Bangkok Tourist

Campbell planned to make the most of his limited time in the city and was up and out by the time I rose. (Although later I found his good intentions in tatters: by mid-afternoon he was back in bed).

Met Luke and Mark for breakfast in the guest-house lounge. Fruit seems to be the thing to eat in the mornings and despite the rumours that watermelons can house lots of bacteria I dug into three enormous slices of mouth-watering lushness.

If today is anything to go by, travelling involves many long, meandering walks with constant breaks to consult maps and gawp at unusual things--unusual to a Englishman with little to no previous knowledge of other cultures and religions, that is. Like a visitor to England stopping and admiring a post-box or a hoodied youth, I suppose.

We ambled. We consulted. We took our shoes off and went into a Buddhist temple. I've got to admit, I've never got the hang of going into places of worship. I'm not religious (I know, I know, Buddhism's not technically a religion) and I always feel like I'm intruding on other people's spiritual sanctuaries. Being there as an observer alone feels kind of wrong, like attending a Singles Party to check-out the scene when you've got a partner. What am I missing not being a Buddhist? Lots of statues of the Buddha in the Lotus position, for one.

After booking tickets on a sleeper train for tomorrow night at the main railway station--a painless affair, unlike later mishaps, notably in Delhi--we made an equally circuitous route back to Khaosan Road, taking in Chinatown, the Golden Buddha, the Royal Barge Museum, and a gentle boat ride up the river. Chinatown was a blacksmith's paradise, the Golden Buddha was golden, and the Royal Barges were very, very long.

In the evening we watched Lord of the Rings--to help understand Western cultural influences on the Thai mind, of course--and during the course of the film I got to witness first-hand the Thai bride phenomena. A lecherous, sixty something English gentleman was basically letting his dining-mate--a young Thai woman--be his personal slave. Perhaps it was true love and the woman was just spoiling her man, but I always feel slightly uncomfortable seeing relationships where there are gross imbalances of power. It makes romance seem to be solely about self-interest instead of mutual respect and love. Am I hopelessly naive?

Crashed out early, still adjusting to the time-difference.