Searching for Chinatown

The Temple of the Golden Buddha

Chinatown is reputedly about 20 minutes walk from our hotel.  We have tried to find it twice.  The problem is that the streets of Bangkok are narrow, winding, and frantically busy.  The other thing is that according to the map they theoretically have names but in reality that remains only a theory.   They have traffic laws here but they are only guidelines and no one has read the manual.  Crossing the street is an extreme sport.  Traffic lights are Christmas decorations that someone forgot to take down and are best ignored.  Strangely even though the streets are filled with near misses, close calls and near-death experiences no one leans on their horns or even appears upset.

Buddha

Last night, on our second attempt to find Chinatown we wandered hither and yon for a couple of hours and decided that we had best head back to the hotel for supper.  One thing about Bangkok is that there are street vendors every couple of meters cooking the most wonderful smelling food.  We didn’t make it to the Hotel. We had to stop and do the Thai thing – which is to eat incredible food from a street vendor while sitting on a plastic patio chair on the edge of chaos.  I am not really positive what it was we ate – I know there were noodles involved, some kind of vegetable and a mystery protein.  It tasted wonderful.  Thai food is rapidly overtaking Italian food as my favourite. 

Food is cheap here.  Our meal cost us about 300 Baht - which is about $10.00 Canadian.  That was for both of us and it included 3 dishes, cold drinks and tea.  Why would anyone eat at home when it is so cheap to eat out?  And the Thais love to eat!  Every minute of every day there are people sitting at the roadside stands concentrating on demolishing huge plates of food.  And very few people here are overweight.  You see some large people but, by and large, the Thais are slender.

Street Vendor cooking up something delicious

Feminity is prized here in Thailand.  Even, apparently, in the men.  If the first waiter we had could be described as “flaming” then the second one could only be described as “nuclear”.  It seems to be a common thing for gay men here to be very “Nelly” and flamboyant.  The straight men also seem to be quite feminine in appearance and mannerisms.  I guess that goes a long way to explaining the stereotype of the “lady-boy” – the transvestite concept carried to the extreme.  Strangely, the women are very feminine and seem to be very conscious of their appearance – clothing, make-up etc. etc.  The air seems to be saturated not just with water but with estrogen.

Since the climate here is very hot and humid we thought we would go to the local mall to get some appropriate clothing.  One needs clothing that is cool and mosquito proof if one does not want to contract heat stroke, malaria or dengue fever.  Our Canadian clothing goes a long way toward fending off the little bloodsuckers but also goes a long way toward creating the heat stroke.

The cab ride to the mall cost us about 50 Baht, 3 myocardial infarctions and 6 panic attacks.  The total cost:  about $1.25 or roughly 18 cents per M.I… 

We don’t have malls like that in Canada.  It was six stories tall and as long and as wide as two football fields (American measurement).  It seemed to go on forever and it was packed cheek to jowl with small stores. It was arranged, roughly, by merchandise.  Clothing on one floor, electronics on the next, furniture on another, etc.  The cell-phone floor was literally filled with cell-phone vendors and the space between the stalls was wide enough for two Thai to pass one another or one Canadian to walk down sideways.  Clothing was cheap – we got 4 shirts and two pairs of pants for about 1000 baht (roughly $30.00 Cad).  Electronics – not so much- about the same prices as at home.  The mall was packed with people shopping.  So much for Buddhism and the concept of refraining from possession.

After the shopping and driving Telen was all knotted up in the shoulders and decided a good massage was in order.  There was a place a stone’s throw from our hotel that advertised Thai massage and foot massage.  I have very fond memories of the food massages I had in China and thought it was a great idea.  Instead of the cute little Chinese girls who did the massage in China I got the only large overweight male Thai who had prison tats and multiple piercings as my masseur.  Not only was the massage considerably more vigorous than the ones in China there was also sharpened sticks used to poke into various and sundry points on my foot. The masseur dissolved in gales of laughter every time his prodding made me sit up suddenly.  

Relaxing?…I don’t think so!

We finally found Chinatown!  Telen checking out the produce

 Telen writes:

Sa-wat-dee!  This means Hello or Greetings in Thai.

Bangkok is a city of 8 million people, 14 million people if one includes the surrounding metropolitan area.  I am slowly adapting to the chaos of traffic and sounds.  The locals all seem to have a lovely gentle smile whenever they greet you.  Yet, a maniac-like aggression is displayed when they get behind the driver’s wheels or on mopeds.  Pedestrians have no rights.  Rand and I rely on the locals when crossing the streets, not the traffic lights.  Once we have committed ourselves to cross, we just run as fast as possible to the other side of the street looking repeatedly both ways for moving vehicles.

The sounds are chaotic as well.  This morning when we went into the dining room for breakfast, we were greeted by music from the Carpenters at high volume.  This was mixed in with loud conversations from other tourists from China.  I could tell - they were speaking (or rather- yelling) Mandarin.

My jet lag is much improved now.  Last night, I dragged Rand to a local massage parlor near the hotel to experience some traditional Thai massage.  I picked Thai massage as I thought it might help with my stiff sore upper back and neck from all the travelling.  The experience turned out to be totally unexpected.  For 1 hour, the masseuse stretched, pulled and bent all my major joints.  He slapped and kneaded the muscles in all 4 extremities, my entire back, neck and face.  Then, to gain even greater leverage, he put his foot in my armpits as he pulled on my upper trunk and twisted it into a yogic like posture.  After the treatment, Rand and I were offered a cup of hot sweet tea that turned out to be very refreshing.  This morning, I admit that I do feel better - less tense and stiff and more energetic.  My muscles feel somewhat sore as if I had a major workout.

Another confusing social scene is seeing people of uncertain gender, or sometimes referred to as the 3^rd gender.  According to some references I came across, the Thailand medical community performs the largest number of gender assignment surgery in the world.  Yet, Thailand is described in tour books as a conservative Buddhist society.

I am excited to be here in SE Asia.  For one thing, I love eating noodles and, guess what, noodles are a BIG favourite here.