Clean Andheri Station!

"Clean Andheri" is an oxymoron. This suburb of Bombay is by far one of the most congested and dirtiest in the city and its railway station is a chaotic mess. Which is why I was surprised to see it looking spotless on a Saturday morning.

It wasn't that the lazy and corrupt railway staff suddenly asked the sweepers to clean it or the savages that usually use the station decided to become cleaner. A group of volunteers in white t-shirts and blue jeans were sweeping the platform and staircase. The college students were probably attached to some NGO and did a wonderful job to clean up the station.

There just may be some hope for this city, which is in a rapid state of decline.

Overheard on the train

7:30 pm on a crowded Andheri local and I am squished between office-goers and a group of teenagers in football jerseys. A heated debate over Messi and Ronaldo is interrupted when a cell phone rings.

"Yes Mom...I'll be home soon. I'm in a train.." The young man disconnects the call and then says to his friends "ma pagal hein," which means my mother is insane! She was screaming at me for being late and wondering what I was doing in a train. He goes on and says that his parents' moods depend on the stock market. "When the value of their shares come down. they take it out on me!"

It can actually be fun to overhear a conversation sometimes  :)

Stranger on board a first class compartment

It was a Friday morning and rather early for me to be on a crowded first class compartment heading towards Santa Cruz. The wagon was packed with college students who would get off at Vile Parle. Before the train left Andheri, a strange-looking with an unsual turban climbed on board. Through the crowd I saw he had a rope of some kind.

At Parle, the train emptied out and my attention was on the sunrise over the runway of the domestic airport. I then felt a few fingers touch my feet. Was it a beggar or a child? When I looked down, I realised it was a monkey.The turbaned man was a monkey-charmer.

The poor and exploited monkey was so incredibly cute. I was tempted to pet it but alas this was after all a wild animal. I couldn't keep the smile out when I looked at the adorable creature. Fellow passengers couldn't care less. Some people sure don't have a sense of humour!

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?

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!

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

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!