Imagine This
95 degrees, humid, potential for a thunderstorm. A parking lot in front of Lotus (shopping center with an upgraded Target) blasting music with a man in spandex on a platform moving energetically to the beat of the aerobic exercise. Below him 150 women all following diligently at 2:30 in the afternoon under the heat. Only in Thailand. This my friends, is where some people get their exercise.
There are certain interesting facets to living in Bangkok, this was one of them. Another more disturbing aspect is the great quantity of old white European and American men with much younger Thai women companions. By younger, I mean a lot younger. As I was walking around the MBK (large cheap shopping mall) and the great great weekend market, known as JJ or Chatuchak Weekend Market, I kept encountering the same couples. Being rude, I couldn't help staring, as these women literally feed the overweight, old, sweaty men their dinners. I mean, I understand everyone needs some loving, but really. As I was standing outside an internet cafe waiting for a friend, the women sitting outside of a massage parlor chatted to each other ignoring me until an aforementioned older white male walked by to which they would call out, "hey big boy, you want massage?"
Besides this, there are some great aspects here, which I enjoy. The greatest so far, I would have to say, is that all the clothing fits me snug as a bug without having to try anything on. Case in point, at JJ market I bought 2 skirts, 3 shirts, 2 pairs of pants/capris allll for $20 as the sellers look at me.. and go "same same, free size." This was of course much to the displeasure of my Dutch friend Wendy, who is bigger than me, and did not find the same success.
Some photos for your enjoyment:
Weekend activities Edit: Forgot to add this. I spent a good number of hours in the pool. At first I thought it was a coincidence that there was a bevy of good looking tall, muscular men and women who liked to lay around. However, I then realized that they were all European, from Eastern Europe to be exact. All the females were tall, didn't really swim but rather just laid about sunbathing while the males had sixpacks and were evenly tanned. Esther suggested they were prostitutes, I think, on the other hand, that they're models. I think I win as I overheard them speaking of photoshoots. I'm going to hazard a guess that they're struggling models as this is not really a "swanky" hotel for the ultra successful, but a more middle of the road place. Yeah and the speedos, knocks down the guys a good 5 notches.
Same same but different?
I've come to the realization that if I keep my mouth shut everyone thinks I'm Thai (or at least not foreign) as I stare at them with no comprehension. An upside of this? I might be able to pass off as native and get into the touristy places for free, I'll have to test this out when friends come to visit so I don't go to the same place 5 times when here. :-)
Over the past couple of days I've gone about on tuk-tuks, motorcycle taxis, and normal taxis, greeting them with a sawasdeeka. That's all fine and well until they start responding in Thai whence I stare and then hand over the address of work or home. So, the only problem with this is sometimes they don't know the small soi off of Rama IV where I live and therefore some confusion occurs. I've resorted to saying instead, Tesco Lotus, Rama IV, which is directly across the street and this miraculously clears everything up.
So, Thai accents, oh how I love tonal languages. As I try and learn some Thai, I'm hoping this won't interfere with the Vietnamese tones, which of course it could as I learned after attempting to learn Chinese. I might come back with some odd hybrid English (from the Singaporean Singlish) as well as jumbled tones in Vietnamese, oh the horror.
Today, for the first time I had a taxi driver who spoke English. I've had others who spoke broken almost nonexistent English, but I could actually carry on a conversation in English with this driver. Now, most people never think I'm Vietnamese, so I've gotten, "you look Thai, or Japanese, or Chinese." When I go, "no Vietnamese," they resond, "what?? no, you no look Vietnamese." It's even more complicated here, as the ones who speak some English ask (once they figure out I'm not a native, which takes about oh 5 seconds of staring) "where you come from?" I answer, "America." They then stare, "no, where? not America." So, it comes down to the real question, "what's your ethnicity?" I think the question comes up in almost every conversation I've heard whether here or the US upon meeting someone new. In any case, I'm thinking of just jumping over that extra question and responding with "vietnam" everytime someone asks me that here. It'll save some explanation until they say of course, "you no look vietnam."
Feast for the Eyes
This is my room. Notice books on nightstand, I can't not have the books.
It's a bit dark, but a view from the balcony looking North.
Another view of the balcony looking Northeast.
A favorite. Vanda and Oscar can attest, TESCO. Like a Target but oh so much better.
Entrance to room. It looks nicer than it actually is, but pretty comfy.
And So It Begins
Ah Bangkok, the smells of street food, the whine of tuk-tuk engines in the early morning. It's interesting how a place so different can also be so similar. The people are different, the culture is different, but the corporations, the concrete, the lights, and alas the pollution remind me of home. I have to say the smells of Bangkok are not nearly as bad as the smells of Chinatown, New York. Oh the smell of fish, their dripping fishy water on the sidewalk, how I miss thee. :-)
I started work after being in Bangkok for 12 hours which surprised most people here, but I figured I might as well make the most of it and use my weekends to explore the city. The staff is young, engaging, and thoroughly dedicated to their work, which is refreshing. The SIPA motto of wanting "to change the world" is in full force as my supervisor, Miwa, advises me she literally spends hours working for refugees. The staff is made up of a hodgepodge of Europeans, Thais, Bangladeshes, Irish, Japanese who all like to take a crack at the US as they inform me, "we'll have to watch what we say now that we have an American here."
One of the other interns, Pong, managed to get free tickets to a South African concert at the Thai Cultural Center last night. I went for half the concert due to residual jetlag that left me tired and sleepy at 9:30 PM. However, the first half was quite good with a mixture of the pennywhistle, kwela jazz, accapella, and more. You can see the complete info here:
http://www.saembbangkok.com/Diamonds&Dust%20group.htmlI think that made me feel more like an expat than anything else as the audience comprised of more fair skinned individuals than I'd seen since arriving in Bangkok, granted I've only been here for 2 days. I figure it'll be fun to be the expat and put up with people's cracks against the States.
Fighting the Jet Lag
So, I made it safely to Bangkok and to my great pleasure I also have wireless internet in my room. This is also problematic as I love the internet and really should not have it at my disposal because that would mean I’ll likely spend way too much time online.
After the lovely 17 hour plane ride, I keep having to remind myself that it is Sunday, that indeed I lost a day somewhere over the Pacific. Other than that the trip was fine, no lost baggage, a simple trip from the airport to Rompo Mansion and here I am. I do have to say, if one were to live on a commercial airplane ride, one would get very well fed. (Not well as in good food, well as in being fed every 4 hours). I found it quite odd eating “lunch” at 5AM local time when it’s dark out and people are rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
Landing in Bangkok, my fear, the humidity undoubtedly set in. 6AM walking out of the plane and it was already muggy, not that bad, but you could tell it would only get worse. I don’t think I’ve seen the sun today, sadly, as thunder clouds blanket the city. My room, without the AC on also has an odd musty smell (I’m hoping I’ll get used to it) … ah tropical areas.
The Night Before
The night before the storm. This will generally document my adventures/mishaps/perhaps entertaining (or at least I'd like to think so) ramblings while in Southeast Asia. Enjoy!
