Pattaya Potpourri

Most of my friends who learned that I am in Pattaya claimed that I had advertently chosen a course that suits my trip, and it would be very difficult to convince them otherwise, but so it is. Inadvertent and unplanned though, the trip turned out to be quite an unexpected, and mostly pleasant, surprise. There aren’t many photos though, as I didn’t have a camera.

First impressions

The first impressions weren’t great. I was placed in a “Villa” in Chonburi, a province of which Pattaya is one city. I hadn’t expected that finding vegetarian food and English-speaking people would be so difficult. Next day, I just packed my bags and left the villa for the course, not knowing where I will end up. I found out later that most hotels in Chonburi/Pattaya are fully booked due to Chinese New Year (who would think of that?); fortunately I ended up in Sabai Wing on Soi 1 on Pattaya beach road. Boy, life here was different!

People

In the small street where Sabai Wing was located, and in other small streets in Pattaya, you would find more westerners than local people. Pattaya receives heavy dose of tourism owing to great weather, beaches, low cost living and that-which-should-not-be-named (aka prostitution). Westerners are mostly busy with hanging out at beach or water activities, sports, eating outlets, and of course, many with their temporary or long-term partners. Average westerner age could be easily above 50, for Pattaya receives a large number of Europeans retirees for permanent settlement. The local people are mostly into tourist services and very friendly and welcoming. Thailand is perhaps the only country other than India where Namaste is still the primary mode of greeting. It is called Sawasdee. People in TWI office (where I attended the course) were also friendly and helpful; one of them took me out on Friday to Buddhist temples.

Business/Economy

Every 2^nd shop in Pattaya is either an eating outlet, a tattoo shop, a go-go or equivalent bar or a massage shop. Finding vegetarian food was initially difficult, but once I was along Pattaya Beach Road, I found at least 5-6 Indian restaurants – I tried only one, which was opposite my hotel. Aangan Restaurant, which is operated by a Gujarati Brahmin family, is a very spacious and good quality restaurant for vegetarian food. Friendly owners and very high quality food. For 200 Baht (INR 280), you will get 8-dish home cooked menu. I had dinner once in The Pizza Company, but the vegetarian pizza was disastrous – good bread and crisp but horrible selection of toppings – corn, tomato, mushroom, pineapple.

Food and other things such as massage, clothes etc. are cheap in Pattaya and that is one reason I liked the place. Things aren’t overly priced. I think seafood is good and cheap as well; alas, not for my vegetarian palate.

Central Festival

Is a huge shopping mall; one the biggest I have ever been to (and the biggest beach mall in Asia). Malls of such size, which are also to be found in Bangkok and Singapore, bog me down like anything. It takes considerable time and effort to accept one’s smallness in such a big mall. Had a nice mixed fruits crêpe there for 90 Baht (130 rupees) and later found an amazing gift for a good friend who has recently dropped smoking and is hoping to make this effect permanent in my “good” company (of course, my good intention was that he learns to avoid smoking despite a lighter at hand, so that his transcendence becomes irreversible ;-) ). But God had his own will; this nice lighter with flashlight was confiscated in Mumbai airport on my way to KL. It wasn’t confiscated in Bangkok or KL, but Mumbai airport seemingly doesn’t permit any lighters.

Any way, Central Festival is BIG and has most of the well-known brands. Cameras, the reason for which I visited this mall, were extremely expensive here and same models are cheaper in India, Malaysia and Singapore. Apparently, LCD/LED TVs are very cheap here.

Massage and Prostitution

Definitely different subjects, but they are intertwined at certain locations in Thailand.

I am still not sure how to differentiate between one that provides genuine massage services and the one that also provides “add-on” services. I went for a foot massage one day – paid 200 Baht (about 300 INR) and got 1 hr massage. Not a great experience – this was my 1^st foot massage and I was perhaps over-expecting, but the lady, about my mother age, was very good-natured, and diligently carried out the rigmarole. Based on the ambience of that parlour, I can say that the genuine ones would be more open (glass windows) whereas the notorious ones would be veiled. Sabai Dee Massage parlour was one of those – very big massage shop but all closed. Only when I went close to the door to check out, I saw girls standing in a row, waiting to be picked by the interested party. It is one of those things that would disturb almost every nationality, but it happens here – unwarranted but unchallenged.

Go-go and equivalent bars also have single ladies, and so is the case for singles’ groups hanging out on the beach road. However, I think the mantra there is that the guy should woo and haggle. That is as much as I learnt from distant observation.

Prostitution in Pattaya accelerated during Vietnam War (before which, it was merely a small fishing village). Prostitution as a business exists everywhere in the world. My previous assignment in Amsterdam has exposed me to such environments. However, there it is legal and accepted by the ‘open-minded’ Dutch society. In most of the other locations, where it is illegal, prostitution is either forced (by middle-men) on women or it is done out of need for basic necessities of life (food, education for children etc.). Here, the scene appeared a bit different.

There were girls who appeared obviously poor and others who were well dressed and (over) made up. Appearances can be deceiving and it may be so in view of investment for higher anticipated gains, but in a place like Pattaya, basic necessities can be earned from many different ways. So, when I saw a lot of these girls with older western men (very old; perhaps an age difference of 40+), it appeared that in many, if not all cases, the driver here is a better/rich life and not basic necessities. I checked it with one of my local course-mates and he also confirmed this idea.

It might sound weird, but I don’t abhor prostitution as done orthodoxly. I mean most of us subtly do sell our body, mind and soul in working or personal lives. However, this whole process, while profitable to the western old people from company or pleasure point of view, is very disadvantageous to the girls, for they need to be in a constant look out for customers or worse, end up marrying an old man for his money. The whole cache is that life is lived for smaller goals rather than bigger ideals. A poor girl, twice as hard working and earning half as much in a regular profession, would develop significantly in other dimensions, of which the most important are self development and family.

Beach and Walking Street

The beach road offers a good walk through a packed marketplace. On the left are shops and beach on the right with fairer singles discretely distributed. I never went to the beach except for a short minute on the last day at 9:30 AM – blue water, clean beach though small of which most is occupied by easy chairs. I saw at least 30 people parasailing that early in the morning. I heard that all adventure sports and corals watching trips are very reasonably priced in Pattaya.

Walking street is a continuation of beach road, though as the name suggests, it is for walkers only. It is basically an agglomerate of food shops, go-go or otherwise bars and some adult entertainment studios. Someone highly recommended it to me, but I didn’t find it very impressive.

Buddhism

Buddhism is the religion of more than 90% of Thai population, and like India, people are very religious. However, most of the Buddhists are non-vegetarians. This was initially surprising, but if I compare these with east and south Indian Brahmins who also savour seafood, it makes sense that food habits and everything else are adjusted to one’s own ease. Or as Osho puts it beautifully, “We put ourselves at the centre and god at the periphery.” I am not really arguing for or against vegetarianism or otherwise – it is as it is, but people do not follow things completely, though they will kill people for the cause (not referring to Thailand here).

My classmate Sathit was kind enough to offer a visit to Buddhist temples on Friday evening. Quite a trip! First we went to Khao Chee Chan, a place where image of Buddha is carved in gold using Laser (not sure how that was done; need to research). Not a great touristic spot, but beautiful for one visit.

Then we went to another Buddhist temple and that is the strangest temple I have visited to date. Have a look at the picture below; who can tell me that when we go inside, we will find nobody, darkness, lots of dust and shattered glasses all over the place. The place was totally desolate, except for stray dogs in remarkably poor health (under-fed). For sake of time and security, I dared not to go upstairs.

Hydrogen and Helium

This isn’t anything about Pattaya, but during the course, Mark, the instructor, was talking about Hydrogen and Helium in some context. While what he explained was high school stuff – hydrogen is active because it lacks an electron and helium is stable because it has sufficient electrons for its orbital – it suddenly dawned on me that this is true even for people. Activity arises from a feeling of incompleteness; peace arrives with the feeling of completeness. Which is better is left for individual to judge for oneself, but most of us do look out for activity that would lead to inactivity.

Final impressions

Have a look at the photo below – Pattaya coastal line (borrowed from internet; another very beautiful can be found on Wikipedia). It is a very beautiful place; things are reasonably priced; good people; many touristic locations and water activities options (I didn’t explore the bigger and famous Jomtien beach, Big Buddha Image etc.); slightly dangerous for desperate souls (or pleasurable depending on point of view). I shall come back here once again in my lifetime.

Near Miss

I had the biggest near miss of my life yesterday. ‘Near miss’ is normally used as a safety term in manufacturing industry, where it refers to nearly missing an accident that could have led to serious physical harm to an individual (including fatality). Mine was a near train miss (Borivali – Ratlam), but it was still a phenomenal incident.

I am usually lax when it comes to travel – don’t plan too much, never reach a station or airport too early; I just make sure I have the necessary documents and charged wallet & mobile. My father always worries about me (and he did yesterday too), but I am one of the people on right side of Bell Curve who are very lucky when it comes to not missing train or plane. Or as Juedu used to say, “Anything would happen, but a train won’t miss Kumar.”

Bell curve showing that most people (~70%) stay average, whatever it may be - luck, intelligence, money, happiness etc. (graph taken from another blog)

The last near miss was nearly 2 years ago in November 2008, when I returned from Amsterdam for good. I was in Mumbai then too, and left for airport a bit late from my sister’s house in Thane. I reached about 15 mins before flight departure. The Jet Airways staff were kind enough to ask me if it would be OK if I board the next flight to Bangalore. But one of them panicked after she (and I too) realized that I had a business class ticket (thanks to Shell!). So, the record was maintained. That wasn’t bad enough and I needed to learn better, so this real near miss happened yesterday.

My train was scheduled at 7:45 PM from Borivali and I left my sister’s house at Thane (near Hiranandani Estate) at ~ 6:15 PM. They had said earlier that it would take about 40 mins – 1 hour and God only knows what I was thinking when I ignored my sister’s advice to leave the house latest by 5:45 PM. Even after leaving at 6:15 PM, I first went to bus stand with my brother-in-law; not finding a bus there, we started hunting for auto/Meru cabs. I caught one around 6:25 PM and I was haggling for 50 rupees when the guy asked for 250 rupees. Finally, I Okayed and the journey began.

When I was considering missing the train, I felt a very positive feeling in my heart. Many people know that I practice meditation, but many of them do not know that it gifts the practitioner a better sensitivity; mine isn’t great, but this was one time, when I felt that very positive, breeze type feeling and I knew I would make it.

After about 15 km of smooth and hassle-free traffic, we came across a 4-5 km of traffic jam. Traffic jams in Mumbai can be totally blocked (unlike Bintulu J) and I should have accounted for that. Anyway, thanks to this gifted auto driver, who didn’t think a second about his auto’s tyres and suspension and took every narrow space available in the left to transcend the traffic jam. He easily saved 15 minutes there. I gave him 50 rupees extra for his selfless effort.

This auto driver dropped me at Dahisar naaka (junction), as his auto isn’t allowed to go beyond. Now this is really stupid. We have made countries, states, cities, and divided the earth, but that isn’t enough. Within Mumbai, autos are restricted to work in specific (reasonably big) areas. The discomfort it causes to the users is undeniable, but they too lose out in the whole business. Someone may want to justify it as protection of interests of auto-drivers of that region, but one should think what my Master beautifully said in one of his speeches, “When you close your door, you aren’t only stopping others from coming in but also locking yourself.”

Any way, right there at the junction, auto drivers ask for horrendous amounts of money (almost 2-3 times the normal), and I was advised by my BIL that I should walk a bit further and take an auto at normal rate. I did so, despite only 25-30 minutes left. I walked and found that most of them were not interested in going to Borivali station as it is near destination. I kept my cool and tried one after other. Finally, one good man let me in.

With traffic and his relaxed driving, I started getting a bit uneasy. I asked him how much time it would take to reach to the station, making sure to sound casual. He said about 20 minutes. Well, now I started to get worried. I asked him to rush as much as possible and he did. I reached Borivali and was half sure that both inter and intra city trains run through the same station (unlike Dadar). I rushed in, couldn’t find platform number on the entrance platform (my BIL had said it mostly comes at platform 4). I asked one guy there whether both inter and intra city trains are accessed through same station. He asked me where did I want to go. Ratlam, I said. He said intercity trains are at platforms 4 or 6 and directed me.

It was already 7:45 PM, so I took his advice and rushed to the bridge. I saw platform 4’s electronic board without any details, so I hurried down. The stairs are so capped from above that I couldn’t see if any train was already parked. As I just set my foot from the last step, I saw my train in motion. Panting, I asked one guy there whether it is leaving or just arriving. He said it is leaving. My heart sank like feet in the marsh. And then I saw the train slowing down. I almost yelled at the guy for giving me wrong info. He apologized and I said not to worry (was he? J). The spirits rose like ether. My coach stopped right in front of me and I boarded. In 2 minutes, the train departed.

For about 5-10 minutes, I sat in my seat, wide-eyed, still not believing what has happened and wondering whether I have boarded the right train. Right it was – 2961. I thanked God for it and wondered how Scott Adams stood against God. Scott Adams, in his book God’s Debris, postulates that what we call as sheer luck that constantly hits some people who are termed as God-blessed are nothing but a small probability or a small percentage of people who are on the right hand side of the Bell Curve. His argument is solid, because prayers aren’t always answered for everyone and only a few have their prayers answered consistently. In my case, however, I preferred to thank God, because the knowledge of success was already instilled. Someone might argue further that that too could be a coincidence, but there is no end to argument.

My lenience is primarily attributed to not spend extra time at station/airport. However, I sacrificed people’s safety, autos and what not to just meet my ends, which could have met more simply. I was not very stressed, but I am sure I grew older faster by some fraction (which we always do under stress), without having to travel at speeds approaching light.

My record stands better than Kareena of Jab We Met,but it is not worth it, so I make a resolution today (not 2012) to start early for my travel such that I can safely reach airport/station at least 1 hr in advance. Time spent in present and lived peacefully/happily is time well spent.

Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov

I came across Foundation trilogy 2 years ago through one of our Master’s speeches, where he recommends reading it. I don’t remember the context, but it should be something related to learning about human psychology or relationships. Anyway, it was a great recommendation to follow and I am going to advertise it further for the joy and exhilaration it has given me for as low as 30 USD.

Few words about the author. Isaac Asimov’s stature in Science Fiction may be compared to Gandhi in Politics and Einstein in Science. The guy really had imagination for words, phrases, situations, science, and most of all, the mind. So much so that this phrase of his doesn’t seem egotistic at all: “People who think they know everything are a big nuisance to those of us who really do”. He has written 470 books on very diverse subjects (some even on Biochemistry, in which he graduated!).

Foundation trilogy is very diverse and enjoyable. Two great things about it are the creative and the unexpected.

Foundation novels are based in a Galaxy dominated by a strong Empire centred at Trantor. Hari Seldon is a psychohistorian – someone who predicts future based on psychological reaction of the masses. He is the real hero of the series, though he hardly lives even 10% of it. He predicts the fall of the Empire and 30,000 years of barbarism following it before humanity will return to normal. He establishes two Foundations with the intent of reducing this span to 1000 years. That is what Foundation trilogy is about, and much more!

Foundation is about First Foundation – a lonely planet established at periphery of Galaxy for the purpose of preparing encyclopaedia to retain knowledge through the period of barbarism. Very soon, the intelligent ones identify that that cannot be it. And then crises come one after other – all seemingly unsurpassable. Only those, who are able to see beyond the obvious and have courage to do what needs to be done, are able to bring them out of the crises. What Asimov really does well is changing the reel fast – from encyclopaedists to diplomats to traders, the situation at Foundation changes every 50 years, like political situation in any country. That makes the novel very interesting. Foundation produces many heroes, but my favourite is Salvor Hardin. Two of his quotes are my all time favourites:

a. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

b. Don’t let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

Foundation & Empire shifts gears. The Empire senses Foundation’s growing power and wants to curb it before it is beyond its own. Once again, mind wins over the muscle; however, a mutant called Mule turns up and he changes the whole power game from physical powers to psychic powers. The novel is the sort that is nice but starts to get tiring because things stop making a point. However, the last chapter really covers up for this seeming pointlessness of the remainder of the novel. It is like 3 Deewarein or Life is Beautiful, where the end makes everything sane, but this one really comes with a Bang! One of the best thriller endings ever.

Second Foundation is a further shift in gear (lower gear perhaps) – it is all about psychic and emotional powers and is a bit difficult to read, both due to heavy psychic wars and tough English. The fight between Mule and Second Foundation is really cool, but the fight between First and Second Foundations starts to drag. One aspect that I liked very much is the fear of the emotional control – one group always fears of emotional/psychic control by the other and is never sure whether what they think is original or not. This happens in life too, and people who read too many books, watch too many movies or listen to too many people should be aware of missing originality. Any way, Asimov handles emotional control very well – until the end, he lets you guess when emotional control is present and when it is absent.

Before it drags too long, let me end the blog here. Try “Foundation” and if you like it, go for the next two in the trilogy. These are really fast read 250 pages novels. For myself, I will read the prequels, which I am told are good (the sequels to Second Foundation are reported to be a drag).

In the queue: The Ultimate Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!