So now I'm in the center of the monster. The last day. Exhausting, exhausting, probably due to the bad air, the noise, the many people, the millions of cars. It's okay anyway, I've always liked Bangkok. It's a crazy city, but despite all the craziness, there is something fascinating about it that is not easy to grasp.
I already noticed things on my first visit about a hundred years ago. Despite air pollution, despite nerve-racking noise resembling a never-ending roar, despite dense traffic and suicidal TukTuk rides, an inexplicable feeling of „ everything ok“ sets in. Like so many other things in Asia hardly explainable.
And today it's like the first time. I take a walk, exploring the immediate surroundings of the hotel, drifting along the river and the busy streets and lanes.
The Tout Problem
So, as it turns out, I'm a welcome victim for a tout. Despite grinning protests on my part and the assertion that I will not buy anything, I'm driven with a TukTuk to a first-class tourist trap. It's a trés distingué shop for high-quality menswear, in which I fit with my run-down clothes and the 4 weekly beard like a cow into St. Peter's Basilica.
Well, that doesn't stop people from offering me overpriced suits (even by Thai standards), awfully colored ties or warm coats. Of all things! But somehow I enjoy the treatment, even if it quickly turns into polite contempt as soon as my obvious disinterest becomes really evident. Even the tug / tuk-tuk driver gives the impression on the way back that he would like to tip me into the river. Sorry, but I warned you!
The stamp problem
The greeting card is still waiting for promotion, so I'm trying to buy stamps in a store. This seems to be successful at first sight, but only until I realize that there are only quite large stamps with a very low value. So I would need a whole sheet to get the required shipping costs.
Once again, the result is a real Monty-Python-Sketch. The entire sales force has gathered around me and proposes to use all the stamps. So regardless of the fact that there is no space left for address or greetings. The laughter from both sides gets louder and louder as we stick stamps on the front and back of the card, while just a few square centimetres are left for address and greetings. Remark in retrospect: the post office seems to have had little pleasure with the card, in any case it never arrived at its destination.
Afterwards I take the elevated train to the city center. The attempt to find a shopping center fails strangely enough (which should be rather rare in Bangkok). So I walk up and down all these strange streets with unreadable names until I'm tired. I retire to a coffee room teeming with young Thais who are busy learning.
The chip or coin insertion problem
Well, and then it's evening, I am dog-tired, and take the new subway to the airport, which once again is a special experience. I have learned that the normal tickets are bought by inserting an appropriate number of coins (which can be bought at a counter), then the ticket is put in at the designated place and off we go.
It's different with the new subway to the airport. At the counter you don't buy coins anymore but a chip, which must be later inserted at the checkpoint. So I buy one and insert it where the coins are inserted. Upps - wrong idea!
Of course, there's a catch: the chip must only be used at the checkpoint and definitely not at the machine where the coins are inserted. Which, of course, escapes me. Fool! Idiot! It immediately causes a complete blockage of the machine and a lot of excitement and of course quite a queue behind me. I sincerely apologize but the Thais take it very calmly. Probably they have long come to believe that the superiority of the white race has happened thanks to a historical accident. Today I have confirmed this suspicion.
P.S. Matching Song: The Animals - Bright Lights, Big City
And here the journey continues ...
