Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Drunken communal thug at Grant Road station

Here's something you thankfully don't see every day in Bombay.

I am waiting for a train at 3:00 pm at Grant Road station on what is a warm and peaceful January day. Since it's not even close to rush hour, there are just a few people on the platform. One of them in a Muslim man in his 60s, sitting peacefully and reading a paper as he waits for the train.

Out of nowhere comes a drunken man in his 50s swinging a plastic scale (ruler) wildy and using the worst Hindi words imaginable! I remind you that it's 3 in the afternoon. He then approaches the Muslim man and starts screaming, "Pakistani, why are you here!!!" The others who witnessed the fracas chose to ignore it, but as far as I was concerned... that sorry SOB had crossed a line.

I snatched that ruler from him and threatened to call the railway police. Then some others also intervened and moved that man away. All the while, he was screaming and cursing. The Muslim man thanked me for standing up for him. I told him that in a decent society there was no room for that kind of behaviour.

I can imagine something like this happening in the Moscow metro at 11:30 pm, but here in Bombay in the afternoon?

Monday, January 14, 2013

Don Sao, nine years later

I first travelled around the Golden Triangle area by the great Mekong River in 2004. Burma, Laos and Thailand meet at this strategic crossroad in southeast Asia, from where China is less than 300 kilometres away.

The first sight that greeted (and still greets) the traveller is the chain of green mountains on the Laos side of the Mekong. The country north of Thailand has not yet jumped on the development bandwagon and still largely serene.

As I was to find out when I took a boat ride on the Mekong, a lot has changed in the farthest outposts of Laos. For starters, Don Sao is now connected by road to the mainland to make it easier for tourists to come by car all the way from China. The island is also a dumping ground for fake designer bags. Back in 2004, there were hardly any tourists in Don Sao. Now, boatloads make the trip daily for bragging rights about having stepped in another country. Another new phenomenon are the young boys begging for 5 and 10 baht.

The real eyesore in the area is an ugly casino that is being built by a Hong Kong-based businessman. He has apparently leased land in Laos for 99 years and the monstrosity of a casino is an eyesore. The casino's main clientele are Thais who cross over to gamble since this "evil" is illegal in the kingdom. It's sad to see the serenity of the Mekong vanishing and getting replaced by capitalistic greed.

They talk of employment for the people of Laos. Sure! The farmers move up in the global value chain by working as cleaners and security staff in a casino. How lucky they are, indeed!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

The worst travellers!

I have to say that hands down, the worst travellers I encountered in Thailand were from Russia, India and China.

Here's an article about them.

http://indrus.in/articles/2013/01/11/the_ugly_ric_traveller_21569.html

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Bangkok: A city on the move

Many large cities rather unfairly have a bad reputation. Bangkok is often judged by the shady areas of Thanon Khao and by the traffic in many of the city's main roads. Fortunately most visitors can avoid both.

The BTS is an excellent way of travelling across the city. It's efficient, clean and has an extensive network, which connects it to the metro at several stations. For those wanting to avoid the traffic to and from both Don Mueang and Suvarnabhoomi airports, pay the toll and take the elevated freeways.
The city also has excellent river transport, which comes in handy for a visit to the Royal Palace and Wat Arun.

Despite the excellent public transport infrastructure already in place, the authorities are not sleeping. Thailand plans to spend over $66 billion to upgrade infrastructure across the country (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Thailands-location-drives-transport-investment-pl-30197376.html) This plan includes four high-speed rail projects that can be integrated into bigger railway networks across the region.

Bravo Thailand!