Thaïlande selon John

 
Atlanta in Bangkok? How did we get there?

We left Cha-am in a minibus. It was almost full so the three of us had
the pleasure of sharing the back row. It is a relatively new Toyota
minibus, as most of them are. There are three rows of three seats and
then our four seats. Our row is slightly higher, high enough to block
a comfortable view of the passing countryside. There are also 2 seats
next to the driver and all are full except for the fourth seat next to
us. An older man arrives with a boy of about five. The driver
convinces the lady sitting closest to the door to share a front seat
so that the man takes her place and the 5 year old boy sits on the
baggage in the passage. The boy wants to stay near his dad.

His dad is an Englishman in his late fifties or sixties and the boy a
very smiling mix of Thai and English. He seems to master both
languages easily and chats away with the woman and girls in the row in
front of us. He almost never stops, clearly a charmer, not
rambuncious, just a talker and charmer. Most of the Thai children we
see seem to be like that, it is rare to see tantrums or scenes.

We stopped several times to let out or take on a passenger. The three
of us are happy to be able to keep the free seat. There is a reason
why the last row was empty however. If our job was to create a map of
all of the bumpy spots on the road we had the best seats. The driver
was very attentive to his job and clearly wanted to arrive as quickly
as possible, road conditions notwithstanding. We therefore had the
pleasure of bouncing from seat to ceiling to seat on a regular basis.

One of our stops was for LPG. An amazing thing is the attention to the
environment; our bus is fueled by LPG as are most of the taxis and
trucks. A fill up takes longer here than it would at a gas station.
The trucks have several rows of tanks just behind the cab. The tanks
are horizontaly placed along the width of the truck. Don't know where
our tanks are located, the filling hose is plugged in under the hood.

The stop itself is very clean, the usual food stalls and a toilet
building with urinals along the back wall. There are chocolate bars
and soft drinks but fresh fruit and Thai dishes dominate.

We arrive at the Victory Monument, don't know from what war, Jurg is
not here to ask the question as he did for the tower in Berlin. We
jump in a taxi for the hotel we have booked, the Atlanta.

The Atlanta is a mythic hotel in Bangkok on Soi 2, Sukhumvit Rd. It is
located in a chic part of town where many of the high-end hotels are
located. It was founded in - drum roll please - 1952 as were we three.
At its opening it was the first to have a pool among other things.
Its fonder, Dr. Max Henn, a Berliner (the citizen not the doughnut)
helped to create Thailand as a tourist destination. His view of
tourism was different to what too much Thai tourism has become; sexual
tourism. The hotel clearly announces its colours: "Sex Tourists are
not Welcome" at the front door. To get them to accept our
reservations Pierre had to complete a form that asks question on our
preferences and lifestyle. It is also clearly stated in several
locations "Complaints not permitted".

The hotel is now a "budget" hotel. At its height it was very chic and
a fashionable destination. The art-deco mood is everywhere, especially
in the entrance hall and stairway. The floods in the sixties and
seventies, the construction of a major highway right behind it and the
management style all contributed to its decline. The pool is a little
worse for wear but functional and surrounded with overgrown palm and
other tropical plants. The outside common area also includes two
turtle ponds with an old mating pair (Mr. is 21 inches long) and their
progeny. The rooms are clean, the bathroom could do with some work
but all in all it is a comfortable environment. We took a 2-bedroom
suite with bathroom for 1,800B ($60).

The hotel restaurant is also very unique. The three copies of the
menu are copiously annotated with information on the hotel and the
food. Quite reasonable and quite good.

The neighbourhood of the hotel includes a major sexpat area with many
bars and restaurants catering to their business. Large numbers of
young girls are present and even more mostly older men. Clearly a
major business activity. Another nearby Soi (street) hosts the arab
area - the juxtaposition of the girls in short black skirts with
plunging necklines and the women in nijabs is extreme. We ate a very
good salad plate in an Arab restaurant.

The contrast between our quiet Cha-am beach road and the huge city
that is Bangkok is striking. Bangkok is a very modern city, huge
highrises are everywhere as is an imposing system of urban highways.
To assist in dealing with the monster traffic jams, BKK has now a very
modern metro line and two Skytrain lines. I am sure that the Bangkok
Metro is Jurg's favorite metro in the world, one of its terminus
stations is named "Bang Sue".

Yesterday we had a very full day. We took the Skytrain to the
Chatuchak market for the morning. If you can't find it at Chatuchak it
doesn't exist. Amazing, huge, fascinating, wonderful, ... there are
not enough superlatives to describe it. We had lunch then took the
Metro back to the hotel for a swim. Both the Sytrain and the Metro
are modern, spacious and well cooled. One suffers a thermic shock
crossing the doorway as you go from 34C to about 24C.

After our swim we took a taxi to the 87-story tallest building in BKK.
The views of the city as twilight turned to night are breathtaking. We
then took another taxi to "Cabbages and Condoms" restaurant for
supper. This is operated by an NGO which did major campaigns for
contraception to control population growth and stop AIDS. The
restaurant decor is in line with the theme; lampshades and mannequins
dressed up in costumes made of multi-coloured condoms (Santa Condom,
Tiger Woods Condom, ...). They give you condoms instead of mints with
the bill. Way over the top and the food was very ordinary. Not
recommended.

Pierre and I had a nightcap in the "Bamboo Bar" which featured live music.

This morning Jocelyne and I took the Skytrain to the riverside, then a
ferry to the Khaosan/Rambuttin "backpacker" area. The ferry ride is
always great but the contrast with the Skytrain made it even better.
The river itself is full of passenger ferry boats and big barges. The
riverside is extremely varied with shanty towns, major commercial
buildings, hotel bars, churches, the university, Temples, parks, ...

The ferry itself is a long, narrow affair which weaves its way thru
the boat traffic and regularly stops at one of the many docks lining
the riverside. The driver is at the front and the entrance/exit is as
the back. There is a complex whistle code for the guy at the back who
signals to the captain to go forward or back as the boat approachs the
dock. The guy hooks a single looped rope over the dock post then
whistles to the captain to reverse engines which keeps one side of the
boat rear end snuggled agaist the dock. Once the passenger
entrance/exit traffic is finished he whistles again, the captain does
a forward engine, the guy unhooks the rope and, Bob's your uncle,
we're off to the next stop. Our 20 minute ride cost us each 15B or
$0.50. Very good bang for the buck.

We walked around the area, Jocelyne booked a hotel for the rest of her
vacation, we ate lunch (falafel and humus with beer), walked some
more, had another beer then took the reverse route - ferry then
Skytrain - back to the hotel pool. A word to the wise: stay away from
Thai wine. Pierre very kindly had a bottle of white waiting for us at
poolside. The three of us managed to finish it but didn't even
consider ordering a second. That says it all!

Tonight we ate at a local Irish pub - Bully's - on Sukhumvit. Not bad.

Hope I haven't run on too long. It is now 11:15pm on my next to last
day in BKK. One more day then off to YUL.

John