Thailand,
page 1
Thailand
is great! After 17 long hours traveling from Auckland to
Singapore to Bangkok on Sunday (January 30th), the first
Thai I met, my cab driver from the airport, could only speak
two words of English. As we passed the Royal Palace he asked
me, "Thailand good?" And when I replied,
"Yes, Thailand good," he laughed with genuine
mirth, so pleased was he that I agreed that Thailand was
good. He kept chuckling and mumbling to himself,
"Thailand good," the rest of the way to my hotel.
The night watchman that greeted me when we arrived was even
nicer!
The
first day here I was out and about in Bangkok, giggling at
how cheap things are. I enjoyed a big, filling plate-full of
Pat Thai for the equivalent of 80-cents, bought a new pair
of cotton slacks for $7, had them hemmed up by a seamstress
while I waited for 75-cents and then treated myself to an
hour-long Thai massage for four bucks. My hotel room, smack
in the center of this district, is clean, air conditioned
and priced at $10 a night. What fun to feel so rich!
This
is my second visit to the Kingdom of Thailand, called
"The Land of Smiles" because people here tend to
smile a lot - it takes some getting used to. Unlike some of
my fellow travelers, I didn't come for the prostitutes. I
just like this land and culture, the people and the prices.
Bangkok is a bit much, an enormous city, hot & muggy,
with some of the worst automobile-generated air and noise
pollution in the world. Still, I've toughed it out for
several days just to visit a few places. Yesterday it was
the National Museum, today Chinatown by way of the river
ferries, tomorrow a wat (Buddhist temple enclave) across the
river and maybe Thai kick-boxing at one of the big stadiums.
The rest of the time I'm just hanging around the backpackers
ghetto, a lively warren of narrow streets and alleys lined
with inexpensive guest houses, shops, street stalls,
restaurants and pubs adjacent to a sprawling wat. As I write
this a monk is singing an ancient chant in a courtyard
outside my window, perhaps announcing evening meditation to
his brethren. Or maybe he's just calling them to dinner,
which seems like a good idea. I'm off to find food and
drink. Here are some photos I took around Bangkok:
02/10/05
People
who visit Thailand always rave about it and rightfully so,
but there are a few flies in the noodle soup. The #1 down
side to this country is the horrible, automobile-generated
air pollution. It is stifling! Even in the countryside the
sky is never really blue, and in the cities visibility often
gets down to a block or two, so thick are the exhaust fumes.
I often wear a bandana over my nose and mouth on city
streets, and always when I'm riding in the back of the open
tuk-tuks, those noisy little three-wheeled taxis that are in
every Thai town.
Another
downer is the climate. It's in the mid-90's everyday, both
the temperature and the humidity, and this is the mid-winter
dry season! It doesn't seem to bother the Thai's, but
farangs (farang, or in the north, falang means
Westerner in Thai) like me sweat a lot and feel sticky most
of the time. (Thank goodness air conditioned guest house
rooms are so affordable! I'm staying in a handsome teak
cabana in a cozy GH compound right now for about $11 a
night.)
Last
and least is the general shabbiness. Most places here look
kind of grubby and run down to a Westerner, but then again
that's pretty much how the world is outside of Europe and
North America so I don't hold it against Thailand. In spite
of these drawbacks, though, there is so much good stuff here
that it's definitely a worthwhile place to visit.
I
left Bangkok last week and was out in the boondocks for a
few days, camping and hiking in a big national park called
Khao Yai. I was able to rent a pup tent, mat and sleeping
bag from the ranger station for a few dollars. The tropical
rain forest there is a wild place, with cobras & pythons
and wild elephants & tigers roaming around as they have
for centuries. I didn't actually see any of those beasties
during my short visit, but they were there in the jungle
with me for sure. I did, however, see other strange animals
and some very exotic birds as I slogged through dense jungle
straight out of a Tarzan movie set. And the sounds! There is
nothing in this world as eerie and entertaining as the
non-stop and endlessly varied cacophony of a Thai rain
forest. Strange birds, goofy monkeys, apes, frogs, giant
squirrels, bizarre insects - even the lizards and the
"barking deer" have something to say. Together
they chirp, croak, whistle, whoop, holler, bark, tweet,
squawk and caw 24/7, and it has a way of echoing through the
forest. It's really something to hear even if you only
occasionally get to see who's making the sounds.
Now
I'm in a town in the central plains called Sukhothai, where
I am visiting the sprawling, majestic ruins of Thailand's
ancient capital city by day and enjoying a festival that
happens to be going on right now in the evenings. I'll post
some photos of the ruins. The festival, honoring the mother
of the first king of Thailand, I think, is so bizarre. It's
being held in the town's traditional night marketplace, so
there are booths set up selling everything from blue jeans
and kitchen ware to hot Thai dishes, the contents of which I
can only guess at. For the festival they have erected
several stages and there are little shows going on all
evening. Last night I watched a troop of young Thais
performing traditional Siamese dances to the clang and whine
of ancient instruments. Meanwhile, the pleasant locals seem
genuinely pleased to have me among them. They're a very
polite and gracious people.
I'm
working my way north towards Chiang Mai, Thailand's second
largest city, and then beyond to revisit the primitive
northern hill tribes. Come March I think I'll fly to Bali
and spend a month there. It's less than $300 round trip from
Bangkok! Life's a bitch.
Khoa
Yai:
Sukhothai:
Next
Entry: 02/19/05
