A new crown and a bright smile

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Tuesday

Well today I packed and spent the morning in and out of the pool and reading on the sun lounge (in the shade of course). When I arrived in BKK I assumed that my red belly was from the heat, till I saw the pattern on my chest of my bikini top. Sun burn, darn it. But not serious.

I had a few more photos taken with mine host, Manu. He was always taking photos of me. And the girl from down the road, who spoke good English confirmed my decision to return by mini bus rather than the train. Quicker, cooler and cheaper. At one point we were held up for a short time by an accident. As we slipped past I saw it involved 3 cars. The last car, a large ute had pushed in the rear of the car in front. That one had somehow ended up under the car in front of it. The first car only had its front wheels on the road. Both it and the second car were badly smashed. By the time we hit BKK the traffic was bad and the jams were also on the sky train.

Impressions of Thailand: they love their king; large photos of him in various dress and attitudes are liberally and prominently displayed in the towns and countryside. Fave colour is gold and I mean the metal. There are probably as many buddhas as people in the country, maybe more. Many houses and businesses have ornate shrines in a front corner. And if the temp drops below 25 its cold and the sweaters come out. Just thinking about that makes me sweat.

I'm back in the old place where I received a warm welcome back. Even the lady up the road where I buy my cucumbers and tomatoes remembered me.

Tomorrow, it's back to the dentist, not really looking forward to that.

Wednesday

The day to fit my crown had arrived. I took the 1 hour journey, now very familiar, by foot and sky train and past the protesters. This time most of the drilling and grinding were on the crown and not in my mouth. After an hour it was in place and the tooth whitening process began. Now the torture continues as they are first thoroughly cleaned. This was done with high powered water hoses and entailed some water boarding. I thought my teeth were pretty clean but she spent 20 mins. working on them.

It's so easy to say I'm having my teeth whitened. Yes, easier said than done. Finally after an hour (I nearly nodded off a couple of times) the torture apparatus is removed, I can rinse my mouth for the last time and smile.

Silly me, I had totally forgotten that I'd need my credit card to pay the final bill and I didn't have enough cash on me. They let me return to my accommodation to get it and it was such a lovely hot day to be wandering around the streets. It was nearly 3 hours later that I returned. They also have a day spa there so I had a Thai massage. Wonderful.

Between the train and guest house, I'd been walking past a little old lady who sold sweet things; donuts and other things white and bright green. So on my way home I picked up a bag of green things. They were quite good, sago or some such.

The guest house is full of friendly people so the evenings are spend chatting into the night.

Thursday

It’s shopping day. I'd been through a lot of the big centres but they were expensive and the dresses are all short. I went to MBK which has everything at good prices. There are large and small shops. When business is slow the shop assistants are dosing in a corner.

And as usual lots of protesters blocking streets and train accesses but all quiet except for the speeches and songs on stage.

Friday

I had plenty of time so decided to go out to the airport via public transport. Grabbed a tuktuk near the guest house for the short ride to the skytrain. From skytrain to bus and not quite as simple as the journey from the airport. I got on the right bus but it didn't go to airport departures. Near the airport I saw a pedestrian overpass. As we pulled out from that bus stop, the conductor asked if I wanted the airport. When I nodded she had the bus stopped so I could get off. All's well that ends well. So now I'm filling in time waiting for a delayed flight. 1 hour so far. But I have a 5 hour lay-over in KL. People are moving, it's boarding time.

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