One Night in Bangkok

On a hot and humid day in 1985 I walked out of a Boeing 747 from Singapore Airlines, crossing the platform of Don Muang Airport in Bangkok while a walkman blasted the song "One night in Bangkok" in my ears. 

Overlooking the Chao Phraya in Bangkok, Thailand (1985)

I did walk over the platform watched by young Thai soldiers with an M-16 and Ray-ban sunglasses. It was hot and I was drunk from all the free drinks from the inboard service of those beautiful Singapore Airline girls. And while on my way to Indonesia I was on a 3-day stop-over in Bangkok, not bothered by the fact that I did not even know what kind of currency was used here, or what kind of language the people would speak here. It was my first time outside the old continent Europe.

But it would be not a problem at all because a good friend of my mother would pick me up from the airport. But well he wasn't as I did arrive 2 days earlier as planned. There I was, 18 years young and first time outside Europe, standing in the total chaos of Don Muang Airport. No problem, I call my mothers friend. Well no, because the telephone system was not working. Luckily I had some cash US$ with me what I changed into the weird local currency called Thai baht and I ordered a taxi to bring me to ... yes where? O wait I had a note written in English with the address. Let's go! Although the taxi had a sign "meter" there was no meter inside. Never mind. Let's go! And go and go and go. Slower, slower ... while the taxi driver was reading our note with the address .... holding it upside down!

I assumed he could not read at all and did speak the address to him, but was to no avail at all. Until I did say the magic name "Malaysia Hotel". That was know to all taxi-driver, even mine! So soon I was at the Malaysia Hotel and the staff there did know the friend of my mother. In hindsight my host was a (and still is) a respectful member of the inner-circle of Thai society. Once at the small compound where my host was living in 2 small villa's I steppend into a world unknown to me.

First of all this small compound was guarded 24h/day by a security guard with a M16 and wearing a beautiful white uniform with a lot of bling-bling. He did look like general! But mostly a sleeping general, not to disturb him we quietly walked around him and his M16. A ritual that would be repeated many times in the next 3 days.

Bam.... Culture shock 

Imagine Bangkok in 1985. My culture shock started on the way to the house of my host. The total traffic chaos, streets full of people and all kind of transport as Tuk-Tuk's, motorbikes, trucks, bicycle's and much more. When I arrived at the house my host was still working and not at home. I was greeted by his two maids who did know I would come. And here my culture shock continued. These two maids, who later seemed to be family members of one of his two Thai wives’s, were treating me like I was royal family from Europe. I could not even touch my luggage, they ordered the taxi driver to bring it in the house and they guide me to the living room where I was pointed out to sit down on the floor. But all the time these two beautiful girls would never look me straight in the face and they would never walk in front of me but more or less behind me. And when leaving the room they would walk away backwards not pointing their backs to me. Or actually they would not walk at all but more or less sit on the floor, lower as me and then leave the room backwards with a gracious smile and wai. After a nap and a shower I had the  stupid idea to take a walk and find something to eat. With my mothers Indonesian roots I was used to eat Asian food but what I did find here to eat left me by buying some sweet bread and cake. I returned back and I was already tired and dirty. Next shower!

And I will always remember the first morning when I wanted to make my breakfast. One of the girls who saw this almost fall into a shock that I would do that myselve. Doing that was insult for her! She pointed me out to sit down again on the floor and they started to make my European breakfast. And they must have been very shocked what kind of strange food I brought with me from Europe, awfully smelling cheese! And this ritual of me doing stupid things would continue again when I wanted to bring our dirty dishes to the kitchen. That was wrong; I should leave this for the maids. How could I ever think of doing that!

Sight seeing Bangkok

I did not know anything about Thailand, also not that what Thailand is still famous for. But my host, who had to work, suggest me a nice day tour to make. First he dropped me of at Klong Toey market to wander around and be shocked. At that time I was surprised that not all Bangkokian already died of hepatitis or any other deadly diseases. It was for me the first time to see a market where the meat was sold alive or killed on the spot on a dirty floor. Now I would not even look to it anymore. Now thinking about it I realize that the Bangkok of 1985 is much more different as the Bangkok of today. In that time they were building the motorways right trough the inner city of Bangkok and I remember that I thought they were crazy. They demolished complete blocks of houses and that in a stretch of a few kilometers. It's strange now to realize that you could stand on the ground and look straight to a road 1 or 2 kilometer further. And it is even stranger that I cannot imagine Bangkok anymore without all the motorways or even without the sky-train. After Kong Toey market I took a taxi to the Oriental Hotel along the banks of the Mea Nam Chao Phraya. In that days the taxis were still the old Toyota's that you can still see sometimes and without meter. At the Oriental Hotel I was impressed by the gigantic luxury of this hotel. But later in Singapore this impression would be overwhelmed by the Dynasty Hotel at Orchard road. From here I took the local ferry boat over the Chao Phraya River to the Wat Arun. The local boat ferry is a boat of about 15-meters long and a big diesel engine in the middle. You have about 1-minut to get on and off the boat and then the boat leaves for the next stop. The boats are always crowded because it is a very cheap and fast transport system in Bangkok. And in that days there were not as many bridges as there are now, so it was and still is a good way of crossing the Chao Phraya to the other side Thonburi. There I was going, between a boat full of Bangkokian and some other lost tourists. Finally they kicked me of at Wat Arun and that is good because I did not have a clue how the Wat Arun would look like. The Wat Arun (temple of the morning dawn) is a big chedi or pagoda surrounded by 4 smaller one's. It has 4 levels and the top level is reached by climbing up a very steep stair way. And when going down you realize that it's very steep indeed. So steep that I went back backwards but some people have gone down the quick way. That's the reason why now the top level is closed for visitors. From the top level I had a beautiful view over the Chao Phraya and China town at the other side. From there I took a ferry to the other side to visit the Wat Po with the reclining Buddha. At that time the Wat Po was not the so much by tourists visited temple that it is now. At that time they started to renovate the temple and it was still really used by worshipers who invited me in to join them and to talk to me. Now they would have to invite hundreds of tourists every day. Much later, while living in Bangkok I still did visit the Wat Po to find myself a hidden away part of this temple complex to have a chat with one of the monks and to forget the busy Bangkok. It's my favorite temple.

If you are lucky the Goddess is a she 

After a half day tour I was tired and dirty. And that is something that has not changed for me in the years to come. Well of course my host told me about what Bangkok is famous for. So that evening I would go to Patpong at the corner of Thanon Rama IV with Thanon Suriwong and Thanon Silom. Soi Patpong, once a private street established by a Thai-Chinese man called Patpong, was originally a street where the western company's did choose to make their office. Well and there where are westerners with US$, bars and restaurants will come along. And of course the famous, beautiful but dangerous Thai peasant girls who started to work in the Go-Go bars that followed. By that time Patpong was not representative anymore for international company's and they moved out and their spaces were quickly filled with more bars. The Patpong of 1985 was not the Patpong that it is now. Now it is a night bazaar with at lot of unfriendly, expensive, rip-off bars. Patpong is now, under management from the TAT, changing into a tourist attraction and the real hardcore entertainment business has already moved to other places. But in 1985 it was fun, big fun, for a nitwits from Europe. A young boy dressed in disco outfit and wearing golden Porsche design sunglasses. Yes I was probably an attractive customer, but probably that was everybody with a cash load of money. I had a drink or what but did not dive into the nightlife entertainment. That's something I would do much later.

Leaving Bangkok 

So after 3 days I left Bangkok to continue my journey to Singapore and Sumatra, Indonesia. I was impressed by this other way of life, to see that our way of life in the west is so simple to think that we are the centre of the world society. It would take about 6 years before I would return back to Thailand and Bangkok, the country and city that I did fall in love with and where I found a little piece of my soul that must have been there already for centuries. By that time in 1985 and later in the years 1991 to 1999, I could have never imagined that I could really live in Bangkok as I would do later in 2000 for almost 2 years. Until then I saw Bangkok as something I loved and I hated. A places to stay, but not for long. And now I sometimes still listen to "One night in Bangkok" and I starting to recognize more and more things in the song, that by that time I thought it was just a song. “I'm glad you like it, I would invite you but I'm afraid you would not like the rules”. Rules??

Wat Po in Bangkok, Thailand (1985)