noodle quest 2006

just when i think i can actually manage this devil’s playground, it turns around, spits in my eye, then decided thats not enough and it kicks me in the head.

yesterday was very relaxing- just hung out with danny in the air con all day and then at night we went on a nice date to see the movie brokeback mountain which was totally awesome.  the jump to attention at the start of the national anthem image montage on teh movie screen is always a surprise and a pleasure. 

today i woke up with the sole intent to go to pimelay spa and get a massage with the insipration for my thai massage quest- a namelsee little thai lady who works there.  so danny and i ate some fod then i called up at around 11:30 and tried to figure out the name of teh woman so can make an appointment.  in the end the rcepeiotnist and i decided that it must be Blah.  yes, the massuese that inspired me to learn thai massage is named blah.  love it. 

so at 1:30 i set out for my 2:30 appt. by way of taxi.  i was rejected by 2 taxis who eiteher didn’t like the looks of me or didn’t want to go where i wanted to go.  dan had written out the address for me in thai.  then finally one dude stops.  i get in and no problem.  however after 40 minutes (not an unusual or very expensive amount of time or money to spend in a taxi) i started feeling like i had never seen the images and sights passing my window.  now, this alone is not too unusual as bangkok is HUGE and many parts of the city look like anonomous urban color conglomerate clones. but then the highway opened up from 6 lanes to 10 and i felt really like oh shit- wher i am?  then, the worst thing happened- i started seeing signs for bangkok! oh my god! where the hell am i going?  what is so frstrating about his is that i had the instinct that i was nto going in the right diretcion but could not voice my concern, ask questions, or ascertain anything.  so finally i am like stop the taxi! he is like pointing at some other taxi he has hailed over to the side of the highway.  he then tells me to get out of the cab and pay him for the hour i spent in his taxi.  that was not going to happen.  then i got in the new taxi and the dude had to stop for gas and somehow communicated to me that it was going to take 45 minutes to get where i wanted to go.  i really had no choice and was involved in the art of zen patience which took up the time i could have spent being annoyed.  i was so chilled that i even past out in cab #2 and woke myself up snoring.  oops. 

 then i get to my spa, 2 hours late for my appt.  the woman i have traveled so far to see has just begun work with another client 2 minutes beofre so i woul dhave had to wait until 6pm to see her- i was rady fo a massage right then and there however so i went with this dude who the receptionist promised was very good.  in fatc- he was pretty good, but i thikn there really is a true distinction between northern and southern styles of thai massage. the northern is much more yoga based and is really interactive and intricate- this is what i studied and am interested in.  the southern style is more about relaxation and because of this, i found the massage very sedentary and a bti boring, although good in all other aspects, fluidity, stregnth, pressure, comfort. 

 so after the massage i kind of head out fast becasue the masseuse man is like lurking around with a goofy smile on his face… i don’t know i was fresh out of interest for weirdo types at this point.  then i went to a little market and bought a super cute t-shirt for myself.  then i had to get home and and i was damn sure i didn’t want to take a taxi.  SOOO…. i oetd fro teh sky train 6 stops, transfer to the subway (first time!) for 6 stops, then i attamptd to get on a city bus- definitely my last time i try this alone, maybe the last time in general.  it is like the bus to no mans land with still air and disinterested passengers who look like the heat is creating some mounting of inner anger and frustration that feels pretty unnapealing.  so then i realized i was on the wrong bus, or the right bus but wrong avenue, or wrong bus wrong avenue (what is that game where you say rigth color wrong place, right place wrong color, wrong color wrong place, etc.? good game, i think although it doesn’t materialize that well when enacted in a trying-to-get-home-on-city-transport-in-bangkok situation).  then i got off- but the bus wouldn’t stop for a while.  then i trie dto get in a can but was promptly told to get out when i told my address.  it really doesn’t matter where i want to og.  46% of the time, the driver will not take me there.  so then i am standing on a street corner, starving, exhausted, exhasperated, and totally unconifdent in my ability to commuincate to someone where i am trying to go or in trying to convince them to take me there.  as karma would have it, the most wonderful thing happened to me at that moment. 

two older chinese guys sitting at a restauarnt on the street asked me what i was doing and where i was trying to go? i llooked at them like “okay- it’s no problem” but they saw the truth and told me to join them for dinner.  well FINE! don’t offer me free chinese food and then expect me to decline politely! but in fact they were delighted that i joined them.  one of the guys was the owner of thsi restaurant andwas so freaking rediculously cute.  he was 80 years old but looked no more than 60.  the other dude was this guy rey who must have been about 70.  he was SO NICE it hurt.  his english was better than mine and he was so funny.  he is the son of the owner of the biggest sticky rice exporter in SE asia.  did you all know that thailand exports sticky rice to japan?  now you do!  anyway he told me that mother is 102 and his father is 120! he has no brothers but 8 sisters! he tried to tell me he was 31.  i didn’t want to be rude but i asked him if it was difficult for his mother to have a child at 70 years old.  he replied, “well actualyl you know she had a lot to do taking care of all of my sisters so my father gave birth to me.”  wow.  what a great dinner.  they ordered me soup duck soup, shrimp fried rice, grilled pork with preserved vegetables which was out of this world, shrim and spinach in a sweet orange sauce, and amazingly delicios noodles with chinese kale, chicken and mushrooms. and beer.  wow it was really too good to be true.  then they called me a cab, gave the dude directions, taught me how to say turn left and turn right, and shoved cab fare in my hand as i was getting in!  it was really a very amazing moment in the life of mrs. m n noodle quest 2006 (as my pops has reminded my the blog is a little behing the times….)

 whew! that’s all for now.  tida comes to bangkok tomorow and sunday the beach!

 xoxxoxoxoxoxox wow i am so happy not to be on city transport right now!

p.s. when chinese world domination arrives in the next 30 years or so i say BRING IT ON! it will be so awesome…

This entry was posted on Friday, March 3rd, 2006 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.