Bicycles and ruins
Thailand promotes itself as the land of smiles, but to me the more striking characteristic is cleanliness. The countryside has a purposeful, well tended look to it - each rice padi field carefully delineated by its irrigation channels and walkways; all the land accounted for. Roadsides are, in general, relatively free of rubbish (although you do see some pretty awful garbage in waterways).
In the city sreets vendors offer carefully stacked pyramids of fruit and orderly rows of fresh clean vegetables. There is a pervasive attention to detail in presentation: dozens of identical, steaming food parcels wrapped up in banana leaves and tied with a straw ribbon; my green curry served with an orchid garnish or a piece of cucumber carved into a flower.
You can see that the Thai people are also careful to always look clean and presentable however humble their clothing.
All of this is in stark contrast to a lot of Central and South America, in my opinion, where the countryside can look ravaged by overuse in densely populated areas and derelict elsewhere. In Latin America I had the sense in many places that the relationship between man and his environment was in a downard spiral, whereas in Thailand there appears to be a guiding sense of stewardship which gives me more hope for its future.
Having said all that, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the Asian squat toilet, which suffers all the same plumbing issues as in Latin America, without at least the comfort of a seat to relax on. After the athletic event of using the hole in the ground, there is the challenge of cleaning oneself with just a bucket of water and a cup with no toilet paper in sight. I've read that one gets used to the Asian method of wiping clean with water and one's left hand, and that one might even grow to prefer it instead of using toilet paper, but I remain skeptical. However, there is plenty of opportunity left for a breakthrough in this department. As we head north from Bangkok, the standard of our acommodation is getting steadily more basic.
We took the train to Phitsanulok where we spent the night in a sleepy old youth hostel and had dinner on a floating restaurant on the river. It was a very civilized way to travel (air-conditioning, lunch incuded) and although it was a bit slower than the bus, it avoids all that stopping and starting and lurching around in traffic. As we passed each little train station, a station master would step out and wave a green flag to give the all clear. It was like traveling in a bygone era.
The following day a group of us from the hostel caught the bus to the ruins of Sukhothai (an ancient capital). Whilst the buildings themselves lack the grandeur of Angkor Wat or the splendour of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the setting of the temples in a large, beautiful, peaceful park makes it a wonderful place to leisurely explore by bicycle.
It was possible to roll aimlessly along the different pathways in the shade of the big trees, stopping at whatever striking Wat we came upon, without the press of hundreds of other visitors or interference from touts and guides looking for business, and the tranquility of it was wonderful.
The next morning we headed north again to Chiang Mai.
In the city sreets vendors offer carefully stacked pyramids of fruit and orderly rows of fresh clean vegetables. There is a pervasive attention to detail in presentation: dozens of identical, steaming food parcels wrapped up in banana leaves and tied with a straw ribbon; my green curry served with an orchid garnish or a piece of cucumber carved into a flower.
You can see that the Thai people are also careful to always look clean and presentable however humble their clothing.
All of this is in stark contrast to a lot of Central and South America, in my opinion, where the countryside can look ravaged by overuse in densely populated areas and derelict elsewhere. In Latin America I had the sense in many places that the relationship between man and his environment was in a downard spiral, whereas in Thailand there appears to be a guiding sense of stewardship which gives me more hope for its future.
Having said all that, I have to say that I am not a big fan of the Asian squat toilet, which suffers all the same plumbing issues as in Latin America, without at least the comfort of a seat to relax on. After the athletic event of using the hole in the ground, there is the challenge of cleaning oneself with just a bucket of water and a cup with no toilet paper in sight. I've read that one gets used to the Asian method of wiping clean with water and one's left hand, and that one might even grow to prefer it instead of using toilet paper, but I remain skeptical. However, there is plenty of opportunity left for a breakthrough in this department. As we head north from Bangkok, the standard of our acommodation is getting steadily more basic.
We took the train to Phitsanulok where we spent the night in a sleepy old youth hostel and had dinner on a floating restaurant on the river. It was a very civilized way to travel (air-conditioning, lunch incuded) and although it was a bit slower than the bus, it avoids all that stopping and starting and lurching around in traffic. As we passed each little train station, a station master would step out and wave a green flag to give the all clear. It was like traveling in a bygone era.
The following day a group of us from the hostel caught the bus to the ruins of Sukhothai (an ancient capital). Whilst the buildings themselves lack the grandeur of Angkor Wat or the splendour of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, the setting of the temples in a large, beautiful, peaceful park makes it a wonderful place to leisurely explore by bicycle.
It was possible to roll aimlessly along the different pathways in the shade of the big trees, stopping at whatever striking Wat we came upon, without the press of hundreds of other visitors or interference from touts and guides looking for business, and the tranquility of it was wonderful.
The next morning we headed north again to Chiang Mai.
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