Since we were supposed to be enjoying our honeymoon in Thailand, I expected not to be spending tons of time sitting in internet cafes while on vacation. As we moved further and further away from Bangkok and closer to relaxing environments, the internet access fees grew (from about $1 to $4 per hour), and I was less inclined to geek out (except for this one geocache). So now I am back I have finally found the time to write up some thoughts on the vacation.
I was surprised to find myself uncomfortable in Bangkok. Having visited the city before I thought I would have my bearings sorted out upon arrival and just start having a grand old time. This turned out to be more or less the case, but I also found the city to be too fast paced to really relax and feel like I was on vacation. So, after two days and three nights Caroline and took a taxi to the bus station, and paid 200 baht ($7) for two seats on a 1 hour AC bus to Kanchanaburi.
Between the two cities we saw a less populated countryside. Every so often we would pass by a small town that perhaps grown due to its proximity to the highway and the bus would stop at some of these to drop off and pick up a few people. Between the towns farmland could be seen. When the bus pulled into Kanchanaburi it looked like we were in a smaller metropolis again. I was a bit surprised, but realized I should have expected this. I had in my head an image of a quaint little village that was only just being discovered by tourism and an escape from Bangkok. Of course this expectation was groundless since every tour book on Thailand has a pretty significant section on this town. This city is built around the river Kwai, made famous by the movie with that Obi-Wan Kenobi guy. This is a medium large city, and the tourist industry was a small niche tucked in at the north of the town near the famous bridge that crosses it.
Highlights of our stay here included of attending a cooking class, hiking up a trail littered with waterfalls, riding elephants, and crossing half way across the steel river Kwai bridge (crossing the full span of the bridge did not seem enticing, a false step could find you slipping into the river from quite a height, and crowds of tourists, mostly Japanese paying some sort of respect to their ancestors, made slipping seem very possible while you fought for the right of way along the narrow center of the bridge between the two rails).
While we stayed in the tourist oasis near the bridge we noticed a phenomenon we had been told about before we left the states by friends who had been to Kanchanaburi before. While sitting on the deck of floating hotel watching the tropical birds walk across the floating plants, we saw a long tail boat pull in with two older western men, each sitting side by side with a young Thai woman. Each of the men had graying or gray hair, was a little bit to quite a bit overweight, and each had their arm draped over their matching Thai escort, each of whom were less than half the size of the gentlemen next to them. They docked the four of them made their way up to a restaurant table for after excursion drinks and discussion.
Walking down the main drag of the tourist oasis you would see many such couples walking holding hands as if nothing was wrong with the world. The first gut reaction was of course “yuk,” but I felt some sympathy for these men. I conjectured that the only way they could bring romance into their life was by paying for it, or at least they felt that way. Whether this was true or not, I was able to give them some credit for at least wanting the whole girlfriend façade, not just a companion for the evening.
We had a very interesting conversation with a young man from Canada who had lived in the town for quite a while and who spoke Thai. He referred to these men as “Dougs” because he had once got into a friendly with an older gentleman of the same name at a bar, and at some point during the conversation the gentleman’s small, young, Asian girlfriend joined him. From what he understood of the local culture, this practice was not considered wholesome, but for those who had no better way of supporting their family, a blind eye was turned. We continued to see Dougs in Bangkok and Phuket, and now we had a code name for the practice it made it a fun game to point out Dougs on the street by without fear of offending those around us.
On the flight back from Phuket I had an entertaining time watching a particularly well dressed Doug and an equally well dressed companion sitting in the seats across the aisle from us. His companion had become airsick on this moderately turbulent flight and was the first adult I had seen actually using the provided barf bags. Though I felt sorry for the poor woman, who I imagined had left her small village or town, clothed in designer attire by her benefactor, and was now flying for her first time, it was fascinating to watch the Caucasian man fawn over his escort as if they were husband and wife (certain uncomfortable and awkward interactions, like those I would expect on a first or second date, made me almost certain that they were not in such a relationship).
