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Hi my friends, remember me? the lovely Colombian is still in Asia working and travelling when he can; this time, you are about to learn what I was up to during the Golden Week. What? you don't know what that is... (Sorry about the photos, the comments were deleted last year due to a sudden network crash, I promise I will write other captions eventually).
Definition of a Golden Week
A week off that the Chinese government has decided to give to people in order to enhance tourism in China. The concept is wonderful, isn't it? but is there any catch for touring China? well, the downside is... because of the hordes of people thronging the streets to find tickets to go back home and be with their families, the airline companies take advantage of the situation to do their Golden Business; thus, all prices suddenly skyrocket and you can not -as in France- book your trip in advance since they are not always sure of how much they could increase the prices; I guess it all depends on the offer they have.
Great! you might say... but how does your favourite Colombian come in all
Thais are very respecful of their religious budhas
Here a sort of a dance which was more like an offering. Very beautiful movementsthis Golden business story? Not that I've become a travel agent or anything, goodness me, my power of convincing is not that effective, at least not yet, and even if I had that power, thanks to my execrable orientation skills, I might get everybody lost in their destinations or a bit biased, I would direct everybody to Colombia; in addition, teaching still allows me to bring home the bacon, a cheap bacon I must say, mes amis, no comments.
Anyway, wishing to avoid all the hassle of travelling with thousands of people (this is not a metaphore, it is actually true, thousands of Chinese travelling!) at the same time and save some money, I decided not to go nuts but instead, opt for a trip abroad; yeah, doesn't it sound contradictory? it might even seem dubious but yeah, I went abroad to save money (hahaha); before you start wondering, my reasoning was both sound and lucid!!! Let me explain...
Other countries do not have the famous Golden Week, therefore, you can still travel at a normal golden-free price; "no hesitations", I thought and was mentally ready to choose my destination: then I made myself an appointment in one
of the walls of my bedroom where I have a huge 10-yuan map of the world featuring China as the centre of the world! a bit different from the one I have back in Colombia; well, what about the destination? many countries came to mind, but Indochina was fairly handy; yeah, I know, I can't do all the 4 countries in one week, but at least, you need to start somewhere: the decision was made: Thailand.
Why Thailand?
Please select the appropriate response:
a. I speak Thai and wanted to practise my speaking skills.
b. As Thailand is still a French colony, it will be easy to get by.
c. I became a massage expert and got a scholarship to learn some Thai techniques.
d. None of the above.
And the answer is "d"
Please do not worry if you've chosen 'a' or 'c', many people might have done the same; in fact, my students sometimes do when we practise reading skills and let me tell you, it's absolutely normal. However, if you chose 'b', I'm afraid, I have to tell you that you have a problem and must at
My real floating market
This is the real one as I bought a bottle of water from this nice lady once buy a history book.
Let's get serious, shall we? why Thailand?
Well, I suppose it was because I wanted to make it for real this time ; you see, I remember last year, before the summer holidays, Maya and me were trying to organise a weekend trip to Bangkok, but it didn't work out, I don't remember the reasons as we couldn't get to organise our schedule; so, this time, as I am more mature :-), I thought this must be the right choice. Ready I was to enjoy the beautiful beaches, learn about the amazing Thai history, enjoy a Thai massage (do not insist, I told ya, the answer was not 'c': I'm not an expert, next time please read carefully and do not rush into answering) and take advantage of some cheap airlines. On top of that, I had heard such nice things about Thais that
Let's move ahead...
First step then was to find the tickets. Here, I have to give credit to one of my Chinese colleagues who happened to know Tiger Airlines, a Singapourian airline which -incidentally- might be taken over by a British company, just
as Iberia will. Yes, so, the booking started and once again through the internet; I must confess that, although a bit skeptical -as usual- , I decided to let it go and book my tickets online. I don't know you, but I always get worried about not receiving the tickets on time or not receiving them at all; thankfully, I was informed that there was no need of tickets, to my relief, ' the booking will do' said the travel agent's voice on the other side of the line. So, nothing else to do? great! I'm forever modernized and extremely updated.
So far, are you impressed? well, you should be... For one thing, haven't you noticed that I'm more active now and have actually started to travel? yeah, Lydie, the blablabla has stopped and now I act... for another, I'm becoming less paranoiac; so, here I said it, I'm a brand new man who is ready to make the most of his life and golden weeks, specially that.
In the queue when I was waiting to register my luggage, two Korean girls aproached me to tell me their story; they had too much stuff and were very worried
There I was ready for my Thai experience
and also very eager to know a bit about their culture, the only thing I knew was that our ways of greeting are very different indeed. I wanted to learn more. about the fees for overweight luggage. So far, a normal situation that sometimes we find ourselves in; and, no, Maya, they didn't approach me for they thought I looked like Jude Law or Ben Affleck, or Chayan; they might not even know them so I can't blame them.
Yeah, they wanted me to register half of their baggage; unfortunately or fortunately, I am very aware of all the risks you take by doing this. First of all, you don't know the people and second, after talking to the girl on the counter, who overheard our conversation, I learned that you can actually end up in prison for registering other people's luggage as your own. Paranoic as I am (sorry), I didn't hesitate to say NO, you see, I don't want to find myself in trouble in another country, ruin my holidays and who knows what else.
So, Korean girls if you happen to read this blog -I'm too optimistic-, I know, I am sorry, you might take me for a snob with a stone heart, but I didn't have the choice. You might later be in the same situation and believe me, it's better to refuse.
After
I cleared customs, I browsed some shops, not many things to buy, colognes, bags, etc, just the same stuff of all airports and then I saw what I always found exciting: a bookshop. Yes, although I had promised not to buy any books before I finished the ones sitting on my night table, I couldn't resist the temptation... as usual...
This time there were two excuses to buy books: I was dying for information about Thailand or Singapore and there was a 20 percent discount, so... what would you do in one of those situations? should you just ignore the sale and leave all those poor books sitting there and looking so sad and rejected? No, you know me too well, I couldn't do that, so I rushed to the bookshop and after 20 minutes of heavy thinking and lots of scanning and skimming, I left the shop with three new books: 2 about Singapore and 1 about Thailand.
Then I boarded the plane, luckily enough, this time I had the window all to myself, so I was able to admire the wonderful views and saw Singapore as a very tiny island (which is the case) but even
smaller from the plane, surrounded by lots of water. I was then confronted with the same ackwardness I found when I used Delta Airlines from the US; you have to pay for the food or drink you consume in the plane, it is so weird; just as if you were in India or maybe in Italy when you have to pay for the cutlery and bread of their restaurants. That's why, Air France, I love you!!!. Anyway, it makes sense with Tiger Airlines as being a budget airline, the staff don't earn enough, therefore, the food and beverages might make up for their low salaries as they might get a commission -I'm guessing- but what about Delta Airlines? it's not a budget airline, is it?
Incidentally, one of my Chinese colleagues told me that some Asian airlines whose prices are very low, actually expect the passangers to buy stuff, like jewelry, parfums, etc in order to compensate for the cheap prices; you might think, it does not matter as you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to, but, my friends, it's not supposed to be an option in those airlines; mark my words, if you are
ever in that situation, mull things over before buying your tickets. If the stewardesses -who act here like middlemen, according to my friend- make you 'voluntarily' buy something you don't want to, it might not be that cheap after all, and that's the catch. In my case, I always end up moaning and would rather prefer to pay a pretty penny for the ticket; but here again, my case is like that of many foreigners here who are a bit tired of being ripped off most of the time.
The flight continued and in spite of some turbulence, I was still able to enjoy my book (again, I'm glad that my mum is not reading this, she is much concerned about my eyes). I was glad though when the pilot announced shortly afterwards that we'd be landing in Bangkok at 2:20 pm, which was 1:20 pm according to the Singapore time.
Bangkok
The city was founded more than 200 years ago and has managed to preserve its old splendor beautifully adapted to the modern duties of the capital city. It is a hot city (around 35 degrees) that allows visitors to wear very light clothes, which
was ideal for my holidays. Although the city can get pretty rainy in a different city, I can't believe that the temperature gets to cool down.
After I arrived in Bangkok, also known as 'the magnificent City of Angels', we took the shuttle from the budget airport to the transport station; so far, it was ok as I just have to do what other people did; however, once I arrived at the station, it was kind of difficult to find somebody who could speak English. God, body language again, I suppose I'm becoming an outstanding actor. Please, Steven, think of me once Julia goes back to work, by the way, apparently she gave birth to her third child yesterday, here I am crossing my fingers so that I am invited to the baptism.
Anyway, where was I? Yes, after lots of body language communication attempts, I was told I had to take bus 556 and change to go downtown. So, I quickly went to buy some drinks and a sandwich and rushed to the bus, got on and insecure as I was, I thought it would be safer to ask the driver the same question again just
to make sure I understood the route. Well, he told me to take another bus (551) and change for 77. Off I went but still asked another person as I was getting sort of worried, this person told me to get back on the express shuttle and they said I had to go under a bridge; well, you can't imagine how worried I was, but the good thing was that it was early so with lots of time to spare, I did what I was told, and five minutes later it dawned on me that I was going back to the same airport, oops!!! felt like Mr Bean, but I decided to continue hoping to find somebody who spoke English there. I went to one of the information offices and a very nice receptionist told me where to take the bus, but forgot to tell me I had to buy the tickets beforehand, so I quickly got on the bus and as the bus was leaving I saw other people's tickets so had to get off and rush to buy the tickets.
Nice impression of Thailand when I finally saw Bangkok's downtown. I was so hungry that the first
thing I wanted to do was chifan (eat, for you lazy beginners). Luckily, a lady who was on the bus approached me and started a conversation. Thanks God, her English was excellent, after giving me some advice on hotels, she also told me some of the main places to go to. The view from the window was very pittoresque, nice stalls, people wearing yellow shirts, at the beginning I took them for workers from the same company but next day I was told they are very proud of their country and king, so they wear these shirts as they were commemorating an important event concerning their king. It goes without saying that I obviously bought the polo shirt too. And, NO, I'm not a loser. :-)
Excited as I was, I finally hopped off the bus near a shrine: Thao Mah Brahma (1956). Very colourful and a group of fairly beautiful Thai girls were dancing; after taking some pictures of the dancers and the shrine, I proceeded to find a restaurant, I could eat a horse as I was both ravenous and parched. Understandable after all that oddysea of getting on the right bus.
I found quite a
nice restaurant on a second floor. Just by looking at the menu, I knew the dinner was going to be exquisite, I remember: many dishes with coconut, different sweet and salty sauces, lots of Thai fried rice, I felt like going to the last supper. After so many hesitations, I decided to order salmon with Thai papaya salad and obviously Thai beer; I couldn't wait, my mouth was just waiting for that Thai salty-sweet mixture, I adore it! unfortunately, I had to tell my mouth to keep on dreaming... the waitress came back to tell me there was no salmon left, so I had to punish myself with my second choice: pork chops with coconut sauce, wow, I regretted the fact of not praying at the shrine so that there was some pork left for my order.
It was all delicious, and the delicious Singha... I thought it was less bitter than the normal beer.
After having that wonderful meal, I proceeded to browse through the shops; although there were many things to buy: clothes, cuttlery, posters, etc. I was very wise and only bought a couple of amulets for good luck. The reason? I was maybe concerned by
the hotel as I was not sure where I will be staying and didn't want to windowshop while carrying lots of stuff with me. Or maybe it was my shyness, later I learned that Thailand as an Asian country openly invites people to bargain on their products.
Finding a hotel
But I have the impression that as I was in Thailand, I had to behave as Thais do, that is take a very easygoing attitude, so I let go and didn't look for accommodation until about 6 pm. Luckily, as I was born under a lucky star, in less than half an hour -after my search started- I found myself discussing the price of a room with a very nice lady . It was actually in a hairdresser's where I saw a small sign advertising a room to stay. So, off I went and it turned out that the lady who was advertising that room was the same hairdresser; with her very broken English, she said sth like 'want it, take it? very cheap for you, thanks for your help', which felt like she had been rehearsing those sentences for a while and now they were
quite handy to talk to this wonderful Colombian boy :-) No wonder why I immediately thought about some of our students in their first speaking test.
The question about the price was asked and as soon as she said 1,400 baht, I was ready to cut it by half: '700 Thai', I said; and you know what? it was not hard to convince her; God knows what would've happened if I had said 200 or even 20 baht... maybe I'm being too optimistic but I believe she thought that given the time (6:40 pm) I was in an advantageous situation, which was not true for it was more of a desperate situation for me, but I suppose I'm learning to bargain (Thanks Lydie).
The room, which I thought, would be just upstairs was about 1000 metres from the hairdresser's; in fact, she had just bought this flat and I was actually her first lodger, lucky me! she said that was the reason why she accepted that low price, ; I suppose it was cost-effective for, in spite of the location, I had the whole flat to myself, not a very big one but that was all I needed.
Looking back, I wouldn't have been able to rent a flat with so much space at that price. Now, obviously she wanted to play safe so she asked me to give her my passport as a kind of deposit but she didn't know she was dealing with Mr Paranoiac, so I suggested I would give her money instead and I was glad she came round too. She then left and I was supposed to return the key and get my money back the next day at her shop. I then had a wonderful shower, watched some TV and relaxed in my 700-one bedroom flat, extremely happy of not having to face the night homeless.
The night I spent there was quite nice; next day, I woke up quite late and first thing I did was sit for breakfast at one of the stalls near the flat. I had a hot Ovaltine drink which was quite tasty, I think they mix it with condensed milk, ice and another kind of powder, which I couldn't tell, but hey, that was so cold that it was a fantastic way to start a very hot Bangkokian day. When I went back to return
so here, you have the open-air tuk-tuk
...where you normally negociate the price. I was rude when I took this photo of the foreigners.. just joking, we mutually took a photo of each other, that was fun. the key, the lady in question was massaging a foreigner. What a very sweet lady! she gave me a free bottle of water and she had prepared a kind of fidelity card, I suppose the same she uses for her customers at the hairdresser's, but mine was different, not for hairdresser's appointments! more of a Real Agent stuff as I was her first lodger; so folks, can you imagine? I'd just have to stay in her flat 10 TIMES (maybe 10 days, I'm not sure) and then get the 11th night for free. Are you jealous? Time to think... to use it wisely, I'd need to change my plans and stay 12 days in Bangkok, tempting but...I was running out of excuses until I found one: for one thing, the university wouldn't buy it, for another, I wouldn't have bought me another night... :-)
Sad as I was for not taking advantage of my incredible good luck, I decided to look for a hotel straight away; 10 minutes later (told ya, stars), I found 'Siam Star Hotel', that was just like 400 metres from her place at a reasonable price too: 500 baht for one night and it was
quite ok, the basic service, air conditioned rooms, tv (not cable or international tv as advertised on the leaflet, oops). Wait a minute... a hotel, with facilities, does it mean I was not that lucky...ICEBERG (this is a personal joke, iceberg in Titanic, got it?). The staff were fairly friendly and one of them was even wearing a Shakira's shirt, so you know, being so proud of my country, I decided to stay there most of the time; who cares about cable tv when the hotel staff love one of our most popular ambassadors?
Obviously, there were other reasons too, namely the location, very central as it was very close to some of Bangkok's main complexes. As soon as I left my bags in the hotel, I was ready to start exploring my new Bangkokian surroundings.
The Grand Palace
First things first! I knew beforehand the first place to go would be the Grand Palace. How exciting! So, I had to decide whether to go by taxi or tuk tuk, as the novelty was all there, a trip by the latter was more appealing. For those who do not know, a tuk tuk is a three-wheeled
Me at the Grand Palace
Housing the heading quarters of the king as well as the throne halls. Splendid! motorised taxi, with the advantage or disadvantage of a fare negociation. In spite of the heavy traffic, -just car racing as with the formulas- the ride was nice. As I spotted some foreigners in another tuk tuk, there was an instant mutual reaction of taking pictures of each other, yeah, we were the very big losers, but hey, cut me some slack, it's not every day that you spot foreigners in this toy-like means of transport.
The palace, which was built thanks to King Rama's I's desire to build a new capital, is located near the Phra Keow Temple. And there I was admiring the splendor of the 150-year kings' residence; the luxurious buildings remind Thais of their power and amazing heritage. So much gold and glass in those buildings make the palace the most important Bangkokian landmark; though a bit touristy most of the time, you have to visit it if you are in the capital; the ticket price is 250 Baht and you are given a leaflet with some valuable explanations of the main spots, I don't think you really need a guide, but it's all up to you when you go. What you need, though, is
to be dressed appropriately; incidentally, I have read that many tourists have been denied entrance for wearing shorts.
The layout of the palace is marked by both courts, the outer and the central. The main spot being the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Budha; but why emerald, is it made of this precious stone? let's see...
I read that in 1434 A.D, lightning struck a Chedi in Chiangrai province of Northern Thailand and after the storm, they found a Buddha statue made of plaster, which they thought it was just an ordinary Budha. Soon it was noticed that behind the plaster, green patches started to leak. Struck by these, they decided to take the stucco off the statue and big surprise followed; they found that the original Budha was made of green jade. I said, jade, not emerald, but now we know it but at that time, the green colour of the jade was taken by emerald and that is how the legend started.
According to the leaflet, due to issues regarding the sucession of Thai kings, the image was taken to Laos where it remained for 226 years until the commander of Chao Phraya Chakri, who
lived to become King Rama I and the founder of Bangkok, brought it back. The clothes of the Buddha are changed according to the season (summer, rainy season and winter) and this is not a simple matter, it seems that they organise such a big ceremony for this event that even the King is present.
All through the palace, you will find plenty of paintings decorating the walls, they are normally taken from Ramakien scenes. Why Ramakien? well, have you heard of it or Ramayana, maybe? Ramakien is in fact Thais' national epic, and it is derived from the Hindu Indian Ramayana epic.
The temple is quite an important symbol of Thailand, it is in fact the private chapel of the King and very significant as far as religious and royal ceremonies are concerned. My first impression when I got there was that of reverence and high respect as I saw many people meditating around the shrine; the paintings on the wall are very beautiful, apparently they tell the story of the living budha, I just had to let my imagination fly for there was no way of getting explanations; the veneration is such
that you don't even dare smile to anyone, let alone ask a question. Therefore, I take back what I said about the guide, maybe you do need one. Last, if you are wondering about my camera, well the answer is No, I couldn't take any pictures as it is forbidden and you know, I am a good boy; hey, if you go, do not forget to walk barefooted.
The buildings which were meant to be used as halls and residences (1782), when they were first constructed, were later enlarged by different Thai kings. It seems that the transformation has been going on for many years and still continues. The paintings in the galleries depict the stories of different Thai battles.
I also went to the Weapon Museum inside the palace to find different kinds of warware ike lances, airgun stick, shot gun rifles, shot sticks, etc; not a very fun experience, though it was interesting to see the kinds of weapons used.
The Temple of Dawn or Wat Arun
An esplendid temple which is very close to the Grand Palace, housing a terrific porcelain 79 metre pagoda, whose colours change depending on
our friendly sun. 20 Baht to go in.
Wat Pho Temple
Containing a gigantic golden reclined budha of exactly 46 metres long and 15 metres high. The soles of his feet are full of pearls, the mere view of the budha was a most unforgettable experience.
A ride on a boat
While I was at the Grand Palace, I was approached by a guy who would sell boat trips to some different spots, that was quite handy as I wanted to see more of Thailand. There was a boat to myself, which was terrific as I could enjoy every bit of the trip without having to overhear boring conversations on mobile phones, I mean if they spoke English, swallow cigarette smoke or be disturbed by any unwanted noise spoiling the calm of nature.
It suddenly dawned on me that I had to eat something for I had spent too long in the GP without filling my stomach, so there I rushed to one of the food stalls I found on the way; there was this lady selling pancakes which looked like the 'arepas' we had in Colombia and it only
took her two minutes to deepfry them, so I took some to the boat, as I have no time to sit down or anything.
The guy told me he would take me to some temples, notably The Temple of Dawn (Hey, Dawn, I knew you came from a wealthy family but didn't imagine you were that rich, lucky Sen), Wat Pho and others; stick around for the other names as I might be able to find the page where I put the names down.
On the way to the temples, I was also able to admire some people selling stuff on boats, which actually became my version of the renown floating market; you see, after listening to some of the teachers from the UIC, I decided not to go too far to look for a floating market as they said it was too far and I would spend the day being stuck like in a floating jam, not for me, thanks; so here I was, happy to have my replica of the Thai floating market; I even bought a bottle of water from one of the ladies, just to have the impression of, you know, been there, done
that, bought the shirt; and in fact, I did buy the t-shirt, you will see.
Testing my luck at Wat Yai Chai Mongkol Temple (easy to remember? I don't think so, what do you think? )
In some of the temples I tried to find out about my luck and future; it is very simple, they actually give you a pot with lots of sticks which you need to sort of agitate so that only one of them comes out of the pot; that would be the one you need to pick up in order to get a fortune slip which holds the secrets of your future; mine was not bad, though to make sure, I did it twice.
My first one was number 18 and here it goes:
'Better no rush. Should wait for favourable circumstances, then desires are accomplished. Like hope to sail a boat anchored for a time. After all, to become successful, a skilled boatman needed for help.
Virtuous persons will give benefit and encouragement at a later time. Looking for someone is hopeless. Be prudent of your speech. Ignore one's blame for slowness'
Well, what would you make out of this?
let's see... True, most of the times I rush, but I never consider it a bad thing as I know in most of the cases what I really want. Virtuous person? is it any of you reading this blog? please if it's you, come and help me asap, you're the boatman or boatwoman needed for help, so hurry up!!! Last, I cannot blame myself for being slow, I need to be slow in order to do my work in a better way.
Let's look at the second one. Fortune slip No. 8
Just like an unmated dove, life seems cheerless and sorrowful. No one pays attention. Suffer lonesome living in the forest. Good fortune is not in sight. Lose favour with friends and relatives. Beyond this year, long happiness approaches. Legal case is not defensible.
Wait for favourable circumstances before making decisions. Better no rush'
I think they must have given me the wrong one as my current luck is not that bad, however what is true is that the rushing thing keeps coming up... that could be: I normally rush into things or they are using the same blablabla in all the slips. Sorry...oops, just a thought,
whatever it is, I don't buy it but hey, it's up to you to judge.
I was also shown a typical Thai house. The guide was very joyful giving us insights into the everyday life of Thais. That was fascinating. We visited the house bit by bit, lots of Chinas, somehow it felt like visiting my parents' house back in Colombia, there were old devices like the telephone we still had at home, or the cucu I brought them from Switzerland. We tasted the homemade wine and admired the beautiful dances and Thai Boxing.
Thai Boxing
The ticket entitled us to see a Thai boxing, very picturesque with a great deal of punches, kicks and strikes, and I suppose it must be more violent and dangerous than what we saw; maybe I didn't understand the whole point of the fight, for me it came across more as a sort of dance or maybe it was my artistic side that allowed me to see a choreography instead of a real fight, you know, like the Brazilian dance 'Capoeira', but anyway, I wouldn't pay to go and see a fight; glad they didn't try it on me,
as you might imagine, me and the martial arts do not go together, I'm more sort of a weak person when it comes to fighting. Only once did I stand up to the bully in my highschool and there again, we did not fight as he got scared once he saw me angry. Isn't it always like that? those bullies are just as coward as their victims?
Anyway, it seems that Thais highly enjoy the fighting as it is supposed to be their most popular sport and children start learning at 7, that's about the same time we start dancing in Colombia, not the same values, my friends; wonder why the fighters were so outstanding, you can see them in the photos.
Looking back, I wish I would've been brought up in Thailand so that I could've stood up to the bully in my school. All in all, I believe their fighting was not as brutal as it normally is, I suppose when they fight for real, people get very excited placing bets as if it were a coq fight or something. As it was not my cup of tea, I then sat down to examine my plan
in order to find out what to do next.
Silom Road
After the ride, I wanted to go and see some of Bangkok's nightlife at Silom Road, how to go? I asked a passing couple who gave me an approximate price of the ride, and then I proceeded to stop taxis and tuk tuks, but hey, smelling a ripoff I decided to go by boat. Unfortunately, there was a delay of almost 1 hour so I took that chance to try some more Thai food near the harbour. Wonder why... Here for a change, a funny 40-year-old waitress served my food; as there were only westerners there, she sort of made everybody laugh by being most silly; for instance, she was wearing my cap and grasped my camera in order to take pictures from people in different tables; although she was hugging everybody, she was very efficient; I loved that, fantastic to see some people who in spite of working as ants, still keep that big friendly smile and make other people happy. On top of that, I like silly, that's what we need to make this world better.
When I got to Silom Road
it was raining cats and dogs, surprisingly, I didn't see any raining elephants, I'm still wondering why, I was in Thailand, right? Many colourful shops, banks as it is supposed to be the most important business and commercial centre of Thailand, hotels, insurance companies and some temples; I started browsing and was happy to find some very colourful shopping arcades; there I bought a couple of Thai silk shirts, kind of nice for the hot weather of Zhuhai and Cucuta, some shorts and a Thai lamp, socks and a couple of toys for my nephews. While I was shopping, I also had the chance to see some Thai dancers at a restaurant, they were all wearing beautiful dresses and their movements were just lovely.
I had to say that even if I thought the prices there were low, it didn't take me that long to figure out how stupid I was for I found the same stuff at the market, same makes and everything, the same! they were cheaper and as it is the market, people are expected to bargain, but hey, that's how you enhance your shopping experience. That's why I'm telling you, if you ever go to
Bangkok, try the market first and you'll know what I'm talking about. You won't be disappointed.
As the night was ending, I had the chance to look through an Indian temple and actually managed to take some pictures of it; but I was tired and looking forward to my next day, which was promising to be very different, lots of ruins and stuff, so I hit the bed as I got to the hotel.
Ayutahya
Next day was devoted to an island formed by the merging of three rivers, Ayyutaya; it used to be the former capital of Thailand (1350) and now a majestic historical park recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site; an array of ruins of temples, located at 86 kilometres north of Bangkok.
Is it me? or is it the way how things are done? why? well, when trying to find transportation, I had a time of it which I won't forget... the thing is, I was told I had to take bus 77 and though I was at the right bus STOP, I counted five 77 buses which went past the bus STOP i was at and did not
STOP there. I couldn't make out what was happening, maybe they don't like Colombians, I thought, so I had to start asking questions to everybody. Then, it was suggested that I should took 136 bus, so here I go, but, in the end, one of the 77 buses STOPped and picked me up, lucky me!!!
In the heat of the day, I saw many people actually riding bicycles to go there, which looking back now, it must be a good idea as you don't even need a map, you see, the spots are very close to each other; I couldn't help noticing, however, that some of the bike riders would go into the temples without paying for the sites are very large and there is not enough control. One of them was allowed, though; sort of funny for the entrance prices are just nothing, but here again, there are not many people checking. I don't know why but I can't help picturing Wynona RYder as a foreign bike rider, if you know what I mean, yeah, I also read Hello, but only sometimes when I run out of books.
For those who want a name of the old
city, I can even give you her first name as well as her family name: Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya; for those who have learned some Thai: พระนครศรีอยุธยา. The city, which was the glory of Thais in the past, as it was one of the biggest and richest cities in southeast Asia, was founded in 1350 by King U-Thong and then completely burned in 1767 by the Burmese army; what is left now are the ruins of the old city, lots of temples to imagine. Later, the city was refounded a few kilometers to the east.
Thailand is so touristy that everything is fairly organised for us foreigners; as soon as I arrived, there was a taxi driver lining up with several laminated postcards of the main spots to visit there, many ruins of the temples as I mentioned above. Very handy, indeed. So, I took the tour. He was very kind and gave me a quick glance of some of the places.
Though I am not into ruins, it was impressive to see all those sites with so many headless budhas and imagine the history behind it, an array of temples, that has to be a memorable visit
for those architecture freaks; I must say that I was very taken by the tree which grew around the face of the buddha, that was amazing, not one of the seven wonders but still most astonishing.
Some places I visited are amazing, for instance there was Wat Panan Choeng (20 Baht), which was this old monastery with Thailand's largest ancient Budha image. Legend has it that the image was made in AD 1344, which was long before Ayutthaya was established as the capital of the kingdom in AD 1350. The statue, which is revered by Chinese sailors as it is meant to provide them with a safe journey, is frequently visited by worshippers and researchers.
Another temple was Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, the great temple of auspicious victory, whose name derived from the famous victory of King Naresuan over the Burmese invasion in 1593. The price to go in is just 20 Bahts.
All the other places we visited contain names that are maybe easy to remember for those Thai speakers but for me... Sri Satchanalai- Wat Changlom? the only thing I can say is that you must count yourselves very lucky as I was taking notes
when the man showed us the postcards; here's a summary of the sites: Wai Yai Thaimangkhon, Wan Phananchaeng, Wat Mahothat, Wat Ratchabrana; you see? not easy to retain. With the destruction of the city in 1767, not only an outstanding civilisation came to an end but also tons of versions of the Ramakien, which I mentioned above.
One most hot hour later, I went on an elephant ride, which was just ok; interestingly, as it was my first time, I was hoping for more excitement but here again, I really felt like a tourist, riding this elephant on the pavement in front of so many people, which made me look forward to the end of the ride. I was trying to be courageous and climbed one of the stairs in one of the temples, and oh my God, I couldn't get past the middle as I got scared; as luck would have it, there was a Westerner admiring my exploit and he guided me from the ground below, thanks to his encouragement, I slowly went down without looking down. Oh please, Frank, when are you going to learn? It took me like 10 minutes to be fine again and
I was lucky as the visit was coming to an end.
Massages
'Massages, massages', If I didn't know some English, I would've taken that as a salutation, you know the way we say 'Good morning', for I think it was the most popular words I heard during my visit. When you think of it, it is amazing the amount of massage places you can find in Thailand and always the same background, lots of girls sitting in rows. Spoilt as I am, I had to grasp that opportunity, so there I was, lining up ready to receive a wonderful body and a full massage.
The lady I had was lovely, her English was ok and she gave me some insights into the world of Thai massages. At 129 baht, Thai massages are actually the same price as Chinese massages, and I must say, they are a great deal better, debuqi (I think, I think, it means sorry!). The thing is, there, the lady really uses her body to massage you, as a result, she pulls your muscles more and it doesn't take you long to feel better; as to the foot massage, I didn't think
it was that great, just the same as in China, but the body massage, wow, it is really worth the experience.
On the walls, certifications of the masseurs are hung and with some simple Thai decoration, the place is just ideal for relaxing, you know the typical thing, some water cooling, very green plants. I won't forget that massage as I've kept it both in my mind and in my recorder, that's right, the lady was so nice to let me film her, and you know what? I might even become an expert in some years' time, anybody lining up to have a Colombian-Thai massage? I'm telling you, you have to book quickly for you know how popular I get sometimes. And hey, the Olympics are coming soon, so better hurry up to experience the best massage ever!!!
And then on Wednesday...
Pattaya
Off we went to the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand to find one of the main tourist spots in Thailand. We took a sort of minibus and headed to the Fascinating Pattaya. The trip was short and then I asked one of the passengers, a 55-year-old westerner, about
the reasonable hotels in the city, he told me where to get off I was, trying to look for a reasonable hotel at 7:00 pm, and I didn't have a fidelity card this time, damn it!. After enquiring in some expensive hotels, I finally found a very cheap hotel, the New B.R. Inn; it was nicely located, many restaurants and bars nearby.
I stayed inside the room for one hour just waiting for the rain to stop and then I went for a stroll, which was a nice opportunity to look into nice restaurants. The first one I found was a Turkish one, although the menu looked quite appetising (lots of kebabs), it quickly dawned on me that I was in Thailand and should look for Thai food; although I became very picky, the funny thing was I ended up eating in a fancy Chinese restaurant as I was very taken by the oysters and seafood looking very exquisite in the menu: bird nest, shark fins and plenty, plenty of sea food. Yeah, I know, that was silly but hey, no regrets, and I was ravenous, anyway. Here's the lavish meal I had:
Pineapple rice, sweet and sour
seafood soup Thai style (you see, I still played by the rules!), some crab cakes, which were delicious, oysters and coconut milk. Well, though the restaurant was very Chinese, I suppose the owners have been living in Thailand for many years as it seems to me that they cater for local people too. And all of that at Nam Sing.
Fantasy Land for a few and a hell for the majority
As I could see many old tourists come to the city to enjoy the nightlife, funnily enough, you can't help staring at those very old foreigners walking hand in hand with stunningly attractive young Thai girls, and as I read, in most of the cases, the reason is not a true bond of love, if you know what I mean ... it seems that as some men get older and uglier, their desire to exploit young girls increases; there I prayed so that the lyrics of the Beatles' song 'When I Am 64' apply to me and I'll have sb for real when I reach that age; otherwise, there won't be walking hand in hand for me on the beaches as
I can't see myself paying for love! Not in a million times!
Incidentally, 'bon courage' for the person who'll be by my side when I am 64 as I don't normally go easy on people, sorry. But hey relax, people change and there is hope, I am only 21, remember?
It made it even sadder when I read about the very scarce possibilities of getting decent jobs for those poor girls coming from farming families. Appalled I was when I read about the way the whole rice production goes, apart from working on one most labour intensive crop, farmers need to have enough money to be able to buy machines like tractors and the like, rice mills, fertilizer; but that's not all, with the unpredictable weather and lack of rain, they might lose everything; when their efforts to pull it through fail, they end up borrowing money from banks or so-called 'friends'; on many occasions, they hardly manage to pay back interest, therefore, they run the risk of losing their farms. And here the superwomen come in handy.
Poor girls' innocence and childhood are in many cases stolen and off they go to the city to try
to find work and send money home; not an easy task since I don't know what is left for them apart from the big business of fairly cheap labour. One of their possibilities is us 'the crazy farangs' as they call the foreigners, and then the social...sorry, sexual relationship of exploiters and exploited starts back again. I apologise for being so blunt, my dear friends, this is something I have very strong feelings about.
I suppose in the end, the equation works just fine, as there is enough offer for the demand and what's more, everybody gets their share: banks and money lenders are happy as they end up with more farms and money, bloody ugly, old farangs enjoy making their dreams come true in FANTASY ThaiLAND, but goodness me, isn't anybody ashamed of all this disgusting vicious circle? I really pity some of the girls who fall into the hands of some of those farangs who apart from being very fat and bald sometimes are just grottesque. And maybe I got it wrong but I can't buy the fact that there is a love affair or any sort of feelings going on when I see those couples walking
on the beach or dining in restaurants. Their actions speak more than words and I have the impression most of the girls are treated really badly, some foreigners think that because they have money they can come to Asia and just treat people as if they were their servants, unluckily, I know some of those.
Or you might call me a prude for it seems that Thailand is such a sex industry that these things are just commonplace: lots of gogo bars, many aquariums with lots of girls inside ready to wash you completely, fancy that? massage places offering more than the standard Thai massage, and plenty of things to cater for the sex tourists. But here you are, we are all in the world and sad things like this happen every day!
But hey, let's move on or else, I'll put you off reading my blogs, let's now go for beach, I said 'beach' ok?, sun and lovely food, where can you find all that?
Jomtien Beach: ¡ÁÚÌ¡§¬º£Ì²
If there was something I had to do in Thailand, that would have to be the beaches; goodness me, they are just fascinating. So, there
I was, though it was rainy most of the time, the sun was our friend too, I decided to take advantage of the sunny moments and got courageous, yeah, after some hesitations -I didn't have my driving licence (irresponsible)- I decided to rent a motorbike in order to go to ¡ÁÚÌ¡§¬º£Ì² (that's a exploit), it was easy as they only ask you for the passport, I told them I didn't have my licence and they just answer: 'can', so here I was happy that I 'can' drive without a licence (mum will kill me!).
First thing to do was to go and buy petrol and then I found out that they drive on the left side, that was my first time, I didn't even do it in London, but after two minutes I was very comfortable driving as a regular Thai. The guy at the garage got me directions on how to go to the beach and it was not that difficult. I must say that was not my only challenge...
Me Paragliding? NO WAY!
I told ya, I am a more mature person, do you remember one of my last entries where I wrote
about my so-called vertigo attacks during the Silk Road? or even here in Thailand when I tried to climb a ladder? well, I don't know how my vertigo works for this time, here in Thailand, I decided to take the plunge and do some paragliding? How did it come about? I don't know, perhaps the beach, the holidays, the palm trees, the lady who convinced me to do it and... after doing some good bargaining, I was taken on a small boat and there I went.
Oh my God, what an experience; so listen carefully all of you vertigo-sufferers, if you are in the same situation, just try it, not as scary as you think. I thought: 'well, what the hell, I'll just close my eyes and everything will be ok'. But believe me, I didn't even have to do that for I fully enjoyed the experience with my eyes open all the way long; that freedom, the exploit of being there in the air, is just amazing. I was so proud that it was not hard for me to choose the photo for the screensaver on my desktop. So, here again, thanks Thailand for giving me the courage,
that was an unforgettable experience!!!
National Museum of Bangkok
I couldn't leave Thailand without going to its National Museum which I found quite insightful and very close as it is practically next door to the Grand Palace. 30 Baht allowed me to go into the Historical Monument and the National Museum.
The beginnings of the museum, which was known as Museum Bangkok, have to be traced to 1874 when King Rama V wanted to have a place to house the collections of the previous king, (I thought that was great specially when you compare other cultures whose prime concerns were to destroy all the traces of their predecessors, well done, his excellence) that was me, thinking aloud...
The museum is divided into three parts: Thai History, Archeology and History of Thailand since prehistory and Decorative Arts and Ethnology. The monuments and treasures housed in the museum are examples of the wonderful Thai heritage, it took me ages to see it all as I wanted to make the best use of the price entrance: 40 Baht. You should be thankful to my small notebook where I tried to jot down the most interesting
things I learned, and if you are lucky, I'll be able to make out what I wrote; let's see...
There I learned about the amount of Chinese who emigrated to Thailand, they came especially from South China and Sichuan Province; and also that the Thai Writing System called Lai Sue Thai was created in 1823 AD by Pho Khum RamKlam.
I really liked the part about Ayuttaya since I had already been there and started to like a bit of its history. In the museum I learned that the city was founded by King Rathmabolging, and the Portuguese were the first westerners to come to the region. Their influence is highly marked by the introduction of cannons, as well as architecture and engineering. Even their vocabulary, it seems that bread in Thai is pronounced 'pang' which comes from Portuguese, that's easy for me, I wish their language were more based on Portuguese so that I could add another language to my resume, but no, they had to go the difficult way, damn it!
The restaurant menus also display many Portuguese desserts, how sweet; if there is something I have been missing in China, that would be the
desserts I like, well, they're not very fond of desserts and maybe it's my impression but all the sweet things I like are not as sweet in China, they might care a lot about their sugar.
Elephant battles were very popular in Thailand, no wonder why, the elephant is like the symbol of the country. There was this battle where the Queen apparently rode on an elephant to go and rescue her husband, unfortunately she was struck in the back. There were some beautiful paintings and photographs of Thai men engaging in duels, it looks even better than their boxing and what is so amazing is that -as I said before- instead of horses they all ride elephants.
I think the insights will stop here as the rest of the notes I took are illegible so you just have to make do with the things I stated above. The museum is quite good about the information it gives on how the Thais started their trade with other civilisations, how they abolished the slavage and how their education turned more westernised. Let's not forget that England and France were soon to colonise the territory and they obviously imposed their
systems. There is also the fact that one of the kings, Chulangkom's, travel abroad incognito in order to see things for himself and make changes in Thailand and then the changes in Thailand took place not only in education but notably in architecture.
Well, my friends, I hope that you have enjoyed the description and the photos as much as I have. I can say that I will keep lovely memories of my trip to Thailand, the food, the people, the massages and the hospitality are always there. I love the respect of the Thais towards the monarchy, the week I was there coincided with the King's birthday, it was so nice to see so many Thais wearing yellow polo shirts with the flag of Thailand to honour him; I couldn't wait and bought a shirt for myself. Thais are also very respectful of the budha images, I only took photos when I saw other people doing it, I hope I proceeded as expected.
it is always a pleasure to share it with you; stick around, soon I will be writing my next entry. Enjoy your holidays and do not forget me!!!
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Miguel
non-member comment
Hello Frank, just thought I'd fill up the white space in case you thought no-one was interested ;-). No, really, "Les Aventures de Franquin" just get better and better - although if you'd agreed to take the Korean girls' luggage this one could have been even more exciting.