14.01.04-07

Bangkok:  The Final Chapter (Jan. 4-7)

Sue just had to get away from the farang and crowing roosters of Bangla poo-poo.  Made Rod, self-labeled “the mule”, walk for almost 3 hours in search of the real Bangkok.

The good news?  We found it!!!

The White Orchid Hotel is dillapidated  with the particular charm of a once-great hotel gone down the shitter.  Room prices magically began to drop the longer we stayed, and buffet breakfast of fried rice and pancakes, which we eat with visiting Chinese half-crooked business men, is complimentary each morning.

“Tuk.  Tuk.  Tuk. Tuk. Silver for sale.  Cheap cheap.  I give good price gems too and maybe a pretty girl picked just for you.  Ride in a boat taxi for free.  Won’t you share a little of your money with me.  Tuk. Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.”
 

01.06.02

We have arrived at the Oriental.  The final jewel of our stay in Siam.  I entered our room with a mixture of trepidation, guilt and excitement.  How quickly we came to expect the very best.  Spoilt by riches.  For Rod and I this is an extravagant, waaayyyy out of the budget treat; but for many in this building a stay at one of the world’s best hotels is simply an extension of an already opulent life.  Damn them to hell ;)

Quite a contrast from the Bangkok we have seen in the last few weeks.  Dirty streets and air that clogs your lungs in under an hour.  Street side wares that make your stomach turn, being sniffed by diseased dogs.  The rich and the poor. The age-old dispute.  And here we are in the lap of luxury.

“Bangkok!  I thrilled.  I had been six years at sea, but had only seen Melbourne and Sydney, very good places, charming places in their way—but Bangkok!”  Joseph Conrad

Now that’s a flattering little enunuciation but I wonder what he had to say about “the natives” as he stayed on.  Maybe better things than he pronounced against the African people he encountered.  Hmmm…and here I am at the very same hotel that he and Somerset Maughan helped to make famous.

The great class divide.  Keeps the world orderly.  Each in our place.  Most absolutely resigned.  Others pushed to agitation.  And so unaware of the worlds that exist beyond the small parameters we are born into.  All that is governed by this birth right:  speech, appearance, skill, lifespan.  And yet some birds push hard for freedom.  Most break their wings along the way.  Others soar.

“Madame, may I pull your chair?  Madame, Madame…”  Why do you call me Madame and remind me of French boats and little brown people when I am a French of sorts but not the sort you think.

I wonder if I’ll ever be back in Thailand… perhaps on different terms.  Working with the people.  This cruising aimlessly from spot to spot across the country lacks depth and is uncharacteristic for me.  I would like to stop for awhile and leave my imprint upon the place.

Tomorrow it’s back to Nihon—another imperialist power.  It’s difficult to stop seeing things so crudely.  Good and bad.  Of course it isn’t so.  I should start volunteering when I go back.
 
 

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