Like
the forward-thinking-head of the 19th century U.S. Patent Office (who
suggested that "everything that could be invented probably had
already been"), I think I'm good for maybe five original thoughts.
Like so many bad dreams, occurring over and over again, these handful
of observations flow from my pen, keyboard, what have I. Stop me if
you've heard this one:
One of those oft-thought thoughts is about how utterly fascinating Asia is to me; the diversity of it, how stark the contrasts are. Case in point:
The hotel I'm at for the next couple of days is in the central business district of Bangkok (such as it is), which is called Bangrak (also Bang Rac, and Bangruk; Thai is not very precisely transliterated). Anyway, as it turns out, this area is Bangkok's Sleaze Central; I do believe they're something for everyone here. Girls for Boys, Boys for Boys, bars just for Japanese, bier & brezen (pretzel) spots for visiting Germans... You can even buy Thai food, fancy that! Blessing or curse, the path between my hotel and the rest of Bangkok is through that famous "Patpong" area. And if you've never heard of Patpong, just plug it into your favorite web browser. I think it'll show up once or twice.
Here's the contrast, and I'll keep it brief, relatively. One the one hand, this part of the city is the business district. Think Wall Street (that might be a stretch). Then line it up with "streetwalkers": half of these actually are Prostitutes, the other half are Pimps or guys who want to collect a small bounty to get you to a particular joint. OK so it's New Orleans with the French Quarter merged in with fancy-dressed business types. Yeah, except the Thais make your average Puritan look liberal: they're vehemently opposed to social nudity. But wait there's more... cute little kids walk through these areas like it was Mom's Knitting Shop. It's invisible.
Most other places (excepting parts of Europe, those perverts) kids'd be locked up until they were 47 before they could see this stuff. Here it's not even news