Vendors make their way through the streets constantly, some honking little horns to announce their wares, others use a rubber chicken, and yet others choose a cluster of bells. Passing the bevy of motorbike taxi drivers downing their mid-morning whiskey, I walked past the food cart that stopped to serve up a variety of grilled meats on a skewer. Yesterday, all of traffic was temporarily halted by a bicycle vendor, his carefully laid out rack of salty squid snacks vertically displayed from a pole welded to the bike frame had caught the eye of a particularly peckish security guard across the street. The bike was stopped, pushed out of traffic, and the two men exchanged pleasantries as the squid was prepared for the proper vending. Apply this approach to the whole of Bangkok and it's amazing anyone gets anywhere in this town in a car, van, or bus.
I had a difficult time picking my Friday activities. My adventures the day before being so spectacular, and the added pressure of wanting to crack out my birthday, had me going through guidebooks, opening the tears on the Nancy Chandler map at all of the folds, and adding in internet research, I picked four activities. First, I would head to Aaron's work and pick up his newly hemmed pants. This required that I memorize the words for red and pants, also that I wrote them in Thai, should my pronunciation fail me. This stop included an English-language fortune telling session at the hotel next door.
tree with spirit offerings
minivan bike
motorbike taxi driver
restaurant
along the canal
Exiting the BTS, I found the seamstress where Aaron had said she would be, at her sewing table on the sidewalk, beside lounging motorbike taxi drivers. I approached her and tried out my Thai. No luck. I tried again, this time rewarded with a soft, mocking echo from the nearest taxi guy, imitating my poor accent. I pulled out my card on which I'd written: pants red. The seamstress said some things, pointed, and I got that they had been picked up by his coworker in the building beside us. Shooting the taxi driver my best amused/annoyed look, I went into the 11 story building and proceeded to stop off at random floors, looking for the school whose name was in Thai on the directory, along with every other business.
A few choice questions at the front desk yielded an English speaker, who then got me the appropriate co-worker with a bag of hemmed pants and a few curious questions about how Aaron knew me. I was evasive on answering, thanked her, and headed out to get my fortune told. Finding the hotel, the fortune-teller in the lobby, and then waiting for her to finish with her Thai customer, afforded me enough time to stop sweating when I pulled up a folding chair to her tiny folding table in the mezzanine of Asia Hotel. The fortune-teller was an older Thai woman who launched into her telling without any preamble. "What is your birthday?" "um, today". She paused, searching her repository of English and tried again, slower, "What... is... your... birthday??" Poor lady. "Today."
Pause. "Happy Birthday" she said, smiling. We were off to a good start. My birthday date was written out on scratch paper, two diagrams drawn, one looking like a long-rayed sun, the other like tic-tac-toe and all numbers were written in this chart. She then pulled out her smart phone, went to her favorite fortune-telling app, and typed in the numbers there. Frequently consulting her phone, she started to write stuff down for me that read like this:
3 and/or 9/13 - Want to change the work but cannot
4 and/or 10/13 - New think happen. Good luck - sunday. House, office, car land - buy, sell, repare, move
5 and/or 11/13 - you or some woman in your family - health - water (this was explained by either an internal water inbalance resulting in health issues or slipping in water)
6/13 - don't let any persent borrow money, travel (don't yet)
7/13 or 1/14 - Get a lot of money - travel
8/13 or 2/14 - success, position, love
and
12/13 - wont to do some bessiness (start that business and have a partner)
The summary was that I want to change my work and can't right now. Some new stuff was happening after that, avoid puddles, don't lend money, and then be ready for that business to take off, money, success, and love to follow.
After she phoned her fortune telling in, she asked for my hands and proceeded to do a shockingly accurate palm reading. Here are my notes:
I am a kind person, who avoids conflict if at all possible. I am indecisive and always second-guessing my decisions. I have had two broken hearts (this was clearly said and emphatic), and I have especially difficult menstration. I should drink warm water all month long to offset that. Also that my business is going to do really well and to get on that.
600 baht, 30 minutes of entertainment, and now a good chunk of a blog post too - not too shabby.
My next stop was the Bangkok Center for Culture and Arts. It's a modern building at the junction of two BTS lines and a short walk away from the cell phone fortune lady. The interior is that pale, warm white walls laid out like fine clock interior. The shows I wanted to see were both the street art exhibit and the contemporary Buddhism exhibit. The street art looked like someone tore apart Juxtapose - Bangkok Edition and hung it from the ceiling in a dark room. I walked around armed with a flashlight and tried to avoid the bizarre 12-foot bunny costumed three-eyed baby statue while peering at painted skateboards and graphic prints. Conclusion: although BKK is current on their street art, the display was trying way too hard.
no ballerinas
looming bunny
visual art in the dark
ceiling clock
art
Three floors up, I walked into some fine art indeed. A group of art professors put together their works to describe Buddhist concepts in contemporary materials/settings. I ran into works by artists I'd seen the day before, my favorite being a series of netting with fishing line bunched between the layers and the layers painted to give the illusion of depth. http://en.bacc.or.th/event/A-Study-of-Buddhist-Philosophy-and-the-Creativity-in-Contemporary-Art.html
The whole show was off the hook on talent, technique, and amazingly cohesive in colors, light, and layout of the exhibit.
My next stop was the Jim Thompson house, where I saw silk being spun for the first time I can recall, traditional Thai style. The house was interesting and full of cool antiques, but my tour guide cracked more jokes than gave facts or back-story and I lost interest. I ended up across from Sukhumvit 26 at Ic Ban Thai restaurant, polishing off a jaan of laab muu and ice-cold-Coke before stumbling down the soi and into the strong, air-conditioned arms of the Wat Po Massage School for an hour of being physicaly manipulated into total comfort while fighting the monster nap threatening to take me out completely.
Thai dancer stops to take a picture of tourists
silk loom
flowers and graffiti
silk soup
spinning silk
silk
By the time I made it back and Aaron came in from a long, stressful day at a jobs convention, I was tired, hungry again, and feeling all of 36. We went to three Japanese restaurants before we found one with an open table and enjoying an incredible meal with lively discussion about our days. We followed that up with a long walk to a new club deep in Sukhumvit 49. There were four open levels of different atmospheres, music, and places to lounge. A drink order for two took 15 minutes, and the crowd looked desperate for this to be a scene. Oddly enough, that same bunny baby bastardization was plastered up the staircase...
silk printer
orchid
cold coke
for all of your circle-star needs
Feeling my age and fighting off the sleepy, I mistook Aaron's attitude and subject matters to be personal instead of fueled by the stress of having three interviews the next day. I passed down his offer to put me in a taxi to club it up the rest of the night and elected instead to go home with him. He crashed and I stayed up on the couch, watching part of Sin City before succumbing to sleep myself.
I've found in my travels for the last couple of years that holidays are elusive and difficult, much like at home. Christmas has past twice with barely any acknowledgement on my part, Valentines was remarked on once that day, and now it was my birthday. I had vowed to give myself the best birthday possible and have only myself to please. I'm giving myself a B- and taking the rest of weekend to raise that grade average.