Life
in Bangkok
Bangkok,
December 26th 1999
Hi
There!
After having been in Bangkok so many times only now I finally start to find my way around this huge city. Finally a map of Bangkok is getting some serious shape in my head, with that also a couple of bus lines and where the newly built skytrain runs. Until now I found my way by taxi. These are unbelievably cheap here. About 90 UScents for the first two kilometer and after that some 10 UScents for each minute you're in the car. You'll understand that to me it didn't seem necessary to catch a bus. Busses turn out to be fairly efficient too however. There's no time schedule - in this traffic it's impossible - but they run often, 24/7. The only thing that is very usefull on a bus is to be able to pronounce your destination in understandable Thai; which isn't easy. Thai is a tonal language, which means that for every vowel there are five different tones on which the meaning of the word depends. The change of the tones is so slight that I can hardly hear it, let alone reproduce. I know by now that the word 'Khao' means with the different tones either 'white', 'rice', or 'nine'. When I call a friend in his hotel, I don't know whether I ask for room one zero rice or one zero nine. Fortunately most hotel receptionists speak English...
The trafic in Bangkok is a famous problem. The pollution is oppressive and the traffic flow does during peak hours rarely speed up to over 20 kph. If I travel to my girlfriend on prime time, I'll arrive at the same time as when I would leave an hour later. Bangkok used to be nicknamed 'The Venice of the East' due to its many canals - Khlongs in Thai. But that is something of the past. On the river there are still quite a few boats for public use, but those all go in a direction I rarely go to. Except for the river there is however still quite a bit of open water in Bangkok. They used to be overcrowded with little boats; most of them are empty now. The floating market is still in use, but more for tourists than for serious shoppers. There's only one boat service still operating on the Khlongs. And that one happens to sail exactly in the direction I often go to.
Only the last time I came to Bangkok I heard about that option; and I try it the same day. It works great. Fast long boats race up and down the narrow Khlong. The water tends to get so rough that the waves sometimes splash into the boats. In order not to get too wet with the filthy water there are plastic sheets available along the open sides of the boats. The sheet goes down when people have to get in and out. This way it is a little difficult to see what's around the boat. The first time I use this service I'm so affraid to pass my stop that I ask the people around me frequently; my Thay is getting better. The people are very helpfull however and three stops before the one I have to get out they warn me that I 'almost have to get out'. The Thai are very friendly people and seem on the outside not to have any unfriendly emotions. Rarely you'll see two people arguing, never will you see Thais encounter in physical violence, except in the Muay Thai box ring. This comes from their cultural background. Anger or worse hate are seen as antisocial and because the life of the group as a whole has to go on smoothly each person for himself tries hard to avoid such antisocial emotions. And if they do come up, they'll suppres it. The Thai are very forgiving towards breaking cultural rules. It takes a lot of insight in the bodylanguage to understand that your attitude is not being appreciated.
The skytrain is a new phenomenon in Thailand. It is nothing else than a subway, except that this one runs high above the streets of Bangkok. So it's a tube with a view. Originally it was meant to bring commuters a little quicker to their destination - and lessen the traffic jams - but the first week after the opening on the kings birthday, there are only jolly holidayers in the train. The Thai having a day off. It is actually quite amuzing to watch the Thai riding along. The skytrain is something new, so nobody knows excactly how it works. As with any Thai public institution there's way too much personell, but still the lines in front of the ticket vendingmachines are twice as long as necessary. Buying a ticket is so childish simple! Once in the proud posession of a plastic card the people walk smiling and with shining eyes to the entrance where every gate is attended by a employee to explain how things work. Put the card in the slot, hole first... Overly happy they walk to the platform. When the train comes a wave of excitment roles over the platform. When I saw the train I wasn't that impressed; just another subwaytrain. Doors open, people inside, whistle, doors close. All very ordinary, but at everything that happens the people touch eachother with excitment, like taking a ride in a rolercoaster. When the train finally runs they point eachother all things out, like the signs saying: 'Do not lean against the doors' in Thai and English. I do glance surprised at the few chairs that are available. Children until about 13 years old get each their own chair. When a child enters the train and there's no chair available, a grownup will get up! That is something to get used to...
In order to get some more money and also to learn some more about the ordinary Thai life I head for he HQ of an important Thai institute that organises English classes. On the form I write down that I also speak German and Dutch and not long after the Kings birthday I can officially call myself German Teacher. A teacher is expected to show up in class with a shirt and tie, so I have myself a suit made, which is very cheap in Thailand. When I tell the tailor why I need a suit so urgently, he asks me to teach him too. And suddenly I am very busy. On weekdays I spend seven hours on teaching - and all that comes with it such as travel.
Christmas is a party which obviously has come from abroad. The Thais - Buddhists - have nothing with Christmas. However they take any opportunity to celebrate; they're a very jolly people. It is a habbit to give eachother presents (and again at New Years) and in the many shoppingmalls there's Christmas songs on the radio, either in Thai or in English. However, December 24th and 26th I'm teaching. The 25th I'm off because that happens to be a saturday and I never teach on saturday. The shoppingmalls do turn beautifull around Christmas. Snowflakes and white landscapes show up in the shopwindows. The average Thai has never even seen snow, or even ever experienced anything close to freezing point. The past few days it has been extremely cold. A jetstream from Siberia has blown a lot of cold air in this direction. One night it is somewhere about 7 degrees Celcius. My body has the past couple of year gotused to the heat (on third Christmas day 1998 I decended into the Indian plains) and I myself do sleep under my sleeping bag. During the day I wear long jeans and a warm pullover. The Thai put on winter outfits complete with thick jackets, hats and shawls. I can't suppress a smile when I see a European tourist - just arrived from even colder Europe - in light summer clothes. The contrast is so big...
Christmas is being celebrated mainly by foreigners. In Gullivers Traveller's Tavern - where I am a regular - there's a real party mood at Christmas Eve. There's plenty of beer, load talks and laughs. Not much after the first chat there I head outside Banglamphoo - the backpackers aread - and notice that appart from a surprising lot of traffic for this time of day there's nothing much to do. Only in the areas with a lot of westerners there's special celebrations. Everybody - including Thai - walk around with the most crazy Santa hats and tries to get as pissed as possible. The next day it's back to business as usual.
After having been in Bangkok so many times only now I finally start to find my way around this huge city. Finally a map of Bangkok is getting some serious shape in my head, with that also a couple of bus lines and where the newly built skytrain runs. Until now I found my way by taxi. These are unbelievably cheap here. About 90 UScents for the first two kilometer and after that some 10 UScents for each minute you're in the car. You'll understand that to me it didn't seem necessary to catch a bus. Busses turn out to be fairly efficient too however. There's no time schedule - in this traffic it's impossible - but they run often, 24/7. The only thing that is very usefull on a bus is to be able to pronounce your destination in understandable Thai; which isn't easy. Thai is a tonal language, which means that for every vowel there are five different tones on which the meaning of the word depends. The change of the tones is so slight that I can hardly hear it, let alone reproduce. I know by now that the word 'Khao' means with the different tones either 'white', 'rice', or 'nine'. When I call a friend in his hotel, I don't know whether I ask for room one zero rice or one zero nine. Fortunately most hotel receptionists speak English...
The trafic in Bangkok is a famous problem. The pollution is oppressive and the traffic flow does during peak hours rarely speed up to over 20 kph. If I travel to my girlfriend on prime time, I'll arrive at the same time as when I would leave an hour later. Bangkok used to be nicknamed 'The Venice of the East' due to its many canals - Khlongs in Thai. But that is something of the past. On the river there are still quite a few boats for public use, but those all go in a direction I rarely go to. Except for the river there is however still quite a bit of open water in Bangkok. They used to be overcrowded with little boats; most of them are empty now. The floating market is still in use, but more for tourists than for serious shoppers. There's only one boat service still operating on the Khlongs. And that one happens to sail exactly in the direction I often go to.
Only the last time I came to Bangkok I heard about that option; and I try it the same day. It works great. Fast long boats race up and down the narrow Khlong. The water tends to get so rough that the waves sometimes splash into the boats. In order not to get too wet with the filthy water there are plastic sheets available along the open sides of the boats. The sheet goes down when people have to get in and out. This way it is a little difficult to see what's around the boat. The first time I use this service I'm so affraid to pass my stop that I ask the people around me frequently; my Thay is getting better. The people are very helpfull however and three stops before the one I have to get out they warn me that I 'almost have to get out'. The Thai are very friendly people and seem on the outside not to have any unfriendly emotions. Rarely you'll see two people arguing, never will you see Thais encounter in physical violence, except in the Muay Thai box ring. This comes from their cultural background. Anger or worse hate are seen as antisocial and because the life of the group as a whole has to go on smoothly each person for himself tries hard to avoid such antisocial emotions. And if they do come up, they'll suppres it. The Thai are very forgiving towards breaking cultural rules. It takes a lot of insight in the bodylanguage to understand that your attitude is not being appreciated.
The skytrain is a new phenomenon in Thailand. It is nothing else than a subway, except that this one runs high above the streets of Bangkok. So it's a tube with a view. Originally it was meant to bring commuters a little quicker to their destination - and lessen the traffic jams - but the first week after the opening on the kings birthday, there are only jolly holidayers in the train. The Thai having a day off. It is actually quite amuzing to watch the Thai riding along. The skytrain is something new, so nobody knows excactly how it works. As with any Thai public institution there's way too much personell, but still the lines in front of the ticket vendingmachines are twice as long as necessary. Buying a ticket is so childish simple! Once in the proud posession of a plastic card the people walk smiling and with shining eyes to the entrance where every gate is attended by a employee to explain how things work. Put the card in the slot, hole first... Overly happy they walk to the platform. When the train comes a wave of excitment roles over the platform. When I saw the train I wasn't that impressed; just another subwaytrain. Doors open, people inside, whistle, doors close. All very ordinary, but at everything that happens the people touch eachother with excitment, like taking a ride in a rolercoaster. When the train finally runs they point eachother all things out, like the signs saying: 'Do not lean against the doors' in Thai and English. I do glance surprised at the few chairs that are available. Children until about 13 years old get each their own chair. When a child enters the train and there's no chair available, a grownup will get up! That is something to get used to...
In order to get some more money and also to learn some more about the ordinary Thai life I head for he HQ of an important Thai institute that organises English classes. On the form I write down that I also speak German and Dutch and not long after the Kings birthday I can officially call myself German Teacher. A teacher is expected to show up in class with a shirt and tie, so I have myself a suit made, which is very cheap in Thailand. When I tell the tailor why I need a suit so urgently, he asks me to teach him too. And suddenly I am very busy. On weekdays I spend seven hours on teaching - and all that comes with it such as travel.
Christmas is a party which obviously has come from abroad. The Thais - Buddhists - have nothing with Christmas. However they take any opportunity to celebrate; they're a very jolly people. It is a habbit to give eachother presents (and again at New Years) and in the many shoppingmalls there's Christmas songs on the radio, either in Thai or in English. However, December 24th and 26th I'm teaching. The 25th I'm off because that happens to be a saturday and I never teach on saturday. The shoppingmalls do turn beautifull around Christmas. Snowflakes and white landscapes show up in the shopwindows. The average Thai has never even seen snow, or even ever experienced anything close to freezing point. The past few days it has been extremely cold. A jetstream from Siberia has blown a lot of cold air in this direction. One night it is somewhere about 7 degrees Celcius. My body has the past couple of year gotused to the heat (on third Christmas day 1998 I decended into the Indian plains) and I myself do sleep under my sleeping bag. During the day I wear long jeans and a warm pullover. The Thai put on winter outfits complete with thick jackets, hats and shawls. I can't suppress a smile when I see a European tourist - just arrived from even colder Europe - in light summer clothes. The contrast is so big...
Christmas is being celebrated mainly by foreigners. In Gullivers Traveller's Tavern - where I am a regular - there's a real party mood at Christmas Eve. There's plenty of beer, load talks and laughs. Not much after the first chat there I head outside Banglamphoo - the backpackers aread - and notice that appart from a surprising lot of traffic for this time of day there's nothing much to do. Only in the areas with a lot of westerners there's special celebrations. Everybody - including Thai - walk around with the most crazy Santa hats and tries to get as pissed as possible. The next day it's back to business as usual.
Me above Bangkok.
In Thailand people live mostly outside. Here I repair my shoes.
The boats that cruise Khlong Sean Seab.
Teacher Ben.
The Victory Monument and the skytrain in the background.
In one of the better shopping malls in Bangkok in front of the cinema there's Alien reaching for a bottle of Heineken.
