Alright, I know you are all sick of the puns I come up with.. but honestly, would you rather I come up with one for Bangkok.. honestly… I mean, HONESTLY… just think about it… c’mon I dare ya!
I’ve finally got some photos, so check them out here. They are photos from Florence, London and Bangkok. I’m going to try putting captions on them…
So… I am just chillin’ in Rieng’s room tonight. No A/C but full internet and TV facilities. It makes WAY more sense for me to stay in here as Tee’s room has this huge bed and Reing’s only has a single… and Tee and Reing were sharing it and I had all that space… but that’s Thai hospitality for you!
Yesterday I slept late, very late… and it felt great! Then I got up… leisurely wandered around the house… eventually got on the bike and biked around the neighbourhood. I got some funny looks from the locals as I was riding with one hand on the bike and one hand holding my video camera… I don’t know what Thai is for “Stupid Farang” but I’m sure that’s what they were mumbling.
I also discovered the beauty of the Thai version of Mr. Noodles… they are awesome! Spicy and have Thai curry in them. I think Rieng’s family was slightly amused that I liked them so much… but they are cheap and packable.
After my bike ride I did some laundry and then sat down for a quick rest… two hours later I woke up to Reing returning home with two Californians – Susan and Ellen. They were both very cool. After getting sorted we all headed to a friend of Ree’s whose birthday it was. He is the manager of a Thai art museum and so the party was on the roof. We (the three North Americans) were treated like royalty and it was amazing! I actually had to get up from the table to stop them from filling my plate… and as I got up I realized they’d also been refilling my Thai whiskey and soda…
It was tough for Rieng doing all the translating, but it was good fun regardless.
I crashed after getting some valuable info from the Californian’s – as they have just come from the south and that’s where I’ll be heading. They told me of some amazing places to go. A couple of the places were good for camping, so I’ve decided to make the plung and buy a cheap tent. I was told I can get a cheap one for under 1000 bhat… and it should save me at least that much in guest house costs.
I woke up this morning… and thankfully Saturdays are lazy days for Thais… so we just lounged around for the morning and in the afternoon Tee wanted to take me to a market and on a boat tour of a local river. It was awesome. The market is just loaded with every type of food you can imagine. Fish, beef, pork, chicken, duck, rice, desserts, fruit, fruit and more fruit… I LOVE THAI FRUIT!!! Especially Jack Fruit.. not sure if that’s actually how it is spelt.. but my god is it good! We got on this double-decker boat and proceeded up the river. It was great, couldn’t understand a word the tour guide said, but I was granted good luck from Buddha when we fed these monsterous fish a loaf of bread in front of a temple (wat).
We got home and slept (lots of sleeping on hot Saturdays! I love it!). Then Ree and Tee (keep in mind these are not they’re “real” names, just sort of short-nicknames) made a big dinner for us. It was, as per usual, delicious (Arawy). Oh yeah, I’m learning all kinds of Thai. My brain is no cluster of khao niaw (sticky rice… see what I did there.. creative eh!?) … but meh.. we’ll see.
Tomorrow Rieng and I are going to head to central Bangkok (as I was reminded today, I AM actually still in Bangkok…) and see if we can track me down a tent and a guitar.
I think tomorrow will be my last night at Rieng’s as I am getting itchy feet to see Chiang Mai and the north – plus I don’t want to over stay my welcome (See, I may have already done that, but Thai people have a saying – Mai Pen Rai – which means “don’t worry”… and I was taught today that even if you do something wrong or make someone angry, they just say, “Mai pen rai” and hold it inside… ah Buddhists.
Ok… well… I’m out… (oh Cass e-mailed me today and said she missed me… [blushes]… damnit, why am I such a little school girl when it comes to stuff like this??… oh and why is she SOOOOO far away… I told her I’d sell myself on the streets of Phuket to dirty old Chinese men if it meant she could afford to come here… I’m still awaiting a solid confirmation. And in matters such as this, one NEEDS solid confirmation).
Peace
PS: Tell me this guy didn’t buy a thesaurus and want to sound pretentious. – Thanks to Allison for pointing me to the site:
Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks!, Ileana Pietrobruno’s triumph of mid-vaginal modernism masterfully confronts the surreal nature of societal attitudes towards the female body. Beautifully shot at Riverview Hospital (formerly an insane asylum), the film follows the journey of Scheherazade, a young model attempting to insulate herself from paternalistic and sinister medicalization throught the re-telling of tabloid tales. Replete with lesbians, anorexics, necrophillic undertones and a deluge of menstrual blood, Pietrobruno’s febrile fable contains enough raw passion to ignite the sensiblities of even the most faded feminists.
Now rush out and rent it…
