The Good & Bad of Bangkok

I’m sitting here on my bed at 8pm listening to a pack of stray dogs bellowing outside as they chase the truck that gets them riled up every afternoon and early evening. I don’t know what the guy in the truck is actually doing, but he drives up and down the little lane twice in the evening speaking into his megaphone. It drives the dogs nuts and it’s definitely a distinctive group of sounds that I won’t forget. First it’s the high pitched howling and barking, then I know I will hear the Thai man speaking in his megaphone in a low-toned voice that seems to speak deliberately slowly. He’s probably selling something, but to me it just seems like some cruel plan to get the dogs going. 

I’m getting REALLY sick of all the rain. The last 2 nights in a row I got caught in the torrential downpour that happens every freakin day. Dripping wet, with my huge backpack carrying my computer that weighs a ton, I come walking up the steps to my apartment, squeaking as I go from all the water. My shoes are soaked through and so yet another pair is ruined. I’m getting low on shoes, which sucks because I can’t fit my American sized feet into the tiny Thai shoes.

I like to take walks after work (which is why I keep getting caught in the rain) and I just watch people and how they interact. I finally got a picture (for Ed) of a monk getting his food and that whole process, which I will post below. I noticed a group of teenage boys do a quick, half-hearted “wai” to the spirit house as they were walking by. They were engrossed in talking and generally messing around like teenage boys do, but they didn’t forget to do a quick bow past the spirit house. I don’t know why, but that stuck with me. It was just like a Catholic genuflecting as they pass a Catholic Church, or when Muslims do their daily prayers. I’ve watched Ismail and he says the prayer so fast, it’s like buzzing out of his mouth, and I know it’s second nature.  I enjoy seeing small things like that. Another thing that stuck was a father I saw holding his young son; he was using his shirt to protect the boy’s nose from the cloud of pollution spewing their way from passing busses. It was a nice sight and sort of ironic because on the one hand you have the ugly side of life in Bangkok – all the nasty pollution that you can’t get away from, and on the other, it brings out a father’s love and protection towards his son - Kinda beautiful, in a super cheesy way. J 

Back to the ugly side - today I was lucky enough to see a full on Thai girl fight on the bus! These 2 ladies screamed at each other for the longest time, with others jumping in so that by the end there were like 4 angry Thai ladies screeching at each other. I sure do wish I knew what the fight was about! I suppose there’s no real “good” side to the fight, although it was a real treat on an otherwise dull 40 minute ride.

Lastly I will tell you about the latest plight of the kittens. As some of you know I took a semi-adoptive role in the life of some small kittens living in the roof next door. I won’t bore you with the long details of that because it’s plastered on my facebook in the form of videos. Long story short, the mom moved the kittens awhile ago and I hadn’t seen them until yesterday morning on my way to work. I saw the 3 babies running across the lane together and hiding under a car. I was so happy to see that all 3 looked healthy and the black one and the stripped one’s eyes had healed. Now the bad news…this morning on my way to work I saw the orange one dead. L  Life in Bangkok can be cruel. 

Pics: 1. Monk gathering daily food, 2. Drink stall in the school cafeteria. I always have the coconut.

3. Student's shoes line the outside halls because they don't wear their shoes inside.

4. Motorcycle taxi leaving school

5. On the bus - on Tuesday.

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