Bangkok Day 5: The last full day: Full of work ;-(

4:30 am.  Wow. I've slept in, LOL.

It's actually RAINING outside.  No longer the tempestuous thundershower that woke me at just after midnight, but a steady heavyish rain.   That's more like Monsoon season !

It's still raining at 6:30.  This is actually a good thing since I'm supposed to finish a translation today and don't really need any distractions, LOL.

The rain is finally letting up at 8 am.  Canal-View Restaurant is opening at 9 am, exactly the right time for a glass of wine, LOL.  

9:15 am.
Oh WHAT-EVER (LOL). What is it with this town?   I'm back in the Channel Restaurant and they tell me that they don't have any wine.   Are they really out of white wine (I had some here 3 days ago) or is it still some kind of prohibitive time?   I order a Singha beer and I should find out as soon as it arrives.  In a glass or bottle means that they're really out of wine.  In a paper coffee cup means that it's STILL illegal to serve alcohol.

9:30 am
Where is my beer?    

Pretty Beer

There is a group of 8 tourists at the next table (presently telling a story of some woman being chained to a bed but managing to escape) and while I would NOT want to trade with them, I'm more than a little envious that they can just hang out here without having to think about or even actually performing any work.

They're out of Singha beer too?  
Wow. I'm getting a Chang beer. And it comes in a bottle, so that means that it's legal to consume and buy alcohol again.   And I also realize why I couldn't finish my admittedly large paper cup beer yesterday.  The bottle holds 620 ml of beer.  That's TWO Canadian cans!  But it's GOOD beer ;-)


I'm getting used to my expat life in Bangkok.  Above 30 degrees is my new comfortable temperature range. The air-conditioning in my room is set to cool to 27 degrees Celsius.  Even with the bit of stress from the translation I have to finish, life seems to move at a slow pace around here. 

I'm back in the hotel at 10:30 and feel like another nap is due.

11:30
Where am I? Why does my whole body like I've been run over by a bus????

During a cigarette break on the balcony, I am reminded that Monitor Lizards not only live on the opposite bank of the canal.  Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm keeping my bathroom window CLOSED.

Monitor Lizard with hotel laundry

It is acutely aware of me

Call me timid. But I don't want that TONGUE anywhere near me 1

1 pm
I've just come back from 7-Eleven with a bottle of wine (!!!), yogurt, and salty nuts.   Life is back to normal, LOL.

By 5 pm I’ve had a few naps to combat fatigue and exhaustion caused mainly by Blitz-translating.

By 5:30 pm I’m back in the restaurant on the pretty street.  They serve white wine today ;-)  

They also serve a decent Green Curry (OK, so it should be spicier and the chicken shouldn’t be pre-cooked, but given that they’re right next to the endless supply of dumb tourists on Khaosan Road, they actually do a good job)

Speaking of dumb tourists, there are three young Americans sitting at the table next to me, telling each other which drastic measures they would use if they could, to solve the problems of the world, in particular the 3^rd world. 
May the Lord protect the 3^rd world from people like that!   It very much reminds me of The Quiet American, the tragic title figure of Graham Greene’s ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS book.  Young, full of strange ideals, with no sensitivity to geopolitical facts or an inkling that different cultures around the world may actually lead to different ways of doing things.

Actually, I just realized something: if you strike the word YOUNG from the above paragraph, you have a perfect description of Donald Trump.  One is supposed to have wizened a bit at the ripe age of 75.  And he hasn’t.  What a shame.  And what a tragedy for the world.