So after leaving the UAE after a beer by Lee's pool it was 'Khalas' and off to Dubai to catch the plane to Thailand. My feelings during the flight was one of indifference really. I had no idea what to expect, I was going and there was no point building up any expectations. If it turns out to be 's**t' then I'm sure I'll adapt and it will at least be 'ok'!
After 8 months in the UAE I was glad to be getting away from the Emirate men. I remember standing at Passport Control at Dubai airport, looking at yet another emirate in his white dish-dash playing with his Blackberry while he's supposed to be working, with a vague sense of hate. I've had enough of their arrogance for a good while.
But lo and behold I sit down on the plane and I am surrounded by young emirate men going on holiday to Thailand. I had to witness one of them making fun of the Thai stewardess because she couldn't say 'apple' properly. I don't think she picked up on it but she definitely picked up on the fact that he was an undesirable. I couldn't wait to get to Bangkok airport and hopefully not see another Emirate in shorts, collared t-shirt, aviator shades and Blackberry, for at least another 2 months.
Getting a taxi straight to Ko San Road (or however you say it), I tried my best not to look confused and disorientated when walking down it, to keep the hasslers at bay. It was only 8am so it was nice and quiet. I think by now it will probably be quite busy.
My first 'people' encounter was when I asked a random white guy where I could find a bookshop. He must have been quite keen for company because he showed me where it was, we went for breakfast and talked about Thailand, lady-boys (it's the hands that they can't change - look for the big hands). My Thai breakfast was fried eggs, bacon and tea.
Dayle's a canadian man in his 50's, two sons. He gets over 2 grand a month pension so he comes to Thailand every year for the hell of it. If you're reading this and you've got any suspicions about a balding, overweight man in his 50's going to Thailand every year, then yes you're probably right, but he's a nice guy anyway. After a while I wanted to politely part company so I made my excuses and came to this internet cafe to find some accomodation.
Bangkok so far has been nice, although I've only seen it early morning so far. Maybe when I walk back to Ko San Road shortly, it will be rammed. I thought it would be total chaos, on a par with Marrakech, but it's much more ordered and much cleaner. It's got quite a laid-back atmosphere about it, despite the business.
I might go and see something later, like the massive buddha, or take a boat trip on the river, don't know. I'm starting to see a benefit of travelling on your own in that you can decide when to sit down and when to move! 3 weeks ago when I booked the flights, I thought I would get here and be immediately consumed by intense and overwhelming feelings of loss and loneliness, but it's been far from that so far. So far it's been quite nice and I'm feeling quite liberated and optimistic about the trip. I'm not going to build up any expectations though, just take things as they come.
I keep wanting to say arabic things to the locals too i.e. 'they can't speak english, therefore speak arabic'.
It's a bit cooler here but more humid. Quite nice actually. It's nice to see women in normal clothes and I've also seen a few Bangkok casualties already, wandering around the streets, clearly not been to bed yet.
I can't promise writing anything more on this blog. I'm actually going to try and ween myself off the internet a bit on this trip.
