and requested Free Bird, which he played after only laughing a bit. For more entertainment, the walk home included walking by many street bars: literally a card table and picnic chairs on the sidewalk with a flashy display of liquor. It was mostly young Thais that were frequenting these bars that weren’t doing much to create any atmosphere. Even more entertaining, and telling of Bangkok’s role as a major sex tourism destination, were the street vendors selling Viagra and Cialis (or rather, some knock-off version).As Danthemanstan flew back to China, and Sean and Sarah were playing ultimate, I spent my second to last day in Thailand getting another massage at the place I had gone the first time, finding a hostel, and wandering around the streets of Bangkok-which is one of my favorite things to do in a foreign country. I filled in for Sarah at the ultimate tournament party-which meant drinking for free for much of the night. Luckily, even though I didn’t know anyone except Sean, ultimate players tend to be open and laid back, so I had a good enough time, although was disappointed as we Americans did not do well in the boat race drinking game. It was a costume party, but luckily Sean hadn’t had room to fit anything into his backpack for the trip, so we both just got hassled the whole night for not having outrageous costumes as almost everyone there did. I was equally impressed by how much everyone was drinking, considering they had to be up at 8 the next morning to play ultimate in muggy Bangkok.
I met up with them the next day, and joined Sarah in watching Sean play (Sarah’s team didn’t do nearly as well in the tournament). We spent the afternoon checking out yet another Buddhist temple (this one atop a hill, providing great views of the city). We then took part in the tuk-tuk gem scam that is quite
famous in Bangkok among Western tourists. The basic scheme is they will take you to your destination for 10 Baht or even free, as long as you’ll stop at some merchants along the way. We were well aware when we got into the tuk-tuk of what were getting into. We had some time to kill, and weren’t near any convenient or cheap transportation, so went ahead and did it. We visited one gem shop as well as three tailors. One tailor was pretty curt with us and seemed upset we didn’t want to buy anything. I was just honest with him and told him we were trying to get a cheap tuk-tuk ride. We were kind of surprised at his anger, as we didn’t see what else he expected from being part of the scam. We eventually made it to a snazzy riverside bar and restaurant to catch the sunset over Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). I didn’t find that we were there at dusk too problematic. It was beautiful and a great way to spend my last evening in Bangkok. At dinner, I was able to convince Sarah and a very reluctant Sean to go get a massage. It was now my third time back at the massage parlor and I realized maybe I should have asked about a frequent visitor card. We had some laughs with Sean’s masseuse, who was unable to work out some of his kinks after two days of ultimate.
After almost a month in Thailand, there was still much more I would have loved to see. I didn’t even get to the most visited part of the country, which are its tropical islands and endless white sand beaches in the southern part of the country. As I have mentioned, there are plenty of reasons (current political crisis not one of them) to visit Thailand. It’s generally good weather most of the year, save the rainy season, and is filled with gorgeous tropical forests, lumbering elephants, smiling and helpful people, amazingly diverse and tasty food, screensaver-esque beaches, awe inspiring temples, and well-preserved ancient ruins. A great place to visit and a spectacular trip.
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