Saturday, November 09, 2002

 
JAPAN AND BANGKOK.
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Okay. I'm back from Japan and Bangkok, and I'm a little bit caught up with work, well enough to sit down and write some.

Japan is very clean and very colorful and very customer-service oriented. There is no tipping in Japan, and yet the service everywhere is excellent and very professional.

When I arrived on Friday, my friend and host Andy M. and I grabbed dinner (the best sushi I ever had) and a drink and played some pachinko in a five story video arcade, and then I went to sleep.

Saturday, we spent the morning in Shibuya, visiting the Tobacco and Salt Museum, which is quite a quirky little museum, indeed. We had lunch at an American restaurant to see the local take on American food, and we joked that the Japanese people probably thought that this was a really good American restaurant, because there were Americans eating there. We went to a Toyota theme-park with model cars and futuristic rides and a giant Ferris wheel. Then we met some friends of Andy's and went to a party in Roppongi, the American "ghetto" of Tokyo.

Sunday, we had lunch at an Italian place near Andy's apartment that he likes. They gave me a fork, and it was the only one I saw while I was in Japan. I was tempted to ask for chopsticks, when it occurred to me that this would be about the same thing as asking for a fork at an Asian restaurant in the US. From lunch, I was straight off to Bangkok.

Having been to Bangkok before, I skipped the cultural sites, and all I did was shop. I bought 27 shirts, 4 suits, and 9 more pairs of slacks (in addition to the 4 in the suits), all custom tailored, for about US$1,500, which is a pretty good deal. As a hedge, and also so all my clothes wouldn't look exactly alike, I got them from three different tailors, which turned out to be a lot of extra trouble, since I had to keep returning for fittings. I bought some movies and software, which I mailed to the US. More on that, if and when it arrives.

There has been considerable inflation in Bangkok since I went there three years ago, though things are still incredibly cheap. Before, a fancy meal might cost 50 baht (there are about 43 baht to the US dollar), but now it was easy to spend 100 baht or more without even getting that fancy. At a little over US$2, that's not too much, but it's a lot more than it used to be. Go before it is too late. Another big change there is that practically everybody speaks at least a little English. Last time, I struggled to be understood, and only hotel workers could communicate at all. But now, everyone under 50 knows at least a little English, and it is very easy to get by without knowing a single word of Thai. One of the things I love about Thailand, in addition to the weak currency, is the juxtaposition of old and new. The city is full of ultra-modern 7-story and taller shopping complexes, but they are often right next door to tent-cities of hundreds of small merchants operating side-by side in tiny stalls. And they absolutely crave commerce there. Even though land is very inexpensive there, there seems not to be a square inch of space that is not dedicated to selling something, and one is often forced to walk into the street, because the sidewalk has been completely taken over by merchants.

One of my favorite things that happened in Bangkok was that while I was shopping for software, it was 3PM, and I hadn't eaten yet, and I didn't want to take a break from shopping, so I just went to KFC for a really quick bite. I got some chicken strips. Now, in America, I know that many people eat those with their hands, and many people eat them with a knife and fork. For my part, I do not eat at KFC often, but when I do, I've always taken the "finger lickin' good" logo to heart, and picked up my chicken bare-handed. When I sat down, everyone in the restaurant was eating their chicken with a fork and spoon (they use spoons instead of knives in Bangkok). I, the only Westerner in the place, dutifully picked up my chicken with my hand, and dipped it into the various dipping sauces as I ate it. The people around me all followed suit, putting down their utensils, and eating the American food the way the American was eating it. By the time I left, every one in the restaurant was eating with their hands, because of me. I thought that was pretty cool.

Thursday, I returned to Japan in time to grab a late dinner and go to bed.

Friday, we saw a shrine, and I got a good fortune for 100 yen (there are about 123 Japanese yen to one US dollar). Then we took a boat tour of Tokyo. Andy had class (he's a business student at Wharton doing a semester in Tokyo), so while he was in class, I explored Shinjuku. I saw Shinjuku Nishi, where the tall, Manhattan-like buildings are, and Shinjuku-Dori (Dori means street or avenue), where the most upscale shopping is. I met up there with Andy after class, and we ate at the Takashimaya Times Square building, which is an incredibly upscale, 14 story department store, with two levels of restaurants. We then walked around Shinjuku and a nearby neighborhood I forget the name of, and we saw, among other things, a set of 5 apples for 2500 yen (about US$20) and two cantaloupes for 8000 yen (about US$65). Don't let this give you the wrong idea. Tokyo is not that expensive, and is really no more expensive than New York, except that produce is very, very expensive--except that avocados seem to be really cheap at 100 yen (about US$0.81) for a nice big one. Indeed, we were never served any fruit or vegetables with any meal, except when we had Sukiyaki the following Sunday, which was pretty expensive.

Saturday, we spent the day at Tokyo Disneyland. Except for some translation into Japanese, it is almost identical to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando (I've never been to Disneyland in California). Oh, and except that there was a lot more Japanese food there. When the Main Street Electrical parade came, people lined the parade route literally at least 20 deep to see it. I've never seen anything like that kind of crowd for a parade before, much less for a parade that comes every day. People started staking out spots three or four deep about an hour before the parade started. I was also amazed at how much English there was there. If you had to go to the park knowing only Japanese or knowing only English, I'd be hard-pressed to tell you which would be better. You can certainly get by on either.

This is as good a place as any to mention that I speak Japanese not very well, but definitely well enough to get by and to engage in rudimentary commerce. I took Japanese in college, and I took a 30-hour audio course before my trip to review. I actually learned much more from the 30-hour audio course, I think, than from ten hours a week for a year in college. It's the Pimsleur language program, and I highly recommend it. A friend of mine also says it's excellent for French, so I'm sure it's great for any language, and they teach an astonishingly large number of languages. Andy M. speaks Japanese very well, though not with native proficiency.

On Sunday, we went to Akihabara where we met up with Saori, my new friend that I had just made on the airplane on the way to Tokyo. She brought her friend, whose precise name eludes me, but I believe it was Kano or Kando. We had Sukiyaki, which is raw meat and vegetables which you cook in broth yourself at your table. Then we met up with my friend Dav C., and his lady-friend whose name I have completely forgotten. By a wild coincidence, Dav just happened to be visiting Tokyo the same time I was. Akihabara is full of electronics stores as far as you can see in any direction. They have lots of stuff you can't get in the U.S., but I didn't buy anything, because I had already completely filled up my luggage in Bangkok. We wandered to a bunch of different neighborhoods, and I lost track of them all. We had drinks from a rooftop lounge with an incredible view, and then went to "Sugar High," a hip Shibuya DJ club.

Monday was "culture day", a national holiday. Andy and I spent the day in Yokohama, visiting Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan (from the top of which I was able to see mount Fuji), and visiting an amusement part nearby. We came back to Tokyo, and met our mutual college friend Patrick M. for dinner at an Indonesian place in the 109 building. I called it a night early, so that I could pack and leave early the next day.

Tuesday, November 5, my flight left at 5:40 PM, and, thanks to the international date line, I arrived 3:20PM that same day (i.e., more than two hours before I had left). It truly is a modern age, isn't it? That got me here in time to vote, which I did, to little avail.

This is The Official Record. 2:43 AM
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2002/11/japan-and-bangkok.html


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