A Brief Encounter with Thailand

I spent my five days in Thailand split between the touristy Phuket and the fascinating Bangkok. These two places showed me different sides of life in Thailand, but overall reinforced what I considered one of the lessons from India: to survive, people will do anything necessary.  In India, this was evident on the skin of children intentionally burned so that they’d receive more money begging.  In Thailand, it was the women of Phuket, on the streets and in the bars, doing all that was asked to support their families.

Having said that, the country was beautiful, the children more beautiful, and the food incredible. I like spicy food. I didn’t know that before Thailand.  This post will be much shorter than India.  Thailand was fun, but it would have been better had I not been on an SAS trip, and I would have been happier with more time in Bangkok and less in Phuket.  Having said that, I rode an elephant.  I kayaked in bat caves. I found the world’s best mojito, and most importantly, I talked to a lot of locals.  I would love to spend much more time in Bangkok.

Day 1: We docked in the humid heat of Thailand around 8am and were off the ship two hours later and on my way to the airport.  I set next to Betsy on the bus to the airport, whom I had met briefly in India. On my last day in India, which I forgot to mention in my last email, Andrea and I went shopping a bit and Betsy tagged along. I mention this because most of the “we’s” in this post refer to Betsy and me.  We arrived to the Bangkok airport three hours before our flight. (Ridiculous.) This means we have time to explore a bit and eat lunch in their giant cafeteria. This was my first Pad Thai in Thailand, and oh goodness, it was so good.  Upon arrival in Phuket we were given free time for dinner and exploration.  We were in the Patong region of Phuket, which was definitely the most touristy part of Phuket.
Unannounced to me, I had arrived in the dive bar/prostitute capitol of Southeast Asia.  In Patong, there was one main street.  The best comparison I can give is Bourbon Street, but even that is much classier.  Trying to enjoy this crazy scene, I went out with a few friends to a couple bars. We were so excited when we thought we’d found a karaoke bar, until we entered to discover it was just a Thai band singing American rock songs.  Some were better than others.  Betsy and I were already bored of the scene by the time we were approached by the 100th club promoter, but somehow with this one, we struck up a conversation in the dirty street.   He was Swedish, and had been working in Phuket for three months.  I asked him how he liked his job and he told us it was just an excuse to party.  After a few minutes, I got brave and asked him about the women on the street. He told us that the many women we saw had to work on the street because the women in the clubs were tested. Those on the street were probably HIV positive. Betsy asked, “So which ones are prostitutes then?” He started pointing them out, but then shrugged and said, “well this is Thailand, everybody has a price.”  I know that isn’t actually true, but that is the Phuket experience.  He also informed us that many of the women working were actually what the Thai happily call, “Lady Men.”
We tried to go to a dance club, but soon discovered that we were the only women in the club not working.  We left, quickly and found a quieter bar.  We sat down to have a Singha and watch the people. The (female) bartender asked us if we’d like anything – I think we bought waters.  I asked her, “So do you live in Phuket?” She nodded. “Do you like it,” I asked. 
She smiled and shrugged, “Its good money.” She motioned to the women playing board games with paying customers.  “Most of them are married and have kids. We don’t like living here, but you can’t leave.”   On that downward note, Betsy and I decided that it was about our time to head back to our hotel.

Day 2: Today, my group would tour the sea caves, hongs, and tunnels of Koh Panak and Koh Hong. (I’m about to directly quote our itinerary.) A “hong” is an open-air, cliff-lined cylindrical tidal lagoon connected to the outside world only through stalactite-filled caves.  Our tour company was called “James Bond Tours.”  All of the tourist companies in Phuket are quite proud of their place in James Bond history.  The 1962 film Dr. No as well as the newer Die Another Day both filmed scenes off the coast of Phuket.  A boat took us to near the island and where our kayaks were inflated, and we were asked to hop in with a guide.  Betsy and I rode with Don, who spent much of the trip asking us questions about our lives in the states.  To get into the caves we had to lay flat in our kayaks as Don paddled and leaned off the back.  The tide was rising, so there was barely enough space for us to get into the caves without scratching our faces and knees. 
Once inside our second hong, the water was rising too quickly.  The option was either to wait 6 hours until the tide changed or to swim into the bat cave and hope they could push the kayaks under with us not in them.  We chose the second option and laughed as we jumped out and swam into the dark water.  The guides told us to watch out for piranhas – whatever that meant.  I tried to stay as close to the surface as possible without touching anything – they’d also warned us the rocks were quite sharp.  When we reached the other side of the cave and back into the open bay sunlight, we jumped back into our kayak and pulled the leeches off of ourselves before they could attach. 
Over the hours in our kayak we made friends with our guide, Don. He talked to us about Thai fighting, telling about how he received the dent in his forehead in an early fight.  Starting out, he got paid 100 baht per fight – about 3 dollars.  He’s now aged out of fighting. Betsy asked him about his family – he is 27, and lives at home, which is typical until Vietnamese men get married.  “No money, no honey,” he told us smiling. We asked him about the tsunami, and he told us that he’d been on the island through the whole thing. He said his village was chaos, but there was not time or money enough to leave.  As the water rose, they’d clung to trees and somehow survived.  As a guide, he works from 8am until late into the evening, making 300 baht per day (about 11 dollars).  This is pretty good pay, so he stays, even though they all dislike their boss.
After our long day on the water, Betsy and I decided to try Thai massage.  Although I much prefer American massage, it was quite an experience.  They basically do yoga to you.  The masseuse uses hands, feet, and yes, walks on backs.  I felt well stretched out afterwards.   For dinner, we ate at one of Phuket’s many over priced touristy restaurants. Still, it was really good food, and I had the best mojito I’ve ever tasted.

Day 3: The next day included three activities: a trek through the jungle, a raft ride down a jungle river to view the limestone cliffs, and finally a very rocky elephant ride.  The trek was interesting because our guide pointed out plants and trees along the way. She cut a rubber tree for us, so we could watch it drip into the tiny bucket set up for the sap.  Elephants were adorable – I’ll have to share pictures to explain these, as the Asian elephant is quite different from the African one that is typically seen in film and circus.
On the three hour chartered bus ride back to Phuket, they tried to please the Americans by first playing Backstreet Boys and then switching to a movie, the third of the Mummy series.  It was too rocky of a ride to focus anyway. 
That night was St. Patrick’s Day, which meant that despite my hatred of the Phuket scene, Betsy and I agreed that we had to at least drink at an Irish pub.  After dinner we headed to a bar we’d seen called Molly Malone’s.  They’d hired a band for the night that belted out American rock favorites.  I was thrilled because I found my favorite Irish cider, Bulmers, which I’d been unable to find since last summer in Dublin. After an hour we decided to switch to a more acoustic bar, Scruffy Murphy’s.  This one was so much fun. I couldn’t believe that I’d genuinely had a good time in Phuket.  It was a jovial and international crowd – most of the crowd was from various parts of Europe, with a few Australians and Americans mixed in.  The band was lead by an Irish man on an acoustic guitar.  He played “500 Miles,” which made my night, but the best part was when he started to play U2, in honor of St. Paddy. The entire bar stopped to sing along to U2’s “With or Without You.” After two hours, the rest of the SAS kids in Phuket found our new favorite bar and we decided it was time to leave.

Day 4: We woke up at 6:30am to find a secluded beach.  We kept hearing that Phuket was supposed to be a paradise, so we set out that morning to find it.  We succeeded.  Kai Noi beach was completely quiet at 7am.  The Indian Ocean was perfectly clear.  I waded out deep enough that I was able to look down and watch a school of fish swimming between my legs.  We took turns swimming and guarding our bags, which contained our passports. 
Upon return to Bangkok, we cleaned up and headed to the night markets, where we’d heard rumors of good bargains and a great food market in the center.  We found our new favorite thing – Thai smoothies.  In Thailand, they aren’t very sweet. They mix huge pieces of watermelon with ice, and that’s it. It’s so refreshing.  After a bit of shopping, we decided to walk home and perhaps try some more food along the way.  We purchased chicken kabob and fish dumplings for less than a dollar.  Betsy and our friend Kate were brave enough to try a fried grasshopper from one of the vendors.  They said it was fine, just crispy.  I was not brave enough for that one.

Day 5: In the morning we met to see the Grand Palace. It was huge and filled with gold. It was really over the top and honestly too much for my taste.  Thailand is 98% Buddhist, which is a relatively anti-materialistic religion, and yet here was a structure built to honor their royal family like gods.  Although Bangkok is a very modern city, I didn’t see the point of this huge display of wealth that seemed to A. not mesh with the religion, and B. not be useful in a country where so many are still struggling to survive.
After time at the Grand Palace, I was THRILLED to be able to meet for lunch with my dear friend Art, who went to Providence Day with me my junior year of high school.  I was so excited to see her again, and it was the perfect time within the trip to see a familiar face.  I asked Art to pick our lunch spot, and she chose a Japanese restaurant, which was surprising in Thailand, but quite good.  It was different than the Japanese food I’d had in the states. Art explained the secret of food in Thailand to be that instead of using soy sauce, as is done in America, in Thailand fish sauce is the base for almost every dish.  I also learned that Thai Iced Tea is an American thing. I couldn’t find it here, and I asked almost everyone. I had good tea, but it was nothing like the American equivalent.
After a lovely lunch I asked Art to help me find the building where I’d get my Japanese Rail Pass. It became quite an ordeal, and I’m so glad I had someone who spoke Thai with me.  In twenty minutes we had to find the building, find an ATM, find a money exchange (had to pay in yen), go back to the building where the agency was, and then literally run to my hotel before my bus back to port departed.  

Well that’s about it, I suppose. This post is really more of an itinerary than anything.  I don’t feel that I was able to experience as much culture as I would have liked in this trip.  Too much sightseeing, not enough talking to locals. One of my friends from my Phuket trip, Andrew, gave me the idea for how I'll end this entry. My last meal in Thailand was a Dairy Queen blizzard and it well represents my overall experience in Thailand: enjoyable, but unsatisfying.