Life As Canvas

Tonight I’m leaving Bangkok and I’m still just as hot and sticky as the day I got here. It’s the kind of place that overwhelms to the point that after a few hours in the street I want to run and hide in a cold, dark room. But all in all, I like Bangkok. All corners of the world come together here, mixing to make harsh sounds, strange smells, and rude t-shirts.

Bangkok (and watching Erika bargain with tuk-tuk drivers) is teaching me to stick to my guns, to be suspicious but smile, and to get what I want out of a place where anyone can get anything. Or be anything, for that matter. Men are women, poor people walk the streets with flashy “Rolex” watches, Thais dress like Westerners and Westerners dress like Thais. Where Cambodia and its contrasts made me uneasy at times, Thailand’s non sequiturs just make me laugh. Men with dread locks down to their waists in Bob Marley shirts preach freedom from oppression in a country that has never been colonized. Then they tell you how much they love their king.

Yesterday Erika and I decided to see the more traditional side of Bangkok and toured the Royal Palace, along with the temples of the Emerald and Reclining Buddhas. Though many people “kindly” stopped us along the way to tell us the temples were closed today and today only and we should really go with them to see something else instead, we walked on and what do you know? Everything was open. Both places were flooded with people longing to get a peek at one Buddha or another and ogle the ornately decorated temple walls. Light flashes from mirrored or golden surfaces wherever you look.

Stupa Spires

Flaming Rooftops

Reclining Buddha

As usual, the heat got to us eventually and we chilled out in the air con for a while before hitting the night market where, if you’re very slick, you can get a vendor to take out his our her bag of fake Rolex’s, fake designer handbags, and many many other high-quality questionable items. So many shiny things! There is also an abundance of silks, souvenirs, wooden carved Buddhas, clothing, shoes, almost anything one could want, and way too much of it.

I’d say we took advantage of our time here and home is starting to sound inviting. Green forests, rain on the roof, my squishy bed, cool nights, fresh air, and the faces and voices of the people I love.

Goodbye Thailand, see you again someday.

I was so sleepy and the seats on this particular night bus were so cosy. The blankets were fluffy and I had two seats all to myself, so I spread out. I threw my bag on the floor since no one was in the seats around me. I slept well that night. Too bad Erika and I were both missing credit cards and cash the next day (and my new favorite bubblegum pink beach towel – the nerve).

This is the kind of lesson that needs to be learned each time. I don’t know how many times I’ve been told to keep my bag on my lap and squeeze it to my chest as I sleep on the bus. But this bus felt safe. It had a big painting of The Hulk done in professional airbrush on the side of it with plush curtains and friendly staff. But by the next day at least one person on that friendly staff charged over 2,000 dollars on Erika’s credit card. She’s protected against theft, so she’ll be alright but damn. They were sneaky enough to move things around in our wallets, taking only one card and some cash and when we ran into some other people from the same bus, the same thing happened to them. Even our luggage in the lower compartment had been searched through. We were lucky to notice it early on and we were lucky not to lose our passports and other things.

So again, to those who might want to put their bags on the floor just that one time in that really nice snazzy-looking bus, don’t do it. Take your bag in your arms like a long lost lover and hug it all night long.

From the small part of it I've seen so far, I've come to believe that Bangkok is a city that moves fast and moves all-the-time. Already, I am: A. Hot. B. Sticky. C. Full of Pad Thai. D. Feeling the need to ... [Continue reading this entry]