Adventures in Bangkok - Part II

2011/09/19

White-to-grey laundry
I have three T-Shirts to give away. Anyone? :D Nah, I'm gonna give them to some kids on the street. I picked up my laundry today and apparently they washed everything together (incl. those previously white T-Shirts with the newly bought and unwashed black shorts). So now the T-Shirts look blue/grey-ish. Although I liked them it doesn't pain me that much somehow.
I was supposed to pay 150 baht (nearly 4 Euros). Which I thought was quite a price. And I already had beaten it down from 200 baht. But seeing the Shirts like this, I was not willing to pay that anymore. At first the lady wanted to give me a discount because of that: 100 baht. But I felt there was some damage done, and finally everybody should know not to wash black and white clothes together. So I asked the younger lady (daughter or employee of her) to tell her that she shall give me 1000 baht for the T-Shirts and then she could keep them. Which was basically just a tactic, because I knew she wouldn't pay me anything. When she heard that price, I could leave without having to pay and the younger one apologised. No hard feelings though. I left with a smile. Also because the young lady said twice that if I wouldn't have said those T-Shirts once were white, she would have had no idea.

"Room with a view"
I checked out of the first hostel and went into a guesthouse. The prices are the same, but the new room is bigger and everything looks better and kind of a bit more lovely. Short before checking out of the first hostel, I had a look on my booking confirmation and noticed that it said "room with a view". There wasn't really much of a view, therefore I asked for a discount, which I got. Even if not really a lot.

2011/09/20

Open-air shower
I'm just sitting on the veranda of the new gueshouse, top floor. I found a second bathroom here on this floor, on the veranda. This place has loads of plants on the verandas. There are pets downstairs... many birds, a few cats. Up here I even saw a saurian in the bathroom. How neat. And when it's not raining cats and dogs, I can have a shower open-air.

Shopping bags vs. garbage bags to protect from the rain
Recently I noticed a mid-aged lady having a transparent garbage bag on her head to protect from the rain. Next day I saw a guy on a bus with a shopping bag on his head. I guess the latter was the more fancy one, since he seemed to express "I buy with...". What would the lady with the garbage bag want to say? Of course I'm just joking. Probably if I wouldn't have anything else, I would do the same. As it's for the guy on the bus though, he had kept the bag on his head even long after the rain had already stopped. Not to forget being on a bus with a roof. Maybe he just forgot, because when he left the bus into a meanwhile almost sunny day, he still wore it.

2011/09/21

Near faint
I start to get more relaxed about crossing the street here. I hope not too relaxed. But today I was just feeling so good - being near "Grand Palace", on my way to "Wat Arun" and listening to my current favorite album repeatedly - I felt that even if there are cars and tuck-tucks on the road, I could cross a street the same way as I did in Vietnam (as usually only some of the locals there dare), with thousands of motorbikes coming towards you. So instead of waiting until the road was completely free, I just walked, so that for a brief moment I had to wait in the middle of the road with vehicles behind and in front of me. Then I noticed another "Westerner" watching me. I think he could barely look and I'm glad he didn't faint.

Lone motorbike on a three-lane road
This is related to my previous paragraph. It was at night and I was crossing the street. A car slowly rolling towards me, a motorbike too. I'm passing the first lane, then going slower so that the car and motorbike can pass. Suddenly the lady on the motorbike used the horn, looking at me as if maybe I endangered her by stepping on the road a bit too early. I think people in Vietnam would be dead-laughing about such a scene.