Bangkok

Singapore, New Year

  Hello to you fine people.   First things first, Happy New Year to all of you and may it be filled with health, love and success.   Me... Well, I started my travels December 13th to Singapore.  Then a trip to Germany over Christmas.  Back to Singapore December 30th, landed in the afternoon of the 31st.  With New Years spent in Singapore, January 1st started early in the morning with a trip to the airport... Off to Bangkok.  

      And here we are now.... Quite the culture shock in comparison to Singapore.  It is dirty and smelly and oh so loud here.  But the night life.... Oh the night life... That's something else.  Everybody found their way to the streets...  If you are not selling, you are buying... And there is nothing you can't buy, it seems. As you shop for your fake Rolex, it is just natural that the man with the manly watch needs to be ready for anything after such a great buy...  Why not buy a pack of Viagra with your Rolex?!  It's what I call logical and quite convenient, no?

    

  On the hunt for local food, one couldn't pass by this fine eatery.  You will have to excuse me for not mentioning titles, names, locations... I just can't read Thai.  Anyway... By day a well running garage so it seems, but by night people sit and enjoy a great meal while ignoring the Mercedes signs and logos at the rolled down garage doors.  It is a buffet where you take all ingredients you wish, fish, beef, pork, rice, bok choi, various mushrooms, sauces etc.  you take your plate of goodies to your table where you will cook all that delicious food.  It was actually rather good.

     

      Back to the night life... I am amazed how much not only homosexuality is accepted here, but how little it seems to matter when a man either dresses like a woman or even becomes a woman.  Often, they are referred to as 'Lady-Boys'.  I found the acceptance and the normalcy quite interesting.  But even more interesting is the solicitation to visit a bar in which you have female pole dancers.  Finally, they were convincing enough and thus we went into one of those bars.... But sitting there looking at those girls was rather sad.  For one, they stood on that stage rather uncomfortably while being stared at, and I couldn't help but wonder how old that one girl may have been as she looked quite young.

 
      Leaving the place, more solicitations followed.  They have bars here in which, sadly to say, women  use their female parts to entertain viewers.  Nooooo... Not that way...  Here is what is happening right before your eyes before you can even blink:  the successful solicited guides you up a questionable staircase on which end you will enter through a door where you are immediately greeted buy a honking sound, which is produced buy a women with the use of her vagina.  You are quickly seated and you have to order a drink right away.  To your surprise, you didn't just buy your drink, but also one with which the host can cheers with you to a new year.  Quickly, you decide not to drink what came in that glass.  those girls on stage try to provide entertainment by using their vagina to blow out a bunch of candles and by shooting objects out of their... well, you get the picture.   having seen enough, you decide to pay.... and that is when the actual show begins.

    You are pointed to the bar where you will pay... Don't be shocked when now your bill calls for 3000 Baht (abt. $100) for a silly coke or so.  After successful negotiation you leave with 600 Baht less then when you entered.  So, the moral of the story is that you might not need to be all that curious about everything ;-).  It's okay to not see what women will do with their vagina.. Trust me :-)

All in all, this day and night in Bangkok was quite interesting.   Tomorrow, we are going to a floating market.  I am unable to upload pictures to my blog from my ipad, thus, you will have to use your imagination (just don't tell me about it ;-) ) until I can share all those fantastic images with you fine people.  Until tomorrow... Hugs and kisses :-)