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Travelogue 02
Bangkok Part II
Descended from the apes? My dear, we will hope it is not true. But if it is, let us pray that it may not become generally known.
Quoted in Ashley Montagu, Manʹs Most Dangerous Myth: the Fallacy of Race
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Chulalongkorn University
Besides taking us on a boat ride along the Chao Phraya River, our wonderful hosts from the Chulalongkorn University accompanied us to visit temples, the Grand Palace, the Crocodile Farm, a theme park and the notorious Patpong, a red-light district known for its clubs and joints.
I remember the incident in Patpong quite vividly. Together with our hosts, we went to a go-go bar. We sat down on a sofa waiting for a performance to begin. I didn't know then - and shall never know - whether it was going to be a dance or striptease act. Before the show started, a skimpily dressed girl came and sat next to me. I jumped and squirmed aside. I remember feeling very uncomfortable not because I had any disrespect for her but because I had never been so close to a girl who was so comfortable with so little on her.
Sensing my uneasiness, our hosts shepherded us out from the joint.
As one can expect, "wisdom" - or at least, experience - comes with age. I did not display such naivete 8 years later in 1992, when I visited a similar club in San Diego, USA. But, that's another story for another day.
Besides taking us on a boat ride along the Chao Phraya River, our wonderful hosts from the Chulalongkorn University accompanied us to visit temples, the Grand Palace, the Crocodile Farm, a theme park and the notorious Patpong, a red-light district known for its clubs and joints.
I remember the incident in Patpong quite vividly. Together with our hosts, we went to a go-go bar. We sat down on a sofa waiting for a performance to begin. I didn't know then - and shall never know - whether it was going to be a dance or striptease act. Before the show started, a skimpily dressed girl came and sat next to me. I jumped and squirmed aside. I remember feeling very uncomfortable not because I had any disrespect for her but because I had never been so close to a girl who was so comfortable with so little on her.
Sensing my uneasiness, our hosts shepherded us out from the joint.
As one can expect, "wisdom" - or at least, experience - comes with age. I did not display such naivete 8 years later in 1992, when I visited a similar club in San Diego, USA. But, that's another story for another day.
photo with my ape cousin
It was thrilling, and humbling, to have such a close encounter with an ape. I did not jump nor squirm away from it. On the contrary, I gladly welcomed it in my arms and on my shoulders. I had learned from reading and watching documentaries such as the Life on Earth series by Sir David Attenborough that the wild and yet demure creature shared a significant percentage - today I know it is more than 96% - of its DNA makeup with me. (As a note of interest, chimpanzees are my closest ape cousins as we share over 98% of our DNA.) With less than 5% difference in our genetic composition, some of us homo sapiens have placed ourselves higher than the apes on the pedestal of life.
But my next stop would show me that some of us do not deserve that position.
From the album
the Grand Palace
