Thursday, December 1, 2005
Day three in Bangkok
“I have cup noodles for breakfast today!” Ton happily announced as I descended yesterday morning. I was rushing to the Singapore embassy and was glad for her offer of a no-frills get-done-quick breakfast. At least it would be better than the previous day’s omelette and toast. “I have three varieties (all described in Thai)… this one’s spicy, this one is not… and this one is not either.” I took Spicy. Five minutes later, I discovered the white stuff among the noodles was shrimp. Should have checked the cup. It had pictures of seafood on it. Having paid for it now, I ate it.
At the Singapore embassy, they dismissed me again saying I need a local address in Singapore. Either a hotel booking, or if I’m staying with a friend, a copy of their work permit and a signed declaration from them on my visa application. The nice lady explained that it was simpler to get a hotel booking. Lesser documentation. What she didn’t reveal was that this is a standard tactic: book a hotel, apply for a visa, cancel hotel booking. If you go to a reasonably expensive place, they won’t charge for cancellation. She said visa processing takes three days, so if I could come back with a hotel booking the same day, I may be able to get the visa by Friday. But sometimes it takes up to seven days, so she couldn’t assure me anything. It was already 10.30am. They stop taking applications at 11am. No way I could go out, find a place to get online, book a hotel and print a receipt, and get back in time. If I returned Thursday, my passport would be stuck with them until at least Monday, maybe even later.
I didn’t look forward to being in Bangkok for another week, so I called Colin and Sham in Kuala Lumpur to ask if I could apply there. Colin didn’t know. Malaysians don’t need to apply for a visa for Singapore. Sham said yes, I could. I’m staying with Sham in KL. At least I’ll have the comfort of familiarity if I have to spend a full week there.
Hence rendered activity-less, I took the skytrain to Siam Square where MBK Shopping Centre is located. The skytrain is an elevated railway system. It has a fairly small footprint on the ground—about ten feet across—but a significant turn radius, making it deployable over only major thoroughfares. Bangkok’s skytrain has been in operation since 2000.
MBK Centre is, for lack of more descriptive words, stupendously huge. In fact, that probably doesn’t convey a sense of its size, so let me try again. MBK is so huge that I spent all day wandering inside and by evening had only covered two of six floors. MBK is where you go when you’re bored and lonely and want someplace comfortable to wander around.
MBK is also the place I saw the most disturbing sight so far. I was resting my weary legs at a food court and across from me was this white man being served by a Thai girl. Nothing out of the ordinary, probably a waitress. But she was pregnant. Maybe working as long as she could? Then she sat down and shared the man’s meal. Then she got up to get him something else. She was pregnant. There was obviously some intimacy between them. He just sat there waiting to be served. I couldn’t get it off my mind the rest of the evening.
For dinner, I went to The Atlanta off Sukhumvit road. Sukhmvit road is the tourist corner of Bangkok. The place is crawling with them. I saw a white man with a Thai girl on his arms every 50 feet or so. They all looked like perfectly normal, respectable men. Perhaps it should be no surprise then that the Atlanta features this sign at its door:
Post dinner, I took the metro. Bangkok’s metro is exactly like Delhi’s metro, down to the last detail. Perhaps this is where Delhi’s authorities did their research. But wait, there’s a difference. In Bangkok, tracks are separated from the platform by glass walls with doors that open only when the train has halted. In Bangkok, they also don’t perform an airport-class security check before letting you on the train.
From Hua Lamphong station, I took a bus back to the guest house. I’m glad I didn’t take up accommodation around Sukhumvit.
At the Singapore embassy, they dismissed me again saying I need a local address in Singapore. Either a hotel booking, or if I’m staying with a friend, a copy of their work permit and a signed declaration from them on my visa application. The nice lady explained that it was simpler to get a hotel booking. Lesser documentation. What she didn’t reveal was that this is a standard tactic: book a hotel, apply for a visa, cancel hotel booking. If you go to a reasonably expensive place, they won’t charge for cancellation. She said visa processing takes three days, so if I could come back with a hotel booking the same day, I may be able to get the visa by Friday. But sometimes it takes up to seven days, so she couldn’t assure me anything. It was already 10.30am. They stop taking applications at 11am. No way I could go out, find a place to get online, book a hotel and print a receipt, and get back in time. If I returned Thursday, my passport would be stuck with them until at least Monday, maybe even later.
I didn’t look forward to being in Bangkok for another week, so I called Colin and Sham in Kuala Lumpur to ask if I could apply there. Colin didn’t know. Malaysians don’t need to apply for a visa for Singapore. Sham said yes, I could. I’m staying with Sham in KL. At least I’ll have the comfort of familiarity if I have to spend a full week there.
Hence rendered activity-less, I took the skytrain to Siam Square where MBK Shopping Centre is located. The skytrain is an elevated railway system. It has a fairly small footprint on the ground—about ten feet across—but a significant turn radius, making it deployable over only major thoroughfares. Bangkok’s skytrain has been in operation since 2000.
MBK Centre is, for lack of more descriptive words, stupendously huge. In fact, that probably doesn’t convey a sense of its size, so let me try again. MBK is so huge that I spent all day wandering inside and by evening had only covered two of six floors. MBK is where you go when you’re bored and lonely and want someplace comfortable to wander around.
MBK is also the place I saw the most disturbing sight so far. I was resting my weary legs at a food court and across from me was this white man being served by a Thai girl. Nothing out of the ordinary, probably a waitress. But she was pregnant. Maybe working as long as she could? Then she sat down and shared the man’s meal. Then she got up to get him something else. She was pregnant. There was obviously some intimacy between them. He just sat there waiting to be served. I couldn’t get it off my mind the rest of the evening.
For dinner, I went to The Atlanta off Sukhumvit road. Sukhmvit road is the tourist corner of Bangkok. The place is crawling with them. I saw a white man with a Thai girl on his arms every 50 feet or so. They all looked like perfectly normal, respectable men. Perhaps it should be no surprise then that the Atlanta features this sign at its door:
From Hua Lamphong station, I took a bus back to the guest house. I’m glad I didn’t take up accommodation around Sukhumvit.
eh_donia — Dec 2, 2005 9:48:29 AM — # ↩
Even the looks some white men gave me, I felt like punching their noses. Grr. Those creeps think everyone is for sale. And believe me, those looks were 10 times more violating than the looks I get in my city. India seems like a safe safe place.
So when are you going to KL?
latelyontime — Dec 2, 2005 12:52:10 PM — # ↩
sumit_mittal — Dec 2, 2005 2:54:59 PM — # ↩