Back to Boston – December 16, 2010

Today is my last day in Bangkok - I fly back to Boston at midnight. It was a little sad to leave LMG Thailand yesterday, knowing that chances are good I probably will not be back. It’s an odd feeling to walk back here and have a sense of “well, I won’t be walking down this street again.” But, you never know. Maybe I’ll be back for a follow-up visit at some point next year.

So… since this will likely be my last post, I thought I’d write down a few things I’ll miss, things I won’t miss, and maybe a few things I learned along the way.

Things I will miss:

• The food. It’s been consistently good – whether at a high-end restaurant or at a street stall. Went to the Chinese noodle shop yesterday with Tewtip, Jaray and Fon. One last serving of “ba mee haeng gai” – noodles with chicken, no broth. Very tasty and I expect that having Thai food in Boston will be a bit of a letdown by comparison.
• The people. They are genuinely friendly and helpful and gracious. Thailand markets itself as the “Land of Smiles” and Thai people truly can smile better than any other group of people I’ve met.
• The street life. I’ve tried to capture the sheer density and level of street life here in Bangkok but I don’t think pictures really convey the level of activity. There are people EVERYWHERE – selling food, clothes, cell phones, amulets, etc. It’s all cheek by jowl and informal but it still seems to work.

Things I won’t miss:

• The weather. It has been 90+ degrees every day since I arrived, with humidity levels to match. And today is no different. Just relentless. People at work were saying how they don’t understand how we cope with the cold and the snow, but honestly I don’t know how they cope with the heat and humidity. The cold is no fun, for sure, but it ends and then we have spring and summer and fall. Here, it’s hot and humid all the time.
• The traffic. Again, words and pictures can’t convey the craziness of the traffic – with bumper-to-bumper cars and taxis and motorcycles on the streets and the sidewalks. It can take you 45 minutes to go a mile on Sukhumvit Road in the evening. But the Thais just seem to accept it and not complain.
  
  

But, it has been a great experience and opportunity. It’s gratifying to know that you can travel halfway around the world and still make a life. It’s probably been as close to the “immigrant experience” as I’m ever likely to get. Especially today, with email and Skype, and especially for a middle-aged, middle-class white guy from America.

I thought I would post a few last pictures – ones that sum up being here in Bangkok. While the temples are certainly spectacular, it’s the day-to-day life that I remember the most and that feels most foreign.

And one final image. I took this photo of a father and his two sons negotiating a ride with a tuk-tuk driver in Chinatown one Saturday afternoon in August. Dressed all in white, they stood out from all the surrounding chaos and colors. It captured a moment for me – that sense of being someplace so foreign and, at the same time, an example of how people can still connect with each other. Both how big the world is, and how small.

Banglamphu Stroll

Since it's my last Sunday here, I decided to go for a long walk through the Banglamphu area of Bangkok, just to have one last look around. I really like the old, two-storey buildings in this part of town – you get a sense of what life was like in Bangkok before the rest of the city went high-rise.

It’s also a part of town with lots of little streets and alleys. I liked this street sign – “Thanon” means “street,” so the rest of the sign is the name of the street. Can’t imagine having to say that address every time you want something delivered.

And because it’s Bangkok, I ran into a sidewalk market. I have never seen a city so into streetside markets – there are people selling stuff everywhere! Basically, you get a table or a blanket, set it up on the sidewalk, and you’re open for business. And you could buy pretty much anything – hack saws, sandals, auto parts, statues, ties, wrenches, jeans, whatever.

This part of town is also interesting because many of the canals (“khlongs”) that are paved over in the rest of Bangkok are still exposed here. Lots of small homes along the canals, with the back (or maybe the front?) doors of the houses opening onto the path along the canal.

Because it was Sunday, it was relatively quiet but there were still a few people out having lunch. Or making a delivery on a motorcycle.

There was a huge temple at the end of one of the canals. I couldn’t find a sign but, judging from my map, I’m pretty sure it was Wat Rachabophit. It was an odd temple, with lots of small buildings in different styles. No one was around so I just wandered around for a while, snapping photos. And it was cool that, even after almost six months here, there are still new sites to see.

Random Slice o’ Bangkok Life

Went for a run this morning in Benjakiti Park – the park just behind CentrePoint Apartments. Yes, I’ve been here for almost six months and no, it has not gotten any cooler – still just as hot and sticky as it’s been since I arrived in June. A lot of people walk, and the “runners” mostly shuffle.

Here are a few photos of the park so I’ll remember the beautiful flowers and how nice it is not to have to run in the cold and the snow, which is what I’ll be doing very soon in Boston.

Every morning, there are workers out sweeping the running path. And they are always bundled head to toe – as protection against the sun. There is something very exotic about their outfits and the bamboo brooms they use.

Wat Arun Sunset

With only a few more days here in Bangkok, I’m trying to do (or re-do) the things that I’ve most enjoyed here and will miss when I’m gone. One of those things is seeing the sun set over Wat Arun. The best place to watch the sunset is from Deck, the rooftop bar of the Arun Hotel. The bar is directly across the Chao Phraya River from Wat Arun, so getting there has the added bonus of one last trip on a ferry boat.

Here is a series of pictures of Wat Arun, as the sun sets behind it.

Afterwards, I was walking back up Thanon Maharat to get back to the ferry boat. It was early evening and quiet, with the tourists gone and the shops closing and the streets emptying out.

I’m definitely eager to be back in Boston, but there is certainly some sadness too, knowing that this was probably the last time I will be walking along Thanon Maharat and taking a ferry boat along the Chao Phraya River.

Farewell Lunch

Tewtip arranged a “farewell lunch” for me today. It was at the same seafood restaurant that we went to a few weeks ago when Lisa and Steve were here from Boston. Definitely a local place – I was certainly the only non-Asian there.

The restaurant overlooks a small canal and there were several large monitor lizards lounging around out there – a little cool and a little creepy. (Good thing we didn't order anything that might have actually been lizard!)

Again the food was really tasty – pad thai with shrimp, fried whole sea bass, mackerel in tamarind and garlic sauce, and lots of crab and shrimp.

Here are a few pictures of the people at the table – most of them are my colleagues at LMG Thailand. (A few people brought their husbands or wives, so they are mixed in there as well. )

And here is a photo of just my colleagues – took this one in the parking lot on our way out.

From left to right, they are -- Jaray, Deao, Fon, Puk, Som, Au, Joa, Goan, Tewtip, and Xianyu.

(Those are their Thai nicknames. Their real names are much, much longer. For example, Som is really Wanaporn, Puk is Tanachai, and Au is Korada. Go figure.)