Thailand

Alright, so I'm still abroad, right now I'm in Germany, but let's recap some other trips real quick...

Bangkok, Thailand: 3.May.2007-7.May.2007

Before arriving, I was really excited about visiting Bangkok. Bangkok is the Venice of Asia, the proud capital of the only Asian nation not to be colonized, the beating heart of Thai boxing, and, of course, there is the ever alluring night/red-light life, which I have to admit I was a bit curious about. All of the pictures I had seen of the city, of the temples and shrines, everything just seemed so incredible, so exotic, so beautiful.

I was super-excited about traveling to Bangkok, but I must admit that I was also somewhat super-paranoid. Studying my guidebook before arriving, I read about countless tourist scams, about pickpockets and cheats, and my friend Phuoc, who traveled to Bangkok last year, gave everything a personal touch by telling me about how his laptop and his friend's wallet were both stolen while there. Most of the cheats laid out in my book were petty or at least easily avoidable, i.e. getting ripped off at stores, getting taken for a ride by tuk-tuk drivers, or getting taken in on some money-making scam, and basically boiled down to be wary of Thai hospitality. I definitely had my guard up as soon as the plane touched down.

Unfortunately, this paranoia was pretty much immediately justified:

I took an airport bus into town, one whose route ran somewhat close to my guest house, but I wasn't sure exactly where I was when I got off. There were a few guys standing around the stop as we exited the bus, and there was a big 'Tourist Information' sign hanging on the wall, so I figured they had something to do with the city transit service, city-tourism, or something official/reputable at least. Anywayz, I took out y map and began to try to orient myself. One of the men came up to me, asked me if he could help, and inquired as to where I wanted to go. I told him the name of my guest house and showed its location to him on the map. Then, as I had already looked around at some of the street signs, I pointed to where I thought we were and asked him if that was correct. "No, not at all! We're here, far away," he answered as he pointed to a street on the other side of the city. "I can take you there, real cheap." Ok, so I immediately realized that he was no one official and I knew what he said was complete B.S., but I still really didn't know where I was. I told him "thanks, but I prefer to walk," and set out down the street in what I figured was the direction to my guest house. I turned the corner, turned another, and was there. 2 minutes. Icredibly far away. Sweet introduction to Thai hospitality.

The next evening I wanted to go see some Thai-boxing fights. my guidebook contained a schedule for the fights, but the edition is about two years old and I wanted to call up and make sure the information was still current. That morning I went down to the reception desk at my guest house. Reputable, reputable. I inquired as to the best way to get to the stadium and was then going to ask them if they could call the box office for me and ask about the fight schedule and prices (as I don't speak Thai). However, before I had a chance, they broke in and said "Are you interested in the Muay Thai? Here's the schedule. You can reserve tickets here." The schedule was the same as my book's, and the ticket prices were the same too, so I figured "cool, why not," and asked about the process for reserving tickets. There were three seating sections and I told them I was interested in the cheapest seats. They handed me the price sheet and pointed towards the red 'X's scratched across the first two sections and told me that everything was sold out but the V.I.P. seating, and that there was of course a reservation fee on top of the ticket price. Now, the problem here was that fight schedule is the same every week, and the price sheet was for all of 2007. Moreover, the price sheet was laminated, not one from a pile of many, and the ink was under the lamination. I came to the conclusion that either they were lying to me or somehow someone had bought up all the tickets in 2006. I told them that I didn't want to pay that much and that I would just try to go and find some tickets myself. Sure enough, they were no where near sold out.

The last event that worked to fully form my initial impression of Bangkok was almost comical. It happened right as I walked out of the guest house fresh off the aforementioned conversation with the reception desk. It was just a random encounter on the street:

Random Thai Guy (RTG): "Wow, that's a great shirt! Where did you get it?"

(I look down and realize I'm wearing some ratty Springfield soccer tournament T-shirt, but hey, everyone likes a compliment.)

Me: "The US I guess."

RTG: "Oh you're American, great, I love America! Where are you from?"

Me: "Missouri ."

RTG: "Wow! My sister lives in Missouri! Hey you want to go somewhere and talk about America?"

Did I ever!!!!! I think he had a copy of my guidebook because his dialogue was just word-for-word. What was to follow would either have been me getting let in on some awesome hush-hush money making venture, or just simply getting taken down an alley and mugged.

These same situations played out repeatedly the whole time I was in Bangkok. "Helpful" Thais would tell me the wrong way to X-attraction, or that some Y-temple was closed when it wasn't, or that they could take me on a (ficticious) city tour in their tuk-tuk for the equivalent of about 50 cents. This was all unsolicited too. I would just be walking and people would run up to me or scream at me from accross the street. Maybe some were genuinely friendly, but those initial encounters had jaded me and I just ignored everyone. It's kind of sad, because these initial impressions really worked to embitter me towards the city.

Anyways...

I stayed in an area called Banglamphu, which is a big backpacker's district close to the cultural heart of the city. I arrived in Bangkok around 9 pm and my first night I just walked around and explored the area around my guest house. Close by there was a street called Khao San that is a pretty famous bar street, and they have a big night market with clothes, souvenirs, and random odds-and-ends. I picked up some pretty sweet Thai-medium screen-printed T-shirts, only to find out later that Thai-medium means American-XXS... Thai people are very small. I've worn the shirts, they are sweet after all, but I'm terrified to bring them anywhere close to a dryer.

The Grand Palace.

The next day I went out and explored the city's many wats (Buddhist Temples). I walked to Ko Ratanakosin, a district along the West bank of the Mae Nam Chao Phraya River, which is the center of Thai Buddhism and contains some of the country's most honored and holy sites. I visited Wat Phra Kaew (the Temple of the Emeral Buddha) and the Grand Palace, the former royal residence, that stands beside it. Wat Phra Kaew is the most famous wat in Thailand. The temple is actually a huge complex, not a single solidary structure but rather a maze of conjoined buildings, all of which are intricately bejeweled and plated from bottom to top in gold. The architecture of the various buildings was amazing and everything shone so beautifully. After spending half a day walking the grounds and marvelling at the gradeur of Wat Phra Kaew, I had a quick bite to eat from one of the ubiquitous street vendors and made my way to nearby Wat Pho. Wat Pho is the oldest and largest wat in Bangkok and containes the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. If Wat Phra Kaw was maze-like, Wat Pho was labyrinthine. Once inside I was easily lost, but it was fun strolling around, just leisurely and aimlessly. Around every corner I'd stumble upon something new, unexpected, interesting.

Views from Wat Phra Kaew.

Buddhist Monks at Wat Phra Kaew.

I saw monks everywhere in Bangkok. In China I saw a lot too, but the majority were fake and just dressed like that to beg. Some would even use a marker to draw the incense burns on their heads. Tubular.

Views from Wat Pho.

That night I went to watch some Muay Thai fights. On the subway on the way there I struck up a conversation with two girls who happened also to be going to the fights. One was a med-student at Columbia and the other was getting her masters in public health at Yale. They had both been in Thailand for about 2 months working with UNICEF. They were really nice and I sat with them during the fights (I ended up buying a V.I.P. seat anyway). The fights were awesome. The first couple were amateur fights and were really bloody. Muay Thai is famous for its powerful elbow and knew strikes, and the elbows and knees are hard, sharp striking surfaces that can easily cut. The problem during the first fights was that, as they were relative novices, they knew how to throw the techniques better that they knew how to defend against them. It was bad for the fighters, they'll definitely have some scars, but it was good for the fans. There were 9 total fights, all of which were exciting, and one ended in a knockout. The atmosphere was awsome too. The place was packed. The two sections behind the V.I.P. section were separated from us with a chain link fence, and past the fence was where the raucous crowd was. That's where all of the betting was going on, with number runners yelling out odds and people throwing around money. It was funny just looking around and seeing all of the people ooooing and awwwing in unison, and seeing people shadow boxing, or even at times shadow kick-boxing, along with the fighters. The Thais are small people, and it was funny because the heaviest fight on the card was at 130 lbs. I still wouldn't want to mess with any of them though.

Backstage V.I.P. access baby!!!

After the fight I went out to a bar with the girls. We met up with some of their friends at an ex-pat jazz bar, which was nice, but super expensive for Thailand. The friends were all working for various humanitarian organizations and the conversation gradually turned to UNICEF's inefficiencies, to how wastefully and thoughtlessly much of it's funds were spent, and how the directors were generally incompetent and treated their posts in Thailand as vacations. It was an interesting conversation, but one that I couldn't really take part in. Sooooo, as my wallet was hurting and the night was winding down anyway, I excused myself and took a tuk-tuk (fun) home.

The next day I did some more sight seeing: I visited various smaller wats, strolled through a couple of universities, and visited the Democracy and Victory Monuments, respectively.

The Victory Monument by night.

That night I made the requisite trip to the Patpong, Bangkok's world-renowned red-light district. I wasn't looking at all to participate in anything myself, but I was curious and wasn't averse to spectating. The district has two main strips, lined on both sides with bars, strip clubs, go-go clubs, and "massage"parlors. The place was packed, and I had to fight my way through the crowds, and try my best to ignore the many touts, all of whom wanted me to follow them for a "sexy" massage or to see X or Y show. I walked around the strip a bit, and then finally gave in to one of the thousands of touts and walked into a club. I was pretty much immediately sorry I did. As soon as I walked in I was attacked by two naked, but not good-naked, strippers who ushered me to a seat and proceeded to grope, but not good-grope, basically to just grab at me, then ask me to buy them drinks, then ask me to tip their friends... It was all too much. I was in there for about 15 min. and was already almost out of the cash that I had in my pocket, and I wasn't about to take out my money belt in there. I pushed the strippers off me and wanted to jet, but I had to argue the bill. I had ordered one beer, but apparently, completely unbeknownst to me, I had ordered the doorman a beer, dancer #2 and #17 a beer, and then some charge for pure randomness, I think breathing in Bangkok or something. I just threw down the money for my beer and sprinted out. I was through with the clubs after that, but I walked up and down the streets for a bit, just people watching and taking in the atmosphere. I wouldn't say that it was nice, but it was interesting. The whole night was interesting. I was glad I went there and at least saw the district, but I definitely couldn't wait to get back and take a shower.

The following day I met up with the two UNICEF girls and we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. The market is one of the, if not the, biggest markets in the world, with over 15,000 stalls selling anything and everything you could ever imagine. I wasn't really in the market for anything (wow, I just typed "I wasn't in the market for anything" as a turn of phrase, then realized that I was literally in a market at the time, thought it was hilarious, laughed out loud, and now I want to point it out... sorry), and just picked up a few small trinkets, but it was definitely an exciting atmosphere.

Crazy: The market was insane. Hundreds of thousands of people, shoppers forcing their way through the narrow aisles and streets between stalls, screaming to haggle over the cacophony of blaring music, bellowing vendors, screeching animals (yes, there was a pet section), shuffling feet, and just general chaos. Then, at precisely 6:00, everything stopped. It was like a scene from a science fiction movie. One moment: the most overpowering of dins; the next: silence. One moment: walking, running, pushing, shoving; the next: complete stillness, no movement whatsoever. The reason: the King's anthem came on over the loud speakers and for the two minutes or so that it played everyone stopped what they were doing and stood in place in silence. Then the song ended and the chaos returned. If the girls wouldn't have explained that to me I would have thought that the world was coming to an end or something, it was unbelievable. I guess it happens everyday though...

The king is apparently really popular, really well-liked and respected. Much like the British royal family, he doesn't have any actual political power, but he does have a lot of influence. The King's color is yellow and on any given day half of the Thai population would be wearing the King's yellow collared shirts.

What's that? You want to buy a life-size King cut-out? I've got just the store for you...

Oh, massages!!! I never went in for the oil, aka sexy, massage, but there was a spa in my building and every day I went and had a $5, hour long, feel-like-your-body-is-being-ripped-apart-but-leave-you-completely-invigorated-and-revitalized traditional Thai massage.

Bangkok, all in all, was pretty good. It's a shame that I grew somewhat disenchanted with the city right at the start, as I know that that disenchantment greatly influenced my view of the city while I was there. Also, I came into the city knowing of its somewhat dangerous reputation, and as a single traveller I was really cynical and on edge most of the time. I think that if I would have been traveling with someone I would have relaxed and let myself go a bit more. Oh well, it was still nice. The city is huge, bustling, vibrant. It possesses innumerable treasures, so much more than I could see in 3 days. The girls that I met there simply loved the city, and I'll defer to them as they're more qualified than I am to opine.