Okay, so I walk the 2 or 3 blocks to the Hanoi Hilton, which is not a luxury resort, although an office building now occupies about half of the original space.
The building is a yellow painted, colonial structure, and, from the outside, doesn't look like a prison. There are some high walls, and some 2 story buildings built around courtyards, but it wouldn't look out of place as a government office building or the like. Given that the communist party is in power in Vietnam, and a big part of building strength for the party is by a selective emphasis on history, the history of Vietnamese imprisoned by the French there is the overwhelming focus of the museum. Don't get me wrong, its an interesting thing to learn about, its just not what I was expecting. Of course, given that this is a communist party run museum, the word french is almost always followed by "colonizer," Japanese by "fascist," American by "imperialist," Vietnamese by "hero" and South Vietnamese by "puppet."
Only two rooms at the museum are dedicated to the U.S. pilots that were imprisoned there, and of course, the exhibits are whitewashed to present the Vietnamese as humane jailers. They emphasize how well the Americans were treated, and the exhibit is lined with photographs (probably staged) of the American pilots enjoying themselves. Of course, there is an obvious disconnect between their "truth" and "reality." If the Americans were treated so well, then why can't McCain raise his arms above his shoulders, and why did he try to commit suicide several times? To be honest, some of it just made my blood boil.
There are some hilarious mistranslations--for example they claimed that American protestors walked from Brooklyn to Auckland. Now, what they meant was probably "Oakland" as walking to Auckland is impossible--its the largest city in New Zealand. There are some interesting artifacts, though.
After checking in, went to Van Mieu or the palace of learning--the site of a university established in the 11th century, but, despite its age, has a layout that is remarkably similar to the stereotypical university quad--it has several courtyards built around a main pond, and is all together a very beautiful, and serene haven from chaotic Hanoi.
Just because I hadn't had my fill of Communist propaganda, I decided to go to the Vietnam Revolution Museum. The top half is dedicated to the struggle against the French, and nearly a quarter of top floor is limited solely to glorifying the victory at Dien Bien Phu, which kicked the French out (of course, some historians argue that the French were already out of Vietnam, and that Dien Bien Phu wasn't an attempt to reinforce the French position in Vietnam--it was an attempt to prevent the Vietnamese from attacking and invading the French colony/protectorate of Laos.)
Walked through the exhibit on the American portion--choice quotes: "the american imperialists invented the tonkin incident so that they could invade" (again, not true, but lets not let the facts get in the way of building up a national heroic narrative). Photos are blatantly doctored and touched up, and you can never take anything at face value in the museum. I used by American history knowledge to give a group of three irish guys a crash course in American-Vietnamese history, which they actually enjoyed, since they honestly had zero knowledge beforehand. Like usual, parts of the museum make my blood boil as they are blatantly false.
Get a rickshaw tour for about 2.5 hours. On the way, we pass the most beautiful building in Hanoi, the Opera house--a european style building that screams opera house--which of course Lonely Planet doesn't bother to mention. The guy takes me down some random tree-lined streets, and we pass arguably the second prettiest building in Hanoi, the Danish embassy.
He keeps mentioning about some B52 being downed, and he wants to take me to it. So, I decide, what the heck, and we start going down some random back alleyways, and I think that he's taking me elsewhere and will try to rob me. But no--after about 10 minutes of pedaling through some backstreets, we emerge into an acre-sized courtyard in the middle of this Hanoi neighborhood, with two ponds. One of which has the undercarriage of a b52 protruding from it.
Posing for photographs with the downed wreckage of a U.S. aircraft was easily one of the most awkward experiences of my life--I really can't smile, since its a good bet that one or more of my countrymen were likely killed--but at the same time, it is also bizarrely beautiful.
He then decides to take me to the lake where John McCain's plane crashed. Again, Lonely Planet screws up once more--McCain's plane crashed in Trin Brac (or something like that)--a lake about five minutes from the old quarter, and directly across the road from the massive West Lake, lined by a corniche. With the water, the boardwalk, and the hanging trees, it is easily the prettiest part of Hanoi, and the place is unmentioned by my guidebook. There is actually a brown, concrete statue/memorial site with an american pilot chained up, emphasizing the capturing of McCain by the people of Hanoi. Again, some of the most awkward photos of my life. What do you do in that situation? Smiling is awkward because you are smiling next to the depiction of a downed and tortured U.S. airman.
As we head back towards my hotel, I start to see the sky get dark--very dark--like the same color the clouds would get in Texas before a deluge starts. And did it ever rain. Welcome to the rainy/monsoon season, as it came down in buckets, with thunder and lightning to boot. I was getting soaked, but my rikshaw had a great alternative--we pulled over under a canopy, and he, using some big office paper clips, put together a jerry-rigged rain cover for the cabin--and it worked very well.
I get back to the hostel, which I am torn about--will explain later. I will try to do the nice thing and let other people use the computer instead of hogging it.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Headaches in Hanoi
I've lived in two of the loudest cities on the planet--New York, and New Haven, where the city song should be the wail of an ambulance siren, as my mother can attest to. Neither compare to Hanoi. Hanoi is the first city that has actually given me a headache because of how incessant the honking and the beeping is.
Traffic is horrendous, and every time you cross the street, you are taking your life into your own hands--but you get the hang of it, and the "New York Staredown" works everytime.
Woke up pre-dawn yesterday to take a cab to the Bangkok airport. Here's a tip: if you want to avoid Bangkok traffic, travel at 430 in the morning. If not, then you are bound to run into a traffic jam (don't listen to the cab drivers who want extra because of "traffic jam"--there is always a traffic jam in Bangkok, its just worse at certain times--certain cab drivers literally refused to drive me to some places because of how bad the traffic was--considering they could have had me metered and run up a big bill, that's somewhat revealing). Took us only about 30 minutes to get to the airport (took us about an hour to get from the airport to the hotel in rush hour).
Little things can sometimes reveal a lot about the place you are in. In the Bangkok airport, all the duty free liquor stores had russian cyrillic writing in their windows.
Boarded next to a Druk Air flight (the Bhutanese airline--but got no pics, since the plane was parked elsewhere).
I had mixed feelings about going to Vietnam--after getting an email from my father in regards to my query regarding some Vietnam War sites, I realized just how significant the Vietnam War is to American history and culture, and will be for quite sometime. The experiences of parents always influence their children, and this case, for my generation, the major cultural/social experience was the Vietnam War and the social upheaval that it caused in the U.S. As such, my generation has been raised on memories of the war, and this means that the full effects of the war on American culture will only be revealed when generation y hits maturity and are the main decision makers.
Descending over Vietnamese airspace, you could see some of the mountains peaking over the clouds. The cloud cover over Hanoi was easily one of the lowest I've landed in--we literally didn't see the surrounding countryside until we were about two minute from landing--and there are only two words to describe the landscape--verdant and flat. I've never seen a place with so many different, subtle shades of green than the ricefields of Vietnam.
As a sign that times have most definitely changed, as we pulled up to the terminal, sitting on the tarmac was a U.S. Government 737, painted in the same livery as air force one.
Got an airport pickup from the hostel, since I really had no desire to screw with the cabs early in the morning, which ended up costing me an arm and a leg anyway (triple what I'm paying for the hostel, but I avoided quite a bit of hassle). Hanoi's airport is far away from the city--easily about a 75 minute drive--its about 33 clicks away.
On the drive in, though, something struck me. We may have lost the physical war in Vietnam, but, nearly 30 years after pulling out the last of our troops, our capitalist ideology has indeed prevailed--tons of billboards advocating all sorts of private companies line the airport highway. Yes, Vietnam may be run by the communist party, but like Laos and China, they are CINO's--communists in name only. Lenin (and probably Uncle Ho too) would be rolling over in his grave to see the amount of capitalism taking place on the streets of Hanoi.
I pride myself on my directional ability. Hanoi is all but impossible to get oriented. I figured out bangkok after a couple of hours. Hanoi is just a maze and warren of streets. It also isn't that "walkable" either, unfortunately, because of how far the main tourist sites are spread about, and the bad traffic.
General rule for traffic in SE Asia: the greater number of motorbikes, the more chaotic the city is. Motorbikes outnumber cars in Hanoi by about 10:1. And the traffic is easily the worst in SE Asia. Another thing to keep in mind: because of the various colonial legacies in SE Asia, all countries don't drive on the same side of the road. In Indochina (laos, cambodia, Vietnam) and in Indonesia, they all drive on the right. In Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, and Malaysia, they drive on the left. Since I have been popping in and out of these countries, it often takes me a day to get used to what direction traffic is moving.
Bangkok wrap up: driving in from the airport, saw the sight of the monsoon rains streaming of the side of a lit billboard--coming in waves.
In my afternoon in Bangkok, I went to the other red light districts to see what they were like--all of them, conveniently are easily accessible via skytrain and/or subway--they really don't feel that sleazy, but that's because I was there in the daytime. Revealingly, the bar girls working outside all but ignored me and flocked to the older european males. They know where the money is.
Rant warning: I view cemeteries as sacred, especially war cemeteries. I don't care how much you paid for your Thai escort, bringing your "new girlfriend" to a war cemetery, like people did in Kanchanaburi, is inexcusable. Have some respect, for gosh sakes.
I will post my full wrap up of Hanoi later, as I don't want to waste my day.
visited Hoa Lo prison, Van Mieu, the revolutionary museum, the site of a b52 undercarriage, and the lake where mccain's plane landed.
today: visiting ho chi minh mausoleum, and various other sites, and walking around the old quarter.
Traffic is horrendous, and every time you cross the street, you are taking your life into your own hands--but you get the hang of it, and the "New York Staredown" works everytime.
Woke up pre-dawn yesterday to take a cab to the Bangkok airport. Here's a tip: if you want to avoid Bangkok traffic, travel at 430 in the morning. If not, then you are bound to run into a traffic jam (don't listen to the cab drivers who want extra because of "traffic jam"--there is always a traffic jam in Bangkok, its just worse at certain times--certain cab drivers literally refused to drive me to some places because of how bad the traffic was--considering they could have had me metered and run up a big bill, that's somewhat revealing). Took us only about 30 minutes to get to the airport (took us about an hour to get from the airport to the hotel in rush hour).
Little things can sometimes reveal a lot about the place you are in. In the Bangkok airport, all the duty free liquor stores had russian cyrillic writing in their windows.
Boarded next to a Druk Air flight (the Bhutanese airline--but got no pics, since the plane was parked elsewhere).
I had mixed feelings about going to Vietnam--after getting an email from my father in regards to my query regarding some Vietnam War sites, I realized just how significant the Vietnam War is to American history and culture, and will be for quite sometime. The experiences of parents always influence their children, and this case, for my generation, the major cultural/social experience was the Vietnam War and the social upheaval that it caused in the U.S. As such, my generation has been raised on memories of the war, and this means that the full effects of the war on American culture will only be revealed when generation y hits maturity and are the main decision makers.
Descending over Vietnamese airspace, you could see some of the mountains peaking over the clouds. The cloud cover over Hanoi was easily one of the lowest I've landed in--we literally didn't see the surrounding countryside until we were about two minute from landing--and there are only two words to describe the landscape--verdant and flat. I've never seen a place with so many different, subtle shades of green than the ricefields of Vietnam.
As a sign that times have most definitely changed, as we pulled up to the terminal, sitting on the tarmac was a U.S. Government 737, painted in the same livery as air force one.
Got an airport pickup from the hostel, since I really had no desire to screw with the cabs early in the morning, which ended up costing me an arm and a leg anyway (triple what I'm paying for the hostel, but I avoided quite a bit of hassle). Hanoi's airport is far away from the city--easily about a 75 minute drive--its about 33 clicks away.
On the drive in, though, something struck me. We may have lost the physical war in Vietnam, but, nearly 30 years after pulling out the last of our troops, our capitalist ideology has indeed prevailed--tons of billboards advocating all sorts of private companies line the airport highway. Yes, Vietnam may be run by the communist party, but like Laos and China, they are CINO's--communists in name only. Lenin (and probably Uncle Ho too) would be rolling over in his grave to see the amount of capitalism taking place on the streets of Hanoi.
I pride myself on my directional ability. Hanoi is all but impossible to get oriented. I figured out bangkok after a couple of hours. Hanoi is just a maze and warren of streets. It also isn't that "walkable" either, unfortunately, because of how far the main tourist sites are spread about, and the bad traffic.
General rule for traffic in SE Asia: the greater number of motorbikes, the more chaotic the city is. Motorbikes outnumber cars in Hanoi by about 10:1. And the traffic is easily the worst in SE Asia. Another thing to keep in mind: because of the various colonial legacies in SE Asia, all countries don't drive on the same side of the road. In Indochina (laos, cambodia, Vietnam) and in Indonesia, they all drive on the right. In Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, and Malaysia, they drive on the left. Since I have been popping in and out of these countries, it often takes me a day to get used to what direction traffic is moving.
Bangkok wrap up: driving in from the airport, saw the sight of the monsoon rains streaming of the side of a lit billboard--coming in waves.
In my afternoon in Bangkok, I went to the other red light districts to see what they were like--all of them, conveniently are easily accessible via skytrain and/or subway--they really don't feel that sleazy, but that's because I was there in the daytime. Revealingly, the bar girls working outside all but ignored me and flocked to the older european males. They know where the money is.
Rant warning: I view cemeteries as sacred, especially war cemeteries. I don't care how much you paid for your Thai escort, bringing your "new girlfriend" to a war cemetery, like people did in Kanchanaburi, is inexcusable. Have some respect, for gosh sakes.
I will post my full wrap up of Hanoi later, as I don't want to waste my day.
visited Hoa Lo prison, Van Mieu, the revolutionary museum, the site of a b52 undercarriage, and the lake where mccain's plane landed.
today: visiting ho chi minh mausoleum, and various other sites, and walking around the old quarter.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Back to Bangkok
Leaving Kanchanaburi in about an hour to go back to Bangkok. I have a 645 am flight tmw morning to Hanoi.
Kanchanaburi was honestly a bit of a dud--I'm glad I came, the war cemetery is beautiful (stumbled upon the grave of a jewish dutch soldier), and the death railway center museum is well worth the visit if you happen to be passing through. The bridge is, after all, just a railroad bridge, and the original wooden one was destroyed by allied bombing, so the one that stands is stell--with parts made from Japan, oddly enough.
The town is filled with cheap go-go bars, which make it a bit sleazy, and while it could have been nice to relax in for a day or two, it would have probably been better just to a day trip from Bangkok.
Kanchanaburi was honestly a bit of a dud--I'm glad I came, the war cemetery is beautiful (stumbled upon the grave of a jewish dutch soldier), and the death railway center museum is well worth the visit if you happen to be passing through. The bridge is, after all, just a railroad bridge, and the original wooden one was destroyed by allied bombing, so the one that stands is stell--with parts made from Japan, oddly enough.
The town is filled with cheap go-go bars, which make it a bit sleazy, and while it could have been nice to relax in for a day or two, it would have probably been better just to a day trip from Bangkok.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Still in Bangkok
Was planning on going to Kanchanaburi tonight, but plans got scuttled when I wasn't able to get my bags from my hotel after getting my passport back until 4pm. Last bus to Kanchanaburi leaves between 5 and 6, and the bus station was an hour away--yes Bangkok is big, it sprawls, and it has horrible traffic. In other words, Thailand's city of angels is very similar to the U.S. city of Angels--although L.A. actually has a defined downtown area and somewhat of an identifiable skyline. Bangkok really doesn't have any "signature" buildings.
So, instead, I changed hotels, since the only reason why I was staying where I was staying was that it was near where I had to be--the cathay pacific office, and the vietnamese embassy.
I am officially back to travelling on my own, as AJ left early this morning to go to Bali. Unofficially, I've been back on my own since yesterday morning, the last time we saw each other.
The problem with Bangkok in terms of being a traveller is that the legendary/notorious Khao San Road, where alot of the budget guesthouses/hostels are is close to absolutely nothing. It's a 50 baht cab ride to the nearest skytrain/subway station (in theory, you could walk it, but when its hot as heck out, and you have to walk that far just to get the subway, and then have to walk even farther to go prancing about, then you might be a little bit crazy). The problem with the place I was staying at was that, while it was close to lots of things (just a 10 minute walk from a skytrain stop), it was pretty isolated socially, and there weren't any young people around (the bar girls and prostitutes working at nearby Nana Plaza do not count). So I stayed there as long as I had to before moving elsewhere.
Since I could only pickup my passport at 3pm, I spent the day just wandering around. I have already been to Bangkok once, six years ago, and seen all the major sights, so I just decided to walk down to a neighborhood park, Lumphini park, wander around, before taking the skytrain to the river and hopping on one of the Chao Praya express boats that easily double as river tours for cheap tourists like myself (think of the boats as much smaller versions of the staten island ferry, only you have to pay a little over 50 cents per ride--but that 50 cents covers the entire system--the boats ply a line of about 32 stations and piers on the Chao Praya, and one pier is right underneath a skytrain stop).
You know how there is an urban legend about alligators in the sewers of New York City? Well, Bangkok has actual giant lizards--in its public parks. I'm walking along one of the paved paths around the man made pond/lake in the middle of Lumphini (a nice oasis, btw) and I see this giant lizard sunbathing. Not just one, but a couple of them. Apparently, monitor lizards, some of them probably seven feet in length from head to tail, make their home in Lumphini park, and nobody seems to mind them. A group of elderly men playing some sort of traditional game saw me taking photos, and told me to come and join them--they were sitting no less than about five yards from a couple of the monitors, and it didn't seem to bother any of them.
Whereas earlier in the trip, I tried to at least be somewhat polite to the touts offering me rides and the like, now I'm just having fun with them. If someone asks me where I am going nowadays, and I don't need a ride, then I've started saying all sorts of things to them--like, I'm going to the moon, for example. Do you have a rocket ship? Most of them laugh when I say stuff like that, but I'm sure they are saying all sorts of nasty things about me in their native language to one another. To be honest, I don't really care. When some of them try to rip me off as badly as they do when I actually need a ride, then they really shouldn't complain about me playing games with them.
I'm pretty sure my cab driver from my old hotel to my new hotel is Thailand's version of a birther or a conspiracy theorist. He gave me a fair price to my hotel--actually, the only price I was willing to accept as his first offer, so I took it--and told me that he was from outside of Chiang Mai. As we start to head down Sukhumvit road, underneath the skytrain track, and where most of the protestors were camped out, we pass the Central World Mall, and I point it out. His response (his english was pretty good by foreign cab driver standards) and clearly says "government blew up that building." Excuse me? He then points out to me where all the protestors were camped out, a theater that he claimed that the government also blew up, and the site where several protestors were killed. He explains that the red shirts were entirely non-violent, and all were peaceful, and that it was the government and the army that was responsible for it.
I have asked a fair amount of people (or been outright told without having to ask) about the riots and what their opinion on it was. Nearly everyone that I have talked to (including some, like AJ, who were actually interviewing and in some of the camps themselves) have said that the red shirts were the ones to blame in this matter, and they were the ones, not the government, that were the violent ones. By all accounts, the government was actually relatively lenient in dealing with them. Could you imagine the U.S. government allowing a group of some 200,000 protestors to camp out for about a month in the middle of midtown manhattan, shutting down park avenue, madison avenue, and 5th avenue, forcing businesses to close and employees to avoid going to work, paralyzing the U.S. economy while attacking various storefronts and burning out entire buildings in the process? No. They would have been cleared out--either forcibly or unforcibly within a week, and probably within a matter of hours. The Thai government didn't try to forcibly clear them out until after about a month or so.
Yes, my taxi driver was a red shirt--and a proud one to boot (crashcourse in thai politics: Thaksin, the ousted prime minister from several years ago, is for the red shirts--Abhisit, the current prime minister, is a yellow shirt. It was a large yellow shirt protest in 2006 that managed to shut down the Bangkok airport that helped kick Thaksin out and put Abhisit in place). He said that Thaksin was a great prime minister, and he wasn't corrupt at all (factually incorrect--Thaksin and some of his aides have been convicted several times of corruption. To be fair, Thaksin is independently wealthy, a businessman in his own right, so plenty of his money is legit)--it is Abhisit and his cronies that are the corrupt ones.
I tried to probe a little further, and ask him why the government would destroy a shopping mall, and his reasoning was pretty suspect.
That said, he was a nice enough guy and a pretty good cab driver, so all was not lost, and I purposely tipped him (i had exact change, but i decided to purposely overpay and just told him to keep the change).
So, instead, I changed hotels, since the only reason why I was staying where I was staying was that it was near where I had to be--the cathay pacific office, and the vietnamese embassy.
I am officially back to travelling on my own, as AJ left early this morning to go to Bali. Unofficially, I've been back on my own since yesterday morning, the last time we saw each other.
The problem with Bangkok in terms of being a traveller is that the legendary/notorious Khao San Road, where alot of the budget guesthouses/hostels are is close to absolutely nothing. It's a 50 baht cab ride to the nearest skytrain/subway station (in theory, you could walk it, but when its hot as heck out, and you have to walk that far just to get the subway, and then have to walk even farther to go prancing about, then you might be a little bit crazy). The problem with the place I was staying at was that, while it was close to lots of things (just a 10 minute walk from a skytrain stop), it was pretty isolated socially, and there weren't any young people around (the bar girls and prostitutes working at nearby Nana Plaza do not count). So I stayed there as long as I had to before moving elsewhere.
Since I could only pickup my passport at 3pm, I spent the day just wandering around. I have already been to Bangkok once, six years ago, and seen all the major sights, so I just decided to walk down to a neighborhood park, Lumphini park, wander around, before taking the skytrain to the river and hopping on one of the Chao Praya express boats that easily double as river tours for cheap tourists like myself (think of the boats as much smaller versions of the staten island ferry, only you have to pay a little over 50 cents per ride--but that 50 cents covers the entire system--the boats ply a line of about 32 stations and piers on the Chao Praya, and one pier is right underneath a skytrain stop).
You know how there is an urban legend about alligators in the sewers of New York City? Well, Bangkok has actual giant lizards--in its public parks. I'm walking along one of the paved paths around the man made pond/lake in the middle of Lumphini (a nice oasis, btw) and I see this giant lizard sunbathing. Not just one, but a couple of them. Apparently, monitor lizards, some of them probably seven feet in length from head to tail, make their home in Lumphini park, and nobody seems to mind them. A group of elderly men playing some sort of traditional game saw me taking photos, and told me to come and join them--they were sitting no less than about five yards from a couple of the monitors, and it didn't seem to bother any of them.
Whereas earlier in the trip, I tried to at least be somewhat polite to the touts offering me rides and the like, now I'm just having fun with them. If someone asks me where I am going nowadays, and I don't need a ride, then I've started saying all sorts of things to them--like, I'm going to the moon, for example. Do you have a rocket ship? Most of them laugh when I say stuff like that, but I'm sure they are saying all sorts of nasty things about me in their native language to one another. To be honest, I don't really care. When some of them try to rip me off as badly as they do when I actually need a ride, then they really shouldn't complain about me playing games with them.
I'm pretty sure my cab driver from my old hotel to my new hotel is Thailand's version of a birther or a conspiracy theorist. He gave me a fair price to my hotel--actually, the only price I was willing to accept as his first offer, so I took it--and told me that he was from outside of Chiang Mai. As we start to head down Sukhumvit road, underneath the skytrain track, and where most of the protestors were camped out, we pass the Central World Mall, and I point it out. His response (his english was pretty good by foreign cab driver standards) and clearly says "government blew up that building." Excuse me? He then points out to me where all the protestors were camped out, a theater that he claimed that the government also blew up, and the site where several protestors were killed. He explains that the red shirts were entirely non-violent, and all were peaceful, and that it was the government and the army that was responsible for it.
I have asked a fair amount of people (or been outright told without having to ask) about the riots and what their opinion on it was. Nearly everyone that I have talked to (including some, like AJ, who were actually interviewing and in some of the camps themselves) have said that the red shirts were the ones to blame in this matter, and they were the ones, not the government, that were the violent ones. By all accounts, the government was actually relatively lenient in dealing with them. Could you imagine the U.S. government allowing a group of some 200,000 protestors to camp out for about a month in the middle of midtown manhattan, shutting down park avenue, madison avenue, and 5th avenue, forcing businesses to close and employees to avoid going to work, paralyzing the U.S. economy while attacking various storefronts and burning out entire buildings in the process? No. They would have been cleared out--either forcibly or unforcibly within a week, and probably within a matter of hours. The Thai government didn't try to forcibly clear them out until after about a month or so.
Yes, my taxi driver was a red shirt--and a proud one to boot (crashcourse in thai politics: Thaksin, the ousted prime minister from several years ago, is for the red shirts--Abhisit, the current prime minister, is a yellow shirt. It was a large yellow shirt protest in 2006 that managed to shut down the Bangkok airport that helped kick Thaksin out and put Abhisit in place). He said that Thaksin was a great prime minister, and he wasn't corrupt at all (factually incorrect--Thaksin and some of his aides have been convicted several times of corruption. To be fair, Thaksin is independently wealthy, a businessman in his own right, so plenty of his money is legit)--it is Abhisit and his cronies that are the corrupt ones.
I tried to probe a little further, and ask him why the government would destroy a shopping mall, and his reasoning was pretty suspect.
That said, he was a nice enough guy and a pretty good cab driver, so all was not lost, and I purposely tipped him (i had exact change, but i decided to purposely overpay and just told him to keep the change).
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Random observations in Bangkok
In our cab from the airport to the hotel, the seat pocket displaying various magazines contained a copy of American Eagle Airlines' inflight magazine. American doesn't fly to Bangkok, let alone its partner American Eagle.
"Charlie" is a very popular name for stores and restaurants in Bangkok--it is all over the place.
There is a Chabad house near Khao San Road--the main backpacker hotel/hostel zone.
Three out of my four female cousins have girly bars named after them. Sorry Hannah, I was unable to find one with your name on it. What's most bizarre, though, is that "Molly's" and "Annie's Famous Massage Parlor" are right next door to each other (yes, I have photographic proof of this). Are Ken and Becky really sure they were in Austin/Philadelphia when they claimed to be, and they weren't moonlighting as owners of Bangkok brothels?
Bangkok security guards are really nice--and even some of the taxi drivers too. When I asked for directions from some security guards, some of them took my hand and pointed the way to go, and all were very polite and formal.
How bad is the bangkok traffic? In rush hour, one cab driver refused to take me to where I wanted to be taken, because it would have taken an hour with traffic. When I mentioned a skytrain/subway stop (my hotel is about 150 yards away from a stop), he got on the phone with his supervisor, spent about five minutes on the phone with him, took me to the nearest subway station and told me which way I needed to go. Yes, I tipped the guy (i didn't ask for change and the change would have been 20% of the fare).
I went to a mall to find a pharmacy, and I was promptly offered a lollipop (in a sealed wrapper from a security guard). When I tok one, the guy gave me another one.
Maybe the only obvious thing that has changed about Bangkok is that there are now metal detectors in front of all malls, and you have to pass through them and show your bag to a security guard at the subway/skytrain.
Managed to make a nice 50 baht when I sold off my "decline and fall of the roman empire" book that I had read a grand total of 40 pages over the past six weeks. As a comparison, I've read 370 pages of a new book I bought in Laos within the past two days.
American embassy looks like a cliched colonial country club type establishment--beautiful setting--and the guards do not mind if you take pictures. Take that Laos!
Headed to Kanchanaburi (bridge over the river kwai) tmw after picking up my passport from the Vietnamese embassy and having my new flights figured out.
"Charlie" is a very popular name for stores and restaurants in Bangkok--it is all over the place.
There is a Chabad house near Khao San Road--the main backpacker hotel/hostel zone.
Three out of my four female cousins have girly bars named after them. Sorry Hannah, I was unable to find one with your name on it. What's most bizarre, though, is that "Molly's" and "Annie's Famous Massage Parlor" are right next door to each other (yes, I have photographic proof of this). Are Ken and Becky really sure they were in Austin/Philadelphia when they claimed to be, and they weren't moonlighting as owners of Bangkok brothels?
Bangkok security guards are really nice--and even some of the taxi drivers too. When I asked for directions from some security guards, some of them took my hand and pointed the way to go, and all were very polite and formal.
How bad is the bangkok traffic? In rush hour, one cab driver refused to take me to where I wanted to be taken, because it would have taken an hour with traffic. When I mentioned a skytrain/subway stop (my hotel is about 150 yards away from a stop), he got on the phone with his supervisor, spent about five minutes on the phone with him, took me to the nearest subway station and told me which way I needed to go. Yes, I tipped the guy (i didn't ask for change and the change would have been 20% of the fare).
I went to a mall to find a pharmacy, and I was promptly offered a lollipop (in a sealed wrapper from a security guard). When I tok one, the guy gave me another one.
Maybe the only obvious thing that has changed about Bangkok is that there are now metal detectors in front of all malls, and you have to pass through them and show your bag to a security guard at the subway/skytrain.
Managed to make a nice 50 baht when I sold off my "decline and fall of the roman empire" book that I had read a grand total of 40 pages over the past six weeks. As a comparison, I've read 370 pages of a new book I bought in Laos within the past two days.
American embassy looks like a cliched colonial country club type establishment--beautiful setting--and the guards do not mind if you take pictures. Take that Laos!
Headed to Kanchanaburi (bridge over the river kwai) tmw after picking up my passport from the Vietnamese embassy and having my new flights figured out.
Bangkok not so dangerous
Somebody in bangkok has my passport, and it isn't me.
Scared?
You shouldn't be. It's at the Vietnamese Embassy--located across the street from the U.S Embassy of all places (I wonder how that worked out during the Vietnam War)--where they are processing my visa and I will get it back tmw. at 3pm.
AJ knew of a good place to stay in Bangkok, which was, coincidentally enough, located within walking distance of the two places I had to go to in Bangkok--the Vietnamese Embassy, and the Cathay Pacific ticket office. It's also a block from one of Bangkok's red light districts--Nana Plaza--aka disneyland for every sleazy looking older white guy with a potbelly. The place I'm staying at, though, has a strict "no sex tourists" policy--it's a historical hotel, with a lot of character to it, as well as a bit of a blunt and snarky attitude: you disobey the rules, they kick you out, no ifs, ans, or buts.
Though I'm right by the red light district, the area is actually pretty safe at night--I never once felt threatened or like I was in any sort of danger. You should also note that the red light district is also a block away from a fancy schmancy JW Marriot Hotel, and is pretty near the heart of the central financial district of bangkok.
We crossed the lao thai friendship bridge yesterday, and arrived in Nong Khai, and promptly hired a truck to take us to the airport. I had last been in Udon Thani six years ago on a community service project, and I was able to notice that little things had changed--the tesco parking lot now has awnings over the spaces, there is now a 747 parked at the terminal that is the textbook definition of "rustbucket" as two of its engines are missing, and they have a brand new aircraft terminal.
Drove in from the airport just as the seasonal monsoons were hitting and we were treated to quite the lightning storm--spectacular. AJ had last been in Bangkok as the riots were hitting their climax, and the first thing that she noticed was that the Skytrain was running again (it had been closed during the riots), and how bad the traffic was (people stayed off the streets during the riots).
In other words, June afternoon rains? Check. Skytrain running? Check. Bad traffic in one of the world's notoriously bad traffic cities? Check. Bangkok is definitely back to normal.
Well, kind of. 95% of the city looks like the riots never took place. The other 5% is the Central World Mall. The Central World Mall is one of Asia's largest malls, and a giant landmark. It was also firebombed relentlessly during the riots, and now looks like a burned out hulk, a shell of its former self, with broken/burned glass everywhere, and parts of mall levels collapsing. "Holy shit" was the first thing that I said when I saw it. They are going to have to demolish the mall.
As a point of reference, this mall is right next to some of bangkok's nicest and fanciest hotels, all of which were untouched.
Once I pick up my passport, I'll be heading to Kanchanaburi for at least one, if not two nights, before flying to Vietnam on monday. I haven't yet decided on my return, but I will do that tmw.
Scared?
You shouldn't be. It's at the Vietnamese Embassy--located across the street from the U.S Embassy of all places (I wonder how that worked out during the Vietnam War)--where they are processing my visa and I will get it back tmw. at 3pm.
AJ knew of a good place to stay in Bangkok, which was, coincidentally enough, located within walking distance of the two places I had to go to in Bangkok--the Vietnamese Embassy, and the Cathay Pacific ticket office. It's also a block from one of Bangkok's red light districts--Nana Plaza--aka disneyland for every sleazy looking older white guy with a potbelly. The place I'm staying at, though, has a strict "no sex tourists" policy--it's a historical hotel, with a lot of character to it, as well as a bit of a blunt and snarky attitude: you disobey the rules, they kick you out, no ifs, ans, or buts.
Though I'm right by the red light district, the area is actually pretty safe at night--I never once felt threatened or like I was in any sort of danger. You should also note that the red light district is also a block away from a fancy schmancy JW Marriot Hotel, and is pretty near the heart of the central financial district of bangkok.
We crossed the lao thai friendship bridge yesterday, and arrived in Nong Khai, and promptly hired a truck to take us to the airport. I had last been in Udon Thani six years ago on a community service project, and I was able to notice that little things had changed--the tesco parking lot now has awnings over the spaces, there is now a 747 parked at the terminal that is the textbook definition of "rustbucket" as two of its engines are missing, and they have a brand new aircraft terminal.
Drove in from the airport just as the seasonal monsoons were hitting and we were treated to quite the lightning storm--spectacular. AJ had last been in Bangkok as the riots were hitting their climax, and the first thing that she noticed was that the Skytrain was running again (it had been closed during the riots), and how bad the traffic was (people stayed off the streets during the riots).
In other words, June afternoon rains? Check. Skytrain running? Check. Bad traffic in one of the world's notoriously bad traffic cities? Check. Bangkok is definitely back to normal.
Well, kind of. 95% of the city looks like the riots never took place. The other 5% is the Central World Mall. The Central World Mall is one of Asia's largest malls, and a giant landmark. It was also firebombed relentlessly during the riots, and now looks like a burned out hulk, a shell of its former self, with broken/burned glass everywhere, and parts of mall levels collapsing. "Holy shit" was the first thing that I said when I saw it. They are going to have to demolish the mall.
As a point of reference, this mall is right next to some of bangkok's nicest and fanciest hotels, all of which were untouched.
Once I pick up my passport, I'll be heading to Kanchanaburi for at least one, if not two nights, before flying to Vietnam on monday. I haven't yet decided on my return, but I will do that tmw.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Bangkok Bound
Well, after spending 7.5 weeks specifically avoiding the City of Angels, and trying to purposely avoid a trip into Thailand, the streak will end either tonight or tmw morning, when I arrive in Bangkok.
AJ and I had a bit of a falling out--a problem that was probably inevitable given our respective personalities. She's very upfront, honest, bluntly candid, and semi-impulsive, and I am very sarcastic, somewhat stubborn, never one to back down from an opinion, and often suffer from foot in mouth disease (meaning I don't always think before I speak) . What this means is that when behavior or words are misinterpreted, there is often a jump to conclusions, which is fine when they are right, but can be disastrous when wrong. That's basically what happened, without going into too much individual detail over the specifics, which are so petty and insignificant that I'm pretty sure both of us will be laughing at it a week from now.
The general problem was that both of us were used to traveling on our own, and certain features and attributes of the other that we liked a week ago started to rub us the wrong way. Traveling with your best friend or your family for a 10 day period can be tough enough as it is, let alone when you do it with someone you just met. The good news is that we could be open and honest with each other--the bad news is that at times we were too open and too honest with each other.
So we are going our own separate ways tonight, either after the plane lands in bangkok, or she boards the plane in Udon Thani, and I take the night train/bus to Bangkok. Fortunately, I tried to smooth things over at breakfast, which initially didn't go so well, but ended up being successful, so we are going to leave on good terms (unless something drastic happens within the next 12 hours)--the way it should be, because I honestly had a lot of fun traveling with her, and I know that I definitely wouldn't have had as much fun without her company--and she feels the same way about me.
I'm thinking about extending my trip one more time--to allow me to go to Vietnam. First, I need to check my bank balance, which is impossible to do in Laos. Then I'll need to talk to the ticket office in bangkok, as well as to arrange a vietnamese visa in advance. I'll also try to squeeze in a side trip/overnighter to Kanchanaburi--three hours away and the site of the bridge made famous by the book and movie "Bridge over the River Kwai." If I'm unable to extend/change my ticket without going to singapore, then I'll just do a side trip to Kanchanaburi and then fly home as scheduled two weeks ago.
AJ and I had a bit of a falling out--a problem that was probably inevitable given our respective personalities. She's very upfront, honest, bluntly candid, and semi-impulsive, and I am very sarcastic, somewhat stubborn, never one to back down from an opinion, and often suffer from foot in mouth disease (meaning I don't always think before I speak) . What this means is that when behavior or words are misinterpreted, there is often a jump to conclusions, which is fine when they are right, but can be disastrous when wrong. That's basically what happened, without going into too much individual detail over the specifics, which are so petty and insignificant that I'm pretty sure both of us will be laughing at it a week from now.
The general problem was that both of us were used to traveling on our own, and certain features and attributes of the other that we liked a week ago started to rub us the wrong way. Traveling with your best friend or your family for a 10 day period can be tough enough as it is, let alone when you do it with someone you just met. The good news is that we could be open and honest with each other--the bad news is that at times we were too open and too honest with each other.
So we are going our own separate ways tonight, either after the plane lands in bangkok, or she boards the plane in Udon Thani, and I take the night train/bus to Bangkok. Fortunately, I tried to smooth things over at breakfast, which initially didn't go so well, but ended up being successful, so we are going to leave on good terms (unless something drastic happens within the next 12 hours)--the way it should be, because I honestly had a lot of fun traveling with her, and I know that I definitely wouldn't have had as much fun without her company--and she feels the same way about me.
I'm thinking about extending my trip one more time--to allow me to go to Vietnam. First, I need to check my bank balance, which is impossible to do in Laos. Then I'll need to talk to the ticket office in bangkok, as well as to arrange a vietnamese visa in advance. I'll also try to squeeze in a side trip/overnighter to Kanchanaburi--three hours away and the site of the bridge made famous by the book and movie "Bridge over the River Kwai." If I'm unable to extend/change my ticket without going to singapore, then I'll just do a side trip to Kanchanaburi and then fly home as scheduled two weeks ago.
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