Land of Smiles

I woke up feeling 100% better. Yeah for Cipro. My stomach way feeling fine, I ate a big bowl of cereal and a banana for breakfast. My cough is easing up. I stopped smoking for the last week because of the cold and it was pretty easy, but all of a sudden I am craving cigarettes, I guess because they won’t make me miserable. I took the series of busses back to the airport and it was very easy.

I haven’t been in Bangkok for 17 years. I remember being kinda bored as all it offered a kid my age was temples and shopping. But I do remember it having my favorite street food ever, huge barbequed squid. Flying over Malaysia you see endless palm oil plantations in every direction. Flying over Thailand it’s rice paddies as far as you can see. From the airport and around town it is shocking to see how many western tourists there are here. This is definitely not off the beaten path. I got to my hotel after a long bus ride, in which I was able to write more blog. The hostel is unimpressive, but I want the adventure of traveling on the cheap. Actually, it’s sort of a requirement at this time as my money is fast running out.

I got in late enough that the only thing I would have time to do is the night market. The night market is a massive tourist trap, literally hundreds of stalls packed into a massive space. If you see something you like and walk away, you’ll never find that stall again. They all pretty much sell the same crap. I don’t get those t-shirts with obnoxious writing on them like, “fuck off I have enough friends.” Who wears these? The hawkers here are worse than the mosquitoes in Borneo. If you make eye contact with someone’s merchandise, they swoop in and hassle you to buy something. Everything is really cheap, price reflecting quality, but you still feel ripped off after every exchange, because you never know how much it would have cost someone who knew how to bargain. I walked past a scarf seller and she invited me to look at her wares. So, to be polite I touched a scarf and she instantly stood up from her chair and told me how good it is, and that she’ll give me a special price. So I said I’m not interested, I’m just looking around. Se quoted a price and I said no thank you. She then invited me to quote what I thought it was worth, and I did. She looked horrified and lowered her offer. I insisted I was not interested, this went on for a few rounds until she offered it to me for what I said I thought it was worth, but I really didn’t want it so I started walking away. She called me a bad person. Why do that?

I found the squid I liked :-)

Getting home cost a lot more than getting to the market. When I got I got in the cab on the way to the market, the guy put on the meter. On the way back everyone refused and I went through the bargaining process hoping to get a ride for about 3 times what I paid, but no luck. I tried a dozen cars and nothing. Finally I got on the back of a motorcycle for only double what I paid a metered car.