Introduction
Latin philosopher Augustine of Hippo also known as St. Augustine once said, “The world is a book and those who don’t travel read only one page”.
Going by this quote, I would say that I have surely moved on to second chapter and not just the second page. First overseas trip to Thailand: The Land of Smiles. While the name lived up to its mark as one was easily able to find smiling people all around, the fascinating culture and historical riches ensured that it captured your attention from the moment you took your first step in the country.
Early hours of Sunday, 08th September’13 we landed at Swarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. While some members from our group already had at least one visa stamp on their passport, for me or some of my other friends excitement was more about getting the Visa on Arrival and then feeling free to get absorbed in the aura of Bangkok for next 15 days. I pinched myself and reassured that all this was real. The experience of going out on an international trip with 19 other friends, to work on a live project is something one needs to go through to understand and enjoy it.
While coming out of the airport, we got free SIM-cards of a mobile network operator. What made us happier was that the Sim was already activated and it had a balance of 7 Bhat (currency of Thailand).
Operational Research: The Real Savior
After waiting for about half an hour, the vehicles from our hotel had arrived. Drivers greeted us with smile and soon we were on our way to the hotel, Krit Thai Mansion, which was a 45-minute drive from the airport. While I spent these 45minutes catching up on the sleep, the only reason to come out of the vehicle after reaching hotel premises at 3am was the imagination of an air conditioned room and a comfortable bed. Soon this imagination had to be left outside and realization of not having a room until 10am was to be accepted. We saw our plans to explore the city on Sunday being crushed.
After some convincing, the lady at the hotel reception gave us one room. Even though we felt relaxed that we now had one room, the task of adjusting 19 people in one small room along with more than 20 bags (luggage) looked impossible. Then we all realized that all of us have studied operational research and this was the time to apply all the techniques to have ‘Most Optimum Space Utilization’. Finally, it worked out well and at least 15-16 of us were able to get some sound sleep while remaining 3-4 people had to adjust and recover their energies when they got more space in morning.
Learning: No matter what the situation is, people somehow manage to adjust. Even though that day we were upset about not getting the rooms, when I think about it today or when I will think about it 10-20 years down the line, I will smile and savor the experience.
Veggie Delight at its best
Communicating with people in Thailand was an issue. People at shops do not understand English and at many places, things are also written in the local language only. While Thailand is considered as land of some amazing seafood and the cuisine is actually a delight for Non-Vegetarians, for a Vegetarian like me, Veggie Delight of Subway was there, whenever I needed food for thought. I had never loved Subway this much in my life. I also realized that ‘When in Rome, do as Romans’. Though I didn’t start eating Nov-Veg food, I tried their local street food including Noodles which did taste weird and also Salad which might not give lot of happiness to taste buds but were definitely very healthy.
While in office, I skipped lunch on 5 days out of seven because it was difficult to find Vegetarian food. On one of the two days I had lunch, I tried eating packed noodles from a 7 Eleven, but could not appreciate the taste it offered and thus had to abandon them. While my search was on to try and explore various vegetarian options, in case of unavailability, a fruits, Sub, steamed rice and salad always came to my rescue. In this search, I also tried Lebanese cuisine, Italian (prepared as per Thai taste), and during all such experiments, food did taste good.
Learning: One cannot really explore a city or a country until the time he/she has actually explored the local food. Rudyard Kilping once said, “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.”
Travel Teaches Toleration
These words are of Mr. Benjamin Disraeli (1804- 1881), a British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and dandy who twice served as Prime Minister. After visiting Thailand, I actually agree with these words. My trip to Thailand actually taught me toleration in many ways. I learnt from what I experienced over there.
When you are a pedestrian, trying to cross the road in Bangkok, you would suddenly realize that traffic has stopped for you and the driver in car will give you a smile and ask you to cross the road. This is something one would rarely experience in India. This behavior creates a situation in which car driver is tolerant enough to stop and pedestrian is tolerant enough to wait and not run and cross the road.
Another thing I observed was that even though Bangkok has lot of traffic on roads and roads are congested, one would still not hear people honking the horns of their vehicles unnecessarily. Everyone drives in lane and follow traffic rules even if that means one might have to spend few minutes extra on the road. This reflects a huge cultural difference between Indian & Thailand. People are lot more patient and tolerant and are ready to give space to others. This is also reflected when you would find even a senior official of an organization holding the door for you while you walk out of a room.
My trip also taught me toleration in more ways. While searching for Vegetarian food, at times we had to walk a lot, ask many people and walk again. This all was done while we did not have lunch and were searching for a place to have dinner. In such situation, we had no option other than being tolerant, even when we would try asking a local person about a place and he or she will not be able to understand what we will be speaking.
No Job is a small Job
This is something we hear in India also and something we experienced a lot in Bangkok. AT our organization i.e. Thai Optical Group, there was an employee at the executive level. He used to be there for us whenever we needed any help. At times, he was the one who used to bring water and coffee for us while we sat in conference room and worked. He never felt this to be a small task. He would leave his work and go down with us to a 7 Eleven store to help us identify Vegetarian food. When we had gone out with the team at TOG for dinner, we saw even the Managing Director of the company wait and hold the gate while everyone else walked out of the restaurant. Apart from this, even the people we met at shops or at massage centres, they felt happy about the work they did. They looked confident and satisfied about their jobs.
Language cannot be a Barrier in friendship
Just like in India, if you sit beside a cab driver in Bangkok, more often than not you will get into a conversation with the driver. On one of the days, while I was sitting in cab in the front seat, I got into a conversation with the driver, even though he did not understand English and I did not understand Thai. We talked about traffic in the city and various tourist destinations. He even made me speak with his son (who knew English) on the phone, as he came to know that I might want to visit Pattaya and he could be the one to take me there. We showed him One Rupee coin and to our surprise, he had a collection of coins of various currencies, in the cab. He showed us a coin of Turkey and gave us two coins as gift. We also acknowledging his friendship gave him a coin of Indian rupee. Mr. Thawisak also accepted only 100 Bhat, when the meter read 103 Bhat. We had certainly made a friend and it felt good, as it was a different kind of an experience.
Culture and more
Thailand has a strong culture to work and create wealth. Anywhere we went, we could find women as a part of the workforce. Be it a restaurant, ticket counter at BTS Stations or Bus Stations, even Bus conductors, as street food vendors, operating road side shops etc. women were omnipresent. They held together the spirit of a city like Bangkok.
There is strong inclination towards religion and one would find small temples outside office buildings and markets. Visit to Wat Pho, Old Bangkok was very refreshing and the calmness of the temple would soak in within no time. There was a historical city called Ayuthya, named after ‘Ayodhya’ in India.
People in Thailand were humble and always ready to help and city in general was very safe. One would not fear to walk alone late at night and working women leaving for their homes could be spotted even late at night.
T.I.T (This is Thailand)
Term coined by Bernard Trink, former columnist of Bangkok Post Nightlife, it is often used by expats to share various bizarre and unforgettable events that one might encounter in Thailand.
You are excited to see some great looking street food at a distance and you run towards it only to find that it is fried scorpions and frogs with some kind of sauce being served. This is Thailand
You visit a famous shopping street, buy loads of stuff from it and feel proud of your bargaining power. Your friend meets you in evening and shows you the same T-Shirt you brought for 400 Bhat actually cost him only 200 Bhat and another friend actually got it for 180 Bhat. This is Thailand
You visit a club, find a pool table & move on to play. You meet a Russian who is playing against you and you defeat him convincingly. He smiles, shakes hand and says, “You are Indian”. This is Thailand
You visit a shop, trying to bargain the price while speaking slowly and making your English sound like Thai. The person replies in Hindi, “Iss sey kam nahi hoga”. You are left surprised. This is Thailand
You come across various idles of Lord Vishnu & Lord Ganesha at temples & in shops. This is Thailand
Mark Twain once said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
To open up your mind, to discover a culture which would remind you of yours at times but will still look different & to finally kill your narrow mindedness & have charitable views, travel to Thailand.
It is a land of smiles, serenity and surprises. It will hook you to itself and make you feel guilty as you prepare to leave the place. Within a matter of days, you will start relating yourself to places and events.
This is Thailand…
