Just been woken up from my arrival nap by a huge explosion, enough to set off lots of car alarms. For a minute I thought the technological might of the USA had confused Bangkok with Baghdad, actually they look quite similar, but I was relieved to discover that it was just another tropical storm.
I'm actually on the 24th floor here with a beautiful view across the absolutely filthy river. Lots of high-rise buildings by any standard other than New York and a river so dirty you can see brown sludge and garbage floating in it. Earlier on there was a lot of river traffic, though this has died down, maybe because of the storm.
Time for a quick recap. The flight from South Africa was pretty bouncy. Turbulence, horrible old seat (remember I was flying business) and lousy service did nothing to improve my opinion of SAA. I hope the Thai princess we had on board in first class enjoyed it more.
Bangkok airport is not very pretty, but is functional and very efficient, most everyone spoke some English. The customs guy at the red channel said it was closed, so we all shot through the green one. Taxis are very well organised, so I was soon on my way to the hotel.
Everyone at the hotel is very proper. Lovely uniforms, lots of 'sir', more so than in the USA. Anyway I crashed out around noon and as I said at the top of this entry woke up just now to the storm.
Made my way up to the main station tonight. Interesting walk. Firstly had to escape the taxi touts outside the hotel, ended up threatening to get the tourist police, which worked instantly.
Needless to say they all wanted to offer 'adult' entertainment, of course they get a substantial commission which is charged back to the punter (that's guest for you Americans reading ;-)).
Once I was free of the touts, things went well. Lots of obvious poverty and stray cats and dogs. Seemed worse than Brazil, but maybe I just hit a bad spot.
The air quality here is very difficult to sum up. First off the general feeling is that of a sauna, or maybe even a steam room. But you have to add the polution to that. So imagine being in a closed garage with a car running and a steam room generator at the same time. Most of the people out in it all day (such as traffic cops) are wearing surgical masks. This is not a good place for those with chest problems.
All that said there are obviously lots of great shopping opportunites, bronzes, ivory, beautiful gems and more one-day tailors for men and women than you can imagine.
When I got there, the train station was also pretty chaotic. Dogs, people, whining beggars and of course Buddist monks everywhere. Normal trains are not air conditioned, but plenty of open windows and people hanging from the steps to the coaches. All seemed to be General Electric diesel powered, pushing plenty more crap into the air. Speaking of which, back in the hotel room, Mr Murdoch's Star Asia network is spewing out Fox re-runs at an alarming rate.
Woke up about 8am this morning and gave Stephanie a call (8pm Sunday night in New York) had a nice conversation, though the city is getting her down at the moment. After that went to breakfast about 9:30am and just got back.
It may be chance, but the room has already been completely redone - wow, thats amazing efficiency, or perhaps I was a 'target of opportunity'. US and British forces starting to meet some stiff resistance in Iraq. First pictures of captured/dead US troops on TV today. Some shot in forehead, which presumably means they were executed after being captured. I'm going to try and visit the Grand Palace by boat today.
I thought I had found a way to avoid the touts today, by taking a boat. Alas, there are hundreds who want to sell you an expensive boat tour instead. Fortunately, I took the approach of simply boarding the first likely looking boat without a ticket. This worked fine, they sold me one on the boat for B (Baht) 15. Saving me B150 (just for reference B1000 = $23.28 today).
The trip up the river was quite pleasant, much nicer than being stuck in traffic. When I got to the Grand Palace, the touts started again. This time telling me that the palace was closed, right next to a sign saying it was open. This is a well known scam to deliver you to a gem shop instead. Fortunately I was already wise to this. Then I had to avoid the tour guide gang who wanted to take me on a tour of the palace for B400. There are FREE tours in English inside. Which is where I finally ended up. In fairness to the Thai government, there are signs everywhere saying:
"Beware of advice from Strangers"
Perhaps this is a buddist mantra ;-)
The grand palace is fantastic. Very beautiful with lots of gold and gems everywhere. To see it properly takes several hours. Unlike South Africa, this is clearly a culture of achievement equal to anything in the West. In most cases public buildings and bridges are not that ornate, but when it comes to Buddha or the monarchy, no expense is spared and the results are breathtaking.
I got back to the hotel around 4pm, soaking wet from head to foot in sweat.
Started Doxycycline (Anti-malarial) this morning. Technically the risk on the train through Malaysia is very low, but if there are no side effects, it seems smart to take it.
I went out about 1030am. Crossed over the river on the public ferry (1.5 baht) could be the cheapest public transport on the planet? Headed for the King Taskin statue, which should have been easy since it was a straight line, but as the photos will show, a Thai street is as easy to navigate as a thick forest. Since the average female is about 5' tall and the average guy can't be more than 5'6" I was pretty tall by comparison. Unfortunately overhead clearance in the market stands is at most 6' and of course I'm 6'2".
A lot of people claim that Thai women are attractive, personally they are far too much like little girls to do anything for me, but then I always was one for strapping nordic lasses.
Every store here, mainly leather workers and mechanics shops, has a little shrine, actually called a 'spirit house' at the back of it. Lit up with Christmas tree lights, with a central figure and about twenty incense sticks burning in front of it. Which has the practical effect of suppressing the street smells.
I found the King Taskin statue in the middle of a traffic circle (roundabout) which didn't do anything for it.
I'm back in the hotel room now, with a second shower and change of clothes for the day. Also noticed a heat rash on my lower leg. Hope it doesn't get any worse. The heat and humidity here are very tough, my only consolation is the idea of a Thai buried above their waist in a New York snowstorm. I think they would find it just as tough to deal with ;-)
This afternoon I signed up for a tour to go and visit three Wat's or Buddist temples and also to see more of the city. I have to say the tour minibus was pretty horrible since the a/c worked about as well as in an old NY taxi, which is to say barely. We were so packed in that photography while moving wasn't really possible. That said, we saw Chinatown (a third of Bangkok's six million population are Chinese, mainly refugees from communisum) also saw the modern palace grounds, parliament and many government buildings.
The actual temples and the crash course in Buddism were quite interesting. First we saw Wat Trimitr, which houses the famous Golden Buddha. The statue is solid gold and worth in metallic content alone well north of $15,000,000. In case anyone is thinking of stealing it, they should know it weighs 5.5 tons. Next we visited Wat Po, the royal temple next to the Grand Palace which contains a reclining Buddha about 60ft in length. Finally we went to Wat Benchamabopit, the marble temple, again lots of Buddha's to admire. The different features of the Buddha, particularly the head dress tell you which country or period a particular statue is from.
Returned to the hotel about 5pm. Just ahead of another huge storm which has been building for the last couple of hours.
So I was lying in bed watching TV tonight when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see something about 3/4" long scurrying across the woodwork. Of course I thought, poison spider, minature scorpion or worse.
Not being particularly familar with the local fauna I called the concierge, he called housekeeping and a few minutes later he arrived. After pokeing around behind the TV he declared a roach and went to get a spray.
Now a roach I could deal with, but the spray meant I was out of the room for a while. I went downstairs determined to get at least a couple of free drinks out of the manager. The manager had other ideas, she couldn't possibly put me back in that room. So I said, "I'll move for an upgrade" and she said "Nothing less will do". So now I have two bathrooms, a sitting room, a huge bedroom and fantastic 180 degree views of the river - must be karma ;-)
Incidentally while I was packing I saw the roach out in the open, so I sprayed it a couple more times and guess what the damn thing was still running. Tough buggers, or perhaps I had the Buddist version of the spray.
Today I was off on my own again. Polishing off those final siteseeing tasks. Firstly Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn).
This is over on the other bank of the river, so it took two ferry rides to reach it. When I got there I was delighted to see very few other visitors. Much better that way and I could take as long as I liked to soak up the atmosphere. Strangely enough amid the chaos of Bangkok I was able to achieve a kind of peace. To accept the hot, sticky, wet (it was very wet today), muddy, bug-ridden conditions as inevitable and immutable was a great leap forward.
This afternoon I did the national museum. It's a bit tatty, but the first hall which deals with Thai history was very well done. Seems the Thais love the Burmese about as much as the British love the French :-).
So this mate of mine, has been urging me to check out Pat Pong, otherwise known as the main Red Light district in South-East Asia. There were certainly some interesting shows on offer e.g. Pussy swallows needles or Pussy blows out candles all being touted by guys and gals outside on numbered boards. A bit like specials at the Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately the actual street, which isn't very long was packed with market stalls from end to end leaving little room to check out the merchandise.
I actually prefer the area around Sukhumint Road. The various Soi's (lanes or alleys) off there are easier to negociate and less pressured. In the spirit of complete research I did check out a bar called Caves which had an S&M theme. The first drink was 900B ($23?), subsequent drinks and lady drinks were 300B, in fairness one drink got me a look around. Nice selection of girls and some interesting decoration. Unfortunately the dress code was supposed to be black and I was standing there in my white Microsoft polo shirt and khaki slacks, dripping with sweat.
So I downed my coke (I've learned to strictly avoid alcohol in this heat, had a fairly hopeless conversation with one of three girls who seemed instantly attached to me like glue, then in the best tradition of British tabloid reporters, made my excuses and left.
Now I'm back in the hotel room, watching the Oscars which has taken this long to get here. Tomorrow I really am going to have a lie in. Siteseeing here is pretty much complete. Incidentally for those that might like Thai women, I'm informed it's about $50 for full service, which as far as I know is about 1/4 the price of New York.
Taking it easy today, I wandered by the River City shopping center attached to the hotel. Big parade of drums, chinese lions and fireworks outside as they are opening a new store here today. A senior monk seemed to be doing the blessing. Religions mix very freely here.
There is a tall building across the river with no lights at night. I've been wondering about it since I got here. Last night I found out that it is a huge dead Sofitel Hotel. Opened in 1993 and closed in 1997 after the Asian market crash, following the local owners bankruptcy. It's a shame, I'm sure it was beautiful inside. Blessings and dragons only go so far.
I'm actually feeling very happy today. Especially looking forward to almost no air travel until I leave Sydney in mid-April. Since most of my maladies have been caused by air travel, either ear pressure problems or jet lag, it will be a pleasure to be crossing almost a quarter of the globe on the ground. With the exception of a quick trip down to Perth from Singapore. As I reach the halfway stage in the trip, the paper journal that I bought at the Met. museum in New York is now nearly full. As I look across the page I see the entry for Rio where I said that "Nine weeks is an unimagineably long time". Yet I am still in March. The truth is that March is an unimagineably long month!
Had three whiskeys last night, nice headache this morning. George Bush gave up alcohol when he hit forty because he couldn't hack it anymore ;-) not for any pious reason.
I took a trip on a tuk-tuk (taxi scooter) up to Chinatown this morning. Only a few blocks, the driver spoke better English than any of the other taxi-meter (real taxi) drivers I have encountered, not surprising since he has a brother in New York.
I strolled around for a couple of hours, then caught the boat back to the hotel, dropping off my second film for development on the way. The best service here seems to be six hours. One hour service is hard to find. That said, the intense work ethic here is incredible, everyone is busy, busy...
So much for my idea that the heat makes people less inclined to exert themselves. As far as I can tell Asia has all the climate problems of Africa and a wide assortment of nasty bugs and diseases, yet the approach to life seems quite different. Asian workers combined with western management is clearly a powerful combination, hence the rush to develop China, which might well overtake America as the dominant power during the 21st century.
Someone said they thought I was 34 last night. Flattery will get people everywhere. I also learned my first Aussie slang today, a "stuff up" is what the Brits would call a screw up. Also met a couple of gorgeous Dutch girls, big blonde types. We had an interesting chat about Afrikans which they described as "baby Dutch" ;-) Maybe American is baby English?
I Just woke up from a really daft dream. A muse came to me and said something like "How much spaceflight documentation does NASA have?" and I answered a few football fields full. How about South Africa? Maybe a row of library shelves? and how about Gabon? Probably nothing I thought. Yet who has lost the most astronauts? Documentation does not improve safety ;-(
I said a muse in the paragraph above. But since I was reading the teachings of Buddha (provided free in all Thai hotel rooms) before I went to bed, perhaps it is one of his sayings.
Severe Acute Respiratory Sickness (SARS) is all over the news here.
Although the outbreak is further north in China and Hong Kong, both Singapore and Thailand have reported a few cases. I'm not terribly concerned, but maybe I should be. A completely new, potentially fatal, easily spread, virus is nothing to sneeze at.
Catching the first train tomorrow to Singapore...
So I checked out of the Royal Orchid this morning and headed for Bangkoks main railway station. After completing a few check in formalities I boarded the beautiful Orient Express which runs from Bangkok all the way to Singapore.
The train has seventeen carriages and when fully occupied can carry around one hundred passengers. Today due to the war and SARS we have just thirty nine along with around fifty staff.
They have a fortune teller on board and of course I was one of the first to check her out. Good news, my lifeline says that I will live a very long time, probably over 100. Bad news, my work line says I will be working for most of it! On the personal front, I will marry in the next five years and have three children. My wife will be shorter than me and not slim. I have my own business and will live in a foreign country and travel a lot. I am very smart, but have a low tolerance for other people's failings. Business and investment will not be good for the next three months, but after that it will get better again. My chest is the weakest part of my body, perhaps I have asthma. My lower back and knees also need to be taken care of. I should exercise more.
Well there you have it. I was totally surprised by the accuracy of some of the predictions. Especially the living aboard, the amount of travel and the 'not-slim' wife. Though obviously a lot of this is relative.
Anyway, back to the journey. I've just come back from a rather good lunch. Some sort of souffle to start. Followed by filet of sea bass, which was quite good. Now I am back in my gorgeous walnut lined compartment, basically comprising a sofa which converts into a bed facing a wardrobe and the door to my ensuite toilet, washbasin and shower.
To say it is cozy would be to overstate the size, swinging a cat in a vertical floor to ceiling movement might just about be possible, but horizontally, no chance ;-) Despite the lack of company, because of the cramped conditions, I'm relieved not to be sharing. I'm looking forward to trying my first shower in a moving train. It should be an interesting experience.
Out there in the Thai countryside, the near naked peasants are as interested in us as we are in them. Is there anywhere in the rural third world, where this much poverty and luxury stand side by side?
As soon as I had finished writing the last entry, we were told to be ready in ten minutes for a trip on the river Kwai. The famous bridge is actually not much to get excited about as the river is probably narrower than the East River in NY. The famous film was shot somewhere far more dramatic (actually Sri Lanka). Afterwards we were taken by boat to one of the smaller war cemetaries, only 1700 allied POW's buried here!
The heat and the humidity here are even more intense than in Bangkok. The idea of actually doing hard manual work here makes me sweat just thinking about it. Seeing the war cemetary reminds me once again how right Truman was to bomb Japan to end the war early. Let's just say that Asians in general and the Japanese in particular seem to have markedly different views of how prisoners of war should be treated. In one of the guides we were given, they try to explain that the Japanese saw surrender as worse than death, thus mistreating POW's was OK by their twisted thinking. While we are on the subject, one of Thailands less gloreous moments was WWII when they took the side of the Japanese against the allies.
The sad part is that a little bit north of the bridge, the line became disused shortly after the war and no longer runs through to Burma. All that slave labor and all those deaths for nothing!
Back on board the train we are now heading south in the right direction for the first time.
We have just stopped at Pedang Besar on the Thai/Malaysian border. Since I don't see any Thai language, I guess we are actually already across. Another dead giveaway is that the cleaning ladies are wearing head dresses here, so the prevailing faith has changed as well.
I got very little sleep last night maybe from 4am-7am this morning. I think it is mainly caused by the disagreeable food we got at dinner last night. Lots of spices which my system is not tolerating at all well.
The scenery is not that interesting. You've seen one coconut palm and you have seen them all. A lot of people out in the countryside seem to own motor bikes rather than cars. Some people have trucks, but not many. I actually saw a farmer using Ox-driven machinery this morning.
To keep myself occupied, I listened to the grammy nominations CD this morning and then started reading "The Runaway Jury" another John Grisham novel. Lunch is at 1230, hope it is more agreeable than yesterday.
We just got back from a tour of Georgetown, the capital of Penang Island somewhere on the northern Malaysian coast. We took a ferry across to the island and then we were all given rickshaws to ride around in, with some poor soul pedalling along behind us in 90F heat. I tipped my guy US$12 which I later found out is about three days wages here, so I guess we were both happy. We also stopped at a Chinese clan temple which was pretty interesting and made a change from Buddist Wats.
This evening we will continue on south through Malaysia, passing the capital KL at about 4am. Tomorrow lunchtime, we will cross over the straits and into Singapore. This is also the end of my time in the second/third world. This is good in that the remaining countries will be far more familiar, but bad in that this is the end of the 'luxury' bit of the trip. From now on it's cheaper hotels and economy flights like everyone else.
The weather is kind of crappy today. Very gray, spitting rain. Maybe we'll get a storm later? Rural Malaysia looks quite a bit more advanced than rural Thailand. Maybe the crops are more profitable here - or the farming better organised. In both cases, the railways are a bit scary. Narrow gauge (only 39" between the rails, instead of 56" in the US and England), almost all single track (allowing for greater chance of head on collisions), simple ground frames for the points (switches in the USA) and even worst guys with flags doing the signalling! Last night I noticed we had no red light at the rear of the train. Apparently it is not needed here - scary or what!
Slept much better last night. Looking out the window I see we have just hit the first built up area in southern Malaysia. City slums make a change from palm and banana trees I guess. Johor Bahrau is actually where we are. The immigration guys are just getting on to process our departure from Malaysia, not that we were ever here really :-)
The view from the train has been fairly disappointing, one of the problems with jungle is that it is dense! In a lot of cases coming right up to the track both sides. I guess none of this should be a surprise in retrospect, but 20/20 vision is a wonderful thing. The train itself is beautiful. The service has really only been so-so. I've had better in several hotels I've stayed in, which implies the fame of the Orient Express brand is somewhat undeserved. On a side note the Orient Express name is owned by SNCF of all people. I'd always thought it was a private train. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but the same group also own the Copacabana Palace hotel in Brazil, small world ;-)
It's 1220 now and we've just left the Singapore (acutally Singapura) border checkpoint. The contrast is bigger than the Mexican/US border at Tijuna. Welcome back to the first world, we've passed the halfway point and I'm delighted to be here, even though it is hotter than an oven and just started rain and lightning.
[This entry going straight onto the web site]
This afternoon, I took a wander round downtown Singapore. Actually five interconnected shopping malls. The whole place, makes me think of robot people. This is further enhanced by the fashion among the Asian girls here to wear colored contact lenses in piercing blue. I saw three in the space of an hour. I also took a ride out to the airport, everything is spotlessly clean. With fines for littering or smoking in a public place set at about US$750 I guess this isn't too surprising.
I think everyone here lives in apartments. Certainly I hit a couple of furniture stores and apartment furniture seems to be the thing to have. Land is obviously at a premium. The hotel, which turned out not to be the famous Raffles, but Raffles Plaza (yes they are different), is still really nice and very gadget happy. I think it is the first one I have seen with electric curtains and also a gadget that senses when you leave the room and shuts everything off accordingly. It feels quite like home ;-)
Anyway I'm going to try and find a nice steak now. After being stuck on that train for a couple of days, I certainly deserve it.
Went to the proper Raffles this evening and had dinner in the Long Bar Steakhouse, not a bad steak, but clearly not to the standard of a New York steakhouse.
Rush, rush, this morning, as when I woke up the hotel had no hot water and of course I had an early flight to catch. Technology is everything here, but clearly there are a few challenges to keeping it all working. I didn't really like Singapore much. Bladerunner meets....well 1984. I sort of have this feeling that if Singapore had experienced 9/11 in the city the entire population would be on state mandated Prozac by now.
Here more than anywhere else (certainly more than say, Switzerland), I feel the people, while perfectly content, are enslaved willingly to a corporate state. If this is the future, or maybe the near-present in the USA revealed in a Singaporean mirror I want less and less of a part in it.
You are free to believe whatever we want ;-)
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