I got back from our three week holiday in Thailand on Sunday (19th August – same day as their referendum on the constitution). I had a great time, especially in Bangkok which is such an exciting city (though loads of people we met couldn’t get out of the place quickly enough). I remember clearly the point, in the early 1990s, at which I realised that something really dynamic and exciting was going on in South East Asia, and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get out there and see it for myself.
I particularly enjoyed getting to grips with a country about which I previously knew very very little. I read the Bangkok Post most days and tried to piece together some robust impressions, combining my reading with my observations whilst travelling.
Obviously the referendum was the most significant theme in the country and was on the front page of the Bangkok Post most days. It wasn’t difficult to get a sense of censorship and manipulation in the media’s treatment of the issue, and this impression was confirmed by my friend Supanza, who has been following the news avidly from her new home here in Birmingham. I look forward to discussing this in greater detail when she and her husband Mark come over to our house for dinner in a couple of weeks’ time. I’ll try to resist making one of the dishes that we learnt to make on our Thai cookery course on an organic farm just outside Chiang Mai.
I think that the most acute comment I read about the new constitution was in Bangkok Post about a week ago. It said that if a group of military chiefs can stage a coup simply on the basis of corruption and write a new constitution for the nation’s consideration, then the biggest problem that arises is one of ongoing instability. Because if one group of military chiefs can do that, then presumably in a year or so, some other group, making the same perception of corruption, can just go ahead and do the same thing all over again.
Of course, one of the most striking elements of Bangkok is the sex tourism. According to a thriller I read called Bangkok Eight, if you take the whole of the Thai female population that is reasonably physically attractive, 20% of them will prostitute themselves at some stage in their lives. And the second statistic that I found amazing, is that the West2East prostitution in Thailand, so prevalent in areas such as Sukhumvit Soi 4, represents only about 5% of the overall sex tourism of Thailand i.e. the rest is Thais serving Thais, in venues such as barber shops. That makes for one hell of a sex industry. The novel explores (in a fairly superficial sort of way) how Buddhism can accommodate prostitution to an extent. This made me remember our trip to Cuba a few years ago, where there was unquestionably more social tension around prostitution than is the case in Thailand – and I see that as a combination of the Catholic Church and the Revolution (which justified itself partly on the basis of eradicating exploitation of Cubans by Americans).
Another interesting discovery I made in the Bangkok Post was that the “happiness level” of Thailand (the so-called Land of Smiles) is actually quite low. The article attributed this mainly to economic factors, specifically to job insecurity (fear of low labour costs in China) and the credit boom which is engendering high stress levels over debt payment.
Maybe one of the effects of the Thai credit boom is the impressive retail sector of Bangkok. I’ve honestly never experienced anything like it. The most recent shopping mall to spring up is called the Siam Paragon (see image above), and it’s wonderful. Highlights for me were the Ferrari showroom (on the second floor!!), the amazing bookshop on the fourth floor (where I bought a disappointing Thai novel called Chalida – a Thai family drama), and the cinema on the top floor (where we were initially tempted by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 3D, but settled for The Simpsons. It was fascinating to see every single person stand up for the Thai National Anthem – I myself have only once in my life stood up for the British National Anthem, though I accept that I’m exceptional in that sense). And Siam Paragon was only one of a whole series of malls in Bangkok, many of which ran into each other, and all of which were several storeys high.
Consumerism in both Thailand and Malaysia (we stayed in Kuala Lumpur for a few days in the middle of the trip) seemed to be conducted exclusively in English language. I couldn’t help feeling that some of the impact of the branding would be lost in translation. For example, Bobby Brown’s eye-shadow colours have English names, and I wonder how many Thais will appreciate the nuances of a colour called Heather.
There are definitely pockets of poverty in Thailand, but the Economist reported last week that the rich – poor gap is not as wide in Thailand as it is in some other Asian countries.
Thankfully my enjoyment of Thailand was not confined to reading Bangkok Post. The Thai cookery course I alluded to was a fantastic day spent with a lovely international crowd, mostly childless which is always good. You can’t fail to be impressed by the ultra-modern skyline of Kuala Lumpur, and we ate wonderful food in both countries. I’m glad we tried Malayan food, which is a bit more elusive in Malaysia than Thai cuisine is in Thailand. We spent 6 days on a lovely island called Koh Chang, which is very close to Cambodia. We made friends with a really nice couple from Vienna, who were staying in a nearby resort, and we enjoyed the time we spent with them. The malls of Bangkok and also the night market of Chiang Mai are both great shopping experiences. And Thai people are really really really friendly and polite, and they’re living in one of the safest places that I’ve ever visited.
The disappointments were few and far between, but I suppose the Floating Market didn't really live up to expectations - it's little more than a tourist trap these days, elephant riding is definitely over-rated, but bamboo rafting is the experience you should avoid at all costs, as it's simply the most tedious way of spending 40 minutes that the tourist industry has yet to come up with.
I particularly enjoyed getting to grips with a country about which I previously knew very very little. I read the Bangkok Post most days and tried to piece together some robust impressions, combining my reading with my observations whilst travelling.
Obviously the referendum was the most significant theme in the country and was on the front page of the Bangkok Post most days. It wasn’t difficult to get a sense of censorship and manipulation in the media’s treatment of the issue, and this impression was confirmed by my friend Supanza, who has been following the news avidly from her new home here in Birmingham. I look forward to discussing this in greater detail when she and her husband Mark come over to our house for dinner in a couple of weeks’ time. I’ll try to resist making one of the dishes that we learnt to make on our Thai cookery course on an organic farm just outside Chiang Mai.
I think that the most acute comment I read about the new constitution was in Bangkok Post about a week ago. It said that if a group of military chiefs can stage a coup simply on the basis of corruption and write a new constitution for the nation’s consideration, then the biggest problem that arises is one of ongoing instability. Because if one group of military chiefs can do that, then presumably in a year or so, some other group, making the same perception of corruption, can just go ahead and do the same thing all over again.
Of course, one of the most striking elements of Bangkok is the sex tourism. According to a thriller I read called Bangkok Eight, if you take the whole of the Thai female population that is reasonably physically attractive, 20% of them will prostitute themselves at some stage in their lives. And the second statistic that I found amazing, is that the West2East prostitution in Thailand, so prevalent in areas such as Sukhumvit Soi 4, represents only about 5% of the overall sex tourism of Thailand i.e. the rest is Thais serving Thais, in venues such as barber shops. That makes for one hell of a sex industry. The novel explores (in a fairly superficial sort of way) how Buddhism can accommodate prostitution to an extent. This made me remember our trip to Cuba a few years ago, where there was unquestionably more social tension around prostitution than is the case in Thailand – and I see that as a combination of the Catholic Church and the Revolution (which justified itself partly on the basis of eradicating exploitation of Cubans by Americans).
Another interesting discovery I made in the Bangkok Post was that the “happiness level” of Thailand (the so-called Land of Smiles) is actually quite low. The article attributed this mainly to economic factors, specifically to job insecurity (fear of low labour costs in China) and the credit boom which is engendering high stress levels over debt payment.
Maybe one of the effects of the Thai credit boom is the impressive retail sector of Bangkok. I’ve honestly never experienced anything like it. The most recent shopping mall to spring up is called the Siam Paragon (see image above), and it’s wonderful. Highlights for me were the Ferrari showroom (on the second floor!!), the amazing bookshop on the fourth floor (where I bought a disappointing Thai novel called Chalida – a Thai family drama), and the cinema on the top floor (where we were initially tempted by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 3D, but settled for The Simpsons. It was fascinating to see every single person stand up for the Thai National Anthem – I myself have only once in my life stood up for the British National Anthem, though I accept that I’m exceptional in that sense). And Siam Paragon was only one of a whole series of malls in Bangkok, many of which ran into each other, and all of which were several storeys high.
Consumerism in both Thailand and Malaysia (we stayed in Kuala Lumpur for a few days in the middle of the trip) seemed to be conducted exclusively in English language. I couldn’t help feeling that some of the impact of the branding would be lost in translation. For example, Bobby Brown’s eye-shadow colours have English names, and I wonder how many Thais will appreciate the nuances of a colour called Heather.
There are definitely pockets of poverty in Thailand, but the Economist reported last week that the rich – poor gap is not as wide in Thailand as it is in some other Asian countries.
Thankfully my enjoyment of Thailand was not confined to reading Bangkok Post. The Thai cookery course I alluded to was a fantastic day spent with a lovely international crowd, mostly childless which is always good. You can’t fail to be impressed by the ultra-modern skyline of Kuala Lumpur, and we ate wonderful food in both countries. I’m glad we tried Malayan food, which is a bit more elusive in Malaysia than Thai cuisine is in Thailand. We spent 6 days on a lovely island called Koh Chang, which is very close to Cambodia. We made friends with a really nice couple from Vienna, who were staying in a nearby resort, and we enjoyed the time we spent with them. The malls of Bangkok and also the night market of Chiang Mai are both great shopping experiences. And Thai people are really really really friendly and polite, and they’re living in one of the safest places that I’ve ever visited.
The disappointments were few and far between, but I suppose the Floating Market didn't really live up to expectations - it's little more than a tourist trap these days, elephant riding is definitely over-rated, but bamboo rafting is the experience you should avoid at all costs, as it's simply the most tedious way of spending 40 minutes that the tourist industry has yet to come up with.
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