Up The Chao Phraya River
In my last post I mentioned Nick’s crazy flight from LA to Bangkok for a one day visit. Well, today he tells me about the return:
my flights back looked so good . . . on paper. from bkk – nrt (tokyo) i got a coach seat. not too bad. when i got to nrt, the nrt – d.c. flight cancelled and caused a serious domino effect. everybody on that flight scattered to get on any other flight stateside. i couldn’t get on my nrt – lax flight, not even a jumpseat. i scrambled and got on an nrt – sea [Seattle] flight. took the last coach seat. in sea, i couldn’t get on a sea – lax flight, so i went sea – sfo. at sfo, [San Francisco] i couldn’t get on an sfo – lax flight. so i went sfo – fresno – lax. just got home. what a ride. CAN’T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN! HA!
Glad I’m not the only nut out there, Nick! :))
Yesterday I was invited by a couchsurfing friend, who has lived in Bangkok for several years, to visit her neighborhood . It required taking the skytrain to the river…then a ferry up the river 30 stops…taking about an hour. While on the ferry I visited with an Egyptian woman next to me who is married to a German who had a terrible accident falling off a waterfall in Chiang Mai. After two months in a hospital he was finally airlifted back to Germany with extensive after affects of his brain injury.
After this conversation I felt weird enjoying lunch of green curry and stir-fry vegetables and a visit to a lovely park next to a Wat. But then my friend showed me her ankle that has been swollen double for a year after getting hit by debris in the tsunami. She has been to 7 hospitals in Bangkok and no one can tell her what the problem is. I feel so grateful that my son Doug and his Thai wife, Luk, escaped injury the morning they woke to discover their bungalow under water!
The only other sight in my friend’s very Thai neighborhood was a prison which of course we didn’t visit. Then after 30 stops back and skytrain to my neighborhood, I stopped by the Parrot Cafe sidewalk table area on my Sukhumvit 22 neighborhood for spaghetti bolanaise and an hour’s late evening conversation with an Aussie businessman at the next table who divides his time between Thailand, Mozambique and Europe as a contract manager for a large Australian corporation. . I visit with him often here at the cafe…mostly for morning coffee and our daily entertainment…the Bangkok Post.
Today I am contemplating an invitation from the 30- something Thai businesswoman who has invited me, it turns out, to go to Khao San Rd. (backpacker street) with them on Christmas Eve. Does she realize I am 65, I wonder?
Tags: Bangkok, Thailand
Zoe
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