In and out of Bangkok

Buckle up Rog, Sheel Be Right. You will start to ease into the life of travel in no time. Its all just first-time jitters mate.

Like I remember the time I first got off the Airplane in New Zealand. Here I was in this strange country where the language sounded oddly familiar but yet still quite foreign, which only unsettled me more.

But I decided I could make life out this travel stuff and so I got a taxi and went the nearest hotel (this thing they called Sky City, it was huge and although it was marvellous piece of engineering, all monolithic glass and concrete, the locals hated it).

I got into the local food real quick, bugger me jesus, it was this thing the locals called Fush and Chups, again sounded oddly familiar to thing I had experienced quite regularly in my home country ‘Straylia’, called Fish and Chips, tased very simliar too.

I tried explain this to the locals but they just seemed to mumble something about typical arrogant bastard and yeah just like Pav. But I didn’t really understand them, cause as I said, I was still getting used the language.

I mean things were different Rog Mate! They had their own religion which was worshipped regularly on Weekends, not just the Sunday, but even the Saturday. They had 15 Gods Mate, 15. All dressed in black and everyone respected the sacred symbol, this thing know as the Silver Fern. This serious religion too, if the fucked up, thats mate they were gonnas, no one wanted to know, some people even swore that they should be strung up.

But at the end of the day Mate, at the end of day, I have come to understand them and I feel at home now, and as you do more travelling you too Mate, you TOO, will feel comfortable.

Good on you Mate, have a couple of Coldies for me and let me know will ya if come across another version of that strange NZ dish Fush and Chups.

Wow Rog – you’re right into it all!! Just remember we are only a phone call away. I think the best thing is to stick with travellers going the same route and talk to as many people as you can. You are such a sociable guy that that shouldn’t be too hard…if you stick with Aussies, Canadians, Brits etc you should be right. Just be careful and think of every scenario and enjoy it. You’ve only been gone for a week so it is overload at the moment but I’m sure as you go along you will get used to it. Ring me if you are lonely (I will pay!!). Lots of Love, Mum xxxxx

Hey, Roger,

I missed your party and then you were gone! What a huge adventure. I’m sorry I didn’t catch up with you before you left.

Reading about your fears in Bangkok I remembered my big trip to Europe on a one-way ticket.

The plane was diverted to Brussels instead of landing in Frankfurt, and we were bussed to our destination.
I arrived, a smelly, exhausted, scared heap, 3 days later at the Frankfurt train terminal just as everything closed for the night. No new trains to Vienna where I was headed until 6am the next day. So I sat myself at a table with my bag and guitar and prepared to wait 6 hours, hoping I’d stay awake and wouldn’t get mugged or anything. An hour later this older man (I was 21, he was 50 or so) sat down across from me. He spoke no English, broken German, and, I discovered later, was Greek. He bought me a sausage and a beer which I refused and then offered to show me Frankfurt. I weighed my options. He clearly had evil intent, but seemed unthreatening, unlikely, in my estimation to attack me. On the other hand, there were a lot of shifty characters lurking about the train station and I felt they were waiting for me to nod off. So I checked my bag and guitar in, and went with him. He took me to a Greek cabaret for a couple of hours and then we walked around the city. I kept telling myself I knew where the train station was and I’d be able to leg it there if I needed to. About 4am, as we sat on a park bench, he began to explain in hand gestures and the occasional English word, that the air outside was bad and it would be much better if we went to a Hotel. Aha! I though, I didn’t come down in the last shower. Of course I said no, afterall I knew a leach when I saw one (by now I would have been completely lost without him). So he took me out for breakfast, and then took me back to the train station. As I boarded the train a plastic rose vender wandered over and Aposteles, as he called himself, bought me a red, plastic rose, kissed me on the cheek and mournfully waved me off.

In hindsight, I decided he was a guardian angel sent to look after me. So, all the very best and I look forward to hearing how you’re going, and where you find unexpected guardian angels. But, you know, try not to go off with strange men in train stations….

Hey guys, you all speak so worldly wise, I’m still growing my whiskers. Yeap maybe the tone of that last post sounded a bit too forlorn. But now Im already settling into local life – its different of course, but what else am I here for! Im getting used to finding my own delight on this island paradise too