Bangkok, Thailand Different Perspectives Newsletter July 28, 2008

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Dear Patrons,

Welcome to our news letter. The Staff at Different Perspectives try to bring a clearer picture of current events effecting China and Asia. Although we believe the international media driven primarily by the western world's interests, is bringing the public events as they happen, we at Different Perspectives are independent and non biased without an agenda for prestige or monetary profit. We simply feel the western world may be somewhat isolated from news that is local to our office here in Beijing, China.

We hope you enjoy the news from a different perspective. Please contact us with your questions or comments. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you
Different Perspectives Staff
Edward


Monday July 28, 2008 9:15 am
Popiang Guest House Room 102
Bangkok, Thailand

My flight took off on time with Myanmar International Airlines from Yangon, Myanmar
to Bangkok, Thailand for $119 usd. Other than meeting a woman who is involved in rebuilding schools in the cyclone hit area the flight was quiet.

After wheels down in Bangkok, I got out of the airport and to downtown by bus 150 bhat, comfortable without a hitch. I befriended a UK woman on holiday from her S Korea teaching job, who suggested a guest house but I decided against it.

Two hours later and a visit to at least 2 guest houses in busy partying western influenced Bangkok, I settled down at the Popaing Guest House 350 bhat per night. No breakfast and dirty I let the staff know I meant business and asked her to clean my room before I signed on to stay.

Sunday July 27th 2008
Popaing Guest House Room 102
Bangkok, Thailand

After scoffing some instant coffee from the guest house clerk, I mapped out my plan for the day, walk tour of the more tourist buildings in Bangkok, then a stroll through the market and finally a stop at the zoo.

Leaving the Popaing for the day it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to look up some friends that I had heard were in town. After spending about 300 bhat, visiting
3 locations around town that I heard my friends might be found; I finally found Adrian a Scottish friend and had coffee with him early in the afternoon.

When I got to Thailand I immediately felt uncomfortable in the mist of the western influenced city. I didn’t know what to think after being in Myanmar a country with a culture so isolated from western influence that the people, traditions and environment are as it has been for centuries. I think my first taste ever of real culture shock.

Once I hooked up with Adrian it had been a full day of culture shock for me. The loud bustling city took me by surprise with its partying European and American college students, and proprietors pushing to sell everything and anything to me. I new now what
my Beijing friend meant when he mentioned Tuk Tuks. I was exhausted and ready to leave Bangkok by the end of my first day there.

Fortunately I had hooked up with Adrian who had lived in Bangkok for a few years and
suggested that if I didn’t have anything that I really wanted to see it was probably not worth spending time here. Just what I needed to hear, in the mist of culture shock extraordinaire. A friend to help me make a decision to skip out of town as soon as possible. I was grateful for the suggestion.

Tomorrow I’ll spend the day touring the cities main political buildings and the sea side market places then make train passage arrangements and leave the following day for Chaing Mai Thailand.


Tuesday July 29th 10:30 pm
Chaing Mai, Thailand
Graces Guest House, Room 208

I left Bangkok this morning on the 8:30 am train. All went smooth getting to the train station (I had a good cabbie). Although the train was not on time it didn’t make much difference to me. I talked with 2 young Dutch College students and had “Dunkin Donuts” coffee….really! That’s about as westernized as you can get.

The train accommodations were nice, air conditioned and not to crowded. Almost all the passengers were westerners. I befriended a laid back younger Irish fella. I was somewhat disappointed with the scenery through central Thailand. Very flat, a few mountains and mostly rice paddies, with not to many farmers attending the crops. So the scenery was boring.

The service on the train was good. We had a few snacks, one a hot dish with rice. I read
Thailand Lonely Planet, listened to some music and dozed off a few times, before we pulled into Chaing Mai station 12 hours, raining lightly on and off.

The guest house shuttle picked me up. A pleasant ride to the guest house and after negotiating with clerk for a half hour and 3 rooms, I finally got a decent room. This experience was similar to others I had had in Bangkok where it was suggested that I take what is given me and don’t ask questions! It reminded me of the states or a western attitude in general. I advocated for myself, which didn’t go over to well with the proprietors. I was on the “tourist path” I had found and this was the way it was. Take it or leave it. I also refused an offer to see what type of tour packages the guest house offered, which wasn’t received too convincingly.

After settling in I went out to a local street side café for some pad tai and a quick stop at a 7-11 for milk and coffee for the morning, since the guest houses menu had western breakfasts that cost more than 4 breakfasts would cost me in Myanmar. After dinner I made my way back to the guest house to settle in. I made a mental note to myself that I need to be patient with the tourists. There are more westerners here in Chaing Mai than I have seen since I left the states 9 months ago!

Wednesday July 30, 2008 10:55 pm
Chaing Mai, Thailand
Graces Guest House Room 208

I slept good last night at Grace’s got up about 8:00 grabbed my instant coffee and headed downstairs. After scurrying up a cup of hot water (no charge) for my coffee I sat down with staff at the comfortable shaded breakfast nook.

Before long a Dutch woman joined me and was more than happy to tell me about her overnight trek into the mountains. A guided tour sounded nice but not quite what I was looking for.

I had hoped to hook up with a guide service similar to the one I had in Kalaw, Myanmar but most of the options that I found were suited more for the average tourist on vacation or holiday.

That was ok with me at this point because I was getting use to being on the tourist route and was getting use to what to expect. It was good for me for it loosened me up to chatting with the average western tourist in English. After being alone for 24 days in Myanmar I needed to loosen up to the westerners.

Two more Dutch women joined in the conversation and we all talked about our travel experiences and plans. The Dutch women have good English and are quite attractive. It was a pleasant laidback start to the day. I’m glad I bought coffee the night before at 7-11.
That made it easy to avoid the guest house clerks in trying to sell me a breakfast package.
There are more 7-11’s in Thailand than I have ever seen.

After having coffee I talked with the staff about transportation to Chaing Khong, the border town with Laos about 200 km northwest. There I would cross the Mekong River into Laos in a few days.

The morning was somewhat un-eventful and I didn’t have any particular plan but the sky was beautiful blue and the weather mildly warm. I had a spring in my step but pushed myself to be pleasant to all the tourists who seemed more interested in finding the local
bars and party spots.

Finally I ended up at the woman’s correctional facility, bought an apple, looked at the arts and crafts that were made by the inmates and just took it all in. Following I visited
the prisons coffee shop also run by the inmates for a piece of chocolate cake. I talked with an English woman for awhile who was traveling through the area, before crossing the street to snap a photo or two at a local Chaing Mai monument.

Yup pretty un-eventful day but I looked forward at each moment to moving on to the Laos border in a few days.

I don’t know what all the hype is about Chaing Mai other that if you like to drink and party you might find something here. For me that didn’t make sense to come halfway around the world to do something I could do right down the street from my home in the west. Thailand seemed to me culturally beyond repair after being influenced to a western degree of no return.

After a couple of snap shots of the monument I was adjacent to a cultural museum but decided against par taking and the hefty entrance fee. I spotted an Internet Café off to my right and decided to kill a few hours, before meeting with friends in the early evening.

With a little difficulty and an extra 50 bhat for the taxi ride I showed up at the location where my local Thailand friends would be hanging out. After coffee and conversation
for about an hour I got a lift from Gordon to a Mexican restaurant that he recommended.

Unfortunately this restaurant had tourist route written all over it. After spending way to much for a “Grand Burrito” that was terrible I had a few words for the western proprietor and had to make an apology before I left and headed home more eager than ever to get out of Thailand.

Walking back to my guest house I reflected on what Gordon had said to me “it is what it
is”.

That’s OK I’m good with the truth.

Thursday July 31, 2008 11:00 pm
Graces Guest House Room 208
Chaing Mai, Thailand


Early this morning met my Chaing Mai local friends for coffee and chatted about the state of the country and how we were going to fix it. After and hour of exchanging thoughts over coffee, I walked a few km north to the bus station to check on schedules
to Chaing Khong. No problem plenty of buses running throughout the day most days of the week.

I stopped at the bus station restaurant for a bite to eat for it was approaching mid-day, and enjoyed the company of a local Chaing Mai police officer, who invited me to sit with him. I was the only westerner in the restaurant. He new that and extended his hand out to me. It helped me with my low impression of Chaing Mai. It’s amazing that if I go only 1 or 2 km from the tourist area there are no tourists!

That amazed me. Just a short walk north outside the moat of the old city and the real culture of the country is there. I could understand why all the tourists congregate in the same area inside the moat. I came to Asia to meet the people experience the culture and learn about how insignificant I really am, not to have dinner in a restaurant filled with westerners. I guess my idea of a holiday is different than the average person, for most places I spent time in my 9 weeks in Asia, there wasn’t a westerner do be found. I liked that.

About 5pm I was on my way back to Grace’s Guest House, when it started raining quite hard, a monsoon at that. An internet café off to my left I waited out the rain and paid 30 bhat for an hours hook-up. That is very expensive.

After the rain stopped I searched for some dinner and stopped at Shamies an Indian Restaurant. Good pad tai, service by Shamie an English speaking India gentlemen, and an in depth political discussion about the country of Myanmar with an American transplant named Dave, traveling from China.

Friday August 1, 2008 11pm
Graces Guest House Room 208
Chaing Mai, Thailand

This morning went out for coffee with my local Chaing Mai friends, expats from the US, and Europe. Since I will leave for the Laos border tomorrow this gave me the opportunity to say goodbye and exchange contact information.

On the walk back to the old part of city (inside the moat where my guest house was) I stopped for my last cup of coffee for the day and chatted with a man from Colorado and Minnesota (who bought my coffee for me thank you). Then headed off for lunch on my way to the internet café.

Good food in my stomach for 35 bhat, I chilled out at the café for 3 hours converting my video to mpeg format and checking my e-mail.

Another exciting day in the 2nd most popular tourist destination in Thailand, I headed toward the “strip”, where I could see real westerners on holiday. I couldn’t wait.

Stopping into a Japanese restaurant, I was served pad thai for 50 bhat, with a smile. There were no westerners there, but me. Ok with we. And the pad thai was decent. Then to cruise the “bar girl” scene, to see if anything had changed in the last 10 years since I’d been into a bar. No same as always.

Before long I was headed back to my guest house wrapping up another exciting day in Chaing Mai, second only to Bangkok for the best drinking spots in Thailand! A tribute to the excellent job the west has done in influencing the country to join the west in it’s obsession in seeking its own demise.

Thailand has been influenced by western culture more than any other county in Southeast Asia. And it’s easy to see. Thailand’s political, economic and cultural characteristics as well as foreign diplomacy are deplorable. The Thai culture is disappearing at a rate consistent with the influx of western culture no more than a place to party and spend money aimlessly.

I was disappointed by Thailand and all the college age tourists everywhere. I think that if I booked a room outside the moat it would have been a more pleasant experience in Chaing Mai. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up and catch an 8:30 am bus departure to Chaing Khong and spend a night or 2 before crossing the Mekong River into Laos.

Saturday August 2nd 2008 5:30 pm
Ban Fei Guest House Room 3
Chaing Khong, Thailand

All went smooth getting onto the bus this morning as I continued to navigate my way through a few more days in a country that I really didn’t want to be in. I actually enjoyed hanging out at the bus station since there were fewer tourists and just the usual local people. What a nice change of pace to be away from the crowds.

I won’t miss Chaing Mai anymore than Bangkok. My local expat contacts kept me sane but I’m so glad to be away from the tourists BS.

Here in Chaing Khong I avoided the tuk tuks after getting off the bus, regrouped a little bit found a bathroom refused to pay the 10 bhat to pee and headed down the main drag Arc Teryx in tow to check out the town and get oriented. First things first I found a decent coffee café with a couple of attractive Thai woman. Seemed a perfect spot to chill for a few moments.

Nice conversation with locals passing and the café woman I felt like I was off the tourist path for the first time in a week. What a relief! After a few questions I found a decent place to stay away from the tourists. Once again Lonely Planet Thailand led me to the Sawdee that was tourist heaven and the SP Guest House that was closed.

So again I found my digs by pacing the roads and talking with the locals. Who needs a guide book?

I found comfort at the Ban Fei Guest House. With traditional Southeast Asian décor and architecture. Open to the outside, post and beam construction and no insulation.

Clean a big bed, ceiling fan, reading light and with a bike included for $9 US a night. Two towels, plenty of window sill space to lay out my stuff! I was comfy. And I was the only one there, save for another backpacker in a room on the other side of the house.

After talking with the proprietor about possible hill tribe excursions on my own, I cased the main drag for something to eat, found a map and some locals to talk to about accessing the hill tribes and just enjoyed the heck out of being with the Southeast Asian people again.

Sunday August 3rd 2008
Ban Fei Guest House Room 3
Chaing Kong, Thailand

I got up this morning and went for coffee at my Chaing Khong friend’s café. With apple and banana offered my breakfast was complete. Before too long the rain started and literally put a damper on the day. I headed home to read a little. Map and Lonely Planet in hand I went to the front office to inquire about travel into Laos.

After 30 minutes of “good” conversation I had a plan to avoid the tourists in Laos. What a relief to have plans to attempt to do that, now that I know it is necessary for me. The guest house owner made me somewhat uncomfortable. He was very reluctant to establish a relationship with me although very helpful. I don’t think he trusted me.

After my Laos plans were taken care of he mapped out a route outside of town where I could see some tribe living. I put on my Marmot rain gear and rented a motor bike from him. Before long I was tooling down the main drag on a motor bike in the light rain looking for the left turn that would take me into the mountains in search Thai mountain tribes.

I hadn’t rode a motor bike in 30 years but just a like a bike it was second nature, with a little bit of care, I did all right! I realized immediately that this motor bike mode of transport was going to allow me to go where I wanted, and more importantly avoid the tourist route.

I spotted the Huomong Tribe woman in blue trousers and black blouses. I’m enjoying being in the hills of Thailand so much and the freedom of the motor bike that I’ve decided to stay an extra day and tomorrow ride the 50 km north along the Mekong River to Chaing Seau and the “Golden Triangle”. I finished up the day cruising around a bit and caught some liver fried chicken and vegetables from a street side vendor.

I like Chaing Khong. The people seem honest open kind and friendly. I’m looking forward to the trip to the Golden Triangle in the morning and then to Laos in 1 or 2 days.






Monday August 4th 10:30 pm
Sanadee Guest House
Hue Xhi, Laos

It rained most of the morning so I decided to forgo the trip to Golden Triangle and pack for Laos. Stopped by for some coffee and luckily found a re-charger for my camera which I had left in my motel room in Bangkok. So I guess Bangkok got the best of me I’m afraid to say.

After one hour on the internet I took a tuk tuk to the “ferry”. The passage ramp had a few long boats docked and a fish vendor unloading and weighing their catch. The ride across the Mekong River took about 5 minutes. I was in a long boat with a few locals
and a European couple traveling very lightly, only a small back pack each. Customs and immigration into Laos was a breeze.

Once in Laos it didn’t take to long to find a 10$ a night hotel and settle in to research my options for travel in Northern Laos.

Next time on Different Perspectives join me as I travel by bus through the mountain roads of Northern Laos on my way south toward Vientiene.

Please join me, until then…….

“Those who accept that we all die someday settle their quarrels.”

Edward
Different Perspectives


Again Welcome to our news letter. As is common with our objective the following articles are of interest in upholding the purpose of our newsletter to offer a different perspective.
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(italics text by Different Perspectives staff)

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