Well, it happened... I fell victim to my first tourist scam. I'm not devastated by it, though, more amused than anything. I went to the post office this morning intending to mail home the things I had bought in Laos. Well, it turns out it costs even more to send them from here than it did from there. I could send it by sea, which would be somewhat reasonable, but I would like for it to be there when I arrive, which wouldn't happen. So it looks like I'll be lugging around a bunch of silk scarves for another month or so. Oh well.
Anyway, on my way back to my hotel as I was walking along Khao San Road (a.k.a. tourist central), I got sucked into conversation by a Sikh "fortune teller" who shook my hand and started saying all kinds of things that completely resonated with me. In fact, some of the things he said were almost the same as the things the Vedic astrologer in Varanasi told me, and he had spent almost two hours with me looking at my chart. Yes, I know, I KNOW, I should have just said "thanks, but no thanks," but I didn't. I went and sat down with the guy. I'm not sure how long I was there, but by the end of it he had me convinced to pay him way too much money for Thailand if he could tell me x,y, and z about my life. Not surprisingly he did. In fact, the way he did it is something my mind is still spinning about. Memory is a funny thing. He had me write some things down on a piece of paper, with my own pen, which he then folded into a tiny wad and put in my hand. This piece of paper stayed crumpled up in my hand until the very end. Well, when I finally opened it, information corresponding to what I had written was now on the piece of paper in pencil, written by him. Hmm. There was also another wad of paper in my hand that he had put in there at another point. Now, since I can't remember exactly the sequence of events, it's possible that the first piece of paper was not the one with the new information on it and that he had written this down as we talked. This had to have been what happened... although I'm almost positive I never said or wrote my mother's name at any point and this was written down. But there were a couple other things that happened as well which I can't quite explain. One was him writing down a number somewhere that I later chose at random, and they matched. The second was he had me write down three fruits, circle two, and then the one remaining was one that matched what he had written on the back of a piece of paper which I had in my hands the whole time. ???
Now, I know this sounds like a bunch of parlor tricks which anyone could master, and maybe they are, but nevertheless he also said some things that were true about me and my life. But maybe there are certain things that are universal and could apply to anyone. Anyway, I do believe that there are some people out there with a gift for seeing things that are beyond this world. I'm just not sure if this guy is one of them. So part if me is annoyed with myself for wasting money that I could have used on the rest of my trip, but at the same time I'm also thoroughly entertained by the whole thing. It gives me something to think about for a while. Mostly, how did he do it? I also think it's just so a propos that the guy is Indian, adding yet another layer to my relationship with that country. Ultimately, it's just another testament to the fact that I'm totally floating out there in space at the moment, hoping for answers in any form. I'm certainly not alone in this, however, because when I went back to pay him, there were other people getting their fortunes told as well. Yes, I went back, which just adds a whole other layer of patheticness to the whole thing. We agreed on a price and I didn't have quite enough baht to cover it. Now, I know what you're thinking. I could have just called it good with what I paid him, but as I was walking back to my hotel I started thinking, "What if this guy is for real? He has my name and my mother's name on a piece of paper somewhere... he could put a curse on us!" I am laughing out loud as I write this because it just sounds so ridiculous. In fact, I just reread this whole entry and confirmed for myself that yes, I was totally scammed. The funny thing is, when I went back I asked him a couple questions and he gave me some very spiritual answers, smiled and shook my hand, and we shared a look of, "You and I both know what just happened here." Hey, at least he was a nice guy... a nice guy who's going to enjoy a very good meal later on because of me. :)
I don't have any pictures of me with "sucker" written on my forehead, so instead I'll just post an image of the sky from the boat last night.
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