Dare To Compare

I spent the Chinese Lunar New Year (Tết, in Vietnamese) week, in Bangkok, Thailand and couldn't help but register all the stark differences from Saigon when arriving there and then the reverse upon returning to Saigon.

In fairness, I spent almost all my time in the newer parts of Bangkok which are vastly different from the rest of Thailand. But I also spend most of my time in Vietnam in districts 1,3,5, and 7 of Saigon which are the Vietnamese equivalent. We all know that Thailand has a big lead developmentally over Vietnam, so I won't dwell on that too much. There are many foreigners living in Thailand and Bangkok and they can live an essentially Western lifestyle there.

I had a very nice and relaxing week in Bangkok helped by the fantastic hotel deals that were available due to the onslaught of tourist-repelling problems that have beset the city over the past months. In addition to simmering political tensions manifest in new threats and posturing from the red shirt faction, there were the terrible floods suffered mostly in the areas of Thailand north of Bangkok but affecting Bangkok nevertheless, and then to add further insult, the US and Israeli embassies issued a terrorist alert for the areas of Bangkok frequented by Western tourists for the very week that I was there. I have to admit I questioned the wisdom of my trip there at that time, but I had already booked everything in advance with no refunds and I easily rationalized for the sake of the few hundred dollars I would have lost that no harm could possibly come to me. Well, it really wasn't just about the money, really it wasn't. Anyway, it all worked out, as the odds are always in one's favor in these things. They're in your favor until they're not, but for me on this trip that didn't happen.

As much as I enjoy hanging out in Saigon, it's nice to get away now and then and I should do it more often. This was the first time in 4 months that I had left Vietnam.

I also have to admit that I don't exactly relish the idea of Tết. For the Vietnamese, it's by far the biggest and most important holiday of the year and most businesses close for anywhere from 3 days to a few weeks while most Vietnamese spend the time in their home towns with their families. They all eat and eat and, especially the men, drink and drink and ...... drink. I certainly like to drink, but not in the style that many Vietnamese men do it when they're celebrating in a group. And it's not just how they do it, but what it is they drink. The beer is OK, but I have my preferences and the favorite celebratory beer for the Vietnamese, Heineken, is not on my list. And neither is the home-made rice 'wine' that many drink. Calling it wine is real show of disrespect to Boone's Farm and Gallo.

When I came back to Saigon about 14 months ago, it was because of a certain individual I had met before leaving and with whom I had stayed in contact for over 6 months via email. She met me at the airport when I arrived and after spending a few days in Saigon we went to her town in the Mekong Delta and I stayed at her house for about a week during the Christmas holidays. During the day she had to go to work and she left me in the care of her father, a very nice and friendly man who spoke enough English that we could get by. He took me to visit his friends one day and we had lunch in a park by the river and all was going fine until someone, from somewhere, produced a large quantity of re-used drinking water bottles filled with a urine-colored fluid. To my horror I soon found out this lovely yellow-brown fluid was not urine, but worse, the aforementioned 'wine' and we, and especially yours truly, were expected to consume a lot of it. At lunch. In the middle of the day.

The relationship failed for a few reasons, but a big part of it for me was that I knew I couldn't live in that town where there are almost no foreigners and I would be expected to participate in what seemed would be regular rice wine drinking sessions with the guys. So I harbor a special bitter animosity towards that revolting abomination of a libation.

Also I'm not the most convivial sort and I can stand a day or 2 of group activity, but after that I can turn rather sour. Bottom line is that my personality is not at all suited to Vietnamese Tết activities and maybe not to Vietnamese family life at all, something I may have to seriously think about at some point.

So, back to Bangkok.

First, when you fly into Bangkok's Suvarnabhum Airport, you can get into downtown via their relatively new (1 1/2 years of operation) airport train. It costs 45 baht (about $1.50 US) and from there you can either walk or taxi to your final destination or connect with the Sky Train or subway system. It's very convenient and inexpensive and I'm sure the taxi drivers hated the very idea of it from the beginning and will never stop wishing for its destruction.

When you fly into Saigon's Tân Sơn Nhất Airport, you have the option of a taxi, or if you're savvy, the bus during operating hours or if you don't have a lot of bags and it's not raining, a motorbike taxi (xe ôm).

Bangkok's public transportation system, especially in the newer part of the city east of the river, is excellent. The only problem is that the Sky Train can get too crowded during commute hours.

The traffic in Bangkok is absolutely horrible so much so that I honestly wonder how the city can even function. One morning as I was having breakfast at about 9 AM I observed a truck idling in stopped traffic outside the restaurant. When I left the restaurant about 20 minutes later I noticed the truck had finally moved. It was now about 30 feet further up the road. This is not an exaggeration and it's not uncommon around Bangkok. There are many more cars and trucks in Bangkok than Saigon and the traffic is much worse. At least when the motorbikes in Saigon begin clumping and slowing it doesn't take long for them to clear up. One day in Bangkok I took a taxi from my hotel and after less than a mile the driver dropped me off at a motorbike taxi stand, telling me it was useless for him to try to drive any further.

Even with all the traffic, there is something about Bangkok that is so much nicer than Saigon and that also applies to the people in general. You'll hear very few honking horns in Bangkok whereas in Saigon it seems that a honking horn on a vehicle is required if it's moving. Or maybe even if it's not. The same principle appears to apply to the Thai people. Compared to the Vietnamese, they are quite reserved and quiet. There is almost no hassling of tourists by vendors. And their spoken language is calm and pleasant. The way some of the men garble and spit out Vietnamese around Saigon can be fairly compared to the sound of a pack of snarling dogs. Vietnamese doesn't have to be spoken that way and thankfully isn't by all.

But good luck learning to read Thai. I know some foreigners do, but the use of the pseudo-Latin alphabet in written Vietnamese makes it much easier for Westerners to read.

I think the Vietnamese are similar to the Chinese in many respects, whereas the Thais are different and share little or nothing with Chinese culture. Just compare Vietnamese Tết with Chinese Lunar New Year in Thailand. It's a little difficult because you hardly know it's going on in Thailand.

Vietnam also copies many of China's censorship policies, for example by blocking Facebook. Thailand also censors, but seems to tolerate more freedom of expression except of course when it comes to the ruling family.

Physically the Thais are also different from the Vietnamese. Which is better looking is a subjective call of course, but there are a lot of truly stunning Thai women strutting around Bangkok. I think the Thais are a little taller than the Vietnamese.

The eastern area of Bangkok, while very Western and developed, is also getting expensive. Some of the high-end bars and restaurants now charge prices on par with many US cities. I can compare Bangkok and Saigon using the well-understood beer index. In the Khao San road area of Bangkok, popular with budget tourists, a large bottle of local beer (Chang or Singha) was around 80 baht ($2.60 US) whereas in the Pham Ngu Lao area of Saigon, a large Tiger beer can be found for just under $1. And if you're willing to settle for the Saigon red or green beer, a smaller bottle can be had for about 45 cents.

The nightlife in Bangkok, even though bars now close earlier than before, is still far and away more active and lively than in Saigon. If you're looking for nightlife, Vietnam is way down the list of top destinations.

I saw a discussion on a blog about Vietnam becoming more of a destination for the type of tourist who has traditionally gravitated toward Thailand's gogo bars and, shall we say, less than wholesome attractions. It looks like Thailand is making an effort to reduce and isolate this type of business, especially in Bangkok, but there's still plenty to be found. But I think the idea that Vietnam will ever embrace this type of tourism is DOA for a lot of reasons. I personally feel the proliferation of gogo bars and working girls that occured in Thailand is a one-off that Thailand now wishes it had been less accepting of and that no other country would ever want to duplicate. The attitude toward sex and sexuality is definitely more relaxed in Thailand than Vietnam (and maybe anywhere else!) so this was part of the reason it was ever allowed to happen, but the industry that developed there serves less as business model to follow as a warning by laying bare the costs and downsides of the industry. An example is Cambodia which has also reined in the gogo bar and sex industry even though it might offer them a, short-term at least, economic boost.

Even though I haven't spent enough time in Thailand to see it, I've read plenty about the corruption there and how difficult it can be for foreigners who run afoul of the law or have any sort of legal problems there. While the Thais seem to be nicer and more reserved, they can really turn against foreigners and foreigners have very few legal rights there from what I've read. I think that Vietnam is better in this regard. There's plenty of corruption in Vietnam, but I think in Thailand it's worse and while a foreigner will never be a Vietnamese in Vietnam and plenty of foreigners get burned monetarily in love and business, I think a foreigner, especially one married to a Vietnamese, can at least get less unfair treatment in Vietnam. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's based on a lot of personal accounts I've heard and read about both countries. It could also be that the greater number of foreigners living in Thailand has simply generated more bad stories about their lives there, but it doesn't seem to be deterring them away.

The Erawan Buddhist Shrine seen from the sky walk along Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok. The music and aroma of incense add a lot to the scene.

The drawer of my hotel bedside table did not offer the Gideon's Bible I was searching for. Instead, this, The Teaching of Buddha.

Not sure if the hotel room mini-bar was Buddha-approved. I don't think he gets too involved in such matters.

Yes, that is what you saw in the previous photo! I think I was placed in the 'swinger's wing' of the hotel, maybe because I was a single man. Also notice the Tylenol. They thought of everything.

Just another day along Bangkok's Khao San Road where everything's cheap and fairly interesting. You can see those beer prices on the board at the upper left.