Leaving the comfort of the tour in a private car to the airport, I take off in the evening for Bangkok. It was only a short flight over the border so I was soon on my way to the hostel in the tourist center, near Khao San road. It was Saturday night and chaos reins in that neck of the city. I stayed at Nap Park hostel, so shivvered in aircon blasted but lovely and comfortable room within an hour of arriving.
The next morning, I wandered the streets that have been swept but still reek of beer and smoke,in search of replacement fake sunnies. I cleaned up all my things and jumped in a cab to the real city center, where I stayed with a friend I met in Dali, Rob. He cooked his lovely girlfriend Helen and I some 5 star quality breakfast, and I made Vietnamese coffee. Excellent start to the day.
Then I was taken to the Brittish Club where beer and football command. The company was delightfully hilarious, and tropical rainfall cut short the tournament but we managed to drink plenty and laugh our way home to get ready for dinner, more beer and footbal on telly at Helens house. Again the people were super friendly brits, excellent food with snatches of conversation in between tense eyes on the game, I was snoozing on the couch before midnight.
The next day I wandered for a while, then back to the house to discover a friend of Robs who I also met in Dali was there. Names forgotten, didn't stop us from having a good old catchup. I went for a lovely swim in the complex pool (hehe) then we went out on a mission for Tricky to buy some 'tut' from a huge market across town. On the metro and through malls, we are engulfed in teeshirts and clothes and souvenirs, endless stalls of stuff. Tricky was on a mission.
Hours later we returned home defeated by traffic and tut - the very English word for stuff. Market dinner and to crazy Khao san for drinks with more brits known to Tricky and Rob. Talking loads and overwhelmed by the environment, it was a very late one. The next morning I went in search of the Starbucks Pie I heard tales of. First pie since May last year in NZ, yum!
In the eve I caught a flight to Chiang Rai in the north, a place I fell for years ago, and on my return, even lacking the familiar faces, I find my photo on the wall and friendly people to chat away the night with. Today I am on a mission to get study done so I can enjoy my evening again in this peaceful place.
