Hectic city

Some days are just more remarkable than others. Generally I've been living a quite steady and ordinary day-to-day life here, but occationally there is something worth mentioning and I believe last monday was such a day. I was doing my first explorations of the Bangkok bus network as I needed to go to Khao San Road and withdraw some money as the yellow ATMs that charge only 15 baht instead of 150 baht extra are a bit scarce. And yes, two and a half euros is not that big of a deal but when it equals four lunches, it magically seems a lot more.

Anyway, the way there was fine and the air-conditioned bus cost 16 baht (cab would have been 70-100 baht). Originally I intended to go and take one of the famous Bangkokian canal boats to the Sukhumvit area, which is a bit more posh neigbourhood of Bangkok and also one of the two "party areas" (RCA Plaza being the another one). To my surprise the canal boats weren't operating after sundown so I had to eventually take a cab, though. But at least I managed to find a pair of shoes that fit me so the extra walk was not totally in vain.

My original plan was to go there and get tickets for tomorrows Benny Benassi gig at the über posh Bed Supperclub. Yes, unordinary of me as I am not exactly the clubbing person but I reasoned that if a world class DJ (whose music I kind of like) in a world class club doesn't float my boat then I can honestly say that the whole clubbing scene is just not meant for me.

After that I went to MBK and managed to find a new shirt and a nice bag that I was needing. And since I had my shopping hat on, I decided to finally get the Snow Leopard upgrade in the same bankruptcy. So I headed back to another shopping centre where the local Apple Store had just closed its doors as hour was quite late already. Luckily on the another side of the road there was an even larger and even more posh shopping centre (Siam Paragon, the one where you can buy Lamborghinis or Porsches in) and they were still open and I managed to get the small white box. When packing my bag though, I noticed that the bracelet - worth 1000 baht - was missing and going through my steps I reasoned that it had to have dropped in front of one particular shop at MBK where I had unpacked my bag a little bit.

So in an orderly panic I rush to the skytrain but decide to walk instead as it would take about the same time anyways but just standing around and waiting didn't feel like a nice option at that point. So I rush in the moist and hot night, in long jeans and a t-shirt, with a box of shoes and a paper bag with my new clothes and accessories in them plus my messenger bag with my laptop in it for weight on my shoulder. I rush towards the MBK Shopping centre, where I have to climb once again to the fifth floor in a maze of escalators and find the corner booth if they would have noticed it and picked it up or something...

When I finally get there, they are closed, all the tables cleaned and the floor is empty on the spot where I was unloading my bag. Damn. I rolled my head around for a few moments and thought what should I do. Go back to the club and explain what happened? Come back tomorrow and see if they would have picked it up and spared it? Just swallow my stupidity and pay for it again? Not really appealing options but there was really nothing more to do at that moment. So I started walking away but was still hopefully eyeing the floor and actually after 5 meters I notice something that very well might be the lost plastic bracelet, I lean in closer and YES! It was exactly what I was looking for, almost exactly where I dropped it, just count in some random kicks and people stepping over it a few times and it was there. I felt so relieved.

Walking happily away from the shopping centre I took the skytrain to the end station and gladly paid for the 60 baht taxi fare straight to my front door. At that point I really didn't care that there might have been a bus connection from Sala Daeng skytrain station to the Phet Kasem road. I just wanted to get home quick.

But I will master the Bangkok public transportation one day! Taxis are just so damn cheap that especially if you are going somewhere together, buses, metros or skytrains just aren't a good option financially. But Skytrain gets from one side of the city to the other in 20 minutes whereas a cab would probably take an hour, depending on the traffic. :)