Before describing what Vesek Day is, I’ll address what many foreigners want to know: it is a dry day in Thailand? Yes, there won’t be alcohol sales on Friday, May 24 in most parts of Thailand. Vesek Day has festivities in the evening, ensuring the vast majority of alcohol serving establishments will not be serving on the 24th. Grocery stores and convenience stores also won’t be selling any beer, wine or spirits; certainly you can find someone to sell you some alcohol, this is Thailand and rules are designed to be bent. If you’ve go the shakes, have a read here regarding your options (hint, local stores with no cash registers, western owned hotels).

I am far from an expert, but having been in Thailand for Vesek Day in past years, I thought the description below from thaholiday.com seems to be a good summary of the meaning and what takes place (as least what I have seen in Bangkok):

As a predominantly Buddhist country (with 90% of the population as adherents of the faith), Thailand considers Visakah Puja or Wisakha Bucha, a public holiday. Buddhists give alms to monks, normally in the morning, and prepare for light-waving ceremonies at night. In between, the relics of Buddha are taken out of their shrines for a special bath and public veneration, and the faithful gather at the temples to make merits and offer flowers. Monks chant sacred hymns in Buddhist temples, and some even join the celebrations at Borobudur (in Java, Indonesia). The Royal Family usually attends ceremonies in various Thai provinces, while the rest of the Buddhist faithful offer food to the monks or attend Dharma lectures and view Buddhist exhibits in the cities. Lanterns made of paper and wood are released along with caged birds as a symbol of giving freedom to those who have been held against their will, and on a more personal level, to release oneself of past sins. Visakah Puja falls on May 24 in 2013.

This is a holiday celebrated throughout the ASEAN region, of course countries like Thailand with a Buddhist majority will be celebrating this holiday on a much larger scale than countries that are not predominantly Buddhist.

8:40am, send help

May 3, 2013: It’s one of those Bangkok days, 8:40 in the morning with a ‘real feel’ temperature of 37 C, that’s 99 F.

Today the heat has me, simply suffocated me on my walk to work this morning. Even Thais are sweating and complaining, a small consolation in that ‘it isn’t just the Farang thinking it’s hot.’

It’s summer now, which you treat like winter in the midwest of the USA- avoid being outside. Without a cloud in the sky today, the temperature in the sun will be a shocker.

Many days the heat doesn’t bother me, unfortunately today is one of the days that it’s sitting on me, and it would get up and leave me alone. 

water taxi on khlong san seab

Exploring Bangkok’s canals, called khlongs, is worth it. A ride on the water taxi is a must.

Khlong San Seab (or Khlong San Seap) is ideal- the water taxi has stops at ideal location all along this khlong- start or end at the Golden Mount, jump off for a short walk to the Jim Thompson House, shopping can be found at Pratunam stop, jump off at Asoke and your close to the middle of Sukhumvit. The water taxi is a great (and cheap) way to get across Bangkok, avoiding the traffic and seeing some cool sights.

khlong san seab

Take a walk along the Khlong and you can see a bit of old Bangkok, especially down near the Golden Mount where there are still many old Thai buildings. To note- the water in the Khlong is foul, the smell is less than ideal and, while the older buildings are nice, there are not ‘high society’ homes and buildings.

If you are heading down the the Grand Palace area and you’re staying around Sukhumvit or Siam, take the water taxi down, you’ll enjoy checking out the khlong and doing some sightseeing while getting down near the Choa Phraya.

Many days I find myself thinking of my grandfather as my least favorite male Homosapien- the farang on holiday (FOH)- boards the BTS Skytrain. The farang on holiday is generally clad in a tank top sporting the logo of a local beer brand, baggy shorts with at least fourteen pockets and flip flops; FOH like to travel in packs of 3-5 and do not modify their behavior according to their environment.

The tank top wearing FOH has one move that is especially toe curling, especially mouth watering as I feel I might puke and that inspires thoughts of a mass apology to all riders in the Skytrain car: sweating and in tank top, he reaches for the overhead handle to hold, shoving his armpit in an unsuspecting Thai’s face, the recipient seems to almost always be an innocent looking female commuter.

While Thais are very comfortable in close spaces and proximities, they are not comfortable with an armpit in their face. In general, Thais don’t wear tank tops.

My response to seeing the ‘armpit in the unsuspecting face’ multiple times is my typical OCD styled response: to ensure I don’t make this mistake I wear an *undershirt* and long sleeve shirt and if I do reach for the overhead handle, I cover my armpit with my ‘off’ hand.

A big thank you to the farang on holiday for the general rude, self-serving behavior, we know it’s your holiday and we’re just riding the Skytrain in it. Oh, the thank you to the farang on holiday is for adding yet another item to my OCD list.

At this point, I am so accustomed to the Bangkok way of life, which includes everything from street-side eating to paying your bills at seven-eleven, that I have basically forgotten my former way of living. The same thing happened to me in San Francisco, as a local you don’t notice the oddities of San Francisco and the people that make the city so unique; Bangkok has become the same, in a good way.

Leaving a city is easy, leaving a culture you enjoy and that you have not fully explored, grasped and understood is difficult; or, maybe not difficult, but not something I am not inclined to do at this point.

A common question I have been asked over the past three years “how could you leave San Francisco? It’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world.” San Francisco is, and will always be, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. When you live there, it becomes the center of the world. After 15 years I understood San Francisco, I was bored with my love for the city, I wasn’t exploring the city anymore, I had reduced the city to ‘my city’ centered around my neighborhood (Haight Street) and favorite places.

A benefit of living abroad has been the expansion of ‘my city.’ Bangkok as ‘my city’ started small, a comfort zone where I felt confident and filled with those who could understand my Thai, my grunting, sweating and pointing. As my confidence grew, so did ‘my Bangkok’ and then  ‘my Thailand’. I have become more comfortable, my understanding of the culture has grown, I have left the friendly confines of the ‘farang soi’s’ and been able to explore more of the real Bangkok and Thailand.

This exploration has gone from the famous- Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai and more, to the small and off the beaten path- Koh Mak, Wang Nam Kiaw, small beaches in Rayong. The more I explore Thailand, the more I feel there is to see, to experience, to understand.

I have changed my life, it’s simplified. I didn’t buy a car and rent a furnished condo, this eliminates loads of responsibility, bills and upkeep. Like many, I pay the few bills I have at seven eleven, so there is no need to even have a checking account. The simplification in my lifestyle and reduction of the multitude of issues of things like a car has added to my enjoyment of living in Bangkok.

I also eat out, mostly street-food, almost every night. I enjoy the experiences of eating out, it’s probably cheaper than going to the grocery store and buying everything to cook at home and is certainly much tastier. The widespread availability of food is great part of Bangkok and keeping things simple- it would be an odd concept for me to move back to America and not be able to find fifteen different kinds of street-food within a ten minute walk of where I live.

I no longer mull the question of ‘when’ I will leave, it has now become ‘if’ I will ever leave, the changing of ‘when’ to ‘if’ is the definitive measure of my time in Thailand- it has been great and I have grown and learned from the experience.

There are days when I miss ‘home’- many times it’s the simple aspects of life at home, like being able to speak in my native tongue or the ability to grab comfort foods quickly that I miss. Being abroad for this amount of time also brings up the topic of relevance, my views on many American issues are not up to date, I cannot put forth relevant points, arguments and facts about many of the key issues in America as I don’t watch television and my reading of American newspapers and magazines has fallen off over the past eighteen months.

What I miss about San Francisco includes: the fog, Golden Gate Park, the beer, wine and cheese; the live music (I still check the concert calendar for the Bottom of the Hill club weekly),the hills, the hipsters and the coffee houses.

Of course there are things that frustrate the hell out of me in Bangkok: motorcycles driving on the sidewalks, graft, the traffic, walking through a massive cloud of MSG from a sidewalk vender frying something up and of course there are days when it is so hot outside you just laugh. And stay inside.

There are many great countries and cultures around the world, living in one other than your own is a great experience. Living in Southern Asia has allowed me to see many different countries, 8 different countries are within a 2.5 hour plane ride. I enjoy living in Thailand, it is certainly my choice for Southern Asia. I’ve learned a great deal about Thailand, culture and the entire region during my time living here. As much as I have learned about countries and culture, I’ve leaned a lot more about myself by living here.

While remaining crap at resolutions, I’m getting better at renting a car, driving a few hours and exploring more of Thailand. It’s well worth the exploring as you can find a number of unique, beautiful places, many of which retain aspects of a more traditional Thai lifestyle that is disappearing in Bangkok.

Yes, this is Thailand and only a three hour car drive from Bangkok. This picture was taken from my hotel room, yep, scenic.

A few days before Songkran I headed Northeast to a place called Wang Nam Kiew. Wang Nam Kiew isn’t any great secret as it’s in guidebooks and know by Thais, it’s about 60 kilometers North of the Khao Yai National Park. The entire region is rolling foothills and mountains, it is truly beautiful and reminded me a great deal of Napa Valley in the way the foothills rolled along.

One of the rooms with a great deck for beer drinking while looking at the valley and stars

We stayed a nice, small, local hotel- not much English which made the experience all the more fun.  The drive up and back was ideal with smaller roads that twist and snake through and around the foothills, loads of good roadside food and great weekend markets in some of the small towns. Khao Yai National Park is under an hour away, we visited one day and did a quick hike to a waterfall.

I’m not the best beach goer, sitting in the sun for extended periods isn’t my thing. My lack of desire to sit on beaches has fueled my interest in finding some inland weekend get-aways, and Wang Nam Kiew is top of my list.

The majority of the resorts in the area are small and located off the main roads and many times they are at the end of small winding roads on the top of the foothills. Once at the resort it’s a bit of a trek back out to the main road; the result is a laid back atmosphere where most visitors are just there to relax with friends, eat in the resort restaurant and hang out.

Flowers were everywhere

The views and scenery are amazing, I was surprised this was Thailand as I felt like I was back in the Bay Area and in the Napa Valley region. The landscape alternates between brown foothills and lush mountains with loads of flowers. The stars come out- a bit of a shock after being in Bangkok where the bright city lights inhibit the view- you’re in the country, it’s dark at night and the sky was filled with stars.

Wang Nam Kiew is a great destination if you want to see a different ‘Thailand’, do a bit of hiking, some relaxing, eat some good food (Issan food) and stare at some stars.

Many Tuk Tuk drivers spend more time like this than driving

I don’t like Bangkok Tuk Tuk’s, I don’t use them.

What’s the benefit of riding in a Tuk Tuk? They have no air-conditioning, they cannot navigate between cars like a motocye, you are sucking exhaust fumes while sitting in traffic, their motors are loud and they pollute. Tuk Tuk’s don’t have meters, so each fare is negotiated and usually misunderstood; somewhere there must be a picture of a Tuk Tuk next to the word ‘tourist trap’.

The worst part for me- when a Tuk Tuk is tailing me as I walk down a busy street, like Sukhumvit, with the driver saying “hey boss, Tuk Tuk?”

Harsh? I think not, a Tuk Tuk is a novelty for tourists that becomes a low level annoyance avoided by locals.

A caveat to my Tuk Tuk avoidance- Songkran. The Tuk Tuk is ideal for Songkran and based on my recent experience, so is the Tuk Tuk driver. What better than an open air vehicle with a driver that doesn’t care if loads of water are splashed into and on his vehicle?

Tuk Tuk riding during Songkran 2013

My friends and I piled into a Tuk Tuk for a journey across Bangkok on the first day of Songkran with out ‘play water’ supplies: beers, squirt guns and extra water for re-loading. The beauty of the Tuk Tuk during Songkran: the water battles as you drive. Within three minutes we were all cold, wet and laughing as we were roundly defeated in our first water battle- a large pickup truck with at least twenty people and loads of cold water was next to us while stopped for a red-light, we got soaked, there were 2-3 inches of water sloshing around in the Tuk Tuk.

The Tuk Tuk driver managed to help us during subsequent battles, positioning the Tuk Tuk to inflict direct hits on other Tuk Tuk’s while stopped at red lights and even driving.

Songkran is the one time of year Tuk Tuk’s become the ideal mode of transpiration for anyone that wants to get across town while continuing to participate in the Songkran festivities.

]]> http://faranginbangkok.com/2013/04/17/the-tuk-tuk/feed/ 0 13.723419 100.476232 13.723419 100.476232 faranginbangkok 20121123-123659.jpg 20130417-174203.jpg http://faranginbangkok.com/2013/04/15/we-interrupt-this-hot-season-and-songkran/ http://faranginbangkok.com/2013/04/15/we-interrupt-this-hot-season-and-songkran/#comments Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:55:55 +0000 faranginbangkok https://faranginbangkok.wordpress.com/?p=1116 ]]> Monday, 15 April 2013
The hot season has been interrupted by a few major storms, water is falling from the skies and not just water guns at Songkran, oh how the rain is a welcome relief this time of year.