Friday, April 25th, 2008
Bangkokitis \ bang-kok-i-tis \ (n.) a syndrome that occurs when traveller finds refuge in big city offering cool pristine commercial spaces, international cuisine and experiences difficulty extracting oneself from urban environment.
Symptoms: insomnia due to sub-par guesthouse; weight gain from inactivity; headaches from smog and pollution; jitteriness due to overuse of caffeine and sugar in form of overpriced beverages (also contributing to insomnia, headaches and weight gain); memory loss and confusion as one becomes unaware of the date or plans made the day before.
Causes: seductive opportunities for passing mindless days; desire to experience a routine versus constant motion; perceived last chance for luxury.
Treatments: commit to mode of departure transportation; when that fails, allow sufferer to live it out and let restlessness take its course.
Duration: 12-14 days.
Oh Bangkok, why must we go round and round like this?! I love you. I love you not. I hate you. I hate you not.
I took a spontaneous left turn and bought a flight from Hanoi to Bangkok for several reasons. For one thing, a friend who I was traveling with in Vietnam cued me in to the big Thai New Year’s festival that we were just in time to make. For a recovering festival addict, way too tempting… Also however, I was (and still am) waiting on an interestingly-located project to come through - a professional gig with a very familiar company I know, attached to a real live paycheck. But somehow I forgot the typical timeline of these things: slow and unpredictable. Surprisingly, this has been more difficult to adjust for than if I were in a stable location with pending responsibilities. To allow for a quick response (and catch the latest party), I decided to adjust my schedule and Bangkok seemed to provide maximum springboard options. What I found however is that it’s easy to get caught in the city’s shiny tight concrete and iron spring.
Honestly, I love it here. While the mountains may be my exciting mistress, the city is my stable partner. It offers me comfort, routine and a refuge from the harsh unpredictability of life on the road.
I actually read somewhere that it’s most common in Thailand to greet people with “Gin khao ru yang?” (Have you eaten?). Well ”yes” is the only answer I would ever need to use in Bangkok! Little Miss Piggy is always eating. My final tally of Bangkok damage is 3 kilos (about 6 pounds) but gratefully, after all that cycling I’ve come out just about dead even to my pre-cycling weight. (Can you use the excuse carb-loading two weeks in advance?!… I think not.)
Experiencing the outrageous Thai New Year’s celebration was well worth the detour alone. Imagine thousands of locals and foreigners concentrated and crowded in a few small streets, wet, armed with brightly colored weapons and looking for battle!? A free ticket to blast any stranger you see with a gun full of water! One ginormous water gun fight (!!) - that’s the Songkran Festival - a celebration on the popular tourist street of Khao San road at Thai New Year. Love, love, loved it! Another crowd favorite was the heavy application of a thick talc powdery substance. This I loved less, but you could always shoot the offender or yourself to remove it… or just accepted the pasty application of love. The madness is fun for two full water drenched days but lasts for four, becoming increasingly more local as the tourists lose their interest and stamina to the young wild Thai crowd. While it’s not the type of thing you’d come back for year after year, getting to play hard core with massive water guns is something that should not be missed!
After that insanity I went back to my familiar guesthouse near Hua Lampong train station and was reunited with Art, the owner who feels like extended family, and my backpack that I left back in January.
Then I blinked and a week passed.
To give you an idea of my outstanding days in Bangkok, I will provide a list of the most exciting things that happened in the last week:
Friday, 18th - Found a cheaper place to get coffee than Au Bon Pain, right next to my guesthouse. Also found a great meditation course north of Surat Thani starting May 1st, a solid appointment requiring extracting from Bangkok and a nice 5 day cycle south. Decided to leave tomorrow (maybe).
Saturday, 19th- Discovered small slice of heaven in Siam Paragon Gourmet Food Hall which in my vast supermarket exploration experience is simply the best in the whole wide world. Sampled everything on offer from around the globe because they do let you sample everything! Simply overcome with excitement. Decided to leave tomorrow (tentatively).
Sunday, the 20th - Got a haircut without speaking a lick of English (still have hair). Saw a movie. Decided to leave tomorrow (at the very latest).
Monday, the 21st- Did my first touristy thing in Bangkok and visited some beautiful wats. Amazing actually. Would’ve been a crime to miss all that splattering of gold leaf and sparkles. Dropped my old compact camera that I just rediscovered in my backpack stored at the guesthouse; killed it. Decided to leave tomorrow (seriously).
Tuesday, 22nd - Bought new flip flops and a camera (but squishy shoes far more exciting). Decided to leave tomorrow (most definitely). Staying to have a drink with my Malaysian neighbor, Anthony from Paris, who moved back to KL and responded to my random email yesterday and just happens to be arriving in Bangkok for work.
Wednesday, 23rd - Decided to leave tomorrow so can go out on the town with Anthony (firmly, no really I’m serious, no joke Keisha). Met a cool random American at guesthouse, who gave me great company while running errands. Actually went to the post office and shipped backpack home (fully commited to cycling now). Went to Khao San to buy a Thai phrasebook. Lost focus, ended up sitting at a cafe talking and watching an impressive thunder/rain storm.
Thursday, 24th - Actually left Bangkok!
While perfectly content in this big polluted city and spending hours people watching at modern cafes, eating exquisite cuisine, wandering around the supermarkets (a strong personal fetish) and lingering at the internet cafes, I’ve been asking myself some questions…
What do you like about this place that most foreigners claim to hate?
Well, a lot actually. And I think if others would be more honest or more forgiving they’d discover greatness too. It just takes a little time. Khao San road (often called “backpacker ghetto”) is the epicenter of tourist living in Bangkok. It offers the same mix of hotels, restaurants, annoying vendors, scams and shops with typical tacky travel garb (I can say this, I own a little) as any other popular tourism hub. In terms of culture, it offers very little. I was there for four days during the festival (when I think the area experienced an exception) and I haven’t been back since (except my abandoned cheap guidebook excursion).
This is not to say that I feel superior in any way - I have my own form of escapism that some could say is as culturally devoid.
After seven months on the road, I like the familiarity of a city and a simple routine. I’m just taking a breather, and I chose the fresh air of the largest Southeast Asian city to do so!
While I haven’t seen much of the ubiquitous club/party scene that Bangkok is famous for, I have found it funny how quickly I’ve reverted back to my night owl habits, spending ridiculous hours at my favorite gay male-oriented cozy coffee shop and local friendly Thai-couple owned internet shop. One would assume that in such a seedy livewire city such as this, you may find scary dangerous characters hiding beneath the surface but this hasn’t been true. The most frightening creatures I’ve seen in my late night strolls back to my hotel are mammoth sized cockroaches. Horrifying monsters, really!
Perhaps what I like the most is the collection of familiar faces and reliable daily smiles that I’ve accumulated. The owner of my guesthouse and the motherly lady Sally who likes to pat me on the back and does my laundry with a wink for free. My fruit vendor on the corner, half a pineapple for breakfast a day. The late night banana pancake vendor lady who sets up shop outside the metro station. The Hua Lampong metro security officiers. The young Thai couple always happy to see me at my internet shop. The waiters at the cool crayon graffitied cafe where I always order the best shrimp and crab rice noodle springrolls. Magnificient Orasa, the “MTB chick” (as per her business card) at the Cannondale shop. The nice transvestite and the Australian owner of the gay-friendly Coffee Society cafe at Si Lom area where I like to linger. The bent old man who wears a dozen thick plastic coated amulets around his neck and sits as a security guard outside a random office building (presumably protecting it with spiritual powers, not physical). The young guy at the travel agent where I like to get information and who always laughs at me and is no longer surprised when he sees me still in Bangkok.
Bangkok is undoubtedly the commercial and financial heart of Southeast Asia. Its where the action is. While sitting at my posh cafe in the Si Lom business district, I might not be absorbing the traditional and religious culture of the region but I’m certainly getting a sense of its modern and fast developing current lifestyle.
Why do you feel guilty about just sitting around enjoying a city?
Because it’s my nature to move. Because I know that when I finally do I discover exciting things that I may treasure more than time spent in a comfortable easy world. The days that I actually get my bike out and attack the city are always the best - I see more, feel free and feel active. Ironically, I have this wonderful window of opportunity and I’m guilty of feeling that its too precious and too short. I’m looking forward in time and not at the present moment. Because I still haven’t learned how to sit still. It seems appropriate to be lazy on a beach, but that’s not my attraction. Regardless, I feel lazy and don’t like it.
Knowing this, can’t you learn something and let it go?!
Yes. My epiphany: don’t fight, just let it go. This is your moment to do whatever you want. It is an opportunity of a lifetime but it doesn’t have to be a string of “moments of a lifetime”, it just has to be moments that are enjoyed and appreciated. Learn to do just that!
I love you Bangkok! 
For more photos of Bangkok…
Thailand, Bangkok
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