Stopover in Bangkok Airport on my way to Chiang Mai. Don Muang, nonetheless, Bangkok's newer, step-child of an airport. Fellow travelers fly there as rarely as possible due to its apparent inconvenience especially when connecting to other airlines, but Air Asia is now flying here.
Thought to utilize this opportunity for clean,
air-conditioned space to do work.
Business plan cleanup, Ebay-ing, social networking, fund-raising, figure
out next steps in PRAY Jewelry business.
Just about anything and everything regarding my passion. 2 hours to kill.
Before entering security I saunter down the runway of typical
glitzy, get-your-last-souvenir shops, mixed with convenience shops filled to
the brim of candied mango, durian fruit snacks, dried fish snacks, Japanese
green tea, magazines in languages I cannot read, sugar my body will not happily
process. The souvenir shops are speckled
with diamond jewelry so shiny it’s impossible not to glare as I walk by. Wooden carved elephants and Buddha’s amidst wanna
be gemstone jewelry, scarves, handbags, and Thai style whatever you want. A feast for my eyes after living in the
jungle for two months, yet nothing I desire.
In fact it’s quite boring after all of 32 seconds, but at the end of the
walkway there is an interesting looking store: The Royal Project Foundation. I have never seen a store like this in an
airport. Granted, I have been away from
the US for quite some time, haven’t traveled in many major airports and I am
sure the world is catching up with earthy trends. Much to my surprise, though, in the
second-class Don Muang Bangkok International Airport, at the end of some shabby
souvenir shops, sits a high-end, niche, organic, fair-trade market selling
everything from fresh flowers to tea to perfume to sun-dried tomatoes. What a gem.
It is clear by the site of this precious store that the world is
catching up with our need to globalize, localize, improve sustainability in
every way. Even Don Muang is going
green.
Royal Project Foundation Tea
Thailand is a mysterious Eastern country rich with culture,
history, ancient wisdom, healing techniques, Buddhism alive and well. As I
continue past security towards my gate, I face the Thailand that is a
conglomeration of East-meets-West, Starbucks available next to random coffee
shops called The Coffee Club. My
Starbucks mishap in the Don Muang Airport sparked some deep emotion inside of
me so I am currently blogging from The Coffee Club (drinking water). Yes, I said it, Starbucks.
People around the world have opinions about this multi-billion
dollar franchise. Strong opinions. Mine have pretty much always been
positive. I love the drinks, supported Bucks
as a regular customer while in the US.
When I left to backpack around the world 5 years ago, Starbucks was
there for me. In the middle of China,
the need for a toilet beyond desperate, no English speakers for miles, Starbucks
could always provide a free toilet, free water-fill up, and often a nice tasty
treat of the Chinese variety. Starbucks’
in different countries do not supply the same treats as those in America. In Asian cultures there are green tea cakes,
red bean pies, and the like. Even some
of the drinks are culture-specific. In
the middle of the Guangzhou railway station, a filthy industrial city in China
just outside of Hong Kong, Starbucks once again came to my rescue. I was waiting patiently for my train, which
in the end was lost (longer story), in the convenience and comfort of homey
Starbucks. The home-like environment
Starbucks replicates worldwide is one of its’ keys to success.
It was this very home-like attribute that stirred something
deep inside of me as I read the glowing “Starbucks” sign, about to go in. Before I could move, tears welled in my eyes,
and a knot formed in my stomach. Where
can I sit and cry? Should I go in? No, well, yes. Why am I feeling such strong emotion for a
silly coffee shop? Not only does it
hold meaning from travels, but also it holds strong ties to my home for 25+
years in America. Home-SICK is the
feeling inside my stomach, the churning, the yearning for…….what I don’t
exactly know what. My dear friend
Francie is being flown home to Canada this summer to see her parents. She is on a yoga teacher’s salary and cannot
afford the trip herself, so this is a blessing.
Part of me apparently has a deep desire to either be able to afford this
trip or be gifted such a trip. Of course
this type of trip is not a small trip, seeing as I live on the other side of
the world and it would mean a bit more than a plane flight. I am pouring my heart and soul into a project
that is my purpose and truth in the world:
PRAY Jewelry. It means
sacrificing many things, including visiting home and family in the US that I
wish I could see. I miss them. As I write this blog entry tears form and the
homesick feeling that was absent for the first few years of fearless wanderlust
is very much alive. It’s funny how these
emotions hit us when we least expect.
No matter what we choose to do in our daily life, with great
vision there is freedom and there are limitations. I am working towards manifesting many things,
some just take a little longer than I would like. And man, the Taurus in me is quite
impatient. It’s a good thing that in the
mean-time, my life is filled with happiness, soul, passion, family (my sister
and her husband frequent Asia and I was blessed to spend the past couple of
months with them), global family, community, health, abundance, beauty, love,
vision, adventure, dance, music, and I continue to fill in any missing spaces
that arise.
I am also blessed to know I am a soul in a body having a
human experience. Emotions arise and
pass. They are not permanent. This experience, this life is not permanent. This moment will pass and I will be in a new
city in a couple of hours, Starbucks a mere blog post in my memory. Until I see the next one in Chiang Mai.
Follow me on my journey. Follow PRAY Jewelry. Wear, PRAY, Empower:
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