I actually have some work to do today, so therefore I procrastinate a bit:
I greased my first palm today in Bangkok. I went to the local travel agent Marc and I have been using to get my visa for Vietnam. The travel agent had previously told me that it would only take a week to get the visa - of course, like most things, weeks are counted differently here in Bangkok. Turns out since next week is the Chinese New Year, the Vietnam Embassy will be closed from February 8th - February 14th. I leave for Chiang Mai on February 14th, so that means I need my visa completed by February 7th - not quite the week that is required for processing. I pouted a bit. "Is there anything I can do?" I inquired. 200 Baht later, I'm good to go!
Taxi drivers in Bangkok are like spam email. There is a whole crew of taxi drivers that sit outside of my hotel and ask me if I want a ride. It's always the same 5-6 guys. They always refuse to use their meter and instead quote me ridiculously high rates to go anywhere. When Marc and I went to the Muay Thai a few weeks back they asked for 400 Baht - the ride ended up costing less than 100 in a cab with a meter. I always refuse to ride with them - if they won't use their meter, I won't go. At first, I thought they would eventually acquiesce, but they don't, they just go back and wait on the curb. Every guide book I read warns you NOT to get in a cab without a meter - so my question is who actually goes in these cabs? Someone must just like someone must be clicking the links in their spam email, otherwise how would either, the cabbies or the spam, stay in existence?
You can shoot a cow with a rocket launcher in Cambodia. Truth. I've now heard this from two separate sources, including an Australian couple we met up in Kanchanaburi this weekend. The Cambodians will provide the rocket launcher and the cow. (You can also shoot chickens with an AK-47...) After some googling around, I've found conflicting reports on cost (ranging from US $10 to US $200). Although I had never considered this particular scenario, I imagine I should be morally opposed to this sort of activity, but it does sound intriguing, no?
If every man walked through the Nana Hotel at midnight, sexual harassment of women would no longer be a problem. Last night, Marc and I met some friends over at the Nana Hotel at around 1 AM. The place is more club, than hotel and it is absolutely packed with working girls. The place is literally swarming, there must be a queen bee of prostitutes, the uber-pimp, in there somewhere (like the mother alien in Aliens). You walk in and techno music is blaring and there are old, sketchy white guys (mostly British and Australian) with 3 girls draped all over them. I could almost smell the disease permeating the air. In any event, you walk through and girls just start grabbing you and pinching your ass and saying "Oooh, sexy, sexy" - completely creepy and bizarre. I used to say that every man should be made to walk through the Castro on a Friday night to understand what it is like to be a girl. Well, the Nana Hotel is the new Castro.
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