ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK...

Monday, April 20th @ 20:01

Kevin

“One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster. The clubs are temples but the pearls aren't free...” (Murray Head – New York Soundtrack)

One night in Bangkok...and that's all it took to fall in love! This city is AMAZING! In Bangkok, anything goes, smiles abound and the food is in a class all its own. We've only flown a hand full of times, but on a couple of occasions I knew I was going to love a place before the plane even landed. Thailand was one of those places (another being Greece). It's our first time here and we had no idea what to expect. It was to our sheer delight that the guide books were all wrong and that this town is not the chaotic, out of control scene that they would have you believe. In fact, it is quite the opposite, at least from our perspective. It has been months since we have seen green spaces, litter free streets and vehicles driving without constantly using their horns. In Bangkok, the food in the street is better than that of any restaurants. There are ultra modern buildings that cast shadows on the lower, but by no means less spectacular wats (temples). Thailand is 95% Buddhist. However, the Buddhist tradition here is Theravada, as opposed to Mahayana, which is the Tibetan tradition that we recently studied. The main difference is that Mahayana believe in the achievement of Bodhisattva, or enlightenment, of self, for the betterment of all sentient beings, and Theravada believes in ONLY enlightenment of self (which consequently equates to the betterment of all sentient beings anyways). Small details that appear to make big differences.

Despite being located in a “developing country”, Bangkok, by my approximations, is a world class city, the likes of New York, LA, or even, dare I say, Paris. Loaded with culture, architecture and modern accoutrements. Our first day arrival was in the late afternoon. By a rather rare twist of fate, we happened to be reunited with Marc and Emelie, the Canadian couple we met in Delhi that were bicycling their way across Asia. We were ecstatic to find them alive and well and having survived India, a place that is difficult to walk, let alone bicycle through. Their spirits seem to be good and they seemed to be excited about the prospects that bicycling through SE Asia would present. They were accompanied by a South African couple that had been cycling for two years up through Africa and through the Middle East, India, Nepal and were now flying to Thailand as they were unable to continue into China, as desired. Brave souls, and wonderful people, whose paths we were able to cross. As it turned out, by coincidence, Marc and Emelie had chosen the same guest house, in Banglamphu (Bangkok tourist district), that we had chosen, the Bella Bella House. So, we secured a mini-van taxi, loaded our bags and their bikes and gear and headed out into the unknown. All we could do the whole ride was comment on how delighted we were to be back in a civilized world. No honking horns, dirt roads, cows or people relieving themselves in the streets. We made it, we survived, we were back in civilization.

Our first full day in Bangkok found us walking the streets with mouths agape. Commenting on the efficiency of transportation, the forethought of planning and the wide open green spaces and pedestrian thoroughfares. We visited sites such as Wat Pho, Wat Mahaythat and China Town. We walked along the riverside, ate our first Thai street food (grilled squid, spicy sausage and papaya salad), and had our first Thai beer (Chang). We talked to merchants, dodged the young party crowd on Khao San Road and...I got two new tattoos (one being a traditional Thai tattoo) in one of the cleanest, friendliest and most talent laden tattoo shops I have ever visited. Our second day found us doing some more sightseeing at sites such as the Golden Mount, Wat Ratchanaddaran and the official Muay Thai fight stadium (Big Ups Shawn!!!) and a dinner of Thai Sukiyaki, which is best explained as a simmering clay pot of broth that is brought to your table with beef, pork, seafood, glass noodles, and a load of greens that you assemble, cook and flavor with sauces containing cilantro, dried red chili, sugar, fish sauce and vinegar, all served on a table set up on the side of a busy road, and washed down with a large 38 Baht ($1) local beer, purchased from the neighboring 7-11. Third day was a breakfast of mango and sticky rice, ice coffee and a trip down town to the Vietnamese Embassy, for our travel visas. As I write this post it is only our third day (night) in Bangkok and we have spent more money, eaten more and seen more than we have in weeks. Getting around the city is ridiculously easy and the touts that we were warned about are as gentle as soft, fluffy bunny rabbits. Tomorrow, we ship off another package (be on the look out Mom!) and pick up our Vietnamese visas. We will order our bus tickets to Northern Vietnam. And, if all goes well, we will continue to eat ourselves into an oblivion!

I love Miami with all of my heart. It is where I was born and where I always thought I would die. However, this town of Bangkok has grabbed my heart with ferocity of a Thai boxer. It has intrigued me, surprised me and wooed me. The recent political strife in the country has the have nots at odds with the haves. The sex trade continues to be in full swing with Westerners taking full advantage of the lax laws. And, the poor Thai people continue to be pummeled by the likes of the drunken, fraternity party crowd. But all of this has seems to have done little to diminish the reputation of Thailand as the “Land of Smiles”. Thursday we leave for the North, which is said to be the “true Thailand”. I am so impressed thus far that I cannot imagine this country getting much better. Its infectious spirit and endearing and accepting attitude have floored me. I anxiously await the experiences that lie ahead and bow in humble gratitude to the nature of the Thai!