At Trips End

The last couple of nights we have toured 2 high end hotels. The Oriental Hotel is considered by many to be the best hotel in the world. We were greeted by one of the hotel managers and given a tour of the various rooms available, ranging in price from $300-900/night. The hotel is famous for the quality of service it provides guests and its beautiful surroundings. The artwork and floral arrangements (also works of art) throughout the hotel were amazing. Many famous literary greats have stayed at the Oriental: Gore Vidal, Noel Coward, and Barbara Cartland, to name a few. It is said that many writers come to this hotel when they have writers block…. I think I will book a room. The tour continued throughout the hotel visiting the grand ballroom, writers’ gallery and lobby. There was an 84 year old woman who still works at the hotel and knows every guest, what they like to eat, and other misc. info about them. She hand writes 150 invitations each week to a manager’s reception for high ups.

After completing the tour of the Oriental, we boarded a river shuttle to a dinner-cruise tour along the Chao-Phraya River. Getting from our location on the river to the dinner-cruise boarding dock was eventful. The boat that was to pick us up never showed. The SWU person with us Ratchanee (Rut) was ever resourceful…perhaps too resourceful. She secured a “long-tail boat” to get us to the ship in time…..long tail boats are not the easiest to get in or out of along this river and sit very close to the water. The river is a major mode of transportation, with massive barges and local water traffic. As the long tail boat approached the ship we were to board, it became very apparent that there was not a dock for us to moor too, as the ship was there. Thus, we made a grand entrance on the river side of the ship, with crew members assisting us out of the long tail along with the Dean of International Studies and her staff. This was a harrowing experience as it occurred, however in hindsight, quite James Bondish.

The second hotel was the Hilton Millennium. It has been open for 3 years and it built at the bend on the river. All 350+ rooms have a panoramic view of the river which is the first thing you see when you walk in the door. The target market is definitely adults. We didn’t see any children and the decorations, pool, and amenities were not geared toward them at all. I like that in a hotel :)

As our trip comes to a close, here are a few observations regarding recreation…

1) Customer service is excellent. Far better than in the U.S. That could be due to the fact that even in the food industry, the workers are a little older. Teenagers aren’t the ones staffing these places, adults are.

2) Green space and parks are minimal because of the number of people in the city. However, the parks they do have are beautiful. They are well kept and designed. Plus, there is a push here to increase the amount of green space for parks and playgrounds. This will be an arduous task that I hope they can accomplish.

3) There is a real need for recreation programming, but that is coming. The committee working on this is developing a plan to get more programs. Right now only the wealthy have these opportunities.

4) The beaches here a far more beautiful than they are anywhere else I have traveled in the U.S. or Mexico.

Here are a few observations made about Thailand itself.

1) This is a very spiritual country. This makes the people more peaceful than in the U.S. The traffic here is extremely heavy, yet people take turns. You would not see this kind of cooperation in Chicago or anywhere else. These people play nicely together.

2) The food is excellent. I thought I would be tired of Thai food after a month, but there are so many options, it is new everyday. Should I mention I have had fried rice everyday since I have been here…I do like it.

3) Things are very inexpensive here for us. There is a good exchange rate on the dollar. It is a proportional thing. The people make less money, so they pay less for services. Furthermore, many people are self-employed. Around campus we see many, many food carts, scooter taxis, car taxis, and small stores selling goods. They are resourceful.

4) This is a very beautiful country. Bangkok itself has pockets of beauty like any major city, but outside of the city is incredible. I would recommend this trip to anyone who can be on a plane for 24 hours!

Private Clubs

Today we took our students on a field trip to the Tennis Academy of Asia and then to the Rajpruek Club. Both of these are private clubs for members only. Here is a little about them…

Tennis Academy – this state of the art facility has multiple courts including a center court to get players used to playing in front of big crowds, 2 clay courts that were built because Asians get beat on clay courts because they are very scarce, an Olympic sized swimming pool, weight equipment, and a restaurant. The purpose of the facility is to train high level tennis players throughout Asia. However, they only have 2 clients. The owner loses about $500,000 per month on this facility as he has a large staff who maintain the grounds and facilities. It was only recently that they added the weight equipment and started selling memberships. This was to raise more revenue. However, the location isn’t the best in that it is pretty industrial with only middle income people living in this area. The monthly membership fee is $40, which is good for us, but pretty high by Thai standards. Consider that they make about a dollar an hour. I hate to see such a beautiful facility go unused, but it seems the owner doesn’t care about making money. He just likes tennis, so this is a hobby to him. Marketing seems to be non-existent and tennis isn’t very popular in Thailand. It is expensive and Thais like team sports much better than individual ones.

Rajpruek Club – this private membership club has a 30 year membership of $10,000 with a monthly fee of $40. It has 3 pools, badminton courts, golf course, snooker room, areas for children’s activities, a restaurant, and much more. It is beautiful. Things were well thought out when this facility was built. The manager has traveled all over the world and has collected best practices on his travels that they instituted here. Pictured is a toilet that is miniature sized for children. Plus the handles on the showers and other things are low enough for children to use. Remembering back to your days in KNR270, you know ours are a standard height. ADA does not exist in Thailand, so they are lower. I have also posted a picture of the parking garage which is below ground so you don’t have to look at the cars. We rented a city bus for the field trip and they hid it from the members when we were at the club since it is an eyesore. This club usually does not let groups such as ours come in because the members don’t like it, but they took us since we were U.S. professors. Again, I like this special treatment! Lastly, this club does a nice job of having areas for children and adults that are separate. Some go together, but many are adults only. This includes programming. They do programs for all ages. Only on the private clubs do you find programming. There is nothing in the public sector.

Like the first facility the fees are very reasonable by American standards but expensive for Thais. I could afford to be a member at this club here, but in the U.S., the fees would be much higher to keep people like me out!

A note on accessibility…there isn’t any. You find very few ramps. When you do find them, there probably isn’t a ramp to get you into the building to use the ramp. There are no Braille signs, and elevators are not that abundant. Just ask Dr. Klitzing & I as we had to carry our 4, 50 pound suitcases up 4 flights of stairs in 100 degree weather! Add to this that all buildings have rooms that you either step up into and step down into. Rarely is a building on one level. This includes houses. There really isn’t much reason behind this we have found. However, it has made both of us trip a number of times. I am sure she will have a lot more to say about accessibility in class in the fall.

The Grand Palace

We have 2 days worth of adventures to tell you all about. Yesterday we went to the SWU Ongarak campus to give a lecture for grad students & faculty on recreation in the U.S. After the lecture we went to see the “big fish”. I thought this was going to be a big fish in a fish tank. It was nothing like that. We picked up this man from the Thailand Tourism Office who escorted us to a wealthy politician’s house. We went through a security gate onto his property to see the fish. It was all very covert. The pond had about 2000 giant catfish in it. They averaged about 175 pounds and were up to 5 feet long. They eat about 300 pounds of food a day & it costs $28,000 a month to feed them. It was a feeding frenzy when they started feeding them. Look at the mouth of the fish at the bottom of the pic on the left. We were probably 5 feet from the fish. This was a private tour that was arranged because we were guests of the university. Few Thais have seen these fish. A couple of people on the trip asked why this guy would spend so much money on these fish. Basically it comes down to the fact that he likes them & it is his leisure. Granted he has a caretaker for the fish, but he likes to come out and watch them.

We also visited the dam. On Saturdays the dam is opened to flood a river that runs through the city. A lot of rafting and canoeing take place here. It is an artificial river built for recreation purposes. We are doing some of this in the U.S. as well.

Today we visited the Grand Palace. This is the number one attraction in Bangkok. The University got us VIP passes so we were admitted free and had our own English speaking guide. What we didn’t know was that we would be allowed into places that the general public was not. The rooms we were in were places where heads of state and royalty are received. President Clinton visited there several years ago and stayed on the grounds in the guest mansion.

Our next stop was to the giant reclining Buddha. It was huge! This entire country is very spiritual as 95% of the population is Buddhist. Many of the temples are considered tourist attractions and find ways to generate revenue such as selling clay shingles for the roof. For 20 baht (less than a dollar) Dr. Klitzing & I sponsored a shingle for a temple.

The traffic here is unbelievable. It makes Chicago rush hour look like an early morning drive down Main Street in Normal. While in traffic we see a lot of things. Because land is so scarce, children find the most creative places to play. One popular place is the land under the overpasses. You will find courts and soccer fields there as well as makeshift play areas that were created by those living there. You will also see a lot of children playing on construction sites, mainly those with sand. It is interesting to say the least!

Hua Hin - the beach

We spent the weekend at Hua Hin. This tourist city is about 3 hours south of Bangkok. It is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The beach is magnificent. We stayed at the Hilton, which is a 5 star hotel in Thailand. Here is a view from my $200 per night room. It would have been double that here as it was a huge room.

People in Thailand understand customer service quite well. Upon checking in we were given a welcome drink and then a tour of the facilities by their staff. In the U.S. we would hand them a nice map & turn them loose.

The sun here is excessively strong. Even with 45 SPF sunscreen I got pretty sunburned. I thought the “sweater in a bottle” would protect us, but not here.

Dr. Panpim, the Dean of International College at SWU, took us to dinner on Saturday night. We went to a restaurant on the beach. By U.S. standards it should have cost the 6 of us about $250 for all that we had. By Thai standards it cost us $65 for 7 entrees, appetizers, drinks, and 3 desserts. I ordered fish & Panpim sent it back to have its head cut off. I can’t eat anything dead that is still staring at me!

This resort town was awesome, but few Thai’s actually use the area because it is so expensive for them. Also, many people who used to go to Phuket (also a coastal town), now come here after the tsunami destroyed much of that beach area. All the Thais say that area is even more beautiful than Hua Hin. Part of it has rebuilt, but many Thai’s are staying away because someone they knew died there.

The last picture is of a monkey. This monkey wasn’t in a zoo, but just roaming the streets. They are everywhere in this area, much like we have rabbits. However, they are far more annoying. They hang out near food and will steal things from people. We were told to leave bags and purses in the car because the monkeys would try to take them. The monkeys smelled, but it was kind of neat to see them outside of a cage as I oftentimes find zoos barbaric.

Bangkok is a very large city that is not big enough for all the people who live there. It lacks a lot of infrastructure to support the people. This means there are pockets of poverty all over the city. However, Hua Hin as a spectacular place. Yet most Thai’s can’t even use the most beautiful places in their country. There is definitely a much larger gap between have’s & have not’s in Thailand than in the U.S., where we also see it as a major problem.

Here are just a few observations….

1) You do not see people out exercising in the mornings and throughout the day like we have in IL. That is because it is so hot! I have never experienced heat like this. They lift their windshield wipers off the glass because they can melt. If people are going to exercise they belong to a club or they do it just as the sun is setting. It is still in the upper 90’s, but not as bad as during the day. I don’t know what people who are poor do. My guess is they do not exercise at all...just like in the U.S.

2) There is quite a difference between men’s & women’s leisure. Men play sports & women really don’t. Women do more passive activities than men. There are true gender roles here in terms of leisure.

3) The Jazz Festival was gong on in Hua Hin. It was just like any other festival in the U.S. There were stage sponsors and everything. There was a huge grounds crew out the next morning picking up trash. I have included a few pics of the festival.

4) A lot of soccer is played at night on the campus. The fields are much smaller. I think this is due to limited space plus the heat. A smaller field means they run less.

5) People do not walk very far at all. They take taxis (very cheaply), skytrains & subways, or motorbike taxis. These motor bikes look dangerous! People don't walk because of the heat and the pollution in the air. This has made it difficult for us as I really like to explore new cities on foot.

Until later....

Floating Markets & a Park

We left at 6:30 a.m. to beat the traffic to do some touristy & not so touristy things. We had a driver from the university. We started at the floating market (pictured). You rent a boat & driver and go down the canal and stop at markets that are on the bank. People also have boats with their stuff in it for sale. Many people would yell “buy a hat, buy a hat”. Others had a big sheppard’s hook that they would drag your boat over to them. Some of these floating businesses were food vendors. They had propane tanks, grills, stoves, etc on them to prepare food for other boaters. The boats themselves aren’t any bigger than a canoe. This particular market catered to tourists, so the prices were higher. There were places for locals that were more reasonable. Sounds just like the States.

Next was a stop at a homestay (also pictured). This is where people open up their homes to let others stay for awhile. It is 300 baht per night, or $8.57 for an air conditioned room. Granted it was just a mattress on the floor, but the house was really nice and sat on the canal. There were miniature alligators in the water. Scary. Homestays are pretty popular in Thailand, and many of them are frequented by backpackers coming through the area. This particular one housed a tourism class from SWU (the university we are working at) who was there to lead programs for the people in the city. This is pretty unique in that programming is virtually non-existent, as I have mentioned.

We then went to King Rama II Memorial Park (pictured). There was an admission fee and concession stands. I bought a garden figurine that went to support the park foundation. All three are good sources of revenue for a park.

This whole area is quite different than Bangkok. It is beautiful, and in its infancy in terms of tourism. The floating market guy spoke English, Thai and 3 other languages, but much of the rest of the trip was in Thai. Things were not in both as much as in Bangkok.

One last note: Dr. Klitzing & I ate jellyfish last night. The rule here is to try just one bite, That is what we did...just one.

Commercial Recreation on the Canal

On Saturday Dr. Klitzing, Rut & I took a boat ride on The Chao Phtaya canal. Rut is the staff person from SWU who has been assigned to us. She sets our schedule, helps us when needed, and makes sure we stay in good shape. We have had some tremendous experiences here so far and it is all because of her guidance. I feel very safe. Anyway….

For you commercial recreation people this entry is for you. At Chao Phtaya canal there are tourist boats as well as boats locals use as canal taxis. We took the locals boat & road for an hour and half for 13 baht ($0.37). The tourist boats were more expensive. We road down to Nonthaburi, which is the first city outside of Bangkok, and had lunch at a Thai restaurant. The tourist boats do the same thing but they have a guide to tell you the sites. We hopped on that boat on the way back & I couldn’t understand a word he said. It was due to the microphone and not his English speaking skills. I liked the locals boat much better.

In the picture you can see the boat we road on as well as the brown of the water. The water is fairly polluted as the boats are everywhere and people bathe in it, wash clothes, and fish. Thailand does not seem to have the anti-pollution laws that we do in the States, and our rivers and streams are quite polluted as well. I could go into a complete political tirade on that as well, but I will save that for class.

Lastly, we visited Wat Arun Ratchawaram, or Arun Royal temple. It was on the river, so we just got off of our canal taxi and back on when we finished sightseeing. The temple is 67 meters high and decorated in fine china. It is here that the young Monks live and learn to be full fledged Monks when they turn 20. They were everywhere on the grounds. This was an amazing place, and it costs less than a dollar to visit! Interestingly, it was free for Thais, and foreigners had to pay to get in. This is a nice idea to make sure that tourists are covering the cost of attractions. They do not seem to have the high taxes on tourist attractions that we do. I’m still learning all of this.

The people here are awesome. They are so nice and helpful. They work hard to welcome tourists. Although this boat trip would have been difficult without Rut, many things are in both English and Thai. You can tell they want tourists here….Something the US could learn from...the place where English is king and the rest don't matter.

This has been quite an experience so far. Stay tuned…..

Lumpini Park

Today we visited Lumpini Park. It is Bangkok’s largest & busiest park. It was amazing. They do so many nice things there. I will talk about the pictures a bit…

Here is a picture of the pavilion where they hold concerts during our winter. They really have three seasons hot, hotter, hottest. Concerts are during hot season. Right now it is hotter - about 95 degrees.

In the picture of the people out in the streets of the park they are doing aerobics. This is the neatest program. They just set up speakers and someone comes out and leads aerobics in the street. There were easily 200 people working out together. It was really neat. There was no fee, and many men joined in as well. This set-up would never work in the US for a couple of reasons. First, aerobics is always seen as a revenue generator. Secondly, we would not run a program like that on concrete…risk management.

There is a nice pool in the park. Notice the screens above the pool. It is to provide shade. Thai people do not like the sun because it is so strong there. They value pale skin. So, owning a tanning bed store would be a poor business decision and skin cancer is low here. I think we can learn something here.

The game the group is playing is takraw. It uses a softball sized rattan (like wicker) ball. Usually it is played with a low volleyball net, but this group was playing in the street like hacky sack. You can find a description of the game here. I hope to get a picture of a real game before I leave.

Within the park they also have a youth center (gym area pictured). The center is pretty rustic. There is a gym, a weight room, and some activity rooms. The weight room is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The equipment is very old and rusty. Despite the run down condition of the center, people were using it heavily & it was 5:00 on a Saturday night. The funny thing was there were no staff around other than at the door checking memberships. They could not see any of the kids at all. Don’t forget there is a weight room for youth ages 8-18 without any supervision at all! The fee to join the center is 40 baht ($1.10) per year. It reminds me a lot of a Boys & Girls Club, but it is a public agency. This is one of the few areas you will find organized recreation programs provided by a public agency.

Overall, I think the parks are very nice. This park in particular is nice as it is in the heart of Bangkok where there isn’t a blade of grass to be found. Then you stumble upon this place. It is a true escape for people in a very busy city.

On another note, we have already run into several ISU alumns here in Bangkok. We met the president of the Thailand ISU alumni association on the sky train. Even the president of the university here is one of our alumns. Small world.