Thursday, April 6, 2006

sawat dee kaa

My last day in Thailand. My last spicy noodle soup breakfast. My last cold shower. My last bottle of Thai water.

I took an early morning stroll, crossed the river on the ferry, and explored the market with the morning shoppers. It seems that I can’t sleep late in this country, whether it’s because of the roosters, the bright sun, or just the general feeling that everyone else is up and I should be too. The market was going strong at 8:30am selling fruits, vegetables, meat, pig heads, traditional sarongs, aprons, spices, and all sorts of other things. I stood and watched the people making the flower wreaths for temple offerings for awhile; I think the little white flowers they use are jasmine.

The ferry was delayed due to a tug boat pulling a large barge across the river, so I had plenty of time to wonder about how much money the average Thai person makes a day, if there is a word in Thai for snow, why Thai people don’t sweat, what is that stuff that looks like chapstick that people sniff (found out later it’s 100% menthol oil), what the orange bracelets that lots of people are wearing are for, what the literacy rate is for such a squiggly language, why do Thai people answer the phone “hello,” if it gets really hot will my ear wax melt and run out of my ears, and will I miss my train if this boat doesn’t hurry up?

I didn’t miss my train. I made it to the airport with the perfect amount of time to get through two security checks, buy several packages of dried fruit, have one more fruit shake (rose apple), and make it to my gate with ten minutes to spare before boarding.

Let me tell you, Thai Airlines is the way to fly to Thailand. The seats were new, the staff very friendly, the meal very good (for airplane food), continuous Thai orange juice, and they gave me an real orchid flower when I got off the plane. Looking at the purple flower made me happy and warm inside while my body tried to adjust to the fifteen degree Celcius temperature change.

And that’s my trip to Thailand. It was great. It was wonderful. I want to go back to South East Asia as soon as possible. You know, I didn’t meet one other person who was staying less than three weeks. Not one. That’s the way to do it. Next time, I’m going to be that person. I just hope that by the time I get back to Khao San road again, the restaurants will have changed their music to something other than Jack Johnson on repeat.

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