Bangkok: Khao San Street - My New Home

Made it to Bangkok, and my eyeballs hurt.

Not 3 minutes walking down the road where I'm staying and I already got my share of 'lady boy' admirers. Fuckin' 6:30 am and the road pubs are still full of gweis and thais lively chattin' it up over brewskamoes; all while the lady boys stand on the sides of road looking for freshies to proposition. What circus this street must have looked like 3 hours earlier, still closed on both ends the sun's heat beginning to humidify the cramped air stuffed between the city block, aided by the stagnant puddles of beer, puke, piss, water, etc . As I lug my sacks and tramp the center line, - keeping my eyes' resources honed for bargain hostels -the scenes of Khao San Street begin to appear: Shop owners purvey the atrocities of night before as they sweep their own territories of sludge and hose the filth to the guttered sides of the street; transients from some far off country, bug eyed with jet lag and left to the mercy 'this' to get them back on schedule; all the likes of taxi transport vehicles and personal waiting in clumps here and there for the either the well rested fare coming out some hostel entrance or one of the possible puke bags who just happen to stumble off their stool with their last inevitable act of the night; and of course all night bus jockeys who've been knocked and bounced around for twelve hours wondering if their one of the ones that will start the day or still try to end the last one; and then all the 'fringe': dirty travelers sitting and smoking with Thais in front of 7 11's, a city worker, etc.......home sweet home.

- 400 baht for the Khao San 'Palace' Hotel ( mattress with a ceiling fan, that sounds it my fly off it crank shaft)

Looking to maybe bed the head for minute and work a session at the old linoleum cubical. Then I'll try to get a hold of You, no not 'you', Yo (pronounced somewhere in the middle of the two), a Thai gal who I met in Ko Phi Phi. Then maybe today, tomorrow, - no rush -meet up with Dave Taylor to do a little international school tour.

6 days to go before they kick me out of Thailand....

Other News:

Yesterday, or I guess it would be the day before yesterday, I got to drive on the other side of the road - and this time legally! (still however - sidewalks and lawns also remain illegal) At only one point did I find myself back on the right side, or the wrong side for that matter. I moto-ed all over Phuket Island on my way to FantaSea. A must do recommendation for people who like to drive fast and disobey traffic laws. Winding roads switch backing up and over a small mountains, one moment you've got three lanes and the next your down to one simply because the other direction has taken their turn at wanting three. Hmm... red light, nah looks clear - Going for it! Cars to the inside and screaming motor scooters slicing the outside, mothers with children, old folks, crazy tourists who want a piece of the action...

- 150 Baht (24 hour motor scooter rental)

Note: As much I get accustom to these foreign lands something about motor scooter renters requiring a passport as collateral still doesn't sit right: A speeding foreigner, no international ID, no international driving license, no insurance; my new home might be the Bangkok Hilton if the wrong pissed off Thai nabs me.

- Still have some parasite living in my guts. I think I've traced it to a piece of chicken I ate three or four days ago in Ko Phi Phi. I remember it being on a Kabob and when I bit into it I sort of disintegrated like a stale donut. I also remember thinking that it might not be good to eat, but also remember that it seemed edible and I had my eye on the green pepper that was next in line.

The VIP bus' toilet turned out to be a bust. No possible way to do anything in there but try not to urinate all over the place, which apparently a lot of people had some difficulty.

- Another recommendation apparently is not to where yellow or red shirts as these are the colors of the two disputing parties that have raging protests of late and have inflicted mild violence...( darn, down to two shirts).

-Sawet just called. Turned out he couldn't come with me because he can't start his vacation until next week. He called to let me know when he'll be in Bangkok - Saturday. He still wants to talk me to Laos.

-Met some Aussie's on the overnight, told me about the Pig Pong Show back in Phuket - better to save the explanation of this one.