Around The World Without Flying: Thailand Part 1

Having had a much better night without waking up coughing through the night, and feeling OK, I took the ‘bull by the horns’ and set off early yesterday morning on one of the big tour buses for Bangkok. I noticed we were each filmed by video camera as we left the ship although we did not have to show the copies of our passports with which we had been issued. That came later. . .

Bangkok was two hours drive from the port town of Laem Chabang. Over that drive we saw large areas of mostly rectangular ponds, which we were told were fish farms, used mostly for shrimps. We also saw what looked like a small number of rice crops, some tracts of land covered with palm trees - presumably grown for palm oil, heavy and light industry, and even a large power station, occasionally with a background of distant hills. There was no sign of cattle or any other livestock. Unfortunately the bus was travelling too quickly for me to take photographs.

In the occasional town along the way, and in Bangkok itself, I noticed there was a much greater variety in building styles and sizes than we have seen in other Asian countries. While there were some modern high-rise buildings, you did not see row after row of them. On the other hand, even at the foot of some of these buildings, there were what appeared to be a lot of shanty dwellings with rusted metal roofs. They were packed together without gaps between them, so the residents must all live cheek by jowl, with little relief from the oppressive heat. As well, although I had seen this to an extent elsewhere, I saw an incredible number of buildings that had been constructed from concrete which looked like it has never been painted or was last painted decades ago, and was full of what looked like a black mould. Some looked as though they had been abandoned. It was both very hot and extremely humid, which of course would accelerate the growth of mould, but I could not help but wonder what effect this must have on the health of the many battlers who live under those conditions.

So to me this was a place of great contrasts: modern highways and crowded narrow alleyways; rich temples and modern hotels and apartment buildings and nicely laid out gardens, and hovels; fountains and polluted canals. Yet I only saw one beggar, and he was sitting at the gate of the Temple of the Golden Buddha, our first stop. This Buddha was made from pure gold and weighs over 5 tonne! It was in a relatively small special room at the top of one of the temples in the grounds. When you stood there looking at all that shimmering gold and all the flowers, candles and so on laid before it, you could see evidence of so much poverty around it. Yet the reverence of the people, 95% of whom are Buddhist, showed this place and this faith means so much, lifts them up and sustains them.

I will talk about my visit to the Palace in my next post.