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Published: February 28th 2007
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Whenever I'm sitting in an airport and I hear "Excuse me, this is the final call for Mr. So and So to make it to gate 6A, your plane is waiting for you" I always gave a good chuckle to myself and think, what was that somebody possibly have been doing that was more important him/her, that they jeopardize making their flight. Wel, let me answer that one for you. When you go to visit your University friends from back home in a foreign country for only a couple of nights, you tend to want to enjoy the time as much as possible. Well on Saturday, we had a big day goign to the beach and then partied Saturday night. My flight was at 6:15 in the morning and Bart was kind enough to drive me to the airport in order to catch it. I thought I'd be a hero and stay up as late as possible and sleep on the plane. I got dropped of around 4 am to check in and then preceeded to go to my designated terminal. Unfortunately, there were not 3 consecutive seats beside one another for me to lie down on, so I perused to
another vacant gate and thought I'd have a quick nap. I must have been pretty tired, as before I knew it, I awoke to the sound of "Excuse me, this is the final call (pause here...I started getting upset that I was being awoken because some clown was late for his flight) for Jeremy Bonk at Gate 6A".....I looked at my watch, it was 6:14...not good! I quickly gathered my belongings and made a mad dash for my gate, reminiscent of the family from Home Alone sprinting through the airport. Anyways...I made it.
12 hours later I was being haggled by 30 grown men in Bangkok all saying "Tuk Tuk?' to me. Tuk tuks are essentially mini mini taxis, that you pile into the back off. They have 1 wheel in the front and 2 in the back and to say that you feel a little uneasy in the back of them is a great understatement. However, they are a very economical way of getting around the town, especially since the number of Tuk Tuk drivers almost outnumber the tourists and will undercut their own mothers prices if they have to. I think the only thing that outnumber the
tuk tuk drivers in BKK are the stray dogs and cats. Sometimes I feel like hiring a Tuk Tuk just to cross the road. My 2nd day in BKK it literally took me 15 minutes to cross the road during rush hour.....I was fish out of water.
Kho San Road is the tourist hub of bangkok, where all the backpackers take an immediate to and are usually overwhelmed with all the bright lights, market vendors and people just everywhere. Its essentially a big mardi gras down this strip of bars, hostels, restaurants and street vendors. I made a beeline for a hostel and ended up splurging for a classy one with cable tv and a flushing toilet. I was too tired from a long days travelling to be overwhelmed. The next day I met up with Josh Cameron and his girlfriend Sylvia. Being in a foreign country and culture it was refreshing to have a couple familiar faces in the same situation.
Over the next couple days, we checked out numerous temples, which words nor pictures can do justice to, so I wont even try. We also went to a Muay Thai fight, ate lots of food and
bought many articles of clothing. Over here, the listed price is just the ceiling price. Everything is negotiable. If it says anywhere in the store, "non-negotialbe", its a lie! If you ask someone how much a t-shirt is. They'll usually say 300 baht (30 baht=$1 cdn). In order to maximize ones discount, you must act disgusted with this price, (like you just got punched in the stomach for maximum effect) shake your head and begin to walk away. They'll then say "wait, wait, my friend....special discount for you!" You must still not act interested, then begni to walk away. At which point, they'll run after you with a calculator and say "how much you pay?"...you then type in a number around 100...then, they essentially give you the same production that you just gave them, then will negotiate another number. It really is a sight to see.
Unfortunately, time is moving so quickly over here, that I had to think about my future for a few hours. In Bangkok, suit fitters/designers are almost as common as tuk tuk drivers. I decided that it was time that I stopped borrowing Tildens suits for big ocassions and so Cameron and I both
got fitted for a total of 6 suits. For anyone who knows Cameron, just imagine him being fitted and making decisions to get 3 suits then match them with 4 shirts, and 4 ties in under an hour before the shop closed. Essentially, Sylvia ended up just making most of the decions for him, to which he could only repeatedly say "Oh what? Oh What?".
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