Oulin White

17 October 2009

The Buddha Nation

Posted by oulin under: travel .

I am currently reading “The Beach”. I felt it’s probably the perfect timing for me to read this book after traveling in Thailand. Perhaps many backpackers who are roaming around South East Asia feel the same way. I arrived in Bangkok International Airport around 11pm. The Airport Express Bus E2 dropped me right next to the sizzling Khao San Road. I chose to stay a bit away from the Khao San scene, trying not to be in the hottest backpacker spot. A taxi sent me to the riverside guesthouse I booked online. With the first sight of half a dozen stoned hippies scattered in the back yard, I knew I was actually not that far from the Khao San circle. I went out for a bowl of not that impressive noodle soup around the corner at 1am then ducked in my room for a good night sleep. I went to explore Khao San Road the next evening. My first impression of Khao San Road was exactly what Richard had in the book : “The main function of the street was a decompression chamber for those about to leave or enter Thailand, a halfway house between East and West.”. Neon lights flashing on top of the buildings. Pop music vibrating my eardrums coming out from every café/restaurants. I passed by countless hair braiders, souvenir sellers and whooping tourists before I settled myself in Pad Thai Restaurant. Looking at those almost feverishly happy faces of the half drunk western tourists, I yawned and finished my overly charged meal quickly then went for a fruit shake at the other end of the street. The fruit shake was so good and refreshing, my mood was lifted. I started to feel amused studying the rapturous crowd around me, and thought there was actually some charm of this crazy land. But I felt bored again very soon.

Nobody passed me any map of secret beach. I planned to go to Koh Tao and took the course for my advance open water diving certificate. Abram and Nic joined me for the ride of the second class fan sleeper train to Chumpon where we caught a ferry to the island the next morning. We were welcomed by the warm hugs from Sarah who was waiting for us at the dock. The week in Koh Tao was relaxing and adventurous at the same time. I enjoyed my diving so much during the course. I learnt how to identify various fish and saw a sting ray for the first time at the night dive! I was thrilled and enthusiastic. Even though I suffered severe ear pain most of the time, and my hearing wasn’t recovered until almost a week after I left the island. Oh, damned the cold I had! There was a small “intermezzo” during my dives. It was a little dramatic when I had the mild decompression sickness on the first deep dive. I was put on pure oxygen immediately and rushed back to the island by a speed boat. I had to rest for almost two days before I was allowed to get back to water. So we went kayaking the next day around the island. It wasn’t as easy as I imagined paddling through the wavy sea water. The view was fantastic though. After 7 hours I was just exhausted and wanted a massage badly, plus sunburn on my back and legs.

It seemed that I was never really alone during this big trip. Soon after waving goodbye to my friends in Koh Tao, I was waiting on Khao San Road for Kacey!! When she showed up in her military patterned pants rolled up to her calves, her giant camera bag on her back, I couldn’t help whooping and ran to give her a big hug! We smiled happily to each other and started our journey to the inland Thailand the next day. We were so amazed by the maze of wats in Ayutthaya. I found my favorite Buddha in Wat Mahatta who was shining under the afternoon sun. He’s quietly smiling to me when I looked up to him. Even we’ve taken hundreds of pictures in different angles of those ancient worshiping places, we just couldn’t stop complimenting the form of the architecture and the Buddha statues. Chiangmai was equally amazing to us. We were toured around by Kacey’s friends’ family and shown to more amazing wats. Thai people’s passion about Buddhism and temples never seemed to fade, so as their love for their long live king and queen. He’s the longest king in the world, probably in history. He’s been in his thorn for almost sixty years! The pictures of the king and queen could be found in every corner of the cities, every wall of the houses, taken in different ages and occasions. Auntie Me was sighing that it’s hard to have another wise and compassionate king as him anymore as his only son was not a decent seed to be passed the thorn to. He had a reputation being a playboy and showed not enough talent to take over the country. Maybe the king just had to live a bit longer till his grandson was grown up? Besides the tourist stuff, we were also taken to various restaurants to food courts to try the delicious Thai food. I could never have enough Lapp or curry or Tom Yam to be honest.  Other than those few meals on Khao San Road, I haven’t been disappointed a bit about the food in this country. Even the meal we had cooked by our trekking guide in Pai was just unbelievably tasty. I am drooling when writing this. We made out way to Chiang Khong at the Thai-Laos border with pleasant memories of the time we spent in the past week. Laos was just across the Mekong River in front our guesthouse! We could see the buildings and temples in the sunset light. People were practicing rowing on the river getting ready for their biggest festival in the beginning of October. I told Kacey that we’ve got to try some laolao when we got there