Bangkok Got Me.

The following morning was basically a repeat of the day before.  I got up, showered, and went back to the continental breakfast.  This time I chose to walk to the hotel since I now knew where it was located.  Bangkok doesn't have many crossing lights.  They have crosswalks, but they might as well be invisible. Cars just whiz right by you.  One thing I did not know was that they drive on the left-hand side of the road in Thailand.  If I had remembered my history lessons, I should've remembered that Thailand was under  British monarchy, but I didn't.  So on top of not having crossing lights, I had to remember to look right before crossing the road.  The walk to the hotel only required crossing one road, but it was a treacherous one.  I waited at the crosswalk with other Thai folks thinking I'd follow them, but after five minutes I realised there was never going to be a time when the cars stopped completely.  You just have to find a moment when there is a slight opening in traffic and go for it.  I felt as if I were trapped in a live version of Frogger (80's video game reference for my younger readers).  You just step out and pray, actually pray, that the cars will stop, or at least slow down long enough to allow you to cross to the other side.  I had that intersection crossing to look forward to twice a day.  

My second day at the conference found me in a smaller, more intimate conference room.  I sat at the same table as the presenters, hence I could not text or search the web as much as I wanted to due to the tedium of the workshop.  Fortunately, the day was over at 2:30.  The lunches at the conference were amazing. For having to serve over 800 people, the hotel did a good job.  On top of that, there was always coffee, chocolates, pastries and fruit out in the hallways.  One could gain five pounds at this conference.  

After my workshop, I went back to the hotel to rest up a bit.  I had made arrangements the day before to go out with the elementary school principal.  He knew where to go, and which bars I would like, so I figured I would rely on his expertise.  I only had a couple of hours to spare before heading back to the tailor.   For the return trip to the tailor, I didn't do as well.  I ended up going in the wrong direction twice.  These mistakes happened mostly when trains were pulling into the station as I arrived and I didn't take the time to ensure that I was going in the right direction.  Also, as with most systems, you have to know the name of the final stop in order to check if you're on the right line.  I learned my lesson.  When I was on the train, I memorized the names of the final stops and now knew what to look for when transferring cars.  I didn't make this mistake again for the rest of the trip.

At the tailor, they had my suit mostly constructed.  The jacket didn't have sleeves on it yet, and it was laced with white threads, but it was good enough to try on, the same with the pants.  The tailor pulled the pants in around my thighs, waist and calves.  I could tell that the pants would be rather form-fitting (much more so than a suit off-the-rack).  The jacket looked great.  The cute British guy came in to give his opinion, and then I was done.  I had to come back the next day for a third fitting.  If I had known how many times I needed to come back, I might have searched for a tailor closer to the hotel.  Still, I was very impressed by their workmanship.  

So, another trip back to the hotel through the oppressive heat.  As I walked to the sky train, I came across a dog.  I thought he was just sleeping, but upon closer examination I saw that he was dead.  He was laying at the entrance to the sky train but people just stepped over him.  Bangkok also has a lot of very sad homeless people, mostly women with babies in their laps.  There were also old men with missing limps wearing nothing more than a ripped pair of shorts.  If I lived here, I think I would have to pick a day, fill my pocket with a hundred dollars worth of change, and just walk around giving it out. Otherwise I couldn't live with myself walking passed these scenes every day. 

Back at the room, a quick shower (I showered at least three times a day), and I was ready to go out.  I met Garth (the elementary school teacher) in the lobby and off we went.  We walked a really long time.  We finally stopped at a brightly lit bar for a drink.  He ordered a Long Island ice tea, I asked for a martini, straight up with olives.  When the drinks came I had a martini on the rocks with a lemon.  The waitress, mind you, was American.  I went to the bar and asked for the drink straight up with olives.  It came back still on the rocks, with a lemon AND olives.  I just drank it.  After that, though, I switched to what Garth was drinking.  I haven't had a Long Island ice tea since college.  Fortunately these were very weak (which was a godsend because I think we ordered three more).  I knew I needed some food so I ordered a flank steak salad.  It was awful, but I ate it anyway.

Next we walked down to the section where the gay bars were located.  Before we got there, you walk past vendors selling clothes, DVDs, and sex toys. The vendors are located on both sides of the sidewalk, so it makes for narrow little openings where you have to squeeze past people.  For a fast walker like me, it drives me crazy having to slow down.  Of course, in the hideous heat, walking slower was probably a good idea.  The vendors are quite aggressive and try to lure into their stands.  It was a bit surprising to see condoms, Viagra, lube, and other more graphic toys being sold right on the street, but this is Bangkok, baby.  We came to an alleyway and turned into it.  All the bars in Bangkok tend to be tucked away in back alleys.  Where we turned, the alleyway opened up onto a kaleidoscope of colored lights, blaring music, and very aggressive servers trying to invite you into their establishments.  Well, they don't try - they grab your arms and lead you towards the door.  You actually have to get quite direct and rude to make them leave you alone.  We found a seat and ordered more Long Island ice teas.  At this point I was feeling no pain.  Garth was a great conversationalist, and I wasn't really paying much attention to my surroundings.  Keep in mind, this was Halloween night.  There were a lot of people wearing costumes (though not as many as in Seoul the weekend before).

Things started to get a little fuzzy at this point.  I know we went to another bar, paid to get in, had a couple of more drinks, and stood around and talked some more.  At some point we left and I guess walked home.  We ended up at the Breeze bar in my hotel where I eat breakfast.  They weren't going to let Garth in because he was wearing a sleeveless shirt and he had a big argument with the manager over it.  This led us to have a big discussion over whether establishments had the right to enforce dress codes.  It was the type of argument that only made sense amongst drunk people.  At least I had a decent manhattan.  When I checked out a few days later, I know why.  Those two drinks at that bar cost $51 dollars!  

I think around 1:30 I made my way back to the room and crashed.  I knew the next morning was not going to be pretty. 

Bangkok got me.