Sawasdee ka! Thailand Travel troublemaking..

Just arrived back in Seoul after a few weeks in Thailand. Oh the heat, and the smooth moist feeling of the skin in that humidity. I planned what was necessary, learned some Thai, converted currency at the airport and headed out.

I arrived in Bangkok late on a Thursday night and arranged myself into a room near the National Stadium. My morning jaunt had me leaping onto a 4 baht (10 cent) bus and jetting off through the cty towards Grand Palace, the putrid air of the surrounding traffic tried to overwhelm me but the glittering sights of passing strange new roofs and other noteworthy structures kept me alert and eager to see more. A long wall greeted me and I found my way along it through throngs of foreign tourists into the main grounds, paid my small admission and readied my cheap snap camera. I was out of film in an hour.

Dodged tuk tuks and street vendors afterwards to a small ferry crossing to Wat Arun, the towering mozaic-laden riparian delight. Having bought more film, I was again out within an hour.

I stopped to purchase fresh fruits whenever I could convince myself I had tummy space big enough to eat more. I met 6 new international friends later that night and our group became inseparable in our dining, weekend market wandering, chatting, Khao San road drinking adventures.

Then another flight,south, to the island of Phuket and a short ride with my carryon while holding onto the back of a scooter driver. Karon beach, my own empty hotel as tourism is hurt badly there. I join the topless european women on the beach and burn my breasts in short time. My sunblock turns out, although SPF70, is not waterproof. Nightlife consists of guesing games of which young Thai prostitute will be taken down the street to a dirty old man's hotel room. So I meet more travellers, and go for a Thai massage, fill myself on fresh seafood and bargain for day trips.

I danced in waters with colorful fish, canoed through sea caves, tried to glimpse the real life behind the markets of a floating village and came upon school children playing sidewalk games, someone put a monkey on me, I wandered into a cave and made bat sounds until a few fluttered around me, I rode an elephant and had mixed emotions about it before receiving a back massage from a young one, I sat in quiet spots and contemplated, I applied aloe on my skin (many times), squished wet sand between my toes. Then I moved to Patong beach.

Banana Disco, walked till my feet hurt and walked some more, stood on a balcony soaking wet as the island rain poured down like a great wall, I finally wrote some postcards, stayed in "mosquito motel" and then a nice one my remaining days, and hours before leaving I somehow ended up a float-member dancing during the island's gay pride parade hopping off partway through to wave good-bye and grab a tuk tuk to the airport.

The last sights I see before leaving: construction of wave damaged buildings, women sitting on their porch in mumu dresses, scooter drivers smiling at me, a local market, a small beach with mounds of their buried dead and tiny wooden markers, the evening light sprinkled over fields, and that sun finally setting over the runway of the airport. I went on to run through terminals in Bangkok to get my connecting flight, and didn't sleep a wink as loudspeaker translation went on in three languages and arrived back in Seoul in time to see the first of the flowers blooming.