Some thoughts marking the end of this visit.
It’s my last day in Bangkok. This latest visit is now almost complete. All the work that needed to be done didn’t get finished, but that’s par for the course. This has been, as always, a busy stay with a lot of stuff happening. I thought I would end this session with a random series of odds and ends, as I always do at the end of each visit. The photos above reflect some of the things I noticed during this stay.
- Now that the Old Neighbourhood Spirit House has been replaced by the New Old Neighbourhood Spirit House, I have realized I need to move on. I live in a new neighbourhood now, so that first slide you see is the Spirit House at my apartment building. I’ll start to track it more closely now. There is certainly no Rat Nation at this house. It seems like it gets cleaned a couple of times per day. Inspections will be a lot easier.
- I have mentioned in past years, during December visits, that Bangkok goes crazy at Christmas time. In this devoutly Buddhist city, there are more Christmas trees, Christmas carols and Christmas sales than I have seen anywhere else in the world. Every mall, apartment building, condo and shop has a Christmas tree and little flashing lights. My apartment has gone full bore and has lit up all the trees in the courtyard and is playing english language Christmas carols over the PA system. (Thankfully, they’re only audible in the lobby and not in the corridors.) In most shops, the sales staff have started wearing Santa hats. I have come to the conclusion that Buddhists are more into Christmas than Christians.
- We opened up a new version of our hair salon, now for men as well as women. It is called the Banana Salon, an appropriate name for a hair dressing shop!!!! It has become really busy with people from around the neighbourhood coming to get their hair done or cut. This might be a more profitable business then running a hospital. I think our restaurants and coffee shops are, for sure.
- Motorcyclists still ride on the sidewalks, even though there is a police crack down on this behaviour. Apparently thousands of tickets have been handed out but, as far as I can see, to little avail.
- The street food vendor business is as strong and strange as ever. I have now noticed guys just carrying stuff to sell, I guess they’re hoping that someone will stop them and say – hey I want those pastries you’re carrying on that tray.
- In honour of the King’s recent birthday, almost every major building owner, including us at our main hospital, has mounted large pictures of him, when he was somewhat younger, in front of their buildings. These images are everywhere in the city.
- The graffiti in Bangkok is still awesome. It is true street art. The work of Thai graffiti artists is some of the best that I’ve seen.
- Even though we have modernized the acute care campus, the street life at night is still wonderful. There is an old world quality to it. There is food to be had everywhere on the street, from our restaurants and from street vendors. The hospital’s Spirit House glows in the dark casting beautiful shadows against the wall. The street speaks in both present and past tenses.
Until the next visit…sometime in the future.