Woohoo! Today was my first full day. Got up at 6:30 AM and will be going to be around midnight. No naps!
After I got cleaned up I took the Skytrain and riverboat to the Tha Thien (N8) dock and camped there waiting for Wat Arun to light up. While waiting I took a group photo for a guy at least 60 who was touting no less than three Thai women on his arm. I half expected a film crew to be following them for Thailand's version of "The Girls Next Door" before I reminded myself there was no way the guy is 80+ years old like Hef is.
Anyway, my patience paid off as I got a got a great shot. Afterwards I walked past Wat Pho (going inside there tomorrow) and the walls of the Grand Palace and as I kept seeing cool things to photograph in the distance I kept walking and walking.
Met a Thai guy named Mr. Chai (?) who says he teaches history at a university in Thailand. He told me there would be fireworks at the monument at 11:00 PM but I didn't stick around for them. He wants me to meet him tomorrow but I'm not going to... he is probably trying to rip me off somehow. I asked him if I could just give him my email and he said no, that he doesn't use it... but wouldn't a university professor need to use it? I dunno, things could just be different over here.
Dinner was hilarious- will talk about it tomorrow, I'm starting to fall asleep. Night.
January 31, 5:22 AM TT
Can't sleep, woke up at 5 am and even though I'm tired I don't think I can fall back asleep.. too much on my mind.
Ok, so dinner last night was at this Thai Fusion place down the street from my hotel. From the street it looked like a tiny little place that could seat maybe 20 people. I go inside and seating is for 200 people- huge place. Opened up to a nice moody courtyard. I ask to sit outside since it is a pretty nice night. Turns out that wasn't the best choice.
They sit me down next to this pretty tree and shrine (Buddhist shrines crack me up- they usually have toys and food and drink as offerings. I respect their beliefs, I just haven't ever seen this before so it is still a novelty for me. In Ayutthaya, I saw a plate with a sandwich and fries on it, and an open bottle of coke with the straw sticking out of the top. It's just very new to me! haha) and the shrine has these plastic swords and other knick nack toys that you'd buy at a drugstore. So I'm sitting in this nice fancy place next to a table of really cheap toys.
Ok I thought that was funny, maybe you had to have been there, haha. Anyway, the reason it was a bad idea to sit outside was the mosquitos. I haven't been bitten by any yet (and no sunburn either!) and I didn't even notice any bugs until a waitress brings out a little bottle of lemongrass oil to spray on. She says something to me something that sounded like "unknown unknown moh keet oh." I was trying to piece together the unknown parts of her sentence when a mosquito landed on my arm and I figured it out.
So I try using the bottle she brought out and it doesn't work... a little tiny spray comes out every 20 times I press the squirter. So I ask her if I can have another one and try telling her the one she gave me doesn't work. Imagine how mortified I was when she picks it up and gets like 5 perfect sprays out of it in a row and says with an "I pity your stupidity" tone in her voice "you...you have to press down on it." So she hands it back toand it's broken again. So I try showing her that, hand it back to her, and know it won't work for her either.
Then she brings out this thing that looks like a badmitten (spelling?) racquet and waves it under the table and I hear like 20 electrical pops- turns out it's an electrified bug killer thing. I had seen lots of people carrying these things around Bangkok and just assumed Thai people always want to be prepared in case they're involved in an impromptu game of street-badmitten.
Well the spray and the wand weren't good enough apparently because they they bring out this pretty big circular fan and aim it at me to keep the bugs away. There's no way I'd ever be unhappy about a fan being pointed at me here though, feels great no matter what time of day it is (had dinner at 10PM).
Wow I've written two pages without even saying anything about the food. I'm sorry!
Anyway, so like I said it's a Thai fusion restaurant. I like fusion restaurants because when you say "Yeah I ate at X, it's a Y fusion restaurant" you can't help but feel cool. Same thing with bistros.
I got a rack of lamb in spicy mango sauce with fried noodles mixed with spicy vegetables. I was originally planning to go cheap for dinner and spend 120 baht on "green beans + shrimp" but the lamb sounded really good so I got that instead. It was a little over 4 times as much haha. Whoops. Had some beer called "Sing-ha" which is pretty good- a lot better than Chang.
After I ordered they brought a little plate and said "Chef's compliments." Boy did I feel special! I don't know what they were, but they were delicious. Two little things of vegetables and sauce wrapped and friend in some lightly crispy shell + tied off w/crispy noodles. Ok now my stomach is grumbling. (update: I just ate breakfast and after typing that, my stomach started growling again -_-) I gotta get out of bed soon lol.
Forgot to mention last night about the canal picture I took. So there are the canals that run through the city and some are used as transportation and others I'm not so sure what they're for. I know a long time ago canals were builty around the city as a defense mechanism so perhaps they are remnants of that?
Well the Thai people treat some of these canals as trash cans. You see a lot of garbage floating in some of them. A lot of people have their back porches right on the edge of these canals. When I was walking last night I saw this really cool scene and snapped probably the "moodiest" picture I've ever taken. The lighting on the scene is just crazy. It looks great straight out of camera and with no editing.
While walking to dinner last night a bunch of ladies asked me if I wanted a Thai massage. I actually had been planning on getting one this morning so when I told them "tmoorrow" I meant it. One of the ladies made me pinky swear haha.
I don't think I've stopped smiling since I got here. Thai people like it when you smile haha. I probably looked ridiculous lat night walking through some random Thai neighborhood with a huge shit-eating grin on my face taking pictures.
I definitely don't fit in a Thai 'small' t-shirt. Well I was able to put it on, but it seriously took me 2 minutes to take it off. I was about to go all Hulk Hogan on it and "RAARRRHGHGH" rip it in two but it's brand new. :-( Going to give it to David and if he doesn't fit in it, going to give it to an 8 year old.
Had the hotel do some laundry for me. Thought it would be around $5, was over $20! Going to take a few things I need washed to a place across the street today. (update: no I'm not, too lazy) Ok, breakfast time, bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment