Bangkok, Thailand – February 10, 2000
Another smoggy morning in Bangkok, city of vomit-inducing odors.
I replenished my supply of Fujichrome and decided that it was time to deal with my persistant illness.
The pharmacist had everything available right over the counter, no prescription necessary. I looked around the room and saw Retin-A and birth control pills readily available. The pharmacist was happy to help me. I described my sore throat and told him that I was on Larium for malaria prevention and on codeine for my cough.
He nodded approvingly and offered me a wide choice of antibiotics. When I hedged a bit, uncertain of the wisdom of starting a five day course of
Amoxil-something-or-other, he fetched an English medical encyclopedia. Sure enough, the medication he’d chosen for me fought throat infections and respiratory infections and some Latin word beginning with “strep.”
I paid for 16 of them, a five-day course, and left. The grand total was $4.32.
The Thais might be onto something here. That pharmacist told me more than a doctor would’ve.
I had some Thai food for lunch – pad thai with vegetables. All Thai food appears to be pad thai here. Sometimes I order other things but it always ends up being pad thai. And as usual, I left a pile of evidence of my presence behind.
My leftovers always consist of small piles. Small piles of shrimp or tofu or cheese or tomatoes… me and my weird food allergies. You should see what I do to pizza.
I had no pressing plans so I decided to walk to Chinatown. This turned out to be a mistake, as the heat and distance, while not much in reality, took on
enormous proportions given the thick diesel-drenched air of Bangkok. I think I know what it feels like to have chronic asthma now… awful!
I reached Chinatown but was disappointed that it turned out to be a very long, ten foot wide enormous dollar store. Pikachu the Pokemon ripoffs are quite popular this year, along with the classic Mickey Mouse. Also popular were Cookie Monster and Elmo and Winnie the Pooh. I could even have purchased a Winnie the Pooh shower cap, had I the need for one. Motorcycles slowly wound through the crowds and everyone had to get out of their way – a task made difficult by the crowds and the narrow width of the streets to begin with. And the strangest foods were being hawked all around me…foods that didn’t look the least bit more appetizing. I’d rather eat a stuffed Pikachu.
Hours of wandering through the tacky “made in Thailand” plastic items made me quite tired. I was dehydrated and dizzy, either from the thick diesely air or maybe from the heat. I walked carefully around the traffic to the railway station, to catch the water taxi back to Khao San Road.
But I couldn’t find it. I asked tourist information. They waffled and decided that there was no water taxi. I stamped my feet a bit and rephrased the question but the answer stayed a pleasant, “take the #53 bus.”
I caught the bus and of course it wasn’t air-conditioned. It was a very strange experience to be caught in Bangkok traffic without decent air. I thought for sure I would collapse and everything took on a surreal tone – I downed water from my plastic bottle to no avail.
The traffic in Bangkok surely must be the worst in the world. I have never been to China, and so cannot say for certain. But the Bangkok streets are absolute chaos and I have never seen anything quite like them – not in Lima, Delhi, Cairo, New York, or Kathmandu. You must always look both ways even when the lights are red, because motorcyclists and tuk tuk drivers don’t take the one-way streets or the red lights too seriously. The bus was held up by a motorcade at one point… then I saw a sign, “Welcome Kofi Annan.”
I suspect the bad traffic cannot be altogether blamed on Kofi Annan.
Finally, I recognized the tourist ghetto and gingerly, using the railings, left the bus. I went into the first air-conditioned restaurant I saw and ate lots and lots of spaghetti.
