Thailand – first impressions, again

My flight from Hong Kong arrived around midnight in Bangkok, and this time there were no lines at the passport control desks, and I went right through, getting the usual one month permission to stay.  When I walked out of the airport building I got my first reminder of Bangkok – the hot moist air, in the dead of ‘winter.’    Then the driver wanted 500 baht for the trip rather than turn on the meter, and I knew I was back.

If Hong Kong is designed  to encourage pedestrians, to make it easier and safer to walk, Bangkok has taken the opposite approach, with uneven, or non-existent, sidewalks.  Hundreds of electric wires hang from concrete poles, which are stuck into the middle of the sidewalks.    Sidewalk vendors take up some more space, as do the outdoor restaurant – stalls.  It’s all a big wonderful mess.

Behind the carts on the streets are the buildings, many of them housing very expensive shops and malls.  Cars, motorcycles, and taxis all compete for the roads while the skytrain runs two to three stories above the street.  I prefer the skytrain, and I know the areas around the stops the best.

After one day in the frenzy of Bangkok I travelled by bus and mini-bus first to Kanchanaburi (2 hours) then to Sankgklaburi( four hours) where I was met by my Mon friends.   Now I am in my friend Saikamar’s house, getting used to eating sitting on the floor, the neon tube lights, the roosters in the morning, the squat toilet, the lack of a sink, the exposed wiring, the motorbikes, the dogs…  Yet it all seems so familiar, so friendly.

The nights are cold – two blankets – and the days are warm.  I’m sitting wearing a light shirt while my friends are wearing sweaters, scarves, jackets – I guess it all depends on what you are used to.  And there is wi-fi internet access here – real progress.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong – a city of banks, restaurants, designer stores, and an infinite number of high raise apartment buildings.  The public transportation is wonderfully efficient and with my prepaid Octopus card all I have to do is to tap my card to the reader on any form of transportation and the fee is automatically deducted, although since I’m an “elderly” the fee is very low – it’s even free to ride the Star ferry across the harbor, which everyone should do at least once in their life.  It’s still a thrilling ride, even if the harbor is much small than it was twenty years ago, and the boat traffic is much less.

Hong Kong is all about making money and spending money, and eating; eating everything and anything, as long as it is fresh.  For example, I ate goose intestines, duck tongues, and the fallopian tubes of a frog-like animal.  But more familiar types of food are even more delicious (to me); roast goose, barbecue pork, steamed whole fish, and of course we ate a lot of dim sum.  I love dim sum, not just the food itself but the ambiance – people sitting at tables with strangers reading their newspapers, drinking tea, passing time.  Of course the newer fancier restaurants lack this slow pace, but even at these places I don’t feel rushed.

The streets in some parts of town are lined with designer shops and outside these shops there are lines of people waiting to get in, mostly mainland Chinese with money to burn.  On the Star ferry I saw women with bags – lots of bags - from Chanel, Burberry, Prada, and numerous other high priced stores.    All that money is driving up the cost of real estate here, so that apartments rent for thousands of (US) dollars a month, and sell for millions.

Get on a ferry to an outlying island, or a bus to the peak, and in half an hour you are hiking in the country.  Our first day in Hong Kong the weather and visibility were great so we took a bus to the peak (the tram has become too popular with mainland tourists now), and hiked from Victoria Peak to the top of High West, another peak with a spectacular view and no buildings.  While we were climbing the hill that song from the old movie Love is a many splendored thing kept playing in my head: “once on a high and windy hill two lovers kissed…”   But Nonnie didn’t want to kiss in front of the other hikers.

Our trip was made much better by our friend Ed, with whom we roasted a pig in Gallup, and with whom we ate many great meals in Hong Kong, including a thirteen course wedding banquet at the marriage of Cheryl and Harold, Ed’s nephew.  That was a meal to remember!  Ed’s sister Amy had head surgery when we arrived, but was able to join us for dinner at the end of our visit.  We wish her well.

I will remember Hong Kong as a city of contrasts – huge apartment buildings and huge parks; rich people and poor people, cheap goods and expensive items – a place of endless energy, and sore legs.