Dead Head

Another Friday in the Mae Sot office sipping tea and eating sticky rice and fried bananas. I have a lot of work to do this weekend. On top of the usual marking and lesson planning, I have to write the final trimester exam for this week and make up a review sheet, as well as start planning the next units. So even though this week's blog will be short, it hardly means I am hard at work. Instead, I am distracting myself with the usual means available, journaling, talking with people in the office, waiting in line at the post office, taking a long lunch break for Pat Thai and iced lemon beverages…

I managed to upload three photographs from Lopburi, a town about three hours by train north of Bangkok. It's a small town with not a lot to it, however, the ancient Khmer ruins really are beautiful. I spent a great deal of time contemplating them as I waiting for the imaginary replacement bus to pick us up after the bus accident.


Dead Baby 

Also in this week's photos is "Dead Head," which, if left unexplained, may cause some confusion. "Dead Head," as you can imagine, really is someone's head. Since it is encased in a block of plastic and embalming fluid, clearly the person is dead. I'm not sure if you can tell from the photograph or not, but there is a bullet hole going through the brain. This is the result of one of Ilse's missions. Of all the sights and attractions in the wild city of Bangkok, she wanted to see the museum of dead people. There was a head with an axe in it, she claimed. This museum was not written up in her Lonely Planet, nor in my Rough Guide, so it took some sleuthing on both of our parts. Luckily, we are both good sleuths with a fair amount of luck. For those wanting to retrace our steps and in the vicinity of Bangkok, the Forsenic Museum is found in the Siriaj Hospital. Our trip there involved a pleasant boat taxi along the river, out of the head and stifling atmosphere of the Bangkok streets. Unfortunately, we arrived just as the museum was closing. But the poor lady at the desk was no match for this dynamic duo and we persuaded her with our pathetic looks and dashing charm (certainly not with our eloquent Thai that’s for sure) to let us in for a few minutes only. "We just want to see the head with the axe in it," Ilse explained earnestly. "You understand? Axe?" she said, miming it out for the lady.

Success. We were let in without having to pay the admission fee and we ran through the unlit museum looking for the axed head. I was quickly distracted from that particular object of our quest by a floating baby with a massive head wound and the desiccated corpses of murderers and rapists hanging in the gallery. The lights were turned off and we ran rampant through the unlit corridors among the dead bodies, flashing our cameras as we went. Actually, as the security guard came around to kick us out, we learned that photography is not permitted in the museum. "Please, the museum is closing," said the man in the uniform. "Please, no cameras."

"Yes, yes, we're coming," we replied, starting towards the exit. "Oooohh, look!" I exclaim. "A severed leg!" Click! Click!


Dead Head 

Ok so it sounds totally weird and it was. But there is something gruesomely fascinating about a leg completely out of context. How on earth did it get to be lying in a glass case? Whose leg is it? Where is the rest of their body? Ditto for that head in the glass case.

Gradually, we allowed ourselves to be shepherded out of the museum by the anxious guard, our cameras full of photographs, our mission complete and Ilse vowing to return one day and find the head with the axe in it. As for me, ten minutes running through the museum and I've had my fill.


Dead Guy