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...The night air was thick and humid. But at least it was quiet. As my tired head held up no longer, it banged against the window pane on the bumpy ride to the border. I woke to a surreal scene of thick fog as we stopped for food. With a parched mouth following my 4am munch of a melted chocolate bar, I bought some veg filled pao and crawled back into the bus for sleep...

The Land of Smiles

Asha Patel
2006-08-23 10:55:14

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Given that I haven't written in my journal an entire week, I sat in a cafe eating banana porridge at a ridiculously early hour given my 2am bedtime; the attempt to stay awake every bit as arduous as the attempt to recollect all the happenings of the past week. And now, in favour of you, my loyal avid blog readers, I am in an internet cafe, my irritations being provoked by two rowdy Americans intent on annoying every other quiet web surfer in the store. Grrrrr. So, in a nutshell:

I survived the 20h journey from Ko Pha Ngan to Bangkok. In fact, it was truly painless, as the catamaran cruised through the clear waters of the Gulf, first to the island of Ko Tao, before docking at Chumpon, a sleepy sedate town where we were offloaded and put onto the connecting eight hour bus to Bangkok. I arrived, awake, and unscathed. Unable to resist the buzz of Khao San Road, I even managed a late night dinner of hot rice soup and ice cream. The following day was something of a surprise. Umisha, en route home via Bangkok called me with the welcome news of her arrival. And so, from Sunday onwards, we have been in one anothers' company talking incessantly about our individual travel adventures over the past few months. Of course, conversation hasn't been our only accomplishment this week. No no, our fun has extended to the dangerous realms of... retail therapy. In a city such as Bangkok, even the most hardended consumers like myself, who, supposedly hate shopping, find bank notes seeping from their wallets like water out of a tap. Unregrettably though, I have myself some great new tops, scarves, earrings, shoes, oh, and a tailor made cashmere coat as well as a black two piece suit. Bien fait. Don't worry, we haven't simply lived the western paradise of the pound stretching a long way. We've also had our fair share of fun with tuk-tuk drivers, local amusement as to out indian origins, navigation through streets, roads and riverways. We've ...