category archive: Thailand and Hong Kong, June 2005
Please note that the articles are in chronological order. For all other categories, the latest article is at the top of the list. But due to the 'trip reporting' nature, the sort order has been reversed for the travel categories.
First impressions of Bangkok
It’s friday the 10th of june and I’m en-route to Hong Kong as I’m writing this, it seems like a good time to write a report of my first impressions of Thailand even though I have no clue when I’ll be able to send it. The flight over with Eva Air (a Taiwanese airline) was fabulous. Because Arjan recommended it to me, I had booked an Evergreen ticket. Sort of like a deluxe-economy class, it sports larger seats and slightly better service. We all know I appreciate both! The 11 hours flew by (har har) and I enjoyed myself with my music, magazines, e-mail, movies and what not. Upon arrival in Bangkok I was welcomed by Arjan and Nuy, they got up in the middle of the night for my 4:30am arrival in Bangkok for which I’m very thankful.
It was really nice to see both of them, as it had been two months since I last saw them when they left for Bangkok. I feel very welcome in their home. Right now, their home is also the home to Nuy’s sister, her mother and her sisters’ 2 year old son (who ofcourse is not even close to being as cute as Given!) but they are moving abroad on the 23rd for work. Mom is joining to take care of Dennis.
Upon exiting the terminal, I was hit by the heat. Yikes! I’m sort of getting used to it, although it remains something different to the dutch heat. It’s 35-40 degrees and really humid, but I’m coping better than I had expected. However, I’ve spent most of my time in airconditioned spaces. At home, in taxis and malls and restaurants it’s all airconditioning. So perhaps it will really hit me in a little while. Hong Kong is about the same I think, I plan to spend more time outside there though as the first few days have been mostly about shopping. And getting used to Bangkok ofcourse.
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Bangkok is utter chaos. There is no and never has been a strategy for the development of the city and this shows everywhere you look. Old homes in between 50-story buildings with skytrain stations built overhead. The roads are really busy and everybody drives like lunatics, much to my surprise there not many accidents though. The city is much more ‘westernized’ than I had thought it would be, all the big names are there (Starbucks!) and for what I’ve seen so far there is very little ‘authentic Thai culture’ … I guess this is to be expected when one spends most time in a mall though. After we return from Koh Samui (an island we’re going to when I return from Hong Kong, yes, I’m also doing “the paradise thing”!) I’m sure I’ll see more Thai culture.
The people are extremely friendly everywhere we go. This is partly due to their nature, but I think also because Arjan and I are ‘farang’ (white nose). I like the traditional greeting (forgot the name). What is a surprise to me is the lack of attention to detail. We discussed this during our first dinner, I thought most Asian countries would be extremely attentive to detail. It turns out this is more true in the north-eastern region of Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan) and not so much over here. A small number of people speak a little English, luckily Nuy has been with me all the time so far and Arjan is also getting quite good at Thai. I know how to say hi (‘saudi kraab’) and thank you (‘krab koen kraab’) but thats it :-) I had a funny incident at a store where I asked something and my question was handed from person to person until someone knew a few words in English. All the while all of them were smiling at me and really friendly and apologatic, but just had no clue what I said.
The girls in Thailand are hot by the way, but this is a commonly known fact I think! No, I’ve not gone out and got myself a couple of hot chicks for 10 euro each, but you really don’t have to do that to admire ‘the wonders of nature’ as one of my co-workers called it. They are everywhere and quite a large percentage are a pleasure to check out. Tiny though! I feel like a giant over here! A lot of people (and especially girls) check Arjan and me out. From what he has been able to tell me, they find farangs ‘interesting’. Some of them because they love shopping, most of them because we’re ‘different’.
The cost of living here is weird. Some things (like electronics) are similar to Europe in pricing. Other things, like food and transportation, are ridiculously cheap. You really can have dinner for 40 eurocents. Last night we had sushi will we could not have no more and the bill (for three!) was 20 euro. Insane. I laugh everytime I see the price of food and drinks. Taxi’s are dirt cheap also, there are several forms but we’ve taken the airconditioned ones so far. Locals usually take mini-van’s or motorcycle taxi’s. Those get around the city a lot quicker, which is quite useful as you can see in the enclosed picture: mayhem on the Bangkok roads. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with a camera phone.
Halfway into the flight, I’m really excited to visit Hong Kong. I’ve been dreaming about seeing it’s skyline for years and can’t believe I’m actually on my way over there now. I’m also excited to meet Andrea again after so many years. After I return (on the 15th) from Hong Kong, I’ll check in again.
Hong Kong adventures
Airborne and on my way back to Bangkok aboard Orient Thai airlines flight OX203, Hong Kong is under a thick cover of clouds below me. An early morning flight, but my sleeping schedule has been really messed up this past week so I’m not even that tired. I can’t believe I’ve only been away for a week, I’ve experienced so many things these last couple of days that Amsterdam seems so far away.
Hong Kong has been an undescribable experience. I’ve spent 4.5 days there, which for the average person I think is just about right. But for me it was not nearly long enough, so I will certainly return as soon as I possibly can. At least part of the reason for this having been such a great experience is because of the tireless efforts of my friend Andrea, who has been an incredible host.
Andrea came to pick me up from the airport and we spent a lot of time together visiting the sights, going around the city and talking endlessly. I’ve attached a photo of us, taken while waiting for the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui after having spent an evening in some of the hippest hangouts Hong Kong has to offer.
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It has been quite a different experience from the first couple of days I spent in Bangkok. People are a lot more used to westerners (although we’re called white devils, ‘gwai lo’) as Hong Kong is ofcourse a major expat city. I didn’t feel so much like a tourist here, I actually felt right at home. The city is a very well done mix of Chinese and western culture, where you can easily get by on English alone if you have to. The level of English was not as good as I expected it to be though. People seem to be less timid than the Thai, but more to themselves. What was also quite apparant was the divide between the lower and higher incomes. The language remains a mystery, Andrea and her mom have tried to explain some things to me, but I can’t remember a whole lot more than ‘thank you’ (m’goy or dohjze, depending on the context) and ‘green tea’ (luk cha). Somehow the language is appealing though.
And then there was the food. The food is awesome and like Thailand quite cheap. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much in such a short time. There was just so much, so many things I had never seen before and just had to try. With Andrea ordering for me or me just picking something fairly random on the street, there has not been one thing I didn’t like. And I’ve had it all, from dishes that looked like they were from a magazine to mystery meats from dodgy looking shops. I’ve had hongkongese, cantonese, shanghainese, korean, japanese and indian food. Western food was widely available, but I have no clue if it was any good :-)
Hong Kong is an absolutely exhilarating city. It makes New York pale in comparison. There are more than 7 million people from many, many different nations. It’s alive 24 hours a day like nothing I’ve seen before. It truely is the epitome of a cosmopolitan city. The skyline is unbelievable and borders on the absurd. There are litteraly hundreds of buildings of 30 stories or higher (in 
Holland there are two!) spread around he several islands, thousands if you count the other highrises as well. A photo of a tiny piece of the skyline is also attached.
Sometime soon, I’ll post an album online with many more photos. It was an incredible experience and a long standing dream to visit Hong Kong, I couldn’t have wished for it to turn out any better than it did.The next couple of days will be spent in Bangkok, after that I leave for Koh Samui with Arjan and Nuy.
Leaving Bangkok for paradise
After having returned from Hong Kong, I spent 8 days in Bangkok before leaving for Koh Samui. And it has been an incredible experience, which at the moment feels really intense. But we all know I get carried away sometimes, so ask me again in a month to see how I feel about Bangkok then. Nonetheless, I have had an absolute amazing time and I think this might possibly have been the best vacation I have ever been on.
Bangkok is a city that needs to grow on you. Arjan had the same experience when coming here for the first . After my first few days here, I was not really impressed (see previous report) with the city and basically just found it messy. Unlike Hong Kong, which was love at first sight, I could totally not see myself living in Bangkok. After running around for a week, I realized it had grown on me. And given the chance to live here, I would very likely take it. There are several reasons for this, most importantly the people of this country and the magnitude of the city. It started feeling like home after a couple of days.
The people are the friendliest I have ever encountered. Everyone here is friendly by nature it seems and I genuinly believe this to be a part of Thai culture and not just because of my fat farang pockets. There are a few very obvious reasons for feeling this way. For instance, the Thai traditional greeting (called the ‘way’) is so different from the western handshake. It is a really nice gesture and when you do it yourself, you feel a certain calm come over you for just one second. I also never knew Thailand was called the Land Of Smiles, but I can do nothing but underline this. The smiles all around you are never ending and makes one feel right at home. I don’t know, it’s hard to describe and I will spare you poetic attempts of comparing a smiling Thai woman to Thai silk and what not. I guess you have to experience it. There is ofcourse the day to day struggle for survival all around. But even in their struggle, people remain true to this all. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for a cute smile. Also quite possible … and perhaps likely. One of the things I can still not get over is how beautiful the women here are.
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Anyway … my 8 days. I spent the days doing touristy stuff. Well, perhaps not so much those of a typical tourist. Yeah, I did visit a couple of temples and was really impressed. And ofcourse I went to the Royal Palace. But these sort of venues are just not my thing. They will not stick. What will stick is being stuck (no pun intended) in traffic for an hour in a taxi, having to wait in between two billowing busses in the middle of an 8 lane road before being able to continue crossing the street, being growled at by street dogs, the utter chaos of the streets, shopping, walking into random streets and finding the weirdest things being sold on streetcarts. I will most remember those things. I know, I’m weird.
The nights have been something else. I’ve been to clubs, restaurants with live music, we did a river cruise with buffet, etc. And they have all been great experiences. However, most of the nights I spent without Arjan and Nuy, have been spent in the infamous gogo bars. For those who dont know, a gogo bar is basically a stage with girls in bikini that you can just order (by number!) and take home. Yes, prostitution. And it doesn’t get much more demeaning then this. At first daunting, I ended up going back to the same place several times and had a great time. Not so much because of the action on the stage, but more because I had a lot of fun with a couple of waitresses who also took me out on the town after closing. They seemed to take a liking to my ‘no no, I don’t want to take anyone with me’ attitude.
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Bangkok has been an amazing experience and it has a warm place in my heart. It will certainly not be the last time I see it, as I’m returning after a short trip to Koh Samui. I will report about my trip to Koh Samui when I return to Bangkok. Included you will find two photos, the first one is me in the street where Arjan lives so you can see what Bangkok suburbia looks like. The second one is a photo taken of a band we saw over dinner, the band was absolutely horrific but I didn’t really mind - for obvious reasons.
Paradise island
So quickly passed the days of paradise island, the stay was much to short and this place needs to be revisited again. Like I wrote in my previous report, Nuy had booked tickets to go on the nighttrain, which seemed fun at the time but I decided to fly back because of several reasons. Nuy, Arjan and Nuys’ friend decided to take the train, so I will see them again tomorrow. I’m now in the lobby of a hotel I found when looking for one for my next visit and decided to try it for the last two nights. It recently opened, looks fabulous and the service is especially out of the ordinary. Contrary to my usual love for grand entrances and gorgeous lobby’s, this hotel is fairly small and feels very intimate and personal. And the service … my goodness! But wait … I was supposed to write about Koh Samui! ;-)
Koh Samui was not at all what I expected. I had mental images of travel brochures, sitting on the beach under a palm tree with umbrella cocktails in my hand. After finding a resort (any hotel with a swimming pool seems to qualify for this label) I discussed this with Arjan and he said the budget and chosen location on the island did not provide this experience. After my initial disappointment, it turned out to be a nice place anyway. If it hadn’t been for my knock-out experience, I would have enjoyed more of it. On the first morning, still half asleep, I made my way to breakfast and hit my head (@#^*^&%$^&% damn these tiny people! think of the bigger farang!) so hard I nearly passed out. I was also very sleepy because I had a short night, so I decided to sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
So … a couple of disappointments set aside …
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Chaweng is one of the 5 towns on Samui around which tourist destinations cluster. The most touristy of them all, what striked both me and Arjan is the insane amount of farang people compared to Thai. It made me think of having to go back to Amsterdam to much and not be able to look at the beautiful Thai girls anymore. Snif. Like any touristy area, you get bugged all the time to buy whatever nonsense everyone is selling. Taxi services are triple the price of Bangkok, but for 2 euro I could still go basically anywhere I wanted within Chaweng so I wasn’t really complaining.
The beach is beautiful, especially during early afternoon. And the palm trees are all around. All resorts have their own beach and many fun things can be done, from jetski to parasailing, etc. We did none and just hung around all the time. Our resort was decent in accomodation, terrible in staff (BAD! service) and crowded with the typical fat german tourists who think it’s okay to dine without even wearing a t-shirt. Not my choice for a follow-up stay.
We spent the first night at a place called The Deck after having had dinner somewhere on the main street. The Deck is Supperclub Samui basically. Little matrasses on the floor and tables on which food and drinks are served, you spend the evening lying down chatting with friends. I had a really, really great time there. The day after we had dinner at Sandies, again a great restaurant Arjan and I found while strolling down the beach. After dinner, we moved to the beach which made for a nice romantic setting especially with the guitarplayer in the restaurant in the background. No one to be romantic with for me, but still very enjoyable.
Since everybody was tired and wanted to go to sleep, but I had spent the afternoon sleeping, I decided to venture out by myself. Oh my god! It seemed like Chaweng nightlife was all about a dozen open air clubs battling eachother with speakers, so unless you were in front of one, the experience was one of a kaleidoscope of soundwaves. I ended up in a fairly quiet bar, where I met a few girls who worked in hotels on the island. I especially hit it off with one of them. Soon after her friends left she proposed going to a party together. 
And so we ended up in some techno beachparty where hundreds of people gathered on the beach, which was a lot of fun. We were one of the last ones to leave at 7 in the morning. We fell asleep on the beach together, before each going our own seperate ways. I’ve enclosed a photo of the party, it doesn’t do it justice but is the best one of the party I have.
I took a flight back on Bangkok Airways. I have a couple of days left in Bangkok. I really don’t want to go back.
Welcome back to Amsterdam
Sigh,
Sitting on my bed, after having spent the first day in Amsterdam I’m rapidly coming down from my holiday high. It’s over. Having spent the last three weeks in Thailand and China, I’ve been increasingly intoxicated with good feelings. I had such an amazing time when I first arrived in Bangkok, while I was in Hong Kong, when back in Bangkok, on Koh Samui and the last couple of days in Bangkok. It has been an absolutely incredible experience.
And then I come back to Holland. The Eva Airways staff bid me farewell and with that, all Asian friendliness and elegance disappeared. I was ‘greated’ by a butch customs officer who decided to turn my suitcases inside out. After I took a taxi home, the driver moaned when I asked him to help me with my suitcases and kept yapping on the phone during the whole trip. Then I want to go for dinner and ofcourse there is a strike in this overly organised country so I have to take a taxi into the city. And to top it all off, the taxi driver back was endlessly complaining about me wanting to pay by credit card and how he would have said no had he known. (for the locals: because really, we all know taxi drivers in amsterdam are in a position to be picky about their rides, eh!?)
Welcome back to Amsterdam.
Snif.
My holiday has been an incredible experience. I was keen to visit, because I’ve felt for a long time that asian culture was appealing to me. Asia and it’s culture are so much more appealing to me than I could ever have expected. It was the first time for me to visit Asia, but it certainly has not been the last time. I like it over there. And I’m already looking forward to my next trip later this year.
Andrea came to pick me up from the airport and we spent a lot of time together visiting the sights, going around the city and talking endlessly. I’ve attached a photo of us, taken while waiting for the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui after having spent an evening in some of the hippest hangouts Hong Kong has to offer.
