You and I, the last refugees

Rao Rak Nai Luang

Thailand, a country of monarchs, temples, monks, spicy foods, the perpetual sound of the tuk- tuks, heat, humidity, elephants, splendour. Only so often do you see people in the states congregrate en mass for a celebration. Generally it happens during a tragedy. It's quite fortunate that my visit coincides with the King's 60 Year Celebrations Commemorating the 60 years he's been on the throne. And oh what celebrations they are.

The government declared June 9th, the 12th and 13th public holidays to commemorate the king's rule, forming a 5 day weekend full of public speeches, ceremonies in the Royal Palace, fireworks, and to top it off a Royal Barge Procession down the Chao Phraya River. To read more about the king and the royal barge, snippets can be found here:

King of Hearts, Royal Barge

What is it like to view the barges? I'm still trying to digest. In this burgeoning cosmopolitan that is Bangkok, the royal barges harken back to tradition, the past, the glories of empire and royalty. At the same time, the barge chants make the procession distinct from any other place. I kept thinking of oarsmen and barges a la Roman drum beats. Instead the barge chants hold a cerebral calming feeling as opposed to the relentless beat of Roman drums. What broke the haunting splendour of it all was that, although wonderful to be right at the river's edge, you can see everything the oarsmen do ... including whipping out their cellphones at the end of the route.

Nonetheless, against the backdrop of the river and Wat Kalayanamit at dusk is a magical sight. Even better? The sea of yellow shirted Thais who adore their King and clapped as each barge passed by.

Royal Barge Procession Photos

This was of course in stark constrast to the night I had before.

A good place to stay in Bangkok is the Atlanta Hotel located on Sukhumvit Soi 2. More information on the hotel can be found here:

The Atlanta

Great old school foyer, restaurant, free internet, pool, back garden, and pretty cheap. Even better, a sign over the door explicitly says, "NO SEX TOURISM." Seeing as it's a couple blocks down from the girly bars near Nana, this is quite welcome. I ventured there with a friend to meet an acquaintance from Columbia for dinner. The friend I was with happened to be a Caucasian male. The minute we walked into the foyer I could feel all eyes in the reception area turn to stare, however we immediately found the person we were to meet, so we all sat down and ate dinner. All was well, chatting away over prolonged drinks there and in the back garden. Afterwards we all decided that it was so bloody hot that a nice splash in the pool would be good. The splash was quite enjoyable, I have to say, and highly recommended if anyone is ever in hot humid countries.

Upon entering the reception area again, the receptionist turns to my friend and says in a brusque voice, "Excuse me sir," then turns to me and in an even more rude voice starts semi shouting at me in Thai. Of course I stared blankly at her, not understanding a word. She finished her tirade and stared at me staring at her. I say, "I'm sorry, I'm not Thai, I don't understand what you're saying." To this, she says grudgingly, turning back to my friend, "can't use pool, must pay 100 baht, not guest here." Whatever, we pay and leave. Immediately my friends start laughing and say, "I kept waiting for them to kick us out. They are so racist towards Asians especially mixed race couples. They won't even let them come through the front door because they think they're just sex tourists." So that's right, of course they thought I was a prostitute, freaking conservative German owners and their even worse conservative Thai staff. Granted, fine I guess they're being super careful. BUT, after sitting there chatting away for 3 HOURS in ENGLISH, and being confused when ordering in the restaurant, I did not speak Thai, so yelling at me in Thai, is not really going to work. SO, it's a great place to go if you're not Asian, apparently even if you enter with just girls, and 1 happens to be Asian American you still can't go in.

Here's the question, what if it was an Asian guy and a non-Asian girl?

posted by Mai-Lan @ 23:00