Finding yourself in a country where you know no one is quite scary (at least for me). On the other hand, being treated like you are “one of them”, amongst the people in the heart of that unfamiliar place is really comforting and not to mention admirable.
Before coming to Thailand, I asked help from some Thai students in our university in finding a good apartment where I can stay for two months. Without hesitation, a kind Thai schoolmate had me in contact with her mom (actually half-Filipina) who is in Bangkok.
With somehow similar roots, I easily felt comfortable with her besides her being able to speak English very well. In fact, she had me call her Tita, which literally means Aunt but is commonly used to address a woman far older than you, usually a friends’ mom, aunt, neighbor or even a colleague.
Frequent email exchanges run through our inboxes while I was still in Japan. She contacted several apartment and indeed made all the inquiries and necessary information gathering about good places to stay even to the extent of traveling all the way to the far end of the city (from her place) to where UN is until I finally got a reservation. A week before coming to Thailand I was able to meet her as she and her husband attended their daughter’s graduation. It was another thing for me to be thankful as she gave me a detailed guide and instructions (some even in Thai, which I can show to the taxi driver) when I get to the airport in Bangkok. This, I could say, truly helped me get to my apartment smoothly.
But everything didn’t end after I got a place to stay in Bangkok. After staying in Tokyo for about a month, she came back to Bangkok and arranged for a weekend tour with her husband, which I never expected. Their hospitality both as a couple was overwhelming. One Saturday morning, they picked me up in my apartment and we drove off out of Bangkok for a trip to nearby towns where I really enjoyed and engaged myself in discovering more of Thailand.
Floating Market
Situated in the Mekong region where the great Mekong river flows, Thailand is kept with many canals, small rivers and other bodies of water such that boats have become part of their culture and tradition. The Damnoen Saduak floating market is, according to Tita Tui, one of the original and unspoiled rural floating market. Indeed, even in this seemingly small canal, business and lifem, above all abounds. Residences can in fact be found just along the canal. Fruits, vegetables, souvenirs, cooked food and so many other things are sold in the boats and in the stalls that line the canal. I can imagine that even in the ancient times, as people live along the waters, they also made a living through trade with perhaps other people in other town.
Kanchanaburi
Popular for the motion picture “Bridge over the River Kwai”, Kanchanaburi is a historical place that houses memoirs of World War two. The bridge was a bombing target of the Allied powers during WW II. This area has the very old rail way that connects Thailand and Myanmar. It was in fact called as the Death Railway owing to the hostile treatment to the prisoners-of-war who served as laborers in building the rail way. After the war, the bridge was rebuilt replacing the dilapidated and worn out wooden bridge with iron although keeping the design and curved spans of the bridge just like original. Both bridge and the railway are still being used until now.
At the end of the day, their hospitality never faded that they asked me to sleep in their house as we are driving to the opposite direction of the city and we’ll not pass by my apartment for the second day of the trip. Along the way, we picked up another friend, Laura, also an IUJer and a fellow intern at the UN who joined us the following day.
Sunday retreat
The second day was a “royal” day as we get to visit palaces and temples both in the modern times and as well as in antiquities. The Bang Pa-In Royal palace has a striking royal beauty where the Kings used to stay during summer giving it the name Summer Palace. The pavilions, the tower, landscape, the palace itself are just so awesome that it would make you wish you were once a prince or princess.
While the Bang Pa-In Palace possesses the quite modern style and architecture, the temples in Ayutthaya flaunts a rather outlandish beauty as it was inspired centuries back. Much like the ruins of Cambodia, several of these Thai temples still stands to date remaining as mute witnesses of history, though a quick survey of the area and deep pondering of these structures may lead one to actually somehow see a glimpse of the past.
And of course, we visited temples which are not always out of the list wherever you go in Thailand. Here, I got to see some of the biggest Buddhas in Thailand if not in the world. Temples have been part and parcel of every Thai Buddhist believer and their passion in this religion is just so noticeable. One can never go out of Thailand without visiting their majestic and more often than not, historical temples.
All throughout the trip, I was awed and inspired at how much Thailand can offer to tourists and locals alike especially with the company of a couple, whom I have found genuine hospitality and care. Picture taking, sight-seeing, chit chats, food and best of all memories were shared among us as we glide through the hours during that very fine weekend. Such was the hospitality I’ve experienced from this couple which I believe is as old as the ancient civilization that once dwelt in the ruins of Ayutthaya and that bridges even the modern customs of the people in this generation.
Therefore, worry not if you’re stuck in a place where you do not know anyone, someone out there is just ready to give you a handful of hospitality to a stranger like you.
