ideas

I landed in Bangkok on the 28th of November, and was met at the airport by Karen. Norm, returning from a surprise trip to Canada, landed a half-hour later. Just like the Australia leg, my Asian odyssey was to begin with getting my bearings while basing myself from their apartment. As we drove home from the airport, I began to realize what I had gotten myself into. Bangkok seemed to have no system of zoning, with crumbling buildings set amidst futuristic new commercial developments laced with neon. SomeI didn't recognize the alphabet (I always get the feeling I'm reading upside down and backwards), let alone the language. The traffic proved to be just as logical, the critical mass of cars showing haphazard regard for lanes and signals. The public transit runs through the city both below the ground as well as perched upon a system of cement pillars through the city core. I was in a sci-fi movie.

I spent the next few days simply acclimatizing, as I was weary from my Melbourne stint, as well as jetlagged. I'd just come from a country where the lack of water is forefront, and now found myself constantly drenched from the humidity, and feeling quite lethargic. The smell of eucalyptus was replaced by fragrant wood or pungent canal water, faux-hawks and big sunglasses by shaved-heads and bright orange-robes, surfing imagery by elephant icons, the strains of The Killers, Robbie Williams, and Australian Idol by bells, cymbals, and Bon Jovi sung in a strong Thai accent. Streets and avenues were now Thanon and Soi. I would head out into this bizarre environment for a few hours, then retreat back to Norm and Karen's for a bit of normalcy, a DVD, or fret about my upcoming excursion, overwhelmed the number of choices and my lack of time.