Last Day: Where the hell did the time go?

Saturday, December 11th, 2004 Bangkok

Last day. How can it be the last day? It feels like I just landed. I'm kind of sad today, I don't want to leave, but I have no choice (no job, can't come back).

I started out the day with breakfast in the hotel. Its included in the price of the room and most mornings I make it prior to the 10AM deadline and today is no exception. I order an omlette with ham, red pepper, and green pepper; grab a couple slices of white toast; pineapple; and a little bacom (mmmmm bacon).

Worst thing about eating food with a cold? Nothing tastes right. Two days ago, the eggs would have teasted great, the pineapple flavorful, and the toast..(ok, its toast, nothing to get excited about here) I eat as much as I can stomach and go back up to the room. I need to finish packing my stuff.

Oy calls me a little after 10 and is waiting in the lobby. I run down to see her and wait for Mam and Kan. Mam arives around 10:30 (right on time), but no Kan. We give her about ten minutes to arrive and then go to the weekend market. I picked up a couple things (nothing too exciting and since most of them are gifts, won't list them here). The advantage of going shopping with two Thai girls - they tell you if something looks good, and they are able to negotiate prices for you with both parties coming out with no hard feelings.

After an hour and a half, its starting to get a bit crowded. Time for me to pay for the personal shoppers. The price - Japanese food.

We hop in a taxi and go to MBK (Mah Boon Krong) the same place where we went bowling earlier in the week. This is my first experience with an actual Japanese restaurant outside of the states, so the biggest eye opener is taking off my shoes before sitting down (well, not that eye opening, just never done at the sushi place here in Chicago).

I'm in the mood for sushi, Oy and Mam want fish. We proceed to order about 15 dishes of sushi rolls, whole fish, partial fish, miso soup, water, sake (hot), and chicken. The bill was only about 1,600 baht (about $40). This is what I will miss. The same meal in the U.S. for people would have easily been over $100 without tip. Why am I going back?

Stuffed on enough food for a small army, we head back to the hotel to drop off my shopping bags with the plan to play some pool. Didn't work out so well as we sat around and watched a movie and let the food digest. We did make it for a few games of pool and then it was off to the bars to say goodbye and go out for the evening.

The bars on Soi 13 are a victim of progress. The entire complex is a Quonset hut with bars right next to each other, a internet provider, tailor, and a kitchen and hong naam (bathroom) in the back. The bars will be closed down in February, torn down and built over by condominiums. The women that run the bar have already purchased a permanent replacement on the other side of the street in the Times Square building. The new bar is much larger than the other bar and features comfortable seating and two pool tables. You could have placed this bar in any city in the world and not have felt out of place.

With a 7AM flight, I wasn't in the mood to sleep. I stayed out the entire night, put Kan, Mam, and Oy in a cab fairly late and went to the hotel to check out. This time, no rip offs with the staff.

The cab to the airport is always a bit of a pain in the ass for me. As a traveler, you have two options, take one at the hotel which is pre-negotiated (i.e. you're going to get bent over) but you are loaded down with heavy bags; or drag your bags to the street and flag down a cab at 4:45AM and hope that you can get there in time. I took option 1 (400 baht), but just wanted to get there and get on the plane. Next up: My shortest entry ever - flight home