Tag: Thailand

Thai Days #2: The Holies and Unholies of Bangkok

Jetlagged, we woke up around 14:30 pm and rushed to the street for breakfast, thinking we lost half of the day. Khaosan Road is a main party street in Bangkok, crazy at night but so peaceful and quiet during the day. Pedrito and I had a serene breakfast while I contemplated his not-so-often-smiling face. I told him that today, I will have a smile-counter for him to have some statistics. This moment of serenity was not an indicator of the next 12 hours in this crazy city.

We had no plans and no to-do. We started walking randomly in one direction until a tuk-tuk offered us a tour for 40 Bhat (which is around 1.25 Swiss dollars). As Piotr (we also call him Pedrito) said when I asked him about the program, “He can take us where the fuck he wants”. Our first step was a tiny temple with some golden Buddhas. After 30 seconds of looking at the first Buddha temple, you ask yourself, “Now what?”. At this golden moment, a middle-aged Thai man who looked like he had a decent job entered and did some bowing, then came to us to strike up a small conversation. He said we were lucky to be in this temple because it opens one day per year, that Thai people come there when they start a new business or get married to get blessings, that he drove 13 hours for his brother’s wedding, and asked about the program of our tour and said that the planned visit to a textile “factory” was lucky since they had a promotion for custom-tailored suits. He wished us luck and went away while we took our tuk-tuk to the factory, which turned up to be a regular tailor shop with high prices, and the whole thing is a scam. Our tuk-tuk driver confessed that the tailor shop gives them coupons for the gas station to fill the tuk-tuk with gas for the whole day. Our next stop was a “tourist information center” which also turned out to be a scam. The woman lied when I asked her whether this “center” was affiliated with the government. When I said, i don’t want to book any tours, and I just want information,” she said something in Thai that I imagine meant, “Get the F* out, you cheap tourist.”. Our next stop was a Big Buddha temple. Pedrito reached the top of his enthusiasm when he said in a monotonic voice, “Yeah. It is big”.

We then took a boat trip in the canals of Bangkok. For me it was a movie in the cinema. Passing by houses of different economic statuses. Some poor ones that barely have some metal as a roof, and just beside them are glass-walled lofts or villas. It was very interesting to watch people doing random things in their decks; most of the time I had no idea what the person was doing. Some of the houses were shops selling unidentifiable things. This trip triggered a few philosophical conversations between me and Pedrito about the spectrum of human happiness. I pondered how many of them, probably poor, seemed to have a very slow pace of life that was difficult to imagine being stressful. Check this youtube viedeo about the boat tour.

After the tour we walked around, again randomly in any direction. Which took us to a live music concert with a local market, then we found ourselves in a flower market, which is a whole street selling flowers. I assumed it is since Buddhist people use flowers a lot in their temples and offerings.

Crazy things happen all the time. Timing is mostly crazier. The moment Pedrito and I were waiting to cross a street, a motorbike came fast and hit another motorbike with a couple that wanted to turn. Since the second one was at an angle, the second motorbike was kicked away, and the couple that was sitting on it flew in the air and landed on the asphalt. A surreal scene for us. We rushed to the scene to see if help is needed. The girl on the floor was holding her stomach, but nobody seemed to be badly injured. The locals took care of the situation.

We spent the rest of the evening in our party street, where we ate dinner twice, once on a rooftop, and got a full-body Thai massage. Khaosan Road started showing us crazy things, with ladyboys dancing erotically in a bizarre scene. Plenty of food stalls, and many of them selling barbequed insects and scorpions. Grilled crocodile meat! Many offers for sex-shows and etc. Even the wrist bands they sell had bizarre writings like “I rape gay retards”, and “I love irish cunt”. It was easy to conclude that this street is exactly what was meant in all the holy books when God sent his wrath down upon the earth.

The maximum smile from Pedrito

“An electrician’s wet dream” as Pedrito says

Thai Days #1: Freezing Beijing and the Rose Petal Toilet

The trip

A bald Polish gentleman, with a taste for cigars and women with cigar-colored skin, was waiting for me in Milan with a slight flu. A cheaper flight from Malpensa is just another excuse to pass through this kingdom of beauty: Italy. Probably, if you add all the costs, the trip from Zurich would have cost the same. But life can also be measured by the number of times you’ve been to Italy. We took an expensive Uber with Simone, who entertained us with a lively conversation during the 100+ euro ride to the airport. Both flying with Air China, we discovered that Piotr had booked a different and shorter transit through Chengdu instead of Beijing. I tried to convince the check-in clerks to book me on his flight, but my attempt to charm them was met by “I can’t do it in the system”. I knew that Air China would probably be of no help to a privileged person who wanted to change a flight just to be with his friend. The customer support would most likely pay more attention to whatever fraction of the 1,000,000,000 Chinese people are flying today.

I spent my time on the plane watching a Chinese comedy, an Indonesian super-hero movie, and relocating the head of my sleeping Italian neighbor from my shoulder. Aware that his girlfriend is in the seat in front of him, I repeated “I am not your girlfriend”, while he kissed my shoulder and gave smiles and bites in the air (grrrr), without consciousness. Nevertheless, I found the situation cutely funny, hehehe.

The trip comes at the end of my work in my previous clinic before I move to a new hospital for a next rotation. Piotr and I are bachata dancers, and we will be joined later in the journey with our also-dancer Thai friend “Arm”, whose real name is not really “Arm” and we don’t really know his name. With these two gentlemen, I plan to tickle the sun, engage my taste buds with the rich culinary culture of the East and dance with some cigar-skinned ladies (while hoping they are, in fact, ladies without cigars… hehehe, sorry for the cheap joke).

15 hours in Beijing

I planned a 15-hours transit in Beijing to discover the city on my way to Thailand. Well, I didn’t. As soon as I left the metro station downtown to the street, I was hit by the -3 degrees cold, I was not prepared for. Within a minute, I rushed back to the station and looked for plan B. It took a couple of hours. Back and forth to the street to hope for a taxi or a “Didi” = (Chinese Uber). I finally managed to go to a 24-hours SPA where you can relax, eat, drink, play video games, get massages, steam room, sleeping pods, for 299 Yuan which a bit more than 30 swiss francs with all-you-can-eat fruits, ice cream, and popcorn and all you can drink. When I entered the spa, I had to remove my shoes at the entrance, strip, shower, and they gave me one-time underwear and pajamas. In this transition, I saw way more than I wanted (which is zero) of naked Asian men. I am indeed writing these words here inside a steam room decorated with essential oils that force body stress out of your body like an exorcist forcing a jinn out of a possessed aunt. Inside were also chess sets. I spent the next couple of hours indulging in treating my body. The place was posh! They even threw rose petals in the toilet, which you come and shit on (somehow dark).
In China, WhatsApp is blocked, so is Instagram messaging, Telegram, most of Google services are useless. No ChatGPT. I had to use the Chinese DeepSeek as my alternative source of directions and information. Getting a ride with the local app Didi was not successful for me. An eSIM from Hong Kong for the day with unlimited internet costed less than $2, so I could have connection with the non-Chinese world.

During the few hours inside the spa, it snowed. So I experienced Beijing with a different view as well. I took the metro to the airport, where I spent the next flight to Bangkok sleeping. In general, I was positively surprised by Beijing. For some moments I thought that Chinese people would have no reason to live in Europe or the West since their life in China is probably better. The transportation system is very efficient. What also caught my attention was the high sense of security. A security guard in each metro car! In each flight as well, there is a security person.

I arrived to Bangkok, took a “Grab” which is the Thai Uber and went to the hotel where Piotr was still sick. Although it was 3:30 am, I went for a pad Thai to kick off the Thai days.