I arrived in Bangkok yesterday around noon. I write this as I’m on a train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai where I’ll be staying for the next four months. I kinda feel like I’m in Darjeeling Limited as I ride on this train, except I’m not in India, Luke Wilson is not with me, and I’m not going to find my mom. Nevertheless, the train has the same developing-country feel, I’m in a Buddhist country, and even the Thai script comes from Indian Sandskrit!
I went to the bathroom and by the loud sound of the train passing over the tracks that came up out of the toilet, I’m pretty sure that the toilet just opens up underneath the train. Awesome. I’ll leave it to you to conclude where the waste goes!
Besides the occasional bug I see scurry across the floor, though, the train isn’t too bad. I had pineapple jelly on my toast this morning which was a new treat! There’s an old Thai man across the aisle from me who’s got a briefcase by his side and a 12-pack of beer under his seat.
The sun went down shortly after the train departed last night at 6:00pm. So unfortunately I couldn’t see the landscape most of the 13-hour trip. I slept for about 7 hours. When the sun finally came up this morning, it revealed a beautiful Thai landscape. I’d look off into the distance and see mountains covered in lush overgrowth. My eyes would follow the landscape down into the deep valleys in between the mountains and my train. Suddenly, as my eyes followed the valley closer and closer to the train, I suddenly realized that we were also directly above the valley, going across incredibly high bridges with the valley deep below us. This happened several times.
So some thoughts about Bangkok: I spent about 6 hours in Bangkok yesterday – I arrived at the airport and went through immigration and customs. I then caught a taxi to the train station, but had the next 5 hours to wait until my train left, so I meandered around the neighborhoods close to the train station, with all of my luggage.
I couldn’t help but compare Thailand to everywhere else I’ve traveled and note the similarities and differences. I’ll probably do that a lot this semester, because I think it’s quite interesting. Bangkok isn’t at all like an African capital. Granted, most African capitals are more developed than most Americans realize, I think. And yet a place like Bangkok is still significantly more developed than any African capital I’ve been to. I’ve forgotten what a middle-income country feels like after spending so much time in Africa. Bangkok actually reminded me of Lima, Peru– about the same level of development. They even have tuk-tuks, which, for those who have been to Peru, are the Asian equivalent of what we liked to call “giggle wagons.” I certainly couldn’t help but miss the chaos of Kampala, Uganda, however. Any international driving is chaotic compared to the US., but Bangkok’s was significantly more orderly than a place like Kampala.
A lot of people had masks over their mouth. At first I thought this was for the smog. But it’s the same even here on the train. I then realized that people are scared of the swine flu! (inserted note: Kenny told me that he asked one man in Chiang Mai why he was wearing a mask and he said swine flu. Kenny then proceeded to ask him, “Did you know that more people die of regular flu than the swine flu? He was quite dumbfounded upon this realization).
I am surprisingly unnoticed and under the radar here. I’m so used to Africa now, where every person yells out “Muzungu muzungu!” in East Africa, and in Sierra Leone, every person yells “Oputu oputu!” The Thais are much more indirect and subtle. I can’t imagine them being so direct. It certainly ruins the self-esteem though, when you’re used to being the spotlight of all attention! Haha. It also leaves me more flexible to take pictures, though too. In Africa, I constantly felt uncomfortable whipping out my camera. Here, I feel I can blend in much more.
I saw a motorcycle driver who apparently didn’t know it was a fashion faux pas to wear socks and sandals.
During my 5-hour wait for my train, I met a fascinating French man with his Thai girlfriend. He’s in his late 20s and has frequented Thailand for about 6 years and he’s currently been dating this girl for about 6 months. Through his broken English and thick accent, he freely gave me advice on picking up girls and bragged about how the Thai women will do all of your work. “For example,” he said, “she carries all of my stuff when we walk around the city.” He told me that every conversation with farang (foreign) men is about sex with Thai girls. I feel that women are commoditized and demeaned more here even more than they are in Africa!
In the train station I met a Dutch woman and had a fascinating conversation about Muslim immigration problems in Holland. Tensions are very high between the Dutch and Muslim immigrants there, and she was the first one to admit it. She did not have a high view of them.
It’s quite entertaining to see monks in their saffron robes riding taxis and tuk-tuks (high-tech chariots, if you will. Carts pulled by motorcycles, more or less. For those of you who have been to Peru – tuk tuks are the giggle wagons!) It’s just fascinating to see Buddhist monks function in every day life. You feel like they shouldn’t.
There’s significantly less cell phone usage than in Africa. In Africa, everyone has a cell phone, and everyone uses it. Sometimes they are using two at the same time. Here, everyone may have one, but they’re not necessarily using it like Africans do.
So these are a few of my first impressions upon landing in Thailand.
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