This is the last in a series of articles about a visit to the fascinating country of Thailand.

LEAVING THAILAND

By Charles N. Stevens

Our last morning in Bangkok is much like our first, the sun rising in a hazy sky streaked here and there with clouds. I watch the express boat lumber by, burdened with bodies, the stern deck so jammed with standees that it appears none of them can move. A parade of cars and trucks flows across the bridge just east of our hotel.

Thai society seems very healthy to me, at least from an outsider’s point of view. Despite obvious hardships, I had rarely ever heard a child scream or whine; I had seen only one mental case walking the streets, and I had seen no drunks and very few beggars. More people beg or appear indigent around Union Square in San Francisco than in all of Bangkok. Most people seem industrious even if they sell merchandise or food on the streets. Even those who live in shacks seem clean and nicely dressed and working at something.

At 8 am we go to the hotel restaurant where the same buffet as always is spread out for us. We take our travelers checks, cash, and passports out of the hotel safety deposit box then return to our room for our final packing before we leave for Malaysia. By 9 am clouds gather and thicken, subduing the sun.

I take one last look at the Chao Praya flowing past our hotel. The movement of the water seems to have reversed in a change of tides as the little clumps of water hyacinth that always float in it are moving slowly inland rather than towards the sea. Under cover of the clouds, the river water becomes like tarnished silver, the express boats cleaving through it, folding it neatly back and laying it down again in furrows of froth. Warm humid air with the indescribable smell of Asia lingering in it smothers the city. A beam of sunlight breaking through a hole in the clouds twinkles on the river. Across the river float the old barges with their curved roofs, now used as housing for the poor.

Just below the hotel an express boat parts the pea soup muddy water as it angles for the dock, and the squeaking and grating of the floating metal docks sounds like a coral of braying donkeys. Two men wearing conical straw sun hats pass by in a small boat, their voices blaring from large loudspeakers, their message lost on me. Two more small boats drift by piled with goods, a single man sitting in back rowing.

We leave the hotel at 11 am, our bus following the now familiar route to the airport. At the airport the authorities x-ray our bags then seal them with plastic bands. Since we are three hours early to the airport, we walk or sit in the lounge seats watching CNN. Many monks sit in the orange plastic bucket seats, their robes blending perfectly with the color, almost making them disappear. As we are not supplied with a lunch, I buy a curry puff which is not very spicy as I had hoped but has a nice curry flavor. Dolores nibbles on cheese and crackers, and we both dip into our plastic bag of dried apricots from home. We find out that the name of the Thai restaurant where we had eaten the night before is Kanab Num which means “place by the river”.

Soon after we move into the refrigerated departure lounge with its rows of white bucket seats, our plane wheels smartly up to the departure gate, an all-white plane with “Malaysia” written on the fuselage in black letters, red and blue stripes down the center. We board the plane just before 3 pm, a Boeing 737-400, for our two- and one-half-hour flight to Penang.

We zoom up into the Bangkok haze, bank into the low cumulus deck, then break through to the sun, the fluffiness now all below us. A few cirrus streak the sky above us, and thunderheads loom on the far horizon to our right. We are soon out over the water, the coastline of southern Thailand off to our right, the sun a silver smear on the sea.

MONTEREY PARK AUTHOR PUBLISHES 4th BOOK – Seeking More of the Sky: Growing Up in the 1930’s:

Charles “Norm” Stevens, a 49 year resident of Monterey Park has recently published his 4^th book: Seeking More of the Sky: Growing Up in the 1930’s. This is the story of a young boy growing up in Inglewood, California in the l930’s. This was a time during the depression when unemployment was affecting many and the banks were closed, while the clouds of war were gathering in Europe. But he was lucky enough to be raised in a loving family, the power of that love reflected throughout his stories.

Stevens is the author of three previous books about his experiences during WWII:

An Innocent at Polebrook: A Memoir of an 8th Air Force Bombardier (Story of his 34 bombing missions from his base at Polebrook, England over Germany and France)

The Innocent Cadet: Becoming A World War II Bombardier (A prequel to the first, telling of his training in the U.S. before going overseas into combat.)

Back from Combat: A WWII Bombardier Faces His Military Future from Combat: (This book details the time from when he returned from combat in England until the end of the war.)

He is known to the readers of The Citizen’s Voice as the author of Travel Log Articles including “Cruising the Rhine and Mosel”,” Best of the West”, “In Search of Snow” ,  “From Paris to Normandy on the Seine”, and “Exploring New York”.  He is retired, having taught for 32 years, primarily in the Montebello Unified School District.

Those interested in purchasing an autographed copy of any of his books, may contact the author at 323-721-8230 or  Normstevens24@gmail.com.