Something new… at last!

Laos seen from Thailand (Nong Khai)

Just another noisy Internet cafe. Loud kids are playing Warcraft. At least it’s not Buddhist monks playing Counter Strike like in Laos. I put on my Modern Talking to cover all the noise and try to focus on what I have to do.

It’s been a full day in Bangkok but somehow I am in a bad mood. It’s been like this for a while now. Thomas Hardy wrote in one of his books that “happiness is but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain”. There is no drama here but it just feels like there is the occasional good day in a series of bad weeks.

Bangkok is truly crazy. Exactly what I needed at this point. It’s like a cold shower that wakes my numb mind and puts me on guard. Something new. I’m also living in something that resembles a union between a drug house and a brothel all wrapped up in an artistic cover. I’ve arrived two days ago early in the morning and the owner was passed out on the couch. I was told I couldn’t wake him up until 12 o’clock. That’s how it works here. I climb the stairs up to the dorm and see that this place hasn’t been cleaned in months. In the dorm people are sleeping profoundly and I’m pretty sure they’re recovering after a long night. On the rooftop there is someone sleeping in a tent. This place is cheap and that’s all I care. I drop my bag in the dorm and head on exploring the city.

This is something to raise my interest. I was kind of tired of the same boring guesthouses. I like Bangkok so far. Considering that I’m at the end of my trip and my budget is next to nothing I might just spend Christmas here rather than going on one of the expensive islands.

8 AM on the streets and it feels like most of Bangkok is still sleeping, just like the people in the guesthouse. I try to find an Internet cafe but I find out that they don’t open until 12. Maybe it’s just a lazy Monday morning, or how we Romanians put it: “even grass stops growing on Mondays”.

I should probably talk about Laos as I haven’t said a word about it. It was a very slow country and in most places you can only be… without doing much. It’s a country where every Tuc-Tuc driver can sell you weed. Cheap too. The only thing I got out of Laos was being eaten alive by bed bugs in a filthy guesthouse. With a itching body now I really regret not having a silk sleeping bag. Also my camera broke and I was forced to buy another one… which is new but I miss my old one.

Crossing into Thailand was quite interesting. How stupid do you have to be not to check ahead what kind of visa you need to enter the country? Everyone told me that Europeans get a two week stamp with no visa formalities or taxes. Once at the border I’ve discovered that Romanians need to apply for a visa on arrival, need to pay around 20 pounds and prove that they can leave the country within two weeks. That presumes showing evidence of a flight ticket. With no money, no photos and no flight ticket I had to spend more time at the border. The only problem was that the bus that I was on left without me but with my backpack. For two hours all I had was the clothes on me and the valuables in my day bag. I pay my taxes plus a little “extra” for lacking a plane ticket and grab a tuc-tuc for the bus station in Nong Khai to seek my lost belongings. If they don’t leave it there I’ll have to just change my flight and go back “home” sooner. Still, the tossed coin of fate says I’ll finish my trip on due time so I find my bag waiting for an idiot to come get it.

And the idiot certainly conforms…

Dog (Nong Khai) [I don't know why I put this picture up]

Even the cat is passed out (Bangkok Guesthouse)

Camping on a guesthouse (Bangkok)

The New and the Old (Bangkok)

Giant lizard in a public park (Bangkok)