Unfortunately, the roads are flooded and it's very, very difficult to get to their house just now. When I spoke to Brian he was just awaiting a delivery of sandbags (coming by boat) to stack around their place. They didn't have any water yet, but the news had advised that more water was on the way. Their road is already under a metre of water. It's frustrating that I can't do a bloody thing to help them.
I told Lisa that I was coming with her to Bangkok. Her plans had fallen through as well so we were both at a loose end. The backup plan was to find a place to stay in the same hotel our friends Kenny and Emmy were staying in and hang out.
Emmy is taking the Thai Professional Massage course with Lisa and I, and Kenny is her partner. He is waiting for her to finish the course and then they are off to Australia for 3 months or so. They are an extremely nice Belgian couple and I feel fortunate to call them friends. Emmy is gentle and sweet, and very quiet indeed. I enjoy her company - her rants are barely audible yet full of passion, and when she swears I am always quite taken aback. Hearing someone whisper "Fuck!!" vehemently in a Dutch accent, complete with toothy grimace and bulging eyeballs makes me laugh in spite of the intended sentiment. Kenny is a sound engineer and a very good guitar player. Additional Kenny benefits include his willingness to sit still and let people jam their thumbs into him for practice, his quick wit and dry, palatable sense of humour. He has a big bushy beard which I have forgiven him for (Emmy loves his beard) and I call him her bear because of it.
Emmy and Kenny:
Po the driver took us to Bangkok and dropped us off close to Khaosan Road. After some discussion in Dutch, Kenny and Emmy found their bearings and away we went in search of the rooms. Eventually we found the hotel, after a few false starts and retracing of steps. The addresses in Thailand are a bit tricksy to work out - how it works is you get a number, (the number of the building, etc) then you get a name which relates to the section of the neighborhood that building is located, then lastly you get the street name. For instance, we stayed at the New Siam II Guest House, located at 50 Trok Rong Mhai, Phra A-Thit Road, Chanasongkram, Bangkok 10200, Thailand. Trok Rong Mhai is the neighborhood and the street sign off the main road says Trok Rong Mhai. Once you turn into Trok Rong Mhai, you need to look for Phra A-Thit Road, and this is where the problem might be. Not everyone hanging out on the streets actually knows the names of those streets, or how to get to them. Another issue is that Thai people want to please, so if you ask them a question that they don't understand they will always reply to the affirmative. This adds an extra element of chance to the process of exploring Bangkok and in a way is very charming.
When you are lost in Bangkok, having an overnight bag on wheels is probably the most useless, stupid and inappropriate piece of equipment one could actually have. A word to the wise: 25 litre backpack. Bangkok is dirty. I mean really dirty. I always thought Camden on a Monday morning was gross, but compared to Bangkok Camden is a pristine virgin living in a convent way up in the mountains. I would love to culture the wheels of my bag, but then would be frightened to read the report.
After getting checked in and sorted, we reassembled in the lobby to coordinate a search for food. The easiest thing to do was to pick a direction and start walking, so we did. We came upon a pizza place called the Cafe Primavera, and after two pizzas, breaded mushrooms and a plate of ravioli we were full, happy and having an excellent conversation. We ordered coffee and desserts and stayed until the staff were just about to throw us out (the cafe closes at 11pm) and then hit the streets once more. The whole meal for the four of us cost about 2400 Baht, or £45. Getoutahere!
Walking back to the hotel, past the music clubs with people sitting at the inevitable sidewalk tables, past the shuttered shops and sand bags I had time to ponder and to notice the smells of the city. Sometimes they are good smells, sometimes bad, always foreign. Terry Pratchett described the smell of Ankh-Morpork in one of his earlier Discworld novels and if I had a chance to ever ask him a question it would be if he used Bangkok as an inspiration.
Lisa and I had asked for a twin room and yes, we had a room with two beds: they were pushed up next to each other and shared a common headboard. We had to laugh.
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