Bangkok and Koh Samui....

BANGKOK - KOH SAMUI from 21/04/00 to 03/05/00

21/04/00 my first time in the East To be honest I was a little sceptical, I had always preferred the Caribbean, but on the advice of friends I wanted to try a change of course and went from west to east..... and these countries fascinated me as I would never have thought. For the friendliness, the helpfulness and the smiles of these people, for the landscapes, for the food, for their traditions and for the beautiful things I was able to bring home... Bangkok in Thai is also known by the name of Krungthep, that is, the city of angels. My first impression, however, was of a chaotic city full of smog, with an always leaden sky, gigantic buildings and incredible hotels......on the first day, perhaps also because of the tiredness of the journey, I was completely disoriented.

But I must say it is incredible how the atmosphere can change from one moment to the next, you turn a corner, take a different street and find yourself immersed in quiet, sheltered places. You just have to step into one of the 400 wats (temple-monasteries) and, as if by magic, all the chaotic traffic and confusion disappear and you find yourself immersed in another world. Your eyes fill with colours, with people praying, with flowers and offerings... I visited the Royal Palace and the temple of the Emerald Buddha and many other wats. The oldest in the capital is Wat Pho, where the Reclining (or Sleeping) Buddha is to be found; it is beautiful and gigantic, and I too could not resist the temptation to buy the little coins to put in the bowls in front of it.

You buy a jar containing a series of coins and, in order for your prayer to be granted, you must put a single little coin in each bowl and these must coincide exactly with the number of bowls placed along its whole length (which, if I remember rightly, is 46 metres long and 15 metres high). In practice, you must not have any left over. Now I don't know whether this is true, I think they are instead offerings made by the faithful, but this is the story I was told and I pass it on to you just as it is..... I visited the floating market, and the flower market, in a profusion of colours and spicy smells. I saw the children diving from their floating houses into the river and enjoying swimming.

I was struck by the simplicity of these houses and by noticing that on almost every balcony a multitude of pots with plants and flowers made a fine show, sometimes very bare, sometimes more luxuriant.... I did a lot of shopping around the streets and in the big shopping centres; in these places it is worth setting off with an empty suitcase and then restocking your wardrobe on the spot. You find everything and more. I bought lots of photo albums made of rice paper and carved wood, true masterpieces, together with statues and batiks, paintings and pareos......in practice I had to buy extra suitcases to be able to bring everything home. What hurt me most in these places, and especially in Patpong, however, were the venues where lots of very young and very beautiful girls performed, and the multitude of much older European men behaving in a vulgar and exaggerated way.

But you know how it is, poverty is great and these girls are sold for next to nothing...... and this is a plague that is hard to fight. I stayed in Bangkok for 3 days and then, with a domestic flight, I moved on to KOH SAMUI. This beautiful island and its people have stayed in my heart. I visited the aquarium and the Butterfly Garden, which are worth a stop, the coconut plantations and the waterfalls in the interior of the island, I rode on elephants and argued with the mischievous little monkeys...there are plenty of things to do besides sunbathing, you just need the will to wander..... In Koh Samui you find everything from the luxurious hotel that costs you hundreds of euros a night to bungalows on the sea for a few pennies. It is worth renting a scooter and touring the whole island in search of the place you like best.

I stayed at the PEACE BUNGALOW on Bo Phut beach; it was family-run and the mum has a particular liking for Italians, so much so that she makes an effort to speak our language; she was always ready to give you a smile and a fresh coconut when you came back from an excursion..... Every day she asked me what I wanted to eat and she prepared delicious dishes for me, and then, since she knew I liked pineapple, I always found it on my table, freshly cut and ready to eat. She is an extraordinary woman.... The bungalows were on the ocean, very large and spotlessly clean. Moreover, on the beach there was a very sweet girl who offered her massages every day, both on the beach, and I must say it was an epic thing to be lulled by the sound of the waves while ONE massaged you, or she would even come to the room if you preferred the cool of the air conditioning, and all for a few pennies.

The Peace Bungalow is an informal place, for those seeking peace, to unplug completely from the Western world, to bring a good book and lose yourself in reading, for those who don't want the constraints dictated by fashion, because if you want you can stay in a swimsuit and pareo from morning to night... You ate on a terrace facing the ocean and in the distance you could see the Big Buddha, the sunsets were spectacular, and when darkness fell you were kept company by the lights coming from the fishermen's boats..... I don't want to go on any longer, I was truly happy there, and it is a place I recommend with all my heart.