It’s good to be back.
I last visited Thailand almost six years ago and lived here a little more than eight years ago. I don’t know where the time has gone. Everything seems, as Thais say – same, same but not the same. There’s no Thai word for similar.
The streets of Bangkok are pretty much what I remember them to be. The stores are mostly the same. The food stalls in every alley and on every block are the same. Life feels the same.
Only everything’s a little more expensive that it used to be now that the Baht is 30 to the dollar instead of the 44 it was when I lived here. On top of that, prices have gone up. I paid 17 Baht for a Thai iced tea when it used to be a mere 5 Baht. It’s also possible I got ripped off. I’ll be drinking my way through enough of them to figure this out soon.
The taxis are newer and shinier, the roads are better, the public transportation more extensive and modern and high-speed Internet, WiFi and cafes have sprung up everywhere.
In the relative scheme of things, Thailand is doing well. With a reported one percent unemployment in 2010 and a per capita income of $4700 per year, Thailand may still be third-world, but it’s third-world on the rise.
Compare all of this to India with 10 percent unemployment and an average per capita income of $937 in 2010, and it becomes clear why it feels like we’ve jumped to the other side of the third-world.
We’ve changed – at least I have – too. We’re staying at a very nice mid-range hotel FAR nicer than anyplace I’ve ever stayed in Thailand. Our room is large enough to be a studio apartment (and I think might have been at one time) and the hotel is as modern, comfortable and pretty as could be. We’re in a nice part of town too. My 24 year-old self would never have paid for this knowing how cheaply you can get lodging in Thailand.
It’s a new era.
But like I said – same, same, but not the same. After arriving last night at the Bangkok Airport and its new, modern, gorgeous terminal, we checked into our hotel and went out to dinner – Thai street food. Pradiphat Road is still one of the tastiest streets in Thailand with vendors making and selling real, fresh food for less than you can buy a packaged sandwich at home.
As a rule, Thais value cleanliness and so long as you eye over your food seller properly, you can eat safely from street carts. Most have little folding tables and chairs they put out on the sidewalk or street at night. The food is better than anything you’ll ever find in a Thai restaurant. And Pradiphat is a buffet on a sidewalk.
Emily and I had Pad Thai, som tam (grated green papaya salad), and coconut sticky rice – a meal of champions.
Thais make food flavorful, fresh and relatively light. Oh, what a change from the heavy sauces and thoroughly cooked vegetable dishes of North India.
What surprises me most about being back in the kingdom is how amazingly happy I am. Some of it is change of environment. I was ready to be done with Region 2 and the bright, powerful heat of the tropical Thai sun is an instant mood elevator too. Then there’s also this piece of my heart that just burst with joy to be back in Thailand.
Anyone who in recent years has heard me talk about my time overseas, probably hears me reference Bali and Singapore far more than Thailand. That’s because Bali is a place that captivates my heart and soul. When I left Thailand, by contrast, I felt done. I love Thailand. I speak quite a bit of its language, I love the food – but I never felt the longing to return in the way I do for Bali or France.
Some nostalgic part of my heart surfaced last night. It kept going today. Everything seems so familiar and so fun. Maybe it’s being comfortable with the environment after being in challenging places. Maybe it’s revisiting memories. Or maybe it’s one of those moments when we come back to a place we know very well, and we see it freshly and with new eyes because we’ve changed. It’s why painters like Monet painted the same scene repeatedly at different times of day and in different lights. Perhaps, Thailand is my haystacks.
Today, we needed several things – an ATM, laundry, lunch and a sushi place for dinner among them. Unlike anywhere we’ve been since Istanbul, they were all along one square block.
One thing I know about Thai cities – and especially Bangkok – is that life is in the back alleys, inside the neighborhoods that foreigners don’t often explore. When we didn’t want to pay the high prices of laundry at the hotel, a quick right turn down a backstreet and I found a laundry much like the one I used to use that would wash and iron 50 pieces for 500 Baht ($16). Like hidden treasure – which was followed, of course, by a celebratory Thai iced tea.
So happy am I with the return to Bangkok, that I want to stay longer than the three days we have planned. Emily is finding Bangkok more interesting and exciting this time (she was here eight years ago). So perhaps we’ll come back from our island getaway to Koh Samet a little earlier than expected. We both seem to feel we could use time in a city that not only has easily accessible conveniences, but cheap massage everywhere.
Despite the fact that we spent much of our day working, I was happy and gleeful. The Internet works very nicely. the garbage trucks run through the street at night taking away the garbage, the sun comes pouring in through our big glass windows and outside is nothing but pure Thai.
Region 3, it’s good to see you!
***Please visit yesterday’s post “Thank You, India” for freshly inserted photos***
Sent from my iPad
