Happiness
The new interim Prime Minister of Thailand was just sworn in. He made a statement saying during his administration (only until the election next October, in theory) that they would work on increasing the happiness of the people rather than the economic bottom line; basically that they would focus on well-being indicators rather than the GNP. That is brilliant, isn’t it?
This morning on the flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai I was thinking about how I’m feeling happier at the moment than I have in months. I think that maybe happiness is contagious. And I could be catching it from Thai people. It’s such a cliche about this being the land of smiles or what have you but there really is something special about the bearing of people here. When they smile at you it seems sincere, unlike many places in the world (e.g. Vietnam), where you sort of feel sorry for people when they smile at you because it is usually under duress and looks like they’re doing something vaguely painful. But here, people smile at you like, “Hey, you’re a person and I’m a person and we’re both right here. Isn’t that marvelous??” It gives you a warm, connected feeling.
So, in the general spirit of the new Prime Minister’s administration, here are some things that have made me happy today:
* Finding a guesthouse on a quiet, shady side street – $8 a night for a large, airy room with a balcony overlooking temples and trees, cable TV with 100 channels (including…wait for it…CNN Asia! Yes!!), a refrigerator, pretty blue tiles in the bathroom. It’s lovely. Chiang Mai vs. Bangkok (as experienced from my respective hotel rooms) is less traffic and construction sites, and more birds and bells and wind in the trees.
* Chatting with my new friend Korn who works next door to the guesthouse, at the place where I now use the Internet. He asked me about a festival in the United States that his friends told him about, which turned out to be Halloween, and we planned out how he was going to dress up and go trick-or-treating at the American Consulate (took a while to fully explain ‘trick or treat’ but he is now very fond of it, almost as much as ‘see you when you see me’, which I’ve picked up from him). Also, he pointed out that his name was an American rock band whereas my name (when he heard it, he raised his eyebrows and said, “Really?!”) is very lucky because in Thai it means something like ‘really super great’ (two words, one of which is like ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ and the other is a modifier meaning ‘one hundred thousand’). I really, really hope this is true.
* This climate simply agrees with me. I noticed it in Vietnam and it continues here. My skin looks all dewy and my hair is super shiny and wavy. Oh my god I’m so pretty pretty pretty! OK fine I’ll stop now. But I really am suited to this climate.
* Hanging out at the U.N. Irish Pub, which is a two-minute walk from my guesthouse, drinking a lasse and listening to Oasis. That made me very happy indeed.
* The restaurant of my guesthouse looks exactly like an American diner. It is so awesome. The booths are carved wood and red vinyl, and have granite table tops. How much will I be hanging out there drinking coffee and writing in the morning? The answer: A lot.
I think that every day I will start making lists of all the things that have made me really happy (don’t worry, I’ll spare you guys from now on), until maybe eventually they will crowd out all the sad, disappointing things that landed me here in the first place. Eventually I will forget. Right?
Tags: Chiang Mai, Thailand
sandra_101
i am one hundred thousand really super happy for you…i hope those lists grow so long that they soon take way too much time to even write. xor
Sandy,
This is the most interesting read I’ve had in . . . well, in a really long time. I’m adding this to my favorites folder, and will look forward to reading it every morning when I get to work!!
Wow! I can’t wait for your novel!