My Bangkok sojourn - 2

The staff on the plane were extremely cordial. They did their best to make life easier for us - gave us the front seat which had lots of leg room (not that it made any difference to me, as my legs are not all that long!) , left two seats next to us vacant - so we got 4 seats to use though we were only 2 adults and one infant (any kid below 2 years is an infant as per airline standards), gave us extra pillows and blankets; and came running to us every now and then to see if we needed anything. All that because we had Achu with us - babies are always precious and you get to see that statement put into action when you are on a plane! So far so good.

The flight took off at 11:30 PM IST. Travel time was approximately 3 and half hours. So it would be about 3:00 AM IST when we would reach Bangkok. But Bangkok is 2 and half hours ahead of us in time. So that would be 5:30 AM their time when we land. Ashwin and me did the Math . We settled down on our seats. Few minutes later, Achu fell asleep on Ashwin. We reclined our seats to the maximum trying to find a comfortable position. And then throughout the night flight, we took turns carrying our little fellow. Ashwin managed to doze off in between. Me on the other hand was a bit hassled. Reason - I cant sleep on airplanes. Let alone airplanes, I cant sleep on any mode of transport. Its as though my brain switches to a travel mode, triggers alert signals at regular intervals and fails to go on auto-pilot! I didnt care much though! Having been through baby sitting 24x7, sleeplessness was not new to me. Also, I knew I would not be alone and most passengers would not have slept well on a short night flight. It goes like this, by the time one convinces oneself and decides to switch off, the pilot says " wakey wakey sunshine", which makes one jump out of the seat (possibly tearing the seat covers and the seat belt). Achu was still asleep on my shoulder when we landed. The sun was just rising. ON Time - 5:30 AM Bangkok Time.

The first thing we did after exiting the plane was getting back our pram. It doubled up as a bed for our Achu. And then, we had to get our tourist Visa stamped. For odd reasons, countries come up with wierd rules - the visa was not already stamped on our passports before we left India. Short visit visas have to be stamped on arrival and yes, they call it "Visa on Arrival". Some other interesting facts are :

1.Citizens from most of Europe, UK, Australia and US are exempted from this ordeal. 2.Chromatically white is a shade fairer than Black. 3.Monetarily Euro and Dollar are valuable than the rest.

Visa stamping turned out to be an unpleasant, long procedure. There was an endless queue, forms to be filled and arrogant, ill-mannered Thai policemen to tackle. A word of caution dearies - 'An airhostess is not a microcosm of her native culture, a policeman is. Airhostesses are trained and groomed to put their best face forward. A policeman deals with raw life of his country day after day. So wherever you travel, do not be taken in by the airhostess's smile. Look out for the policeman'. The Thai policemen taught me what to expect in the couple of days to come. The truth was bare before my eyes. Bangkok is a land in South East Asia, hugely dependent on Farming for revenue. And as a result, you will find people always in a race to make ends meet - in the process they scream, they shout blatantly. Much like Indians, they too are a noisy crowd. The difference -Indians smile a lot. A smile is mostly returned in India, not so in Thailand, they do not smile much. This was new to me. I had been to Australia and was sort of used to the extremely polite and frank disposition. Australia had taught me to say 'Please, Thank you and Sorry' a lot, to shed my Indian inhibitions, to break all chains that restrain, to be passionate, to take it easy, to let go, to lay back and watch the world go by, to say what you mean and to do what you say, to live life to the fullest! That's another story! I wondered what Thailand had in store for me.

Ashwin stood in the queue while me after waiting for a while, took a seat in the nearby line of chairs. Slowly but steadily, the queue moved forward. Achu had woken up in the midst of this menagerie and after taking a look at all the choas, fell asleep again (as though he had realised sleeping is the best resort to keep this mad world at bay). I took him out of the pram and sat there carrying him, taking in all the confusion. I could see people running around to get forms and fill them up, people at the end of the queue trying to get a peak at what was happening in front, people in the front eagerly waiting for their token number to be called, people from lucky countries (which are exempted from Visa stamping) being reassured that they do not have to get this done, the Thai passport officers verifying documents and speaking in broken English. The most amusing part of it was the Thai policeman (ah, here he comes again) screaming and trying to control a queue of exhausted, weary tourists waiting for the permission to see his country. At one point he even threatened to suspend the process if anyone stepped away from the straight line which had been marked out. Lines, demarcation, boundaries, walls, limits,territory, trespassing, invasion, war, death, hope, rebuild, discuss, decide, draft, agree, redraw, line - It all starts from a line, a simple directionless scalar segment that connects two points- sickening, isin't it?

It took us two hours to get out of the Airport after landing. Visa on arrival was definitely a bugbear. We did not wait (could wait no more) for the rest of the group to join us, collected our baggage which had been checked in, got the immigration clearance, and took a taxi. I had dropped the baggage buggy over the travelator while rushing to get there and then a Thai airport officer helped me with it. That is when I saw a Thai smile for the first time (disregarding the airhostess)! Its not as open and prolonged as the Indian smile, its a twitch of the lips for a split second. You have to be there at the moment to catch it. I caught one! Once into the taxi, I tried asking the driver about the distance to the hotel. The poor guy knew no English and did not get what I was trying to say at all. I even tried acting it out. He gave me a wierd look and Ashwin asked me to give up. I gave up, kissed Achu who was blissfully asleep on my shoulders, closed one eye to catch sleep, kept the other eye open to draw in as much scenery as possible and relaxed. The roads were world class (not bumpy like our Indian ones), the driving was good, the air-con in the cab was on and I finally had a nap! All of us slept, apart from the driver of course till we reached our destination - Hotel Ramada!