A Day In Bangkok
Nice to be back and settled again in Bangkok. After two months in my serviced apartment before going to Samui, the doorman welcomed me back like an old friend….clicking his heels together and saluting (an odd custom here) and the receptionist greeted me with a big Thai smile. The doorman is trying to teach me Thai…just if I could only remember any of it!
Exhausted, I fell asleep early and of course woke up at 4am…hungry and wanting coffee so I ventured out in the warm dark morning in search of water and something to eat. As I walked down my little soi, squeezing past the endless stream of taxis even at that early hour, to Sukhumvit 22, the bored doorman at a nearby hotel waved furiously and offered a big “good morning.” Twice!
A sweating vendor had stopped her charcoal grill cart in front of the ubiquitous 7-11 so I couldn’t resist the sweetly marinated hot pork and chicken satay on a stick. In the dark, I handed her what I thought was two 20 baht bills. “Oh, no,” she says as she handed me back one 1000 baht bill (about $30).
Later, I joined the male regulars sitting in front of the Parrot Cafe…a few Dutch guys, an Aussie businessman currently working via his computer on development projects in Saudi Arabia and Mozambique, a Norwegian who had walked all the way from the Ekamai skytrain station…waiting to meet a friend. We read the Bangkok Post for entertainment and comment on the bizarre political goings-on in Thailand. The Red Shirts, supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin convicted for corruption and now in exile, are planning a million man march in front of the government house…claiming they want a return to democracy!! :)) Ask the Yellow Shirts, one of whom is among us and who was arrested with 83 others when they took over the airport a few months ago, whether they think Thaksin wants democracy in Thailand. Thailand is no democracy…just infighting among the ministers, parliament members, the military and the protestors of whatever side. Anyway, we trade comments and hope there is no violence and that Thailand can avoid yet another in a long line of military coups.
They all drift away and I am left with U2 on my iPod on my iPhone where also I catch up on my email with the free cafe WiFi… over another cup of coffee. A couple approach me. “Are you the laughingnomad,” they ask? I am furiously trying to remember where I met them before when they said they had found my blog on the web and had been following it. They reminded me that my picture is on the home page of the blog and that I probably mentioned the Parrot Cafe in a post. I was dumb-founded! Americans from New Hampshire, they travel often and, like me, are in Bangkok for medical care. He is an engineer and they have lived for years in places like Bangladesh and Manila. We trade stories. She shares a lovely children’s book she has written and illustrated. The last of four, the book nearly wrote itself, she says, as she composed it in her head on a serendipitous long bus trip in the company of an origami artist. I love it! We exchanged cards and I invited them to Oaxaca. I do hope they take me up on my offer. I really liked these two friendly people.
It was getting hot by this time so I retreated to my air-conditioned room…buying some fruit on the street on my way. I tip the waitresses well at this cafe. There is no service charge and I appreciate the fact that these girls are not “working” in the bars or on the street.
Back in my room, I get an email from a “friend” I met on Couchsurfing, from Turkey, who says she will be arriving in Bangkok soon and wants to meet for coffee. I call Bumrungrad and make an appointment for another pap with my lovely Thai gynecologist and the dental clinic for an appointment to get the two crowns placed on my implants.
Then up popped my Thai protestor friend on Skype chat. We talk politics. He tells me he has to fly to Australia to visit a “sick” mother. This is the 4th year in a row that she has gotten “sick” on her birthday. I tell him my kids would never let me get away with this. “This is the culture,” he says. “I have to go.” After four hours of this chat I notice the time. OMG!
Then I get a call from one of my husband’s friends in Pattaya who is temporarily in Bangkok for medical care. He wants to see a movie. I tell him I want to see George Clooney! So tuesday we will. Goodie!
I call a Thai friend who is a professor of fisheries in a local university to let her know I am back in Bangkok. She wants to take me to the fishing village again where she has some of her students conducting a small-crab fishing study. She is concerned about sustainable fishing practices in Thailand where the fish are fast disappearing.
Well, a few other things happened this day but this is pretty much what my days are like in Bangkok. I have been here 3 months now and my psyche has adjusted to this culture. Now if I can just remember what little Spanish I have when I get back to Oaxaca…where my internal cultural clock will change back again!
Tags: Bangkok, Thailand
Zoe
Hey Zoe…. just finished your Feb 14th blog and makes me want to return to Bangkok asap. I’m part of the couple from New Hampshire that talked with you at the Parrot Cafe the day before our Feb 11th departure – we’re back in NH right now. A bit cold, but not too bad for being mid-February – 36 degrees F at the moment. Anyway, I want to tell you that the name of that Social Security Form we were talking about is “Request for Reconsideration”, Form SSA-561-U2, which you can download from the SS website.
The other thing we talked about was The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida. It has its own website is you are curious.
Also, the Rutnin Eye Hospital has a website. Its located on Asoke, Soi 21. A bit of a walk from the Admiral Suites, but Lois and I have done that a couple of times. FYI: Lois had her eye examination at a place called the RSU, which is on Sukhumvit, just across the street from the Soi 22 intersection – located in the Fenix Building. They have a big RSU sign on the building, and they also have a website.
Thanks for the nice company and I’ll continue to enjoy your travel blogs from an armchair. Regards, John