Bangkok/Thailand Initial Impressions

I arrived in Bangkok last night (or was it this morning?) after being up 32-34 hours straight (I don’t sleep on planes). So I haven’t seen much of Bangkok but I thought I’d go ahead and share my initial impressions, with some comparisons to Mexico.

Heat: Mexico was almost always hot and it rarely rained outside of a couple of large thunderstorms my last few days in Oaxaca. Bangkok though is hot and muggy. I walk slowly here, very slowly. And we’ve already had a big thunderstorm my first afternoon here. The upside is that there’s a lot more air conditioning here. None of the places I stayed at in Mexico had air conditioning and only a few stores had it. Here, if a place doesn’t have AC, it at least has some fans to keep things cool.

English: One of the reasons I wanted to come to Thailand is that I read it was fairly English friendly. And so far that has proved to be true. About the only person I’ve encountered who didn’t speak good English was my cab driver. And when I found that he couldn’t speak English, guess what I did??? Lapsed into Spanish! Oops.

Of course, with the increased English comes a downside. People are much more likely to approach you, wanting to sell you something (normally some sort of overpriced trip). In Mexico, if you’re not interested, you simply say “No gracias”. Here, saying “No thank you” is an invitation for further conversation. Instead, you’re supposed to simply ignore people. And it’s not considered rude to do so.

English Translations: I’ve noticed this in both Mexico and Thailand. Signs at museums or airports or other places that are translated into English often have grammatical errors. These are nice signs that someones paid a lot of money to create and yet they don’t bother to make sure that the translation is correct. Odd.

City Layouts: All of the Mexican cities I went to were designed by the Spanish. Which means that all the streets are laid out on the grid pattern. Meaning you have to try really hard to get lost, even in a city as overwhelming as Mexico City. Cities in Thailand, on the other hand, are a planners’ nightmare. There’s no rhyme or reason to the layout of the cities. Which means there’s no way I’m venturing more than a few blocks from the hotel.

City Conditions: Mexico, for all its charms, had the feel of a formerly beautiful place that has fallen on hard times and can’t seem to get back on its feet. Bangkok, at least, has a much more modern feel, with lots of skyscrapers and other modern buildings. It feels much more like a place on the rise, though one that hasn’t quite made it yet.

Drinking water: Similar to Mexico, drinking the tap water is a no-no. Instead, bottled water is the way to go (with all the environmental downsides…not sure if they recycle here). And bottled water is even cheaper here than in Mexico.

Solo travelers: In Mexico, I rarely saw anyone traveling by themselves. It seems much more common here. In fact, I think I’ve seen more Westerners eating by themselves at a restaurant in a few hours in Bangkok than I did in my entire time in Mexico.

Restaurant Service: Restaurant service seems pretty similar to Mexico. Once you’ve placed your order and the food has been delivered, the waiter/waitress disappears and never returns to your table.

Reading: Also similar to Mexico, Thailand is not a culture of readers. In fact, my guidebook says that the first Thai novel was published only 70 years ago!

Government: Thailand is one of the few places in the world that still has a monarchy, though I’m not entirely sure what the king/queen do. And it’s an oddly unstable country. In the past 70-80 years, there have been about 18 coup attempts with over half of them being successful. And with one or two minor exceptions, every coup has been completely bloodless! Along with all the coups, Thailand has had about 17 different constitutions in the past 70-80 years. Amazing that a country can survive under such unstable conditions.

Price of gas: Someone wanted to know the price of gas in Thailand. It’s about $1.10-1.15 per liter. Which would be about $4.50 per gallon.