Thailand: Land of Enchantment

A long flight, fantastic food and utter chaos

***This post was written on Feb 3, Thai time. We’ve now been here a few days. This post is free for all. Many of my posts are for paid subscribers only. If you’d like to read ALL my content, go paid for $5/mo or $40/year.

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Well, Britney and I are in Thailand. Bangkok. But as you read this we're heading from the southernmost part of the country to the northernmost part, Chiang Mai, by overnight train.

Already I love this place. We've been here only 24 hours but it feels like a week, and in a good way. I feel saturated by the geography, the people, the culture.

It was a long journey to get here. We left coastal California on January 31, via LAX, and flew 13.5 hours on China Airways to Taipei, Taiwan. We had a brief, fast rush to our next plane which took us nearly four hours to Bangkok. All told, almost 18 hours in the air. We mostly slept. We took sleeping pills. I'd brought books--Orwell's collected essays and Don DeLillo's novel Falling Man--but I didn't read a thing.

From the airport we had a driver who took us an hour or so to our nice, small air BnB apartment near the Bangkok Noi area west of the large Chaophraya River, which slices through the city, winding back and forth like a massive snake.

Once in our little apartment we set our things down and ate in the restaurant literally downstairs. It was delicious. We were right along one of the many thin canals which lead to the river. The water was brown, choppy from constant motor boats, and filled with white-bellied fish who dipped up and down, often briefly breaking through the surface.

As we chomped on rice and chicken in curry--delicious--and Britney sipped on a beer bigger than her head, we watched the Venice-like boats swish by with their giant diesel exhaust and loud Isuzu engines, old and rusty with shiny new chrome pipes added on, seasoned Thai locals steering with long mechanical poles jutting behind the boats with propellers. It was hot (90 degrees) and humid. I was already sweating profusely. Cold water and light spray from the water helped. We paid $12 total out the door including tip.

By 2pm we were back in our room passed out. Though we'd slept for much of the journey here, we were still nonetheless exhausted. We fell into deep sleep. When we awoke it was--to our shock--10:30pm. But we were rested! We knew we wanted to get into Thai time so we'd try to sleep at a not totally crazy hour. But we were hungry again.

We used the 'Grab' app (Grab is like Uber) and got picked up. He took us 15 minutes to an area called Khao San, and we walked up Khao San Road and ate on nearby Ram Buttri Road. It was insane. Party central. It reminded me of Isla Vista in Santa Barbara. People everywhere, mostly in their early twenties. Many Thai people but also Europeans from all over the map and Americans, etc.

The street was filled with bodies. The smell of pot was fresh in the air. Many were drunk. On both sides of the street were clubs with ragingly loud pop, rap or house music. Women danced. Men sang. The music punched and pummeled, punctuating everything. A wild thrum of constant talking, singing, laughing pulsated. It felt like being at a punk show back in the day--wild, half naked bodies, the cacophonous anarchy, everything swirling and swallowing you, bumping into people on all sides.

We found Thai food. Ate. People-watched. Got a taxi home for $300 Baht ($8.40). Slept.

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At 7am we got up. Showered. Headed out on a search for coffee/tea. We found a spot ten minutes' walk away from our place. I wrote in my journal for an hour or so while Britney messed around on her phone. Then we went back to our room, dropped some stuff off, loaded Britney's little backpack, and headed out again.

We took a boat with a bunch of other tourists on the river a ways--we missed our boat the first time but got the next one after an hour-long wait--and then got off at a random spot and walked around. Soon we found a subway station and got a ticket. The subway train was clean; spotless. Fast, smooth, efficient. For a few moments I forgot I was in Thailand, thinking I was back in Manhattan. (Only cleaner.)

We found more delicious food. We wandered. We snapped many photos. We were in downtown Bangkok. Tall buildings surrounded us. There were gigantic screens with flashing videos. In some ways it reminded me of Manhattan, Times Square. The traffic was bad. (They drive on the right side of the car here, like in England.) The architecture varied and was often quite fascinating. One skyscraper looked like a picked-apart Jenga tower. It was very (remarkably) clean. Everyone seemed kind. Polite. Thoughtful. (Very different from New York.) Almost no visible homeless. (A few but rare.)

After wandering a while we ended up at a gigantic park, Lumphini Park in the Bang Rak area, southeast of our place and across (east of) the river. It was spectacular. A huge lake with big, impressive fountains gushing water high into the air. Walk/run paths. Many joggers. A large, epic statue of the King, cordoned off from pedestrians. Thick forested areas. Of course it reminded me of Central Park.

But then we bumped into the Monitor Lizards. These are huge 'lizards' spanning anywhere from 3-5 feet (supposedly they get up to 10 feet!), who look like small crocodiles. Apparently they're harmless, but signs nonetheless warn people to keep their distance. We saw many of them. They seemed prehistoric, dinosaur-like. A weird mix between snake and fish, they swam, walked and even climbed trees!

For a while we sat along the lake watching the lizards near the sides and the peddling couples in little swan boats. A light, cool breeze rushed through and it felt very satisfying. We were in the deep shade.  I lost myself for a moment, imagining us living here. (We're working on moving to Spain.) It was a perfect, lazy summer day. Tall buildings rose up beyond the park.

We strolled some more and got tired. It was 5pm. We'd been out since 7am. Long day. We took the blue line subway train back to as close as we could to our place (Itsaraphap stop), then walked twenty minutes. We stopped and walked through some sort of festival, with games, music, food, products being sold by small vendors. There was, as the night before during the chaos after waking at 10:30, bins full of cooked bugs, maggots, crickets, etc. Last night they had fried tarantulas and scorpions skewered on sticks, as well as many other insects. (We did not indulge.) Britney bought two pairs of shades for $100 Baht total ($2.80).

At last we made it home. It had been a long, fun, tiring day. Boats, subway trains, much walking. We showered and diddled on our phones a while and then ate at the restaurant downstairs for dinner. We already felt like locals. The place was packed. We watched the people talking in groups. I had pork with veggies in sweet n sour sauce. Britney had green curry.

Thailand may be a ‘newly industrialized economy,’ but it doesn't feel like it. When compared to say Morocco--where we traveled back in October--it's positively glowing. There's the cleanliness, but it's also the culture. In Morocco the locals are very aggressive, always trying to sell you stuff and 'tour' you around for cash. You're a commodity to them. They rely on Western tourism to survive, and they aren't shy about it. Not to mention the malnourished stray cats and dogs and the decimated horses. In Bangkok we saw cats well fed and cared for, and hard-working, polite, friendly and mellow locals. Very different vibe. We liked Morocco a lot, but for different reasons.

Buddha statues are omnipresent. Many pray to them. Wats--temples--abound, and they're gorgeous, with gold trim and the pointed edges. They are truly sights to behold. Seafood is most common which makes sense since Bangkok is a mere 25 miles north of the Gulf of Thailand, which includes portions of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. The Chaophraya River flows into the gulf. Thailand is surrounded geographically by Cambodia, Laos and Burma. Far to the north is China, and west across the Bay of Bengal lies India. We want to go to all of it.

At a minimum, being in southeast Asia makes me realize how small my world can be, and how big the world is. There are so many countries to see, things to do, cultures to permeate, languages to practice. It's both exhausting and humbling.

Tell you one thing: The people sure do seem happy. Of course what do I know: We've been here all of one day. Yet I feel like I've lived here all my life.