Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia over which a foreign flag has never flown. The effect this fact has on daily life there is profound.
The second time I visited Thailand, I met a young man named Ome, with whom I stayed the night on more than one occasion. After the first, he was nice enough to walk me to Rama IV Road, a large transportation artery near his Silom apartment, so that I could get a taxi back to Khao San Road, where my hostel was located.
Just before we got to the street, however, a loud voice began booming over what I presumed to be speakers (although I didn’t see any) and literally everyone around me stopped in their tracks for at least a minute — and then picked up as if nothing had happened.
“It’s to pay respect to the King,” Ome told me. “Foreigners don’t have to do it but if Thai people don’t do it, we can get in trouble or even go to jail.”
Thailand is without a doubt my favorite country I’ve ever visited, although it probably isn’t because of the same reasons the thousands of other foreigners who list it as their favorite would list. For me, Thailand is less about the sand, surf and sleaze — and all about the fact that its people live their lives so differently (and in such a separate world) than any others I’ve seen during my travels.
In my larger experience there, Thailand is generally big on ceremony and tradition. In addition to the story I mentioned above, Thailand uses the Buddhist calendar, which says the current year is 2554, and gives the death penalty to citizens who desecrate images of the King, something one can do by throwing money on the ground. My third and most recent visit to Bangkok in November 2010 coincided with the beginning of Loi Krathong, a festival that venerates the Buddha and occurs annually at the end of the 12th lunar month. Although the chief symbolic gesture of the festival is releasing glowing lanterns onto the water, from which they float into the air, even citizens that aren’t on or near bodies of water (such as this little girl holding firecrackers) participate. In case you were wondering, placing a paper lantern with a candle inside it onto a body of water without the flame going out is a taller order than it might sound — mine went out instantly.
This is not to say Thais don’t embrace modernity. Bangkok’s SkyTrain elevated rail, for example, a two-line system that operates in concert with its underground MRT, is one of the cleanest, fastest and most efficient public transit systems I’ve ever ridden. Here, you can see the SkyTrain quite literally flying over Rajprasong Intersection, which is home to an a number of Buddhist statues clad in marigold wreaths, as well as hourly performances from traditional Thai dancers.
Located about two hours from Bangkok by car is Pattaya, by most accounts the most popular beach resort in all of Asia. Pattaya isn’t just popular for its white sands, turquoise waters and its close proximity to Bangkok, however: For better or for worse, the city is one of the world’s hubs for sex tourism. Although some of the girls, boys and the “third sex” in-between (more on that later) seem perfectly happy to perform whatever job they can to get by, I can’t help by feel that the ever-increasing numbers of Western tourists who come here to sample the local flavor, as it were, are in their own way encroaching on Thailand’s longstanding sovereignty.
Pattaya is famous not only for its transsexual prostitutes, but also so-called “ladyboys” who’ve decided to go the entertainment route. When I visited Pattaya, I was lucky enough to enjoy a performance from the girls at the legendary “Tiffany’s Show,” billed as the #1 transvestite variety show in the world. Although I don’t have current numbers to deed or refute that claim, Tiffany’s “women” are without a doubt the most realistic and beautiful transgendered women I’ve ever laid eyes upon. They’re also incredible singers and dancers: During the final part of the show, one of them appeared as a half-man, half-woman (cross-section) style and duetted with him/herself on Paul Kennerley’s “One-Man Woman.” In general, Thailand is extremely accepting not only of “ladyboys” (the term is not derogatory there) but of the gay lifestyle on the whole. I can’t figure out if this is because or in spite of the presence of foreign tourists. I suspect, however, Thais’ perpetual independence as people has simply made them more chill when it comes to things like that.
In some ways, Thailand is very much like the rest of Southeast Asia — namely, the prevalence of crazy traffic and the perpetual disregard for what most Westerners consider to be road safety. Of course, roads in the Kingdom aren’t nearly as congested and poorly-built as in say, Vietnam or even India, but it’s nonetheless a common site to see motorcyclists driving entirely between passing cars, rather than taking up an entire lane. The above picture highlights not only this, but one of the my other favorite features of Bangkok, its fluorescent taxi cabs that appear in pink, blue, yellow, green and orange.
Thais even put their own spin on McDonald’s — in terms of branding, anyway. Although much of the food to be found within McDonald restaurants in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country is similar to what you might see in a McDonald’s in, say, Austin or London, the bowing Ronald McDonald statue is a welcome local variation on a generally overdone theme. As a general rule I have at least one McDonald’s meal every trip I take — it tastes the same everywhere and when I have an occasional bout of homesickness, nothing helps like a double cheeseburger or two — and in Thailand, it’s nice to receive such a warm welcome.
One of my favorite spots in Bangkok in Lumphini Park, the city’s answer to Central Park situated just to the north of its Silom area. Although Lumphini Park is nowhere near as big as Central Park, Century Park in Shanghai or even the Tuileries in Paris, it nonetheless provides an escape from the sometimes overwhelming pulse of the city that rises around it in all directions. Don’t be shocked if one of the resident Komodo dragons saunters past you while you enjoy a book underneath a tree.
A great way to finish up any day in Bangkok is to take to enjoy sunset from the top of the Golden Mount, a man-made hill located near Hua Lamphong Railway Station that dates back, not surprisingly, to Bangkok’s Golden Age in the 1700s. The view from the top provides you not only an incredible view of the sun setting over the city, but also — from this vantage point, anyway — a graphical remind that Thailand’s history (and perhaps its perpetual independence) is inextricably linked to its Buddhist heritage, to which Bangkok and the modern Kingdom owe their very founding. Thailand is without a doubt my favorite country I’ve ever visited, although it probably isn’t because of the same reasons the thousands of other foreigners who list it as their favorite would list. For me, Thailand is less about the sand, surf and sleaze — and all about the fact that its people live their lives so differently (and in such a separate world) than any others I’ve seen during my travels.
Robert Schrader is a travel writer and photographer who’s been roaming the world independently since 2005, writing for publications such as “CNNGo” and “Shanghaiist” along the way. His blog, Leave Your Daily Hell, provides a mix of travel advice, destination guides and personal essays covering the more esoteric aspects of life as a traveler.
