Month: January 2006

Ayuthaya Province, Bangkok, Thailand

Clash of Classes

Joel

I had quite the clash of classes between yesterday and today. After spending a long day hammering around the hot pavement of Bangkok, I decided to treat myself to that King Kong movie I noted on my previous visit.

Before I go any further, let me just say Kong is King. ‘Nuff said.

Anyway, I bought that deluxe “Gold Pass” ticket I told you about earlier. For about the price of a regular movie ticket in Australia, I got to sit in a special theater full of huge reclining sofa chairs. No need to exert any energy to recline them, mind you, these babies had electronic push button controls to get them in whatever exact contortions you desired. Each seat came with its own pillow and blanket set so you could snuggle up extra comfy in that chilly air-conditioned darkness. Next to your seat was a personal hard-wood table for holding your popcorn, snacks, coke, or bar drink. There were waiters prowling the theater to beckon to your every need.

Before the film started, we were entitled to hang out in this luxurious lounge with free open bar and snacks. The movie had Thai subtitles, and there was that glitzy tribute to the King of Siam before the show started (for which everyone was expected to stand). It seemed that the audience was predominately made up of Western tourists. I couldn’t help but think it was all a bit frivolous, really.

And then came today, when I rose early and made a mad dash for the Bangkok train station so I could get out to the “must see” historic Wat (Buddhist temple) filled Ayutthaya Historical Park for a three day stay in a finely restored teak guesthouse overlooking a peaceful frog filled lily-pad-laden pond.

The only seats available on this 1.5 hour train trip were third class. This meant hard bench-type seating with no air conditioning or ventilation other than through open windows. The view wasn’t bad (seeing as you had nothing between you and outside to look through), but you just had to be careful not to stick you arm out there. Occasionally a beam or bridge girder would fly past without any warning.

Even though I had a reserved seat, it seemed at least half the people on the train were forced to stand for their entire journey. There were mostly Thais on board, but there were quite a few Western backpackers as well. My guess is they filled up the seats and just continued selling standing-room-only tickets. Fortunately the trip was an early one and not too hot. I hate to think what a later afternoon train ride must have been like.

It seems much hotter here in Ayutthaya than it was in Bangkok. It must be due to the lack of smog Bangkok has filtering out the sun’s rays. I only managed a short hike around some of the ruins today before I was forced to retreat to my guesthouse sweating profusely. There isn’t any air-conditioning in my room, but the house was designed to be cool with high walls that don’t quite reach the ceilings, polished hardwood floors elevated up above ground on stilts, and big breezy windows — all with air circulation in mind. I do have a ceiling fan as well. I plan to get up early tomorrow (before it gets too hot) so I can take a cycle ride around town and visit more ruins.

I plan to stay here for three nights before moving on to one of the allegedly best national parks worldwide. Its chock full of wildlife, including elephants and tigers! The guesthouse I’m aiming for sounds like it has some interesting tours (including nocturnal).

Bangkok, Thailand

Bleary Eyed in Bangkok…

Joel

My 18 hour air odyssey has come to a close. The longest flight of my life! We flew non-stop north from L.A. passing just west of Gilroy (a little more east of Watsonville), up over Anchorage Alaska, in deep over Russia, down diagonally across China (which is one big country), and finally in over Vietnam and into Bangkok at sunrise. It was night time outside the whole way as we followed the dark side of the earth. It was the longest night of my life, I think.

Thai Airways wasn’t a bad way to go… They stuffed us full with three meals that seemed too big to fit on our trays. We had the usual personal movies and TV on demand, and they gave us comfortable seats with lots of leg room (for economy, anyway). I managed to get about five hours of sleep and took another nap on arrival at my guesthouse.

I’m now scrambling to come up with local travel plans for my next few weeks here in Thailand. While getting a cheap haircut, I just bumped into a guy who serves lunches over the counter at a shop I visit 3000+ miles away in Perth. Small world…

California, United States

A culturally obligatory pitstop

Joel

Aside from family activities, the biggest highlight of my visit to the U.S. on this trip was the drive up and down through Big Sur in California. I’ve done the drive before, but not in about 16 years. I still remembered the lesson I learned from my previous drive: always fill up the tank before you start either end. You can always buy fuel along the way, but any time you pull into a service station with padlocks on the pumps and signs that say “No Self Service”, you know you’re in for sticker shock. I had the same nasty experience driving out to Uluru in Central Australia from the Stuart Highway. Those fuel prices were the highest I came across driving around Australia in 2004.

Anyway, January seemed a nice time to enjoy the twists, turns, and spectacular misty views of Big Sur without the usual horde of tourists. Among the more interesting discoveries was a huge California condor perched on a railing at a scenic turnout overlooking one of the peaks of the mountainous drive. In case you’re curious, they’re actually butt ugly. And I also stumbled across a huge colony of elephant seals and their newborns on a beach just north of San Simone. They seemed quite ensconced there, with a newly built boardwalk overlooking them. Obviously I wasn’t the first to find them. It seemed designed to protect them from human spectators.

Well, it came time to temporarily tuck that wilderness stuff away and make the culturally obligatory visit up to Heart Castle. I had never been there before (usually speeding up while I passed), but I found the place equally compelling and repulsive. I have to admit that I did feel a bit biased against Randolph Hearst after seeing Citizen Cane recently. On the one hand, it was interesting to see the place the movie was supposedly based on. And it was interesting to see some of the antiquities and artworks Hearst collected, along with the art deco styling of the era. On the other hand, the whole concept of frivolously blowing this kind of money on something for just himself and his friends, and then having it end up as a $20 amusement park for the general public was a bit nauseating.

Probably the most priceless aspect of the tour came from just overhearing the lame banter between the other tourists. Comments like “How would you like to wake up and view that every day!” and repeated “if you had all the money in the world…”. The staff weren’t any better. Most acted like it was a Disneyland tour (another culturally obligatory visit I’ve been putting off). They were trying to sell portaits of visitors at the entrance. “But what good’s a photo without Mickey?”, I should have asked. And a long line of tour guides all waved goodbye to us in unison at the top of the hill when our bus pulled out. Maybe they were mechanical, as I suspected.

The whole experience left me longing to visit the Getty Museum on Los Angeles when I got there. I figured it would be a bit of a contrast to see how two millionaires spent their wads. One for good (or at least it came good in the end for Getty, with free admission for the public to see their vast collection of artworks), and the other for evil, in the case of the purely capitalist Hearst Castle.