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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2009 5:56:54 GMT
I must have been here more than 20 times, because I can remember at least 10 trips to the same hotel and at least another ten trips to different hotels. I went to the same old trusty place this time because how many hotels do you know that let you check in at 7 a.m. for the day. (I noticed in the ledger that the customer before me had checked in at 4:30.)
Just a few little snippets that I have noticed so far.
1. On the bus opposite mine at a stoplight, there were at least six people wearing flu masks.
2. In this neighnorhood, there was a beggar carrying around the most adorable little bunny and kitten in a wicker basket. I didn't fall for it because he probably had them for lunch.
3. There are educational problems in this country, because it took a team of three people to figure out the cost of my first session on the internet from 08:01 to 08:29 at 1 baht per minute.
4. While I was having second breakfast, the employees at the place across the street were scrubbing the sidewalk with water and detergent; well, at least some of them were because 3 of them were using their brooms in other ways -- one thought he was Harry Potter, one was doing an air guitar routine, and third start twirling hs broom like a majorette in the middle of the street.
5. My hotel is always beyond spotless, to the extent somebody was actually on her hands and knees scrubbing the cracks in the floor tiles in the hallway with a toothbrush; I thought this was only done in military comedies.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 14, 2009 6:20:24 GMT
#4 ~~ what a great way to start the day!
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Post by spindrift on Sept 14, 2009 8:44:24 GMT
It's exciting to read your observations...... more please.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2009 9:11:06 GMT
I am tired of tuk-tuk drivers slowing down next to me and hissing the proposal "lady pow pow tak tak!"
Oh, meanwhile I was reading on the front page of The Nation that new rules are going into effect for transgender operations: you must be at least 18 years old to change sex, between ages 18-20 you need parental approval but from age 20 you can do what you want, although you must see a psychiatrist and "live as a woman" and take hormone treatments for at least one year before the operation.
The article was so matter-of-fact, as though 'yes of course, it's just a few small details to be adjusted.' Interestingly, there was absolutely no mention of transgender female-to-male as though the situation does not at all exist.
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Post by hwinpp on Sept 14, 2009 10:17:16 GMT
You'd better get loooots of pix, Jack! This had better be good. Flying off to Thailand without telling anyone... Grrrr!BTW, the place to go for Hainanese chicken rice is in Pratunam. Cross the road from the world trade center, follow it to the left until you reach the bridge over the canal, descend to the restaurants below. Best chicken west of Hainan  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2009 13:18:20 GMT
6. While sipping a well deserved Chang, I watched the waiters observe the darkening sky and gather all of the tablecloths of the outdoor tables, folding them carefully but without haste, as if they knew the exact schedule of the storm.
7. Using the same sixth sense, I moved to a new location about 10 seconds before the sky broke open. The rain was so intense that it drowned out the competing sound systems of the Khao Sorn Center and Lucky Beer across from it.
8. It became apparent that fully formed young women of the West should absolutely never succumb to the temptation of African braids and beads as it makes them look even more hideous. However, they are right to try this variation as far from home as possible.
9. I saw a French man and French woman encounter each other by accident on the street, with joy and surprise. They sat down to have a drink together to delay the inevitable fuck. Since I left before they did, I am still worried about the fate of the drunken Australian at the table next to them who insisted on becoming part of their conversation.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2009 7:46:01 GMT
10. Tuk tuk drivers will never learn. When you are near a tourist site, they do not propose sex tours anymore, but they ask you where you are going. No matter what you say, particularly if it is just around the corner, they will reply "Is closed today!" If you look disconcerted, they have another destination to propose on the opposite side of town.
11. I will never learn to drink something that is poured into a plastic bag.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2009 9:52:28 GMT
12. It appears that any Occidental young man in Asia will happily pay to wear the name of an Asian brand of beer (or at least Red Bull) on his attire.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 15, 2009 14:17:09 GMT
I wouldn't be surprised if nuns in surviving convents actually do the toothbrush thing, or else have special scrubbrushes for the grout in tile floors or the cracks in marble ones.
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Post by bazfaz on Sept 15, 2009 14:46:12 GMT
A German friend insisted on coming round this afternoon to "help" us prepare for the move. Mrs Faz suggested cleaning the windows. Brigitte was most surprised she wasn't expected to go round the frames with a toothbrush. It is probably against the law in Germany to sell a house unless the glass is cleaned right to the frame. I think it is Switzerland where an inspector comes round to make certain everything is repaired and spotlessly clean.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2009 15:46:43 GMT
Well, in France you buy something "under reserve of hidden vices" (vices = defects in this context). That means that if all of the plumbing falls out of the wall the week after purchase, you still have recourse againt the scoundrels who were selling the place.
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Post by bazfaz on Sept 15, 2009 16:38:57 GMT
The contract we are selling our house under specifically states that purchaser buys the property as is - even if there are hidden vices.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 15, 2009 18:02:36 GMT
I have the same aversion to beverages in plastic bags -- so wrong on so many levels. What are the common non-alcoholic drinks there -- fruit juice, fruit juice "ades"? Chang = beer?
Do the tuk-tuk drivers do the same thing with hotels -- no matter the one you want, they know a better one?
Gad, some of those "fully formed" young women must not have even been born when Bo Derek sported her beachy look in 10. She looked like a fool in it, too.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2009 18:09:14 GMT
Good observations. I'd like to know what else you see on a daily basis.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2009 0:54:26 GMT
Well, I have just had a 30 minute dawn discussion with one of the denizens of the street. Always impossible to resist when someone with a Charles Manson stare suddenly sits across from you and asks "I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 16, 2009 1:15:56 GMT
Eeek. Was this a local, or some foreigner who washed up there?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2009 1:18:49 GMT
It was a Frenchman in rags. We discussed Willam Burroughs among other things and both of us want a typrewriter that turns into a cockroach.
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Post by hwinpp on Sept 16, 2009 6:53:23 GMT
Yeah, that's Khao San Rd. for you. Strange things can happen there.
Nice to see you're enjoying it, Jack.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2009 8:05:24 GMT
Here is what I was looking at when I wrote impression #8 --   |
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 17, 2009 16:16:16 GMT
Texting and smoking while eating, after wasting precious vacation time having her hair done up in an inappropriate style ~~ didn't you want to talk to her instead of the ragged Frenchman? ;D
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Post by fumobici on Sept 18, 2009 4:07:39 GMT
She'd look right at home in Amsterdam where I saw the same look last Fall. I'll reserve my opinion as I'm the furthest thing from a clothes horse. I don't mind looking dreadful but going to great lengths to seems odd.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2009 4:32:20 GMT
Yes, I'm pretty sure that it is mostly the Dutch girls who are still getting that done. They live in their own time warp. The French are more into dreadlocks.
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Post by hwinpp on Sept 22, 2009 10:47:16 GMT
Reminds me not to go there again. Or if I do go, only with Jack.
I think ropes and hair extensions can also be done in the KSR.
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