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Published: February 1st 2014
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Well my blogging buddies it is is time to bid a fond farewell to my home of the last month and head around the world again to my real home in the great white north. I can say without hesitation that Bangkok is a wonderful city to get lost in and enjoy all that it has to offer.I have felt welcome here and never once felt uncomfortable in my surrroundings or in danger or at risk. That is quite something for me to say after my last two international trips, but it is true. Friendly faces populate this city, a gentle people, perhaps stirred up at the moment, but that too will pass I am sure.
Prapan, my landlord, has been helpful and his condo extremely comfortable and convenient and I would recommend staying here if you are considering an adventure.
The city itself is full of interesting things to see and do and you are limited only by your imagination and budget. Here are some random things I remember but never got into a blog:
They play a game here called takraw, a volleyball like game using a small plastic ball.The volleys over the net involve only
the head and knees or feet. Originally it was played in a circle but has evolved with the net. Pretty skillful when you see it played well.
Tv here has its share of violence just like north america but you can not show a cigarette being smoked! The cigarette is pixilated, sometimes a gun pointed at the head is also obscured!
I made the mistake of ordering a chicken dish one evening without thinking and ended up with a soup of chicken feet! Not much meat on a chicken foot I can assure you but I got through it.
One evening as I walked back from somewhere I heard a trumpet being played and realized I was by a military base and they were lowering the flag. I stood at attention with other pedestrians then we all went about our business, a wonderful little moment.
The King is represented with shrines all over the city and the yellow flag of the King flies everywhere. Long live the king. Sometimes on TV they play stirring music and song while pictures of the king are presented, small vignettes of him meeting people or looking at rice planting or
something. His daughter, the no show, is also in some tributes.
I have grown quite fond of the ferry boat service here in BKK, and very impressed with the whistling system they all use for communication between the crewman at the stern and the helmsman in the wheelhouse. Shrill tweets in different sequences to signal at what point the docking is going or passengers disembarking. Wonderfully simple but effective communication when no visuals are possible. I wonder whether the bosun's pipe had the same purpose?
Transportation is integrated in a marvellous selection of choices depending on your funds and need for speed. At every ferry stop, Skytrain station, bus stop, or major intersection there are men with coloured vests and motorcycles. These men will take you for a few bhat down the alleys or through their neighbourhoods.Mostly women using this service, sitting side saddle on the back of the cycles. Tuk Tuk drivers are the next rung up taking more passengers or goods but they have a bad reputation for dishonesty and misdirection, telling you such and such is closed so they can take you to their choice of shop or whatever.Taxi's are next up the ladder and
there ard thousands of them, quite modern and metered. There are city busses and then a municipal rail service and the skytrain system I used so often.
Every night there is a police roadblock/checkpoint set up on the road infront of my condo.They stop the odd car or truck , pull them over and check paperwork but do not seem to detain many. One day they set up at rush hour checking motorcycles and brought the highway to a crawl.
I am ready to come home, I have had a great time but missing a wonderful little lady.
Thanks for following along. See you all soon
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