FRIDAY IN TH CITY: THAILAND

I am speeding down the highway in Southern Thailand. Just as soon as we start the trip, the clouds give up their afternoon laze and pour water out to clean the streets of Bangkok.

My private driver speaks little English. We were both hesitant in meeting just a few minutes ago. He didn’t know if I would show up. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I spent a few minute yesterday looking for sedans that could drive me the 2 hours to the beaches of Southern Thailand. I shopped around. In the end, I found a dive shop in the town where I am going that also offered to help set up airport pickups. I filled out an internet form. Submitted it. And two hours later, received an email that “Gow” would pick me up at their airport. For $45, he would drive me down to Pattaya along the new toll road highway. Tolls would be included.

They didn’t ask for a deposit. They assumed I would be there. And I assumed they would be there. And now I am off on this two hour drive.

I am in the middle of my three week visit to Singapore and Thailand. I gave myself a little extra time in the middle of the trip just in case I needed to visit a client up in Shanghai. We postponed that trip until September, and so I had an extra week to spare. What to do? Go to Thailand of course.

Over the last 9 years, since my move to Asia, I have come to Thailand at least 20 times. It is a place that, for me, has the perfect blend of what I like in an exotic vacation. There are beautiful beaches. The food is simple, flavorful and interesting. The people are always kind and warm regardless of who you are. It is modern enough that I have some of the basics. Yet it is also exotic enough that I can feel like I am in a place far away from the USA. Every now and then, that is nice.

Since I only had a week, I was torn between a trip to the vibrant and exciting big city of Bangkok – full of restaurants and food stalls and amazing people watching. But I also wanted beach time. I decided on a compromise by going for 4 days to the southern beach town of Pattaya. And sometime in the middle of the week, when I have had enough sun, I will grab a car and head back up to the city. Since tourism has really been hurt by the financial crisis, by the H1N1 scare and by upheavals here in Thailand, they are pretty desperate to have guests at hotels – and for great prices. For a nice 4-star hotel, I won’t need to pay over $65 a night. And less if I wanted the basics.

I have not been to Pattaya in the last 9 years. As an expat, it is usually advised to avoid Pattaya . The place is pretty commercial and has been rather dicey in the past. But they have been cleaning up their beaches and modernizing. And a beach is a beach.

The highway we are on is modern. Build in the last five years, the 8 lane road now connects the brand new airport to the south coast. There is a chain link fence on both sides, mostly to stop people from the local villages nearby from trying to run across the highway to the other side. It is easy to see that the highway split farms and towns nearly in half on both sides. Along both sides, rice fields lay connected in ponds of water and small dikes. Banana and coconut trees dot the small banks and dikes of the rice fields.

The gas gauge on the Honda sedan shows “E.” Below “E.” It is a new car, but I very much hope that he either knows is auto well or that it is broken. Every few kilometers, two white dots the side of a hula hoop show up on the highway. To the side, a side proclaims, “Keep two dots apart.” It seems to be that one dot is more the standard.

The highway here in Thailand does not give distance. Instead, it points out various cities that are ahead. One sign just pointed out a tiger zoo ahead. One sign pointed out a place called “deer park.” It is hard to say if it is a housing development or a park full of deer. I am not thinking that it is too good of an idea to have a tiger park near either. I guess we will get there when we get there.

It is amazing to see how much technology has helped Thailand catch up with the rest of the world. As an example, when I arrived to the airport, at least ten phone companies lined up to tell me I needed a cheap pre-paid sim card. It appears that talking is a big and competitive business here. I handed over my unlocked phone (acquired from my old Singapore days). They fitted it with a new sim card. It required only $3 to activate the card. And I now have a Thai phone number – allowing me to call globally for fifteen cents a minute and it give me free incoming calls from anywhere in the world. It is a pretty good deal. And it is easy to see why no one owns a home phone here. The technology and cost simply jumped over land lines in the last years. Now, if only they can get the wireless communication figured out.

My last five days spent in Singapore have been wonderful. I am being hosted by my friend Narelle. Narelle is on her last days of being an expat in Singapore before returning to Melbourne, and so I wanted to visit her in the last days, since way back when, I was partly for responsible for talking her in to coming to Asia. It also means that in the future, I will just have to make trips to Australia to visit her.

I have been walking around my old neighborhoods from my years of living in Singapore. Somethings are the same, but not many. Singapore continues to constantly reinvent itself – with new buildings and resorts and shopping plazas. And friends also have continued on with their lives. Peter and Tiffany, two additional close friends now have kids. As do others. The rhythm of life moves along, whether I want them to stay the same or not. I started with a check off list of all my favorite Singapore foods. Each lunch and dinner, I tick another off. This morning, I went to my favorite hawker center to have morning congee. I usually have only eaten congee at two times in the day – either as a late breakfast, such as today. Or as a 2am snack after being out with friends – also in the morning. So either way, it counts as morning gongee.

Congee is a rice porridge. It is cooked with some marinated pork strips and served very hot with a raw egg cracked over the top. As you stir the congee, the eggs warms – not exactly cooking it, but at least making the white a little more palatable. The bowl is then topped with diced onions, carmelized onions, pepper and a salty vinegar. It is one of my top five favorite things to eat here in Asia. Comfort food to the max.

Sometimes, when I tell friends that I am going to Thailand, they ask, “Who with?” I tell them “alone” and they look at me like I am crazy. Of course, my closest of friends know that this is pretty typical for me. But it is still puzzling. But after spending lots of time with people lately, I am do for some solitude time. I will have no schedule. The only expectation will come from the small voices in my head. And while I love hanging out with friends, for me, I also have to have it balanced with this spells of quiet contemplative time. I will sleep in. Lie on beaches in the day. Sip afternoon beers while watching the sunset. I will explore new restaurants. I will read. I will walk around the towns and people watch. And if I get tired of the hustle, I will come home, and watch taped television shows on my computer. I am equipped with a bag of ground Starbucks coffee from the Singapore airport. I bought a $10 hot water boiler at the market a few days ago. I am all set!

I will take a few videos and pics over the next couple of days to share with you.

Until then, I wish you a great week!
Rick