Bangkok

About two weeks ago I had the most amazing opportunity to take a trip with my co-workers to Thailand to run a training entitled, "People's Diplomacy Training on Women's Engagement in Peace and Decision-Making Processes." In other words, the training was intended as a resource for our participants to learn about international and national mechanisms for promoting women's right and engagement in peace processes and providing them with tools to use these mechanisms to promote improved situations for women in their respective countries. We had participants from the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Cambodia, West Papua, Aceh, Thailand, and a few of us ex-pats from the U.S. Many of the participants were also resource persons, sharing their stories from their countries. We heard about truth and reconciliation processes in Timor-Leste, success stories of engaging with government in Cambodia, and the process of creating a people's peace agenda and lessons learned in including (or not including) gender in this agenda in Mindanao, Philippines. We also spent some time learning practical skills such as mediation, negotiation, and media advocacy. For me, personally, I was able to present and facilitate throughout the workshop, and I gained tons of experience in honing my trainer skills.

I also gained so much inspiration from the participants of the workshop. There were women from Burma literally risking their lives to work with NGOs on the border of their country. They told us horrible stories of the military junta, but also expressed hope that the Burmese population was slowly turning away from supporting the oppressive government. One day, the junta will have to face an entire population against them. There was also an amazing sharing among Muslim women from Aceh, South Thailand, and Mindanao. They all had different interpretations of how the Quran views the place of women in the public sphere, but the conversation wasn't a doctrinal debate, it was a sharing of how the one truth in the Quran can be humbly interpreted to different contexts, situations, and women. To me, this was religion at its best -- a tool for helping each person understand their lives and the world around them, while remaining respectful of all others.

We also had a couple extra days in Bangkok to explore! I loved Bangkok, it is clean, modern, and beautiful. The Thai culture is present almost everywhere you turn. Small shrines are erected outside of hotels and Western car dealerships. Bangkok seemed to me a cross-section of modernity and tradition that works. Here are a few photos:

First, we headed to Chatuchack market, a huge market with 5,000 stalls. You can buy basically anything you could ever need or want!

Then we headed over to the Grand Palace, but got there just as it was closing, so I could only take a picture from the outside:

We also caught a picture of the Temple of Dawn:


Then off to another temple, Wat Po, the one with the famous reclining Buddha:

Then we headed over to Khao San road, the tourist, backpacker's haven:

Mmmm Pad Thai off the street with Thai beer:

One morning, I also headed to Lumpini Park, took a walk around, and caught some people doing morning Tai Chi: