Thailand - Final Thoughts

This is the final word I’ll have on Thailand for the moment, just to try and wrap up the experience. We spent most of our last days on the beach but we took one trip around the island on Thursday to see what we could. It rained on Thursday so we felt it would be a good time to spend the time in a van driving around the island but unfortunately for us, the rain never seemed to let up. We started at the nearby Big Buddha and then went around to various other spots we selected from all of the information we could find on the web. Our driver, Dan was a pleasant guy that we had met previously. He gave us a lot of information about each area and Thailand as a whole. The temples or Wats were nice and much different than we were used to seeing in China but with the heavy rains, it never really had the impact that perhaps it might’ve had otherwise. As we drove around the island, we noticed the change in scenery from the heavily populated, more modern tourist areas of the island to the more local flavor of the southern side of the island. We rode through a rubber plantation and saw the taps on the trees for getting the rubber from the trees. It is similar to getting sap from trees to make maple syrup. Unfortunately for the farmers that sapped these trees, with the rain, no one would purchase the sap because it was degraded from the water. We also saw a palm tree plantation to get coconuts. It was much different as we rode around the island to see the rather remote Southern end of the island to the more densely populated and modern Northern end of the island. Dan gave us an offer to come to Thailand and stay in his home village with his family anytime we want to come back and experience the real Thailand. It sounded interesting but it wasn’t something that we could do with the kids. Take away the TV. Computer, PSPs and other games and the kids would be like meth addicts going through withdrawals…not pleasant. Although it rained practically the whole day, we still got to see many of the sights we wanted to see (at a much quicker pace).

The next two days would be back to the beach to enjoy the sun and surf. What else did we do, we rode on go karts. At the track, there were two speed options, 35 kph and 60 kph. We chose the 35 kph because it seemed the 60 kph would be a lot more speed than needed and I didn’t want the kids to be killed on a go kart track in Thailand. It was an interesting track surrounded by palm trees. While we rode, they were knocking coconuts out of the trees to keep them from dropping on people as they went by. It is a real problem for people around here and they have to ensure to keep the trees coconut free to prevent someone from being killed by one of these things. We had to wear helmets for the track which made it even more fun to ride. We started on the track and it was okay, the speed wasn’t too much but there was little in the way of tread on the tires so you would slide around the corners. While we were getting used to the speed, I would pass the kids and then slow down to keep us together and there was a lot of passing back and forth. However, Jacob then put on his game face and once he passed, it was all over. He kept the pedal down and rode like a madman. The pictures Tammy took show how serious he was in his quest to win the cup (the coconut cup). Warren somehow managed to take a turn to the left on a right hand turn and went off the course. I slowed down to be sure he was okay and he was laughing as the track workers all ran over to get him back on the course. It didn’t slow Jacob down at all and as I was slowing down to get ready to turn in on the final lap, he zipped on past me with a very nice laugh and a comment that I couldn’t hear due to my helmet but I’m sure it was some trash talking. The course was pretty small so I would’ve hated to see what the 60 kph ride would’ve been.

There were times we saw things that made us wonder about foreigners that come to these places. Much like China, tips were not commonplace and so were not expected (and unlike in the US, tips were appreciated and not figured into the salary for the people). However, we watched some Westerners and wondered what they did before they came to Thailand. One the beach, we actually saw a US older couple paying the vendor in US Dollars. US Dollars!!!! It’s like a 30-to-1 exchange and who knows how much they were paying but they were way out of bounds. How many people walk around without local currency? It was stupid because they were overpaying, perhaps they had money to throw away and didn’t really care but if that was the case, how about throwing that money my way. I’ve got two growing boys to feed.

We stopped into an English Pub one night to eat to see how the food was. It was actually really good although the kids got hamburgers, Tammy had the Thai food and I had Bangers and Mash (after all, it is a British pub right). The owner was obviously British and we spoke with him and asked why he came to Ko Samui. He indicated that after his divorce, he decided to start over and since he had traveled to Ko Samui in the past he decided that is what he would do. So we went from England to Thailand and opened up a restaurant. Can you imagine the kind of guts it takes to make a move like that? He told us about how the 15 straight days of rain impacted the businesses all over the island. They had no power for 3 days and basically stayed open just to cook the food in the freezer. He said it could’ve been much worse but the economic issues around the world have led to a big decline in the tourist trade in Ko Samui but hopefully things would get better.

The shopkeepers all around the island were so much different than we had experienced in China. In China, as soon as you walk in the door to a shop, they are asking you want you want and showing their stuff. Heck, you can’t walk by without hearing the “looka, looka” routine. It varies from place to place but it can go from just a friendly “please look in my shop” to a more direct grabbing at you to usher you into a shop. In Thailand, it was totally different. You would walk into a shop and sometimes there was no one there. The keeper might stroll in when they see someone inside but there was never an awkward silence as they watched you and waited to pounce. They gave you space if you wanted it and left you to make a decision on if you wanted to buy or not buy something. There was the haggling but we didn’t really do too much like China. In China, it’s a sport but in Thailand you didn’t feel much like going through the haggling. You could knock down the price a little and if you did, then it was okay. In China, you should always start bargaining at about ½ of the price they start (and in some cases, you need to do more than that, the bottom line is never love anything and if you think you are being overcharged, you probably are. Don’t convert the money into USD, always consider the cost for the locals and go from there.). For some shops, you had to take off you sandals before walking in just to keep the sand out. We saw one shop keeper praying outside his shop before opening one morning. He was lighting incense and bowing to his god. There was also another shop where the woman took the money we gave to her and touched it to many small idols around the front of the shop. Perhaps this was a way of thanks for the first sale of the day. It was strange to see but we didn’t stare. They were just so friendly it was like you were walking with friends shopping. In the one store where we bought many things, the woman would bring down the prices as we bought more. We didn’t ask for it but as we added, how about this, she would drop the price on another item. We bought a lot of stuff from her one day and then went back on the Saturday before we left to ensure we had everything we would want as a souvenir.

The toilets in Thailand were the cleanest toilets I had ever seen. There was never the nasty smell of a public toilet in China which is like the rest stop toilets in many places in the US. Every toilet was kept clean and smelling fresh. I don’t know how they did it but never once did you walk in to a toilet and wonder “What died in here?” Now this doesn’t mean that sometimes I knew I wasn’t at home when one of the female cleaning ladies would walk into the men’s room look at me and continue to do their job.

Overall we loved Thailand. Granted we were on an island but everyone was so laid back and it didn’t seem to have the same “chasing the $$$” attitude we see a lot in China. The people didn’t seem as concerned about having the cars, TVs, and all of the stuff. They actually seemed to value the important things, friends and family. It was so different; it was probably the best and worst vacation we’ve been on. The best because it was so relaxing, we had nothing specific to get done and did what we wanted, when we wanted. The worst because we had to leave and go back to the real world. When we got to Bangkok, we recognized immediately that we were headed back to China. We got in line to check-in to the flight to Shanghai and the Chinese were obviously too important to wait in line. Once again, they showed that they don’t understand how to queue in a line. They created their own line so they could check in first because they are so important. They also reminded us of the need to push and shove regardless of the situation. The visit to Thailand actually soured us on returning just due to what we experienced at the airport. I know it’s not all Chinese people but man, there are a lot that just feel the need to be first. We were headed back so the vacation was over the moment we set foot in Bangkok. While in Thailand, we found out that many of the hotels won’t allow bookings to come from “certain countries” because they don’t want those people around due to the attitudes the owners get from this group of people. They never specifically said which countries they were talking about but we knew. And that is where we were headed. Welcome back to China!!!