11 sip et
12 sip song...
20 yee sip
30 saam sip
100 loi
- woke up… got email back from Martha that i could stay longer!
- yogurt and fruit
- changed my plane ticket
- switched hostel… slightly cheaper but sketchy and right next to khaosan.
- not as good an idea as previously thought
- was gonna hop a boat to skytrain? ran into efrain instead
- Indian food. omnom
- visited golden tower wat. visited some other wats too. wandered and looked for all the wats.
- cha yuen and ice cream!
- walked in park… foot massage
- mcdonalds/ rape convo/ split
- token american thoughts
- went home… came back out for pad thai/sticky rice
- loud room… rough sleep
khaosan jungle
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| bell, stop, breathe, smile |
Bangkok recap
Bangkok was so exciting to me at first with all the lights and buildings and riverboats. My first night there I went to the biggest couchsurfing event I’ve ever been to. There are so many travelers that there are even subcultures within the backpacker scene.
But there's something really strange and sad about it too. I learned what a "ping pong show" was (google it if you don't know, just don't do it at work). And there's a heavy sex/drugs culture, no doubt. But I don't see that as Thai culture-- it's a mix of rich tourists who can pay to come see/do perverse things, and a beautiful forgiving land that's been exploited to not ask for more.
I should make a point that I never went out alone at night, and I never felt unsafe in the presence of other Thai people. Even the tiny old men soliciting ping pong shows and the ladyboys offering a good time could look me in the eye with compassion and offer directions if I was lost.
The only time I felt unsafe was in the presence of another American. We had talked about going to another town and splitting a hotel. As the conversation went on, he talked about how the last time he shared a hotel with a girl she got mad when he tried to put the moves on her, and he justified it by saying she was asking for it by inviting him to stay with her. I defended the girl, and in a roundabout way backed out of making any travel plans with him. Then he went off on how American girls are always too worried about getting raped.
That statement hit me like a ton of bricks, and I knew it was true (not in the way he meant it--to say that we're uptight and need to loosen up), but I especially knew in that moment what it means to be an American woman, where we have a legal system that prosecutes rapists. And why I'm often perceived as naive when I visit other countries. I rarely worry about rape when I'm in the states, but suddenly I realized there's a whole 'nother "asking for it" clause that this American abroad seemed to adhere to. I appreciated his candor, but I also knew I didn't want to be around him anymore.
Aside from all that, I also found myself getting way too comfortable. In Bangkok, I learned/used numbers and bartering phrases, but unfortunately that’s about it. When I realized that I hadn’t been carrying my language pad with me, and that I had few interactions with Thai people that weren’t centered on commerce, I decided it was time to take a breather from Bangkok.
But there's something really strange and sad about it too. I learned what a "ping pong show" was (google it if you don't know, just don't do it at work). And there's a heavy sex/drugs culture, no doubt. But I don't see that as Thai culture-- it's a mix of rich tourists who can pay to come see/do perverse things, and a beautiful forgiving land that's been exploited to not ask for more.
“Because the good family’s way of life is the way it is, the prostitute has to live as a prostitute. no one among us has clean hands. no one of us can claim that it is nort our responsibility… the wealth of one society is made up of the poverty of the other. "
Excerpt on "Roses and Garbage", noble girls and prostitutes-- from Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hahn
I should make a point that I never went out alone at night, and I never felt unsafe in the presence of other Thai people. Even the tiny old men soliciting ping pong shows and the ladyboys offering a good time could look me in the eye with compassion and offer directions if I was lost.
The only time I felt unsafe was in the presence of another American. We had talked about going to another town and splitting a hotel. As the conversation went on, he talked about how the last time he shared a hotel with a girl she got mad when he tried to put the moves on her, and he justified it by saying she was asking for it by inviting him to stay with her. I defended the girl, and in a roundabout way backed out of making any travel plans with him. Then he went off on how American girls are always too worried about getting raped.
That statement hit me like a ton of bricks, and I knew it was true (not in the way he meant it--to say that we're uptight and need to loosen up), but I especially knew in that moment what it means to be an American woman, where we have a legal system that prosecutes rapists. And why I'm often perceived as naive when I visit other countries. I rarely worry about rape when I'm in the states, but suddenly I realized there's a whole 'nother "asking for it" clause that this American abroad seemed to adhere to. I appreciated his candor, but I also knew I didn't want to be around him anymore.
Aside from all that, I also found myself getting way too comfortable. In Bangkok, I learned/used numbers and bartering phrases, but unfortunately that’s about it. When I realized that I hadn’t been carrying my language pad with me, and that I had few interactions with Thai people that weren’t centered on commerce, I decided it was time to take a breather from Bangkok.
