March 15, 2003, Taungoo, Burma.
As soon as we entered Thailand on March 1, we had the feeling to have arrived in the "second world" as opposed to the third world we'd been in since China. New cars, good roads, everything cleaner and more modern. We spent our first night in Trat, an hour from the border by minibus. We had a nice and cozy meal at the local night market and Papa was able to use his "survival Thai" to communicate with the vendors. The next morning we boarded a comfy bus to Bangkok and took a taxi to a hotel near Kao San Road. Too expensive for my parents, they took turns to find a cheaper place, but found out that many of the 100+ guesthouses in the area were full. They settled for Wild Orchid GH for US$ 15/night.
Welcome to Bangkok's human zoo! Kao San Road and its adjoining streets is THE centre for backpackers and since Thailand, with its beaches and adventure sports, is Asia's most popular tourist destination, you can get the picture. Not only are there people from most "first world" countries, but also quite a few have brought their kids in tow (somebody should start a daycare centre...). Is Thailand becoming an alternative to the Costa Brava or Florida? People adorn all kinds of hair styles, tattoos, wear a mix of hippy-beach-Asia clothing and all they do is eat, drink and shop, day and night. Besides the numerous guesthouses, restaurants and cafes, the street is packed with vendors of fresh fruit, pancakes, sate, souvenirs, (second hand) books, clothing, all sorts of gadgets, CD's, backpacks (often copies of major brands), silver jewelry, tailor-made suits, etc. etc., as well as many convenience stores, travel agents and photo labs, not to forget the internet and massage places everywhere. You could do all you ever needed done right here without seeing anything of Bangkok... After 6 pm the street is closed to cars (mostly taxis and Tuk-tuks), at 10 pm vendors set up their wares on the ground in the centre of the road and 12 am is probably the busiest time on Kao San Road! And we delved right into it. The Wild Orchid GH was OK, but we found better value at D&D's Inn, right in the middle of Kao San, but with a rooftop pool; same price and more convenient.
Most of our days in Bangkok were filled with taxi rides, shopping for clothing and other necessesities, internet time, slide processing, etc. and eating ice cream! We went to a hospital recommended by the Canadian embassy to have our teeth checked and cleaned and a doctor also checked me out (good health, but need to eat more...). With Papa I visited the local animal zoo (not all that special). We had a surprise encounter with Eugene and Yuka whom we last saw in Zongdian (Yunnan) and during dinner we talked about India (where they just had come from), Laos and Cambodia (where they were off to). We took our meals in all sorts of restaurants, mostly Thai eateries, sometimes western food (pizza) and even a Japanese restaurant. Papa even decided to have a suit and some shirts made given the very interesting prices.
Time was also spent on organizing the next legs of our trips, Burma, Sri Lanka and India. This meant buying (and reading) second hand LP guidebooks and tickets to Rangoon and Colombo, but also getting visas to Burma and India. As you may know, Mommy, being born in Karachi, was told by the Indian consulate in Toronto that she couldn't get it there in time for our departure for Asia, but that she should reapply in Bangkok where they would check with Toronto on the status. After standing in line for an hour the officer behind the counter told us "no problem" at first, but when he saw "Karachi", he said "oh, problem... come back in six months!" So we thought, "forget India and let's go to Africa". We returned though another day to speak with a consular officer about our case and his first reaction when seeing the "visa applied" stamp by Toronto, was simply and surprisingly, "you cannot get a visa." Mommy then was about ready to punch him on the nose, as well as some of the other innocent Indian bystanders (no wonder they think she might be a threat to their country...). He later apologized and suggested we do apply again and he would indeed check with Toronto. So our hopes were back up again even though we had to wait till coming back from Burma.
On March 10 we left for the airport for our 6pm flight to Rangoon. Unfortunately Papa forgot to remove his Swiss army knife from his daypack, so it was confiscated at the security check (no ways around it), as well as my plastic pair of scissors (quite a dramatic experience for me...). But I soon forgot all about the incident when I received some toys from the stewardess in the plane and Mommy and I were also given an orchid flower (standard on Thai International flights). At the airport in Rangoon my parents were ready to try and avoid the mandatory change of US$ 200/person into FEC (foreign exchange certificate), so that Burma's oppressive government would not get our hard currency. But we couldn't escape the teller's courteous beckoning and ended up exchanging just $ 100 each, minus a 5% "gift" to the teller. At the luggage belt we found a kind Burmese man who would take us to his guesthouse for no charge and it was one of the ones we had selected in the book. Passing some of the local sights we got to Motherland Inn 2, where we were welcomed by the Burmese friendliness my parents remembered from before (Papa went there first in 1986 and then again with Mommy in 1996).
