Wisdom Without Waiting: The Other Side of the World - A 15 day odyssey through SE Asia
© John L. Mariotti 2001
If you are like me and were born and lived in the US all of your life, you don't realize how good we have it. We complain and gripe about a lot of things in the US-taxes, politics, special interest groups, traffic, infrastructure, regulations, and much more. Little do we know what all of these things contribute to our quality of life-until we go somewhere far, far away that doesn't have them.
This narrative is an accumulation of the impressions and information gained while traveling and visiting places that are almost exactly on the other side of the earth from where we live. If I recall my trivia properly, and it is about 25,000 miles around the earth, we are 12,500 miles and 12 time zones away from home.
This story is not intended to reach one specific conclusion, but rather to share the impressions, events, surroundings, feelings and many conclusions that being in such a foreign and faraway place brings to mind. The other side of the world is a long way from the US that I call home.
The ports of call for this journey through a few major cities in SE Asia are Hong Kong, Guangzhou (formerly Canton), China; Da Nang, Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand (actually Laem Chabang Port-2 hrs. from Bangkok-we learn later); then finally Singapore, before returning home 15 days later.
Despite the best seats in coach class, after five movies, three meals and a snack and numerous trips up and down the aisle (to avoid that Economy Class Syndrome), we conclude that fifteen hours in any airplane is a long, long time! Unfortunately coach class seats do not recline as far as those do in Business Class (a mere $2000US per person premium for the round trip), so sleep is hard to come by.
HONG KONG, CHINA Currency: Hong Kong Dollar Languages: Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) and English
A Dazzling, Kaleidoscopic Skyline Finally, we were on final approach to Hong Kong's new Lap Kok airport. No longer do 747s have to barely clear Victoria Peak or rattle the windows in skyscrapers on the Hong Kong hillsides to make a screeching landing at the old Kowloon airport. The new airport is enormous and luxurious. The concourses from the international arrival gate to the immigration area are so long and wide that it seems thousands of Chinese peasants from the inner part of the country could live there in comfort!
I always wonder why international terminals all seem to have these long, empty corridors-or at least I did until I was caught in a smaller Heathrow (London) corridor when two 747s arrived at once. Eight hundred people scrambling off two airplanes and using the same corridor at once fill things up fast.
The lines at immigration were short, and the wait minimal. Luggage finally arrived (whew-always a concern!), and we were on our way through customs with a wave of the customs agent's arm. Americans and their US dollars are welcome in these countries. As we moved out into the Hong Kong night, the lights of skyscrapers twinkled all around us. We crossed over an impressive new bridge and there before us was the most amazing nighttime skyline I have ever seen.
Even though I have been here before, the sight never fails to mesmerize me. Central City Hong Kong's array of tall buildings and huge signs for a veritable who's who of multi-national companies is impressive day or night. This time, we were arriving just 2 days prior to the start of Chinese New Year. The Year of the Dragon was giving way to the Year of the Snake, and the special decorations and lights added even more splendor to the already breathtaking night time view.
Our bus moved through Kowloon to our accommodations and although we had now been up almost 24 hours, still it was impossible to go to bed without standing around drinking in the dazzling Hong Kong skyline. The temperature was in the low 70's. It was a pleasant night and a breathtaking view. There was no evidence in the brilliance or number of the buildings and lights that China's assumption of control over Hong Kong in 1997 has hindered its remarkable prosperity.
Nothing symbolizes Hong Kong to me more than the mental image of sitting in one of the luxury hotels on the Kowloon side overlooking the harbor, having a cold drink at the end of a long day, and watching the sun set as the lights of the Hong Kong Central City come on.
As we were to see in our travels and hear from our guides, the 50 year "temporary regional area" government set up for Hong Kong is trying mightily to maintain its status as one of the world's economic super-cities. If the huge, new container freight terminals we passed en route from the airport to the ship are any indication, Hong Kong is alive and well. The Chinese are a people steeped in their traditions and the plans for festivities for the New Year were in evidence everywhere. The bustling port city awaited us.
A Multi-national Multiplicity The lighted signs atop or on the faces of Hong Kong buildings proclaim the multinational mega-power of this city. Korean Air Lines, Ricoh, Ford, Invesco, Samsung, Motorola, and dozens more light up the night sky on both sides of this busy harbor. The new exposition and convention center opened to celebrate the Chinese taking control in 1997, juts into the narrowing harbor. Acres of land on both sides is being reclaimed from the harbor, making this busy waterway narrower than I remembered it from just 10 years earlier. The daytime traffic of junks, sampans, ferries, small container boats, tugs, and all sorts of other ships make Hong Kong's harbor one of the busiest-if not the busiest-in the world.
Manufacturers using low cost "mainland China" labor make goods by the container full, just a few miles up one of the several rivers emptying into Hong Kong's legendary natural harbor. It is in this harbor that the British traded silks and treasures of the Orient over a century ago, that many goods are exported from China to the nations of the western world.
It is evident by the continued construction that there is much wealth in this city and that it remains a hub of commerce for this part of the world. From the luxurious hotels to the glitzy new shopping malls to the towering regional headquarters for the leaders of the global economy, this side of the world is a very prosperous one-at least as far as the eye can see at night. Daylight will reveal some different sides to this glittering city of building that seem to be reaching for the sky.
Here, with more glittering lights and more tall buildings than the mind can comprehend is where so many of our familiar products start their journey to our stores, businesses and homes. This is the beginning of the view from the other side of the world-and this is where our odyssey of discovery really starts.
A Contrast of Old and New The tightly packed streets of Hong Kong and Kowloon (its neighboring city-island across the harbor) are jam packed with shops and people. The hotel district is full of high-end shops and restaurants. The first impression that strikes us and stays with us throughout the entire trip is "where are all these people going?"
Traffic is heavy. Buses, cars, motorcycles, and trucks make their way along wide boulevards and weave through tight side streets to unload their passengers and wares and move to another stop. As we travel further into the city and pass through the tunnel under the harbor we must marvel at the architectural and construction wonders we see.
Bamboo scaffolding tied together with plastic twine reaches far into the sky. Green gauzy fabric encloses the growing building like the cocoon of a caterpillar waiting to emerge as a butterfly. The ancient Chinese culture is just below the surface of this metropolis, preparing to celebrate its New Year signified by red banners everywhere.
A guide explains that she, like many Chinese who work with tourists has taken a western name-Winnie-instead of her Chinese name-Cheung So Wah. She explains that the name came from a book she saw as a child in school, interpreted and pronounced by her English schoolteacher.
The Tangerine Tree The traditional sign of New Year is the tangerine tree. Just as westerners in Christian countries celebrate Christmas with an evergreen tree, these tangerine trees are used everywhere. Public buildings have large trees flanking the doors, standing 6 or more feet tall. Homes, which are typically apartments in high-rise public housing, only display small ones, perhaps 2-3 feet tall or even less. These 200-400 Sq. ft. apartments house whole families, and thus space is at a premium. Only the very wealthiest Hong Kong residents can afford single family homes.
"Winnie" explains that the tangerine tree is intended to help celebrate and symbolize the New Year, and that the bright orange fruit is not for eating. But, she tells us, if you put it in a sealed jar with a couple handfuls of salt and let it sit for a year or two, the resulting black, foul smelling "potion" is a great cure for a sore throat. We decide to take her word for it. She also explains more about life in such a tightly packed society.
These towering apartment buildings are like giant beehives full of people. The government subsidizes part of the cost of housing depending on the earnings of the occupants. The balconies are all festooned with their own "flags"-wooden poles holding laundry drying in the warm breeze. The residents must be careful about the laundry of those living on lower floors since it is common practice to just pitch refuse out the window. A look at rooftops of lower buildings confirms this fact. Refuse floating on waterways and canals is common and profuse. Streets are also littered and dirty and receptacles for trash are nonexistent.
High atop the City A trip up to the top of Victoria Peak winds through hillsides covered with sprayed concrete (we often call if "Gunite" and use it to make swimming pools). This is being done more and more in Hong Kong to arrest erosion during the heavy rains that come at certain times of the year. Every square foot of land is precious on this densely populated island, and the buildings almost seem to grow out of the rocky hills.
New luxury apartment buildings that are needle-thin rise on huge concrete pilings and stretch skyward 30-40 stories. As the new buildings reach beyond the tops of the surrounding older ones, it is like trees in a dense forest growing tall and straight reaching for the sunlight. Schools pass by along the road.
Roadside shops use the familiar construction evident in most SE Asian cities where the first floor is set back a few feet from the upper 3-4 floors, to form a protective overhang for shade and shelter from rain. Each15-foot wide section of the building, is enclosed by a pull-down overhead door. This type of building is very common for commercial establishments that line the roadsides in Taiwan and China. The other thing that is common is rusting corrugated steel. Along with wood and concrete, these are the two most frequently used building materials seen.
From the Victoria Peak, atop Hong Kong island, the view of the harbor and other islands is breathtaking, even though the haze and fog make it less than the postcards show it could be. In just the past decade, shops and restaurants have covered the Peak and in doing so both enhance it for tourists and detract from its natural beauty.
The Floating Village Coming down from the peak reprises the trip up, but the destination of Aberdeen, the floating city is worth it. Set in a sheltered cove, Aberdeen is a city of perhaps 50,000 residents living on a flotilla of fishing boats and junks. A sampan ride through the floating village helps us separate the rich and the poor. The rich have steel hulled; large and well equipped fishing boats. These are lined up and tied together side by side in rows of ten or twenty.
Such boats are both the homes and businesses of the occupants. The floating villages are also great users of old tires. All of the sampans and many of the wooden junks that are tucked together in the less desirable parts of Aberdeen are lined with old tires, which seem to make wonderful and durable bumpers. At least this is encouraging because tires are a real disposal problem, and it is good to see someone recycling them in a productive use.
Traditions and Temples The primary religion in Hong Kong is Buddhism, and a visit to a temple reveals centuries old traditions and rituals still in use. Incense is burning all over the temple. The ceiling is covered with long burning coils of incense the size of wastebaskets. The areas in front of altars have pots filled with sand that contain many sticks of burning incense like a ceremonial porcupine.
Supplicants bow and kneel before altars and then burn papers containing prayers and appeals to Buddha in large, tub sized concrete cauldrons. The air is so thick with the odor and smoke of the incense that it stays with you even for hours after the visit.
This is truly a city of contrasts. Rich and poor people; towering, glittering banks; white skyscrapers full of apartments; rusting corrugated shacks; age-old temples; and a mixture of wide boulevards and narrow hilly streets; steps up and down the steep hillsides; and through all of it, millions of people scurrying about, going, going, going-where? To work? Home from work? On a holiday? Tourists on a tour? Delivering goods to be used, eaten or sold.
The antique district's narrow streets accommodate motorcycles and foot traffic moving past stalls that are reminiscent of western "flea markets". New items, toys, tiny pots, old telephones, and all manner of used artifact are for sale-and the price is always negotiable. Not so in the three block-long mall full of prestige stores that now lines the harbor in Kowloon. Only a decade or so ago, this area was just developing. Now, it is hard to tell where in the world you might be in this string of malls. The stores are the same as any major upscale mall anywhere in the world. Nathan Road, the major street in this area is now as wide and busy and any in New York City.
Will Hong Kong maintain its prosperity? It seems so. The Chinese are developing areas around the city-Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and other. Cities springing up around this legendary port city are both adding commerce and using it as a base of trade and transportation. The government established for Hong Kong is, so far, being kept separate from the Communist Chinese regime of its owners. And yet, when asked about free elections in 2002, "Winnie" says haltingly, "I think not yet".
GUANGZHOU, CHINA Currency: Chinese Yuen Language: Chinese--Cantonese and Mandarin dialects
A short ride up the Pearl River is the city of Canton, now called Guangzhou. This is a city of many names. It is known as the City of Five Rams, in honor of the mythical miraculous disappearance of people from the area, leaving only five rams. A large park and statue of the Five Rams sits atop a hill overlooking the city to commemorate this legend. A walk up the 100 steps to the top offers a good look at the historic namesake of the city and the surrounding area. Shops and street vendors also surround the park selling Chinese wares, food and cold drinks to the many visitors.
Guangzhou is also known as the Flower City. At no time is this more fitting than the day we visit there-the eve of the Chinese New Year. The flower market strings along both sides of the main thoroughfare into the "new central city" and is jammed with Chinese buying flower and tangerine trees to commemorate this occasion. The other place along the highway that is jammed is the plaza in front of the train station. Thousands of people wait their turn to go into the station, and to ride one of the trains going northward into the country where they will be reunited with their roots and their families for the 3-day New Year holiday.
Sun Yat Sen & Chiang Kai Shek This is the home city of Sun Yat Sen, the former leader of China who introduced the capitalist system to China. Although his reign was very short-3 months-Sun Yat Sen brought the new system of commerce to China from his time living in Hawaii, and the country has never been the same since. A huge monument to him remains a major auditorium for important gatherings and a large tourist attraction.
Sun Yat Sen's successor, Chiang Kai Shek remained in his position and the leader of the Chinese much longer-30 years-until he had to flee the mainland to the island of Taiwan. While Chiang Kai Shek escaped with his loyal followers and many of the treasures of China, he left behind the reign of his opponent, Mao Tse Deng and the reign of Communism.
As Taiwan grew into a major world economic force under the leadership of Chiang Kai Shek and his successors, China regressed. Only in the past decade has the "experiment" of capitalism in the south of China, amidst the prevailing Communist government proven that such an economic system is superior. Canton is evidence of the success of this "experiment" by its many skyscrapers and bustling commerce.
Housing and Income Deluxe apartments are popping up everywhere, and rents/purchase prices are very high. At 8000 Yuen or $1000 per square meter (for about 10 square feet, or $100 per square foot!) Typical workers in Guangzhou cannot afford these as the average wage is only 2000 Yuen/month ($250/mo.), and the government considers anyone making over 10,000 Yuen/month ($1250/mo.) to be "rich". At less than 1000 Yuen/month income, one is considered "poor". The government will subsidized the "poor" for 3 months but then they are expected to find a better paying job.
Like most of the less developed cities in SE Asia, the streets are full of noisy and dangerous motorcycles, but the government is discouraging motorcycles (and encouraging cars) by charging exorbitant prices for license tags for motorcycles. The cost of tags can equal or exceed the cost of the motorcycle! As a rule of thumb in SE Asia, fewer motorbikes equal a richer city!
The Pearl River Guangzhou is also a major port city, using the Pearl River, which bisects the city, as its route to the sea. The ports are interesting places all the time, but especially so when the giant mobile cranes running on widely spaced railroad tracks make their way along the row of ships. These cranes look like giant prehistoric birds of prey as they dip their heads down and pluck the containers from the ships like bits of fish from the sea.
Since the Pearl cuts through the city, and bridges are few, there are many "water-taxis". These crude, long sampans, covered with curved corrugated metal roofs, whose hulls are lined with old tires for bumpers, are shuttled back and forth all day by grim-faced drivers. But they are an essential part of the local transportation system, as workers and even families come across the river and nimbly step from the boat to the rocky shore with its crude steps.
Family Life in Canton The near tropical climate of Guangzhou means that most homes and apartments have no heating systems-just cooling for the heat of the summer season. Families are small because of the government regulations about 1-1/2 children per family. If the first offspring is a girl, the government condones a second child. If the first is a boy, no more children are permitted. The penalty-losing the right to work and earn a living-a fate considered terrible by the poor Chinese.
Schooling is now mandatory for Chinese children beginning at age 6 with 6 years of primary school, and then continuing with secondary school for 3 more years. Beyond this, the government does not pay, and the family of the student must pay. This means that most Chinese have the equivalent of a 9th grade education. English is more and more often a compulsory language although many people in the south of China speak English as a result of the British influence and proximity to Hong Kong.
The Chinese come across as proud and hard working people, yet people who are steeped in their traditions and religious beliefs. Many of the old ways are still ingrained in Chinese beliefs. For example, the color yellow was once believed to be the exclusive property of the Emperor. No one could use it but the Emperor! Blue roofs were also the exclusive property of the first born son of the Emperor-and no one else. The numbers 5 and 9 belonged to the Emperor as well thus only royal buildings would have flights containing 5 or nine steps.
Happy New Year! Because we are there for the New Year holiday, we get to see the families in their finest dress-suits on the men, dresses on the women and children that look like living China dolls. "Happy New Year" exclaim the young people in excellent English as we pass them. Dancers with the headdresses and tails of snakes dance to the percussive beat of the metal instruments as they move along the waterfront celebrating for the workers.
Most shops are closed and most people have the holidays off work-but the pier never sleeps-it just slows down a lot. Seamen on the cargo ship Jiayuhai in the port have a leisurely day on the New Year's day itself, but clearly work goes on for its departure later that day.
Here, as in Aberdeen before, the larger ferries cross the river and carry produce, goods and people to those waiting on boats and on the other side. Clearly water commerce is a necessary element in this society where money is scarce and boats are cheap transportation. This is a country just waiting to explode as a commercial and industrial superpower. It sheer size and population-almost 1.5 billion people-make it one of the largest economies in the world in spite of its retarded development.
Canton is an emerging city with broad streets full of cars, buses, motorbikes and bicycles. Small minivans built like 9/10 scale models of larger Western versions cut in front of the buses and make random lane changes and even U-turns, trusting confidently that they will not be hit. Stores contain a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar goods. Johnson's Baby Shampoo and Colgate toothpaste sit beside Chinese packages of household cleaners, holiday candies and bags of snacks.
The futuristic glass buildings betray their origin by having windows that open for ventilation-unlike their Western counterparts. But in spite of the paradoxical mixture of old and new, this is a country reaching upward like the spires on their new buildings. Perhaps the countries of the Western economies are lucky that the central government still favors Communistic principles. If this giant were unleashed with the full force of capitalism as Taiwan was a couple of decades ago; there is no telling the effect on the rest of the world's economies.
DA NANG, VIETNAM Currency: The New Dong Language: Vietnamese
Narrow roads with potholes from buses and trucks lead from the port to the town. Even in the town, it is clear that this is city in a country still a decade or more behind the other Asian cities on the trip. Motorbikes are everywhere, and bicycles surprisingly fewer than expected. The flow of motorbikes is like a river, parting around the bus to let is pass after hearing the soft beep of its horn, then coming together like the water of a fast moving stream.
Many Happy People There are people everywhere, but they seem happy and busy about their day to day routines. It is still the holidays, since Vietnam, and especially the northern part of the country are heavily Chinese in culture. These people are lean, brown and wiry. No fat ones, (except for the tourists). Street vendors are like pesky flies selling postcards, trinkets, miniature Buddhas and more. They follow the tourists from the moment they step off the bus until the moment they step back on.
On the way to the Cham museum in the city, the tour guide proudly points out the bridges over the river, one of which was built by the US military. The Cham were a race of people who inhabited Vietnam, but originated in India. While the Cham and its descendents still remain in Vietnam, their numbers are small compared to the Chinese influence. The legacy of the Cham is apparently an important one to the Vietnamese.
Marble Mountain One of the Da Nang area's main attractions is Marble Mountain. This area consists of a couple of mountains made up of different types of marble. The streets going to the Marble Mountain are lined with the shops of marble cutters and sculptors. Since the raw material is so readily available, even large marble carvings of lions, Buddhas, statuary, elephants, birds and much more are for sale everywhere-and the prices are low! Vendors negotiate until a sale is made, even at prices 1/4 of the original asking price.
The trek up Marble Mountain is strenuous with over 150 irregular steps varying from 8 to 18 inches in height carved from the granite. Fortunately the stairs are wide, but crowds of children run up and down them amongst the tourists. Pickpockets are a constant concern, and more so on such busy days with jostling crowds. Temples are located along the way at several intermediate places and a large one is at the top, where the view shows the coastline of Da Nang and China Beach. There are some tunnels and caves at the top, which were used by Viet Cong during the war as hideouts and observation points.
If a tourist stops to purchase or even consider a purchase from a street vendor (often young girls and children), other flock around them like carrion after a carcass. It takes the sternest refusal to dissuade them from grabbing arms and pitching their wares. Trinkets, native jade jewelry, and postcards are the normal offerings, all at prices in low numbers of US$.
Typical pay in this area is around $300 US per month. Motorbikes can cost $2500, although many look like they are cheaper than that. Theft is common, usually by way of a motorbike rider who quickly passed a tourist grabbing a purse or a piece of jewelry, then speeding off to blend into the masses.
China Beach A visit to China Beach, the popular GI hangout during the war, and namesake of a TV series is the site of family gatherings on this holiday. The ever-present stands of souvenirs and t-shirts are there too, but the most striking sight is a pair of abandoned buildings dating back to wartime. One appears to have been a bar, and the other has a helmet shaped awning over the entrance to what seem to be a bathhouse. The whole beach area is shabby, and even the "resort" with its tennis courts is in a dilapidated condition.
Da Nang's harbor is filled with smaller craft of all types and a small group of a dozen or so military boats also line up near the port. The winds whistle off the sea and down the mountain near the harbor, raising many white capped waves and making the water very choppy. The sea and wind are so strong that the two 4 inch braided bowlines on the cruise ship tying the ship to the pier are snapped in two. Only prompt efforts by the port's tugboat keeps the ship from swinging dangerously near the pilings.
HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON), VIETNAM Currency: The New Dong Language: Vietnamese
The trip up the winding Saigon River is an amazing one. Past lush green vegetation as far as the eye can see; a lone fisherman sits on the porch of his floating home watching the river traffic pass by. Small villages give way to container ports and freight terminals. Next come the river front billboards, and finally, the skyline of the city itself, hard against the river.
Teeming masses of people is the only way to describe Saigon. The streets are so full of motorcycles that one must ask again-where are all these people coming from and going to? Rusting corrugated metal is once again the predominant building material outside the central city. Cholon, the old Chinatown of Saigon is especially crowded, rough looking and dingy. It almost looks as if some parts of the city are made of nothing else other than rusty corrugated metal-layer upon layer of it.
Contrast in Buildings and Places The formal buildings-the palace, the post office, the government building, etc.-are all very nicely restored and maintained. Few vestiges of the war remain: the first tank that broke through the palace gates; the bullet riddled and damaged American Embassy where occupants were rescued from the roof by helicopter; and an occasional wartime building that has fallen derelict and remains a reminder of the conflict.
In addition to the motorbikes, the pedal cabs abound in the central city. A ride in them is exciting and often dangerous as the drivers pull in front of cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles with only a momentary pause. The sun is brutal as the temperature tops the 97-degree mark, and the humidity makes the day almost unbearable without air conditioning.
The Market The market in the central city is full of stalls jammed together with barely room for a person to pass by them and survey their wares. Silks and lacquer-ware of all kinds abound. Clothing, both ethnic and counterfeit of major brand names fill many of the booths. Shoes, purses, hats, and more are everywhere. The far end of the market is where the food and produce are located. An amalgam of unusual foods, garbage, cooking odors and an unidentifiable stench fill the nostrils. The odors are so strong that only then local natives venture far into the area.
A tour of a lacquer factory shows worker painstakingly applying bits of eggshell, mother of pearl and other materials to carefully painted designs. Multiple coats of lacquer finish the pieces with a high luster. The palace tour reveals all types of royal memorabilia, including the remains of the armory full of swords and the administration center with its tables of old manual typewriters. Magnificent paintings and murals decorate the walls, and the damage done by a wartime bombing is repaired and marked only by a small area left as a reminder.
This is clearly an emerging city. TV antennas bristle from the tops of apartment buildings and even the lowliest corrugated metal dwellings seem to have them. The city streets downtown are lined with shops and hotels. The merchandise here is a mixture of old world and new. Counterfeit goods like fake Rolex watches are much more evident here, showing the city's developing stage of production. Coke and Pepsi signs have been prominent the whole trip, and nowhere more than here. Rows of recognizable multinational names are showing on small storefronts in the central city. More appear every day as the city develops.
Beggars on Main Street A tourist shop the busy main street, beggars are working diligently for handouts. These are the most disturbing part of the trip. Men and women with missing or deformed limbs, mothers carrying crying babies and filthy children as young as 4-5 years old tug at arms and sleeves, rubbing their bellies or pointing to their mouths begging for money-ostensibly for food. Some are brutally persistent.
Women sit on low stools "cleaning" and cutting fruit into piece only to dump them into a dirty container full of murky water. Men crushing ice by hammering on it in reusable dirty vinyl bags-and then dumping it over drinks or food to keep it cool. This is not a place to eat or drink anything local without extreme precautions. "Cook it, boil it, peel it or forget it" is the mantra for visitors.
Thieves carefully size up the jewelry of tourists foolish enough to wear it, and then slip by on their motorbikes, yanking a bracelet and a necklace off an unsuspecting woman and speeding away. She is left stunned and bleeding where the chains cut her before the clasps gave way.
BANGKOK, THAILAND Currency: Baht Language: Thai
Only one set of words comes to mind when describing Bangkok-wealthy and dirty! The air is polluted. The streets are littered. The canals are filthy. Yet, this is a city of Five Star Hotels, and of 33,000 temples, all clad in gold leaf. Mercedes and BMW autos are everywhere. The minivans used to take tourists to the Gem Factories are Mercedes made. The city is an amalgam of luxury hotels, modern buildings and ramshackle sheds thrown up along side the rail tracks through the center of the city to serve as makeshift bars until the authorities catch up with them and have them torn down.
Traffic is heavy and the Thais have figured out how to build and use elevated highways. One such newly opened highway carries express traffic for 30-40 miles (50-60 kilometers) before ever entering the city, while ground level highways below it service local needs. The streets are busy and traffic is heavy. The canals that pass through much of the city (called Klongs) are no longer used for major transportation, although boats do speed up and down the wider ones. Some have actually been cleaned up from the status of open sewers to where marine life is returning.
Factory workers in the suburbs and country here struggle to survive on around $6/day for 8 hours, and most work 12 hour shifts for the extra $3. Yet, in Bangkok there is clearly wealth and many earn 3-5-10 times that in jobs supporting the wealthy. The country is clearly rich in tradition and religion. Buddhist temples are everywhere.
Exporting of goods is on the rise as signaled by the huge expansion of container yards near the Laem Chabang Port, located on the Bay of Thailand about 2 hours by highway from Bangkok. Just outside the port, on the day we were there, were a virtual flotilla of container ships-at least 30 or more, awaiting dock space and loading or unloading, but most looked empty.
SINGAPORE Currency: Singapore Dollar Language: Multiple Chinese dialects, and English
Singapore is as clean as Bangkok was dirty. This is obviously a rich city and a melting pot of SE Asia. The city almost gleams with new hotels, office towers and apartment buildings. The Westin is the tallest hotel in the world. Streets are often tree lined and beautifully landscaped. English is the second language and spoke most places. Shopping centers abound in the main part of the city. Fine restaurants are everywhere. Pedal driven trishaws are still a picturesque but lesser form of in town transportation. A modern mass transit system serves the island, as does a network of buses.
This new splendor is set amidst many historical buildings that add a classic look to certain areas of the city. The most famous of these is the Raffles Hotel, named after one of Singapore's pioneering founders. This famous hotel has been a gathering place for the rich and famous for decades, and it Long Bar, with its bowls of peanuts and shell covered floor, is home to the famed Singapore Sling cocktail. Traffic follows the English system, driving on the left side of the road, as is the case in Hong Kong.
The Merlion, a lion shaped statuary is Singapore's trademark, and sits on the bank of the Singapore river which winds through the heart of the city. A larger version of the Merlion also overlooks Sentosa Island-now an amusement and recreation center featuring gondola car rides across the harbor from the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center is adjacent to just one part of an extensive harbor.
There are shops and restaurants from all over the world-for example, the World Trade Center contains a McDonald's and a Starbucks Coffee shop. It seems that no matter where you look, there is a new vista. A ride on the "Bom Boats" that ply the Singapore River shows many of these vistas. Clark Quay and Boat Quay provide colorful riverfront shopping, dining and nightlife.
This is a place to visit again and again.
