Bangkok

Bangkok. What can I say? Fantastic city of contradictions and a combination of the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, genuine friendliness, fantastic cultural heritage, sleaziness and the just plain bizarre!

There is a relatively new and efficient overhead sky train, so travelling around is very easy (and very cheap), connecting to more traditional river taxis, which ply regularly along the Chao Phraya River in much the same way as boats have done for centuries. Along the waterfront, modern skyscrapers sit next to old colonial buildings, which push against rickety wooden houses on stilts that continue to defy age, gravity and their own poor construction (or so it seems), to balance precariously above the waves of the river as the many boats pass in front of them. Ancient markets continue to trade, selling amazingly bright flowers and goodness knows what kinds of food, mainly fish, which, dried and salted, look as old as the markets themselves. The city is very busy and very noisy, but in the old part it is mainly the human voice that is heard, advertising, selling, talking, and laughing. People are very friendly and everybody smiles, which is slightly disconcerting at first (having been in India, I was initially suspicious), but the smiles are genuine and it is really nice. I am determined to smile more often. Scary thought, I know.

The heat and humidity is intense, adding a physical denseness to the wide variety of rich and intoxicating, sometimes not quite horrible but intriguing smells and reassuringly, even the locals drip with sweat, so as a farang (foreigner), I’m not out of place, on that score, at least. I share a certain age too with a large number of other foreigners as well, which is less comforting. It is very strange, seeing lots of older European or American men  (50s and a lot older), who are overweight, balding, unshaven and sweating profusely, walking hand in hand with some of the most beautiful young women, probably in their early 20s, that I have ever seen in my life. The contrast is striking, perhaps slightly repulsive and I do feel pity towards the girls, but the true nature of the relationships is not always particularly clear. Of course, initially it seems it is a purely financial arrangement and so it probably is, but who is the exploiter and who is being exploited is not always as clear as one might think. Often, so I am told, the girl will spend a few weeks with a man who will fall in love with them and then send money on a regular basis back to their girlfriend. The girl may have more than one boyfriend, so the regular income can be significant. Or they may fall in love and marry and the man may move to Thailand, where farang are not allowed to own land, but they can pay for property to be built, which they do, but if the relationship fails, foreigners have no claim on that property. I’m not suggesting that all relationships are of this exploitative type. I met men with women their own age and younger who are married or are partners and it seems an equal match. I guess there are a variety of subtleties, nuances and graduations, as there are in all relationships, but the ones I’ve focused on are the most striking and the most disparate and, to my eyes anyway, just a bit strange. Having said that, it is still flattering to be propositioned by very attractive women!

Prostitution is endemic in some areas of the city and yet an Australian I met couldn’t bring up a pornographic website on his phone as it is banned by the state, even though we were in the middle of the Red Light district. There are pictures of the Royal Family everywhere, even in the remotest villages and outside all government buildings, where the size of the pictures reminded me of the Old Soviet Union. Criticism of the Royals is a criminal offence and the Royals manage the Military, The Government and The Press, pretty much everything. In downtown Bangkok, girls really do strange things with ping-pong balls, whilst in What Po and the Grand Palace there are the most incredible, beautiful Siamese palaces, serene yet vibrant and colourful Buddhist temples and exquisite, intricately worked artefacts. Bangkok is a baffling, bewildering, friendly and thought provoking city.

Shrine in the middle of the market

Wat Pho Temple complex - Houses over 1000 images of Buddha

The Reclining Buddha - 5 Tons, gold plated, 46m long and 15m high

Cask containing Buddha relics

The Grand Palace

Grand palace Entrance

Thailand trials new space rocket