From One Chaos to Another. (Bangkok, Thailand)
Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
“It is ILLEGAL to bring PROSTITUTES into the building.” (reads the sign beside the elevator)
Looks as though it won’t be the dream vacation I was hoping for.
Finally here on a bit of a buzz. The last week or so in Taiwan was an 11th hour marathon, right down the literal 11th hour before the flight. As it goes, a regular sized suitcase seems to be menace in Taiwan – they won’t allow one to store or ship it. The only option is to fly home with it – easier said than done if it’s 8am before your 9am flight to Bangkok with an interim 49 days of travel in between. Once again, Taiwanese friend Delphine to the rescue, who took the bloody case home with her so that we can liaise in late October to reclaim all my ratty, old clothing and CD’s.
The flight to Bangkok was smooth, as was finding the guesthouse that Gary (colleague) booked by phone for us; though the 2 hour bus crawl through the city left me wanting to walk the route.
New Siam 2 guest house is in the foreign-infested Khao San Rd. area – as I said to Chrissie, a place where retro-hippie bohemic types come to discover that they aren’t as unique as they thought. The look is freshly tanned and clad in Thai clothing – hair extensions and tattoos abound – dreadlocks by the dozen. Every passerby speaks a new European language. Shopping is impossible to get away from. Converted motorcyle tuk-tuks swarm the tourists to pluck off the weakest links – though I find that they are much more demure here than their hard-selling Filipinos counterparts.
Strangely, the place feels somewhat common after 2 years in Taiwan and I’m more surprised that I’m not as surprised by the surrounding sights. (Surprise!)
Chrissie and I are working out the kinks in spending two years on opposite sides of the world – while she is quite efficient and logical in her thiking, I am purely Chinese, take-it-as-it-comes and driving her mad in the process. “We’ll know when it comes” (in reference to bus, etc.) is my line that has hinted at sending her over the edge.
And a funny to end with, overhead by a local girl on her mobile to her scolded boyfriend:
“The ploblem is that you talk too much…” (exasperation, exasperation)
Wish I could say “You go girl,” in Thai with wagging head and hands on hips.
Foggily, Laura.
henney22