Same Same

Actually, my time in Thailand has been anything but monotonous - I just thought it was a fitting title, seeing as that's probably the single most widely used English phrase by native Thai speakers. Seriously, they even make t-shirts that simply have the words "Same Same" on them, and I'm sure they sell like hotcakes. Don't even get me started on the gold mine of hilarious/witty t-shirts that this country is...the guys from www.randomshirts.com should take a trip down to Th Khao San in Bangkok on their expense accounts, and take notes.

* It wasn't my intention to endorse randomshirts.com, and I maintain that this blog exists for non-profit entertainment purposes only. However, if you knee-slappin handsome geniuses of t-shirt designers notice this blog and decide to cut me out a royalty cheque, you can find my address in your order database.

So I've done quite a bit since my last blog posting, with the most notable events being about a week split between visiting Chiang Mai, the second biggest city in Thailand, and Pai, a hippie backwater mountain village that is probably the 5,690th biggest city in Thailand. They were both pretty groovy in their own ways, but overall I preferred Pai, due to the "getting back to nature" appeal, as well as the bohemian live music scene. I actually just left there this morning, and spent almost an entire day buses, although it didn't really seem that long due to the "effectiveness" of the Thai-manufactured generic anti-nausea tablet that I took before I set off. FDAA approved? Somehow I doubt it. But I'm OK...at least for now.

Anyways, I'm now in a little town called Chiang Khong on the banks of the Mekong River, which at this point also forms the border of Thailand and Laos. If all goes to plan, I'll have crossed into Laos by tomorrow morning, and will be on my way to Luang Prabang on a riverboat. I've heard mixed reviews about this journey - some say that the scenery and general serenity is unbeatable, while others I've talked to have implied that it's the most boring, uncomfortable thing that they've ever experienced, and that I'd be better off to take an 8-hour minibus (I've been on enough of them to realize that the latter group must have really hated the boat ride).

OK, I know what you're thinking right now: it's been 2 weeks since Tom even made an effort of over analyzing an ideology, geographical location, or wholly irrelevant subject that he's come across. You are very correct, and I'm going to continue to abstain from this action for tonight, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've been giving my brain a bit of a break as of late, and therefore haven't engaged in a whole lot of mental tooth-picking to speak of. More importantly, however, this internet cafe is swarming with wholly harmless by extremely annoying bugs, both big and small, and I really can't stay still any longer.

So I'm not going to. I'm assuming Laos has the Internet by now, so you can expect another post in the next week or so. Hope all of you students out there are satisfied with your exam results, and have settled nicely into your mind-numbing summer employment. Same goes for all of the lifers that might be reading this blog. To all of my faithful readers that are retirees (undoubtedly the only ones that have time to actually get through one of my typical posts) : keep it real.

Cheers
Tom

A Passage to Thailand

So, the title of my blog has officially become outdated. However, due to the confusion that a title change would inevitably cause, and considering the possibility that this might somehow upset my loyal fanbase (all two of you), I'm going to maintain the status quo. Just be aware that I won't be spending any more than 2 more days in India during the current trip; the rest of it, besides my final departure from Delhi, will be spent touring in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and a possible little beach jaunt in southern Vietnam.

Speaking of that - I just remembered I've been promising a brief run-down on my tentative itinerary for the last couple weeks. Well, as a preamble I'll emphasize that it remains just as subject to change as it was when I first mentioned it. So, if all you gambling fiends (you know who you are!) are placing bets on where I am anytime in the next couple months, and are "cleverly" basing your wager on the following rundown, don't be too generous with the odds you give to your opponent.

I'm already about 5 days into my trip, having stayed in Bangkok with my friend Sarah since Monday. Bangkok was fun, although according to Sarah, I'm a huge square and pretty well failed to partake in the rockin' good times that the town has to offer (probably pretty accurate). So I won't spend much time on that, other than mentioning that 1) the city is massive, 2) there's a crazy travellers-gone-wild district called Khao San (surely butchered that spelling job) that resembles Wasaga Beach x10 in Asia, and 3) there are some pretty sick temples (see photos). This morning, I left for the ancient capital city of Ayuthaya, which is where I am now. I checked into a groovy-little guest house called Tony's Place, and then spent the day riding around the town on a bike that I rented for about a buck (don't worry Mom - I assure you it didn't have a motor). I saw some cool museums and ruins, and booked a train ticket to Phitsanulok,which is nearby to another ancient capital city I plan on visiting. Man, my plans sound exhilerating, don't they? I bet you wish you were travelling with me, so you could get your name in the Guinness Book of Records under the category of "most monotonous temple visits within a period of 4 months". What can I say - I'm a bit of a history buff.

After Phitsanulok, I'm off to Chiang Mai, which is in the extreme north-west of the country. Apparently it's a big city in the middle of the mountains, so I'm planning on using it as a "base camp" for a few days, as I make day trips to check off the Lonely Planet reccomended destinations in the surrounding area (don't worry, I plan on ripping out the "temples" page in order to resist the temptation). By the time I leave Chiang Mai (probably around April 26th or so), I'll visit a few smaller towns in the north, and probably go on a couple overnight guided treks in the mountains.

I plan on crossing into Laos around May 1st, and taking a riverboat down the Mekong River to the town of Luang Prabang, which seems to be a highly-reccomended destination. I plan on spending about 1 1/2 weeks in that country, and then I'll fly down to Cambodia on about May 12th-13th. By this point, I plan on meeting back up with some friends from the India semester, and we'll do some sightseeing in Cambodia, and spend the last week or so on a beach somewhere, possibly southern Vietnam. After that, I'll likely catch a flight from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to Bangkok,where I'll get my flight back to Kolkata, and finally make my way back to Delhi to fly home.

Basically, I might as well have got the 12 year old internet cafe attendant to write that last paragraph for me - his gibberish probably would have been just as close to how my plans will actually work out. Speaking of that little Thai squirt, he's asking me in the typically polite Thai manner to get the heck out of his store, because it's closing. Those pics will have to wait- I'll try to get them up in a couple days. I'm off to eat dinner at a floating restaurant!

Cheers
Tom

The Kolkata Special: An entree of India, with a starter of Britain and globalization on the side

This is it: my last night in India (until I come back to catch my flight home from Delhi, that is). I was going to post last night, but it had been one of those days that India and I just weren't seeing eye-to-eye, and I was pretty worn out by the evening. Happens frequently enough; on this particular occasion, it was a combination of 1) my being antsy to get to Bangkok, 2) a crappy hotel room, and 3) me walking through a very Indian marketplace, crowded of course, being laughed at by everyone I ask "do you know where I can find a mosquito net."

"Where can I find a mosquito net?" Not exactly SNL material, but whatever tickles your funny bone I guess. Plus, this is India - 95% of what happens (and what is talked about) in the bazaar is totally beyond a Westerner's understanding.

All of that considered, I didn't really give Kolkata (Calcutta, for all of you politically-incorrect neo-colonial bigots) much of a chance on my first day. So, I woke up this morning determined to soak in whatever it had to offer. The day started off well: I took my first ever human-drawn rickshaw to Park Street (tourist / middle-class Indian hotspot) and had a half-decent filtered black coffee (always a nice touch!). I then proceeded to the local YWCA, and attended a church service that I'd been invited to by someone I met in the same coffee shop. Henry is a British guy doing some very interesting-sounding work with young adults and street kids in the city, and he played in the worship band of the small congregation that gets together in the good ol' Christian Association (imagine a church service happening in a YMCA / YWCA in Canada in this day and age!) After the service, we hit up a cute little all-day breakfast joint for bacon and eggs, and parted ways after visiting the Oxford bookstore, where I naturally gave into the temptation to buy yet another book that I probably won't read while I'm here.

I'm starting to identify this as a bit of a problem I have. No need for the room with the padded walls quite yet though, I don't think.

Anyways, it was almost 2:00 by this point, and there was quite a bit I still wanted to see. Now you all know how much I love recapping the things that I've done in the day, so you probably wont' be surprised that I'm going to cram it into the next 3 or so sentences. I took the Metro (French for subway) down to Kalighat, which is the site of Kolkata's holiest temple...

"Wait a minute, Tom: what the heck does Kolkata have to do with France? If the nearest French-influenced town is Pondicherry (see previous blog) 1500 kms down the coast, why is Kolkata's subway called a Metro?"

Good question: I think the answer is something along the lines of "shut up, stop asking me questions about things I don't understand, and don't interrupt!"

As I was saying, I went to Kalighat, Kolkata's holiest Hindu temple. Due to the fact that I've seen more temples than you can count on he goddess Devi's hands (see photo), I admittedly wasn't that driven to see the monument itself. Rather, I was on a mission to find Mother Teresa's hospital, which I'd heard was in the area. Sure enough, it was directly beside the temple - according to my trusty Rough Guide, the blessed Mother set it up here intentionally, so she could serve the sick and dying that came to the temple for their last rites. I could probably write a whole blog on the little that I've heard about Mother Teresa, so I won't elaborate any further. Basically, it was a really neat experience. After that , I backtracked on the Metro to the Maidan (really huge central park), and checked out the famous Victoria Memorial (rather impressive monument the Colonists built to remind themselves of their own greatness). I then went back to my slum-of-a-hostel, satisfied with what I perceived as a pretty productive day.

Now for what I'm sure is the much-anticipated analysis. From my very-limited point of view, Kolkata differs from Delhi in that instead of being a city that shows glimpses of it's past in the midst of globalization, it's a place where western culture still very much seems like a visitor in the Indian household. OK, so maybe globalization is a bit more firmly planted than that; there are just as many KFC's here than any other big Indian city. It's just that the billboards perching ominiously on the tops of 19th-century buildings still feel very out of place, and when one takes a stroll in one of the bazaars, it seems as if things must be the same as they were 40 years ago. Kind of hard to explain - I just got that vibe.

Ironically, despite it's Indian-ness, Kolkata has deeper roots in western influences than your average metropolis on the Subcontinent. The British started building it in the early 18th century, with the military enclave of Fort William central to the plans. In this sense, it's one of the newer major cities you'll find over herel although it feels like it could be hundreds of years older. The British feel coincides with the Indian culture in a strange way - everything that's old in the city feels colonial, giving it a kind of ghost-town feel in this sense. Don't get me wrong, though - it's just as alive as any other Indian city. The western influence just doesn't feel as strong as in Delhi, despite the fact that Delhi's a much older city, with a much more indigenous heritage.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to get a fill of either Mumbai (Bombay) or Chennai (Madras) during this trip, making this an incomplete series of commentaries on two of India's four metropolises. Maybe one of you will get to those places sometime soon (Jenn - Chennai???), and can add on to what I've started.

As you might have already picked up, I'm leaving for Bangkok tomorrow morning! I know that I promised a detailed itinerary, but this posting has dragged on as it is, so I think I'll leave that for next time. Signing out from the Subcontinent, I'll talk to you from Siam!

Cheers,
Tom

First edition of the "Finish Tom's Post For Him" game! (A "Tom's Too Lazy to Write His Own Blog Post" initiative)

Aaarrrgghhh......

(Use the "comments" function to finish my thought! Wohoo, this'll be fun!)