Bangkok: Beautiful Contrasts of Life

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For $4 a night, it ain't the Ritz but it did the trick.

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Completion of Day 1 in Bangkok. WOW. The intensity and variety of stimulation here is tremendous. Its funny that as an often ignorant American, I don't truly understand how different different parts of Asia are. I get lulled into grouping Asian countries into “Asia” and giving the continent a one toned quality that encompasses it all. While on a certain level I know how different these countries are one from the next, on another level I had no clue just how striking the contrast can be.

Japan and Thailand (at least what I’ve seen in 7 days of Japan and 24hrs in Bangkok) are just about as different as can be. Amazingly, the second that I stepped on the plane at Tokyo-Narita Airport heading to Bangkok–a Japan Air flight that incidently was quiet amazing with its multi-lingual flight attentdents who were kind and provided terrific service along with an entertainment module that included a Berlitz language program and tetris game that transported me back to Deerfield days of last minute studying intermingled with a generous dose of video gaming–I sensed a completely different energy on the plane.

Two Thai students who interviewed me for a school project on how visitors viewed environmental problems in Thailand

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In Japan all my transit experiences (3 shinkensen bullet train rides, a domestic flight from Kobe to Tokyo, and different commuter trains and subways) were permeated by a sense of quiet. Often silence. Cell phone use is not permitted except in designated areas and though some people talk, I rarely heard them. Their voices low or absent. For the most part I enjoyed the sense of peace that this created. I marveled at how respectful the culture was of this silence and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere it created. And yet, as soon as I boarded the plane to Thailand, there was a completely different energy in the air. People were talking, smiling, laughing at times. Everything seemed more relaxed, friendlier. As much as I enjoyed the quiet, I remember realizing how refreshing it was to sense playfulness again.

I have not been to too many other countries (Australia, Israel, Costa Rica and a quick high school jaunt through parts of Europe) but I’ve not witnessed anything that compares to the generally accepted cultural norms for cleanliness and sanitary awareness I’ll call it as I did in Japan. One of the most befounding phenomena was the lack of garbage cans throughout the streets and subways in Japan. For the most part these spaces are extremely clean, sometimes immaculately so in comparison to any city I’ve been to of similar size. On more than one occassion walking through often crowded streets I had to chew a piece of gum for, no exaggeration15-30 mins longer than I had wanted for the simple fact that no trash cans were anywhere in sight. It was fascinating! In New York there is a trash can seemingly on everystreet corner, and often there is trash on the street. In Japan there is no where to put your trash and its hard to find any on the streets.

This is just one example, but there were a number of other examples of the amazing cleanliness of the Japanese culture. In Bangkok, though some spaces are well maintained I witnessed things today that I can only imagine how they must be seen through Japanese eyes. I man selling goods near the riverside, throwing his trash into the river casually like its a trash can. (Meanwhile people fishing out of this same heavily polluted river) Homeless people passed out in the middle of sidewalks. Stray dogs and cats wandering public streets and through open air food markets. Food carts with sanitary conditions ranging widely depending on who is pushing the cart or peeling the orange. In many spaces in Thailand, shoes are removed before entering. My hostel was an example of this, however the only problem was that before exiting my socks had changed color. It was like custom was practiced out of a principle, but in practicality it didn’t serve the purpose of improving the cleanliness of these spaces. In Japan its different. Shoes are always removed, surely a gesture of respect and keeping the outside, outside. However also an effective tool for keeping interior spaces clean, the system seemed to be serve a different purpose there.

What a good opening lesson to learn, just how different one culture varies from the next. Of course on some level I know this, but nothing is like seeing it with my own eyes.