October 13, 2005

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time at Mut-Mee Guest House (www.mutmee.com) along the Mekong River. (Mut-Mee is a type of fabric from northeastern Thailand.) When we arrived, we were greeted by Julian, the very congenial proprietor, who checked us in and introduced us to the routines at this extremely well-run establishment. After just one evening at this lovely guest house, we all decided we needed at least one more day here. Peter and Paul hooked up with Julian’s sons, Benny and Johnny, and they taught Peter and Paul how to play backgammon. Peter is now a backgammon maniac, though he was frustrated by several devastating losses to his father, a late-night backgammon champion back in our bedroom in Eugene!

Close to the end of our stay, Peter, Paul, Benny and Johnny accidentally took a little mud bath along the Mekong. Apparently while exploring the river’s edge, they sunk several feet into the mud and nearly lost their shoes and came sledging toward us caked in mud and tracking all kinds of adherents on the bottom of their shoes! But, as Julian said, no harm done, as this mud has nutritive properties, and after a good hose down, they’re skin was marvelously soft and radiant!  

We took a late afternoon bike ride to Salakaewkoo, a fantastic sculpture garden created by a Laos artist named Boun Leua Sourirat. In a beautifully manicured forest garden is an impressive collection of huge statues of Hindu and Buddhist gods made not out of the elegant teak or mahogany of the region but rather cheap, readily available concrete. They are an expression of the artist’s unique spiritual journey and encounters with eastern divinity; each sculpture has been fashioned lovingly and gigantically. Sculptures of gods in different poses and surrounded by fearsome animals, serpents, wolves, and rats, tower above the trees. One sitting Buddha, the equivalent of the height of an 8-story building, presides over the collection, and many brick standing Buddhas stand sentinel over the whole complex. Amidst the diverse array of deities are multiple female Hindu gods, a Chinese big-bellied Buddha, and reclining Buddha. In the southeastern corner of the garden is the artist’s fanciful interpretation of the circle of life that begins with a phallic symbol of the penis and a large tunnel, the vagina, that you crawl through to encounter the fetus. The circle continues through the stages of life--infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and death. Many different manifestations and aspects of living are represented—occupations, such as business, police, or military (a soldier with an M-16 memorializes the Vietnam War), government, spiritual traditions and practices, and the elements of Buddhism—wind or the breath of life, water, or fluidity or change, heat or energy, and wisdom and understanding. Six senses infuse the journey, represented by an eye, ear, nose, body, and mouth—sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and he added a sixth sense, love, represented by a heart. Ultimately, the man and woman are shown following Buddha to Nirvana. In one article we read about this eccentric and extremely clever artist, the reporter interviewed the artist before he died. He had sustained extensive injuries from a fall from one of his sculptures but as he started talking about his work, he bound up one of his sculptures and began lovingly caressing it, much to the chagrin of his disciples, responsible for his care.  

Julian referred me to his Catholic friend, Koon (Mr.) Suwan, and I visited him in his textile shop to find out about masses in town. His family is originally from south Thailand, and at the age of 11, he decided he wanted to become a Catholic. He announced this to his devout Buddhist parents who merely asked him if this religion condoned doing harm to or stealing from others. When he responded, no, that this was against the basic precepts of Christianity, they were satisfied and allowed him to practice his new faith without interference. However, when he was a teenager and began getting a little lazy about attending mass every Sunday, his father confronted him one Sunday about his commitment. Koon Suwan feebly said he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t feel like going to mass, and his father firmly told him that if he wanted to practice this faith, he better get out of bed and get to mass! He didn’t mass willfully again! Around the time of the Vietnam War, he moved his family north when he got work with the American Embassy in Vientiane, Laos. When the communists took over in Laos after the war, Koon Suwan was surreptitiously sent to a "re-education" camp and did not see his family for several years. During this very difficult time, it was his faith that sustained him and to this day, he remains a very devout Catholic and is very active in his parish in Nong Khai. In fact, the textile stores he manages are part of a joint project with a sister from a local Catholic order to create livelihoods for the young people of villages in the area. Koon Suwan sells and markets their cloth and weavings locally and in international markets. He was very curious about the status of the Catholic Church in America and told me that he always asks American tourists if they are Catholics. He is very surprised that so many of them say they no longer practice their faith and really just didn’t understand this. I was very impressed and fascinated with the zeal of this man’s faith. Here he was a Christian in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country, he had suffered severe persecution for these religious beliefs during the communist regime in Laos, and still, he believed…and with even more vigor with every challenge that came his way!