Thailand

In my travels I have tended over the years to focus on Europe and North America with little experience of the Far East. So I have put this right with a trip starting in a resort in Thailand at Phuket. It involved a long flight and I had been recommended Emirates as a carrier. I did find their service food and drink all impressive and particularly liked the semi-circular bar where the heavier drinkers congregated. However good the airline you still have to deal with adjustment of the body clock, sleeping in a confined area, air that is not fresh, sleeping in your clothes and the general tedium of it all. At least Emirates have some control of airports and can fast-track immigration, security and baggage collection, so much so that my suitcases arrived before me at Phuket airport and I had my first experience of Thai helpfulness as an airport assistant located my bags.

Along the roadside vendors in lean- tos were selling various items mainly food. It reminded me of the poverty I have seen in South Africa and the Caribbean as vendors sell what they can to eke a meagre living. The King has just died and the country is in mourning. Shrines to him of candles and photographs are also visible on the roadside. The taxi driver was a keen Manchester United fan and said his team and  Liverpool are the most popular clubs here to support.

I was picking up already a mentality that was friendly and anxious to please. On arrival at the resort, I was given a complimentary drink and tour. After 24 hours travelling and in sticky clothes I put on 24 hours ago I was more anxious for a shower, nap and change. I decided however tired to get the chore of unpacking out of the way and after that was soon in the land of nod.

Although undoubtedly anxious to please I detected too an amateurish service. My main course in the restaurant was forgotten but worse the menu was like one of those served in the old Soviet days in a Moscow restaurant as half the selection on the menu was unavailable. Wifi reception was perfunctory. It’s early days where fatigue is the dominant feeling. Tomorrow is the time for exploration, induction and research. The weather is humid and cloudy and unusually last month they’ve had heavy  and consistent rainfall.

I am not religious but if I had a faith it would probably be Buddhism – the main religion of Thailand. As I understand it, it teaches you to deal with expectation realistically by accepting that you should not assume that life will necessarily be happy. It seems to me that the western view of a holiday is that you work for 48 weeks and that a holiday provides that element of excitement missing from the mundanity and routine of life. However you are as likely to be disappointed as satisfied by the place, sunburn, mosquito bites or a bad tummy as the weight of expectation is too high. Being retired there is no ‘get back to work’ imperative for me so I carry less expectation. It is more a bucket list of visiting those places I have always wanted to whilst I have the health so to do. It is also a case of avoiding in the UK Black Friday, the build up to Xmas and horrendous weather.