I arrived in Bangkok in January, 2005. I thought it would be a two-year assignment. Almost exactly eight years later, I left Thailand deeply affected by the country and its people.
I shed tears as we locked our apartment door for the last time. That door had secured us for nearly 3,000 nights, welcomed me home from over 600 business trips. Our apartment had repeatedly hosted my three sons, my mom, my sister, in-laws, nieces, countless friends.
We were the longest-staying tenants in a condominium tower that saw waves of Japanese and American expatriates come and go. We were a fixture – nobody had been there longer. We knew several generations of security guards, the delivery men’s routines, the Thai millionaire landlord himself.
As I turned away from my door for the last time, a foreign expatriate came out of the the condominium unit next door. He got into the elevator with me.
“Where are you being assigned now,” he asked.
I told him, Singapore.
“Congratulations! I heard that Singapore is blooming! And there is no rubbish in the streets. And they actually have footpaths!”
Footpaths?
He had been in Thailand eight months. Clearly, he had not yet unlocked the code. I had lived in Thailand one year for every month he had been there.
As the elevator started down, I wanted to tell him about the most beautiful beaches in the world, just an hour away from where we stood. Hua Hin, Phuket, Phi-Phi, Krabi, Koh Chang. I wanted to tell him about the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi in Chiang Mai, rated the #1 resort hotel in the world. Where you got a two-story cottage with a grand piano and your own lap pool, a huge bedroom, a bathroom the size of a studio with a traditional stand-alone bath tub in the center of the room. Even your own personal rice paddy.
I wanted to talk about Songkran, the Thai New Year water festival, the biggest holiday in Thailand. When everyone considers it a blessing to be sprinkled or soaked. I told my visiting son David to get me a double-barreled 2-liter super soaker from a street vendor – and he got himself a massive four-barreled cannon! Shirl had a water pistol … fed by a hose from a 3-liter backpack. We leaned out the windows and sun roof of our hybrid van, strafing pedestrians, buses, even policemen. They waved cheerfully and heaved buckets of water back at us. At a stop light, we blasted a cab driver who had his window open. He beamed, did a respectful ‘wai’, took two water pistols from his seat and blew us away.
One of the best images I have of Songkran, is a ticket clerk at an MRT station, surrounded by coins and token cards, with a water pistol on the counter beside her. Locked and loaded.
I wanted to tell my foreign neighbor about Loi Kratong. The light festival when Thais send flower boats with lighted candles down the Chao Praya river, loaded with wishes for health and happiness. Imagine millions of floating flowers bearing millions of lighted candles and millions of earnest wishes, twinkling down one of the biggest rivers in Asia.
I was looking forward to new adventures in Singapore, but I could not help wanting to tell my foreign expat neighbor – “See this map? That’s the Kingdom of Thailand. The places to go to are Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Koh Samui, Krabi, Phuket, Koh Chang. There are 70 million Thais, each with his own life story.
“And you see that dot? That’s Singapore. It’s a dot. With footpaths. Enjoy your time in Thailand.”
But I never got to say anything. How do you compress eight years in an elevator ride?
Posted from Bangkok, Jan 19, 2012. Sawasdee krub!
Heartwarming Sir…
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Thanks, Captain Z !
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Lump in my throat…beautiful photos, even more beautiful memories…
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Thanks! Easy to photograph Thailand 🙂 Everything is pretty.
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Heart warming sir :)…. I felt the same when I left MJN for AU. Its been 2 years, MJN, the regional office,….as if im still part of the company 🙂
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But you are 🙂
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Tonet
Kob kun krab for your excellent posts. I can understand your attachment to Thailand, and trust that you will enjoy Singapore too (for different reasons).
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Khun Andrew, I’m glad to hear back from you! I plan to break one rule a day in Singapore, this being part of the strategy that broke the code in Thailand 🙂 We still need to fly together, and perhaps compare notes on cross-cultural strategies… .
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This is just beautiful. Thank you again for you and Shirl for having me as a house guest. Good times, sir.
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Singapore beckons, Jaime. Same deal. Photos for food.
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It’s a beautiful sharing! Wish all visitors and expats in the Philippines were like you in Thailand. Yes, they have to break the code in order to see the beauty that may not be obvious. I’m sure you will break the Singaporean code as well. Let me introduce you to our Singaporean friend, Charlie Lim.
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Harvey. You are one of the people we most wanted to show ‘our’ Bangkok to. We can still do it — we just need a good serviced apartment with a kitchen, a car and driver, and the good part of a week with you.
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Beautiful article, sir! Heartwarming, in a bittersweet kind of way.
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It is bittersweet. Always wished you and your parents could have visited us. That would have been really fun!
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Wow, I just saw you’ve moved on from Thailand. Has it really been 8 years? Are you going to the Clark balloon fiesta this year? You have already been involved with others breaking the rules in Singapore – remember the contraband? I hope it was a good drop!
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Hey, Dave. Yeah, it’s been 8 years! Time flies, huh? Yes, I will be at the Balloon Fiesta airshow! And I still remember that bottle with mouth-watering gusto!
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Just a Thai passerby.
Hope you enjoy your life as you did here, no matter where you are.
Welcome and be our guest again anytime! 🙂
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