taking the long way home. almost to the finish line.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

i found myself inspired by what you might call an extreme amount of free time on my hands and wandered on down to the cafe to write a little bit to you guys. i have been in thailand for almost three weeks now and have really gotten to sink my teeth into it, so to speak.
i started out by doing a bit of the bangkok tour with andrea and tao, my companions from the airport bus.



we mostly walked around looking at temples until we thought that there was a distinct possibility that our feet might fall off.



after a sufficiency of temples, we gave in and took the quintessential form of thai transport: the tuk tuk. a tuk tuk is like a motorized rickshaw and they are everywhere in bangkok. we took our new favorite taxi to go shopping. it seems that the a number one thing to do in bangkok is shop; buying cheap, fake name brand clothing at ludicrously low prices. so, we hit all the markets in town. we hit tourist markets, so-called local markets, night markets and even flower markets. the flower market was one of my favorites with millions and millions of flowers for sale on the sidewalks. you could hardly walk, for dodging the orchids and jasmine.



on returning from the night market, we decided to hit china town for dinner. we didnt quite know where we were and we decided to ask a group of emergency workers how we might best walk there. what happened next was either due to boredom, lack of shared language or extreme generosity. most likely it was a bit of all three. but before we knew it we were loaded into the back of their pickup truck, zipping along through the bangkok traffic on our way to china town. they turned on their flashing lights, pulled over to the corner and loaded us out again, disappearing and leaving us on a row of restaurants that looked suspiciously like any china town i have ever been to. maybe china just looks like that? so while i am on the subject of food, i should say that i misspoke earlier when i said that shopping was the national pasttime. it is most definitely and for sure trumped by eating. the first thing i noticed (to my ashamed delight) was the abundance of 7-11s. for the first time in years i am back in the land of slurpees, which to be sure was going to be the first thing i had upon touching back down at home. now i just dont know what it will be. but besides the overwhelming presence of western food chains there is also just food everywhere. on every streed there is pad thai, noodle soup, curry and so on. just food stalls everywhere.


you can buy any kind of food on a stick here. pork, hotdogs, fish, fruit, squid...

and alongside those wonderful thai dishes you all might know and love there are also a few that i havent quite gotten up the nerve to try.


look very closely.


or how about these guys?

but seriously. the noodle soup here is dangerously spicy and delicious. and though we dont speak the same language, my breakfast soup lady and i have the special sort of "soup in the morning" bond that allows us to give each other a knowing nod and bow whenever we see each other.
moving on. no more food talk. so i did the intro bangkok tour and then headed down south to the islands for the infamous full moon party. the island i stayed on was, of course beautiful, but too westernized and expensive for my tastes. kind of like eternal spring break. so i was lame and divided my time between watching movies in the air conditioned sweetness of my room and exploring the island by scooter. they drive on the left here... but so far no major incidents. the full moon party (which strangely fell about three days after the actual full moon) involved taking a speed boat to another island and basically partying on the beach until sunrise. i was doubtful as to the prospects of my having much fun as a loner in the middle of a party where everyone seemed to be having their fair share of "buckets," a delightful cocktail of coke, red bull (the real thai version... ouch) and cheap local whiskey, served, you guessed it, in a bucket. like a child's play bucket. classy classy beverage. so i was standing there wondering how on earth i would make it till three o clock (am) when the speedboats started back to my island when two thai girls swooped down on me, slathered me with dayglo paint and insisted that i join their group because i looked like i needed to dance, apparently.


mai


ling

so i hung out with their group watching the fire dancers and the tens of thousands of people who were just trashing this beach in celebration of the full moon and nature.

party over, i headed up to the infamous bridge on the river kwai. the town itself was quite cute and i rented another scooter for exploring the surrounding jungle. the bridge was nothing too spectactular, but i walked back and forth across it several times trying to soak up the ambience and depth of it all. once i was saturated it was back to bangkok for one last rally. and that is where i am now. my return back to bangkok was full of shopping with andrea (italian boy from airport bus). he was headed back home and needed to find some souveniers. next we knew we were sitting in one of bangkok's tattoo parlours (of which there are hundreds). i will let you guys guess if i got one or not.

i started my stay here in a quaint little one room, very charming, really.



but deciding the luxury in which i found myself was too great, i traded in my bed in a room for a bunk bed in a room of 8 people. it was, after all, cheaper. and what greater glory is there for a traveler than to tell people about your perfectly terrible, but cheap lodgings complete with cold shower and shared bathroom. half of the fun is in convincing them that any rational person would be delighted in such a room. you simply dont need any more than that. and besides, who is spending any of their travel time in their room anyway? but secretly you hope that they will take pity and insist that you take their room at the hilton for just one night...

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

it was so nice to see your beautiful face!!!! i miss you. have a slurpee for me two. love you jenn

7:37 PM

 
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10:15 AM

 

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