Will they have roads made of mud? Do they really put amphetamines in the buckets? Will I have to wash my clothes in the shower every day?
These were among questions I asked myself before I came to Thailand. Aside from a route penciled on a map in a Lonely Planet book, I arrived in this country unprepared. With no idea what to expect I bought my plane ticket almost on a whim. I was certain that I wanted to go somewhere and do something, but where and what were secondary thoughts.
My earliest idea about Thailand, when I was still in primary school, was that it was the place where all ties were made. I imagined a country consisting of nothing but grass where individual ties grew as strange fruits from little trees. After that revelation I didn’t give Thailand much thought until I was at university.
Everybody seemed to have been there, but all I could get out of people were that the parties were hedonistic and went on all night. Could that really be it? Just parties?
A friend of mine went to Thailand on vacation and almost didn’t come back he loved it so much. His stories about his trip around Southeast Asia were something I’d never heard before, but would come to hear countless versions of over the coming years.
I really wanted to go to Japan, but it looked too expensive to even consider. I settled for Southeast Asia and bought the Lonely Planet book. Thailand looked to be the cheapest place to live so I made that my first stop.
Before I arrived I imagined Bangkok to be made mostly of dirt tracks. I thought people would primarily live in huts and that restaurants would be in shacks. I had this romantic vision that I could be entertained for days on end just sitting on a bench. I would go on to try the whole sitting on a bench thing but found it uninspiring.
What I was not prepared for when I arrived were the heat, the enormous billboards on the drive from the airport, the vast, interwoven network of roads sprawling out in all directions, the tall buildings, the sheer density of traffic, and the immediate feeling of uselessness.
On first impressions Bangkok wasn’t the faraway land I had imagined. Ironically, it only reveals its true self once you persevere and peal back the layers. So what did you think it would be like?
u had no internet back in england man?
u poor english ppl..
The band Regurgitator recorded their album 'Tu Plang' in Bangkok and I was a fan, so I looked Thailand up in a 1976 version of encyclopedia Britannica. It was revealed to me that Thailand was seemingly teeming with monkeys and that there was a royal family. Also, apparently it was a bit humid. Many years on I saw a movie shot by Chris Doyle, 'The Last Life in the Universe" (which was fantastic http://imdb.com/title/tt0345549/), and so I had a bohemian impression of what Thai culture for westerners was going to be about before I touched down. In amongst all the show and buffoonery of those around me exploiting economic disparities, what I did not expect to find was Wally (me).
To me, Thailand in reality is a lot more chaotic and unplanned that I thought it would be. Having been to both KL and Singapore before Bangkok I was expecting the same degree of 'modern' developments, and whilst parts of Bangkok are very modern there is an awful lot of less modern in between.
In terms of business Thailand does have a lot of catching up to do, both in terms of infrastructure and attitudes. I'm constantly frustrated by the time it takes to get anything done; things that would take a few minutes in the UK take days here.
But this is Thailand and why should we expect things here to be the same as elsewhere? It's part of the charm and character of the people and the country.
Wow Matt, that's really interesting. I think I traveled to BKK before I could even walk, so your question doesn't really apply to me; however, my parents recall a time when it wasn't as developed and much smaller.
In my entire 25 years, I've never been away from home. I figured Bangkok was going to be my life's first great big adventure. Well, the city never failed to deliver. Everything in Bangkok is an adventure for this small town gal.