Back in Bangkok
After 2 years, I’m back in Bangkok… and it’s everything I remember… and humider… <—i don’t even think that’s a word… the air is a mix of ocean, food, and pollution… but it feels familiar… and in a strange way, even comfortable… maybe because I’ve been here once before… maybe because I’m not on the plane anymore…
It seems that every trip I come across an obnoxious American traveller… this time it was a “United Mechanic” who was so proud that the stewardess was going to give him a free beer because he worked for an alliance airline… he was feeling quite special until he found out everyone got free beer on ANA…
Time moves pretty quick when you’re flying… i managed to catch up on a few tv shows and watch 5 movies… personal entertainment centers are the bomb…diggidy…
In any case… it’s been a ridiculously long travel day, and I though it’s only 1am here, so I should be up for another few hours?
And.... done
It’s 1:30 am …. 6 1/2 hours before my flight home… 3 before I have to wake up again. I spent today shopping… yes, shopping… mostly Christmas presents and souvenirs… i’m getting good at bargaining… or “Chinese Womaning”... It helps to know what prices should be… If I had known 5 weeks ago, I’d be a bit richer…
But I’m done… not a bad last day in Bangkok… I would’ve preferred to have shopped more yesterday and just relaxed today, but I really don’t have any complaints… except I found a new area of town that has tons of cheap stuff… the same stuff I bought… but cheaper… grrr….
That said…shopping here is a fun and amusing experience… ... Thai people are really bad actors… and even worse liars…for example, when I’m looking at something, say, a coin purse, the lady will say…”hand make, thai seewk, I gib you good price!” then as you look at the billions and billions of them in the basket, she says “ok, original 250… but I gib you 230… 20 baht discount!”... then I say something like… “no… too much… I can buy 4 for 240 from lady over there”... (note, I reduce my English vocabulary and accent to better communicate with the locals… extra words just confuse them….) ...this is where the acting really begins… “Can Not! I job no more! Please help ME!” at which point I start walking away…. then she starts yelling down the street after me… “Ok, best price, 200!” .... “Sir… 180!”... If it’s something I’m interested in and the initial quote wasn’t entirely off base, then I’ll come back and bargain some more… Interestingly enough though the 20 baht, that was a huge discount before now becomes a tiny bit of money that I should pay out. If the price is stuck between say 80 and 100, she’ll say something like …”Come on, you cheap… 20 baht only little money… You tourist can make easy… for thai people big money… “
The best is when someone finally understands that you know the going price… like when I walk up to a place selling t-shirts, and ask how much… they say something absurd like 280 baht (8 bucks)... I then look at them with a really concerned look… as if to say… “you’re really going to try to pull that?” I then fire back with something really close to their cost… plus a little bit… “no, too much…150 baht… 250 baht for 2”... then they look at me… sees that I know, nods… then we can do business….
anyhow…it’s now 1:45, and I still gotta pack… so… that’s all from this side of the planet…
How do you tell someone that they smell? 1
The last few days were great. I hung out at the children’s home and came away with a lot of questions, and a new appreciation for the work that the staff and volunteers do there. It’s like camp, except the kids are there for years, and there’s a bigger age range. And they don’t have families that love them outside of the home. It was really hard to see, but at the same time a blessing to know that they’re loved in the home.
I hear that there are over 200, 000 street kids in Manilla. This home is making a difference.
Today was one of those crappy travel days. I got up at 5:30 am, to do the hour long drive to the airport. Philippine Airlines always oversells their flights so it’s good to get there early so they don’t give your seat away. I couldn’t afford to miss the flight, so I got there early. 3 hours early. My flight wasn’t till 10:30 am, and I got there at 7:30. The airport is terribly boring. There isn’t much for food or entertainment there, and it’s strangely really cold. 2nd time I’m really glad I got the Ipod.
At 10, I look over at the gate and think to myself… “self, there’s no plane at the gate, you’re going to be delayed.” So I wander over to the counter and ask the guy how long it’s going to be late. He tells me 2 hours.
There’s a guy sitting a few rows away muttering to anyone that will listen, how inconvenienced he is by the 2 1/2 hour delay. It hasn’t been that long since the delay and he’s already stretching the truth. I took a stab in the dark and guessed he was American since he had this arrogance to him, while at the same time nervousness about him. At any rate, annoying… once again, thankful for the Ipod.
Just before noon, about 12 guys walk in with bagged lunches. Philippine Airlines did the right thing and got us lunch! Unfortunately, or fortunately if you’re Laurel, it was KFC… in typical Filipino style. Piece of chicken, Ball of rice, and gravy. For some reason they like to smother their rice with gravy here. I don’t get it… it’s almost offensive.
We finally board the plane sometime just past one. Guess who was seated next to me? That’s right.. the American. I really don’t have anything against Americans. Just this one…and a few others. He proceeded to continue his complaints about the delay to myself and the rows infront and behind us. Looking local, I decided to pretend I didn’t speak english and just answered him with a short yes or no.
We also played the armrest game. You know, the one where someone claims the common armrest and the other person tries to snag it every time it’s vacated? Eventually he tuckered himself out with all his whining and bragging about how he got better deals in Manilla than from the on board duty free boutique. (Seriously, how can you not get a better deal than from the onboard duty free boutique?) But I digress.
At this point, a tremendous smell (yes, of biblical proportions) came over me. Quite sure it wasn’t me, I looked over at the now, smelly, arrogant, annoying American. At this point, I was tempted to wake him up and say “Um… Can you go check your pants, you may have crapped yourself cause you smell like *ss” ... But I didn’t… If there was a film crew, I might have… just to complete the moment on film.
The Philippines was a hard place for me to be. There are so many things about Manilla that bothered me. But I’m back in Bangkok now. It’s started feeling more like home. Maybe it’s the familiarity, or the modern amenities. Or the food that doesn’t come straight out the other end. I’m not sure… but I kinda like it here. I don’t think enough that I would move here… at least not yet.
As The Locals
I went to the weekend market today… or the JJ Market as the locals say… it’s nuts! I hear it’s like 14000 vendors/stalls all in one area… it was packed… and hot… so i spent a lot of it drinking back fruit smoothies… i figured i should be a little healthier than I had been… prices at this market were better than the night bazaar and Phuket/Krabi as well… though I really wasn’t in the mood for shopping… but when am I ever?
I also met up with my friend Dan againtonight. His wife Art was in some sort of Thai variety show down at the university so I went down and watched it… It was rather fun… reminded me of some productions back at SCBC... I didn’t understand much in this one… that includes the English songs… though it was entertaining and there are some incredible voices here…
Afterwards we went out for dinner… well second dinner… we at tons…12 dishes… 14 of us…and paid 2400 baht (80 CAD)... Man I love this country!
Back
Back in a few ways…. it’s been a while since I’ve posted… 2 weeks or so… Partly cause I’ve been away from the Internet… well, electricity in general, and partly cause the Blog’s been down… sorry for those who have been trying to access it…
We got back from the villages of Gatlang (also spelled Gutlang on some maps) and Nessing (Nesing to some) on Dec 1… both in the Rusuwa district of Nepal. It all sits in Langtang National Park. It all lies under some of the most extreme, harsh, rugged, and beautiful terrain in the world. There’s so much to talk about… and I’ve journaled quite a bit… over the next few weeks as I’ve got more internet time now, I’ll try to type some of them out here.
But for a taste, there we had babies get dedicated, a Buddist high priest come to Christ, a Maoist commander get baptized, and a buch of other cool stuff…
The last few days we spent around Kathmandu… at Church at the Kathmandu Vineyard, with their youth group… and shopping Thamel… which is an experience in itself…
This morning, we said goodbye to those in Nepal… Noel, Shem, Raju, Theemba, Bahbahadu (which i think translates to “Danger Man”... he is… quite dangerous….) ... and Megan from our team… she’s there for a few more days before going to Pakistan for 2 months…
The rest of us hopped on a plane back to Bangkok… hot weather… good food (not that we don’t like Dal Baht…. but 8 days in a row, 2 meals a day?) ...
It’s late now, and Scott and I have a plane to catch tomorrow to Phuket, and then on to Krabi… for some ocean kayaking… oh and more ministry: laying on the beach and watching for Jesus’ return….
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