Travelling to a foreign country is a culturally interesting experience in that it can give the traveler a unique perspective on both the culture of his own and that of the land he travels to.
Last month, I had my first trip to Thailand to attend the 1st International Conference on Foreign Language Learning and Teaching (FLLT) during Oct. 15-18, 2009. To minimize the potential interference of the trip with my teaching schedule, I booked a late night flight of Oct. 15 to Thailand and an early morning one of Oct. 18 back to China. Thus, the entire stay was in fact merely two full days.
The trip was prepared in hurry, which was normal for a typical last-minute person like me. (My excuse for stubbornly sticking to the habit of getting things done at the last minute is that it helps me save time because the deadline pressure forces me to work more attentively and more efficiently.) Before the trip, I stayed overnight to work on my presentation handout. With classes to teach on the morning, I could only do printing and photocopying of the handouts as well as pack up the luggage in the early afternoon.
I planned to leave for Pudong Airport at 5:00pm so as to ensure timely arrival even if I happen to be held up by rush-hour traffic jams. All went smoothly. Leaving home at five, arriving at Shanghai’s South Railway Station five minutes ahead for 6:00pm airport shuttle, and then at the airport at seven. There was two hours to hang around after check-in, but what all I wanted to do was to eat and sleep. It was easy to get food although Chinese airports sell food at notoriously high prices. The desire to get a good sleep, however, was far from being satisfied, considering that I had a late evening flight.
The trip to Bangkok went well. The flight, MU547, took off at 9:40pm from Pudong Airport and arrived at 1:30am, Oct. 16. Following the travel guidelines given by the conference organizers, I found a taxi to take me to the hotel, which was Diamond City Hotel about 40 minutes’ drive from the airport. After arriving at the hotel, I stayed up until 3:30am to unpack and get ready for the conference.
The conference last for two days, Oct. 16-17. My presentation was scheduled in the afternoon of the first day. Although I managed to get hard copies of my presentation handouts done before leaving Shanghai, I had not time to do a PPT version. In a computer age, presenting at a conference with PPT would make the speaker look unprofessional and unprepared. I was determined to do PPT, but sleepiness spoiled my plan to finish it in the night. I decided to get to it during lunch time at the conference.
It took hard efforts for me to persuade myself into getting up at 8:30am and to arrive at the conference in time. During lunch time, I did manage to write a PPT version of my handout for presentation in the afternoon. With little sleep for two nights in a row, I went straight back to the hotel after dinner and fall sleep right away.
Since I would leave in the early morning of Oct. 18, I decided to skip most of the second day of the conference (Oct. 17) and to see some sights of Bangkok. I went to the Grand Palace (along with Temple of Emerald Buddha) in the morning. The palace is a complex of buildings constructed in the 1780s and used as the royal residence and administrative offices until the 1940s. Although the royal family does not live there any more, many important royal rituals are performed by the King every year. What struck me most are the lavish decoration and the gold color of the buildings. Under the bright tropical sunshine, visitors find themselves enveloped in glaze, mystery and magnificence.
In afternoon, I first went back to the conference site to listen to a plenary talk and then spent most of the time doing window-shopping. At about 1:30pm, I took the Skytrain (BTS) to Chatuchak Market, which is claimed to be the world’s largest week-end market. However, I was quite disappointed since most stands there sold clothes and antiques, which I had little interest in. Hoping to see some more authentic sides of Thai life, I took the Skytrain back to downtown Bangkok. For the rest of the day, I just hanged around in shops and tried Thai snacks from street food stands.
Besides this one-day sightseeing, I had no more time to experience Thailand. I checked out from the hotel and took a taxi for the airport at 6:00am. My flight back to Shanghai was MU542, departing at 9:15am and arriving at 1:55pm.
Although the trip was really short, I observed something interesting about Thailand and the Thai people:
- Land of smiles: Thai people are famous for their friendliness and politeness. Everyone everywhere, rich or poor, young and old, has a hearty and charming smile, which is potent enough to remove any feeling of nervousness and insecurity held by a foreign traveler. No wonder Thailand is known as the happy-go-lucky “land of smiles.” (Note: The Thai word for smile is “yim”.)
- Land of Buddhism: Thai people are faithful Buddhists. Over 90% of them are followers of Theravada Buddhism, a sect which keeps the original doctrine and tradition of the Buddha. They hold both hands in the front and bow slightly to greet people.
- Land of fruits: With a tropical climate, Thailand produces a large diversity of fruits, for example, jackfruit, mangos, rambutan, mangosteen, durian, custard apples, sugarcane, coconuts, mulberry, papayas, pineapples, guavas, longan, lychees bananas, oranges, watermelons, mangosteens, grapes … You name it!
- Food available around the clock: Food stands on the street are in the service 24 hours a day. On my way from the airport to the hotel, I was surprised to find that there are many small food stands on the street still open. Although it was already 1:00am in the night, the Thai people seemed to work and eat just as it were still day time. I asked some Thai people at the conference, and they told me that in Thailand people can get food anytime in the street.
- Spoon and fork as universal food utensils: Thai people eat mainly with a spoon and a fork. The typical food is rice with one or two dishes made of vegetable, seafood or meat. The spoon is used to put food into the mouth, and the fork to cut and shovel. This is quite different from how the utensils are used in Western dining. Chopsticks are only used when noodles are served. This was quite a surprise: I had thought all East Asians and South-east Asians eat with chopsticks!
- Deep Love for the King: Thailand, or the Kingdom of Thailand in its full name, is a constitutional monarchy. To my surprise, Thai people hold the utmost love and affection for a king I have never seen in any other country. Whoever I met – taxi drivers, shop owners, students, professors, hotel clerks … – spoke highly of their king. For example, they gave profuse praise to his successful education reform aimed to provide education for all. (Note: The current monarch is King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose regal name is Rama IX. Born in 1927, he is now over 80. He has reigned since 9 June 1946, being the world’s longest reigning monarch.)
- English as a lingua franca: Many people in Bangkok can speak some English. I communicated with shop assistants, taxi drivers and policeman in English although sometimes I had to add gestures and maps to make myself understood.
First impressions of a place and a people may not be true. If I visit Thailand again in the future, I will check these further with Thai people.
The Grand Palace
Skytrain
Thai Fruits
