3/8 - Don't Fear the Cockroach

I've been neglectful of the blog recently, and I do apologize. And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who've visited over the past couple of months, bringing my total hit count to over 2000.

We're about to leave for Ireland (on the 10th) and as a result, this feels like the end of our trip. But actually, we'll be back in Thailand for another week after Ireland, so it's not quite a conclusion, except that it brings to an end the continuous stretch of Southeast Asia-time that we've been experiencing so far. Of note: today it's two months exactly since we set off.

Which brings me to some updates: On the 10th we're flying down to Bangkok in the evening (we booked that flight a few days ago), with a five-hour space of time in Don Muang Airport before connecting to our Emirates flight to London. We decided to fly because it'll take us right to the airport, whereas a bus (which would have taken 12 hours or so) would have left us in the city. I convinced Aubrie to fly Thai Airways down, even though this meant $15 more in fare each (not a small amount when you consider the bus probably would have cost $6 each total). The reason: they fly a 777-300 down to Bangkok (a big, long plane), and the low-cost airlines generally fly smaller 737s. I really enjoy taking widebodies on short flights (this one is about an hour) and especially have an interest in getting on a 777-300 because the -300 series is not often seen in the US and Europe, it being mostly preferred by Asian carriers. Why, you ask? I'm not exactly sure, except I think it has something to do with the sheer number of people in Asia, and the -300 being obscenely long and able to fit more people.

And now that we're on the subject of airplane mania, I'll answer John E's question: The prospect of flying on Emirates excites me almost solely because it's an airline I've never been on before, and which I've heard much about. And because it's a Middle Eastern airline, and therefore outside of my usual realm of airline experience. It's also a fascinating airline in that it's had a meteoric rise in size and wealth, much like the city of Dubai itself, in a very short span of time. At the moment it's buying up planes left and right, and expanding in such a way that I can't imagine they have enough passengers to fill the planes. So I want to see what it's like to fly them.

But I'll stop boring all of you non airplane-maniacal ones out there. We've made one more change, in that we've eliminated the Dubai stopover, due to it being a very expensive city. Our arrival time was also going to coincide with two major events which meant higher hotel prices and lack of availability. We decided it'd be best to save a trip there for when we haven't just been bleeding money nonstop for two months. So we'll get back to Bangkok on the 22nd and leave the 29th. What we'll be doing for that week is still undecided, but a tropical island is currently being considered for feasibility.

Oddly enough, I'm sitting next to a planespotter. We've just had a conversation about the merits of Eva Airways, his jumpseat experiences, my nearly-achieved jumpseat experience, and the lack of merit of Lao Aviation.

In other news, Chiang Mai remains a place of contrasts. On the main roads I curse the inventor of the automobile, while choking and tearing from the exhaust, but on the little lanes and alleys ('soi', as you might recall) I mostly only curse the cockroaches. In fact, there's very little cursing going on. The traffic feels miles away and the trees thrive, though in a slightly downtrodden, urban sort of way. There's actually a stretch of one of the sois that I've learned to fear though. It's where a market during the day takes place on either side, and where at night there are no street lights, and no buildings, just abandoned tables and surfaces for placing food products on stretching into the shadows. As a result, when walking past it at night (we must do this in order to reach the nearest 7-Eleven and the roti stall, both of which are usually visited nightly) there's the sense that anything could dart out at us at any moment. By 'anything', I mean that it could either be a cockroach (or ten) or a rat. Now, the rats ae no problem. They may dart as they wish, so long as they don't actually run into me. But the cockroaches--they fill me with fear. My bare feet, in flimsy sandals, feel exposed as if to an advancing cobra. I often begin to half-run, so that I only look mildly crazy to the occasional young Thai woman passing on her motorbike, who is undoubtedly much tougher than me when it comes to these bugs.

In other news, I can report that the Northern Thai dish khao soy is delicious. It's a kind of coconut & red curry broth with egg noodles. The Thai Beer Chang does not compare to Beer Lao, unfortunately.

Furthermore, we happened upon a restaurant here staffed entirely by ladyboys (even the chef is one), though nothing would make you think that from the outside of the place. By that I mean, it's a hiring policy, rather than a theme for the restaurant. I didn't notice until my waitress, in confirming my choice, had a deep voice. It was especially surprising because she had greeted us in a very small, quiet voice, and then suddenly there was a man's voice coming from her some seconds later. It was like the sort of thing that would scar a young child. But anyway....we also had a ladyboy for a ticket collector on the bus we took here. It's interesting to see how, even though it's obvious that they are crossing gender boundaries upon a glance, they seem to be regarded as quite an ordinary occurence by other Thais. I wonder how that developed here, culturally speaking? It's an interesting phenomenon.

The highlight of the past week was when it suddenly turned cold here the other day. We woke up and it was like England in April outside. This was a shock after such hot days previous to it. Supposedly a weather system moved down from China and caused it. Should have known it would be the Chinese! as my father might say. Walking around, one did not sweat, and the whole city seemed to become calmer as a result of the temperature. It was a good 36 hours. Not that I should mind the heat--where we're going in a couple of days it seems like I'll be longing for the tropics within a few minutes. Here's hoping you the reader are happy with the temperature of the air currently surrounding you.