peace & sanity
back from vacation! phuket is LOVELY. bangkok is much less lovely, though fascinating. i feel so much better. in a more positive frame of mind.
i haven't finished uploading my photos yet. they're almost done! hopefully tomorrow night i'll finish labeling everything and will post the link here. i took almost 1000 photos. don't worry. i won't post them all. ~lol~
bangkok was a little disorienting. we only had an afternoon, a night, and a morning to hang out. we stayed in the Silom area of town, in the southern part of central bangkok near the river. got to see lumpini park, a night market, lots of strippers, many hookers, and nastyoldfatwhitemen. the next day we rode the skytrain, took a river tour, and saw wat arun - the temple of dawn. that's it. :( but, it gave me a good idea what bangkok is like. i want to go back to see chinatown, a couple other wats (temples), the royal palace, and the floating market.
there were so many foreigners there! i wasn't expecting that. there are so few foreigners in cheonho. it's been a while since i've seen so many white people. i kept thinking i was seeing people from home. ~lol~
the sex trade really bothered me. Rant time! *o* the oldfatwhiteman stereotype is dead on. if any of you saw boats on a river at the guthrie lab last year, i have to say that peter hanson is far too handsome to play that role. god, there were so many old, fat, nasty, white men with young asian girls draped all over them. it was beyond disturbing. added bonus, since rod's white and i'm asian though obviously not thai, we got the worst looks, especially in bangkok. leers, disgust, censure, open stares.... gah. seeing the old white men with the girls was the worst, though. i don't think i saw any children, thank god, though some of the girls looked barely 18. the night market we went to was flanked on both sides by strip clubs and bars, with doors wide open. men carrying "pussy show" laminated sheets shoved them in your face and followed you down the street, trying to persuade you to partake. yay. by the end of the night i wanted to shoot them. and the old fat white guys. if they didn't have a girl, they sat in bars alone and just **looked**. i can't even begin to convey the sleeziness of that look in words. plus, many of the girls i saw were literally hanging on the men, laughing and dancing and making the guy feel like the king of the world.
argh, more on this later. it seems like there's a strange love-hate relationship for white people in korea and likely in thailand too. people want the power and respect and money they think those from predominantly white cultures have, and at the same time they hate the overbearing foreigners. gak, i'm not verbalizing very well and am probably writing myself into a hole. for the record, i don't hate white people. or white guys. or old, fat, white men. 'kay? i dislike the ones with an asian fetish. or people who think i'm a prostitue 'cuz i'm with a white guy. gak.
ANYWAY, rant, over. phuket was lovely. we avoided the seedier areas and stayed on the beach. ^o^ we stayed on karon beach. since it was monsoon season, there were very few people there, especially on karon. it did rain a bit for three of the days we were there, but that was okay. we went on three tours, one sea canoeing in phang na bay to the island hongs (caves), one on an educational safari of sorts where we got to ride an elephant, and one speedboat tour out to the phi phi islands, maya bay (where "The Beach" was filmed), and khai nok island. i got some sun, and even wore a bikini (shocker. i'm usually the one wearing jeans and a sweater while everyone else is in shorts and tanks.)
here are a few of my favorite photos.
bangkok ~ the river and wat arun
bugger it all. blogger isn't working. more photos in a bit. ^o^
love,
~sara
i haven't finished uploading my photos yet. they're almost done! hopefully tomorrow night i'll finish labeling everything and will post the link here. i took almost 1000 photos. don't worry. i won't post them all. ~lol~
bangkok was a little disorienting. we only had an afternoon, a night, and a morning to hang out. we stayed in the Silom area of town, in the southern part of central bangkok near the river. got to see lumpini park, a night market, lots of strippers, many hookers, and nastyoldfatwhitemen. the next day we rode the skytrain, took a river tour, and saw wat arun - the temple of dawn. that's it. :( but, it gave me a good idea what bangkok is like. i want to go back to see chinatown, a couple other wats (temples), the royal palace, and the floating market.
there were so many foreigners there! i wasn't expecting that. there are so few foreigners in cheonho. it's been a while since i've seen so many white people. i kept thinking i was seeing people from home. ~lol~
the sex trade really bothered me. Rant time! *o* the oldfatwhiteman stereotype is dead on. if any of you saw boats on a river at the guthrie lab last year, i have to say that peter hanson is far too handsome to play that role. god, there were so many old, fat, nasty, white men with young asian girls draped all over them. it was beyond disturbing. added bonus, since rod's white and i'm asian though obviously not thai, we got the worst looks, especially in bangkok. leers, disgust, censure, open stares.... gah. seeing the old white men with the girls was the worst, though. i don't think i saw any children, thank god, though some of the girls looked barely 18. the night market we went to was flanked on both sides by strip clubs and bars, with doors wide open. men carrying "pussy show" laminated sheets shoved them in your face and followed you down the street, trying to persuade you to partake. yay. by the end of the night i wanted to shoot them. and the old fat white guys. if they didn't have a girl, they sat in bars alone and just **looked**. i can't even begin to convey the sleeziness of that look in words. plus, many of the girls i saw were literally hanging on the men, laughing and dancing and making the guy feel like the king of the world.
argh, more on this later. it seems like there's a strange love-hate relationship for white people in korea and likely in thailand too. people want the power and respect and money they think those from predominantly white cultures have, and at the same time they hate the overbearing foreigners. gak, i'm not verbalizing very well and am probably writing myself into a hole. for the record, i don't hate white people. or white guys. or old, fat, white men. 'kay? i dislike the ones with an asian fetish. or people who think i'm a prostitue 'cuz i'm with a white guy. gak.
ANYWAY, rant, over. phuket was lovely. we avoided the seedier areas and stayed on the beach. ^o^ we stayed on karon beach. since it was monsoon season, there were very few people there, especially on karon. it did rain a bit for three of the days we were there, but that was okay. we went on three tours, one sea canoeing in phang na bay to the island hongs (caves), one on an educational safari of sorts where we got to ride an elephant, and one speedboat tour out to the phi phi islands, maya bay (where "The Beach" was filmed), and khai nok island. i got some sun, and even wore a bikini (shocker. i'm usually the one wearing jeans and a sweater while everyone else is in shorts and tanks.)
here are a few of my favorite photos.
bangkok ~ the river and wat arun
bugger it all. blogger isn't working. more photos in a bit. ^o^
love,
~sara
posted by smochs at 10:43 PM
5 Comments:
Sounds like a very interesting trip! Can't wait to see more pics and hear more stories!
My friend Angie is in Bangkok, Thailand right now. She just got there a month ago or so. She's a missionary in some exceptionally seedy areas. I worry for her. Should I?
Keep up the great blogs!
Tara
Wow! Thanks so much for the summary. It's fascinating to see Thailand through your eyes - esp. the sex trade aspect. It's sort of what you hear, and expect, but you never know how much it's being sensationalized in the media. But I'm sure I'd react in a similiar way. Glad you had a nice time in Phuket! Sounds like a great vacation.
Love,
Jeany.
Glad you had fun and are feeling more rested. I'm so jealous of all of your traveling! :) Spending a week in the UP just doesn't rate as exotic. Of course, I don't get mistaken for a hooker when I'm there, thank God. I wish those men could live for a day as one of those girls. Perhaps a taste of their own disgusting medicine would do some good.
Take care of you!
Hey girl! Ditto what all the other ladies have said. Ugh about the icky old fat ugly slimy gross white guys. And it's so sad for the young women there. And for anyone else who gets caught in the crossfire like you and Rod did. Ugh. It sounds like the rest of the trip was quite an adventure, though. How was the language barrier issue? Would you ever go back? And be a guide for those of us who'd love to go? :) Thanks for the new post and lovely photos. I think photography could be a nice little side business for you... :)
tara! ~ wow, how long is your friend there for? it would be so cool to live in all of that, such an experience! don't worry too much. it's just seedy. certainly different from home. is she having a good time?
dude, jeany, you'd have been pissed, i think. oi. that's all i can say. but ohohoh, the rest of thailand was so beautiful and fun.
meeeeeeeeeeel ~ your grand cayman photos are super cool! i want a giant sand crab in my front yard someday. maybe we can shellac it or something so it stays good? ~lol~ i hope those old men are reincarnated as slugs or male bugs that are eaten by the females after sex. or as rocks. gak.
stephanie!!! ~ how's school?? you know, tons of people spoke english there, in bangkok and on phuket. phuket is such a tourist destination, i'm not surprised, but i was surprised in bangkok. man, i'd go back, definitely. i'd only need a day or two in bangkok, but i'd love to go back to phuket and krabi and phi phi and lots of other islands someday. :)
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