Bangkok’s airport was fancy, excessively so—although this made more sense after we saw the rest of the city. In Bangkok, there were many upscale malls, which were so fancy that one had a Rolls Royce sitting in the middle of the mall. It is a testament to Siam’s economic inequality. Practically none of the stores in the mall were Thai. While there were watch, car, and fashion companies based in Paris, New York, and Rome, none was based in Bangkok. Similarly, the food in the malls was American and from other places, but not Thai.
The economy seemed perfectly designed to suck as much money as possible out of tourists, and one of the ways it did this was scams. When we rode in a taxi, the driver would refuse to turn on the meter and would charge about three times a reasonable meter rate, and some would only take you three quarters of the way there, leaving you stranded with no idea where you were. Of course, not all taxi drivers did this, but it was pretty common (it exists in other countries as well). There are other scams too. We almost fell for one, but we escaped unscathed. We had planned to go to the Grand Palace—however we had to cross a busy road, which in Bangkok is a nearly impossible feat. It took us thirty minutes (no exaggeration) to get across. When we got to the palace, a man standing on the side told us it was closed (which was true). He then invited us to go on a boat tour. But he said we had to go on his boat, which was cheaper than the other ones (which was false). We didn’t fall for it, and came back the next day when the palace was open.
When we arrived at the palace, it was jam packed with tourists. We decided to go see the Emerald Buddha, which is a famous in Thailand and the main reason we were there. We looked at the incredible palace, and then moved on to an amazing mural that stretched the length of a really long wall. It showed the mystical story of the Ramakian, a sacred Thai Buddhist text. It was filled with outlandish beings and many small details.
We then went to see the building with the Emerald Buddha. Because of all the hype, we expected a giant sculpture. However, it turned out to be an elaborate structure with a small Buddha on top (the Buddha wasn’t really emerald, but actually jade. When it was first uncovered, it had been caked with mud. However, a green spot showed and so it was assumed to be emerald). The room was filled with more murals depicting daily life in ancient Thailand. We liked it, but preferred the mural outside. After that we returned home.
We did have some good experiences at the malls. One of them had each floor themed after a different city. For example, the Istanbul floor had English that was written to look like Arabic and was shaped like a bazaar. In the mall we found a store that sold Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. It had virtually every Yu-Gi-Oh! set ever released, as well as a few other trading card games. It was a tournament day (stores that sell Yu-Gi-Oh! cards have a tournament once a week). People were playing matches on the tables in the store, which didn’t leave much extra space. The cards were mainly in Japanese (Yu-Gi-Oh! is Japanese; the versions sold in other countries are translated), but there were some Korean and English cards too. The decks weren’t all in the same language. For example, even the Japanese decks had English cards. Since Thailand is in Asia, they played with cards not yet released in the rest of the world, including the USA.
While we were in Thailand, the news was awash with stories about the devastating earthquake in Nepal and we were wondering what we could do to help. We heard about a Nepal benefit concert, so we decided to go. It was part of the Nepal RISE: Earthquake Relief Campaign, and was held at a private school called the NIST International School. The concert took place in front of the school and people gave speeches. The one that we listened to was about helping Nepal after the crisis had passed. Then musicians came out and sang songs, and overall it was entertaining.
On the grass people had set up various stands. One had art that was being auctioned off. Another had Nepalese food, so we went over to it. Two women were at the stand, one from Nepal and the other from Boston. The Nepalese woman had family members in Nepal who had been impacted by the earthquake. The other woman ran a school that served poor and migrant children with her husband. She invited us to come and see the school, and learn about their work.
Some time later, we went to visit the school. On the way, we stopped at an art studio and the owners invited us in and showed us around. On the walls there were many paintings, for example of people with extremely weird brains. There were also small scale replicas of famous pieces of art. It had a small cafe in the front, where we relaxed while in the company of a delightful cat and enjoyed cold delicious drinks.
When we got to the school, the Nepalese woman we had met at the benefit concert was sitting outside at a table, picking stems off basil leaves to make into pesto, which she sold for money. We sat down to help her, and soon the rest of the teachers and students in the school—including the people we had met at the concert—came outside to eat. For lunch, we ate pad thai (this was the only time we had it in Thailand) made by the kids themselves. Then we went to see the inside of the school.
After that, we had a long conversation with the people who ran the school as we helped pick more basil leaves. They explained that the school was to help educate kids who worked on the street selling flowers all night. Their school had vastly improved the lives of these children. They gave support to the parents to help compensate for the money the children would have made if they had continued working instead of going to school. We also discussed their experience running the school, life in Thailand, and different books we had read, including one about Pope Francis.
On the way home we stopped at a cafe that had board games you could borrow. We played Settlers of Catan for an hour and then went back to the hotel. We were excited to head to Turkey the next day.
-Isaiah