addendum

Bangkok, Thailand

 

some random thoughts from the past week i forgot earlier:

 

The one new thing i did in Bangkok is eat dinner at Chakra-something Villa, which is actually the private residence of some old member of the Thai royal family who spends most of her time in London.  Anyway, for a not small but not too exorbitant fee, you can rent it out for the night and have dinner on her pavillion the banks of the Chao Phraya, right across from Wat Arun and right near Wat Po & the royal Palace, and the Royal Staff is at your beck and call.  Pretty goddamned cool.  Even more cool was her luxury speedboat that we got to take back to downriver.  (compared to the mekong speedboat, it was a ferrari akin to a yugo).  Suffice it to say, when you pull up to the boat dock at the Oriental Hotel in bangkok to have a drink at the bar and everybody points and gawks at your ride, it was one of the top pimping moments of all time for me at least.  (on another culinary note, Bangkok also boasts fantastic German food, as its a popular place for them to both travel and live.  Best sausage I've ever had was last night at a place that apparently maintains its own herd of pigs)

 

Also should note that i'm reticent about starting training tomorrow as the last week I've been partying like it was 1999 with my old friend Alex and have since gained a few lbs.  Highlights included making up fake ridiculous names and back-stories about ourselves to the girls, both working and non, who accosted us (I'm Steve Assoluti, Policeman/Helicopter Pilot/Drummer), the surreal occasion of being caught in a monsoon playing Connect 4 with a bunch of hookers (and that literally means the board game, nothing dirty - Alex got smoked by them owing to his superior math skills, and despite my singha induced handicaps I only managed to beat my adversary 9-8 in a best of 17.  The only reason why i was trailing was because I'd build up a lead and then drink some more and promptly allow a connect-4 whore (c-fo-ho) rally, which would force me to play more games out of pride), and hanging out in a Chiang Mai speakeasy.  Also was regaled by locals with some great stories about drunken tourists and ladyboys - the most incredible of which I won't repeat here, but which led me to walk around with a healthy dose of paranoia about all those pretty girls smiling at me.