By Wanie

Sawasdee…

It was our second day in Bangkok and we had to wake up as early as 7 am. (And for me, 7 am is way too early.) Activities for the day included: a morning visit to Duang Prateep Foundation in Klong Toey, a slum area located in East Bangkok; and in the afternoon, a visit to the Pommahakan community which is ironically located opposite the Grand Palace in Bangkok City. Six students from the Political Science faculty of Chulalongkorn University, selected by Miss Kanokrat, acted as our patient tour guides-cum-translators.

At 7.30am, we divided ourselves in groups and took off in five taxi’s. Members in my group were Shazana, Joana, Yasir and myself. It was a tight squeeze. Sigh…

Traveling in the morning in Bangkok is just like traveling in Kuala Lumpur: massive jams everywhere. But in my opinion Bangkok jams take the cake. I think this could be due to the rich variety of vehicles available in Bangkok: cars, taxis, buses, tuk-tuks and even motorcycle taxis. So… try to imagine having all these vehicles vying for space at the same time. I also think that perhaps taxi drivers in KL are much better - at least they speak English. On the way to Klong Toey, the taxi that we took met with an accident. Thus, there was a jam, an accident and not to forget the heat (it was really hot)… what a great combination! We had to change taxi. The good news is that we paid less.

The journey to Klong Toey took around two arduous hours. My first impression when I reached Klong Toey was that it looked like one of the kawasan setinggan (squatter) area. But I was wrong. The visit to the slum area started out with a tour around the slum guided by the representative from the Duang Prateep Foundation. The slum area was way beyond what I thought. It was not even like the setinggan area. The houses were so small (I think the setinggan houses are bigger) and the lorong (lanes) that we used to walk around the slum was just satu depa (one arm’s width).

After touring around the slum area, we walked back to the Duang Prateep Foundation building to attend a talk by Vitahavas Khongkhakul. The talk by Vitahavas was enlightening. One statement of his that I will never forget is: “Dog cages in a rich man’s house is [often] more comfortable than the slum people’s home”.

Before we left they served us lunch and desert. All of us (the Monash party as well as the Chulalongkorn students) actually helped with the food preparation. It was fun. We left Klong Toey around 1.30pm.

The next destination was the Pommahakan community. We took taxis but were exhausted. In the taxi Shaz and Yasir slept soundlessly. I was tired too but could not sleep. When we reached Pommahakan, everyone else was there except for one group. They were lost. The talk in Pommahakam was informal, given by Tek, the sub leader of the proud community. After the talk, I was impressed by his passion, spirit and devotion to the cause.

We left Phommahakam area around 5pm. Some of us decided to walk back to the hotel and some decided to brave tuk tuks. I chose the latter and enjoyed riding it. It felt like one of those wild rides at fun fairs.