international roaming – backpacking in the age of mobile phones
well back in thailand and i am finally getting a handle on a few things here – language and bartering. my thai must be improving because now instead of the usual laugh or shake of the head response, i am getting answers in thai, which mostly i have to lamely respond to with “in english please”.
on new year’s day i wandered through lumphini park in the centre of bangkok and had chinese breakfast treats and beers with a group of thai businessmen who were having a picnic – and took it upon themselves to improve my thai. so i now know how to say “i don’t eat meat”
in the market scene i have found THE KEY to bartering well is total disinterest in whatever you are looking at. i found that out by accident when i seriously wasn’t interested in something and the price kept coming down. Now it is my standard stock response and i am getting everything for at least half price!!!
nye was an experience – i ended up in the red light district around midnight
and was literally sardined between sweaty revellers in a club strew alley when the countdown begun and all the tourists simultaneously proceeded to use their mobiles to phone home and shout “happy new year’s” followed by “i can’t hear you send me a text”. tourists are weird. i am a bit of a misfit here – not a tourist and not a beer-guzzling backpacker – but i am meeting other misifts along the way which keeps me inspired.
Tags: Thailand
Jyai