WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

about the chase than the kill, and there are
plenty of places in Bangkok and Hua Hin
to keep a keen shopper busy for fifty years.
The must-buy items are colourful
shirts, made-while-you-wait dresses, vivid
material (much of which comes from China
and India) to have your own clothes made
up at home and a range of ornaments
featuring elephants. All the above made
it into our suitcases.
The Thai people are extremely pleasant
and shopping there is a much more
enjoyable experience than in some other
Asian countries. Even haggling over the
price is much more of a game rather than
the aggressive battle of wits it sometimes
can be, say in a Hong Kong market.
Shopping when on holiday is mostly for
things we might want, not what we need,
so it is basically a leisure activity. With
the major malls in both Bangkok and Hua
Hin all well stocked with local food stores,
coffee shops and the American trio you find
everywhere – McDonalds, Burger King and
Starbucks – there is always somewhere you
can put the bags down and take the weight
off for ten minutes before starting again.
Medical tourists
This is a tricky one, but as a person
who has spent a fair chunk of my kids’
inheritance on crowns, I can see the appeal
of getting teeth done, or even a hip replaced,
at a fraction of the cost of what it would
be in New Zealand.
From time-to-time horror stories emerge
of breast surgery that has gone wrong, or
superbugs that have almost killed patients
in foreign parts. Our medical professionals
jump on these stories with apparent relish
to push their case for retaining such work
in New Zealand private hospitals and
dental clinics.
A few years ago I had a minor operation
on a finger in a Wellington private hospital
(a ganglion for those of a medical bent).
After it was all over I looked at just the
surgeon’s fee (not all the other associated
costs) and the length of time the operation
took and multiplied it out to cover an
eight-hour day. Even allowing for generous
holidays and a half-day off on Fridays for
golf, the surgeon would have been earning
millions of dollars a year.
Ganglions can be removed in some
doctors’ surgeries and, to be quite honest,
they could probably be removed by a
handyman in a garden shed, or not removed
at all, so it is my own fault for allowing
such extortion to take place. I would have
been perfectly happy to have had the work
done in Thailand, as long as I had some
reliable references for the surgeon.
While in Bangkok we met a recentlymarried
couple from Hawke’s Bay. The
For those of a culinary bent, there are many great
Thai cooking courses in Bangkok.
husband had just had a mouth full of crowns
fitted at a dental practice recommended
to him by a Kiwi who lives in Bangkok.
It wasn’t the cheapest place in town, but
had a great reputation. He was more than
happy with the work, and due to the lower
dental charges, compared with at home,
the pair had paid for their wonderful Asian
honeymoon and still had money in the bank.
I guess the same rules apply as with
taxis. You have to take responsibility for
your own destiny (and dentistry). In New
Zealand we assume that all doctors are
vastly capable, honourable and ethical – and
if they’re not there is a system that should
weed them out. In Thailand you have to
do some weeding yourself.
But in New Zealand our utopian socialist
society seems to have forgotten we have
teeth. Those who cannot afford to pay, have
to put up with rotting gnashers, or have them
pulled out en masse. I’m not sure why that
is, when we can afford to send rich folks’
teenagers off to university at taxpayers’
expense and send well-remunerated MPs
on holiday to Japan to watch the All Blacks
play.
So if people decide to get their dental
work done in Thailand to save money, and
occasionally one of them has to be fixed
up in the public health system back home
at taxpayers’ expense, then I don’t have a
problem with that. Money has been spent
on the wrong things for years – often as a
result of election bribes (think university
subsidies) and our teeth are victims of that.
Maybe assisting low-income folk with
discount air tickets to Thailand for dental
work and ganglion surgery could be a
good election bribe suggestion for one of
the political parties?
thailand | travel
shady side of the street
While Thai people are generally genuine,
friendly and warm to visitors, there is a
seedy aspect to the country’s tourism.
Largely driven by poverty, the sex trade is
big, and has been for decades. While most
participants in the industry are volunteers
there is a very dark side too, with sex
trafficking a nasty part of the business.
There is an element of our society that
will go to Thailand specifically for the sex
trade, but for others it is simply an everpresent
fact of life you will come across
as you move around the cities, especially
after dark.
A sub-set of the sex trade is the bride trade
with (mainly) older divorced or widowed
men in pursuit of a new life partner, usually
forty years their junior.
Many of the relationships don’t last,
for obvious reasons, as they are based on
finance, not romance.
It is a situation where even a 65-yearold
Pom on a pension can look like a good
catch to a 20-year-old with parents to look
after and siblings to put through school. A
silver lining of sorts is that many of these
guys make Thailand their home, so at least
their brides aren’t dragged away from their
families for a life in Lancashire, Alabama
or Southland. While there’s nothing wrong
with Invercargill, rolling your “r”s would
take some adjusting to after growing up
in Hua Hin.
Wine
It took a few side-roads before I made it
to the main subject, but wine is all around in
Thailand. The only problem is that because
of duties/taxes/government rules – it costs
a lot of cash, so for those planning to be
there for any length of time, a switch to
local beer or whiskey will be a lot kinder
on your wallet.
A bottle of Marlborough sauvignon blanc
can cost $50 in a supermarket, more than
a bottle of spirits.
But there is local wine – although being
local doesn’t necessarily make it much
cheaper.
There are about six wineries in the
country – which is ridiculous as it is hot
as stink and incredibly humid. It must be
a full-time job battling the powdery - but
you have to admire their have-a-go spirit.
The longest established and probably
best-known winery is Monsoon Valley, a
short bus trip from Hua Hin. Check out our
cellar door section on page 69.
WineNZ’s travel is self-funded. We
don’t accept junkets from airlines or
tourism bodies to say nice things about
nasty places.
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
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