I started an entry about a week ago that got lost in cyberspace. Here I will try to recreate it, but I'm not sure it was have the same effect. Mostly because the other was tinged with a heavy layer of first stage culture shock (which I was happily enjoying), and I'm pretty sure I'm on to another stage at this point.
Thailand has a lot to offer to the right person. I'm not sure I'm that person. I don't ever see myself coming back.
Firstly, I LOVE Thai food, but it has to be the spiciest food in the world. It's absolutely absurd. I've always fancied myself a pretty tolerant person of the spicy, but I'm struggling...even with Pad Thai (which, by the way, real Thai people don't really eat and is, of course, NOTHING like the Pad Thai we eat at home; it's more like Ramen noodles without the soup). I read an article that explained that Thai food is so spicy because of the hot weather. Like most hot weather places, the people adopted the practice of adding pepper to their foods to perserve them in the heat. I just can't figure out why they started adding SO MUCH pepper to the foods.
Secondly, I'm one of the biggest fans of gays. But I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the gay culture in Thailand. Because they aren't just gay, but...girls. For some reaon (there is one - hold on), there are an OUTRAGEOUS number of transexuals in Thailand. Again, I did the research. Apparently the accepting and nonjudging culture of Buddhism, which they all are, doesn't allow them to stop the practice or consider it taboo. It's the same reason (and I admit that this is a horrible comparison) that they have so many stray dogs. They don't want to do away with them for the sake of karma. They call them ladyboys, and I've seen them doing everything, but most commonly walking around the bar street in short skirts. The worst part is that most of them...don't look like girls at all.
Thirdly, what I thought would be the best, most relaxing, most pleasurable, longest, part of my vacation turned out to be quite the opposite. I left Bangkok for the beach last Friday. I arrived in the middle of a national holiday (one that I was told about but didn't even consider would ruin my plans). The island I went to is uninhabited, so no couch surfing was to be had. In fact, it's just guest houses and restaurants. Anyway, I arrived and promptly learned that everything was full...I'd met a Spanish guy in the taxi (which was really just a truck bed), and I ran into him doing the exact same thing I was doing (going from place to place without any luck). We decided to team up. We walked for about two hours before we realized we had to get some food. After eating, we were resolved to get a tent and spend the night in the "national park". As we were forlornly walking to the tent rental place, a man asked if we needed a room. We quickly accepted.
The next day was spent on the beach, where I got seriously sunburned. That was basically the end of my island vacation. I didn't want to make it worse by sitting in the sun, so I decided to cut it short and come back to Bangkok early. It was twice as expensive to spend one night there as it is in the city, and there really is nothing to do except lay on the beach and eat, so I figured it didn't make sense to stay.
I'm back in Bangkok until Sunday or so. I'm going to head to Cambodia then.
