Spent most of the day walking my dogs off while Christmas shopping. Not much mention of Christmas ’round these Buddhist parts… Not like Singapore, which always gets extra high-tech and glitzy this time of year. Or Kuala Lumpur — even though it’s a Muslim country. New Year’s gets a mention here in Bangkok, but that is probably aimed more at the Chinese population. You just get the odd-sounding Christmas tune in department stores. That’s about it, here in ninety-degree heat. Actually, the weather’s been quite ideal (and perhaps a bit cooler). Nice, dry, warm, and sunny. What Perth should be like right now.
Before I hit the markets and shops, I spent a few hours checking out old Jim Thompson’s place. Jimbo’s a Yank who’s credited with opening up Thailand’s silk trade. He studied architecture at Princeton before being sent to Thailand during WWII (the big one) to conduct espionage. Jimbo decided to return to Bangkok after the war ’cause he fell in love with the place. He decided to make a living by promoting Thai silk around the world. Considered quite the hero for it.
Jim Thompson is actually the second American I’ve come across in the past 18 months responsible for opening up a foreign country’s trade. The first being Tom Price in Western Australia, who is credited with opening Australia’s mining industry to exports. Anyway, Jimbo collected traditional Thai buildings and resurrected them on his old property, which is now a nice museum, just around the block from my guesthouse. Jimbo (as I’ve obviously come to call him) mysteriously disappeared while on vacation in Malaysia in the 1960’s. Adds to his legend status, I guess.
One of the many interesting things about Jim Thompson’s place was that the main house was positioned so that its front door faced a narrow canal that ran the length of inner Bangkok. The premises may have been tucked away back up some alley, but in the day it was built, the canal system was the preferred mode of transportation in this city. Bangkok was known as the “Venice of the East”. To this day, regular long boats frequently ferry passengers back and forth on these canals. And unlike the few remaining cable cars of San Francisco, the people who ride these boats aren’t predominantly tourists.
Had another nice cheap Thai meal tonight. Maybe $2 this time. Funny thing I’ve learned about Thais. When they say spicy, they mean burn-your-mouth-off and sweat-a-gallon spicy. But when they say “not spicy”, I still find the food about as hot as anything labelled “spicy” in Western supermarkets. Guess their taste buds are too burned off to recognise mild spices anymore. ‘Course, the cure for an overly hot Thai meal is a nice scoop of coconut ice cream.
Saw an ad in the paper today for my flight to Los Angeles tomorrow. It’s a brand-new, spanking-new plane with a personal entertainment system at each seat. Hopefully that will help break up the monotony of the 15-hour non-stop flight. Maybe I’ve got that wrong, though — it could be quite fast, since it’s scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles 20 minutes before it leaves Bangkok.
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