Life In BKK

I decided to come to Bangkok on Sunday. My room in Kanchanaburi was not airconditioned and the 103+ days did not look like they were coming to a cooler conclusion. When I left the Apple Guesthouse, there was not a pedicab or a tuk tuk out front, but I knew once I started walking a ride would appear! A mototaxi stopped and told me he would take me. I pointed to my suitcase--he pointed to how he would rest it on the frame of his bike and balance it between his arms as he drove. Off we went! The city center is about 6 or so km away from where I stayed, and it was my first time seeing the center to know there is quite a big town to Kanchanaburi!
Buses leave frequently, and once inside the station I was pointed the way to the ticket booth and sold a ticket for a bus that said "old road" on the outside. I should have followed my gut feeling and gone back to get a VIP/ one stop ticket, but at the moment I had that "what the heck" feeling. About 3 hours into the ride and after stopping at every person waving at the side of the road, I was questioning my sanity and wondering if I would find a room on my favorite street as it was now close to mid afternoon. But no changing things at that point! Once out of the bus, a taxi took me to the favorite "Soi" (small side road off of the busy mammoth artery with highways, the skytrain and busy city roads ) and I started in with the walking and the asking (my three tries on the phone the night before were of no success and all ended with "full"). My second try was the White Lodge (where Rick and I stayed) and when I walked in the woman who runs the place (a personable but no nonsese mix of the "I Love Lucy" character and a little "momma mafia" thrown in) looked up and handed me the key to Rick's former room. Great!! Air con as well! I have breakfast next door at the Reno Hotel and get a chance to catch up on the news in Thailand with the Bangkok Post. Next to me on the table, as I read the paper in the lobby, is always a bowl with fresh flowers. The Thai have this so often. The flowers are sometimes made into designs with different colors, and the flowers are always fresh.

I decided that I wanted to go to the movies while here, and I now have been to THREE of them! My first one, "Mr. Bean's Holiday", a comical story about a trip to Cannes; the second, "The Good Shepard", about a company man with the CIA; and the third, "Copying Beethoven" about a woman who copied Beethoven's music. It is a little different experience here. The REALLY posh theatre, which I wanted to try once, was about $13. You get a HUGE posh chair with a pillow and blanket, and some snacks before the man shows you to the seat you have picked. Nice, but not worth the money! The second ones were only $3--much more reasonable! I always must pick a seat from a chart, kind of like going to a concert. At the beginning there is a short clip and all must rise to honor the king before seeing each movie. ALL movies were in English!! I will say it was a nice respite from the constant rush of traffic and noise of the city and it was COOL!! It was a bit strange to be listening to people speaking English that long!

I have also explored the shopping malls around here--another cool place! I wanted to look in the bookstores and see what they had on teaching English. I plan to go back to Kanchanaburi at the end of the month as I was asked to teach English to the tour guides and a few other people from the Apple Gueshouse. I will get to have a base for my last month, get to know some people a little better and try out my new skill of teaching English. So when asked, my answer was "yes".

Also, I have gotten a massage each day. I found a series of three places here on a street in the shopping area. The first day, I got a massage from the Marble House and Issey, but I just could not bring myself to go to the one that was called Miss Puke (though I am sure in Thai it means something wonderful! but beside that they advertise pedicures and manicures and I want a place that JUST does massages). Yesterday I got a 2 hour massage at Issey and will head there today after I finish the blog. (It is a long tiring task to get all this done--and one must have rewards!!)

I decided to go on from here to the island of Ko Yao Noi--off the coast of Phuket--and will fly down tomorrow. My book says that it is a small and not too busy island, but I just read in the Bangkok Post today that because of the coup with the goverment, they have stopped the building of some of the million+ baht places that are going up! This will be a new island for me, and I thought I ought to try a new one. There is a sister island to this one that is even quieter, so I could amble over to that one before meeting Paulo. Anyway, it will be quieter than Bangkok, which at any moment as you walk outside, you are usually listening to at least TWO loud music soundtracks coming from a public speaker and some shop or another. Usually at LEAST one of these is in English, if not both. When I was waiting for the movie to start yesterday evening, I was listening to Elvis (thinking of my friends Andrew and Dawn!) and other favorites from the fifties! I could have sat right there and enjoyed the music if they would have had a comfy little lounge chair for me to sit on while I read my book and had some of the movie popcorn!