Absolut(e) Trip to Thailand, Part 3 : Koh Samui

Before I open the last chapter of my wonderful stay in Thailand with stunning pictures of Koh Samui island, let me share with you a bit of my impressions about the relations between the Thai population and the foreigners.

Thailand is the second place I visit in Asia after Hong-Kong. Japan doesn't count, because I live there: I flatter myself that I have (I hope) a more accurate knowledge of this country than any other foreign country in the world, but in a certain extend, my vision is also biaised by everything I know and acknowledge about Japapn. I am used to Japan, which is not the case for the other Asian countries. In September, I was telling you how strange it was to be in Hong-Kong City and not to see many exchanges between the local people and the Westerners - except financial and commercial ones, of course. Obviously there must be higher levels of communication - exchange students, I guess; artists, free minds, and a few original individuals who had a crush on the other side's culture and mindset - but the majority of the people I have seen and met during my stay were just not interested in meeting new people and getting familiar with their world. The Chinese were there to sell. Sell, sell, sell. The white guys were there to make as much money as possible. Finance, finance, finance. Some of them were learning the basics of communication (including linguistics), but this was not for fun : it was for business. In Thailand, of course, because the level of developement is radically lower than in HK, the atmosphere is quite different. Still, I have been stricken by the common point between the two places: in Thailand also, people don't really mix with the others. I haven't seen groups of Thai and Westerners chatting together, hanging out together, talking together. I haven't seen mixed couples, except when it comes to prostitutes. I am terribly sorry that it sounds so cliche but trust me, the picture was kind of cliche too. Imagine a successions of noisy bars with big pink neons, largely opened on the street. Imagine young and less young girls wearing mini-mini dress (black, most of the time) and super high heels, crossing legs on plastic chairs in front of the shop. Imagine big-old-fat white guys, holding a long-haired lolita on their knees. According to the guidebooks, the prostitution for foreigners represents "only" 20% of the whole prostitution in Thailand, but obviously the Thai guys are more discreet, because I have seen only white-guy/Asian-girl "couples". Fortunately, no kids around, for this vision would have been fare more difficult to bear than the one of adult prostitutes - even if some of them seemed to be pretty young. Anyway, except that, almost no mixed groups, so it was very weird again. It is certainly due to the level of developement, but still. For me who is living in Japan, it's embarrassing to contemplate this wall between the shop-attendants/hotel-staff/cleaning-lady/tuk-tuk-drivers/massage-professionals on one hand; and tourists/clubbers/players on the other hand. I admire Asian people too much to spend my time bargaining on the price of their stuff and giving them tips all day long. I've heard almost no Westerners speaking Thai, even the easy sawatdiikha (hello) and kopkhunkha (thank you). Once again, there must be more sophisticated contexts where people have a genuine interest in each other, but not on the street. As a result, you can not really feel equal with the local population. In Japan, as a foreigner, you are (forever) different from the Japanese, but thanks god we are all equals. In Tokyo, you never feel like a kind of late colonist, while you sometimes really do in Thailand. As a result, despite the sun, the beach, the delicious food and the tigers, I'm not sure that I would feel great in spending a long time in Thailand. That's another reason to fully enjoy the holidays there...

And for holidays, it rocks.

Life is hard

 Varinda Garden (our hotel on the hill)

And here I realize that I didn't tell you about the food. The Food. THE FOOD.

I am not a fan of spicy food, but the thai meals are so tasteful, so rich, so delicate that even if they make me cry and sweat I just can't get enough of it. Let me give you a sample of the endless thai menu:

Coconut milk chicken soup

Fried vegetables with cashew nuts

Thai curry

Pad thai noodles

Noodle soup

Fresh fruits & muesli breakfast, with guava shake

Mango with sticky rice

Spring rolls and fried fish

Dragon fruit shake

That's all, folks! I will be back soon to share with you some new experiences, so keep in touch, and thank you for reading!

xoxo

Comments

[NoemiMonogatari]

Tu me connais, j'adore le danger ! :D

Oh, je pense qu'ils sont bien nourris. Assez peu de chance qu'ils arrachent un bras au public. Par contre, le coup de patte bien placé en mode "fous moi la paix", qui vous arrache le visage, c'est un risque... Mais tout s'est très bien passé, hein! :)

[kawai mummy]

Signer une décharge?!! Ah ouais quand même...

Mais c'est qu'ils l'auraient avalée tout de go, ma belle princesse adorée!!

j'en frémis rétrospectivement et finalement, je préfère te contempler devant ton grand verre de je na sais quel délicieux smoothie ou qui ou qu'est-ce , sous la délicieuse véranda de ton hôtel!

[NoemiMonogatari]

N'est-ce pas ?... :D

Pour les tigres, à l'entrée du parc, on doit signer une décharge comme quoi si on se fait arracher la tête, faudra pas venir chouiner. C'est le moment "les boules" !! Mais ensuite, face aux tigrous, la peur s'évanouit, tellement c'est incroyable... C'est une expérience vraiment unique que de s'allonger sur le félin!!

Oui alors c'est le grand débat: sont-ils plus ou moins sous calmants, sinon plus?... Pas impossible, mais cela dit les tigres qui faisaient la sieste quand nous sommes passés les voir étaient très, très (voir trop) en forme trente minutes plus tard lorsque nous sommes repassés devant les cages; ils étaient en plein jeu-bataille entre eux, et le staff attendait qu'ils se calment pour faire entrer les visiteurs. Ils n'étaient pas amorphes, quoi. Et nous n'avons pu prendre de photos qu'avec ceux qui étaient d'humeur paresseuse, les autres, on ne s'en est même pas approchées, c'est trop impressionnant de les voir bouger!

[kawai mummy]

AHhhh ( soupirs...)

Que dire, que dire, sinon...: veinarde! ;-))

Pour les parts 1 et 2: superbes temples!

Et puis aussi: pour les tigres: Impressionnants, tant ils ont l'air de chats géants mais on frémit à l'idée qu'ils n'auraient pu faire qu'une bouchée de toi, ma Princesse! Ils étaient shootés ou...?!

Je les ai regardés en compagnie de Chantal et on a bien rêvé!