Just a short letter this time. I’m about to leave Bangkok for some island down south and I am beeing picket up at my hotel in about 45 minutesDon’t worry … it’s not in the tsunami area - at least not the area where the last tsunami hit anyway. I actually bought the trip by a mistake. On my first night in Bangkok I went out for a meal, and on the table next to me, sat this girl who looked like a type of person that had done extensive travelling, so I thought I had to ask her a few things about where to go, when to go, how to go etc. She was travelling for a whole year, and just stopped by Bangkok for a “vacation” waiting for her boyfriend to join her later (he was doing something she didn’t want do do, and took a few days in Thailand). She told me I needed to go to this and this place, and I thought “OK … I’ll try that”. Next day I went to a travel agency and bought a ticket to this place, but it was after I bought the ticket, I found out that there are two places, with similar names, located far apart from each other, and I obviously had to pick the wrong one … AND the one located furthest away. That’s just bad luck. So now I’m looking for an 18 hours trip, going by bus and boat, to this island somewhere. Luckily it is one of the “VIP” busses, so I don’t have to sit among stray dogs, thai shemales and other strange stuff. I am a bit excited to see where I’m going. I met a couple yesterday, that I spent the evening and today with, and they are telling me it is quite touristy. Not really what I was looking for, so I don’t really know how long I will stay.

Yesterday I experienced something called “rain” … and by “rain’, I mean RAIN. In 20 minutes the streets were flooded with 10 cm of water, and I was stuck in my hotel. I was trying to kill time reading mails and decided to answer a few. Suddenly, after about 30 minutes of typing, the power went out, and all my writing got deleted. I wasn’t very happy, but what can you do.

When the rain stopped, I decided to try to get a bit around the city. There is a huge river floating through the city, and there are riverboats that are pretty much cheaper and faster than going by taxi/bus/tuk tuk (3 wheel moped with roof), so I found a place on my city map, and went for a “snake farm”. Big dissapointment … it was very small, and closed in 5 minutes. There I was in the middle of the city, and I didn’t have a backup plan. I tryed to think fast, and before I knew it, I was abducted by a Thaiman. As he said: “I work in tourist industry … I know tourist”. He probably did, but I tried to tell him, that I was just trying to find a tuk tuk to get down to the river. He said “no no … I show you. Good prices. Me office next to biiig hotel. Good prices. Just around the corner from here. Come”. I thought “what harm can this do” and I followed him for ages (the corners are apparently big in Thailand). When I came around “the corner” and found his office (was a bit worried what “his office” really was, because he only told me he was in “tourist industry”). He was running this travel agency, I sat me down in front of a “travel counsultant” and noone said a word until he said to med “tell him where you are going”. I answered “I’m going down to the river” (which was about 1 km away) and again nobody talked. I think somewhere along the line, we kind of miscommunicated (which is very common down here). They probably expected a big sale, but we ended up with him following me across the road (which is absolutely madness. Anyone know the game “Frogger”?? It’s basically the same) to get a tuk tuk. After beeing refused by one tuk tuk (which again is really rare … you can’t walk for more than 10 meters at the time without beeing stopped by tuk tuk drivers, asking or a ride) we went on trying to find the next one. I got one, grabbed the rails and clinged to this vehicle while the driver where doing stuff you don’t even see in american chase scenes on film. I found my way back to the boat, and jumped on the next boat leaving.Apparently there are no plan for these boats, so it didn’t stop where I wanted to get off. I met this Belgium guy who looked a bit lost as well and we managed to find our way back to were I live.

I tried my skills bargaining for prices on clothes later on, and I managed to go so low on the prices, that the guy wanted me out of his store. He wanted 220 Bhat (about 30-35 kroners) for a “hand made” t-shirt thingy, and I said “not more than 100″. He only looked at me and said “you go! OUT!! no deal! out!!”. I managed to get them for around 150, but I still got ripped off. Next time I’m in Bangkok, I will give money to a local guy, make him buy something I know the proce on, and see howmuch he will have to pay. Just for measuring :-) Later that night the rain hit again, and there isn’t much to do in a hotelroom in Thailand when it rains. I have no idea what the TV says and it’s booring to play cards with yourself,so I went down in the restaurant. They were showing a movie, so I sat down and watched it. To bad I got in 20 minutes before the end of it. After the movie I joined this english couple, playing cards and drinking. Nice people.

Now … I have to head for my bag and bus and see what happens. Enjoy …

Lessons learned

• Boys are not always boys and girls are not always girls. The Blur song “” springs to mind … I’m amazed that beeing a girl is so huge here. (for those of you who do not know the lyrics, here is the chorus

  Girls who are boys
  Who like boys to be girls
  Who do boys like they’re girls
  Who do girls like they’re boys

  Another thing … I don’t think the band “Boys II men” have been huge down here.

• Bargaining is not for faint hearted
• Beeing arrogant helps you get safe through the streets
• Food is OK

Current worst fears:

• Tsunami
• Bugs and moskitos (I have bought poison to keep them away today)
• Not getting a proper tan. SPF 15 is apparently too much … I’m the whitest person in Bangkok right now
• Drunk bus driver