The Cremation and Walking around the Wat Neighborhood.

11/3
Ton went in to down to get the photographs and negatives. We were leaving for Jit's aunt's funeral at 12:00 and wanted the photographs back so I could give them to the family. In the morning I edited pictures from the last week. I found eight more pictures that I needed printed for the family, I had missed them in the initial selection. We managed to get them printed before we left.

When we got to the funeral there was a meal being served, we ate. People moved the casket to a large wagon and then the people went around the crematorium three times surrounding the casket. People were crying and carrying pictures. The casket was then placed on a stand in front of the crematorium and people left to get dressed in their uniforms for the final cremation.

I went for a walk up the street, there was an agonizing skinny cat, probably near death. I can not understand how people with compassion can let a cat be so sick and skinny. Yesterday though I noticed a man in deep despair, very disheveled, sitting on a mattress. there is also the women in black at the 7/11, maybe when people and animals fall too far, they are just ignored and become invisible. It is hard to understand with all the other signs of compassion and concern that I see. I would like to talk with the Monk about his thoughts about what I am seeing.

Keenon came by and I walked with her for awhile. Jit wanted to go get something she saw near her Uncle's house so we walked there with Keenon. I started listing the kinds of stores that we were passing, not including street vendors. Here is the list of about three blocks on an average Bangkok street:
Bike Repair
Upholstery
Structural Metal
A Family Mart
Electrical Supplies and Lighting
A shop with large gunny sacks of small coiled springs
A gas station
A cooking gas store
A paint store
An auto mechanic
A Bank
A VCD store
A store selling drinks, both pop and alcohol
A store selling rice
A store that repaired electrical appliances
A place to wash clothes
A Photo Processing store
A 7-11
A News Stand
A Beauty Shop
A shop selling temple stuff
A dress maker
A group of shops selling wood sculptors and accessories.
We stopped there because Jit was getting wood letters for the front of the house. Keenon and I walked down to Jit's uncles. The people were getting ready. The Monk was there, he thanked me for the photographs. There was a dog that was protective of the house and the monk chased him away with compassion and understanding of the dog's mind. The dog was Jit's uncles and he was clearly being protective. The Monk shooed him away with a straw. I wished I could communicate better.

People were wearing white uniforms with black arm bands, we took a Tuck Tuck back to the temple. I walked again and saw a street vendor, one who carried his items on a pole with two baskets suspended on each end. He had beautiful wood items for sale. I went and got Jit and she purchased some.

The crematorium was all decorated in ribbons and flowers. There was music being played, I took it for granted until I realized that it was live. I went and watched, there was a flute, hand drums, two stringed instruments being plucked, and a steel guitar like instrument on the floor. I was watching I realized that the music was like Jazz, people were improvising and switching instruments. One man started to play the drums faster, the music adapted and came along, they were enjoying themselves, having fun. The music was beautiful, especially when I closed my eyes.

The area was packed with people, there were a few speeches, there were even traffic police whistling to control traffic. At 5:00 there was a bell that rang, people walked up to the casket and dropped a flower on the casket, people came up one side and then came down the other stairs. In the back there some Monks chanting by the crematorium burners. There was another bell, and then the close relatives came up again. The casket was pushed into the crematorium. People were crying, and crematorium door slowly lowered and the crematorium was ignited.

We then left for Kong Toey dock. We visited the other funeral for awhile and then went home. It was a very intense day. I took photographs of the ceremony. I will try to get them developed tomorrow. Tomorrow we will visit STOU and go to Oowon funeral.