thaidayone

i woke up in Bangkok this morning, which is about the most unusual place yet. i realize i still have to get an electrical adapter, and my hunt for the puma store was in vain as well, although my shoes are displayed on park benches and signs around the city.

getting here was really no problem. once we landed in Bangkok, the first thing i heard was Kansas on the airplane pa system. the heat hit like a joke stepping off the plane; i kept waiting for it to stop, but it kept rolling on. a 30 minute ride to the hotel, zombie-like in my exhaustion, i went down a little after midnight.

my Colleague rang me three or four times this morning before i could muster the strength to get out of bed. 11:00 found me with a cup of instant Nescafe and a clif bar in the hotel lobby, trying to shake cvs brand sleep aid from my head. 60 baht for a cup of coffee, and i still didn’t know the conversion rate. on a mission to cash a traveller’s checque, we walked through the lobby, perfumed heavily with lemongrass oil, and out into the street. hot and muggy, god yes, but not unbearable. the stench of garbage and frying meat hangs in the air, streetside vendors hound us to buy suitcases, dresses, blouses, suits, crippled men cling to the corners of buildings, begging for change. after returning to the hotel for my passport to cash a checque, 1 USD to 37.58 Baht,  we took a train to the siam center. it teemed with shoppers, lacoste stores, booming dj voices over the pa system, and nary a puma store in sight. hot, gritty, and starting to get hungry, we made our way back toward the hotel and stopped at a luncheon counter for dejeuner. i sat next to a brit eating a club sandwich and a cup of coffee, enjoying my own green curry and iced coffee, feeling a little easier about being in Bangkok.

i stopped into a spa and massage parlor across the street from our hotel after getting a good recommendation from the Colleague. being that i am in the land of the Hand Job, i have no desire to pay some poor girl to put her hands down my pants. i just want to work a 24 hour plane trip out of my back. an hour and an expensive 600 baht (less than 20 USD), i picked my way back to the hotel. so here i sit. writing with arms and hands like jelly from an hour-long royal thai massage. in Thailand.