Bangkok, last minute shopping

Oh, we have put off so much and have a busy day scheduled. I send Victor one way to get his stuff done and go to the internet cafe and pound out a few more of the blogs. We meet again and have lunch at Tapas, another of our favorites on Soi 11.

The rest of the afternoon we spend actually shopping the very same markets we have now walked by dozens of times getting from the train to our Soi 11 stomping grounds. We have a well planned list of things to get for certain folks having talked it over several times, but can't find most of the items.

We take so much time getting through all the choices that I have to go to the bathroom. We try to use MacDonalds, but they don't have a bathroom inside the restaurant and we are sent to the grocery store. Too odd...I pass. We can have a beer somewhere instead. We pick the next spot called Country Bar and sit outside. This is actually a girly bar, but it is afternoon so we are mostly alone. We really aren't there but 2 minutes when a man comes up to us to sell his wares. He has a pocket full of watches and a pitch that could sell ice to Eskimos. We are all laughing as he pulls out watch after watch. Victor decides he can use a watch for one of the people on our list that we can't find the King's Shirt we had planned on. They negotiate and come to agreement. We buy the watch but the man has to fix Victors other watch that he broke the band on the day he bought it. This works out well. I give him a 1000 Baht bill and instead of giving me my 200 Baht change he gives me a ladies watch. I think this is a great price and take it, only to realize later that is is a plastic band and I am allergic to the metal of the watch. What sillies we are, but we are having fun!

We have successfully avoided two things in Bangkok, one being the street food vendors for reasons mentioned earlier, the other the motorcycle taxis. For just over a few pennies one can get a ride on a motorcycle. Not recommended for long distances. Instead of walking the block further to the train, we abandon all common sense and hop on two motorcycles waiting right at the bar to take weary workers home from the train station. We have not yet seen any Westerners attempt this mode of transportation. We love it and should have done this all the time. The cost is a non-issue and it takes but moments to get anywhere. The motorcycles are always at the front of every stop light weaving through the cars to get to the front. There are no traffic jams when you are on a motorcycle.

I wonder if they have insurance.