Please excuse the typos, misspelled and miss used words, I don't proof read and my editor is blind. -PG
Its 5pm straight up, immediately to my left is the window to my room on the 10th floor of the Montein Hotel in Bangkok. The sun is setting and soon this city will transform. The empty street that runs away from the hotel will become the Potpong market, right now I am sure hundreds of stall are being constructed and filled with an infinite amount of goods, most of which are clothing and accessories, but certainly you can find any number of other things; knives, brass knucles, pipes (surprisingly many of the crack variety) lighters, prescription pills, the list goes on and on. To say nothing of the myriad of food carts that dot the area, and the city as a whole as well. All of this is simply the center of the street, the buildings that flank the market, well, that’s an entirely different story.
I have been in Thailand since March 24th, so about a week. The first 4 days were spent in Pattaya or Chon Buri honestly I am not sure the difference or which is correct. The Dor Shada hotel, private beach, a great spa and massage “parlor” friendly faces, all that. We (Kitaro’s band and crew) were put up there for the show that we were doing at a nearby winery. The venue was great, nestled in between a couple rock cliffs jutting from the earth are the grape vines for Silverlake vinyard. On one cliff, and not just small incidental cliffs, in fact “cliff” may not be the correct term at all. They were what remained of the volcano that blew it self to pieces some time ago. Probably put St. Helens to shame. At any rate, on one of the immense stone faces is a golden outline of a Buddha, maybe something like 1000’ from top to bottom, I’m not going to bother to check my numbers on this, just go with me. Its pretty damn big. So, Buddha was looking down on us, he seemed pretty content (no I did not get a photo).
I’ll not bore you with the details of the ins and outs of the setup and execution of our concert, but suffice it to say, it went well. K-nizzle was pleased as was the crowd. I will say this however, standing behind Kitaro’s three Taiko drums while he is going berserk on them is pretty damn cool. That was my hiding spot during the show, keeping an eye on my musicians, ready to fly into action should something go wrong, or at the very least scurry about in a panic until we figure out what to do, but that never happens, well sometimes, just kidding, we are experts and everything always goes smoothly (except when it doesn’t).
So yeah, show went well. We packed it all up and saw it safely onto the truck to be sent to the airport. Next stop Jakarta. The next day we bid adieu to not only our lovely hotel by the sea, but to one another as well. A handful of folks went on to Hong Kong for some additional shows that Kitaro was doing with a Chinese group there, no band and only a few crew members needed. Some went to back to the states, others, myself included remained here in Thailand, to be relocated into downtown Bangkok until we leave for our show in Jakarta on the 8th (or 9th?).
The hotel is pretty nice I suppose. A little worse for wear, but free breakfast, a gym and a pool I cant complain too much. I’m fairly confident that I scared off a couple Men of Indeterminable Caucasian Descent when I went for a swim in the pool. Nobody was in it and only a handful of people about. I hopped in and swam a lap, it felt good, I’m not a great swimmer but I can get it done. I stopped and leaned against the edge and just as I was thinking I had found my new calling I immediately became self-conscious of how much I had disrupted the water. The pool looked as if a couple dozen sumo wrestlers just had their first diving lesson. Nope, just me, wind milling American. The MICD promptly picked up their stuff and left. I think I splashed them a lot, ah America’s global regard continues to soar! See ya at breakfast!
Public transportation in Bangkok is great. If you know what you are doing (which I don’t but I’m getting better) its just as easy to get around as NYC, but cheaper and with more danger involved.
Food break, be right back.
Ok, that took a while longer than expected. I had to search out a decent restaurant, thought I would take a left instead of right and check that out. Well, the next thing I knew I was walking past BBB (Best Boys in Bangkok) no Phad Thai to be found there. So back to the trusty standby, The Peach Tree, some noodles, chicken and beer later I’m back in the room. Which brings me back to the public transportation.
So yes, danger. Only dangerous in the way that most countries outside the US are. Safety standards are well, at a different standard. That being said, hiring a scooter or motorcycle driver to get you from A to B is amazing! You really have not lived until you have dodged through oncoming traffic on Sukhumvit road in the middle of rush hour, holding on to the handle at your ass and all the while thankful that you have a belly full of beer to give you the courage to disregard that you don’t have a helmet and you really have no idea where you are going at all. So that’s one option. Also popular is the BTS (Skytrain) or the MRT (Subway) both as nice and well executed as you would find anywhere in the world. Dare I say almost to the level of the Japanese train system? Cabs are everywhere, literally. Seriously at 10 stories up the pink and blue cabs below are innumerable. Have not taken the buss yet, but hey it’s a buss, they have a route and they go. Oh yeah, there are about as many cabs as there are Tuk Tuks and small trucks with modified canopies to allow for a bed full of, of, of…. you know, people, I can’t think of the damn word. Anyway, all at an insanely affordable cost.
What have I done? Well thus far, being as brief yet as entertaining as I can it goes something like this: Met up with some friends of my fellow travel companion, an Ex-Pat from Cali, John is an antique dealer/collector and one hell of a tour guide. He along with a Canadian couple and my Kitaro companions all went to a Pratt[PG1] market, and not one that most westerners know of, didn’t see a white person the whole time. John picked up a Pratt that was like 700 or 800 years old for something like a couple bucks. At this point you are wondering, what the hell is a Praht? Well I am not entirely sure. They are basically small, metel or ceramic, charms (for lack of a better word). Usually some form of the Buddha, a Bodhi Satva, a famous monk, or some deity or another. The possibilities are mind boggling and it would take a life time to know them all. They are usually in a padded plastic case that you would wear around your neck. As John said “Thai’s are more superstitious than the Catholics”.
Continuing on… I have been to a number of Wats (temples) which are just incredible. I’ll post a couple pics. Oh shit! One more crucial mode of travel! Boat! The boats on the river are essentially busses and operate the same way. We traveled by boat to Wat Pho and Wat Arun. Wat Pho is home to the reclining Buddha, probably you have seen photos. An enormous golden Buddha laying on his side taken it easy. How enormous? Well probably, half a football field or so and like 20’ tall. Something like that.
We went to the Erawan Museum yesterday. Lets see, so there really is no way to say this simply, so I’ll opt for lots of hyphens. 3-headed-elephant-that-you-go-inside-take-elevator-into-bowels-tip-hat-to-buddha-take-pictures-fight-vertigo-exit-scratch-head. Its impossibly big. Why? I don’t know, but its damn cool. As a bonus its surrounded by a park with a creek running through it with big ugly fish and awesome turtles! Swimming turtles are one of the funnest things to watch, but I digress.…though there was a couple of turtles getting in on when we left.
A friend of one of my amigo’s has a place in a rather high tower in the middle of town. Beers in hand we went up to the roof, somewhere around 46 floor or so I think. The view was amazing! All I had was my iphone, I may be able to get back with my good camera for a night shot. Howling at the moon indeed. Then I passed out on the massage table that was conveniently in the dining room. It was a fun night.
What else? Well I have spent a lot of time on foot just strolling about. Your day gets chewed up pretty easily with out doing a whole hell of a lot that is especially noteworthy. Just absorbing I suppose. Went to the mall, yawn, fucking malls. The other night I just went out with my camera, plugged in my headphones, hit shuffle and tried to find the zone. I managed a few good pictures.
Between my hotel and the nearest BTS stop is the Patpong market. It’s the quickest and most practical route. To travel between the buildings and the stalls in the street at night is to pass countless “go-go” bars (strip clubs), literally one after the other. Then dodge and ignore the offers of men trying to sell you women for the night. Catalogs are thrust in your face, yes catalogs of young girls and boys available for “rent”. Its easy to tune it out and stride past, a simple shake of the head sends most of the hawkers on to the next target. Everybody is trying to sell you something and its packed with people. So I run the gauntlet every night to get to the train. I really can’t wrap my head around the sex industry here, but it definitely unnerves me. As described to me by a fellow American over a couple beers, it allows him to be intimate with women that he would never ever have a chance with otherwise. He went on to speak about how you are not just paying for sex, what you are purchasing is a GFE, Girlfriend Experience for as long as you can afford to sustain it. I’ll tell you friends, no matter how you cut it, it’s a sad thing to me. Yeah, its just part of the reality here and there is no stigma (so they tell me) associated with it, be that as it may, I think there is something innately depressing about flying halfway around the world to buy the intimacy of a young girl or boy so that you can receive some shred of affection from another human. Call me a hopeless romantic I guess. Now, I have not been everywhere in Bangkok but everywhere I have been as soon as the sun goes down, business is hoppin. Even at a dance club at 3am I was asked a number of times if I saw anybody I wanted to take home. WTF? Can’t a person just meet somebody the old fashioned way? You know, drunken dancing? The answer is no basically. I guess in Thailand if you want to date somebody you must be formally introduced, friends of friends essentially. Pick up lines in bars or on the train just do not fly. Of course this knowledge came from the same dude who was educating me on GFE’s. So, I’m going to leave that topic at that, you can’t talk about Bangkok and ignore the sex trade here. I can’t wrap my head around it.
By day Bangkok is pretty much just another big metropolitan city, but with an asian twist. Plenty of chain stores and not so chain stores, bad traffic, clean streets and dirty alleys, same shit different country. That is not to say that Bangkok is bland, far from it, its just at some point big modern cities are big modern cities, you gotta look for what distinguishes them. After a few days I have found it really comfortable to get around here. As soon as you have a handle on the BTS routes you are good to go, a basic map is all you need. Like all other part of Asia I have been to, I think the biggest thing westerners have to get over is their personal bubble. Kiss it good bye if you go anywhere in Asia. Bangkok is no exception. Oh, and you’ll learn to deal with the variety of smells you are bombarded with.
Tomorrow, off to…uh shit…someplace with a tricky name. There are all kinds ruined temples, or rather ruins of temples. We’ll be gone all day. Two hour buss ride out of town and a boat ride back in. I think its gonna be pretty touristy, but what the hell. Gonna see some country side with a bunch of other white people that most likely don’t speak English, yes I’m counting the Aussie’s. Saturday is a trip out to Chatachuk market, basically the worlds largest Saturday market. Fortunately John is going with to guide and make sure A. Don’t get ripped off and B. Don’t buy stupid shit.
Ok, so tomorrow came before I could post this. Today was a trip out to Ayutthaya and as I suspected it was a tourist trip, but no worries. The ruins were awesome as were the elephants! I love elephants. Could have ridden one, but I just don’t feel right doing that, the last thing those guys need is the cart me around in heat. Visited an old palace which was kinda meh, but uh, the lawn was nice. Oh yeah saw a bunch of Buddhas, damn this place is up to here with Buddhas. If I get a chance I’ll post up some pictures, probably just put em’ on Facebook.
Well I’m sure there is more I could write but catching you up on a week is basically impossible. Am I going to write again? Who knows? Maybe not til Jakarta, maybe not at all, depends on how things go, especially when I get back to work. The long and the short is that I am well and having good time. I get lonely at times, but it can’t be helped. Won’t somebody travel with me next time? Food has treated me right and I have not burned up all my money yet. For now its nap time, then hittin the town to see some live music, somewhere…. Wish me luck. Hope you are all well! Miss you, yes even you.
[PG1]Speling?
