Thailand 2013: half an hour to decide where next

Andrii Tonkolytko · April 2013

We land in Bangkok late. We walk through the city at night: illuminated palaces, Thai rooftops, streets full of food stalls. Our first evening in the country, and the introductions turn practical straight away.

I'm eating pig's stomach.

Here we are, surrounded by unfamiliar things to eat, and I'm trying them. This is strange food to me, a proper culinary experiment. The palaces look beautiful at night too. It's just that pig's stomach gets a memory all of its own.

Bangkok: soup, a basket and golden corners

The experiments continue in daylight, though in a much calmer vein. We stop at a simple little restaurant where the locals eat. The soups are delicious and cost next to nothing. I think one of them was chicken. Nothing elaborate, but as I eat I keep wondering how something can be this good and this cheap.

After pig's stomach at night, an ordinary soup deserves its moment too. Trying exotic food is all very well, but there's still something to be said for a good meal.

We take photos at the table. In one I'm simply sitting there; in another I have a basket on my head and my arms spread wide. A portrait of a tourist taking a creative approach to the local cuisine. You can barely see my face, but you get the idea.

We also walk through the streets where local people live. Bangkok is quite different there: simple houses, poor neighbourhoods. The contrast with the illuminated palaces is striking. The beautiful facades are still there, but behind them is the city's everyday life, which has rather less sparkle.

We go to see some temples up close. Burgundy roofs, golden corners: that same Thai architecture, now without the night lighting. The temple names don't stay with me as well as those colours and shapes. After Bangkok, though, burgundy and gold are hard to mistake for anything else.

To Pattaya by local bus

Next we catch a local bus to Pattaya. These journeys are part of the trip for me in their own right. It's not just about arriving at the next sight; it's also about working out how things move around here.

In Pattaya we walk around the city and head to the beach. A huge sign spelling out the city's name is visible above it. I remember the shore as rough and stony, almost like gravel. Not the beach that first comes to mind when someone mentions the tropics.

The city transport is unfamiliar too. Little pickup trucks with benches at the back; people hop on, find a seat and off they go. I watch how it works and get used to the local way of getting around. The bus brought us here, but the city has a system of its own.

That evening we go to Alcazar.

Alcazar: minimalism gets the night off

The cabaret turns out to be beautiful. Bright costumes, music, dancing, a big stage: everything is done on a grand scale. Nobody is trying to go unnoticed, and why would they? If you're going on stage, your costume might as well join in the performance.

For me in 2013, this is also an unfamiliar introduction to transgender cabaret. The format adds to the interest, but what I enjoy most is the show itself: the production, the performances, the colours. It really is a great performance. Afterwards we take photos with the performers too.

Then we head to a local market and continue getting to know Thailand, this time without a stage. The stalls have insects for sale as food. We try a little: one or two pieces at a time. I'm not moving on to a full dinner of bugs just yet, but I've tried them.

After the pig's stomach, this is a fairly logical next step.

17 April: a market you can float through

The next day we go to Pattaya Floating Market. Here it's not only the things for sale that are unusual, but the way you move between the shops.

We get into a boat and float between the wooden buildings. Usually a market means walking from one stall to the next. Here there's water between them. This is a first for me: looking at the buildings, shops and boats from the canal itself.

There's a zipline here too. We give that a go as well. Apparently, simply walking around the market is no longer enough: we've managed to float through it and fly over it.

The food is very much in keeping with our trip. There's a coconut with a straw, and there's a stall selling fried insects. We try those again. Yesterday it was the market after the show; today it's the floating one. This is no longer a chance encounter with an unfamiliar menu. We're getting better acquainted.

We take photos by the water. In one I'm holding a coconut, in another I've spread my arms, and then I'm doing something dragon-like against the evening sky. After the basket on my head in Bangkok, simply standing in front of the camera would probably be inconsistent.

By evening the sky over the canals turns pink and the shops light up. The market looks quite different, though the water and wooden buildings haven't changed. We keep a few more photos of that evening.

18 April: close to the animals, but not too close

The next day we visit Khao Kheow Open Zoo near Si Racha. It's my first experience of this kind of open zoo.

What strikes me most is the sense of space. Instead of the familiar row of cages to walk past, there is greenery, water and large areas for the animals. They move around right near you, or at least that's how it feels. As though you're walking closer to their lives rather than simply looking through bars.

Being close doesn't mean there are no boundaries. Different animals have their own enclosures and barriers; the distance hasn't disappeared. That's exactly the combination I like: you feel drawn into their world while still staying on your side.

In one photo, a primate is running beside the water with its long arms spread wide. It's quite a characterful shot. Further on we look at the big cats: one walks beneath the trees; another, spotted, stands in its enclosure. They're close, and we can see them well. That's quite enough to make an impression. There's no particular need to test how much closer we could get.

The zoo turns out to be more than another stop. For me it's a new way of seeing animals: more space around them, less of a feeling that I'm looking at a row of living exhibits.

Koh Chang: the bus knows how to drive; I don't yet

Then we head towards Koh Chang. What I remember most about the journey is the bus. A perfectly ordinary, decent bus, and for some reason that's what surprises me. I already have certain ideas about Asia in my head, while here people are simply using normal public transport. It seems it's my expectations that need adjusting, not the bus.

On the island I decide to try a scooter for the first time. I've never ridden one before. We go to the rental place, and they show me how to sit, what to twist and how to set off. It looks straightforward enough.

I twist the throttle.

The scooter shoots out from under me. I fall, and my first encounter ends with battered knees and scrapes on my legs and arm. I got through the theory faster than the practical part. The practical part objected immediately.

The woman who runs the rental place takes me on her scooter to a clinic. At first we ride along a normal road. Then we reach the water, and the next part is something my introduction to motor transport has definitely not prepared me for.

The houses stand on stilts over the water. Narrow concrete walkways run between them, about a metre and a half wide. No railings. Right-angle turns. The woman calmly rides along these paths: one way, then the other, between the buildings, all perfectly under control.

I've just failed to manage a scooter on ordinary ground. She's riding above the water, making ninety-degree turns and treating it as nothing out of the ordinary.

At this point, to me, she's a goddess of scooter riding. I look at those turns and realise how far I am from that level. Particularly given how my own lessons have just begun.

The clinic is here too, among the buildings over the water. My grazes are cleaned with alcohol and bandaged. In the photo I'm standing in an Ipanema T-shirt with my arms spread out. Already wearing the results of my first attempt to master a scooter.

Then I find out what the treatment costs. For me at the time, it's a significant amount of money. I've arrived with my Ukrainian idea of prices, which isn't much help when I'm already in another country and need a clinic.

This is where insurance stops being an abstract pre-trip consideration. My personal conclusion is quite concrete: better to have it in advance than to discover the price of my own carelessness with my legs already in bandages.

Holiday cabins, island edition

On Koh Chang we're staying in a little wooden bungalow. The facilities are basic: a bed, a shower and, essentially, that's it. A hammock on the porch. The price is very low: five or seven dollars, perhaps. I can't give an exact figure.

The whole place reminds me a little of the holiday camps back home, somewhere in the Odesa or Kherson region. The same simple cabins, without unnecessary luxury. Except that when you step outside, you're in Thailand, on an island, among tropical greenery and not far from the beach.

This is what I like: you can stay somewhere for very little money and still have the sea, jungle and all this island beauty around you. The bungalow isn't trying to be the main attraction. It has a bed, a shower and a hammock. Koh Chang provides the rest.

Beach life is close by: clubs, parties, places to eat right by the sea. Seafood, crabs, lobsters, spicy soups. There's no need to travel far to make a special occasion of a meal; everything is nearby. After my experiments on the road, it's pleasant to explore the island in this less painful fashion too.

The Sunflower Resort photo has signs, greenery and a man sitting off to one side. It suits the place: simple island life without much staging. And in another frame, our wooden bungalow with its hammock. Most of the luxury is outside its walls.

Cambodia in half an hour

We spend some time on Koh Chang, then decide to move on. We haven't planned anything in advance. We look around and see that Cambodia is relatively close.

About half an hour of thinking, and we're already starting to plan the next trip.

I haven't looked into the political context. Thailand and Cambodia still have a territorial dispute, one that led to armed clashes along the border in 2011. But our decision to visit another country comes much faster than the urge to investigate its background.

Cambodia is now in the plans. Thailand has already shown me Bangkok at night, a floating market, a dazzling stage, animals up close and an island where you can stay near the sea without spending much.

And the difference between someone who can ride a scooter and me.

Fortunately, with a new route, making a plan is enough to start with. No need to twist the throttle.