Welcome back Fereng
Arriving in Bangkok, intense humidity and
40 degree heat pounded more weight on to the 20kilos hanging off my back. Crazy
Bule, now Fereng who tried to walk up Sukhumvit with all I own, got lost far
up from my hostel in Thong Long on a street with, as promised by Lawrence
Osborne's book "Bangkok Days", many seedy massage parlours, while I
ambled around food hawkers. Welcome back to magnetic Thailand. My stomach flipped excitedly.
Shamefully, I found 7/11 for a ham and
cheese toastie. White sugary bread encases a melted plastic cheese and shop
floor ham filling. Distinctly un-Thai, but unable to be found anywhere else I
have been, and for me it holds many happy memories. Of being an irresponsible drunk-packer,
meeting new people and laughing away hangovers with these boiling hot pockets
of anti-nutrition.
Changing cultures
I forgot how friendly Indonesians are. Swaths
of Indonesians move there for work from more remote islands, and despite the huge
influx of foreigners to Bali, there is still bafflement with the outside world.
Indonesia is still quite culturally cut off from the rest of the world, which
helps preserve custom, and I think friendliness. Although Indonesians seem bored
of overcrowding from tourism, their affability is catching and I began from
Ngurah Rai airport, smiling and saying hello to as many as possible.
Thailand, with its' multitude of land borders and attraction as a major tourist destination, means more people pass through (making it harder to get off the beaten track). But this also makes Thailand an accepting place for cultural difference. I recognise most Thais are also welcoming,
friendly and warm with a wicked sense of humour. I meander with a lost
look on my face and a map and I am offered help. I ask a questions and jokes come back.
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Show respect for the ruling culture, and be welcomed tenfold. |
You do, in places, get a small sense of
'God, not another one!' I'm determined not to be another one. I
would like to get off that ‘beaten track’. I want to learn the language and
alphabet more than anywhere. I want to learn the correct way to Wai and good
Thai manners. I am as ever, fascinated by this golden country, its' countless
temples, idyllic islands and enthralling history.
Island Review
So I write this from Koh Chang, hoping to
change my ways ever so slightly and to make the conversion from backpacker to
'Thailand Enthusiast'. Toasties have not passed my lips for a week and I am
trying more street food, falling more in love with the culture one mouthful at
a time. In Bangkok I sampled more of the never-ending plethora of sites and
sins on offer, had a fling with mango sticky rice and stayed just long enough
to make friends with other English teachers. Read: long-termers.
I made my way to this blessed island and
discovered mountains of various personalities. The quiet, heady, dark and
exciting. Marvellous, crazy, unexpected and mild- much like the foods on my
list, and the clean Buddhist life at odds with corrupt squalor. Thailand: a
moving vestibule of yin and yang.
To come: Getting lost in Koh Chang
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| Lonely Beach, Koh Chang |
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