Both ends of the scale
We’ve had a buffet of unique life experiences lately and been reminded that it’s the diversity of life in Thailand which is so fascinating and gives us all so much to learn from and enjoy. This place has such enormous scale from the super elite of society, including the royal family, to the humblest and simplest of life in the local villages. Any chance we get to experience that wide diversity gives us a better foundation to live on. And haven’t we had it in spades recently.
Despite our fairly innocuous life as ex-pats in Bangkok we have had opportunities to have a glimpse of how the elite part of society lives. Through Julie’s involvement in ANZWG (Australia and New Zealand Women’s Group) she has had the good fortune of meeting women whose husbands work in many diverse fields in Bangkok. In one of those instances it turns out people in special positions are actually quite similar to us.
One such woman is Teresa, the wife of the Australian Ambassador to Thailand. Julie has been to the Ambassador’s residence (which is part of the embassy complex) for various events, but recently even I scored an invitation. One Sunday Julie and I, another couple (highlighting the international flavor of our temporary social scene, he was a Danish diplomat, she was Japanese) and James and Teresa Wise spent the afternoon together at the residence. And to make the day really special, we had afternoon tea which is the first time I think I have ever had a formal afternoon tea.
While enjoying their beautiful home and generous hospitality we heard and shared stories about living and doing business in a foreign country. For James, who originally is from tiny Flinders Island, part of Tasmania, it was a fascinating story of the life of a senior overseas diplomat in the Australian government, raising a family with Teresa during their many overseas postings and actually remaining pleasantly normal people, just like us. For me it was also a fancy afternoon tea as Julie’s handbag. Very cool.
But last weekend the scale of diversity in Thailand went into another gear. Through a corporate sponsorship relationship we had the chance to enjoy free VIP tickets to see the ballet called Don Quixote performed by a famous Russian ballet troupe and their orchestra. So off we go to the Thailand Cultural Centre, with me feeling a bit outside my comfort zone, and not really knowing what to expect.
When we get there we see that the level of security, and in particular the extremely high number of military chiefs in their starched white uniforms (looking very sharp, I might add) prompted our curiosity so Julie asked one of the attendants what was happening. The woman told Julie that her Majesty the Queen was attending the ballet that night. Wow, no way, the Queen, what an amazingly wonderful coincidence.
After everyone took their seats we waited an extra 30 minutes before Her Majesty joined us, and we all stood while she was escorted by one of those sharp senior military guys to the middle seat in the front row of the second level. She looked resplendent in an elegant white jeweled dress and even gave Julie and I (and the rest of the audience) a short wave. The national anthem and a round of bowing/curtseying took place before the show could begin.
But after each of the two intervals, where we enjoyed champagne and imported French wine in the private VIP room (and were decidedly underdressed compared to the elegant evening gowns and black ties) we had to resume our positions in the audience and stand for Her Majesty’s return. But it was all worth it, very special, and a memory that we will hold forever. On ya, Queen.
Having flirted with royalty at the ballet, as you do, the next morning we travelled to the other end of the scale and drove to the northern area of Bangkok called Phahon Thani to visit Talat Thai, or the Thai Market, the largest in Thailand. Talat Thai covers over 200 acres in a series of huge cavernous buildings and covered areas where produce of all types comes in each day and is sold to restaurants, hotels, local markets and ordinary people. But the volumes of goods being moved and the sheer size of the place was just overwhelming. Unfortunately the Queen didn’t make it that day but I know she would have enjoyed it.
Julie and I had an absolute blast, as we always do in any market, but more so because this place was so BIG. Different buildings or covered areas would have different goods, as shown by colourful pictures above their arched entrances. We started with the vegetables and I couldn’t do the list justice but they would each be sold in their own designated area so we started with corn, then watermelons, then onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, colourful dragon fruit, star fruit, limes, different parsleys and many others we either didn’t know what they were or there were too many to remember. But let me say that each item may have many different varieties and most we couldn’t name anyway.
Then we moved into the building with fish and meat. Well, there was a lot of it, and as in most Thai meat markets, all parts of every animal were available for sale in any quantity, even if some parts defied belief. In rural villages we have seen small fish sliced in half and then left out in the sun to dry. In this market they would set up huge fans that would strongly blow air across tables covered in these fish. And some vendors were surrounded by huge 44 gallon drums of very suspicious looking concoctions, all of indeterminate nature, usually brown in colour and bubbling in motion, all available for sale for those who presumably couldn’t find anything else to buy.
After a spectacular lunch in the local outdoor food court of Som Tam salad (shredded papaya, tomatoes, nuts, chilies), deep fried tasty corn and other amazing flavours we hit the colourful flower market where Julie contributed to the economy and then went into the huge building hosting mainly citrus fruits. Here we found oranges, mandarins, more limes, many varieties of apples, a small football field of bananas, more grapes than any city will ever need and a lot of other stuff that made my mind go a little numb.
You can’t hang out with Her Majesty the Queen every night and you don’t need to go to such an immense market every day but what you can do, as we did, is appreciate what a truly wonderful and diverse society we temporarily live in and pinch ourselves for our good fortune. And then we squeeze a new lime into our gin and tonic.