"My friend asked me, what was the weirdest thing that happened to you in Bangkok? And I told her, it was Yasmine's boyfriend Lian-Yi and the things that came out of his mouth."
-- June
It was pretending to be Prathisap, the sex slave boy to Mr. Klaus the German paedophile who wears bermudas with socks.
Forcing June to watch while I spread anti-perspirant on Lianyi's armpits.
It was meeting tuk-tuk drivers who reminded us of the credit card commercial. And then cradling Uma's thigh against my chest in a tuk-tuk overcrowded with six Singaporeans high on Wonderwall and Take Me Out.
It was singing to each other random snatches of Franz Ferdinand, Maximo Park, Oasis and Snow Patrol, and being called "disgusting" by Reza and a "freak" by June.
Trying to figure out how they make fried rice taste so good.
"I love America. No matter where you are, the moment you see a McDonald's, you know you're safe."
It was marvelling at other people's hair, which were always way cooler than ours. Thinking about streaks and braids and dreadlocks but being too pussy.
Walking past bars where you can see pussies shooting ping pong balls if you like that sort of thing, which we were again too pussy to find out.
Smoking all the fucking time, the whole lot of you.
And the case of the mysterious underpants.
It was when Liam said hello to us, specifically to us!
Or when Alex unbuttoned his shirt.
When Paul from Maximo Park clutched at his heart so passionately when he sang about disappointment that we had to stand up and cheer.
Even better than Thaksin driving past us with his whole cavalcade.
Stealing short bursts of sleep anytime we could, just enough to get up and go see more of Bangkok. And never getting enough sleep. It was a holiday that made us more tired.
Oh, and of course it was the farangs all around providing so much fodder for complaints, conversation and condescension.
Wanting to score some pot from farangs but overdosing on dimenhydrinate instead, because I'm such a fucking idiot.
Feet aching, aching so much they've never ached like that before in our lives and no amount of massaging could relieve the pain.
It was walking in circles within Chatuchak for two hours so that you promise yourself you'll get a map next time.
It was wondering how people could live in that city, and coming back to wonder how we could live in this city.
