Back in BKK

Sorry, sorry, sorry!!!!!!!!!!

I know I always seem to apologise for being too lazy to write stuff whenever I do eventually get round to typing anything here... but this time I really am a bit sorry for being so lazy... I've spent most days since I've been back here feeling sleepy and a bit bewildered by events here... People at my work joke that I'm งง ทุกวัน and I guess I've felt pretty งง about everything ever since I've been back.

I feel pretty lazy today... too lazy to tidy my room (which, since I've got back from the UK seems to be overflowing with cheap n' cheerful paperback books that - lets face it - I'm never gonna find the time to read...), too lazy to try and listen to what the guys in my office are talking about (something about the satellite link we're using later this week but no idea what else....) and too lazy to try and study thai (though my PC now seems to have milllions of 'learning thai' websites bookmarked...) I even feel too lazy to arrange a leaving meal for a friend who lives in my apartment block - who's going back to Canada next week...

I've been back in Thailand almost 2 weeks now. It felt nice to be back in BKK though, thanks to British Airways wanting 315.00 pounds to carry my backpack and suitcase, (reduced to 140.00 if I only took 1 bag on the plane with me....) I arrived minus half my clothes, my luggage and the some of the things I'd brought to give to the guys in my office. Not a good start to the trip ;-(
My plane arrived in Don Meuang and it was strange to hear the announcer read the flight arrivals, and to see aiport signs written in both Thai and English. As I waited in the immigration queue, I tried to work what the thai arrival annoucements were, and quickly realised that I couldn't understand really, really basic things, like single digit numbers anymore. I'd only been in England for 3 and a bit weeks but I guess it was long enough for me to forget almost everything I'd ever tried to learn about thai. It took almost 20 minutes of queueing before I could understand numbers again, and I'd already gone through customs and headed towards the taxi rank before I was even half way towards managing to work out what the rest of each flight arrival annoucement meant.

When I was in England, I really tried to make sure that I wouldn't forget the little Thai that I had managed to learn here. I took a few Eng-Thai childrens books home with me, and, on a good day I could just about struggle through such classics as 'The Giraffe has lost his hat..' and 'The Cry-baby crocodile...' A couple of guys from the office also sent me MSN messages and e-mailed jokes in Thai, and and my dad went ballistic when I installed a Thai keyboard on his shiney new windows XP PC, so that I could read, and reply to them.
One time in London, we went out for a Thai curry and, after looking at the karaoke Thai on the menu, I tried to ask for it properly (' แกงเขียวหวานหมู ') In a Thai restaurant in England, if you're not Thai and you dare to try and read the Thai bit of the menu, you get sniggered at, hear the waitress repeat what you said in a loud and super high pitched voice, and then get asked 'you want pork green curry - right ?' in perfect estuary english. By this time, 1/2 the place is staring at you, a silent nod is about the only thing you can manage communication-wise and you secretly resolve never, ever ever to be so stupid as to try and pronouce a Thai word in England again....


It was nice to go home, and to see my family and catch up with my friends, but it also felt great to know that I wouldn't be staying there for too long... I wrote a diary when I was at home, and have now typed most of it up, but I've no idea how to bakc-date entries on this webblog... Since today's entry is already huge, and is gonna become even longer, I guess I'll post it next time I have a lazy day.... a day where I am too lazy to type anything new...

My first weekend back in Bangkok was hectic but fun. On Friday evening I went to the office to see my friend Noon, and inflict a couple of soduko books and some cheap instant cappucino on her. She gave me a great new year's gift, a bright orange rugsack, that will be perfect for weekends away.
I also said hi to blokes upstairs, gave them a box of english choccies, and went to sit in the park, to share beers with a couple of the satellite engineers and a guy from my office. I quickly realised that this was a bit of a stupid thing to do, as much as I wanted, and tried to listen, I couldn't understand a single word that they were trying to say to me... Thankfully more beer followed....
Now... normally if I drink beer I find it easier to understand, and speak Thai. I have absolutely no idea why, but all of a sudden speaking isn't the big scarey 'am I gonna make a total idiot of myself by telling the woman I have a slow neck instead of asking for a cup of tea' experience it normally seems to be, and I seem to get better at guessing what people are saying to me if I down a couple of singhas first... But, this time, it really wasn't happening... There was another beer....more beer... and more... and more... and yet more beer. Food appeared somewhere in between, spicey chicken feet soup and ยำปลาหมึก plus loads of fried things I've since forgotten, followed by, you guessed it... more beer .... I was pretty งง to start with, but I quickly lost track of both of the conversation and the ammount of beer we'd managed to get through... I think it was gone 1 when we headed our seperate ways home, and I'd stil not managed to understand a single conversation.... Not good ;-( Next morning I had a very sore head, no recollection of what anyone had tried to say to me, and no idea how on earth I'd managed to tell the taxi driver how to get me home...

On Saturday, Tuk, my old neighbour called to say happy new year, and that she was planning to go to see the 'world music and food' BBQ which was on in the park near my house. We had 2 good nights out there, sipping cheap singha beer by the Rama 8 bridge and listening to thai music mixed with african and sri-lankan beats...

will finish updating later....

Create Date : 31 มกราคม 2549		1 comments
Last Update : 31 มกราคม 2549 18:47:18 น.
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