Lee and I left early Tuesady morning around 430am. There were snow flurries the night before, so I was nervous about a possible flight cancellation. My excitement kept me from being grumpy. I had all the essentials: Coffee and clean hair. I was ready to get to Thailand. The sixteen hour flight from JFK to Hong Kong quickly ruined my anticipation--sooo long and cramped. I was now officially grumpy. It was circa midnight when we landed in Bangkok, whatever o’clock, and we decided to stay on Kao Sahn Road. I stayed on Kao Sahn when I visited back in October during low season, so accommodations were easy to find. We arrived at primo party time on a Friday night, so all the rooms were filled. There was only one hotel located at the end of the road that was in the middle of a renovation with vacancies. Our room was tiled from floor to ceiling. Basically, it was a huge bathroom with a bed.
The next morning I was greeted by a drunken “ginger" outside of my room. This guy was completely wasted at 8am and pissed in the hallway. I can see how there may have been some confusion with all of the tile. I slipped a little on his pee as I made my way out. He was sun burnt and freckled. As I walked down the stairs, a stream of his urine followed behind me for two flights. I have no picture of the “ginger”, but I wish I did.
Once we got to Phuket, we took a cab directly to the new house. The house is absolutely brilliant. It’s open air-outdoor-shower-goodness. However, there are some adjustments to be made on my behalf. For one, it’s really flippin HOT. My house, as lovely as it is, has no A/C and is designed for air to flow through. At the moment, the open air is my enemy. The engineering is NOT WORKING. Also, the mosquito net in my bedroom is not just for aesthetics, you actually NEED to use it. I bought a mosquito net at Pier One five years ago and ‘used’ in my apartment at the Cotton Mill Lofts. Stupid. Urban mosquito nets? I have spent my nights so far boxing insects. Mosquitoes love me. Thank you, mosquito net. Thank you.
We also have other house guests including tree frogs and geckos. I am truly out of my element.
Our landlord, Mr. Chai, is a swishy, attractive Thai man who greeted us on his way out of town for the week. He was wearing salmon colored, linen fisherman pants, no shirt or shoes and a necklace. He lives across the driveway in a ½ million dollar home with a pool that he welcomed us to use. Um, hell yea!
Mr. Chai's feng shui love den.
Yesterday, I attempted to do single-handedly the most dangerous and frightening thing I have ever done in my life. I drove a motorbike through town. The tears left white streaks down my exhaust blackened face. "Never again, Mom." We went to Nai Harn Beach in the afternoon and enjoyed staring at pot-bellied Frenchies in speedos and topless, leathery Brigitte Nielsons types. I'm modest in a crowd. Je suis américaine. *BLUSH*
Anyone seen my forehead?
Later in the evening we ate some Mexican/Thai and I drank a frozen margarita. Thais interpretation of ‘Mexican’ rice includes egg somehow. I wonder if this is how Thais feel when they come to America and order Chinese food. “Nice effort." We strolled next door to a reggae/thai bar (weird) called Yooniques, and I managed to hang around long enough for the mosquitoes to completely light my ass up.
Scratch. Scratch.
My hankering for Western food is a bit insatiable, and I am running in to that scenario often. This morning I wanted some pastries and coffee and my choices included : cinnamon buns, poppy seed bagels, banana muffins and croissants topped with crab meat, corn, beanie weenies and something that resembled BBQ sauce. The iced coffee is delightfully sweet and creamy.
I dig the Thai iced coffee.
Plenty of fish paste to go around.
Later, we went to assess a villa for Lee to shoot on Wednesday. Villa real estate is very popular here and mostly Europeans buy the property. I am going to help stage the model. Watch out! This should be fun. We are going to bring in fresh flowers, light candles and make it look all spiffy. This particular unit has a spectacular view of Layan Beach, a big resort area in Phuket. Look for the brochure and all of Lee's glorious photo creds.
On the way back, we stopped at this Sam’s Club type place five times the size of Sam’s club, and five times as hot with more junk. This place has anything on the planet you could possibly want. It's incredible. Far superior to Sam's Club and Cosco minus the sweltering heat.
Hello Kitty in a Jar anyone?
That’s all for now.
Stephanie
