Journal: Thailand, 01 July 2002 Happy Birthday Brian! And Happy Canada Day to you Canadians! Today Tom and I flew to Bangkok. On the way to the airport, we met a few travelers who were also going to Bangkok: Sean (from Canada, hence I know that it is Canada Day), Lucy and Josh (from Holland), and Pascal (from Germany). The six of us quickly joined forces and formed a merry little troupe. We were greeted by glorious sunshine upon our arrival in Thailand, which was a pleasant change from the overcast skies and rains that were our constant companion in 'the land of the hack and spit'. It felt good to be back amongst the familiar surrounds and creature comforts of the Khao San Road. Under normal circumstances, a visit to Bangkok is not something to savor. But after coming from China, it is a pure delight. We were back in the land of 40 Bhat bottles of Chang beer, 50 Bhat cocktails served by ladyboys in camper vans, green curries, 15 Bhat pad thai from street vendors, and late-night banana pancakes. I delighted in being bombarded with western music from CD stalls, noise from western movies playing in restaurants, and the multitude of hawkers that prowl this area. And, delight of delights, I was back in a 'wired' world. Internet, you complete me! With all of these familiar sights and sounds, I was surprised to see that some things had changed. Surprisingly, prices for many things have come down a little. Most restaurants and bars now have large plasma screens in place of television screens. Some stalls no longer exist, with others taking their place. And a number of old nightlife options have been replaced with new and supposedly better bars and clubs. A new addition to the scene is an elephant who makes the rounds each evening, gladly vacuuming down food sold to farangs by its owner. All of this change in just a few short months! Thailand, 02 July 2002 It is currently the wet season in Bangkok. This means that it rains once in the afternoon for five or ten minutes. I prefer the wet season in Bangkok to the dry season. On my previous two visits during the dry season, it was too hot and humid to do anything. At the moment, it is sunny and pleasant for most of the day and I only need take shelter for a few minutes in the afternoon. Our troupe spent most of today recovering from last night's activities. For some people, those activities culminated in a soccer match at 9am this morning. You will be glad to hear that I was much more sensible than that, getting to bed by 4am. I spent today making the rounds of the travel agents in an effort to secure inexpensive flights. I am flying to Bali for a couple of weeks and then back to the States. For some reason, the least expensive flight to the States is on China Airways (maybe it has something to do with their recent safety record, I don't know). After I secured my desired flights, our group settled in to enjoy a few beers and watch some of the tennis action at Wimbledon. Thailand, 03 July 2002 During one of my regular saunters down the Khao San Road, I bumped into two English guys that were also staying at Guesthouse Korea during the World Cup. They told me that they saw me on Korean television. I was part of a feature that was filmed the day after we played Spain. They said that I came across remarkably well for someone who had been up drinking all night. Then, after arranging to meet them later that evening, I bumped into Stan who worked with me on the organic farm in Laos. I shared a couple of bottles of Thai whiskey with Stan before meeting up with the rest of the gang and the English lads in Gulliver's Pub. Thailand, 04 July 2002 Happy 4th of July! Today was a nice chill out day. I did some research for my trip to Indonesia, watched a couple of movies, and watched some more tennis from Wimbledon. Thailand, 05 July 2002 Today was another chill out day and an opportunity to catch up on my journal transcription. The highlight of the day was the Lleyton Hewitt versus Tim Henman tennis match from Wimbledon. As is usual while watching sporting events, all of the English people were cheering for their own (Henman) and absolutely everyone else was cheering for the opponent (Hewitt). In the end, the majority of people were happy thanks to a Hewitt victory. Thailand, 06 July 2002 I got up at the crack of dawn to visit the floating markets. I went to the markets that are a couple of hours from Bangkok because they are supposed to be more genuine than the tourist-oriented markets in Bangkok. It is quiet a spectacle to see a town erected around a network of canals, instead of a network of streets. The canals were full of boats hawking fruit, vegetables, and other goods. However, I reckoned that there were as many boats full of tourists as there were boats selling goods. And I also reckon that most of the selling was directed at tourists and not locals. Nonetheless it is something has to be seen on a visit to this part of the world. And I have finally seen it on my fourth visit to Bangkok. The afternoon was spent finally getting my journal up-to-date. And the evening was spent laying low in preparation for an early morning flight to Bali. Spending: $1060 for 6 nights, including the following:
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