August 19th-Reflections on Bangkok
August 19, 2005-Bangok, Thailand
Back again in Sin City, where the good, the bad, and the ugly all seem to co-exist in some sort of symbiotic symmetry. Malcolm and I are taking it all in, including the exhaust smoke which veils the city like a protective cloak.
This city is intense, no doubt about it. The heat is like nowhere I have ever been to before and we are in the middle of the monsoon season. It is thick and when the sun comes out it hits you like an open oven. You can not drink enough water to keep up with the sweat pouring out of your body as your clothes become damp and dank.
The environmental problem here is huge like all the other South Eastern Asian countries, including Bali. Litter is everywhere including the rivers and canals. People literally use the streams behind their houses to dump the trash. In Bali, if something isn’t done soon, I think in 10 years it may resemble a small garbage dump. Trash cans don’t seem to exhist here, when I have a water bottle, I sometime walk for a mile before finding somewhere to put it.
Amputees, glaucoma victims whose eyes appear pupil-less and empty, young mothers with starving children, and beggars covered in sut, their skin barely visible through the grime reach their hands out to me with a desperation in their eyes which seems to tell me that they are about to give up. I give what I can and walk on, but where is the line??? My heart feels their pain for that moment when our eyes meet and I see myself and I see you and I see God. I walk on and give thanks for my health and the love that surrounds us everyday. This is probably nothing compared to what I hear we will encounter in Cambodia and especially India where the poverty is debilitating.
A 12 hour bus journey awaits us tommorow morning at 7AM when we travel to Seam Reap, Cambodia, the home base for 4 days at one of the most incredible religious monuments every made…Angkor Wat. I have been waiting for this pilgrimage of sorts for years and I can only imagine what it will be like in person.
We have been getting up fairly early to fit in our busy days, and being witness to the early morning in Bangkok is a spectacle not to be missed. The sellers preparing their wares, outdoor markets coming alive, and the thousands of food vendors wheeling out their carts onto the streets for the days first customers as the streets fill with motorcycles is an amazing experience. This morning, I journeyed by foot, skytrain, and bus to the modern dental hospital on Sukhumit Rd. The Dentists there are western trained and the equipment is just as good as what you would find in the west. I had 4 fillings done today for what it would cost to have 2 done in America even with dental insurance. If any of you have some major work to be done, I would highly suggest this place, friends of mine clued me into it and I had a great experience.
We have yet to journey outside Bangkok as we have just used it as our stop over point for our other visits but am looking forward to going up to the North and to the South when we return from Cambodia and Laos. It is easy to get impatient and discouraged here with the heat, the exhaust smoke, and the sheer number of people, but Thailand, the land of the Siamese Dream has so much more to offer.
Back again in Sin City, where the good, the bad, and the ugly all seem to co-exist in some sort of symbiotic symmetry. Malcolm and I are taking it all in, including the exhaust smoke which veils the city like a protective cloak.
This city is intense, no doubt about it. The heat is like nowhere I have ever been to before and we are in the middle of the monsoon season. It is thick and when the sun comes out it hits you like an open oven. You can not drink enough water to keep up with the sweat pouring out of your body as your clothes become damp and dank.
The environmental problem here is huge like all the other South Eastern Asian countries, including Bali. Litter is everywhere including the rivers and canals. People literally use the streams behind their houses to dump the trash. In Bali, if something isn’t done soon, I think in 10 years it may resemble a small garbage dump. Trash cans don’t seem to exhist here, when I have a water bottle, I sometime walk for a mile before finding somewhere to put it.
Amputees, glaucoma victims whose eyes appear pupil-less and empty, young mothers with starving children, and beggars covered in sut, their skin barely visible through the grime reach their hands out to me with a desperation in their eyes which seems to tell me that they are about to give up. I give what I can and walk on, but where is the line??? My heart feels their pain for that moment when our eyes meet and I see myself and I see you and I see God. I walk on and give thanks for my health and the love that surrounds us everyday. This is probably nothing compared to what I hear we will encounter in Cambodia and especially India where the poverty is debilitating.
A 12 hour bus journey awaits us tommorow morning at 7AM when we travel to Seam Reap, Cambodia, the home base for 4 days at one of the most incredible religious monuments every made…Angkor Wat. I have been waiting for this pilgrimage of sorts for years and I can only imagine what it will be like in person.
We have been getting up fairly early to fit in our busy days, and being witness to the early morning in Bangkok is a spectacle not to be missed. The sellers preparing their wares, outdoor markets coming alive, and the thousands of food vendors wheeling out their carts onto the streets for the days first customers as the streets fill with motorcycles is an amazing experience. This morning, I journeyed by foot, skytrain, and bus to the modern dental hospital on Sukhumit Rd. The Dentists there are western trained and the equipment is just as good as what you would find in the west. I had 4 fillings done today for what it would cost to have 2 done in America even with dental insurance. If any of you have some major work to be done, I would highly suggest this place, friends of mine clued me into it and I had a great experience.
We have yet to journey outside Bangkok as we have just used it as our stop over point for our other visits but am looking forward to going up to the North and to the South when we return from Cambodia and Laos. It is easy to get impatient and discouraged here with the heat, the exhaust smoke, and the sheer number of people, but Thailand, the land of the Siamese Dream has so much more to offer.
posted by Sagedrummer at 12:20 AM
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