Jouney's End

Not quite over, but soon. This is my last day at the Marriott Empire in Silom. Tomorrow I check out and head back to Sukhumvit. The areas are quite different with the Empire being in the Silom business area and Sukhumvit being the major tourist area.

I have been using the past few days to slow down and think about my trip. In some sense it was to understand what has changed in me in the past 15 years since my first foray into Thailand. I am no longer the kid in the candy shop, if you can call a 60 year old a kid. Perhaps I am the wise old sage who sees Bangkok through different and perhaps tires old eyes.

Thailand has changed and that is a result of Thais use of smart phones. Social media has educated Thais where their school system had not, Thais now see their place in the world quite differently. They also see farangs quite differently. The GFE has left and and Thais understand much more how to accumulate money. Thai women still remain as beautiful as ever but now they see how to use their beauty to earn money and still stay in Thailand.

I still see men, old and young in the chase for the elusive relationship that life has not yet provided for them. John Keats 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' ends with:

When old age shall this generation waste,

                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

The only poem I enjoyed in high school, leaves me with the thought that yearning is seldom fullfilled so be careful what you wish. I don't wish to discourage the folks in pursuit of whatever but do so without the rose colored glasses. Young Thai women are fishing and you are the fish and usually the caught fish end up getting fried.

I consider myself lucky to be married to a wonderful, joy filled Thai woman with an 11 year old who keeps me young. If not for them I would be sitting at Tim Hortons in the morning with old farts complaining about the government and the state of the world.

This trip reinforces my belief that to be successful in life you need be lucky and be in the right place at the right time. I have always said that I do not regret the things I have done, just the things I failed to do.