A FEAST FOR THE SENSES

House by the Pond, Bangkok (6 November 2006) – Okay, forget all that about “no jet lag” business.

Somewhere between Narita and Suvarnabhumi, it caught up with me. A 12-hour headache and one really miserable night later, however, and I was feeling fine. Needless to say, I was most grateful to Erin, my U.S. program director and to Kim, my Thailand coordinator, for insisting I take a couple days off to adjust before beginning meetings.

With nothing official to do for two days, I explored the city, learning to get around, getting a sense of how people live, and trying to pick up a few Thai phrases and expressions here and there.

I arrived in Bangkok in my jet-lagged state around midnight at the new Suvarnabhumi airport -- a massive piece of brand new transportation infrastructure. It is rare these days for architects and engineers to be given a giant blank canvas and an even bigger budget and told to design something dramatic. But that is what happens on the few occasions when major international airports are relocated. To replace the aging Don Muang airport, the Thais drained a huge swamp and built this gigantic aviation complex in the middle of nowhere on the far outskirts of town. The airport is beautiful at night and, surprisingly (given the amount of traveler whining on-line in the Bangkok Post), really wasn’t that hard to get around in.

As we traveled along the deserted superhighway, speeding into the city, my head was pounding. The staff at my apartment, House by the Pond (off Soi 22 down from Sukhomvit), were awaiting my arrival and quickly escorted me to a room on the second floor. Disoriented and unable to figure out how to call Kay back in Raleigh, I fell into bed for a fitful night’s sleep that ended around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning with the noise of construction workers banging around a nearby building under construction.

The second floor was, fortunately, not to be a permanent location for me. I talked to the staff, who were happy to switch me to a higher floor on the other side of the building where I would gain a view and relief from any construction noise. After moving my bags up a few floors, I set to work on my “to do” list.

First on the list was to communicate with Kay. And for the life of me, I could not get the phone in my room to dial overseas. Language barriers notwithstanding, the staff explained to me how to make the call, but, as I later discovered, the telephone in my room (or perhaps the lines, or the system as a whole) is extremely temperamental, requiring multiple vain attempts to get an international call to go through. As an alternative, I used the House By The Pond’s wireless internet to send a few e-mails confirming my safe arrival.

I then went off in search of two more critical elements on the “to do” list – some aspirin and a detailed map.

For reasons not entirely clear to me in retrospect, I had chosen to leave behind our stash of BC powders, a giant bottle of ibuprofen, and all our guidebooks and maps – the idea being that Kay would bring them along with her the following week.

Nonetheless, I remembered enough about the general location of House By The Pond from having looked at satellite mapping images of the city on the Internet and a little schematic on the hotel’s website. I knew that, to explore the city, I would need to get up to Sukhomvit – one of Bangkok’s main thoroughfares.

When I first get to a city, I like to go out and walk it (rather than take a cab), just to get oriented. I find getting lost to be particularly useful because it heightens the senses and forces you to better understand your location and the relationship of the streets and landmarks around you.

The first thing I discovered was that House By the Pond was a lot further down Soi 22 than I had thought it was – almost a mile. As I walked up the soi (the Thai word for “street” or “side street”) in a direction I hoped would lead to Sukhomvit, I passed streetside food stalls serving delicious-smelling grilled meats, small shops, traditional Thai massage salons, motorcycle taxi stands, games of sidewalk chess and bottlecap checkers, and a small population of lazy dogs, all fast asleep on steps in the sun. Wonderful sights, sounds and smells – a fest for the senses,

I finally reached Sukhomvit and from there went in search of a Skytrain station – one of the stops on the modern elevated transit system that provides quick access to parts of the city.

I purchased a fare card for 30 trips and traveled to Siam station, stopping to explore a large, elegant and very new shopping complex. I quickly found a pharmacy there and purchased some aspirin. I had looked for aspirin in the area’s countless Seven Elevens (located on almost every street corner) but had been unable to find any for sale there. As it turns out, it is sold over the counter, but apparently only in pharmacies. After downing several aspirin, I went in search of snacks – grilled meat on skewers and a ginger drink. I found a map in a large bookstore in the shopping center.

From Siam station, I traveled to Saphan Taksin bridge, the last stop on the Silom Road line. The Skytrain ends there at the edge of the Chao Praya river. When I arrived, I was immediately struck by the large number of people selling beautiful arrangements of flowers in shapes that looked like cakes. There were various sizes and designs laid out on table after table as I walked toward the river. Families had spread out blankets on the ground and were making hundreds of these delicate bouquets.

Finally, it hit me. These were the krathongs of Loy Krathong – an annual celebration of the Thai people. Made of banana leaves and flowers, they contain a candle and three sticks of incense in their center. They are designed to float on the river or in a canal during the November full moon. Everyone either makes or purchases a krathong and lights the candle and incense sticks before placing it in the water. They make a wish and release their krathong, with the hope that it will stay lighted as it travels downstream.

I wandered along the river for a time in the afternoon, observing preparations for the Loy Krathong festivities. I returned briefly to my apartment and then ventured out again to the river to watch the celebration that evening. When I returned, thousands of people lined the Saphan Taksin bridge. Crowds milled about in the streets while families climbed aboard river taxies for a journey upriver.

Not really sure where the boats were going, I nonetheless paid my 50 baht and climbed aboard for a journey. Elegantly illuminated barges and boats bobbed along beside our water taxi as it churned up the Chao Praya river. Our boat traveled north, passing scores of hotels and boats hosting Loy Krathong dinners and parties. All along our path floated the lighted krathongs, riding the swells produced by the motorized river taxis.

When we reached the farthest point of our journey, alongside a beautifully illuminated temple, the passengers made their wishes and released their krathongs.

I was pleasantly surprised when I realized the river taxi was returning to the Saphan Taksin bridge, as I really had no idea how I would find my way home if it discharged its passengers at some destination upstream. Thai taxi drivers are unlikely to speak English and, as former fellow to Thailand Roz Fuse-Hall told me before I left, no one knows where House By the Pond is anyway.

When I reached the bridge, I watched a group launching fire balloons that floated lazily in the air along the river, and as the Skytrain pulled away from the station, the night sky erupted in a spectacular burst of fireworks all along the shore.