February 1
After I sent
yesterday’s message, I remembered something curious that we had seen at the
fertility shrine.
One sight was common
enough, a lazy cat sleeping on the flagstones in the shade. There are
free-ranging cats everywhere here. Lots of dogs, too.
We were looking at an
unusual tree, with a trunk more like a cluster of vines than a trunk. Of
course, it had replica penises of various sizes sticking out of the vines.
I heard a distinct
“plop,” turned around, and saw a small squirrel quickly trying to orient
itself. It had fallen out of a neighboring tree a few feet away from us. We had
just walked across that spot.
Wow, that was close.
It could have fallen on us, and the last thing anyone wants is an animal bite
in a Third World country.
The squirrel knew it
was on the ground, out of its element, and in a risky situation. It bolted for
the tree. The cat, considerably unlazy now, pounced at the same time. The
squirrel got onto the trunk of its tree, but no farther.
The cat, seen from the
back, looked like it had grown a moustache of squirrel whiskers. It set the
dead squirrel down and started to work on it. Life, death, and the food chain
at the penis shrine.
We set out on Monday
around lunch time. We went to Viva for another fusion meal. This time it was
nachos with refried beans and Thai spring rolls. Then we rode the Skytrain
almost end to end.
We took the line that
runs through our neighborhood out to the terminal at Bearing. The Skytrain
track is three or four stories above street level, so you get a good overview
of the city when the car isn’t crowded.
One of the fascinating
things about Bangkok is the contrast of buildings. Most cities have areas of
buildings in decay and other areas full of investment. Here, the buildings in
all states can be side by side. The temples that I have seen are scrupulously
maintained, and many of them are centuries old. There are sooty tenements where
families squeeze into tiny apartments. You see shiny new buildings like Larry’s
where there is a terrace with a pool, and abandoned structures missing walls
and full of rubble. Sometimes all on the same block.
Sukhumvit is one of
the big shopping streets. For all I know, it could be the Fifth Avenue of
Thailand.
You can turn a corner,
though, and find yourself in a crowded soi full of ladies in burkahs where the
stalls hawk all kinds of flea-market merchandise.
There is someone
serving some kind of food just about anywhere there is space for it on the
sidewalk.
You get to see all of
that very clearly from the Skytrain.
We took the long ride
from Bearing to the central transfer station, Siam, and changed to the train
for Bang Wa. We tried to take a walk in that part of town, but found ourselves
on an island in the middle of freeways.
We took the train back
to Nana and checked out some of the sois there.
One I had noticed from
the Skytrain station. It was covered with awnings, and looked like an open-air
market. Turns out, it was a market, but not the kind I thought it was. It was
all bars and girls. This may have been the day shift because it was only about
4 in the afternoon. That, or else these working ladies put in long hours.
We got to the end,
turned a corner, and walked up another soi that was covered in trash. The walls
looked like the back doors into shops and storehouses. So no one watches over
it or really cares. For all I know, the girls in the next soi could do business
here at night.
It’s funny that trash
is a contrast here, too. Most of the city is surprisingly free of debris on the
streets. Then there are places like this alley and the banks of the canal where
people cram every crevice with their garbage. Maybe that’s where it all goes.
We also found our way
back to the Doilanka coffee shop. It’s in
Soi 1.
Strange to say, Bam
was having more trouble with English than last time. He may have fogotten our
names and felt awkward. But I had no difficulty ordering a French press and
getting a bottle of spring water for Joanna.
The Thai coffee has
almost no bitterness but is still very tasty. We talked a bit about the
aftertaste of the coffee, which Bam called sweet.
Flavor is so
subjective. Think of all the descriptions you’ve read about the flavors of red
wine. To me, the coffee was more herbal than sweet, but maybe he was talking
about the lack of acidity.
Supported by a dose of
caffeine, I was ready to try Bully’s Pub, which I spotted for the first time
across Sukhumvit Road. Neither of us felt like climbing three flights of stairs
to the crossover, so we waited out the lights. It can take a while to do that,
and even then, you have to be careful. Just as they do in New Jersey, drivers
all over Asia assume they have the right of way over anything they can run
over.
Bully’s charges New
Jersey prices—the equivalent of $6 or $8 a pint. High by local standards, but
the selection is impressive for this part of the world. They have Duvel, a
bottle-conditioned ale, for instance. I had two drafts. One was La Chouffe
(French for “dwarf,” maybe), biere blonde d’Ardenne, and the other was Vedett
IPA, made by the Duvel Brewery.
I had tried La Chouffe
before. Like a lot of Belgian brews, it has the flavor of spices in it. There
is a distinct taste of clove in Chimay, for instance. I couldn’t quite pin down
what it is in La Chouffe.
The IPA had lots of
hops for fragrance and bitterness, but nobody beats the IPAs of Samuel Smith or
Dogfish Head.
Hopfish by the Flying
Fish Brewery in South Jersey is another top IPA. Besides, it sounds like it’s
made by Dr. Seuss.
Joanna was craving red
meat and it was steak day at the American Bar & Grill. We shared a 10-ounce
tenderloin. The beef, from Australia, tasted grass-fed.
We took a short walk
to work off dinner. We went back to Soi 4. Joanna had been there in daylight
and also in the cab the night we arrived in Bangkok. But she hadn’t seen it up
close in prime time.
We worked our way
through the crowds and the traffic, past rows of girls wearing lots of makeup
and few clothes.
Sometimes they call
this tenderloin, too.
Be well, all.
Harry
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