Possessed by gods

The kids at Ban Lam Pi love to learn all the “cool” stuff we did as American kids. We’ve been showing them some handshakes and hi fives lately. In the process, we’ve also discovered that those before us have already taught them the fake-out hi five. O yeah, remember that? The kids get a huge laugh out of it. Also, don’t know if I mentioned this before, but when the girls give us kisses on either side of the cheek, they don’t actually kiss with their lips. They suck their lips in as if they didn’t have any and instead they smell us. This big inhale of our scent is their way of giving a peck on the cheek.

On the way to school, we saw a few trucks full of people in white and yellow shirts. They were standing, some of them shaking from side to side, others playing drums, and some with a piercing through opposite ends of the skin above their upper lip. Although the piercing nearly made me faint, I was even more disturbed by what I saw and heard about later this afternoon. On the way back from school, I saw more trucks full of the same looking people, but a couple of guys looked possessed. They appeared to be shaking uncontrollably with only the whites of their eyes showing. I later heard that a few doors down from our house there were people hitting themselves on the back with a ball full of spikes, which caused a lot of bleeding, but apparently no pain due to the trance these people were in. Doesn’t this sound a lot like The Da Vinci Code? I’m currently reading this book, which may be why I was especially bothered today by what I saw and heard. I think the guys that scared me the most are called “shaman” here. They are chosen- I’m not sure by who or when- and get into a trance for this annual festival. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard they walk on coals and do other outrageous things too.

My roomies and I are going to Phuket this weekend for the Vegetarian Festival, so I’m sure they’ll be more craziness to tell about soon.