the horror, the horror > travels in indochina

Bangkok & Sukhothai: the over-privileged blues

Posted by Jeff

I.

After the Second World War, this country changed its name from Siam, meaning ‘land of riches,’ to Thailand, meaning ‘land of freedom.’ This was a pragmatic branding move.

The minimum daily wage in Thailand is around 175B or $7 per day (the NZ minimum wage is $100 per eight-hour day). Many backpackers will spend at least 175B on beer. For this $7 most Thais seem to work hugely hard with street vendors and shop assistants working 12-hour shifts as a matter of course. Due to the low cost of labour many jobs are not exactly good quality. There seems to be an entire occupational class in Thailand whose sole role involves sitting in a small booth (like a parking attendant) outside buildings of significance that are closed for the night.

Much of being a tourist in Thailand is about unearned luxury. Every meal is eaten out (admittedly often out = out on the road). Your laundry is done for you. When something wears out you can buy a new one. Massages are about $16 per hour after your weary trekking around the sights and the malls. It is cosmically unfair that by accident of birth we westerners are exponentially privileged against those no less deserving.

This is a troubling issue, and I’m not really sure of the solution. For now, we’re trying to remain culturally appropriate (long pants and shoes when visiting culturally significant sites even in 35’ heat), not to participate in exploitation of Thais (e.g. the sex shows) and not being too tight with our money (I’m reigning in my brutal negotiation skills). This all feels pretty inadequate and we’re thinking about ways to be more responsible tourists.

Thus far we’ve managed to avoid being scammed completely (and food poisoning also touch wood). We’ve caught metered cabs everywhere (including from the airport), we didn’t buy anything at the fake tourist information office we were ‘helpfully’ directed to on the first day and even our tuk-tuk driver didn’t manage to get us into any shops or charge overmuch. While we’re not taken in by the scams I don’t blame the scammers. We’re generally not talking big bucks here in each case and the money means a lot more to them than us. As a utilitarian, I feel almost obliged to play the sucker every now and then. Fortunately Sara is basically Paul Newman in the Sting in such instances and reigns in my shillish tendencies.

On a related self-flagellating note, a study reported in Newsweek has recently concluded that religious conservatives tend to be considerably happier than progressive liberals (the study was American so I’ll use their shorthand). 47% of conservatives described themselves as ‘very happy’ versus 27% of liberals. These findings have been replicated overseas. One of the explanations given for this by the authors was that conservatism’s emphasis on individual choice and responsibility means that they tend to be less affected by the suffering of others (seeing it as a consequence of poor choices). This reminds me of the old saying that a liberal is a conservative who has spent a night in jail. To this I would add, or travelled abroad.

II.

Despite my overactive conscience we’re still managing to have a great time amid all the that dashed luxury. We’re in a small city called Phitsanalok on the main trunk line and leave for Chiang Mai this afternoon.

Yesterday we bussed out to the ruins of the old Thai capital at Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the capital in the late 14th and 15th centuries and is regarded by many Thais as the birthplace of Thai art and culture. Certainly it was integral to the spread of Buddhism in Thailand. We were impressed by the calm and stately air of Sukhothai. The various wats (temples) are in very good nick although we did notice a suspicious number of new bricks lying around on pallets: it may be that the restoration efforts are quite hands-on. Here’s an example of the awesomeness:

Also we got to ride cool bikes. Here’s Sara’s sweet ride

And mine:

III.

I recommend travelling for a while in a country where you do not speak the language. It’s a humbling experience. We’ve been travelling quite a bit recently on public buses and our train car from Bangkok to Phitsanalok was second class no air con: in these instances and in Phitsanalok we were just about the only farangs and almost no one spoke English.

Sadly the unscrupulous passport thieves also stole my trusty point-it book so we’ve had to resort to mime largely. We’ve been reading up on our Thai but are pretty intimidated- Thai is a tonal language so different intonations of the same word mean completely different things. As a result, we’re not far past sawadee. ON the bright side we don’t stick out quite as much as these guys (spotted at MBK in Bangkok and yes they are twins):

Not much to report on the crazy food front I’m afraid. I had a papaya salad that just about levitated me with pure spice but otherwise much of the food so far has been relatively staid. Don’t delete us from your bookmarks yet however- in about 4 days we go to Laos and I’m planning to eat everything that crawls on the earth, flies in the skies or swims in the waters there.

IV.

Our first Wellington experience after about an hour off the train in Chiang Mai. We were sitting outside a sweet little restaurant on a wee side-Soi when Sadie Preval (the sister of a couple of my best friends) walked past. We had no idea that she was even in town and she left at 5.30 the next morning. It was lovely to see a familiar face and Sadie helped us with her Thai pronunciation.

Goodnight and good luck

Jeff and Sara xx

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