Reader Submission: Innovation or Denovation and Faith

Near us at the food court you can get everything: from sushi to fried giant water turtle, but unfortunately no BBQ. Hotpot or Thai sukiyaki is the main thing. Of the twenty stalls, I count no fewer than seven hotpot shops. Hotpot in Chiang Rai is a charcoal-fired firepot with an earthenware pot on top in which you can cook vegetables, meat and fish in broth.

Too bad I don't really like cooked meat and fish, because the rest of our changing Thai party can always fully enjoy it. Because I got a bit bored with the sushi, I suggested to the owner if it would be possible to BBQ on the fire pot.

There were a few problems, the diameter of the brazier is only 17 to 20 cm and especially with the meat, the pieces are sometimes quite small, so that they would easily fall through a standard BBQ grate.

A grate that is too large or too heavy could also easily fall over. Not the intention if you are all sitting comfortably at the table. So it had to be smaller and finer and lighter. I went looking for something useful and ended up in an electronics store.

The grille for the speaker would have worked great. Too bad I had to buy the whole speaker set. Suddenly my eye fell on an electric fly swatter. Would that also work and not stick, break or get dirty too quickly, were my thoughts.

The thing cost 99 baht. When I got home I took it apart. The grids turned out to be too thin individually, so that would bend too much, so I put all three on top of each other and bent the sharp edges into one whole.

My partner was skeptical at first and said: "Why do you always have to have something special?" To which I replied: "Be happy, otherwise I wouldn't be with you now.."

A few Thai acquaintances enthusiastically participated in the baptism of fire. My other half, who in the meantime thought it was a success, announced the story of the converted fly swatter to everyone who came to watch.

I have used it a few times now and it will last a long time. Finally I can join the hot pot in a cozy way and for 120 baht I'm full.

The electric fly swatter: once invented as a student project in Delft, copied in China and now transformed into a hotpot BBQ adapter in Thailand by a Dutchman. There is irony somewhere.

Faith

I think it is essential to try to understand and respect each other's faith and culture. I find myself most drawn to Buddhism, but without the cultural frills, which I respect by the way. I think your body is your temple and you can also meditate in your sleep, but above all: if you do good, you will meet good.

My Thai partner is Buddhist in origin, but she also has a strong affinity with Hinduism in one way or another. I can never put my finger on the symbolism of her stories about it, but that's my shortcoming.

We have no relics in the house and she only goes to the temple if she has had a nightmare. That seems to help her. Other times we come together as tourists. She is less concerned with Christianity, just like me, “from home a pagan Frisian”.

Several times a year she buys and cooks food for Hilltribe children in boarding schools. The training is offered free of charge through mission and volunteer work and a certain Christian missionary urge is not unheard of. The children are not orphans; there is simply no money for another education.

Still, I always have to chuckle when my wife invariably lets the children thank her for her effort after praying.

Submitted by Siam Siem