21st Century Sista
I typed this one out three weeks ago and just as I was saving on the website, all crashed and I lost it. That caused me to lose interest in blogging when I was focused on having fun with Pamela. Besides, this whole story could not be told three weeks ago since Pamela’s run-in with the 21st Century had just begun. Maybe it could have been told then, but surely I really had not thought things all the way through at that time. Some of this may be repeat – I am not sure what I wrote in early July and I’m too lazy to go read it (I rarely read a post – quite sure I will be embarrassed about something… maybe everything!). I’ll go with the idea that the crash and lack of saves were for a good reason and this is the upside result…
You know I feasted on seeing Pamela traveling Kenya and meeting Kenyans on their own turf, getting out of the country to visit Ugandans – fellow East Africans – and going on a real trip to Cameroon and meeting more exotic Africans. These were some of the most rewarding experiences of my life and every single day was more than entertaining with this crazy and fun Kenyan Girl. One thing that always amazes me about Pamela is how well she interacts with other people. She draws them in like a magnet and then everyone is smiling and laughing. As diverse is Africa (Much more diverse than the rest of the world’s peoples combined – I realize this is not understandable completely unless you have seen it firsthand, but it is fact. They may all look alike to us Mzungu, but they’re all very different J), Pamela was still in a sense amongst her own. I wondered what it was going to be like when we left the continent. Well, I did not have to wonder much – I knew there would be a lot of staring. Staring at Pamela that is. I knew the average American would first register “black woman” and then after a seconds delay, “exotic” would register… the delay causing “the stare”. I know she will be received well in America, but I did wonder about Thailand since I did not know anything about Thailand society. I worried how Pamela would take all of this. I should have just followed the “don’t worry, every little thing is going to be alright” (by the way, Bob Marley continued to be the most listened to musician in SE Asia) mentality…
I would say that Kenya and Nairobi as well as most of Africa are caught in some 1980s time warp. There are signs of this new century, but they are heavily outnumbered by twenty-five year old reality. It’s nice at times and truly maddening at others. I knew the cities of Asia would be very much in the middle of this new century, but Bangkok really floored me as far as being way beyond any city in America as far as what the great cities are trying to become. I’ll say that it is the best city I have visited (Travel and Leisure magazine readers have recently voted it the best of the world and that surprises me not – followed by Buenos Aires – what’s happening USA and Europe!!!) and my most favorite city to travel in. This was supposed to be a process where Pamela builds up to New York City and all the head-spinning and gawking she will be doing there. Suddenly, the process was totally disturbed by the fact that Bangkok can make one gawk and spin just as much as NYC (minus the building canyons which still make me gawk and spin). Luckily, Bangkok has an immense heart and soul and even when you are feeling tiny there is enough connection with the people to not make it too immense.
I think the enormity of it all started to hit Pamela when she saw the number of stores. Yes, she is prototypical woman! It was all just weird and foreign until she saw the malls and the variety of everything body wear. The first crash occurred when we approached an escalator. I realized something was wrong and looked over my shoulder to see Pam frozen. What? Get on! You’ve been on escalators before! Not one going down!!!!! Yes, it is true – we listed all the escalators we use in Nairobi and the going down escalators are broken or the facility just has going up escalators! I started laughing so hard that I was the one who nearly fell. Pamela struggled for a few times on these new-fangled gadgets, but she successfully received her going down escalator certificate by time we left Thailand. Pamela also struggled with the SkyTrain – the greatest public transport I have used. I’m not sure how it happened, but she used her card to gain entry to the station and the pinchers on the turnstile decided to close when she was going through. Poor Pamela was crying it hurt so much L, but she is now an expert at riding the SkyTrain, underground subways, longboat taxis, metered taxis (Nairobi just has pre-negotiated, flat fees), ferrys and moving sidewalks. The moving sidewalks are particularly interesting in the main terminal at Bangkok’s new airport. They slant so that they take you from one floor to the next. I have never seen these before. In fact there were a lot of things in Bangkok that I had never seen before. We particularly liked going up the Baiyoke Building – all 88 floors. A building of this size is difficult for someone to imagine until you are standing below it and then outside on the top enjoying the city pass by as the floor turns! The Empire State Building should install a platter and start turning just as well. Pamela giggled like a kid seeing all the lights produced by this very large city as they passed by us and we both laughed because of the crazy light system that sits on top of the top floor of the Baiyoke which is constantly changing colors and designs.
As we were enjoying Bangkok and I was enjoying seeing Pamela in the 21st Century, I realized that I really was solidly in this new century for the first time, too. Aside from the twenty-year olds, I suspect most of us still have not fully entered it and we are still clinging on to the last one. I think the next American president election will say a lot about whether we are clinging on for the long run or making the leap. McCain says the change thing is a load, but when I look at both of them I only see the past on one side and the future on the other. We saw three movies while in Bangkok. All three (Hancock, Wanted and The Dark Knight) were ridiculous over-the-top extravaganzas clearly representing the complete, seamless marriage of high tech into cinema. I loved each one of them. The theatres where we viewed them at Siam Paragon are by far the best I have ever entered. And we did not even get to see a film in their best theatres (something like the Nokia Ultimate or thereabouts and their IMAX). You get 30 minutes of crazy Thai advertisements as well as an everyone-standing national anthem/tribute to the Thai king (they love him greatly) and the movie in the most comfortable, best screening and best sound theatre for $5 each and you can get a giant popcorn and soda for $3 more. The only thing wrong with this picture is what American theatres are charging for mediocre comfort, the same food and no national anthem and tribute to King George! Given how many people are filing through the doors of the sixteen theatres in this one facility for sixteen hours per day and regardless of how much money they spend on construction and rent, I bet they make more money in Bangkok at much lower prices than those in America. And did I mention that they allow you to escape the Bangkok heat and humidity by chilling you to probably 18 degrees C? By the way, we were halfway though Batman and the “who is the actor playing The Joker” question went through my head – one of the greatest performances I have ever seen (The Joker and “greatest performances” in the same sentence still has my head shaking) when I suddenly realized that it was Heath Ledger. My heart sunk realizing that this century would be cheated out of an incredible artist.
About the same time I received an email invite into Facebook. I really don’t do a lot of new-fangled stuff with the internet, but I wanted to see madman Dean’s photos of his bicycle tour around Africa so I accepted the offer. The software grabbed my address book and soon I was connected with all sorts of people I had not contacted in over two years. Social networking software or some such term. It seems many of the people I know had already found Facebook and are already in the current century. Better late than never…
So Pamela crashed into this new century as well as any of us and each new experience was full of laughs. But there were also the gawks from everyone around and these proved far more interesting. As far out there as humans are pushing modernity, it’s quite obvious that we know so little about each other. One might be very familiar with the latest technology, but have they ever met someone from each of the continents? I was on a full plane from Nairobi to Bangkok and only three Africans got off the plane in Bangkok with the rest continuing on to Hong Kong. A few more Africans got off the plane with Pamela because there were Ugandans and others going to some convention. For the most part, Africans do not vacation, international business is limited and leaving the continent is rare. The number of blacks traveling to Bangkok is rare enough, but there are much fewer from Africa. So, as I imagined, the average Bangkoker would see Pamela and stare and stare and stare. They always smiled and often laughed. They also often yelled to a friend and we knew what they were saying even if it was in Thai. Something like “Ralph, look at this one!” would be the norm. This was especially true in enclosed environments like the markets. Pamela is purely exotic looking and this really never escapes anyone in the African countries we have visited and it caused total blowouts in Thailand. Thai men who I have never seen hooting, were total gibberish with their excitement. The women’s smiles tested the strength of their cheeks. Each stall at the flower market would go nuts getting the attention of the surrounding stalls. People would look to see what the commotion was all about and then they would be whooping it up as well. Pamela has seen the reaction of Africans towards this Mzungu and she has seen how much I love it. (I wish she had seen the Ethiopian kids coming out of the hills yelling “YOU YOU YOU!!!”) Now the table was turned and the reaction of the Thais was beyond imagination and Pamela loved every minute of it. She was ten times the freak I am in Africa!!! One quickly learns how nice, friendly and reserved are the Thai people so seeing their reactions was especially fun. Pamela would go out of her way to say hello (by the way, I am quite convinced that the English word “hello” is the most familiar word to the world), take a picture of them or pose with them and her personality would soon take over from her physical looks in drawing them. One old man was so beside himself to have his picture taken by this woman (I think it was more due to her just shining her smile on him) that all he could do was drool (literally) and this got all his friends roaring.
Our last day was spent visiting the Grand Palace and its temple. I considered these to be the best of Bangkok (proved to be true) and wanted to build up to them. I was minding my own business lost in photography when I heard some tourists yelling and screaming. Two men ran past me with cameras in hand snapping away. I thought there must be some celebrity behind me because the reaction was so outrageous. I turned around to find Asian tourists posing for the photographers. All the excitement was because they were posing with Pamela… The Tall, Dark, Cool One!
Americans will be staring, too. I’ll stay behind her a few feet as I did often in Thailand and just laugh at the stares. White, brown, yellow or black, they will all be staring. This sista is from the homeland and every black will recognize that. Everyone else will just gawk. They’ll smile, too, as soon as Pamela smiles at them. A European family walked by Pamela the other day. The mother, father and two kids’ eyes locked on Pamela and their heads kept turning even as they were feet beyond her. I thought their heads might turn off, but they eventually and reluctantly whipped them back straight. It was quite obvious somewhere in northern Europe had never seen anything like Pamela before. I’m not sure New York City and the rest of America is ready for Pam, but I know world-traveling, African Girl, Pamela is quite ready for them. I’m so glad Pamela enjoys being the freak as much as I do. Stare on…
Tags: Asia, thailand
vagabondrick
i looked for you on facebook but there’s loads of you – look me up – i’m the one wearing the turban !
keep on keeping on
b,g,z
Eagerly awaiting “next installment”. (Surely, these writings will eventually be a book entitled, well, the title of your blog?) Wondering how daily life in Nairobi is. Or haven’t you had the chance to establish a routine? (Somehow, “routine” and “Rick” are mutually exclusive…) Also, hearing about your trip to NYC. Checking daily for postings of your latest, phenominal photos. Nanette