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Health & Fitness

Haircuts and Gifts

In which I suddenly find myself having a spa day and I participate in the fun of Thai gift-giving.


I was feeling a bit shaggy and had no plans this morning, so I decided to go get my hair cut. Despite the place's distinctly ad-hoc vibe, things went more or less according to convention until we got to the end. The haircutter, a tiny woman who had chatted with me throughout in an unbroken stream of unintelligible Thai, now stopped speaking and leaned close to me. Taking my chin in her hand she examined my head closely. Straightening, she took a step back and gravely tugged twice on her earlobe. Not knowing what response would be appropriate, I just started laughing. She repeated the gesture, and still laughing, so did I. 


Apparently satisfied with my response, she tilted my chair back and produced a hot towel which she rubbed over my face and ears. What I had signed up for, I soon discovered, was an highly invasive, yet oddly satisfying ear cleaning. She had a wide variety of tools available, including a shudder-inducing, long metal spoon and various other esoteric and alarming utensils which she wielded with enthusiasm and dexterity. 


When it was over, I was invited to sit on a little couch, and in short order there appeared tea, cut fruit and little candies. The Thai people are, generally speaking, incredibly generous and open-hearted and love giving small gifts. People drop by the wat with gifts for me sometimes, or monks give me books or food. Even shopkeepers will give a gift after I have visited them a couple of times. It is, of course, polite to reciprocate, so I end up getting into cycles of giving and receiving small gifts with some people. Sometimes I just re-gift things from one person to someone else (sshhh!) This cycle almost turned into a tsunami of gift-giving on my recent trip to Isaan. After almost every stop someone would hand me a little trinket that they bought for me or come to my seat and shyly hand me a bag of cut fruit. I was starting to lose track of things, but luckily, the trip ended just in time and I was returned to Bangkok and the peaceful monastery. 

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