All, Inspire
As you may have gathered whilst reading our ramblings along this particular trip, we have been travelling before. And to some pretty exciting places as well, most of them, due to our fields of interest and budget requirements, well on the backpacker’s trail. After arriving once more in backpacker decompression zone Bangkok, we mused at the ever-continuous hordes of fresh and weathered faces, fondly remembering the first time we got on a plane to a country very far away, with our mates and not nearly enough cash.
Something this time was different. And we didn’t know how we felt about it. It seemed our safe and familiar world had been invaded, and by a force we were powerless to turn back.
Kids. They were EVERYWHERE. Not locals, not families on holiday who had by chance stumbled upon our backpacker haunts, but running, screaming, tie-dye-T-shirt wearing, Mohawk sporting, Pad Thai spilling backpacker offspring kids. And where no fried cockroaches or green-chilli-Sambuca shots could cause lasting unease, the presence of kids who could be our neighbour’s children or nephews and nieces suddenly made us feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Seemingly gone were the days of free frolicking, where you can drink as much as you can in public, DIY shave your head, wear the most ridiculous clothes locals can produce and embarrass yourself ties-free by tea-bagging your mate in that awesome Irish bar.
Suddenly, as you are mooning the hot Swedes on the other side of the room, you make the mistake of looking past them, straight at the dead pan face of an 8 year old girl in pigtails and a frilly Roxy Kids dress and (if you’re unlucky) the horrified look on her parent’s faces. After you have painstakingly escaped your own parents’, neighbours’, boss’, lecturers’ and even societies’ idea of acceptable behaviour to run free in the pastures of South East Asia’s anti-responsibility backpacking bubble, your moral compass yelps from afar that you should have the duty of being a role model to the younger generation.
If guilt tripping yourself into behaving on the streets wasn’t bad enough, you are now sharing your hostel with that lovely tattooed couple from Switzerland and their 4 middle-class feral new-age-hippy kids, all under the age of 5. The corridor outside your room has been turned into a 7am playground, and you can tell when sunscreen is being applied due to the high-pitched screams of torture reminiscent of Guantanamo that flood through your earplugs. And where beforehand you could have told your fellow bunkmate he’s an asshole for waking you up last night, there’s now nothing you can do. “Kids are kids you know, but look how cute they are!”
Gentrification has caused quite a stir in Europe’s/Australia’s/America’s real estate markets. Areas such as London’s Hackney (predominantly working class and Black African/Caribbean communities), Sydney’s Redfern (a traditionally low earning aboriginal and islander neighbourhood) and New York’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (previously the largest black community in the US) have seen vast displacement of former residents. These areas have suffered a sharp rise in rent due to richer investors buying up property to let out to other richer seekers of the new trendy parts of town. Shoreditch is so 2004.
Whilst most backpackers of course come from families who have the means to invest in travel abroad, there are parallels. Many especially young backpacker are on a tight budget so having to compete with a family who are a) used to getting one room between 3 or 4 people thus splitting the cost and b) are more likely to just pay the going rate or more for better facilities rather than haggle to keep the peace (especially when the kids are playing up) can be a tough one.
After endless wondering about whether families are ruining your favourite budget accommodation and whether these kids are even taking anything in (and aren’t they supposed to be at school?!?!?), you decide to get out, have a coconut and think things over.
You probably didn’t have these kinds of memories from when you were a kid. Countries outside Europe, Oz or the US/Canada were probably a bit too much work to go to with small children back in the day, whether it was getting affordable flights, visas, jabs and dealing with lack of local infrastructure and language barriers. Many of us will have gone on easy family holidays to the seaside – somewhere slightly boring maybe, but safe, predicable and fun for everyone (including the adventurous maverick backpackers of those bygone days, who were glad you were on Malta, and not where they were).
Whilst these were fantastic times, they didn’t really teach us much first hand about the way other people, other kids live. That having the biggest, fiercest looking home-made kite in the neighbourhood is the best thing a little Balinese boy can wish for. That dried squid on a stick is quite a tasty snack for a 3 year old Chinese girl. That there are real, friendly, interesting and lovable people living in these countries and that they have just the same fundamental worries, hopes and dreams as we did when we were 6 (probably involving the acquisition of ice cream). That there are faces and souls behind what our national security officials and free market economists want us to believe are corrupt governments who simply won’t cough up their vast amounts of ‘endless’ natural resources at prices our multinationals want to decide. But don’t mention the rainforest.
The media tend to sell their wares through creating feelings of outrage, curiosity about disaster and fear. Cue stereotypes, nurturing misunderstanding and sensationalism that foster our own ignorance. And we are all up in arms after skimming that Daily Mail article about that one man in Indonesia who wouldn’t let his head-scarfed wife get a driving license, and because we know no other Indonesian people, they must all be backward woman-hating bigots. The best way to remedy a set idea of another country, culture or group (whether political or religious) is to go yourself, experience the place and its people and make up your own mind.
We still maintain that a holiday from your day-to-day life and the freedom to do so 100% is worth keeping. Go to a hostel or beach or bar that is clearly for young backpackers out for a good time. And you, dear tourism industry, make sure these places exist and that prices are kept fair for both budget travellers and locals who make a living from welcoming the young, bright eyed and bushy tailed into their midst.
Places are not just places though, to stagnate in time for you to tap into and out of whenever you chose. Places are also places in time, and if somewhere has developed since you last saw it, then appreciate the good bits and see what you can do yourself to fix the bad bits.
Consider the huge benefits of people’s lives mixing to create broader global understanding on a grass routes level, and for the sake of this interconnectedness, share your public spaces with a couple of kids who may be a little bit annoying, but who may just be finding their life’s inspiration to better the world we live in. And if not, they are having their own little first time adventure, and will later in life appreciate the impact they had on their surroundings a lot more if they remember having the time of their lives backpacking with their parents.
All, Learn
The Egyptians did it. The Mayans did it. The Tibetans did it. Even the Koreans and German Housewives do it, en masse and with gusto – in the latter’s case with the resulting treasures to be stashed in some cellar shelf to collect dust, or to be given to secretly reluctant friends at Christmas so that they in turn can clog up their dusty cellar shelves. They all pickle stuff.
Preservation of food nowadays takes just a few choice chemicals, so participation in this activity is often down to taste and nostalgia. The more grizzly ancient practices of human embalming however, were widely exercised to ensure safe journey into the afterlife – for those fortunate or tyrannical enough to be able to afford the entry fee to the afterlife. So what is it, in these modern secular times, with communists pickling their dead leaders?
Our Epic Journey has taken us through Russia and China, the biggest countries on the globe influenced by communist ideology, as well as some little ones such as (North) Korea and Vietnam. We have previously studied and travelled Latin America extensively, and this continent’s ongoing toying with the idea of the ideal socialist state is also apparent whenever you witness yet another disgruntled citizen complain about the corruption of the government, the marginalisation of the working class and the inherent ‘stupidity’ and hypocrisy of anyone who gets into capitalist power. The Revolution will come – it’s just that no one seems sure of when and how.
You may be surprised to hear that Fidel Castro, one of our potentially soon to be pickled protagonists, wasn’t originally out to turn Cuba communist. He was in fact only persuaded by this very intelligent, but for Fidel’s liking somewhat too radical left-wing guy by the name of Ernesto Guevara (that’s ‘Che’ for all you cool kids out there). Che, counter to the beliefs of one of the kids in our 9th grade way back in the day, did not “die fighting for the legalisation of weeeeeed, maaaan”. But it was the Revolution with a capital R (i.e. people’s rule over themselves and freedom from the meddling US and USSR) that pulled both men’s heart strings.
Importantly, something about the structure of both the Revolution and socialism make it most effective in creating and retaining political power – and this very thing might just explain these governments’ fondness for formaldehyde. No matter how much any leader may bang on about the ‘power of the people’, the most widely used tool in maintaining structure and leadership has been a very simple one: a solidly entrenched personality cult.
“Religion is the opium of the people” said Marx, and did away with it. Just like throwing your board shorts out to sea during a tipsy skinny dipping session seemed like a good idea at the time, some people would be absolutely fine crawling back to shore butt naked and proudly stomping off to get a towel. For others though, getting rid of what used to be an arguably somewhat fantastical but nevertheless very emotionally supporting trust in a guiding figure left a void only another supreme being could fill.
With even the Flying Spaghetti Monster out of bounds due to the whole anti-religion doctrine, the Maos, Stalins, Lenins, ‘Uncle’ Ho Chi Minhs and Kim Il Sung’s of this world got ready for a field trip. Guiding their people through wars, struggles for independence and the turning inside out of the political system needed a well-oiled propaganda machine, of which symbolism is one of the most effective tools.
Walk down a street in Moscow, Beijing or Hanoi and you’ll have to be blind or completely engrossed in Tinder to not see the victorious faces of Lenin, Mao and Uncle Ho everywhere. The machine is ticking over, the saviour everywhere and the country in control. But then – he gets old, sick, loses interest, maybe even his mind… the authorities who have been happily building this one figure of reference suddenly start to sit up and take notice. Unlike other forms of government, there is no automatically accepted son to follow in the king’s footsteps a royal bloodline, no new supreme leader chosen by God – or in a democracy, the people… although there are sound arguments against the existence of such a democracy even in our modern, enlightened, ‘Western’ world. But that is another debate within itself.
As admiration, guidance seeking and numbers of followers grew throughout the ‘liberator’s’ lifetime, of course always assisted by a vast network of propaganda, government officials found themselves incredibly concerned how the system would fare once the figurehead of it all kicked the proverbial bucket. Then, 15 months after the hype surrounding the discovery of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen’s preserved body, the genius idea struck one of Lenin’s homies. “Pimp my dead leader!”, he exclaimed, and Lenin (Moscow Mausoleum) was preserved and put on public display in 1924.
Paradoxically, the idea of preserving bodies of communist anti-religious leaders may also on a subconscious level be likened to the Christian Orthodox belief that one of the dead giveaways of someone having been a Saint was that parts of or even their entire body would not decay. Nevertheless, this dappling in religion didn’t seem to deter the ministers surrounding Mao Zedong (Beijing Mausoleum), Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il (both in the Kumusan Palace of the Sun, Pyongyang), Ho Chi Minh (Hanoi Mausoleum), Mongolia’s Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Angola’s Agostinho Neto, Guyana’s Forbes Burnham and, most recently, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela (not Dagenham).
Klement Gottwald of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria’s Georgi Dimitrov and Joseph Stalin were also given the star treatment, but after a botched procedure, the fall of communism in Bulgaria and a general hate of Stalin’s guts respectively, the bodies were removed and put to rest using alternative methods.
Interestingly enough, the afore mentioned embalmees were rarely asked whether they would agree to the procedure, with Ho Chi Minh explicitly instructing to be cremated. The preservation of the state over personal wishes may have been the last sacrifices these leaders made to their countries. It certainly worked on some levels as millions of local and international tourists flock every year to catch a glimpse of particularly Lenin, Mao and Ho Chi Minh, always in a solemn atmosphere and with some tears shed as well amongst the more nostalgic of the socialist era.
We defy you to tick them off like trump cards on your travels around the globe, but witnessing the power one person’s image can hold is a truly thought provoking experience. Let us know what you experienced when probably seeing a dead body for the first time – we’d love to know your thoughts.
All, Destinations
One night in Bangkok and the world’s your Oyster, or so they say. The Thai capital is famously home to the Khao San Road, epicenter supreme of global backpacking culture. This vibrant city is also equally loved and hated for being ‘just exotic enough’ for newbie’s to become excited at the sight of fried cockroaches and cheap tat whilst still feeling safe as there’s a 7 Eleven and Boots just down the road.
The more self-important types of seasoned travelers snub their noses at the ‘over touristy hellhole’ whilst swarms of British, Swedish and Aussie (for years now joined by nearly all other nations) fresh-out-of-school ‘Gap Yah’s’ start having the time of their lives with help of Bangkok’s cultural decompression zone.
With all the controversy around spoiled neighbourhoods, ping pong shows and tat markets, it is easy to forget that Bangkok is so much more than a tourist hub. With invaluable tips from our wonderful local Pim, we explore Bangkok’s other side – where Thais from around the country meet with locals to enjoy relaxed Sunday boat rides and great food at Kwan Riam market, all whilst feeding miniature ponies and paying respect to the real life protagonists of the Romeo & Juliette-like story that gave the market its name.
In stark contrast to the understated and relaxed city outskirts where Kwan Riam is situated, the centre of Bangkok is a pulsating international metropolis where the super rich and super shoestring travellers rub shoulders in one of many shopping centres around the materialist rabbit hole that is the MBK. Hipster culture has firmly moved into the side alleys surrounding the glass and concrete skyscrapers and Bangkok’s street art scene is ever expanding with the city hosting its first Street Art Festival this year.
For more traditional sightseeing we head over to Wat Pho, the beautiful temple complex surrounding Bangkok’s famous reclining Buddha. Well on the tourist trail the 150 foot Buddha (that’s 45m, not a centipede) may be, but the intricate detail and craftsmanship of the statue and the surrounding temples make it well worth a visit, or two, or three.
After browsing the nearby markets full of beautiful antique trinkets, a refreshing river taxi and thrilling tuktuk ride takes us to Lumphini Park, usually filled with families and early morning/evening runners and aerobics groups, but currently taken over by government protesters, who are more than happy to explain their views to us.
After seeing Bangkok locals going about their daily business as usual (apart from the occasional peace-sign selfie with a passing military vehicle), Pim takes us out for a treat – an evening’s explosion of colourful lights, looking down at the city from her favorite secret hideout, the rooftop bar at Fraser Suites, Sukhumvit.
Bangkok may be such a famous destination with its major sites shouting so loud that they drown out developing places of interest. But a little exploration will lead to some surprising new discoveries and hidden pearls (pics here!) in what will most likely always remain one of the first and fascinating stops to millions of visitors from around the globe.
All, Destinations
It’s any given Tuesday and your alarm sounds at 6am. You hate it. You wonder whether you really need to get up just now, or is there a good excuse for hitting snooze and catching another 10 minutes sleep?
Events from last night swim vaguely into consciousness: A party on the beach… dancing with friends… a fire show…
How did that happen? Oh, yeah – after work, you went to the west side of the island for some peace and quiet and watched that incredible sunset, and dipped your toes in the lapping wavelets to soothe your tired feet. Then you bumped into a friend and had a sunset beer and an amazing Penang Curry before the fire twirlers turned up.
Why were your feet so tired? Ah, that’s right! You’d been on your feet almost all day, lugging gear backwards and forwards from the dive shop to the boat and along a sun-hot pier, and you didn’t bother with shoes yesterday. Come to think of it, you haven’t worn any footwear at all for days. Not even your favourite flip-flops.
Argh crap! Suddenly, today’s upcoming tasks pop into your mind all too quickly, one after another, after another, and you start to wish you could just roll over and go back to sleep. There’s that couple who’ve never dived before – the guy said he can’t even swim properly, so you’re really going to have to work hard at getting them up to speed with their course. Then again, the ones who surprise themselves the most are the ones you get the biggest kicks from teaching – and they love you for it too. Much better than those “been there, done that” divers who think they’ve seen it all.
For the moment, how long until you can come back to bed…? Damn! After the morning’s classroom session, there’s the afternoon boat. You’ve got that English dude who’s so desperate to see a shark. Well there are plenty of blacktips at Malong dive site. He should be happy.
Oh, wait a minute – you remember that there’s been a whale shark sighting every day for the last six days! It’s been spotted near there. Maybe today will be your luck day! Now you’re awake. Not only that, but you’re amped about today. You’re damn tired, but hell, this is Koh Phi Phi, you’re a dive instructor and if yesterday, and every other day you’ve been here before that are anything to go by, this day has some amazing stuff in store…
The Rat & Dragon crew scrambled to keep up but loved every moment as we follow the gorgeous, barefooted Ma’ca, through what only she (and the other scuba dive Instructors of Koh Phi Phi) would call an ‘average’ day. Starting with a raunchy (not really) bed scene at dawn, followed by a boat trip, some underwater filming 101, and even a guest appearance by a majestic manta ray! Then it’s one of the most jaw-dropping sunsets we’ve witnessed (standard afternoon entertainment on Phi Phi) and an evening of dive master induction tests, dancing and even the dreaded bucket all play a part.
This is the Phi Phi project, and you don’t want to miss it!
All, Learn
You are about to step into any 5 year old’s dream of dreams. Welcome to one of the craziest national activities on the planet. You’re about to get soaked to the bone and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
Traditionally, Songkran (Thai New Year, although it’s also celebrated on a smaller scale in other South East Asian countries) was a rather subdued and spiritual affair, with everyone gathering to bless each other with little droplets of water from a small bowl, often with fragrant herbs added, in order to wash away the bad and begin the New Year afresh. Then some 5 year olds figured out that taking the whole practice to a new level was incredible amounts of fun, which handily coincided with the invention of the Super Soaker.
You have just arrived from the airport for the festivities, you have your brand new backpack full of travelling ‘essentials’ on your back, you are bright eyed and bushy tailed… and suddenly the world turns upside down as a huge bucket of green coloured, ice cold water soaks through your undies, Iphone, Passport and emergency teabags.
Disaster has struck… but rewind just a second. You have the Rat & Dragon team on your side, so make sure to take these precautions first:
1) Keep your bag at home
It’s definitely a good idea to avoid travelling on the first day of Songkran and up to 5 days after depending on where you’re heading. Whilst most places including Koh Phi Phi are only crazy for the day, Chiang Mai and Bangkok’s Khao San can see you being drenched at any point in the days to come. Mostly, overzealous tourists and the more crazy kind of local, often armed with Wiskey & Redbull buckets, are to blame. Either way, if you don’t want your stuff to get ruined, keep it well away from the streets.
2) Waterproof your phone
Finding friends, taking pictures, calling your mum when you’re really drunk and realize how much you love her whilst de-tagging yourself from all the pics of you throwing up on facebook is only possible if you have that most valuable possession of the modern backpacker on you. Your phone is your cherished connection to the world beyond your blurry field of vision, and numerous shops will be selling waterproof, transparent, and even touch sensitive pouches for your mobile device. Seal it up, and snap happy but remember, don’t drop it in the sea or the loo – your phone will be a gonner.
3) Get your Go Pro out, stick it on your water gun
Nothing captures the spirit of Songkran quite the same as a GoPro in the middle of the action. Check out our very own frontline report from Phi Phi 2014. For an extra bit of oomph, don’t hold it or brand yourself a tool by selfie-ing with a telescopic stick. With the help of a roll bar mount or even just a good helping of duct tape, you can create your very own Super Soaker cam, by mounting your GoPro on your water gun of choice, facing towards your victims (or toward you, if you’re into that kind of thing).
4) Buy beer cheep at flooded 7 Eleven
Bars will waterproof themselves, stay open for all the action and charge accordingly for booze. If you’re on a budget, don’t be scared to go into 7 Eleven (which if on Phi Phi will most likely be under 3cm of water everyone has to slosh through to get to the fridge), hand over your dripping 100 baht notes and stock up on cheap Tiger.
5) Eat enough or get supplies in advance
All that partying will dehydrate you, and all the beer will do so even more. Keep your energy levels up and party longer by adding regular fuel to your body. It’s easy to forget to eat if you’ve started partying at 9am, but actively make sure to get a good breakfast, a quick lunch and a dinner or two – preferably down a side alley out of view, and FAST! Otherwise, before you can say ‘not spicy’, someone will be washing your Pad Thai straight out of your hand with a nearby hose. It may also be an idea to stock up on emergency snacks the day before, as many restaurants will close early.
6) “Mummy’s wearing Chanel, darling”
If you haven’t clocked on by now, here it is in plain English: during Songkran, you are going to get wetter than you ever have been in your entire life. Wetter than whilst being underwater, in fact. The best thing to do is wear a bikini/board shorts and clothes over the top that a) are easily wrung out and b) can be thrown away at the end of the day if need be. Many people add extra kicks to their waterpower by putting food colouring to their tanks, which looks awesome when green and red splattered people run down the streets after each other, but can also stain your favourite Gucci. Talcum powder also features heavily and people are covered in it on a regular basis – so again, you have been warned.
7) Keep warm – and don’t get naked
Remember that whilst you’re having ice cubes shoved down the back of your Chang singlet, that even in a country as hot as Thailand, you can catch a cold. Make sure you’re a comfortable temperature at all times – avoid both heatstroke and flu. You can get arrested for nakedness, so try your best to keep your kit on, and consider taking a break to warm up after about 10 hours. Remember that at nighttime, there are no warming rays to dry your clothes, so stay away from the ice cubes.
8) Get some kick ass tat sunglasses
Whilst it’s frowned upon, sometimes you will get a squirt of water straight into your eyeball. To avoid this, consider buying some cheap sunglasses to a) look mega Breaking Bad/DEA-chic, b) protect yourself from pinkeye.
9) Beware of dirty water
With all these water guns that need filling, constantly and for free, you can imagine what goes into the ground during the festivities. No matter how appealing it may look, joining those other guys with the camel toe tattoos from Manchester as they take over the neighbours’ kid’s paddling pool is probably not the best idea after 5 hours of mixing body fluids. Whatever you do, don’t drink any of it and try and keep it out of your eyes and nose. And take a shower once in a while, cause you’re probably dirty.
10)Stay safe, enjoy and forgive
As with any mass party, staying on the safe side of crazy is always a good idea. Road traffic accidents double during Songkran, so stay away from motorbikes and pick up trucks as much as you can and as always, use your common sense. Smaller accidents can easily happen with people frantically giggling and blindly shooting water at each other. Make sure you enjoy yourself, take a break if you get fed up, forgive others for mistakes and keep cool so everyone has a good time.
11)DON’T get a tattoo
That is all.
Songkran is one of the world’s top festive experiences, whether you’re a 5 year old in body or at heart. You can see what it all looks like in real life in our Phi Phi 2014 report, and we would love to hear your experiences from different parts of this beautiful country.
