DR. VAIBHAV SABNIS

Leisure travel means different to different people. For me it is about exploration. Understanding the way of life of the people in a certain region or country, talking to the locals and understanding their point of view about things, trying the local cuisine, observing the differences and similarities between them and us are some of the things which fascinate me. That is where I found resonance with my friend and MBBS batchmate Avinash. Although we have been friends for almost 15 years, I don’t know why we never made travel plans together.

So, me and Avinash had fixed our minds on a holiday in February, last year. After much deliberation about the destination, we finally settled upon Thailand. I was a bit skeptical since I thought the location was cliche. Also I had got leave only for 6 days and a foreign tour would be slightly hectic. However, Thailand has its advantages. There is visa on arrival and it is well connected with a 4 hour direct flight from Mumbai. We booked the tickets barely a week in advance and yet got a reasonably good deal. Mumbai – Bangkok – Phuket – Bangkok – Mumbai was my itinerary. Avinash, who was going to be accompanied by his wife, Vithika, and sister-in law, Harshita, decided to extend their vacation by 3 days and they were to travel from Phuket to Krabi and then return via Bangkok.

I would recommend Thailand as a tourist destination for several reasons but mostly because there is something here for everyone. We hadn’t planned our itinerary at all, yet something new happened every day turning the day into an adventure. We wanted to capture the essence of the local life in Thailand as much as possible. I am recounting some of the experiences and highlights of our trip. 

                                                         

Google Translate

My flight reached several hours earlier than Avinash’s and I checked into the guest house which we had booked.  It was a budget accommodation in a place called Sukhumvit close to the metro station. (The metro station, however, turned out to be useless as splitting cab fare between four of us was cheaper than the metro tickets). Although we had booked 2 rooms with attached bathroom , we were given two rooms with a common unattached bath. The manager was an old lady who understood nothing but Thai. I used the WiFi to download the google translate app and explained to her the situation. From then on, whenever we wanted to communicate with someone, be it in a cafe, cab driver or asking for directions, we used google translate app. I realised that sometimes what I said would come out a bit differently and might mean something really funny.

For example when i once said,

‘Penui bang’ which means

‘How are you?’ (I knew courtesy of a friend who was staying in Thailand and had taught me a couple of lines), it came off well in the app. But when Avinash tried to say the same thing, the translation in English came out to be,

‘Would you sleep with me?’. We were in splits and Harshita said, “Jijaji, mann ki baat pakad leta hai ye app” (This app captures what is in one’s mind), while Vithika glared at him.

We had managed to find a friendly neighbourhood cafe where we used to have our breakfast (Mostly, it would be a brunch as Harshita would never get ready before noon). The waitress at the cafe was quite fascinated by our use of google translate and we ended up taking photos with the staff.

                                                         

Heaven in 7/11

7/11 is a Japanese-American international chain of convenience store particularly popular in South-east Asia. In Thailand alone, there were more than 10000 outlets. Wherever we went in Bangkok, Phuket and Krabi, we were never too far from a 7/11 store. These stores are open throughout the night and day. They have all items of daily use from soap to razors and snacks, bottled water as well and packed meals to go. And the prices were simply unbeatable. Several tourists would take away ready to go packed meals with Iced coffee (preferred to the term ‘cold coffee’). They would add water to the packed meals and heat them in microwave provided in the shop itself. There were coffee machines with ice dispensers too. One could have a meal in as little as 50 bahts. We found these stores a real blessing. Now, this was something worthy of being called a ‘Supermarket’.

All day ferry ride, Nana and Soi Rambuttri (Bangkok)

One of the reasons why Avinash was interested in going to Thailand was that his friends from Varanasi were visiting Thailand around the same time. It was a couple – Maria and Vikrant. Maria was Spanish and had migrated from the U.S. to India. She had started her own NGO related to education in Varanasi with Vikrant’s help and their alliance extended into a marriage. Our trips coincided for a few days in Bangkok. Maria had visited Thailand several times.

We spent our first day in Bangkok doing typical touristy things. We visited the famous temple palace and sleeping Buddha. The king of Thailand is revered like a diety and hence the palace and temple coexist. The palace temple had an inner area akin to a sanctum sanctorum and there was a hefty entry fee of 700 Baht. Avinash flatly declined to pay such a big amount for a temple or palace. But since it was one of the most important tourist destination, I wanted to go. So I alone went inside while the other three went to a nearby market for shopping. I later joined them at the sleeping Buddha. I must say, however, that the entire first day we spent in Bangkok was the least memorable part of the trip.

In the night, we went to a place called Nana. Now, this was the red light area of Bangkok (Thailand is a major sex tourism hub as is quite well known). Since it is legalised, there is no element of secrecy here unlike India. All four of us had a general curiosity and thought we would just see what it was all about. As I was with Harshita, we seemed like two Indian couples (It is said the guys ought to be careful in Thailand as they are the sexual minority)! There were several strip clubs and joints on both sides of Soi 3 (or maybe 4, can’t remember exactly) in Nana. We chose a large complex which had two floors lined with strip clubs. Photography was, of course, prohibited. We thought we would do a quick club hopping but buying a drink was compulsory. So after the second club, we decided to leave as it was damaging our budget. The first club had some kind of a dance show with fire but the show ended shortly after we entered. The second one was a topless bar. Young girls as well as older women were standing in a line giving what seemed to be their most inviting smiles. We didn’t find it too exciting. In fact we were feeling a bit apprehensive and left in less than an hour. We roamed around in Nana for a while. It seemed to be a busy place with plenty of Indian, Afghani and Lebanese restaurants, massage parlours, spas and shopping complexes. One of the peculiar things was there were plenty of dental clinics in Nana which were open even at midnight.

Avinash had constantly been in touch with Maria. After a not so exciting first day, we agreed to allow Maria to show us around as she had been to Bangkok. Maria asked us to meet at a pier in old Bangkok. From there we were to take a ferry ride. Old Bangkok city was connected through canals not unlike Vienna or Amsterdam. Once we took the whole day pass, we could visit all the piers by ferry throughout the day. But unfortunately we got late (predictably so) and by the time we reached, Maria had already left. It was not possible to communicate as they did not have a local sim. We spent the next 4 hours going from one pier to another. We had lunch in an area called ‘Soi Rambuttri’ which seemed to have number of nice restaurants and was quite laid back.

At one of the piers we went to a sports complex which was supposed to have a thai kick boxing ring but there was no match going on. I learnt later in Krabi that it was the most popular sport in Thailand. Thai boxing doesn’t have much safe guarding and one can get severely injured. The players are, however, paid handsomely and a lot of betting goes on.

Finally in the evening Avinash again got in touch with Maria and they insisted we join them for dinner near their hotel. It turned out that they were staying in Soi Rambuttri. At night, the place was teeming with activities with several street food joints, restaurants with live music etc. Maria took us to an Indian restaurant which was a nice change from the Thai food we had had in the last 2-3 days. We had a sumptuous meal following which we went around for some shopping. Maria took me to a place which sold several beauty products like massage oils, creams, pedicure at a reasonable price. I took her consult and bought a hoard of items hoping to score some points with my wife (who was not particularly happy with me for visiting Thailand without her).

Roads of Phuket

Even towards February end, it was incredibly hot and sultry in Bangkok. In the coastal town of Phuket, the humidity increased but due to the wide open spaces, it was quite breezy. The best thing which we did in Phuket was to rent scooters (more about that later). On the first evening in Phuket when we took out those scooters, it had already become dark. We couldn’t see much but could figure the silhouette of mountains and steep sloping roads. But the following morning, when we decided to do some beach hopping, I could see that the roads ascended through the hills and as we reached the summit of those roads, we could see the vast beautiful blue mass of sea in the distance. I couldn’t believe that we were riding our scooters without a care in a foreign country gazing at the breathtaking scenery with cool wind blowing in our faces. I never felt so alive and adventurous in a long long time. Oceans always intimidate me and I usually don’t venture into the waters, if at all I do, it’s only to dip my feet. Here, however, the calm clean ocean was such a welcome sight, I rushed into the sea without a second thought and started swimming.

Sunrise & Dog trouble

In Phuket we stayed at an air bnb at Chalong Bay, it was a beach facing bungalow owned by an American guy Tristan. It had a courtyard with a small jacuzzi like pool. We were given the ground floor including two bedrooms, hall and a kitchen. Tristan stayed on first floor. These Caucasians had got some nice beach facing properties in Phuket and were doing nothing except upkeep of the property and earned by renting them. There was an American couple next to Tristan, a Spanish guy and an Australian, all had nice bungalows in a row.

We had a few surprises soon as we reached. Only one of the bedrooms had an AC and obviously we had to give it to the ladies. Tristan had two dogs – one was a small furry brown one – Timothy which would bark all the time in a loud squeaky voice, the other was a large black dog – Lucy – maybe a rottweiler – which was relatively quiet, but a little frightening because of its size.

“ Lucy thinks she is small and Timothy likes to think he’s a bully,” Tristan had said lovingly about his dogs.

Now, Avinash was not much of an animal lover.

“This is not done, he should have mentioned about the dogs.”

“But they are nice, aren’t they ? And they are going to be with him in the upper floor.”

“And what happens when there are no guests? You think the dogs haven’t been in the hall, on the sofa and on this very bed?”

“ I can’t be sure, maybe.”

“There’s dog hair on this mattress, do you think this small hair is human hair?”

“Ohh…”

“And then there’s the smell !”

“What smell? We didn’t smell anything. I think you are hallucinating. And that is quite an irony, considering you are the only psychiatrist amongst us! Anyway, I think dogs are nice creatures.”

“I don’t understand what’s with animal lovers. You have a cow or a horse you put them in a stable. Why would you have a dog in your house? In the same living room, sofa, bed and kitchen? It’s an animal after all,” Avinash looked calm but he didn’t sound like it.

“Anyway, I will be deducting a star for this in the feedback.”

“Yes and you can deduct a star for the non-AC bedroom, he sure should have mentioned that,” I said.

In a while, Vithika called us to their room after they got ready.

“We are on the east coast and I am going for sunrise tomorrow at dawn,” I declared.

“I would like to join” said Harshita. Everyone laughed.

“Don’t you get ready by noon everyday?”

“Tomorrow I will be up,” she announced.

Sure enough she wasn’t ! However, I got up and had a nice stroll on the beach, took some snaps of the sunrise and came back once the sun was up.

But the moment I approached the gate, a barking duet started between Timothy and Lucy. I had learned to ignore the high pitched shrieky bark of Timothy who barked most of the time. But Lucy’s low pitched heavy bark almost sounded like a roar in the calm morning. Tristan’s scooty was not to be seen, it seemed like he had gone out. Surprisingly, my friends were fast asleep in spite of the loud barking. I had no intention of standing in the gate till Tristan came.

I had heard that, ‘Dogs that bark seldom bite’. I was about to find out how true that was.

I thought I will see what happens if  I just step inside. Maybe the dogs would only keep barking and not actually come down. I was quite afraid, but still I opened the gate and took a few steps inside. And the large black Lucy charged at me with what seemed like its full speed.

I knew there was no turning back now. If I ran Lucy will chase me and there was no way I could outrun her. If I went out of the gate (there wasn’t enough time even for that), I will have to stay put there till someone came. And I couldn’t see how Avinash, Vithika or Harshita could help. Tristan had said the dogs would not bite and I hoped Lucy would remember me from the previous day. I fearlessly stayed put (there was no option anyway). Lucy came, smelled me for a moment and went back up again barking all the while. I took the opportunity and quickly stepped inside our ground floor house closing the door behind me. The dogs kept barking for few more minutes.

Well, that was a sunrise to remember !

                                                          

                                                           

Vanessa’s grace

On the first day in Phuket after checking into the air bnb, we came out on a small bay right in front of our house. This place was a bit far from the main road and we were wondering how we would move around. Just then I saw a Caucasian lady in a swimsuit emerging from the bay. Avinash suggested I should talk to her since she seemed like a local and could help us.

So I approached her and struck a conversation. Avinash also joined us soon. Vanessa said there were quite a few places which could rent us scooters but she knew of a place which was quite reliable and not unduly expensive. She told us it was better to go to a reputed dealer since we would be keeping our passports as deposits besides money. The only problem was that it was a bit of a walk, about two kms. I asked her the route. But she didn’t reply, instead glanced behind us at the girls.

“Four of you?” she asked.

I said, “Yes.”

“Would you guys be going now?”

“Yes.”

She hesitated for another moment. I wasn’t understanding what was the big deal.

“If you guys can wait for 10 mins, I can drop you there,” she pointed at a black SUV in her doorway. “I myself am heading out for a bit. I just need to change.”

I was taken aback at this generous offer and we readily agreed.

Soon we got in the car with Vanessa. She told us she and her husband  were Americans, belonged to a little known religious sect called ‘Jehovah’s witness’ and worked with a nearby church. I had heard about it, courtesy of studying for USMLE. People belonging to this sect refused invasive medical treatment like blood transfusion/ organ transplantation.

She took us to the rental two-wheeler place and also got us bit of a discount. The place was managed by a Thai boy and girl who looked like siblings to me. Vanessa had told us to take photos of the scooters so that they don’t pin any scratches  or dents on us. We had to pay for damages to the scooter, if any, during our use. So I took some photos and counted around 5-6 scratches. But when they gave me the form to sign, I found that that they were much more thorough than us. Their forms had drawings of all 4 sides of the scooter with at least 10-12 scratches marked. They provided us with helmets for riders and pillion, the scooters had a dicky under the seat to stow the helmets. The scooters had quite attractive makes and colours, swift pick up and great mileage.

Before leaving us, Vanessa told us about this nearby cafe restaurant called Tony’s. She said we would get good food here at decent rates. While in Phuket, we had some sumptuous meals at Tony’s ordering sandwiches, burgers, steaks with milkshakes / juice and beer.

The next evening we were preparing a meal at home and got beers. We were planning to invite Vanessa as a token and thank her for her help. But when I went to their house, no one was at home. The next day we left Phuket and couldn’t really thank her properly.

But, nowhere in our trip in Thailand could we find as good and cheap food as at Tony’s.

          The last blinking line of petrol

I was supposed to take a morning flight the following day from Phuket to Bangkok, and an afternoon flight from there to Mumbai. Avinash and co were trying to convince me to extend my trip by a few days and join them on the ferry ride from Phuket to Krabi en route Phi Phi island. I, however, refused since there was a bit of crunch at my hospital back home. The previous day we had booked the ferry at Tony’s and a cab for me to the airport giving him full charges in advance. Globally, there was a tense atmosphere due to some attacks at the border by Pakistan and counter (air) attacks in retaliation by India.  I woke up from a restless sleep in the middle of the night next to Avinash. Just then his cell phone screen illuminated. There was some news on the internet about flight cancellations. I thought it would be worthwhile to check my flight status, although I knew I was being paranoid. But to my utter surprise, the check-in time for my flight from Bangkok to Mumbai was shown as 5 am. It was 1 am in the morning and I was lying in my bed in Phuket. My flight had been preponed without me receiving any intimation.

I didn’t have any outgoing calls on my phone and everyone in India would be asleep at that time. With the help of a friend in London, I  got in touch with the airlines. I was in a dilemma whether to extend my trip and in the confusion that ensued, I was booked on a flight 3 days later. Now I had no choice but to join Avinash to Krabi and needed to book a seat on the ferry. In the morning, Avinash called Tony to book an extra ticket for me. But he said he could only get me on the ferry if I came to the restaurant immediately and made the payment. We had already surrendered our rented scooters the previous day. The only option was to borrow our air bnb host Tristan’s scooter about whom we were a bit skeptical.

Tristan said,

“I am not sure mate, you will have to put fuel.”

“ I will pay for fuel, don’t worry.”

“It’s not that. I am not sure if it has enough.”

As soon as I started the scooter, I understood what he meant. The last line on the fuel meter was blinking. Now, Tony’s was not more than 2 km. Luckily, I had seen a gas station on the way. As I pulled into the gas station, I realised it was closed. I cursed my stars and continued. I reached the restaurant and gave Tony 100 baht which was the difference between ferry ticket and cab fare. But to my dismay he said,

“That 700 baht is gone. You want ferry, you give me 800 baht.”

I tried to play the ‘distraught, disoriented traveller in an unknown country’ card. But Tony had seen it all and refused to budge unless I paid him the money.

I found around 750 baht in my wallet which I gave him. But he told me to go soon as the vehicle picking up for the ferry would reach our hotel soon. And of course, there’s no system of waiting in most countries outside India. If you are not on time, you will be left behind.

The stakes had gotten even higher. If the fuel ran out, I would be stuck in Phuket with Tristan’s broken down scooter, no friends, loss of 1500 baht and no money (I had given the extra currency I had to Avinash since this was going to be my last day). I started Tristan’s scooter and dashed for the air bnb. The last line of petrol was still blinking.

To be continued……..