A journey into the heart of painful similarities with one question - What the Fuss is it really about Thailand?


Sipping chilled beer and getting half-baked in the scorching sun, I looked around for answers. With a considerable dip in my confidence level, pat came the flippant reply that I had tried hard to stifle so far. I was on my first trip abroad and it had not given me the adrenaline rush!

The journey had so far not begun on a momentous note. Yet I tried my best to relax, take a deep breath and feel excited. However, much to my dismay, I discovered in the course of travel that I am terribly bad at 'feigning emotions'. I wondered what it was that was amiss. My traveller's appetite so far had not been whetted. My trip to Pattaya had been interspersed with a bug of familiarity, perhaps too many times to my liking.

After boarding the Air Asia flight from Kolkata on a chilly winter morning, I carefully scanned the different places marked with an array of colours on a tourist map. I even figured out the locations, latitudes and longitudes, with a sense of reassurance as to how convenient travelling had now become. My efforts to stay awake, however, did not last too long as I soon dozed off.

Now, that's not what happens to a traveller who is on her first trip abroad, if you come to think of it. Everything from the cumulonimbus clouds, to the air hostesses' occasional smiles, to the well-informed in-flight magazine add to the joys and tiny adventures of a 'foreign journey' as many in my family would like to call it. My husband's constant prodding could not keep me up to notice anything but an announcement in broken English, somehow did the trick, and brought me back to my senses. Having landed in Suvarnabhoomi Airport in Bangkok, I let out a disappointed sigh, but only to myself. Why does a name on a foreign land sound so Indian? Nah....I tried gulping down this thought with a mouthful of water, as it disconcerted me. That's not how I wanted it, I reasoned! Conversations in my head had been a constant companion since childhood. I mean, I thought to myself, it should have ideally taken a good many hours to travel abroad. I would have reached Bombay in the same time!

Stepping out, breathing in the balmy air, I didn't for once feel that this place was any different from where I have come from. The pangs of familiarity, like a sullen mistress, did not cease to pop up every now and then. Breezing through the wide streets and highways that zigzagged through the course of Bangkok, I chanced upon houses with arch-shaped balconies, floral-patterned grills and bright-coloured walls. Things could not, perhaps, get more familiar than this and dampen the already meagre traces of my enthusiasm.

The view from the hotel window was also reminiscent of the vagaries of nature back home. The white flower with large petals that swayed gently to the sonorous tunes of the sea seemed anything but different from what my mother had so lovingly nurtured in her garden, back home. The beach that was close to our hotel, was littered with leftovers, used cans and bird droppings, reminiscent of the Juhu Beach in Mumbai.

Tucking into the unfamiliar platter of authentic Thai cuisine, however, gave me my much-needed first whiff of excitement since I realised that the spicy-scented flavours were incompatible with my taste buds. Disappointment, you asked? Well no, not quite, since I was so determined to lap up just any experience that I had not already chanced upon before! I let my inner realm agree to an alien spread - at long last - all for having been unfamiliar!

A trip to the Coral Islands off Pattaya was again bittersweet. My mind had so far been fed with the tales of white sand, pristine beaches and clear blue water where 'you could see your reflection only if you looked,' as put by friends, aunts of friends and friends of their acquaintances. However, what they had not prepared me for, was the moment when I had to jostle for space inside a boat, that was a make-shift yacht. I reflected thus, India with its teeming population, overdose of opinions, miscalculated judgements and a host of diseases, was not the only place on earth where one had to face a  space crunch. Good! We complain because we have been fed on fables and myths - right from the tales of Christopher Columbus to the celebrated visual of 'message in a bottle' advertisements.

A good deal of travelling would surely burst the bubble that has so warped our senses. Even bideshis (read foreigners in Bengali) use their bandanas, beer cans, tooth picks and other things to reserve space - yes, not on local trains but aboard a boat in mid-sea!

The sparse use of English also reconfirmed my belief that I was, indeed, in a foreign country. That's because in India we talk English, walk English as well as eat, sleep and pretty much do everything in this language.

My journey concluded with a day in Bangkok. Here, there was less familiarity that I could trace with my homeland. Swanky sky buses (tubes), sleek cafeterias, and a daring display of dazzling shopping malls made me happy. The myriad skyscrapers all lined up in a sombre parade of sorts. The city was brimming with food and people, but was clean and there was a method to the madness somehow.

In the end, while looking at my passport with the stamp of the Kingdom of Thailand on it, I wondered what the fuss about 'exotic Thailand' was all about. To this, I was bombarded by accusations from good-intentioned relatives, who blamed me for having chosen the wrong places. They insisted I should have visited the Krabi Island, Phuket or Koh Samui. "After all these comprise the true honeymooner's paradise." I wished they had known that like most happily married couples, my honeymoon period was over and it was time to venture out to unseen places that have nothing to do with India - both in spirit and character!



Some thoughts to make it a smooth-sail in Thailand:

1. If you are in Pattaya, you got to be a party animal! If not, then stay away from the place.

2. Walking Street is a universe of colours and commotion. However, be careful not to fall prey to tricksters.

3. The tuktuks are an easy way of commute but they often cheat tourists. Please study the map thoroughly and bargain well with these drivers.

4. Bangkok is a friendly place and a shopper's paradise. Do visit the Patkong night market for cheap deals. However, if travelling with elders and small children, keep away from this place. Other good shopping places for bags and accessories - Pratunam Market and the streets lining Pratunam.

5. Visit the swanky Siam Paragon if you want to spend some extra cash or splurge.

6. Try street food at your risk. I am not fond of cockroaches, frogs and other creepy stuff, so stayed away from the taste of Bangkok. However, there are many eateries where they serve world cuisine - so food will not be a problem here. For the adventurous, do try the floating markets. If not for anything, but just for the experience. Remember the golden rule - BARGAIN!