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Rome 2004

Rome 2004: Prologue

Barry Price
2006-02-20 14:32:03

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In February 2004, I travelled to Thailand to visit my friend Martin, an old school friend who has set himself up in business just outside the Thai capital, Bangkok. I had a great fortnight in the sun, in a truly incredible country. You can read about that experience here: Thailand 2004.

I’d never been to Asia before, and the best description I can give is that it was like being on another planet at times. The most interesting elements were those which were largely familiar, yet subtly different. A waiter wore an Osama bin Laden tshirt as he served me lunch. McDonalds had a home delivery service, operated by an army of moped drivers. I was openly groped in the street, because I was a white man. I saw the most insane traffic system I have seen in my life - and I’ve been in taxis in London, Paris and New York!

While I was out there, in between avoiding certain death in taxi cabs, Martin introduced me to Lois Ann, a Canadian woman who had been living in Bangkok for a few years, teaching English to Thai kids. She’s a writer, a poet, a dreamer.

I think I’m supposed to say that we clicked immediately, but that’s not true at all. We first met only a few hours after I got off the plane from London, and I hadn’t slept for 36 hours, so although I noticed her immediately, I was hardly my usual scintillating company. Later in the week she came to a party at Martin’s place, but I don’t think we spoke much then either. It was only on the third and final evening we spent together that we actually had a proper conversation.

I left Thailand as nothing more than a friend-of-a-friend, and I never expected to see her again. I never expected to hear from her again. I never even expected Martin to mention in passing that she’d said “Hi”…

Predictably, once I got back to England, I received an email from her out of the blue. We emailed back and forth, then progressed to postcards, telephone conversations, and as we found more and more shared interests and characteristics (and, yes, attractions), we eventually met for a holiday together in Rome in the summer. We were both determined not to raise our expectations, but obviously it’s not as easy as all that…

Here’s what happened, compiled from journal entries I wrote in Rome, and mercilessly edited and re-edited since.