BKK Post / 28 December 1997

GUEST COLUMN / AMAZING THAILAND
In love with the land of smiles
Despite the economic nightmare, Thailand is still a 
desirable place to live.

By Michele Ben David
    Before I fell inextricably in love with Thailand, I 
forced myself to remember the words of a main character in 
the book Letters from Thailand. Writing to his mother in 
China, the man said that the people who tend to fall in 
love with the country are those who visited the land for 
two days or less. After being here for three months I find 
Thailand amazing in ways that the original government 
copywriter who invented the tourism promotion slogan never 
dreamt about.
    The many contradictions found here are hard to grasp. 
An outstanding sense of beauty indigenous to the temples 
and the astonishing art work coexist with cities so ugly 
and unplanned that they are painful to the eye. There are 
beautiful, glittering temples in the middle of the poorest 
and most miserable quarters which boggles the mind by 
contrast.
    I can't, for example, get over the things I have seen 
on the road. And I can't believe that drivers are getting 
away with the pandemonium they are creating. In the last 
few months, I have seen every kind of roadway madness 
conceivable by the human brain; driving against the 
direction of the traffic, manoeuvring into U-turns where 
signs specifically forbid the act and while two policemen 
stand around telling each other jokes, zigzagging in ways 
that assure that you have a better chance of dying from a 
heart attack than in an actual accident.
    Despite it all, however, I must admit that the Thais 
are wonderful drivers - even when they are drunk which, 
unfortunately, is too often for comfort.
    As people who love life, it is shocking to note that 
there are no safety regulations applicable to what goes on 
along the highways. I saw hair-raising scenes of whole 
families riding on one motorbike (no helmets, of course), 
parents driving outlandishly heavy motorcycles with one 
hand on the controls and another around a new-born infant, 
stacks of people blissfully asleep on the tops of trucks 
madly racing in and out of almost incomprehensible traffic.
    On another matter, I was regaled with stories of police 
corruption almost from the very moment I arrived in 
Bangkok. I was doubtful at the beginning until I was 
stopped one day by a policeman while waiting my turn to pay 
at a toll booth. Recalling what I was advised to do by more 
seasoned veterans of the country, I handed over my driver's 
licence along with 200 baht which immediately produced an 
ingratiating smile and a wave to move off.
    When I reported this to friends, they laughed, asking 
me about what time of the day did the event occur. When I 
replied that it happened about noon, there was even more 
mirth. They explained that noon was a very dangerous time 
for foreigners on the road because policemen develop a 
heavy appetite around then and there is no easier way to 
earn a meal than to stop an unsuspecting farang.
    Amazing!
    For months now I have been trying to understand the 
strange family relations I see without judging them in a 
distorted manner: the young men who proudly talk of their 
three wives, parents who don't raise their own children or 
even see them for years, families who virtually never meet 
together. I try to believe that all this was very different 
a generation ago and that the family was the bedrock of 
Thai society.
    Food stands are located everywhere - in front of the 
most modern buildings or in the corner of the most remote 
neighbourhoods. These contrasts do not surprise me any 
longer, nor does the idea of eating out on the street 
bother me either. In fact I have been converted to this 
style of dining. I think it is a great way to eat, saving 
tons of time on food preparation and cleaning up 
afterwards.
    I am still amused when strangers ask to photograph me 
and my light-haired children. We are so ordinary in the 
West. Are we really so exotic here? Three months ago I was 
shocked when I entered a house and was asked to remove my 
shoes. Now I think it is uncouth not to do so.
    Earlier, I believed that Thailand was a country of 
smiles. I still believe that, although my ideas are now 
tempered by acknowledging how hard the seemingly inexorable 
economic slump has been on the people of this beautiful 
country. There are moments when I feel that this is a bad 
time for foreign guests in the country. Circumstances have 
eroded much of the natural exuberance of the people.
    And yet despite contradictions and frustration, I 
fervently pray every night that my husband's two-year 
contract will be extended to 10 - with a 50-year renewable 
option clause.
    *Michele Ben David is an Israeli journalist.