THAILAND: First Impression, Old Addiction (Guestwriter: Nicole Trombley)

From Bangkok:

I arrived in Bangkok in the wee hours of the morning on International Women's Day. I got to see Reny with her outstanding tan and fully rested energy. We enjoyed a great breakfast and she was off...with her many, many bags.

It has been wonderfully hot and sticky, and Julio amd I have been taking our time wandering around, viewing temples and lots and lots of buddhas (reclining buddha, sporty buddha, flower buddha...), reading tarot cards and, of course, drinking coffee...at Starbucks. I have to confess, we've been there three times in 2 days. Yes, yes, I know, here we are in the Global South, equipped with all of our really deep, sharp political justice analyses, and unravelling and embracing all of our contradictions...in the end, some addictions run deep. And that is why capitalism is just so powerful. We actually had somebody take a picture of us holding up our Starbucks cups on Kao San Road in the middle of Bangkok madness. I hesitate writing this knowing that people in the world might misread us ...we are being ironic, we are owning our contradictions, being honest...not trying to be arrogant and smug Americans.

All my years in social justice work have seeded a deep guilt in me..."I shouldn't be at Starbucks at home, let alone in Bangkok. I should scorn all the arrogant Western tourists and seek out the authentic Thailand." But...whatever. I am at a place in my life where I don't have the emotional energy to take that on ... and frankly, it just feels even more false...I am white, I am afluent, I am American. The search for authenticity is just as politically suspect/complex as hiding out at Starbucks in Bangkok. Two good friends who have not talked in eons wanting to catch up over a cup of coffee. Punto.

We're off tonight to take an overnight train to Chiang Mai where we will trek around for a bit before I take my 5-day massage course, and then Julio moves on to the next leg of his journey and I head back to San Diego. In the meantime, Julio asked me to share a few thoughts from my perspective...And well around Julio, my perspective is far from his view at 6'0"...

Some observations from 4'11" off the ground (in solidarity with the tiny travellers who have come before me) -- these are of course all about me, and not about Thailand:

Many things about Starbucks are quite the same. The pastries look just as nasty here as they do in the States. But a few things are different. Most importantly, here at Starbucks in Bangkok, there is a fourth size here in: Short. Yes!!! Short/Tall/Grande ... and sometimes Venti. What is that all about? American supersize madness just wouldn't go over here? Maybe, but I wonder if really all this "tall" language is just over-rated for people so small. Size-ism is not the problem here that it is at home, and so maybe the smaller people's of the world can embrace a "short" drink and still be quite satisfied.

I was out walking alone my first morning here in Bangkok while Julio brought Reny (who looked fabulous -- touched by sun and glowing) to the airport. Walking past one tourist area, I was approached by a local who was trying to engage me. Warned by Julio and other friends, I knew he had spotted me as a new traveller and I was about to be preyed upon. I was NOT expectig his opening line: "Hi, Miss, you are so short, just like Thai people. Yes, we are smaller." And he proceeded to use his hands to measure how much taller the average western tourist is...and then proceeded to engage me in a dialogue that was word-for-word from the Lonley Planet's list of scams to watch out for...

A cab driver actually looked at me as I climbed in to the taxi (next to JULIO!) and moved the seat forward for me, claiming I had long legs and needed extra room. Sure he could have been flirting or being overly nice. I did not need the leg room, but I just really appreciated being seen as a fully grown adult, and not ignored as potentially Julio's 11 year old daughter.

From Chiang Mai:
It is still quite hot and sticky here, but now we have bugs too and less breeze. This is a great little city -- the energy is so different than Bangkok -- but we haven't seen anything yet. It's hot and we are feeling slow. There are white people and travellers everywhere and everything is geared toward tourists, but somehow it feels so different. We are still planning out what we are doing...we are soo sure that we don't want to be super tourists and see everything. We did however make a huge transition for us -- we opted to NOT go to Starbucks here in Chiang Mai and opted for a Thai-owned coffee. They served our coffee with tiny little biscuits and a shot glass size green tea to follow our coffee.

We also signed up for a Thai Cooking course: Making the Curry Pastes. Clarissa and Drew shall be happy about this. Julio may take another day of cooking while I do my massage course.

We also SCORED on a great place to stay. At $15 total we have a beautiful little guest house with AC and hot water (even if I cannot reach the shower and Julio has to set it for me) and a great feel to it. Next time you find yourself in Chang Mai, check out SMILE 2 a great place that is the sister of SMILE (not so great).

More later...

"Into the Woods to Find the Giant..."
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