We've been hanging around these neighborhoods that are removed enough from the major roads that they're relatively quiet. Our guesthouse is here. It's a lot of small streets and narrow alleys. Glass bottle shards line the top of high walls, beaming brown and green in the sun.
Dogs and cats mope around, ignored. A business, whose sign we can't read, presents only darkness, trash, and a narrow hallway in the back of the room. We wonder what goes on in these places.
The street gets covered with water, and Thais push the water around with brooms. They're always doing that. Mike thinks it's to keep mosquitos from breeding in standing water.
My favorite thing I've seen: A house on this milk-mud canal, floating or something, and there are floating stepping stones connecting the doorway to the canal bridge.
We've been eating almost exclusively from street vendors. We point to something and say in Thai, "How much?" or point to something strange and ask "What is this?" I don't know why I continue to ask this question because I never understand the response. But today I bought a drink and asked, "Ni a rai?" and to show me, she pulled some dirty crushed flowers out of the trash. It was a great drink. I'd say something more specific about my diet, but most of it is a mystery to me.
On traffic: Imagine a stampede of animals, all different kinds of animals, running away from a tornado in the east. They're trapped in this narrow canyon. Then imagine another stampede of animals, who don't even care about tornadoes, running from a terrorist in the west. Then imagine some smaller animals who have to traverse the stampedes' path at the point where they criscross. That's kind of like an understatement of what it's like to cross the street in Bangkok, where there's more yelling.
I still don't sleep much. I think it's because every time I get close, I hear myself screaming on a jumbo screen in the back of my mind, "You're in fucking Asia!" No real point in playing it cool, I guess. Same same.
Thai words of the day
a loi -- delicious
yim soi la -- beautiful smile
phone -- rain (Thanks, Phone)
2 comments:
I.
I like your Thai words of the day thing. I used some of those in a sentence today. My editor was not amused.
II.
Remember that cover of the Beatles' "Come Together" that we heard on South Beach? It was done by Aerosmith. I had to find out.
III.
Hope to keep reading your blog, which I still not given me proper credit for reminding you that Thailand used to be called Siam.
Remember me?? I like your website so much.i think its helpful for foreginer who want to know about the place to travel in Thailand.
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