Sublimity…

The adventure continues, and boy what an adventure it is. I’m now in Bangkok and trying to figure out what to make of this place – it’s absolutely wild!

The differences between Thailand and India are infinite, but while I feel like I should really be feeling culture shock, I don’t really think I am (just tired due to lack of sleep last night – why do all international flights leave/arrive in Delhi at rediculous hours of the morning?). To give you a sense of the differences, last night I was wandering around Connaught Place in Delhi (a once impressive area that now looks decrepit from lack of proper maintenance, dust, lack of greenery, beggars, garbage, etc), waiting for the airport bus, and tonight I’m sitting in a fancy Thai bookstore (that could be easily mistaken for a Chapters/Indigo as long as you ignore the fact that all the books, magazines and newspapers are in Thai) looking out the (clean) front glass window at a 6 lane divided road (with skytrain track down the middle) that is straight, smooth and clean, and filled with cars zipping by at normal city speeds (if not more). There are high rise office buildings around (I now realize that Indian cities are extremely flat, even in Delhi nothing goes up more than about 10 stories) and the 7-Eleven around the corner (yes, the same chain) has the exact same environment as you’d see back home (though the products for sale are a little different because of Thai taste). All in all, Bangkok is a big modern metropolis, and while it is developed up to similar standards as most western cities, there are still aspects of the city (and certainly the people) that make it seem different (and more interesting) than any city I’ve seen back in North America.

I’ve been staying at a small hotel just off the skytrain on the northern edge of central Bangkok (a place recommended by Terry, a friend of my Dad’s who lives here in Thailand). The neighbourhood is great, quite Thai, but still has all the services I need (food, internet, phone, shelter). Until I heard from Terry, I was planning on venturing down to Th Khao San (the infamous Khao San Rd) which is backpackers heaven and has been so for a LONG time. The place has quite a reputation amoungst travelers and though it didn’t seem like it would be my scene (I quickly learned that I’m not a part of the stereotypical backpacker crowd), it has the cheapest places to stay, and everything is available. However, I’m much happier here, the environment is nicer adn more authentic, and the hotel is great.

That brings me to the money issue, while Thailand isn’t expensive by western standards, they’re significantly above the Indian standard that I’ve become accustomed to. The worst thing is that the bhat (local currency) trades at nearly the same rate as the Indian rupee, so the numbers are just all bigger here. For example, I’m paying 560 bhat per night at the hotel here, whereas traveling around Rajasthan & Gujarat, the most I spent was Rs. 400, and the average was closer to Rs. 150. However, I’ve got to say that the room I have here is by far the nicest place that I’ve stayed at in the last 5.5 months (including all hotels and friends’ houses). That doesn’t mean it’s gorgeous, I’d describe it more as a typical western Super-7 kinda room that was a little old and tattered – but perfectly livable. However, having a real shower (I haven’t had one since leaving Canada), air-conditioning and a wonderfully comfortable (double) bed makes it seem like I’m living a life of luxury, and it’s worth every penny.

However, these comforts are not just luxury here in Bangkok, they’re essential for life here because it’s HOT! Daytime temperatures are around 35, and the air is very humid, so I’ve found it it impossible to walk around at all without developing a sweat. Shorts and short-sleeves are culturally appropriate (unlike India) so I’ve been wearing them (though it feels a little strange, and my legs in particular look horrid), but even still it’s too hot for my taste. Being out in the sun here is like standing in a furnace, and even the shade is usually uncomfortably hot, so by the time I get back to my room, a nice cold shower and a crash on the bed under the AC is about  the only thing that keeps me alive. I’m starting to dread what India is going to be like in June – it gets this hot or worse, but there aren’t any showers, and given my current location/status, I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy the pleasures of airconditioning…

Language is also a huge issue here, very (VERY) few signs have english on them and while people are very friendly, I have yet to meet someone who speaks english (ie. someone who can say 5 english words in a row, let alone make a grammatically correct sentence). Funnily, I find myself responding to questions/statements in Hindi (“aacha” is coming out a lot!) - it’s strange (and a little hard) to force myself to always try in English when confronted with unknown languages. Thai is so completely different than anything I’m used to that I haven’t even been able to pick up phrases or words, it all sounds like a bunch of birds/monkeys talking to eachother. I could certainly learn a tiny bit if I tried, but for the amount of time that I’m going to be here, I don’t think that it’s going to be worth it (plus, I don’t want to start learning another language to confuse my fledgling Hindi – good old French is confusing enough for my brain now).

Food is the other big thing that’s different here. First off, Thais are carnivores – they’ll have their rice and/or noodles, but a meal isn’t worth eating unless it is mostly meat, and more often than not, seafood. This doesn’t bode well for a vegetarian who really dislikes seafood. I’ve decided that it’s simply not worth trying to keep the vegetarian thing going here (I’m not super strict), finding veg food would be a huge challenge, and would mean I’d miss all the local fare. Also, unlike India, street food here is apparently very safe (and often better than resturants). From my observations so far today it certainly seems true, I haven’t seen anything that I could tell was a Thai resturant, everything is either a western chain outlet (they’ve got them all, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, even Dunkin’ Donuts!) or a Chinese resturant. The Thai food (along with all the hungry Thai people) can only be found along the sidewalks and squares, being sold from little booths, carts or tiny open fronted shops. These are always packed, seems that’s how Thai’s eat here, so that’s what I’ve tried to do. However, these places rarely have a menu, and even if they do, it’s written in Thai so I’ve found it’s impossible to figure out what’s available. In many places you can see the food, but even then it’s a big challenge to figure out what’s in the dishes – there are so many new ingrediants here, and meat comes in so many forms, many of which are indistinguishible (and likely wouldn’t be eaten back home).

So I haven’t written about what I’ve done, guess that’ll have to happen later. Basically dropped off my Indian visa application (everything looks good, though I can only get 6 months), toured the big fancy shopping malls (wow, what a different world!), saw the major temples/palaces (my eyes hurt from all the glittering gold leaf), toured around the touristy/travelers district (a fun place to hang out), explored the river with a ferry trip most of the way down, and finally went out to the ridicuously huge weekend market north of town (they sell it all from tiny little stalls that are so crowded together you never see the sky, and can spend the whole day wandering around looking at everything from live fish to pet dogs to plates to silk to dried squid, and more!). It’s been a lot of fun, for a big city Bangkok is pretty cool, and while I’m happy to be moving on, there’s still some things I want to check out on the return trip (mostly Chinatown and Khao San Rd). However, I’m heading south to the tropical islands now for some beaches, diving and other outdoor fun and am really looking forward to it.

I want to close this off with one little thing I saw on my first night here that reminded me that this is a crazy place, and despite the development, anything can happen (like India). Walking back to my hotel, I saw an elephant walking down the alley ahead of me, driver on top. However, in a very Thai fashion (unlike India), it had a flashing red bicycle liggt attached to it’s tail. I laughed all the way back – what a crazy world!

More soon!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 20th, 2006 at 4:15 pm and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.