So… I have not been all that great with the LJ entries lately. I can only blame it on being more conservative with my money – I was in London and pounds aren’t cheap! Here, Bangkok, it’s cheaper though… hell, who am I kidding, everything is cheaper here!
I left Florence Saturday morning and spent the day travelling to London. All went well and Maryann was home to greet me when I arrived at her flat, which is always a nice touch. It was awesome to see her and her flatmates again. It’s sort of bizarre how you happen upon people you just really get along with, and Maryann is definitely one of those people – we have similar tastes in books and movies and just all sorts of areas. It was sad to have to leave after only three days…
The other thing that made it sad to leave was a met the most amazing girl. I’m not going to go on and on and on on here (that was a lot of ons) about her, as it would likely just creep her out and make me feel the fool… but those of you that read this and have known me for some time know how much of a dream coming to Thailand is for me. It has been the feature of the majority of my vocalizations in the past three to four years… yet saying goodbye to her at the airport was, I think, the hardest thing I’ve had to do this trip – well that and getting used to the occasional shower without hot water… that was tough too. Oh and using toilets without toilet seats… but the airport thing, that was definitely top five.
Alright, so I know you’re all wondering about her, so here are just a couple of things…
Cass – from Tasmania – freckles that she says she hates, but really are just the cutest thing – has trouble pronouncing “no” and “turret” – has a similar appreciation for the post-post modernist doorway art as me – thinks I’m stark raving mad – lives too many thousands of kilometers away.
She is the sister of Maryann’s friend from back home, who like me found herself in London on Saturday without any money. Maryann gave both of us a place to stay and we ended up sharing the livingroom, her on the couch and me on a matress on the floor… and so was set the stage for three nights FULL of chat. We did a touristy walk of London on Monday and went to the Tate Modern where we appreciated the better pieces and laughed at the shite ones.
She came with me to the airport yesterday to see me off and when my flight got changed she said she’d stay a bit longer to keep me company. Though she said she couldn’t stay the full four hours of my delay… I nearly missed my check-in time because saying goodbye was not an easy thing to do.
Alright, so I said I wasn’t going to go on and on about her.. and I think I failed and she’s probably thinking I’m creepy (But Cass, you did say you were going to stalk me.. and that was creepy… so remember that!)… but well.. she really is quite cool and I miss her.
“How many gallery curators does it take to change a lightbulb? Three.”
SOOOOOOOOOOOO… enough sappy crap. I’m in Thailand for god’s sake! I got here at like 8:30 a.m. this morning…. but this crazy country sets all their clocks ahead… so it was actually 3:30 p.m. I took a bus from the airport and landed on Khao San Rd. (sorta the backpacker’s mecca) at about 5:30 or so. I have a GFLer to stay with, but hooking up proved a bit of a problem, so I decided to just find accomm. on the strip here… I really dig that everything is cheap. I have a room all to myself with a fan (no a/c, sigh) for a whole 150 Thai Bhat… which works out to about $5 Canadian. I then went out and grabbed myself a pair of flip flops for 380 bhat and a dish of pad thai for a whole 10 bhat… !! That’s not even $0.50! Tack on a big bottle of water for 5 more bhat.. and I was set.
Tomorrow I am going to track down Rieng – I am staying with her and her family to get the real “Thai culture” experience… I can’t wait. She lives a little bit out of the way.. but honestly, I am in Thailand, how much further out of the way could I get?
Alright, a few things I’ve learned since arriving in Thailand a few hours ago:
1) Tuk-tuk/taxi drivers are soliciting more types of “rides” than just in their cabs.
2) It’s not so much the heat, it’s the humidity! It is hot, damn hot.
3) My entire trip I’ve been searching for hot showers, here, cold is good.
4) Only one temperature of water comes out of the tap… luke warm.
5) The basin of water with the bowl beside the toilet is to pour water into the toilet to flush it… search as you might… there is no flusher – or toilet paper.
6) Nella is an amazing step-mom who really thought ahead when she gave me that travel toilet paper.
7) Waking up to a large bug flying into your room is more likely a symptom of jetlag than reality… and should be ignored.
8) Thai people really are extremely friendly and full of smiles for the most part.
9) There about a thousand backpackers around me and I’ve not talked to any of them – antisocial buggers.
10) The pad thai on the street is not as good as Salha Thai… but for 1/30th of the price.. I can make exceptions.
Well, that’s all for now my faithful readers… and I hope Buddha is smiling on you as he is on me… I mean it.. there’s this little shrine right next to me..
peace.
Sail Away – David Gray
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now
Crazy skies all wild above me now
Winter howling at my face
And everything I held so dear
Disappeared without a trace
Oh all the times I’ve tasted love
Never knew quite what I had
Little Darling if you hear me now
Never needed you so bad
Spinning round inside my head
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now
I’ve been talking drunken gibberish
I’ve been puching at the bars
Trying to find some explanation here
For the way some people are
How did it ever come so far
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now
Sail away with me honey
I put my heart in your hands
Sail away with me honey now, now, now
Sail away with me
What will be will be
I wanna hold you now…
