Kapunka Thailand

It was a wonderful four-day trip to Thailand. Sometimes, I feel like it was not just 4 days but more. Primarily because each day was a 20 Hour day and so that much longer than normal one’s.

I should say I enjoyed Pattaya more than Bangkok itself. Quite possibly the right thought also, as Pattaya happens to have all the strapping of a tourist & holiday destination than Bangkok, which is nothing but a Metropolis waiting to burst in its seams, with all the traffic jams and mechanized people.

People had been going gaga over Thailand, mainly as a destination for sex. I was thoroughly disappointed in that front. Thai girls suck (no pun intended). They look awful and flat and do not for once make you turn around and look again. And if at all, someone does, you can be sure that it is a eunuch. They look much better, prompting a rethink about sexual preferences. When they talk about the great progress that has been made in Silicon Technology, I never knew that it meant this. I even told one that she looks beautiful.

But what was gratifying is that these eunuches are treated with a lot of respect and not like what happens to them in India. My guide was explaining that, how difficult it has become to have a sex change operation these days unlike the past. She apparently has a friend of that kind. The fact that someone can acknowledge the fact that her friend is a lady-boy (they are called so) is heart warming. The openness of the society to accept someone’s individual preferences and treat them with respect is commendable. Anyway, I was excited more about the rare animals that I saw than anything else there. I got a feeling though, that the country was not too excited about having tourists. One of the worst places I had been to, when it comes to reception. People just don’t answer you properly and they are very curt, including police officials. Maybe because they are uncomfortable with English as a language and cannot communicate properly (they are vely vely solly most of the times about that). But more than that, I thought that they think the tourists are primarily there for sex and not to appreciate the beauty, tradition and culture of the land.

Beer and other drinks are sold in carts by the roadside, along with the entire insect kingdom being fried and sold. Walking Street in Pattaya, giving another dimension to its name just doesn’t sleep. We were up till 5 am one morning and the place was still rocking. I don’t know what does the collapse of Soviet Union means to them, but the greatest benefit out of that are the Russian girls who have migrated for the cabaret joints here. They are simply awesome. Tall & strapping, but with an innocent face, pandering to the age old dreams of men: body of a woman with a face of a child.

Going from a city of beaches and a house that practically sits on the beach, I am not supposed to be excited about the beaches. But Coral Island was different. The sand is so pure, white & soft. It’s so nice to feel them on your foot. I missed the ‘molaga bajji’ though.

Thai music was another revelation. Almost all songs have a melancholic strain in them, but every now and then moves into an area that denotes a big expanse and hope. Maybe that’s what is the story of Thailand. Not very happy inside but hopeful of something better to come.

But for me, I would say ‘Kapunka Thailand’ meaning Thank You in Thai.