Cleanliness is a virtue

Current location: Singapore

Back in Singapore from Thailand. Before I go on about my trip, I must say I am SO INCREDIBLY CUT regarding this Franz Ferdinand thing. First I miss out on their solo show in Melbourne because of this trip and SECONDLY, Franz are playing in Singapore AND Thailand the week after I leave. I mean seriously. Last year it was that issue with Interpol. The month that I go to New York (that's where Interpol comes from), Interpol comes to Melbourne. What gives! Bad bad band karma I have. What the hell did I do in my past life?

So back to Bangkok. Unfortunately our very short stay forbade us from going to places apart from the city of Bangkok. I really wanted a day trip up to the Tiger Temple - this temple run by Buddhist monks who look after and raise tigers, especially those cubs whose parents have been poached. Time wasn't on my side and so I just spent most of the days shopping. As I said, during our previous visit we did our fair share of sightseeing in Bangkok - there's only that much of sightseeing you can do in a city, y'know?

During our shopping visit there were a few things I found rather amusing and would like to point out:

• Taxis are sooo fussy!! If you're not going in the direction that they intend to go then forget it, they aren't going to take you. This makes sense as it DOES happen in a lot of countries but in Bangkok, I have never found it harder to hail a taxi to get back to our hotel. Get this, we were rejected by three taxis once. And it's not like our hotel is out in the sticks!
  
  
• Watch out for the taxi drivers who can speak English. They usually like to con you by taking you for a round trip and blaming it on the traffic and so you have to pay him more due to the meter going haywire on increased distance. They also talk you into doing things that you really shouldn't. It's best to just get a taxi driver who understands no word of English. You'll spend the taxi ride in the peaceful ambience of screeching Thai pop music.
  
  
• Bangkok looks incredibly dirty. And it is. On the outside. Hazy, dusty, exhaust fumes linger about that you can't even see nearby buildings very well. Take a toot toot and be prepared to emerge black. But somehow for some reason, their toilets are incredibly clean. Compare this to say Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. KL looks gorgeous on the outside. Nice buildings, trees, fauna... but compare its toilets of similar kind to that of Bangkok, Bangkok beats it BY FAR. I encountered not one squat toilet and my god you even have people wiping the seats for you.
  
  
• Brings me to service - labour is so cheap in Thailand that you get people wiping your toilet seat for you, people pressing the lift button for you and people who will step in the way of an automatic door sensor so you wouldn't have to do it yourself! How neccessary! And they will bow with their hands clasped together in prayer form at the same time. You will feel like you're God or something.
  
  
• The poverty gap (or as economists refer to the Gini coefficient) is huge. You're either really filthy rich or down right poor. You can take a bus for 5 Baht (AUD 15 cents)... you can get by okay with a few Baht... but that's scraping it. And for these people there is no hope of ever going overseas or travel because their money is worthless elsewhere. There is no government support and it's seriously a trap. I work as a casual in a clothing store in Melbourne... I am not qualified in any profession (yet)... I earn 510 Baht ($17) an hour. That's 200 Baht more than what a Thai Taxi driver will earn in a DAY. I can't help feeling like a total fraud. But if I, as an unqualified individual, can earn $17 an hour, so can anyone else in Australia. This implies that anyone can go to Thailand for holidays and live like royalty.
  
  
• And indeed EVERYONE goes to Thailand for holidays cos everything is dirt cheap. Beer for less than $1 and a Bacardi Breezer for $1.20 (not that I drink this but i checked up on the price out of curiosity). For every 5 people you'll see, 2 are tourists.
  
  
• Here's an interesting fact. You can double park in shopping centre carparks but if you do, you must have your handbrakes off. This is so that people can roll cars around if they are in their way! How bizzarre!! So here we were rolling cars around. This implies that if you do double park, be aware that you may find your car on, at extremes, another level.
  
  
• I was browsing the kids toy section in a departmental store in Bangkok just to see what kids there play with these days... and I found... get this... A SPERM SOFT TOY!!! And next to it... A CONDOM SOFT TOY!!! I was cracking myself! And people were looking at me funny! Don't they get it?! Wow explicitness in the kids section!! And there were pillow cases saying "I am a virgin"... Buahahahahahhaha... Most amusing things I've seen for a long long time. Oh sex in Thailand prevails.
  
  
• Speaking of sex... the red light district has an entrance sign that says "Red area ahead! Are you READY?! Enjoy playing!"
  
  
• Traffic lights have countdowns. So you know how much longer the light is going to stay green, red or amber. I quite like the countdown on the red. 3, 2, 1... DRAG!!! As I said previously, I am so scared of looking out ahead when in a taxi. People drive like nutters. And when you reach an intersection, there is no look left look right or even give way. It's 'just go'. It's a first come first serve basis it seems. So even if you have ten cars coming towards you at 60km/hr at an intersection, you just go... and pray that they will stop for you... and in most cases they do... or atleast slow down. They usually slow down then they get to around 5cm proximity to you.
  

Ah... but that is all I want to say now... I have spent too long on the net already... it's time to walk around Singapore now and do more shopping haha. I love being in S'pore because I know the city well and I just do and go wherever I want. I'm also enjoying the cleanliness of the city sans pollution and dust after the week in Bangkok. Yesterday I chewed gum forgetting about the no chewing law... I realised halfway. I couldn't find a bin and so I was like sucking on it trying not to look obvious that I have gum. I have never felt so illegal in my life. Then I found a bin and I threw it in and it (just my luck) got stuck on the side of the bin on the lining and the guy next to me looked at me with eyes wide as saucers as if I just lit a joint.

See you in Melbourne!
xo