BKK
After a hectic May-June I was hoping to settle into a quieter July. It did seem that way till I was told to go to Bangkok bc a colleague had fallen ill and I had to fill in. I wasn’t thrilled bc I had no part in the project so had a lot of catching up to make it a decent presentation. The action was set for Monday and Tuesday so I was due to fly on Sunday, and naturally it was with some surprise that when I picked up my ticket on friday I read departure Saturday and arrival Thursday. At the time two extra days in Thailand did not feel like a good thing, it meant I had no time to get some forex and I had barely started my powerpoint. It would be my second time in Bangkok, the first time was much fun bc it was for some training thing with a whole set of young fellows from all over Asia and we went around town a fair bit each evening. This time the crowd would be older and the work more serious so I was less optimistic on prospects. That said, I met a couple of friends who had just spent 2 weeks backpacking around Thailand and I made a few notes on my wrist over a few drinks before leaving on friday night. Having cut short the night I woke up early on saturday and made my way to the airport, the only positive was meeting another well travelled friend who gave me a few more BKK tips (including the fabulous Khao San road). The guy at emigration sneezed unapologetically on my brand new passport, and I spent the last hour or so browsing through travel guides in the airport bookshop looking for last minute hints of how best to enjoy Bangkok.
There was a massive queue at immigration in the new Suvarnabhumi airport, and the guy from Trinco who sat next to me on the plane was whistling at every other brown girl asking “India? Lanka? Sinhala? Thamil?” I had my plate full as I kept my eyes open for the guy from DoC who was due to represent GoSL at this conference. It shouldn’t be too tough to spot a typical Lankan govt servant in an international airport, but I was a bit shy to go tap on the shoulders of the two guys I had shortlisted. The meter taxi set me back 470 bhat and within 40mins I was in the hotel room, channel flipping to discover 6 thai channels, Russia Today, some branch of the bible channel and Michel Adam presents - Fashion TV. Great. A long shower cheered me up and I was thinking about dinner when the phone rang and a Sri Lankan voice at the other end greeted me as if we were childhood friends, “ahh ddm! welcome to BKK, how? shall we go get a bite in a bit?” It was the DoC chap who I had spoken to once in Colombo over the phone. We agreed to meet at the lobby in half an hour.
He stepped out of the lift and I was correct in my shortlist. As we left the hotel the bellboy asked where we’re going, and our friend (let’s call him Fernie) rubbed his tummy and said “for a small loaf and then to eat something.” The bell boy understood only the rubbing of the tummy and said “no food around here, only hotel, or have to take taxi.” We shrugged and went anyway. Unfortunately, we had just failed to heed the only truth that would be uttered by the hotel staff for the entire duration of the trip. After walking around in the dark there was literally bugger all to eat bar the evening remnants of the neighbouring fruit market and some thoroughly dodgy looking street satays.
After close to an hour meandering between alleys we spotted a tiny little outlet that looked more like a living room that had spilled onto the street. Opposite were a group of young men and women sitting on a car drinking Singha beer, smoking and chatting peacefully. There was a container in front of this living room with 4 compartments containing some pale looking shrimps, fish and squid. A quick look around and we saw a wok and some spices, this would have to do. Fernie asked him whether we can have rice. Blank looks from the man at the desk who I guessed was chef/waiter/father/cashier. I pointed at the squid and then the frying pain and made sizzling noises, his eyes lit up and said something in Thai, but his gesticulations suggested that he understood that we want to eat. We still couldn’t explain that we wanted stir fried sea food with rice and preferably some veges. Then mid-sentence I picked up the words “Tom Yum” and i quickly said ahh tom yum soup! By then 3 ppl had gathered around the chef and there was collective excitement at the communications breakthrough. Things progressed rapidly from there, but we didn’t really know what we were going to eat until the dishes appeared on the table. It was a pretty good deal in the end, Tom Yum soup with the days last sea food, some stir fried veges with the last of the shrimp and boiled rice. It was tasty if not mind blowing, but way better than we had expected. Fernie insisted on some fruit to combat the ushnathwaya of the shrimp and squid, so on the way back to the hotel we picked up some fabulous Thai jumbu from the fruit market. On a parting note Fernie suggested we spend Sunday exploring the town with the aid of a map he had picked up at the airport. He was clearly better prepared than I was, specially since my wrist notes had faded away faster than a nightclub stamp. It was a surprisingly pleasant start to the trip and I crashed quite early, tired from lack of sleep and the stress of the last couple of days.
