Bangkok Blitz & Bliss

Fly fly fly.  Wait wait wait.  Bunch together and pretend you're  a queue to get  to a queue. Immigration. A thai officer irrate because  i stepped over a line too early but then to be honest it could've  been for a completely  different  reason that went over my head as i stood waiting with what i hoped was an innocently excited smile , to get my on-arrival visa. 

No problems.  Just a dismissive wave. And all of a sudden i was reunited with my 10kg backpack and on a train to the city center of Bangkok. 

I had hopes that I would  be meeting a friend,  Abe *, at the airport but he messaged me to say he'd been held up in delhi with passport problems. Legitimate  story,  I'd helped him piece the tatted thing together  just eight  months previously, but I'll  have to tell that story  another time!

The Airport Link and the BKS Skyrail are easy to navigate once you know where you want to go. In queuing to buy my ticket to downtown Silom I noticed a man with long dreads tied up on his neck.  I double took.  Walked over.  Tapped him on the shoulder, 'I knew it! ' I said and lo and behold,  the dashing trickster Abe stood before  me. 

In the whirlwind  of his sudden presence we were already off of the skyline and crossing huge  intersections, passing  Asian street food stalls with circumspect looking seafood, blending in with other tourists  and then at the door to my hostel (which i managed to score for the bizarre  price of 50baht which is about R10) where after  a bit of admin, Abe left and I collapsed  onto my bed.

It wasn't difficult  finding  a place to eat and in my apprehension I chose the least frilly  vegetarian meal I could find. I ate in the ally of street food stalls,  Indian chants typically  blaring  from a nearby store,  bells ringing at the temple across the road over the roaring  traffic and the sound of my elaborate silver spoon and fork scraping the last bits of egg and rice from my plate while I stared up at tattered Thai bunting and wondered what on earth I'd  gotten myself into. 

Those first few hours in a new country can be a tad depressive, verging on escapist but if you're lucky (and it's almost inevitable ) you'll be distracted  by something  new in no time at all. 

And so my 'one night in Bangkok' began.  First a trawl along the night markets to catch up on months passed with my dear  friend Abe, then asuddenright-turn-navigatedbyvariousenthusiasticthaimen and we found ourselves in a dingy black room where pingpong balls have gained a new kind of infamacy at the whim of exotic dancers.

We couldn't stay long,  plagued by the gross (meaning huge not ill) exploitative practices and the blatant objectification  of women's  bodies  that left us sick to the stomach.  All sexual sanctity sucked dry from their bodies, women  with beautiful  bodies and fewer choices . I elected to research the topic further. Who of you have been and never told the tale?  Who of you enjoyed it?  Who was challenged?  Comment below!

After that.  Abe had a gig lined  up at the corner of the street I was staying on. Along  with a 2000baht fee for his entertainment we were offered food and drinks on the house too. I elected to try some rather strong rum (which was surreptitiously refilled  when I wasn't  looking! ) and sat back to watch my friend belt out his own and familiar songs.

In ceremony and I suppose in jest the wife of the owner  (also the chef! ) placed a huge Native American feather war bonnet on my head and it stayed there until it couldn't  any longer.

Whilst playing people flocked in and out of the musical reverie  but it wasn't until a dancing women and her boyfriend arrived on the corner  until I felt the effect of the rum  and needed to dance too. But not only did this pixie woman with short  cropped hair and bright eyes begin dancing but she began to paint . Painting her arms in abstract purple swishes of her brush I was mesmerised. I promptly  plucked myself up from my seat leaving the war bonnet behind and pointed to my forehead  where she proceeded  to paint my face in glee.

At this point it had gotten late enough for me to worry and I had to bid for farewell  to Abe with an intention filled embrace and a pat on the back, each of us expressing our gratitude for our connection.  And of course I had to wave goodbye to my new friends,  unsure whether they would be joining me at the Wisdom Gathering I was flying off to the next day. But by the magic in their eyes and the instantaneous love we shared , I didn't think it would be too long. 

Thank you Bangkok. A great beginning to my South East Asian journey!

*some names changed for a semblance  of privacy!