Oh East is East and West is West
The Irish Times January 31 1987
This is a special year in Thailand for two reasons. It has been designated by the Tourism Authority here as ‘Visit Thailand Year’. Extra efforts are being made in many of the tourist services to ensure that the country will show its best face and thereby boost an industry that, after rice, is its chief revenue earner.
Furthermore, 1987 sees the 6oth birthday of King Bhumiphol, Thailand’s much-revered monarch. In the Buddhist cycle – and Thailand is above all else a Buddhist country – 60 is an auspicious and highly celebrated age. Already, to mark the occasion, five new national parks will be opened in the course of the year; and that in a country with some of the finest national parks in the world.
Bangkok, with seven million inhabitants, is the capital and the chief stopping-off point for the entire South East Asian peninsula. Surrounding countries – Cambodia and Vietnam to the East, Laos and China to the North and Burma along its Western flank – are for the most part closed or restrictive to visitors. Bangkok is a necessary gateway to the special character of this tropical, maritime region, the ‘rice-bowl of Asia’.
There are daily flights to all the major cities – Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Rangoon, in Burma, is accessible on a one-week visa and is only an hour away by plane - a trip which takes you back a century. It is now possible, too, to fly across to Kunming, in remote western China.
Bangkok’s airport – Don Muang – to my mind is, next to Knock, one of the aviation wonders of the world. A new international airport is under construction and consequently conditions are crowded and chaotic on arrival. It is well to be prepared and to learn the art of haggling – split the price in half and say no more – as early as possible. However, transport downtown is now well organised.
The infrastructure of hotels in Thailand is very comprehensive, from cheap guesthouses for the budget traveller to the famous Oriental Hotel on the river, regarded by many as the best hotel in the world. Prices vary according to season. December to February is cool season in most of South East Asia and sees the greatest number of visitors. However, there is usually a steady flow from June to August, the rainy season. An air-conditioned room can usually be found for around £15 a night.
Outside Bangkok and the major cities there are a surprising number of beautiful hotels in lush locations. The railway Hotel in Hua Hin on the Gulf of Siam, which was the set for part of the film ‘The Killing Fields’, is one of my favourites. Its colonial-style wooden framework has recently been given a facelift. Another marvellous hotel is the River Kwai Village Hotel in the heart of the jungle on the famous River Kwai. The last time I was there I ran into a party of Irish Kozangas dealers, enjoying the fruits of two lacerating Irish winters.
Bangkok has all the charms of the oriental city and all the inconveniences of the modern metropolis: traffic, pollution and flooding in the rainy season. Slums are a major headache for the resident – but the tourist glides on lubricated wheels. In this it is no different from other fast-developing cities in the region. There are palaces and markets, snakes and crocodiles, boat trips on the river and the picturesque ruins of Ayudthaya and Sukothai – former capitals –a day’s journey away.
Thai food is enjoying a boom of sorts in Europe and America and is now regarded as one of the world’s great culinary experiences. Recently I attended the Oriental Hotel’s Thai Cookery School, gratis luckily: at £1,000 for a week’s course plus accommodation, you get a good professional grounding in this hot, spicy, varied food. It is a novel holiday concept. Otherwise, Bangkok offers an array of restaurants from all over the world – Korean, Burmese, Lao, European and American. McDonalds is opening its second branch next year and doing a bomb. In many ways the heart of Bangkok is sadly becoming more Americanised – fast food and shopping malls, Gucci and Dairy Queen – they’re all there.
It is best to be a little adventurous when eating and not to rely on hotel food, which is usually set to western prices and for western tastes. Small parties, for example, can rent a restaurant boat and dine while cruising up the river, where it is cool and pleasantly quiet.
Nightlife in Bangkok centres around the infamous Patpong – a strip of bars ‘n’ stars, restaurants and shows, girls and boys and those who haven’t made up their minds. Unfortunately, this aspect of Bangkok is the one uppermost in many males’ minds. While there is a cosmetic swing away from such an image, the reality is all pretty much the same as in the old ‘Rest and recreation’ days when GIs were Cheap Charlies and the Vietnam War fuelled everyone’s coffers. Certainly, money is the name of the game.
The other prong on the same devil’s fork is Pattaya, a small town on the Gulf about two hours’ drive from the capital. This is a cross between Bundoran on the twelfth and Las Vegas – tacky, naughty and dedicated to service. Away from the glittering bars it is possible to have a very good holiday here. A present-day aerial view of Pattaya reveals a mini-city studded with hotels, bowling alleys, golf courses, horse riding and just about everything else. Within striking distance there are zoos, the underwater kaleidoscope of coral life, scuba diving and many family shows.
Internal flights to up-country or coastal resorts are daily. Thailand’s train service is also excellent and cheap, with comfortable sleepers and restaurant cars for long trips. Chiang Mai, set in the Northern hills near the famous Golden Triangle opium-growing area, is the kingdom’s second city. A wide variety of treks to see tribal villages and enjoy the clean air are available. There are many resorts – the Mae Sa Valley Resort, for example – set in a landscape of rice terraces, waterfalls and splendid mountain terrain. You can rent a motorbike for £3 a day and drive to a view of Laos and distant China.
Phuket, in the Andaman Sea to the South, is an island beach resort which is now world-famous. This year Club Med moved in. A James Bond movie was filmed here. It has some of the finest beaches anywhere, from luxury hotel to cabana style.
On the east coast of the Malayan peninsula is Ko Samui – rather like Phuket was ten years ago, but now, too, on the road to full-scale tourism. Thailand is still walking a delicate environmental line between protecting undoubtedly rich natural scenery and exploiting it for the tourist dollar. The water is not yet coated with Ambre Solaire, but some of its pristine blue has faded.
One facet of this kingdom’s natural reserves worth visiting is the network of national parks, usually mountain or coastal reserves, well-developed and signposted, with rangers, restaurant facilities, bungalows and other amenities. Bangkok residents – always avid for a weekend break –are fond of heading up into the wilds to explore the jungle, its waterfalls, fauna and wildlife. Khao Yai is one of the better-known parks, a vast tract in the east near Cambodia, with a motel and daily air-conditioned buses from Bangkok. And this year there are five more to explore.
This has been only a brief gallop through the main attractions of this unique gateway to Asia. Certainly, the king’s birthday this year will provide all the pomp, pageant and festival atmosphere of royal events anywhere. And if the winter is particularly nippy, take a tip from those Kozangas boys and come on out.