Sadness in Bangkok

Friday, 20 Oct 2006 | Life in Asia

One of the things that I for some strange reason developed a very thick skin for, even on my first trip here, is the misery that one is so often confronted with in Bangkok. Even though I do have a thick skin for it, it still gets to you sometimes. I will for instance never get used to the guy with half a leg and 1 arm who is on the sidewalk of Sukhumvit Road, pushing his cup and dragging himself forward by his fingernails. There is a lot of misery here and someone planning to visit should keep that in mind and perhaps prepare for that.

The first misery I was confronted with in Thailand were the so-called ‘soi dogs’, wild dogs that roam the streets of Bangkok. People sometimes feed them or even take them in, but most of them somehow survive in other ways unknown to me. Most of them suffer from skin disease, just one of the clearly visible results of their rough life and undoubtedly a heartbreaking sight for animal lovers. I was raised with dogs and am not scared of them at all, but will never approach these dogs. They are wild and unpredictable animals, regardless of how cute the profiles up on their very own weblog are.

As in every developing country, ‘the big city’ lures those from rural areas with dreams of better times. Bangkok is no different. From the 1950s until the financial disasters of the late 1990s, there was a continuous migration of these dream chasers. Many of them without any real skills or education, were forced to take up residence in the slums that can be found all over the city. The largest, Klong Toey, is estimated at having over 100,000 inhabitants. The people that live here get by on the lowest of wages, the amount of which I don’t even dare to guess.

Beggars are also everywhere in Bangkok. They come in countless different forms, but all share the same veil of despair. Old ladies, women with children sleeping in their laps, disabled or deformed, each one looking more miserable than the one before. Some (many? most?) of them are transported into the city in the morning, they are often not Thai but come from Cambodia or Myanmar and are trafficked into Thailand by gangs. Put on strategic places around the city, they do not get to keep the money they earn but hand it over to the gangs’ collectors that drive around town emptying their cups. One guy undoubtedly not being employed by a gang is a farang working as a beggar for a while. I’ve seen him myself once, last year. I think he is still around and he is actually rumored to be Dutch! On his sign, he says to be 4000 baht short of his return ticket home and asks for a 1000 baht donation - about 20 euro. A far cry from the 10 baht coins most of the beggars get and a little too greedy if you ask me. I guess he is making a decent living though, which is not the case for the gang controlled and other beggars.

Another form of begging are the ‘blind’ singers, walking around in busy areas with a cain in their hand and someone to guide them through the crowds, in their other hand a microphone attached to a cheap karaoke machine hung around their neck. They sing Thai songs in a heartbreaking (and ear-shattering) voice. These guys actually get a lot of symptathy. Unfortunately, I was once the witness of someone sitting down late afternoon and have make up applied to his eyes to make them look as if they had been sown shut.

For those who have been the nightlife of Bangkok, the what I call ‘20 baht kids’ are both heartbreaking and bonebreaking. These kids, again mostly from countries such as Myanmar and controlled by gangs, sell all kinds of trinkets for 20 baht. A pack of gum, a rose, etc. To see a little girl aged 5 having to walk the streets to try and make money for her boss is horrible and one is very much tempted to buy something off them. The surface-sadness quickly disappears sometimes, as they can be incredibly persistant little things and will not leave you alone. I have seen 3 kids take a grown man down once by hanging from his legs and arms. He was drunk, but still.

An elephant in the streets of Bangkok is not at all an oddity. But to turn around when being tapped on the shoulder and having one look at you is quite a strange experience. At the same time it’s very much one of the last things you expect, it’s strange and exciting, but also horrific when you look the poor animal in the eye after having recovered from the initial shock and notice the pain in its eyes. Cars rushing by, loud people and a mahout pushing for more sales of peanuts.

These are sad stories, no matter how you look at them. When confronted with these things it’s difficult to not feel bad. And one should. Regardless of the stories of gangs and other forms of deceit, it all boils down to one thing and one thing only … trying to find a way to survive.