On Avoiding Being "The Ugly American"

The Three "Stoolges" on Walking Street, Pattaya

For the sake of argument, let's agree that we're not dealing with The Ugly American, the 1958 novel by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick and sticking with the common usage: a pejorative term for a "stereotypical offensive American: a loud, boorish, nationalistic American, especially one traveling abroad, who is regarded as conforming to a stereotype that gives Americans a bad reputation" (Encarta dictionary).

It's unfortunate the term seems to focus mostly on those of us in the USA, which in and of itself is exclusionary enough - after all, there are plenty of other countries in North and South America that contain unpleasant examples of humanity - but I suppose it's all part of it, isn't it?  We're the real Americans, damn it. Now, if the behavior were limited to only we from the US that'd be a different story, but the label of Ugly American fits people across the wide spectrum of races, countries and cultures. You may have an example or two that pop to your mind... I certainly do.

It's reasonably important to remember that we - like it or not - are all ambassadors of a sort, and should behave accordingly. If you read up on your planned destination(s) it's not difficult to learn enough about the local customs and traditions to be a gracious guest.

Two obvious examples most readers here should know about visiting Thailand: it's always wise to be respectful of the royal family, and climbing up onto a statue of the Buddha for a snapshot - or any similar disrespectful actions like it - are likely to get you into trouble, but opening your own personal Pandora's box of less-desirable facets of yourself can, too.

Regardless of how pointedly acerbic your own "humor" may seem be to you or those who understand your "style" at home, sarcasm rarely translates well into another language (or culture). At best, you'll merely confuse the person you're dealing with; at worst you'll come across as an asshole and lose face, which is probably the more likely of the two possibilities, since many who think their wit isn't understood just compound the social gaffe by pushing it further.

The three men sitting on stools at a beer bar (ladies as Rented Admirers optional) are enough of an illustration, I felt, so there's the image.  The one on the far left was being pleasant while interacting with the girls at the club, and the one in the middle appeared to be doing the same.

The Hulk on the right, however, appeared at the time to be a force I'd prefer not to deal with.  He'd been lurching up and down Walking Street a couple of times while I was there with a friend, and we (and others) gave him a wide and clear berth.  Swaying back and forth he actually growled as he moved along. At first I'd thought he might have just been burping, but that wasn't the case.

My Thai friend leaned in towards me and gave me his opinion on where this walking refrigerator may have been visiting from, and he may have been right - but I just said "Ugly American", without thinking. Then I had to explain it, and this time it didn't take much of an effort to get the meaning across to him.

He told a story about seeing one of millions of balding, pot-bellied later-middle-aged male farang haggling with a vendor at the JJ  weekend market a few months before. Haggling is expected by many vendors; a good-natured (if sometimes slightly aggressive) but respectful bantering back and forth in an attempt to reach a "win-win" agreement on the price of an item. This particular episode had begun to escalate beyond banter, and my friend stopped at a safe distance to watch them.

The short version is that the farang actually began to holler about "being an American" and not being willing to be "ripped off by some bandit". When the vendor tried to smile it off and turn away, the farang grabbed his arm to turn him back face-to-face and lunged at the Thai. Vendors and others nearby joined in and gave the Ugly American what he had coming to him, to my way of thinking.

The people who over-indulge in public to the point of losing control of their manners and/or civility can be the worst of it, but the man at JJ was merely a pig-headed fool of a bully, pure and simple.  I'd wager we all run into similar folks on a daily basis. There's rarely an explanation as to why they're such mean-spirited creatures (bad childhood, inferiority complex the size of a Buick, monthly cramps, small penis, inability to hold a civil relationship together... who knows?) but they're there, meaning here and there, anywhere around the globe; being miserable and freely willing to visit their misery on anyone within reach, figuratively or literally.

Readers by now are well aware I'm not one who studiously follows dogma of any stripe, but there are some basic rules of life that I subscribe to, and one of those is what many would call the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have others do unto you.  That covers nearly all social situations, and if you don't allow it to tarnish while traveling it'll serve you well.

Street Snacks: Take-Away Iced/Hot Chai Tea

The first think you might want to know is that Thai "iced tea" isn't what you're used to back home... it's not merely brewed black tea over ice.

It's also not what those in some parts of the USA call Sweet Tea; normal iced tea with what seems to be a cup of sugar per glass, but unless you're looking to cultivate the adult onset of Type II diabetes that's probably a good thing. No offense to my Texas or other Southern readers intended.

There are many variations of the Thai drink, but the base ingredient is tea, and that often means black tea, but there are other spices in the mix - star anise, cardamom, cinnamon and/or others by locale - and milk; whole, coconut, evaporated or sweetened condensed.

The clip above, shot in Old Chantaburi Town is one of the simplest versions I've seen prepared, but the preparation is a show unto itself in some places, such as the Chatuchak/Jatujak/JJ weekend market in Bangkok, where they often whirl about as they pour it a distance to blend the concoction from one container to another, as in the clips below from a few years ago.



Here's another - shorter - clip from the same visit:


As mentioned before, local ice can sometimes harbor bacteria that the Thai have no problems digesting but Western systems can find a challenge, so be advised and take that into consideration before being charmed like a snake in a basket into imbibing the tasty beverage.  There's more about  protecting yourself from that chance here.

It's looking to be another fairly warm day where I am, though, and the thought of walking along sipping one seems worth the minor risk. After all, it's all part and parcel of the adventure!

Walking and Exploring Local Markets

Roses by the bundle on a rolling stand in Bangkok one morning

Yesterday's post made reference to stepping outside of our comfort zone(s), and one of the easiest ways to begin is to simply take a short walk around and explore the area near your hotel.

A good example is shown in the April 11 post from last year, where I posted about the morning market I walked through in Udonthani on a week-long road trip up that way to visit friends - part of the Isaan Oddysey series that ran in fits and starts from February into May of last year.

An office worker buys flowers on her way to work one morning

I call these places Local's Markets. Sometimes they're just a gathering of carts, but most times they're a grouping of stalls, covered by a roof of one form or another; tarps, galvanized metal or an actual structure, but they're all pretty casual. Somewhat like what we here would call a flea market or swap meet, or a boot sale to you in the UK.  Today's pictures are all floral, but they sell most everything at the markets.

A woman sells flowers from a rolling cart in a morning market

One of the more recent I've visited is the one near the Trinity Complex in Bangkok, within a five minute walk of the Chong Nonsi BTS station. I was staying at the Glow Hotel at the time, and the market began maybe 100 feet from the front door of the place. I've mentioned it before, but I'll post more about it soon.

Detail of the small bunches of carnations and roses filled the cart in the photo above

The point is there are similar places all over the place... you just have to look a bit. It's a great way to get a look at everyday life in a city, town or village. Make a minor mental note of where you walk to, or take a hotel card from the reception desk. That way, even if you do get lost you can grab a taxi, hand them the card, and be back "home" easily.

Trip Report 7: Bangkok to Pattaya

The morning market near Glow and the Chong Nonsi BTS

While my friend explored the wilder side of Bangkok last night, I had a much quieter evening; up much later than I'd expected after getting into a visa discussion with my friend over dinner. He accompanied me as I went around taking some night photos and we talked about the logistics of getting him to the USA to visit this year, and we spent a fair amount of time back at the hotel with my pocket translating device because a great deal of the conversation veered into areas we hadn't discussed previously.

Due to a number of factors I don't need to go into here there's a distinct probability he'd have no trouble getting clearance for a visitor visa whatsoever, and, understandably, he's very enthusiastic about the idea of coming to do the tourist thing here.  He's been one of a handful of extremely gracious friends I visit there and it would be fun to return the favor.  That all remains to be seen as the year progresses.

He snores like a freight train, but I was so worn out after fighting my body's urge to sleep all day that I slept quite soundly, waking only when his alarm went off over next to his bed, somewhat harshly letting him know he had to be at a desk in three hours. We had breakfast and I walked him to the Chong Nonsi BTS station, where he caught his ride to his office.

Repeating an image from the March 26th post... sorry

The breakfast we'd had in the Glow Trinity Silom cafe was good. It was the first Thai oranges I'd had this trip, and they were worth waiting for.  A large bowl of freshly picked som (pronounced with a long "O" with a high tone of short duration) proved to be easy to peel, intensely flavored and honey sweet.  I think I had three of them, glucose levels be damned.

Som seems to be the main word used for any variety of orange, and these were actually a type of tangerine; som keaw wan, should memory serve. Different types peak during different times of the year, but these are without a doubt my favorites. The bag below wasn't labeled in Thai and was perhaps ready to export, I don't know.  I do know it went from the morning market back to my room with me, and to Pattaya later that day.

Som Keaw Wan - what I'd call tangerines back home

When I returned from my morning walk through the market my friend Ben was having breakfast in the cafe. We waved an acknowledgement, I pointed at my watch, mouthed "noon" and pointed to the lobby. He nodded, knowing we had a car due to pick us up then for our transfer to Pattaya. He went back to his "becon" (as the Spam was labelled at the buffet) and I went back to my room to shower and do some minor re-packing.

[Not to air my dirty laundry (figuratively), but here's a tip that might fit your style: I shower before breakfast and put on clean clothes for the day. Nothing so odd about that, but if I'm going out to walk around in a morning market or outdoor area on a warm morning I'll change after breakfast back into the clothes I wore the previous evening, assuming they don't stink. I figure I'm probably going to get sweaty before I'm back, and why do that in the clothes I plan to wear for the day? When I'm back I do a quick shower again and change back into the morning outfit.]

I called to confirm the taxi I'd arranged to take us South - a driver I've used a few times - and when he said he remembered and would see us at noon I stopped to sit next to my window and eat another of those oranges, looking into the auto park next door.

There I noticed a group of guys on break; playing checkers, reading the papers or napping on and around the three picnic tables at the inside edge. I took a few pictures for the Sleeping series and then stretched out on my bed to have a bottle of water and watch some TV until it was time to check out.

Sacked out on a bench, having a snooze

Soon enough it was time to call for a bellman and load my stuff down to the lobby, get myself checked out at reception and wait for my friend to meet me. After the taxi arrived we settled in for the 90-some minute ride South to Pattaya, where both of our schedules would really get busy.

Along Sukhumvit Road into Chonburi - Pattaya bound.

Amphawa's Night Market: More Available Light Shots

Later in the evening, and a ways away from the main activity of the Amphawa floating night market

A couple of days ago someone left a comment on last July's post about the Amphawa floating market, suggesting that Amphawa was also nice by night, too - and I wholeheartedly agree.  [If you missed the first batch of night photos about that area, they're here.]  

I've long maintained that one hour out among the locals while travelling is worth five at a tourist spot.  Not that touristy places aren't worth visiting, because they are or the natives themselves wouldn't go there, but you know what I mean, and although this is generalizing, Soi Cowboy and Soi Twilight aren't really Thailand - they're more what tourists have done to Thailand.

This side street from a car park led you to the canal activity

Although the Rama II park was beautiful [Part 1 here and Part 2 here] and I enjoyed the park display of photo murals of the King in his younger days, and while touring the temples is always pleasant and educational I have to admit the evenings mingling with the locals throughout the market and restaurant area were probably the best parts of my days there.

The best noodle shop I tried in Amphawa - just a block off the main canal

It's not just the aroma of noodle shops and restaurants that drift along on the evening air - although those savory scents certainly enhance a stroll - I think it's the overall unspoiled attitude and graciousness of the people themselves; different than that of those in the tourist-ridden city areas where some have adopted parts of the less pleasant social behaviors of the Western world.

The Thai phrase mai pen rai (meaning "nevermind" or "it doesn't matter") has been overused on many travel sites, but it's really a true part of the culture there, and it's surprisingly refreshing every time I run into it. The woman in the picture above said it with a smile when I apologized after I accidentally bumped the back of her chair while moving out of the way of a motor scooter, and I added another tally mark to my mental list of reasons I love Thailand.

Another of that noodle shop - note the logo if you want to look for the place

No place is perfect, and I believe my compact video recorder was liberated from my bag at the night market there one evening while I was distracted by something, but big deal - I need to pay attention to my surroundings and the possibility of pickpockets as much as anyone else.  I was one of a precious few "round eyes" and I stood out somewhat in the crowd anyway, I'm sure.  I'd guess the percentage of farang in total was somewhere around 5%, if that much.

Some of the unhurried and polite people strolling along the walkways

The evenings I spent in Amphawa (other than my unexpected time detained in the police station) were really nothing less than idyllic: delightful in all respects.

For much more about the parks, temples, locals and the likes you can click on the "Amphawa" link under Labels in the right hand column.  The post today will take it up to 25 about the area, and it's a beautiful place.

Thai Smiles, Part 40: At The Amphawa Floating Markets

Spring roll vending boat at the Amphawa Floating Market

Welcome back to the Thailand portion of the blog, everyone. Thanks for hanging in there while I was away.

Being back home is always a comfort on one level or another, but there's always a flurry of activity needed shortly after landing back on home turf, when I least feel like it. I'm sure most of you know that anything left undone is still waiting for us when we return. Not that it's any different at home on a daily basis; I've shouted at the dishes in the kitchen sink any number of times in hopes of them washing themselves, but so far that's proved a fool's errand.

Two weeks of mail lay in the basket. Most of it was bills, and some of it needed attention sooner rather than later, but a lot of it was just junk.  Tending to that is never a pleasant task, but it's part and parcel of being able to get away, I suppose, and I try to keep that in mind as I unpack, wash clothes and settle back into the regular routine.  Part of that is crawling into my own bed again, and regardless of where my travels have taken me and no matter how wonderful the trip was I'm always grateful for that.

I received an email from someone asking if we were ever going to get back to the Amphawa stories to wrap up my stay there, and it seems like a good time to do just that.  I'll post about another part of that getaway next, but let's ease back into things with some photos taken at the night market there.

The "Beauty Queen" collects donations with her friends

A girl sells satay sticks in a stall at the Amphawa night market

Dried peanuts, peas and beans - crunchy walk-away snacks

Ice Cream Sandwiches, Thai Style

A girl waits for her ice cream sandwich by a market cart

If you're in a city in Thailand you won't have a problem finding a shop that sells ice cream cones as you'd expect to find "back home" (heck, even KFC sells those) but for a fine walk-away treat on a hot market day you can't beat a surprise like coming across an ice cream cart.

Instead of scooping the ice cream into a cone that will invariably drip out the bottom before you're finished the vendors there put it into a split roll, somewhat like a half of a hot dog bun. I've had several types of bread used, and the type that's closer to a Portuguese or Hawaiian-type sweet bread are the best. It's slightly sweet, slightly egg-y, and the aroma of fresh, yeasty bread is a wonderful compliment to the rich ice cream. I've seen coconut, mango, pineapple and a couple of other flavors over the years.

There are a couple of drawbacks: they can still be messy, and you have to ignore the lack of gloves on the hands of the vendor who touches your bread. That doesn't bother me, but I know some who would avoid it. It's cheap (maybe 10-15 baht) and delicious.

Detail of the lead photo

Thai Smiles, Part 39: At The Morning Market

You didn't think you'd get away without a "smiles" post after the last few days at the Takha morning floating market, did you?  To wrap the short series about the place up, here are a few photos of folks there during the few hours I was walking around, people-watching and trying new things.

By the way - if you found this by doing a search, there are three other posts about this morning canal-side market in Amphawa:  an introduction, a story about the morning I went and a third about things I saw while walking and shopping there.

One last picture, just because it looked like a restful spot to me when I came across it there, and it's time for a couple days of rest. As usual, I'm signing off for the weekend. With luck I'll see you back here on Monday.

Shopping The Takha Morning Floating Market

The day before yesterday you saw an introduction to this small "locals" floating market, and yesterday there was more about the place itself and my visit there a handful of months ago.

What I enjoyed about it most - other than not running into another Westerner the entire time - was how laid-back the whole area and operation was. While I did hear people bargaining as they negotiated a transaction, there wasn't the heated debate that you might hear at Jatujak market, Patpong or some shopping areas in Chinatown.

To the right you can see off down the canal, where others were buying and selling

As I mentioned, this was a smaller setting, which meant most of the people knew each other, and it wasn't uncommon to see trading of items with no cash changing hands.  The women below made an exchange, as one example...

Parents and their children walked along together, shopping and visiting with their neighbors; the kids shouting to friends and sometimes pulling free of their parent's hand to run off and play.

As the boats passed by each other changing spots or moving up or down the canal you could see their wide-brimmed hats tip in acknowledgement at their neighbors going by.

The woman below was one of a few boatloads of plants, and as she moved away and down the canal she almost blended in with the lush foliage that flanked the sides of the waterway.

Grow-Your-Own coconuts, ready to plant

The hulled garlic was Bt60 per kilogram

There were so many boats selling things to eat that I couldn't sample everything available - or keep up with trying to note what it all was. I suppose I could try to take better notes next time.

If I'd had a comfortable chair I'm sure I'd have been content to just sit in the shade somewhere along there and watch the gentle activity of this place, but my friend had plans and he's so often good at planning spots to share with me that I was OK saying farewell to the place and head back to the car... but in some ways it might have been nice to have simply paddled away and seen where the water took me.

Morning At The Takha Floating Market

The Ban Kung Maenam Resort at "low tide" - my bungalow is on the far right

Waking to the gentle splash of an oar in the river just outside and below the head of my bed I turned and pushed the window further open and could see a woman slowly paddling her empty boat along with a stroke on one side, then the other, then back again, all the while looking straight ahead.  I could have walked faster than she was moving downstream, but it wasn't a morning for hurrying so I rolled over again to listen to the sounds of morning on the river and slip back into blissful slumber for another few minutes.

My friend was more used to being on a schedule.  He'd been up, showered, dressed and was soon waking me with a knock at my door, reminding me that we'd planned to visit the local's morning market along a nearby canal.  Wanting to be there before what I imagined might be a crowd (based on the floating night market throngs) I got up, quickly prepared myself for the day and went to meet him at the dining area where we again had healthy portions of prawn and rice soup.

The distinctive scent of lime as I squeezed it into my bowl was a refreshing reminder that I wasn't "in Kansas any more", and after finishing my soup I carried my mug of coffee down to the boat landing, took some slow, deep breaths and stood for a moment - grateful to be there and for the relative cool of this tranquil morning.

We walked over the footbridge to the parking area and my friend drove us off to the Takha morning market. I wasn't paying any attention to where he was heading so I'm no help with where it actually is, but it was only a very few minutes before he pulled off into a small parking lot and stopped the car. We walked down towards the canal along the road below, where people were either already doing business or setting up for the morning.

Bottles of honey in one stand, woven items in the next, sliced and bagged pineapple and mango and the next; the warm, yeasty smell of youtiao floating overhead, pulling us towards them.

These delicious donuts were shaped differently than the "X" shaped ones I'd seen in Bangkok, but the delicious aroma was unmistakable.

They reminded me more of the charity benefit ribbons you might see as promotional bumper stickers promoting awareness for one cause or another. I watched them bob in the bubbling fat, and although I wanted, oh, say, a dozen or so of them I decided to pass them up this morning. Who knows how much gunk I already have lining my heart arteries, and life's too short already.  As you can see by the photo to the left we did weaken and buy a half dozen to take with us on the way out, though.

The boats were jockeying for position along the steps leading down to the water at the side of the canal when we got to it, and what a variety of items they had for sale: sprouted coconuts, bagged to take home and plant, griddled rice and egg snacks, cut water lily blooms, house and yard plants, and bite-sized custards that had been steamed in small ceramic bowls before being scooped out of the dimpled cooking pan with a spoon and put into your take-away container.

There were several varieties of chilis and garlic, chompu (rose apples) and other fruits - and enough banana boats at one point to warrant Harry Belafonte showing up to sing "Day-O", but I suspected he was elsewhere so I sang it myself - to the mild chagrin of my friend who doesn't always appreciate my singing.

One young girl sat patiently tending her mother's boat full of house plants, idly playing her own version of "mind the gap" with her finger as their boat drifted against and away from the boat next to theirs, pulling her finger out of harm's way in a way only a seasoned veteran of the game could do it.

A girl playing "chicken" with the drifting boats

Day-O... Da-a-a-y-O... Daylight come and me wanna go home

There are far too many photos to dump on you unsuspecting folks in one day, so I'll hold off on some until tomorrow... but you've been warned.

The Takha (Morning) Floating Market - An Introduction

The intent today was to begin a story about a true "locals" floating market, but appointments have kept me away from home (and the computer with my images on it) until just now, and I've only got a short window before I'm due out of here to attend a book event (yes, I hear you - and no, it's not your problem, I'm just telling you) so the best I'm able to do is share a few photos again today of one of the vendors from the Takha floating market in Amphawa.

The woman up top was bundling water lily blossoms for sale the morning we visited, and I suspect on many other mornings, too.  The blooms were coiled up like the ones directly above at the back of her boat, and she'd undo them and tie them into a bouquet of sorts.

There were perhaps three dozen or so boats there along the steps at a time, and my guess is they made other stops up and down the canal other than where we were stopped to sample and snack a bit.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the variety of vendors there and I'll try to do a proper post.

Amphawa: More From The Floating Market

BBQ shellfish and Chai tea for sale from boats along the steps in Amphawa

Yesterday you had an overview of the Amphawa Floating Market, and today you'll see some of the carts, stalls, boats and items for sale at this laid-back Thai tourist spot.  I say laid-back because it was unhurried, generally polite and less crowded by far than the behemouth that is Jatujak market.

With the exception of a few alleyways and other points of entrance and egress (like the alley to the left, where I wandered off from my friend while he was parking the car) it was easy to navigate, browse and people watch.

Again, you'll see very few farang and not much English in the signage, other than brand names and other related advertising, such as a restaurant sign or an ad for lodging.

There's enough English spoken that a Western visitor shouldn't feel uncomfortable being there taking pictures, trying to buy something or dining in one of dozens of restaurants, so don't let that keep you away from this satisfying experience of semi-immersion, unless you're clumsy on the stairs to the khlong and end up in the murky water, and that would be total immersion.

A good number of the items were "same same" as you'd see in most other open market areas, but there were subtle differences. For example, there was more packaging in Thai, and things like the sweets below (an uncommon item to begin with, as the Thai don't consume candy like we in the West do).

Packaged candies by the cartload

Above is another look at yesterday's BBQ muk, or squid (ika, to my Japanese readers) - and while it was good, I have a difficult time getting past the sometimes rubbery consistency of it. When it's dried and sold with other fish - as in the photo below - I have trouble getting past the strong fishy taste.  Not a favorite of mine, either way.  Many of my friends don't feel it's a meal without a muk dish, so I usually make a gracious effort to join them when it's offered, but more often than not I beg off with the "gosh, everything was so good I'm just too full!" ploy.

The  chompu/chompoo (Rose Apple) is a common fruit in Thailand; available almost everywhere, year 'round.  I think they're a good substitute for an apple, myself.  I like apples to be crisp, and I'm often disappointed by the ones brought in that I find in the stores and markets there.

A fruit vendor arranges red chompu on his boat, stopped at the Amphawa Floating Market

The Rose Apple has an inner center that's usually best scraped away, and can have a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but the fruit can be easily washed off, making it a safe thing for those of you wish sensitive systems to eat.  Plus, it gives your system a little fiber and some liquid.

A woman selects rose apples to purchase from a boat in Amphawa

Next time, more from the market.