A Taste of Asia: Slivers of Bangkok and Singapore
May 18th 2008 03:15
Category: No Category
In the spirit of trying to sound catchy and memorable in my autobiography, I came up with this line:
I was born in Africa, spent my first seven years in Europe, moved to Australia, briefly relocated to North America, and so it only makes sense that I should have a perpetual attraction to Asia.
It works in the sense that I am a) attracted to the unknown, and b) to that particular continent. Is it fair to prioritise Asia amongst my interests? I am arguably just as interested in every other continent - they are all diverse, multi-faceted and rewarding to explore in their own way, even the ones I haven't been to yet, like South America or Africa (which I have no memory of). Yet I know I can count on my fascination with Asia to provide me with spiritual Epiphanies and enrich my love of the avant-garde, the eclectic and the sensually fulfilling.
My perception of Asia changes every time I visit this alluring continent and sample more of the cultures it has to offer. Exploring outside the main cities has become as desirable as confronting the pulsating flows of each enigmatic capital, bringing out different aspects of each nation, offering new flavours and bringing about a whole new different palette.
Like a lot of travellers, my first experience with Asia took place in Bangkok, Thailand, where my parents and I stopped over on the way to Europe and wandered out of the airport out of curiosity. I'll never forget the moment the large automatic glass doors slid open, and the humidity and heated air of the world outside hit me. It felt a little like I was suffocating, and it took me some time to work up the courage to stand on the other side, saying goodbye to the relative comfort of air conditioning. Once I got a little more used to my new sense of breathlessness, I found it all quite exciting- dodging the big vehicles in a tuk-tuk while my parents recoiled in horror at the disorganisation that was Bangkok traffic, wandering around the unbelievable riches of the Royal Palace complex, squinting at the dazzling sights in the unexpected heat while being occasionally doused with a scattering of rain (for it was monsoon season), and wandering the densely populated streets and shopping malls. We ventured by foot into a busy street off a main road, and I was taken aback by the locals: their incredible petiteness, their clear, darker skin and inevitably black hair, their lack of recognition of our cultural customs... it was while meditating on the latter that I noticed that they were just as taken aback by us as we were of them, and felt guilty of their only exposures to foreigners, two out of three of our group were my xenophobic, eurocentric parents, who were too busy believing that they were using their 'survival' skills to really stop and appreciate their local culture. I made an effort to look interested and smile, as I watched the people at the stall we gravitated to unpretentiously locate the desired item (sunscreen) and haggle amicably with us over a calculator. We 'ooh'-ed and 'ahh'-ed over the cheapness of the clothing on display, but were a bit intimidated by the crowded shopping centres to admire more than the shops facing the street.
We only stayed for a day, but that was enough to leave a lasting impression. Not all of it was good, of course: the poverty, pollution and weather took its toil on all of us, even after only a day, but it only took a refreshing discovery, like that Thai bananas have a different taste than they do in Australia, to put it all into perspective and revitalise my sense of adventure. The final hours of our Thai experience were spent browsing through the airport supermarket, me playing guessing games as to what the packets of food without pictures on them contained. I was about fourteen at the time, and I didn't know that I would be in for the culture shock of my life upon visiting my so-called "mother country" Bulgaria, an experience which would leave me eager to soak up new cultures and open my mind with ever-increasing rapidity.
I had to wait four years to get another glimpse of this exciting continent, and it was another brief snippet, a day-sized stop-over in Singapore on the round the world trip my dad took me on to celebrate my high school graduation. My dad had made up his mind that there were no sights of cultural significance to see in the country, and no amount of my reiterating of the tourist brochure on the plane could persuade him from deviating from the following plan: to shop and to eat. Even without a visit to any of the multi-coloured temples or fascinating museums, Singapore's more earthy mysteries beckoned to me. The people looked peaceful, soothing and sensitive to each other, while the varieties of food available inside the food courts and within the supermarkets kept us entertained and very satiated. On the way to the main shopping street we drove through wide green spaces, and the roads were spotless, immaculate (I had read that polluting the city was a serious offence and reinforced by fines, and also that chewing gum was not allowed in the city-state). Once we had arrived at the destination we wondered at the blod light displays (probably set up for New Year) hanging on top of the road, them entered the malls and tried one delicious item after another, seeking respite from the heat in the comfort of the gigantic modern shopping malls, while I surveyed the locals with curiosity: how could they remain so calm and unruffled throughout their day? I have no tolerance for totalitarian governments, but the people of Singapore seemed to be making the best of the unfortunate political oppression.
These brief but intense immersions into Asia would stimulate my interest and draw me back for much more in-depth studies of the continent... but you'll have to tune in to the next part of this series to find out where I went next and how it radically realigned my perceptions of what was possible in the world!
I was born in Africa, spent my first seven years in Europe, moved to Australia, briefly relocated to North America, and so it only makes sense that I should have a perpetual attraction to Asia.
It works in the sense that I am a) attracted to the unknown, and b) to that particular continent. Is it fair to prioritise Asia amongst my interests? I am arguably just as interested in every other continent - they are all diverse, multi-faceted and rewarding to explore in their own way, even the ones I haven't been to yet, like South America or Africa (which I have no memory of). Yet I know I can count on my fascination with Asia to provide me with spiritual Epiphanies and enrich my love of the avant-garde, the eclectic and the sensually fulfilling.
My perception of Asia changes every time I visit this alluring continent and sample more of the cultures it has to offer. Exploring outside the main cities has become as desirable as confronting the pulsating flows of each enigmatic capital, bringing out different aspects of each nation, offering new flavours and bringing about a whole new different palette.
Like a lot of travellers, my first experience with Asia took place in Bangkok, Thailand, where my parents and I stopped over on the way to Europe and wandered out of the airport out of curiosity. I'll never forget the moment the large automatic glass doors slid open, and the humidity and heated air of the world outside hit me. It felt a little like I was suffocating, and it took me some time to work up the courage to stand on the other side, saying goodbye to the relative comfort of air conditioning. Once I got a little more used to my new sense of breathlessness, I found it all quite exciting- dodging the big vehicles in a tuk-tuk while my parents recoiled in horror at the disorganisation that was Bangkok traffic, wandering around the unbelievable riches of the Royal Palace complex, squinting at the dazzling sights in the unexpected heat while being occasionally doused with a scattering of rain (for it was monsoon season), and wandering the densely populated streets and shopping malls. We ventured by foot into a busy street off a main road, and I was taken aback by the locals: their incredible petiteness, their clear, darker skin and inevitably black hair, their lack of recognition of our cultural customs... it was while meditating on the latter that I noticed that they were just as taken aback by us as we were of them, and felt guilty of their only exposures to foreigners, two out of three of our group were my xenophobic, eurocentric parents, who were too busy believing that they were using their 'survival' skills to really stop and appreciate their local culture. I made an effort to look interested and smile, as I watched the people at the stall we gravitated to unpretentiously locate the desired item (sunscreen) and haggle amicably with us over a calculator. We 'ooh'-ed and 'ahh'-ed over the cheapness of the clothing on display, but were a bit intimidated by the crowded shopping centres to admire more than the shops facing the street.
Tuk-tuks are a popular means of transport for locals and tourists alike. They are open to the elements, which can either be intimidating or exciting, or both
We only stayed for a day, but that was enough to leave a lasting impression. Not all of it was good, of course: the poverty, pollution and weather took its toil on all of us, even after only a day, but it only took a refreshing discovery, like that Thai bananas have a different taste than they do in Australia, to put it all into perspective and revitalise my sense of adventure. The final hours of our Thai experience were spent browsing through the airport supermarket, me playing guessing games as to what the packets of food without pictures on them contained. I was about fourteen at the time, and I didn't know that I would be in for the culture shock of my life upon visiting my so-called "mother country" Bulgaria, an experience which would leave me eager to soak up new cultures and open my mind with ever-increasing rapidity.
I had to wait four years to get another glimpse of this exciting continent, and it was another brief snippet, a day-sized stop-over in Singapore on the round the world trip my dad took me on to celebrate my high school graduation. My dad had made up his mind that there were no sights of cultural significance to see in the country, and no amount of my reiterating of the tourist brochure on the plane could persuade him from deviating from the following plan: to shop and to eat. Even without a visit to any of the multi-coloured temples or fascinating museums, Singapore's more earthy mysteries beckoned to me. The people looked peaceful, soothing and sensitive to each other, while the varieties of food available inside the food courts and within the supermarkets kept us entertained and very satiated. On the way to the main shopping street we drove through wide green spaces, and the roads were spotless, immaculate (I had read that polluting the city was a serious offence and reinforced by fines, and also that chewing gum was not allowed in the city-state). Once we had arrived at the destination we wondered at the blod light displays (probably set up for New Year) hanging on top of the road, them entered the malls and tried one delicious item after another, seeking respite from the heat in the comfort of the gigantic modern shopping malls, while I surveyed the locals with curiosity: how could they remain so calm and unruffled throughout their day? I have no tolerance for totalitarian governments, but the people of Singapore seemed to be making the best of the unfortunate political oppression.
An idea of what Singaporean cuisine can include
These brief but intense immersions into Asia would stimulate my interest and draw me back for much more in-depth studies of the continent... but you'll have to tune in to the next part of this series to find out where I went next and how it radically realigned my perceptions of what was possible in the world!
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Comment by Mountain Fog
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Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
you should do a travle book!!
cheers
fog
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Thanks... I am half-seriously thinking of starting a blog called Quirky Travel... but in the meantime I'll be posting the travel-related stuff here. I'm really looking forward to writing on Postmodern Critic from Europe in a few weeks... hopefully it will interest some of my regular readers!
Comment by Mountain Fog
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Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
Europe...sigh....I'll never get there...
Where are you going???..do a post...so we can all follow your itinery and your 'on the run' updates...hopefully you will be able to do that from Europe...?
Coz there might be a few famous things over there that I would like you to give a pat on my behalf!! hehe!!
cheers
fog
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
First stop is London, and I'll be seeing:
The British Museum, The National Gallery, Tate Modern, White Cube and the London Eye for sure,
I'm very likely to see Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, take a ride on one of the tourist buses around London, see the Hayward Gallery, The Winston Churchill Museum and War Cabinets, Covent Garden and possibly Buckingham Palace.
I'm also taking trips to Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, and I may also do Stonehenge, Bath and/or Brighton.
Then it's over to Paris, where I intend to see too many museums to list here, sorry. I will be visiting Versailles, Lille and Rouen, and some other places outside Paris as well.
From there it's back to London to catch a flight to Bulgaria (oh, and I'll be at the Globe Theatre twice, to see King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream), where I will be visiting Sofia, Samokov and probably Plovdiv.
I am happy to give out pats, just name your sight of choice!