BANGKOK, BUMRUNGRAD & BURKAS

Friday, 15 January, 2010

We arrive at the newly renovated Bangkok airport after an easy 4-hour Air Asia flight from Denpasar.   The airport's curved steel architecture is impressive and its clean art-lined interior is a pleasure for the eye.  We find a cab and I show the driver the address we're going to.  Eugene and Kajorn, our hosts (hereafter referred to as E & K), have thoughtfully provided directions in both English and Thai.  Nevertheless, the driver is stumped.  Only after we call Eugene at work does he understand how to get there.  Hats off to Eugene for speaking Thai, albeit with a heavy Dutch accent.

After Bali's crazy motorcycle-clogged traffic we're amazed at how few motorcycles we see on the road.  And like a couple of old country hicks in a big city we marvel at Bangkok's wide multi-lane highways, and orderly traffic (at least on the highways).  Funny how it takes only a year in Bali to forget about "real" highways.  We had been warned about time-consuming traffic jams and ruthless drivers, and we certainly experienced those too, but overall our first trip through Bangkok is surprisingly pleasant.

When we  arrive at Eugene and Kajorn's "Supreme Elegance" condo in the Sathorn district we're in for another surprise.  What an incredible place they have!  On the 3rd floor of a 7-floor building, the interior is in welcoming Asian Contemporary, light-filled and spacious with warm hardwood floors.  Kajorn has prepared the master bedroom for us, complete with fresh towels, soaps, a "Supreme Elegance" note pad, and even a beautiful white shawl as a gift for me.  Such sweetness!  We make ourselves comfortable, taking in the art works, books, and Buddha  altars, and wait for E & K to come home from work.  So happy to see them.  By then we're really hungry and they take us to a Chinese chain restaurant around the corner.   It's chockful  with diners, loud, and busy, but the food comes quick and is great.  We eat our fill and walk back home, passing by the Blind Masseurs spa where E & K get their Thai massages every Sunday afternoon.  I immediately sign up for one.

Saturday, 16 January, 2010

E & K prepare us an extraordinary breakfast: poffertjes (the last box left from their trip to Holland last month); a yummy fruit salad of mango, papaya, pomegranite, banana with yoghurt dressing;  fruit & vegetable smoothies; scrambled eggs on whole wheat toast, croissants... and more I think, but such an abundance I have difficulty remembering everything.  Cheese, yes, cheese, aged Gouda... delicious.

E & K then take us on a tour of two temples, the Wat Suthat and the Wat Pho temples:  
The Wat Suthat temple is a beautiful temple recognizable by the decorative horn-like  protrusions along its roofs. The cloisters in the inner wall are lined with 156 gilded Buddha statues.  It's a working temple, housing a magnificent sitting Buddha and housing  many working  monks, as well.   Because Kajorn has trouble finding a parking place we have to cut our visit short but not before Phil and I receive a water blessing and a protection bracelet from one of the monks.   Waiting outside for Kajorn to pick us up we have a chance to view the Giant Swing.   Since the swing part was removed in 1932, only the giant arch is left.  The story is that  at the annual thanksgiving ceremony for the rice harvest, young daredevil monks would ride the swing high in the air (a dizzying 80 feet in the air) to try and grab a bag of silver coins with their teeth.  This extreme sport was rightfully stopped after several young monks fell to their death.

After Wat Suthat E & K take us to lunch at "In Love" restaurant on the river where Kajorn provides us with four enormous bags of shredded bread to feed the fish with.  It's a Buddhist act of charity.  You can indulge in another popular act of charity by going to the market next door and buying the fish, eel and other water creatures that are being kept alive in containers of water, and releasing them back into the river.  It's supposed to create good karma.  Our good karma will have to come from eating asparagus, crab fried rice, tamarind soup, and fried sea bass.  Dessert is warm bananas in coconut cream.  I feel like we're eating our way through Bangkok.

After lunch we take the river boat to  Wat Pho temple, the famous temple of the Reclining Buddha.  It's Bangkok's largest temple.  The gold-plated Buddha is enormous.  Its feet alone are 9 ft long and are exquisitely decorated in mother-of-pearl illustrations of the auspicious characteristics of the Buddha.   Talking about feet -- there were two separate places for storing shoes: one long row of wooden cubbyholes for foreigners' shoes and another open shelving  for Thai.  Funny.  Maybe it has something to do with preventing theft?  But that would assume that foreigners wear more "stealable" shoes than Thai.  The opposite may be the case.

Sunday, 17 January, 2010

Eugene takes us on a tour of Bumrungrad Hospital.   It does not look in  the least like a hospital, more like a complex of fancy hotels. Lobbies that soar way up, men and women in flowing middle eastern dress, smiling young Thai in form-fitting, irridescent silk suits showing people around, nurses in crisp whites, and head-scarved muslim clerks, Starbucks, eateries, and book stores in every building,  aromas of coffee and cake wafting throughout the lobbies... This is  the first hospital ever I don't mind walking around in!

After Bumrungrad, we go shopping forAcer laptops.  After one year of sharing a laptop with Phil, I feel like I'm due one of my own, and have set my sights on something I can easily cart around, something like a little Acer Aspire.   Since electronics are much cheaper outside of Indonesia,  Bangkok is the place to buy one.  Eugene is eyeing the newest of the newest Acer (not even published yet) and I fall in love with the cutest little Acer "Baby" laptop.  Excellent price.  Deal.   Mission accomplished.

But now time is racing by and we have a date with "The Blind Masseurs."  We catch a quick bite to eat (fried rice is always a good bet) and rush to our appointment.  The door to the spa opens with a loud imitation bird song and we're taken upstairs to get our feet washed.  The four of us (E & K, Phil & me) will be worked on simultaneously in Room 9, a small rectangle of a place with 5 low beds.   No gentle background music or ambient lighting here.  It's your basic neon-lit concrete box.  The A/C is on full blast and I'm glad when Kajorn resolutely turns it off.  We're issued a set of colorful loose "pajamas" to change into (Thai massage is done fully dressed and without oil) and soon our four masseurs are guided to the persons they're to work on.  I get a chubby young woman with a half smile, half frown on her face.  She tells me her Thai name which I cannot pronounce.  Fortunately for me she also has a  nickname, April.  April sways her whole body into every move, methodically,  rhythmically.  The other masseurs,all males,  don't sway.  As April leans her weight into me at the end of every move, her eyes roll upward until only the whites show.  I wish I could grab my camera to catch the moment but my camera is out of reach in my purse and I don't really want to interrupt my massage.  At the end I must say that even though it was a nice experience it still left me feeling a bit unfinished.  Was it not strong enough?  Not sure what was missing.  Maybe I should get another one, from one of the male masseurs this time.

There's no resting after the massage because we're to meet some friends of E & K at  Lumpini Park for a pop concert by the Bangkok Symphony.  It's a gorgeous park, trees layered with colorful  orchids, families strolling in groups, and the weather is perfect for a night of Music in the Park.  We pass an enthusiastic crowd of young people doing some arobic kind of  line dancing.  Their music is loud and pounding and I wonder if it will interfere with the classical music we'll be listening to.  But I need not worry.  The park turns out to be large enough to accommodate both events.  The music is enjoyable and the company is fun.  When the orchestra goes through a medley of songs from "My Fair Lady," Eugene and Phil sing along, trying their best to remember the lyrics.  Since song lyrics are beyond my capacity, I just clap my hands to the beat.  For applause I do my very un-ladylike whistling with my fingers.

Some interesting notes:

• The conductor of the Bangkok Symphony is also a pop singer.  He sang a couple of songs.  Not bad.
  
• We get to the park around 6:00 PM and I notice people in the park standing at attention.  Eugene tells me that every day at 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM the Thai Nationa Anthem is played in schools and government offices and people stop what they're doing to stand at attention.  Apparently the Antem is broadcast through the park as well.

After the concert we have dinner at a Chinese restaurant across from the park.  We meet up with Marco, an expat from Zurich, Switzerland, who has lived in Thailand for 16 (or is it  20 years?).  We also meet  Tanyalak Kamolnetpisut, called Arr for short, and another young woman named Yaowapa Metmoulee or Ying whom we had met earlier.   Ever tried pronouncing Thai names?  No wonder many go by a nick name.
I know this is silly, but thinking about names again: I've now started asking people for their full names and if they are on Facebook.  If they are, I can look them up and get to know them better.  At least that's my excuse.  Eugene is on FB, Kajorn is not.  Ying is, but Arr and Marco are not.  It's also interesting to me how intense people can get about NOT being on Facebook.

Monday, 18 January, 2010

We take a cab to Bumrungrad Hospital,a 20-minute ride. Phil has his first 2 appointments today.  Right now I'm sitting in the waiting room of the Cardiology Clinic.  I'm surrounded by Arab families from Oman and Dubai.  We're watching an Arab soap opera on one of the many wide screen TV's.  Black burkas rustle around me.  Eugene had told us that the Arab Emirates chose Bumrungrad to set up their medical complex.   40% of the patients are Arabic, 50% Thai.  How's that for percentages coming from a mathematically-challenged person like me?

Two women in black burkas sit down across from me.  I find out that they're sisters and are accompanied by their brother.  I ask if I can take their picture.  The women both say no, but their brother tells them it's okay.  In fact he starts posing for a photo himself.  The women finally relent but much to my dismay they remove their veils, showing their faces.  I wanted to photograph them in their massive black burkas with just a slit for their eyes, but what can I say?  I take their picture.   The brother wants to see the photos and promptly changes his mind.  "No download!" he warns me, frowning, "Delete! Delete!"  I tell him I can only delete those two photos after I download all of my photos, but his English is limited.  He grabs my camera and tries to fiddle with it.  I jerk the camera back from him and show him that there is only a "Delete All" button.  I cannot delete just the two pictures of him with his sisters.  He doesn't like it.   I hold out my hand to him and tell him, "I promise I will delete the photos."  He takes my hand half-heartedly.  Only later do I realize the problem.  He is charged with keeping the honor of his sisters.  The photo of his sisters showing their faces in public with him by their side is therefore a big No-No.

That afternoon I find a copy of the Asian Literary Review.  Wow, I so enjoy the writing and art, I check the price of a subscription.  Oops, $60 per year for Indonesia.  Deal breaker.  It did inspire me, though.  I feel myself longing to get back to more creative endeavors.  So far I've been saying I'm too busy with running the villa, yada yada, etc...
 
Tuesday, 19 January, 2010

Despite the scheduling snafu this morning that interfered with my plan to go to the Indonesian Embassy to apply for our new visas, everything else went perfectly.  Phil keeps getting more and more impressed by the thoroughness of his doctors and their medical knowledge.  Eugene had told us that Bumrungrad doctors are the cream of the crop and that certainly is bearing out.  I'm glad Phil is feeling confident with his choice of medical care.

I ran into the brother of the burka-clad sisters today.  He was a changed man.  He saw me first and waved, then turned to his sisters and they waved.   Guess all is well again.
We pick up some sandwiches at Au Bon Pain, one of the bakeries at the hospital and go home.