Off The Tourist Grid In Bangkok
VX The Fifty Guesthouse in Bangkok
Sukhumvit 50, a nice quiet street, is at the OnNut Sky train exit with Tesco Lotus conveniently at the corner. 10 baht takes me down 50 to the guesthouse/hostel on the back of a moto taxi driver. Lovely proprietors and friendly staff. The lady wears the latest panty hose.
I liked the other backpackers staying there and made some friends…one a nice young French woman, Isabelle, who I chatted with in the courtyard every day. She was looking for a job with a nonprofit working with refugees. Talking with her for a week, my anti-French biases went out the door. Alas her grandmother died and she returned to Paris early.
A very talkative guy from Sri Lanka had been ejected by his family to get him out of the way while his wife gave birth back home…another country…another cultural difference. He talks constantly with them on skype on the hostel computer. He makes me a Sri Lankan shrimp dinner cooked in the hostel microwave with cold rice.
As with most hostel/guesthouses there are issues:
Americano coffee at the hip cafe next door was 45 baht. Directly across the street a cafe offered coffee for 25 baht…less than a dollar. But people liked the hip cafe so paid twice the price for coffee. Go figure.
Unfortunately I took a wildly twisted fall on the slippery floor getting out of the shower one morning. Now I know what it feels like for time to stand still. Ex-rays taken at Bumrungrad Hospital showed no broken bones but the fall sure wracked my bad leg and knee for a week or so. I was lucky it was no worse. The lovely semi-retired Thai orthopedist who had practiced in the states for years suggested that I have my knee replacement soon, however, to take the stress off my good knee or I would wind up having to have two replacements. $40 worth of good advice. Doug and Luk found a beautifully crafted cane made of Teak. Perhaps I’ll need it again one day on the narrow broken sidewalks of Oaxaca.
Bob bussed it in from Pattaya on Thanksgiving…great turkey dinner at the Bourbon St. Bar and Restaurant owned by an American. On the Sunday after, we enjoyed the wonderful Indian buffet in the penthouse of the Windsor Hotel on Sukhumvit 20, my old neighborhood. What a welcome change from Oaxacan food.
Had lunch with Tom L., one of Bob’s golfing buddies. Can’t resist posting this photo of Bob and I. Get a load of the body language. 🙂
Tags: Bangkok, Thailand
Zoe
Leave a Reply