24/3/02 Bangkok, Thailand Phillip
You would not believe my day yesterday. Basically we spent the entire day, from 9am to 1am, in the jeeps. Everything that could've broken did. The dentist actually has 5 jeeps and the one that keeps breaking he just bought. His mechanic actually built it from 5 other jeeps that were written off and it seems like that was a bad idea! The major problem was that the radiator burst and we couldn't drive it. So we're towing it behind another jeep and we're all crammed in the other two. Trust me when I say it's not comfortable, and very frustrating because we're towing the other jeep up massive hills and the car jerked the whole way!
Anyway, it became quickly evident that we'd be spending another night in Thuam Tham with the Monk. It's been fine though but I've now added squat toilets to my list of hated things!
One shocking thing for you Scots is that I actually saw a Rangers shirt in this tiny village. Quite the shocker, no running water or electricity but a Rangers shirt! I didn't like that town :)
Last night we briefly met a friend a TPK's who had flown back to Thailand after being in Brussels for awhile. She ended up getting us a ride with her (private car and driver) all the way to Bangkok. She's amazingly cool and reminds me a lot of my sister because of her commitment to her beliefs. She speaks English very well and invited me to go back to the Monks to practice meditating more and to celebrate the Water Festival with them. Quite the honor! So I'm thinking of doing that when Kelly is in the States.
Now that we're back in Bangkok I'm glad we chose to stop back here before heading out. I was rushing back for the 28th to meet Kel and basing my plans on that but now kel's not coming so it's nice just to have some peace and quiet and not have any commitments. Plus, of course, it's nice to have a mattress and a toilet......
Oh yeah, TPK loaned me a cell phone for my time in Thailand (didn't I say he was nice?) so I'm now back in contact with the rest of the world. It was definitely an insanely cool time; we've done and seen so much in such a short time. Cheesy as it sounds I think I've truly had my first experience as a traveler, way off the beaten track and getting to experience what the country is like and live with and like the locals.
Posted by Admin at March 25, 2002 10:09 PM