Ok, so if you’ve read the previous journal entry and looked at the photos I posted there, you can see that the shots were not that great. With the low light levels in the stadium, the auto focus on the camera did not work well plus I was experiencing camera shake, unable to set aperature or shutter speed on this totally automatic digital cam. So, because it was still fairly early, about 8pm, I hailed a motorbike and made my way back to MBK. Despite the danger of riding these things, I rode them many times during the remainder of my stay in Bangkok. This particular ride, even though there wasn’t much traffic, was the most frightening. The driver was going very fast through the relatively empty streets, but there were many taxis along the side of the street loading and unloading passengers. I thought of Rick, the English teacher in Korea who died on his motorcycle, and wondered if this was how he left this world, broadsided by a taxi pulling out to the middle of the road without looking, the dark of night contributing to the tragedy. In hindsight, I suppose I was pretty safe–it was just the thought of what might happen that scared me more than what was actually going on. If you want to cut through the traffic jams and get somewhere fast in Bangkok, motorbikes are the best form of transportation, other than the sky train or the subway, but those don’t go everywhere that you might want to go. You do take your chances on the ‘bikes, but I love riding on them.
I reached MBK in one piece and I walked up to FotoFile. I bought the Canon Rebel, shelling out $1200, but I had my dream camera and I don’t regret the purchase one bit. It’s a beauty and I’m in love with this wonderful technology. The sales clerk I had talked to earlier was surprised (and delighted) to see me again so soon, and she was very helpful with my purchase. I went back to the hotel and stayed up late into the night, reading the manual and playing with my new toy.
But, I had an interesting experience in making my way back to the hotel. I took the sky train, air conditioned and fast, to a stop about 1/2 mile from the hotel and decided to walk the rest of the way. I didn’t want to get into a wreck on a motorbike and damage the camera! :laugh: So, here I am walking down a very busy main street, but the sidewalk is in the dark–no lights, except for the traffic on the road. All of a sudden, looming out of the shadows, is this huge shape coming toward me. As it nears, I can see it is an elephant! An elephant in the middle of huge, busy, modern Bangkok, surrounded by teeming automobiles, buses, and motorbikes! I was stunned, to say the least. Its handlers asked me if I wanted to feed him, but I said no, knowing that they would charge an exorbitant price for its food for me to give it. But, wow! What a treat. It reminded me of all the strange, bizarre, unexpected occurrences that were part of day-to-day life in Africa. I found out that due to logging restrictions, many of the working elephants are no longer employed, thus their handlers take them to Bangkok, looking for work. It’s a very sad existence for them and for the elephants. Looking back, perhaps I should have “fed” the elephant.
The next day I went back to MBK and found a great area on the 5th floor dedicated to Thai arts and crafts. There, in one place, were tons of different souvenir items, and I went into a shopping frenzy. I had to buy another backpack to carry all my loot back to Korea!
The rest of my time in Bangkok I spent mostly wandering around, visiting some of the temples and also taking a tour of the beautiful {{link http://bangkokmag.infothai.com/thompson.htm Jim Thompson house}} in the center of Bangkok. Thompson was a famous American silk entrepreneur who introduced the fabulous Thai silk to the rest of the world. He mysteriously disappeared in 1967 on a silk-buying trip to Malaysia. I also found, believe it or not, a great Cajun restaurant, {{link http://www.bourbonstbkk.com/ Bourbon Street}}, on Sukhumvit Road, a main thoroughfare. There are, as a matter of fact, a myriad of different cuisines in Bangkok, and you can find just about any type of food imaginable. I had the shrimp gumbo at Bourbon Street, and it was delicious!
There are many other things I could write about: the Buddhist amulet market, the few wats I visited, the crowded shops and restaurants along Sukhumvit Road, the canals weaving through the city, the juxtaposition of the modern and the traditional in Bangkok and elsewhere. What didn’t I get to do? I didn’t take a Thai cooking course, didn’t get to visit one of the fantastic weekend markets, didn’t ride an elephant, didn’t take a speed boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Thailand is a wonderful country and its people are some of the friendliest I’ve ever encountered. There are many more areas to explore and experience, and many more things to write about. I’m already counting the days until I can revisit the “Land of Smiles.”
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