Landing in Bangkok with its heat and humidity was a welcome change from the
frigid air of Seoul. At least at first. Soon, however, I began to long for those
cool and mosquito free evenings.
I arrived in Bangkok on the eve of the King's birthday (a national holiday), and
was unprepared for the zeal of celebrations about to take place. The Thai take
their king very seriously, and consider him to be the father of the country.
Even though he has no direct political power, he is given credit for the fact
that Thailand has not suffered from the economic woes of neighbouring countries
like Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.
The festivities started the evening of my arrival with a large gathering in a
huge park in the center of town. Tens of thousands of people mulled around the
food markets, live music, and huge outdoor cinema productions with 15m (50ft)
screens and a sound system that was cranked so loud you could feel the earth
shake. The choice of movies playing were all fast paced thrillers including the
Fifth Element and Jurassic Park - The Lost World. They were dubbed in Thai, and
I was amused to hear all the leading men sounding like Darth Vader, while the
leading women all spoke in high pitched chipmunk-like voices. Apparently the
celebrations went on into the wee hours of the morning, which I unfortunately
had to miss due to the exhaustion of a travel day.
I spent the next day in the markets of Chinatown, but was told not to miss the
King's birthday party that evening in the same park. The party started as a real
solemn affair with several hundred thousand Thai listening to speeches and then
at eight o'clock everyone lit candles in honour of the king.
After the formalities were over, the real party began. Fireworks were shot off
from several different sites including from the floodlit grand palace. All
around the park were performances including Thai boxing (where the feet, knees,
and elbows are all valid weapons), various types of Thai dancing, and some live
music playing. It was a little difficult getting around, but mixing it up with
the Thai and watching them celebrate was half the fun. This party also went on
into the wee hours of the morning, and I stayed out as long as claustrophobia
would allow.
I have never found the streets of Bangkok to be as congested as everyone makes
them out to be. If you stay away from the main arteries during rush hour, it
never seems to be a problem (common sense in any big city). I have, however,
found being a pedestrian to be a problem at times. The intersections are quite
chaotic, and even when there is a green light there still seems to be cars
coming from all directions. As I was still new to the traffic patterns (and
driving on the left), I was extremely careful in crossing the streets. At one
particular intersection, there was a constant stream of about six lanes of
one-way traffic. I was not as brave as the Thai who would dodge the cars as if
in a video game, working their across a lane at a time. Instead, I patiently
waited for a green light, and then patiently waited for cars to quit running the
red. When I was sure all lanes had stopped, I stepped out onto the rood and
BOOM! I was hit by a car that was running the red and going the wrong way down
the one way street. In what seemed like slow motion, my knees buckled, I rolled
over the hood and then spilled onto the pavement. As I gathered my belongings,
the elderly woman driver asked if I was okay. Before I even finished nodding
yes, she was back in the car and sped away. I came away from it all without even
a bruise, so I consider myself quite fortunate. I later found out that during
certain hours one lane of some one-way streets goes in the reverse direction, so
I now always look both ways.
Later that same day I had a fun encounter with a Malaysian who was in Bangkok
for a short vacation. He quickly informed me that the temple I was walking
towards was already closed, and invited me to do some sight seeming with him. We
first walked to a nearby 15m tall standing Buddha, The next few sights, however,
required us to hire a rickshaw (noisy, polluting, three wheeled mini-taxi). My
Malaysian friend soon provided me with a lesson in Asian negotiation techniques.
He struck a deal where the rickshaw driver would provide personal service for
the entire evening for free, and we would just buy some food and drinks for him.
He was quite happy with this arrangement, and it included him in our little tour
group. We visited a temple where students were being trained in Thai boxing. The
trainer had the students working hard, and I witnessed "kneeing
practice" as the boxers would repeatedly drive their knees into a punching
bag with an appropriately loud grunt. The young men were amused at my presence,
and I turned down numerous requests to sub in for the punching bags.
From the boxing ring, we headed off to some street vendors where we indulged in
some grilled fish, sticky rice, and noodle soup.
The evening entertainment involved taking in a little of the Thai night life,
stopping first in a "Thai bar". As it was only around nine o'clock,
the bar was a little empty. However, there were numerous male and female singers
that would perform and then come visit your table to talk, and help you finish
off your food and drinks (both by eating and drinking it themselves as well as
by inserting food and drink in my mouth). From there we headed to a Thai disco
with surprisingly high cover charges and a packed house of Thai people. The
music was traditional northern Thai, and the dancing was quite conservative by
western standards. I was surprised to see that the men and women went up to
dance in segregated groups, but then intermingled once up on the dance floor.
The next few days of sightseeing included my friends Jason and Susan who I met
at the airport. We had our fill of temples, palaces, river taxis and Bangkok
smog before our itineraries diverged temporarily. Jason and Susan headed to the
islands of southern Thailand for some diving and stress-relieving Thai massages
on the beach, while I chose to work my way north to our rendezvous point of
Chiang Rai near the Burma border.
En route, I have visited several of Thailand's old capital cities with their
impressive collections of ruined temples. The Khmer influenced spires of the
temples of Ayuthaya rose above the suburban sprawl that now surrounds them, and
they were especially impressive under the evening flood lighting. As the temples
were quite spread out, I put quite a few miles on my hiking shoes. It would have
been even more if it were not for the friendly Thais who would frequently stop
to give me a ride on their motorbikes.
I also had a fun encounter with an elderly street vendor. He invited me over to
see the deep fried curry paste that he was preparing, and soon started talking
about life in each of our countries. He pointed out his 23-year old daughter,
and asked if I thought she was pretty. When I said that yes, she was, his
response caught me off guard as he asked "why don't you take her back to
Canada with you?"
Further north, the temples of Lopburi were less impressive, although I was kept
entertained by the temple near my hotel that had been taken over by a group of
over a thousand monkeys (which are considered sacred and therefore not harmed).
The monkeys would frequently forage in the surrounding markets and shops, and as
I went to bed there were monkeys at my third floor window catching the insects
that were drawn to the light.
The third and final stop on the tour of former Thai capitals was Sukhothai. The
temples here were the oldest of the three, and consequently were the most
ruined. However, the numerous well preserved statues of Buddha, and the ponds
filled with pink lotus flowers gave Sukhothai an atmosphere all of its own, and
made the day's cycle ride well worth braving the mid-day sun.
The guesthouse was also quite enjoyable as the $2.50 a night room was in a teak
house on stilts over a lotus pond. I had to be careful about dropping things as
I could see the pond below through the cracks in the floor. The mosquito netting
kept the insects away, and it was easy to drift off to sleep to the sound of the
serenading geckos.
There are a lot of travelers in Thailand, and I have enjoyed meeting and talking
to people from around the globe. I am even getting over feeling insecure every
time a group of Asians breaks out into spontaneous laughter simply at the sight
of me. I have found that traveling solo makes it even easier to meet people, and
while waiting for the bus to Sukhothai, I had a fun encounter with a Japanese
woman who was traveling alone as well. As our travel plans overlapped for the
next few days, we decided to travel together.
From Sukhothai, it was off to the second largest city in Thailand - the jungle
trekking center of Chiang Mai. After doing our best to shrug off all the touts
at the bus station, we headed to the chosen guesthouse and settled in for a few
days of sight seeing. As I was beginning to grow weary of seeing yet another
temple, the sights of Chiang Mai tired me out quickly. However, some quiet time
enabled me to do some reading, and the night food stalls were a great way to
indulge in delicious Thai food.
As Thai food is one of my favourites, I have not been going hungry. You can get
awesome meals for around $0.40 US at the street vendors, and the night bazaars
allow you to meander from stall to stall watching the food get prepared and
trying to decide which dish to try today. My favourites include various coconut
curries, spicy stir fries, pan fried noodles, coconut pancakes, fish stomach
salad, and numerous varieties of soups. Unfortunately, I always seem to be full
when I come across the vendors selling pigs snouts and pan fried bamboo worms,
beetles, grasshoppers, and cockroaches. I am still waiting to come across these
tasty looking morsels on an empty stomach.
I am now on my way up to Chiang Rai where I will be meeting Jason and Susan at
the airport. We then plan on heading into the jungle to see a bit of what life
is like in the hill tribes of northern Thailand.
