Bangkok,
Thailand
January
5 - 29, 2001 Written by Aaron
Every day when we were in Bangkok we thanked God for Mark and Nalin Decker. They saved our lives, and they continue to save our lives. Now that we had Paris looming large, we could relax. India like some odd dream, begining to fade away. I would just like to reiterate how intense India was, how wonderful, how dreadful, but in the end, we would recommend India for people who like to travel. They say you either love India or hate it, and we both fall into the love category, definitely.
Mark and Nalin showed us Bangkok and Thailand during our first visit there, back in September '00. Mark showed us the Lakepoint Executive Service Apartments, Nalin helped us order food from the street vendors (ped prik gai), and really, they welcomed us into Bangkok and showed us the ropes. So once we touched down from our flight from India, late flight, into Bangkok, it was like coming home. We got a taxi and it dropped us off at 4 in the morning, on January 6, 2001. We had run our race and were home.
January in Bangkok, we reserved the month for resting, planning, cleaning, convalescing, and to give me time so that I can continue to work on the trilogy, which now has a working title, The Gospel of the Severed Earth. Eating at street vendors and cooking indoors, helped us save a lot of money. Laura found a market where we could get fresh vegetables, but in the end, the street vendors had the best, cheapest food. We could eat a full lunch for fifty cents a person. However, our first week in Bangkok, we mainly got everything organized. Again, thanks to Nalin and especially to her sister Orn, we had left a package with Orn back in September. We picked up the box, which housed most of our technology, lots of books, and even some cooking supplies for the Lakepoint. I started writing again, we discovered the Lakepoint's huge gym, lounge, and pool, that we had to ourselves most of the time, and we even started eating breakfast at the Lakepoint, so I ate pancakes we cooked for lunch instead.
Our average day looked like this: we'd get up, eat breakfast (coffee, orange juice, scrambled eggs/omelet with everything, pineapple, papaya, watermelon, and a croissant). And remember, for the room, the pool, the gym, the breakfast, it was $32.50 a day. After breakfast, we'd do some work, work on getting our finances in order, see our travel agent, work on the website, et cetera. Then we'd eat lunch, sometimes Laura would cook up something in the kitchen, experimenting mightily with a barrage of different Thai dishes, or we'd eat at the street vendors. Sometimes we were naughty and ate at the Au Bon Pain down the street, saucy! Their sandwiches, especially their Chicken Club, was to die for. And unlike in India, when we ordered the Club, it didn't have eggs and cucumber in it. Fancy that. In the afternoons, I would go to the lounge to write, Laura would work out, and then I would turn the computer over to Laura while she wrote emails or worked on the website while I watched a movie. We had a VCD player in our room, and I belonged to two different VCD rental shops. We wanted to make Bangkok feel like home, and at home, you can't just go to one video shop! Then we'd eat dinner, in most of the time, or we'd go to Pan Pan (fantastic Italian restaurant), thank you Mark Decker. After that, we would go and see some ex-pat friends we'd met, or we'd watch a movie. Most of the time, we'd get in at least one movie at night. Ahhhh, it was nice, but by the end, I was a little movied out. I must admit. I know that will shock some of you.
The days flew by. It was amazing. Three weeks on the road drags by, but three weeks with a routine, in the same place, with all of your things all packed away, the time just flashes by. It was nice to not live out of our backpacks for awhile, it really was. And Bangkok is such a neat place. We took the SkyTrain everywhere, our stop was the Asok station, but down the way, at Phrom Phom, that was where the Emporium was, and where Pan Pan was. Pan Pan has the best Pizza Marguerita, just crust, sauce, cheese, but it's great. And the spicy mussels are a must. Their pizza, just lovely. NaNa station we'd pass going from Asok to Siam, the Interchange station, and our friends who we met were just off the Ploen Chit station, down Ruam Rudee, next to the U.S. embassy. Laura found a church there, and she'd go on Sundays, and I even went once. The priest was very nice, and he said that even the Jews were invited to the table of God (I think he was part Sikh). At the Siam station, we'd get on the Silom line and take it down past Ratchadamri to Sala Daeng, and that's where the Patpong district is, famous for its market (and for all the sex shops there, more about that later). Most of the time, we went to Sala Daeng to either buy movies (yes, I bought some pirated VCD's, I must confess), or to see our travel agent. We had a box shipped to him, and he held it for us to pick up later. Across the street from the travel agent was Delaney's, now called Shenanigans, but it will always be Delaney's to me. We'd get Steak and Kidney Pie, or Shepherd's Pie, but we found out they had Fish N Chips to die for. Their Greek Salad, oddly enough, was also good, the feta cheese the creamiest we've ever tasted, probably fresh from Thai goats!
That first Sunday in Bangkok ,we took the train all the way to the end, at Saphan Taksin, and we went to The Oriental for brunch, again thanks to Mark Decker. We had a fifty dollar breakfast and decided that that was our big treat, our final big treat! The Oriental has been voted the best hotel, and it might very well have the best bagel and salmon combo in all of Asia, but the Brownie Sundae took the cake, so to speak.
One of the best parts of our stay in Bangkok, other than the Lakepoint, was meeting people there. Laura had a girl's day by having lunch with an American woman named Kristen, who we had met through Mark Decker. And they later invited us to go to dinner with them and friends of Kristen's husband John, Brits visiting from England. We then did a little sightseeing on the way to dinner, taking the canals on a boat to a riverside restaurant. We saw the Grand Palace and the Temple of Dawn, all lit up, and that was the extent of our sight seeing in Bangkok. One of John's friend's had a Thai girlfriend, she ordered dinner for us and it was delicious. Thai food rivals Indian food as our favorite. Another highlight was meeting Nora, who we took out to dinner at a German restaurant at the Goethe Institute in Bangkok. She's seventy and upwards, has been abroad for most of her life, she's been in movies, she's been all over, and is just an extraordinary person. For example, she drove us to dinner herself, and just the fact that she drove in Bangkok proves how amazing she is! On the way, we hit traffic, no surprise there, and then Nora ran a red light, and we were chased down by a policeman. With the dexterity of an wise ex-pat, she bribed the policeman and we were on our way, sans ticket. The system in Bangkok really makes bribing the best way to deal with the situation. If we hadn't bribed him, he would have seized her license, we would have had to go to a police station, pay the fine, and five hours later be released. For a little money, the policeman's happy, the driver is chastised, and the craze of Bangkok traffic continues on. We spent a quiet evening with Nora, listening to her tales of India before AirCon, of Micronesia before Cable, and she had been in Viet Nam for most of the 60's. She had quite a few stories to tell.
Near the end, we began to get prepared for the cold weather in Paris by doing a little shopping (for more shopping info see the Hong Kong pages, we got serious for that little spree). I bought a black belt, I had my Hong Kong blue cords hemmed, I found a black sweater and then Laura lost it. She bought watches, a whole lotta watches. Of course everything we bought was fake, from my James Bond Omega watch to Laura's Prada wallet.
Bangkok is known for it's fakes, but also for the sex industry. Near the end, I was unphased by all the old white men and their young Asian "girlifriends." You see the pairs everywhere, the girls in tight jeans, big, big shoes, heavily made up, and beautiful. On our last Monday night in Bangkok, Laura and I went to Delaney's to see their Irish band play live. That's when we had the Fish and Chips. The fiddle player was Chinese, and he sawed and sawed until I thought the damn violin would split in half, but the band was awesome. Afterwards, we went out and the Patpong area had come alive. There had always been shops there during the day, but at night it was packed with street vendor stands selling fake watches, wallets, pirated CD's, VCD's, DVD's, anything you could pirate. What amazed us the most were all of the prostitutes. There were dozens upon dozens hanging out outside the clubs, hundreds. It was like the under employed Tuk-Tuk drivers we had seen, but these people weren't selling a quick ride…well, that's exactly what they were selling. We were blown away by the numbers and by how young and beautiful, beautiful and young these girls were. We heard a statistic that estimates that 40% of the prostitutes are HIV positive. Staggering and sobering, but the sex trade is there to stay for the time being. The government is trying to stop the pedophilia, but they are fighting an uphill battle. We read in the papers that there are plenty of child sex tours in Bangkok (& India too) operated by outfits around the world. As for the of age boy/girl thing, its going full force. There are bikini bars where girls dance with numbers pinned to them, so you can pick and choose. There are sex shows where you can go into a back room for a little…time alone. And these sex shows have that whole ping-pong and razor blades and horns and candle-blowing out thing.
The sad thing is that every white guy you see becomes a John and every Thai girl you see is a prostitute. That's not the case in reality. Our friends Mark and Nalin are a mixed couple and they are in a happy marriage. So we had to take the whole thing in stride and not be judgmental. By the end our stay, it wasn't that big of a deal. And the thing is, the sex industry in Bangkok brings in so much revenue, not only for the sex trade, but the hotel industry, restaurants, merchants. So these girls (and boys) are bringing in a lot of money into Thailand, but the price. You see some of the older women, and they look so worn. I think that trade wears on the soul, in spite of all the money to be made. Later, we met a man on the Junk trip who said we just had to put aside our Western way of thinking. The thing is, the prostitutes, the sex industry, it's all right there. Families are eating in little street restaurants and right next door are scores of "ladies of the night." Thailand does regulate the industry, and there are campaigns on protecting the women and men from AIDS as well as getting those women who don't want to be there out and into other trades. Is it better to pretend that men and women won't pay for sex? And I did see an older European woman talking with a nice Thai woman, and I don't think they were discussing where she could get the best Papaya Pok Pok in Bangkok. Is it better to ignore that side of the world? It's called the world's oldest profession for a reason. Or was that farming?
Speaking of Papaya Pok Pok, Nalin showed
us that before, and so one of our final meals in the was from
our favorite Esan food street vendor, BBQ Chicken and Green Papaya
Pok Pok and sticky rice. And then we had to say goodbye. Leaving
Bangkok was like leaving home, but the next two parts of our
trip were awesome. I think we did save the best for last!
Laura Waiting For the SkyTrain over Sukhimvit! Yes, we have a weakness for Asia Books.
Everyday, all the time traffic on Sukhimvit - That's why we took the SkyTrain!!!
Motorcycle Taxis - The Only Way To Fly!
Street Food - The joys of Thai cuisine. This woman prepared the best Papaya Pok Pok!
Papaya Pok Pok, Esan Chicken, and Sticky Rice - Dining In!
Video Clip - Aaron At Work - Click Here!