Jetlagged and Wireless Land

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Day 2 - Jetlagged and Wireless Land


My Favorite Quote of the Day:
“Its not where we go but what we do when we get there that defines who we are”

Thai phrases I need to learn today:
“rot-bus dtid-air garunah” = air conditioned bus please?
Tao-rai khrap/kha? = how much is this?

Thai phrases I hope I never ever have to use:
“Yut, Kamo!” = stop thief!!!
“Chuoy Duoy!” = Help!

Ok… so you know you’ve got a problem when you find yourself in some cool spa getting a two hour Thai massage for something equivalent to $15 bucks in the states. This massage is guaranteed to relax you entirely so that when you get back to your hotel, you are completely knocked-on-your-ass-out! So why is it that at 11 p.m. Bangkok time I fall into a deep slumber after my two hour (pretzel bending but oh-so-heavenly) massage, I find myself up at 1:45 a.m. and thinking only one thing: Noodles
Yup….just noodles. A bowl of them would be nice. Hungry at 1:45 am? Yup, something is a tad bit off in my book.

So I’m seriously jetlagged and my internal clock is way off. So there I was in the dark…blinking and wondering why I wanted noodles so much. Anyways, I couldn’t sleep … I tried laying there for a few minutes and willing myself to go back into the deep folds of dreamland. It wasn’t working…..so I ended up in Wireless Land. Oh well! I clickety-clacked my way on my laptop through the wee morning hours.

After a quick meal of fried rice and eggs which, by the way, is my favorite comfort food. I think of Mom and when I eat fried rice! Haha! Anyways, it was good and almost like hers but minus the big chunk of garlic she always has to surprise me with! Ew…try biting in to that…..as a kid, that was one pet peeve of her cooking. That chunk of white garlic. No matter how many times I complained, I always found it buried in her fried rice and her with a smirk on her face as I discovered it and complained!

So I headed out to this local market that was less than 1 kilometer. (Ok, mental note: learn the metric system when I get home!) So I figured it was close to a mile away. No biggie right? Well, here I was walking towards “the market” and asking directions along the way….no one understood me. Not one soul could help me. Was it my English? Maybe I spoke too fast and confused people? So in one minute moment of minor anxiety and frustration…I thought that there had to be some type of conspiracy against me! Yes, me...the American slanted-eye tourist who spoke way too fast! Ha! So I walked…and kept walking. People seem to come out of no where, walking by quickly, buses barreling by on the congested streets, shop owners standing outside or mopping their small stores and the vendors…those vendors and their fried foods and hot coals alight in the extreme humid heat. This was Bangkok. Bangkok at 8:30 a.m. It is amazing and wonderful! You smell everything….I mean every funky and exotic thing imaginable all at once! Under layers you smell fried greasy fish, shrimp paste, feet, dog poop, toxic fumes from all the traffic, flowers such as orchids and carnations, fruits (rotten or ripe - it doesn’t matter!), women glide by with flowery perfumes, old women sitting against walls cooking in their makeshift frying pans and smoking cigarettes and probably gossiping. All my senses were awake and on high alert. The prickly heat, the fragrant streets around me, my eyes darted back and forth watching life whiz by me rapidly.

I found a small spot to stop and rest. I turned around with my back against the traffic to watch the sidewalk behind me and I saw a monk dressed in his robe. I watched as a few people lined up to give him rice, porridge, a cool drink and some type of flower offering. I stood there and watched this parade of devotees give their offerings to him. I was amazed how calm I felt watching this scene.

Afterwards, I turned around to face the crazy traffic zoom by. So much noise this city has. Polluted streets and gray concrete buildings loomed ahead of me. I wondered what my brother would think he if were here! This is so far from home and so chaotic compared to other cities I’ve visited. There is nothing like it so far that I’ve seen. There’s so much energy in this City.

And out of no where just a few yards ahead of me.... I see what looks like a piece of blue paper floating in the air. It just drifts among the crazy taxi drivers and the thousand motorcyclists who zip down the street. Careless and free it glides through air this bright beautiful thing. And then I realize it’s a beautiful big blue butterfly! Its magnificent wings flutter in the thick air as it dances it way across the road.

Bangkok is not for wimps. No she’s not. She’s very much alive and I something tells me I’ll be back again….and again.

Till I clickety-clack again… just be a gracious like a butterfly.

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Comments

[Valerie Thompson]

What's Up?
Where in the world is Liza Lamparas? What's up lady? How are things going? I know you are having a wonderful time. Did you meet the love of your life yet? What have you been eating? How do your friends like it so far? Do you miss your friends in Ca.? We miss you! Love you much, have loads of fun!!!!

[Gabby]

Geeze woman!
Liza, You write beautifully. I feel like I am right there with you. Except I’m terrified and walking so close to you I could be mistaken for your shadow-Lol! “chan4 yak1 ja1 pai American embassy” = I want to go to American embassy? I know what you mean about the smells. Together and all at once engulfing and overwhelming your senses, assaulting your otherwise indifferent, practically dormant olfactory system. I like how you wrote about all of the different smells a mesh with food, people, flowers, and dog poop. How so very different from our cold, polluted yet familiar and SAFE bay area breeze. Hour long body massages followed by cat naps, room service and the best Thai cuisine, all fit for a princess in a far away and distant land. Markets and people filled with culture and history .A world with foreign creatures, exotic textures, strange greenery and earth. life in the raw, pure and unspoiled by the modern. Life with out traffic jams, alarm clocks, and supervisors, Void of emails, office policies, Bureaucracy, empty relationships and facades to uphold. A gift to yourself, a dream realize, of being an unknown you, across wide-open waters, an existence under new skies. Enjoy yourself, be safe and I miss you. Love, Gabby who now sitting Scottie’s cubicle