March 29.30.31, 2009
Ah to be back in Bangkok. Oddly enough, since we have been in Bangkok a number of times, it feels like we are coming home. Booked in to the same hostel we know how to get around the city and what things cost. There is also nothing like Bangkok air. Once you taste it nothing else tastes the same.
At the airport, where we first arrived in Asia at midnight a month ago, we relax while waiting for the express bus to the area that our hostel is in. We grin watching backpackers from all over the world try to figure out which bus to take to where. Every now and then it is nice to be smug.
For two and half days we do not do much. We went to two of Bangkok’s famed shopping malls. One of them was very high end with white coated doormen and the other was best described as a giant street market crammed into a six storey mall. Both had massive food courts and movie theatres. The Department store at each had large numbers of staff who basically shadow your every move hoping to get the commission from the sale. If you happen to be my age it is somewhat unnerving to buy a pair of underwear with three young Thai women trying to show you samples of everything that you look at.
Went to a movie in a huge theatre with the best seats I have ever seen. (In Thailand and Malaysia, by the way, they sell you a specific seat even if there is nobody else in the theatre.) Of course, at the beginning of the movie we had to stand for a video of the King while the national anthem played. Good video too. Made Ghandi look like some kind of scumbag in comparison.
Had two late night discussions with a very interesting group of travellers. There was the retired English professor of psychology (neo-Freudian but I tried not to hold that against him), the snake biologist from Australia, the farmer’s son from India, the would-be English teacher from Ireland and any number of others who dropped in and dropped out as the night went on. Of course, the depth of the discussion seemed to vary in direct proportion to the number of Chang beers that were consumed. Nevertheless, I think we would have stood a fair chance of solving the world’s problems if we had a few more nights. If any of them read this – thanks. It was one of the more outstanding times that I had on our travels.
On March 31 we bid farewell to Bangkok, and SE Asia, and got on the 11:35 pm flight to Turkey. We were sad to go.
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