Maarten van Rossem does not want to travel to the Thai capital Bangkok, just like Jandino Asporaat. He finds this extremely unnecessary. “You can go to Belgium for the same experience.”
Jandino Asporaat was on the talk show last night Khalid & Sophie because he shot a movie in the Thai capital, namely Bon Bini: Bangkok Nights. Maarten van Rossem was sitting on the other side of the table and coincidentally a fragment came by in which he indicates that he absolutely never wants to go on holiday to Bangkok.
Not to Bangkok
Of course, Jandino notices it immediately. “Why would you never want to go to Bangkok?” he asks point-blank.
Maarten says: “I have no interest in the tropics and I have no interest in visiting countries where the average income of the population is about a tenth of what it is in the Netherlands. I have had bad experiences with that. Viewing the Third World as some kind of object of interest displeases me.”
Different experience
According to Maarten, you should leave poor areas alone. “There was a time when fashion photos were taken in tin slums in Africa. Nairobi and places like that. I found that shocking, I found that disgusting. Like the entire fashion industry is disgusting in my opinion. But this was an absolute highlight.”
Jandino disagrees. “It was also my first time in Bangkok and I had a very different experience in Bangkok. It is actually the wealth – apart from the lower salaries – of the people, of the culture and how the people are there. That is something we can learn so much from.”
To Belgium
It’s not that crazy in Bangkok, says Jandino. “Then ultimately we can have everything here and all opinions, but believe me: if we compare that with Thailand, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Maarten: “We can also go to Belgium for the same experiences.”
Jandino doesn’t understand anything: “What is this?!”