khaki, mud, sand, and forest, page 76). Oh, I also got to wear sweet sandals. That really kept things cool and light. Oh, and I think I forgot to mention that this temple is on top of a mountain. A mile up. Straight up. With steps made of concrete of varying heights and fortitude. Facing east. We climbed up at 6 am. Wow. I was an awesome sight of sweat and heat stroke. But still, I am in better shape than all the thais save the muay thai guys who can kick my ass. So that was bitter. Another bitter part: when we finally got up it started to rain so we could not work for hours and were stuck up there waiting for the helicopter to be able to fly. I slept some. I learned some thai (not easy, but now I can say that shirt is blue or that shirt is orange or that tiger is orange or that hat is green-pretty rad!!) I mainly learn thai for two reasons: it is fun for some reason and, because MY accent is so bad, it gives me free reign to make fun of the thais and use my engrish. I am a diplomat!!

Talk soon…I am a bit too tired to tell you about the monkeys and what it was like when the rain came in (amazing). Will get to that stat i am sure...

2 comments:

that wilson girl said...

Another thing that's bitter and sweet? Being home. Fly long time.

Also, I believe we climbed Tiger Buddha Mountain on Wednesday. If I said I wasn't still sore, I'd be lying.

Tell Thai friends "Sawatdee Kaa!" and every time you see anyone tell them I say "Thank You" until they start getting annoyed and wish they weren't so nice to me.

Unknown said...

yuck. there is only one thing I get easier than poison oak, and that is heat stroke. that post made me uncomfortable! Hit the A/C!