You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2007.
It takes forever for daylight to happen here. No sign of it at this time of the day so far.
Perhaps the sun has gone on holiday and daylight won’t happen today.
PAYMENT DETAILS
*********0.02 EUR Adult
********52.86 EUR Taxes,Fees & Charges
********11.08 EUR Aviation / WCHR Levy
*********0.00 EUR Car Rental
*********0.00 EUR Insurance
********63.96 EUR Total Paid
Tally Ho!
I’ve finally set up a Skype account. However, I don’t plan on using it much due to the fact that I dislike talking on the telephone.
I’ve added a Skype status thingy to the sidebar, so if you ever see me online, feel free to ‘Skype Me’.
I bet you didn’t know I had my own city in Thailand, did you?
It’s quite common to see Thai people taking a siesta in public.
My next flat.
Ever wonder how phone booths are washed?
New Year’s Eve started out as most of mine do – wandering around wherever I am and seeing what’s going on. I started doing that in Bangkok and visited a few different places, including Central World Plaza – where the main festivities were to be held, and then wandered into a pub on Sukhumvit. I hopped onto a barstool, ordered a beer and then had a look at which sports they were showing on TV.
What was being shown was scenes of food bowls on the ground, food carts overturned and (Thai) people looking on in shock. I asked the bartender what had happened and he said that a bomb had gone off.
J: ‘A bomb?!?’
Bartender: ‘Yes.’
J: ‘In Bangkok?!?’
Bartender: ‘Yes.’
J: ‘Near here?’
Bartender: ‘No, far away.’
Others started watching the TV and asking questions, so a few minutes later the channel was turned. Apparently they thought that it might be bad for business – and they were probably right.
A few minutes later, a guy sat down next to me and asked me if I had heard about bombs going off. I told him that the bartender had told me about one, but not three. He said that his wife had SMSed him about it and told him to be careful. So, I asked him where they had gone off and the third location he told me was Sukhumvit.
J: ‘Sukhumvit! That’s where we are.’
Guy: ‘Yes, it is.’
J: ‘I haven’t seen anything.’
Guy: ‘Me either.’
In all fairness, Sukhumvit is a very long street.
The bartender turned the TV back to the news channel and I asked him if they were talking about more than one, and he confirmed that they were.
I headed off to Central World Plaza – where a bomb went off a couple hours later – to see if the festivities were still going to happen, and by the time I got just past 22h, the entire area was dark. Completely dark. No traffic, no lights from businesses, nothing. Just dark. Very unusual for this, or any, area of Bangkok.
I decided to make my way over there via the Skytrain bridge but the extension to Central World Plaza was closed.
Right.
Time for a new plan.
I was still determined not to let bombs ruin my New Year’s Eve, so I headed off to an area that I don’t really care for, but new that New Year’s Eve would be being celebrated – Khao Sarn Road.
Khao Sarn Road is a backpacker’s paradise. It’s a famous part (perhaps infamous is a better word) that all backpackers have to see, hang out on, etc. Wall to wall ‘westerners’ and no Thai culture other than food that is served – however it appears that more Western food is served than Thai food. However, I was sure that New Year’s Eve would be celebrated there so I went.
Or at least I tried to.
Bangkok has taxi that advertise as ‘Taxi Meter’ on the top of their taxies (they’re sanctioned by the city), but getting one of them to actually use the meter is not an easy feat. I tried three taxis and told them that I wanted them to use their meters and they wouldn’t, so decided to try my luck with Tuk Tuks. I asked one of them how much it would cost and he said 150 THB – an outrageous amount for that distance. I was able to talk one of them down to 80 THB and got dropped off there.
Many revelers had beaten me there and had silly hats on and other New Year’s paraphernalia, so I started strolling down to where the band was supposed to be playing. A famous band was due to play there starting at 23h, but the stage was being packed up. I saw a group of people (one guy and several girls) looking at the stage and wondering (out loud) what was happening. I told the two standing closest to me about the bombs and that the band was to have started at Central World Plaza and then moved here, and since CWP was shut down the band was probably shut down also due to the fact that it was sponsored by the city.
They understood.
Random Guy: ‘I was on my way to Bali when the bombs happened there a few years ago.’
J [playful tone]: ‘So what has happened tonight is your fault.’
SG [same tone]: ‘Evidently so.’
J: ‘Thanks for that.’
I walked down to the end of the road and saw that the army was there and had closed off that end of the street to one (pedestrian) entrance and one exit. All bags – no matter how small – were being searched. Not wanting to be hassled by going out, waiting in line and getting back in, I turned around and strolled back in the direction of where I came from and ran into Random Guy again.
J: ‘Where’s your harem?’
RG: ‘Shopping.’
J: ‘What were you thinking when you were with a bunch of girls?’
RG: ‘Apparently I wasn’t.’
*we both laughed and the girls returned*
They started heading off and Random Guy turned to me and said ‘You wanna come drink with us for New Year’s?’ to which I saw my opportunity for a good New Year’s Eve and responded affirmatively.
We went looking for a place to have a few drinks and found a place that had enough seats for the six of us plus a couple and another guy they had randomly met earlier that day. After settling into a back area of one of them (not by choice – we wanted to be in the front but couldn’t find anyplace that had that many seats), we started getting to know each other better. We then discovered that all of us were of different nationalities – a Scotsman (Random Guy), an Aussie, a New Zealander, a Swede, a Dane, a Dutchie, a Canadian, a Norwegian and an American (me).
We ordered a large bottle of whiskey and several bottles of Pepsi to mix it with and then got to drinking. It sounds expensive but it really wasn’t. Each of us threw in 200 THB and that paid for everything.
I was seated between the Scotsman and the Aussie, but the table was oval and conversation flew around it. There turned out to be a busker, a guy that does as little as possible, a photographer, a student, an engineer, two teachers (the Aussie and me) and two others that I can’t remember the profession of.
Just before midnight we went out into the crowded streets and awaited 2007 to happen. There wasn’t an official countdown and everybody’s watches appeared to be set differently because we rang in the New Year three or four times. It didn’t matter, as we were all in festive moods.
After a while, we went into a pub for a beer to go and continued ringing in the New Year with the crowd outside. Then it happened:
‘This area is closed’ ‘Leave immediately or else you will be arrested’
It was being announced from somewhere, but where wasn’t visible.
The reveling continued.
So did the announcement.
‘This area is closed’ ‘Leave immediately or else you will be arrested’
Most of the revelers (including us) continued with what they were doing. This part of Bangkok should have been rocking til the sun came up, so I sensed that something was very wrong.
Eventually a police pick-up truck very slowly came through the crowd repeating the announcement over and over again only in English, never in Thai.
‘This area is closed’ ‘Leave immediately or else you will be arrested’
We left Khao Sarn Road, sort of. In the confusion most of us got separated and wandered about looking for each other, running into each other randomly while looking for the others, but never were ablle to get together to continue the festivities in a different part of Bangkok – assuming that all of the city hadn’t been shut down.
I took a Tuk Tuk back to my hotel and arrived around 2h.
The evening didn’t end the way I we had planned for it to (partying til dawn), but was still a fun time.
The New Year’s Eve gang just after midnight
25 hours after I left Thailand – 16 of them in the air – I’m home.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to whine about being back in Germany (at least this evening) because I’m too tired to do so. I’ve had close to 2 hours sleep in the last 36 hours. However, I’m going to stay up for a couple more hours to try to fight off jet lag.
So, what now that I’m home?
Does life resume as it was before I left or does it change?
I guess that’s up to me.
Favour to ask: would someone be so kind as to read through the blogs on my blogroll and let me know what I’ve missed? Or, a quick summary would be nice from those that have posted, if you feel like commenting (I’m about 31 days behind now).
Finally – a photo of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur.
comes to an end.
I’m leaving just before midnight and should be back Monday evening (unfortunately, I’m taking the long way), despite:
- Cracks in the taxiway and possibly one of the runways at the new Bangkok Airport (where I’m flying from);
- Protests in Istanbul (my first change of planes);
- A looming British Airways strike (one of the airlines I’m using);
- Deutsche Bahn (in general).
Taken on 20 January in Thailand
when it’s 35C.
but I’m not. I did catch my flight up from Phuket, but then went to a beach area south of there – where I’ll remain til my flight back to Germany.
I love the beach.
