Thai Shock

I remember how naive I was before I went to Thailand. Firstly, I knew nothing then of Southeast Asia and Thai cuisine had not yet caught on in Japan or the States. I was an exchange student protected in Japan, ready for a real adventure. The ultimate goal was the island of Koh Samui (which bore the slogan it ain't what it used to be but it's still worth it). That slogan probably lasted thirty years before the last hopeful backpacker had to admit it's now Club Med beach to beach.

Still, I did many things on that island; I caught a beautiful and big bright green tropical fish that we had for dinner. I discovered the durian Mecca of Southeast Asia in the village of Surat Mai, I chased down and with a rock killed a chicken that we made into curry, and I went to the most fantastic seafood restaurant of my life there.

But this anecdote is not about Koh Samui and the famous night boat to Sura Thani. It's more about Bangkok. You see, I distinctly remember us as a bunch of ignorant college kids in Hong Kong the night before we were to depart to Bangkok. We were eating in an outdoor market/restaurant and everything- the glasses, the chopsticks, the plates, were, well, just plain filthy and unsanitary. As was the concrete beneath our feet. Everything stunk too.

One of friends knowingly remarked, Just wait until we get to Thailand. You ain't seen nothing yet! It was very anti-climatic of him to say that though. Bangkok (twenty years ago, mind you) was indeed poor, polluted, and crowded, it was also very clean, colorful, and the people were energetic and happy. Buddhas were at every corner, and everyone was grinning. I fell in love with a world that deep in my subconscious I had been longing for. The only problem was that it was February and it was HOT! I remember as I was nearly about to pass out at a temple a middle aged macho guy coming up to me and proudly saying, My country is hot! That voice still echoes in my mind as surely as he has grown old.