Nick is leaving me. After bickering and pleading with Air Asia, trying to get them to change my flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, with no avail, Nick and I have come to our final day of travelling with a buddy. I will be stuck in central Thailand for the next few days until I fly home while Nick will head up on the train to Chiang Mai tonight. I don't really know how I am going to be able to travel without him now. He has been my security blanket/adventurous eater pal/bar mate/other-hairy-guy etc. for this trip and someone I am glad I had to share the experiences of SE Asia with for the past month. I am going to miss him.
Bangkok is a very modern city with beautiful new skyscrapers and light rail systems and McDonalds and Starbucks all around. It is not cheap. In fact, it is the most expensive place we have been on this trip. The food and beer are two to three times what we were paying in Vietnam and the hostels are twice as expensive. Of course we are staying in the most touristy part of town, but still, the name "Backpacker alley" should carry with it a bit of sensibility towards economic travelling. We have discoverred that Bangkok is a great place for shopping. They have thousands of t-shirts for sale on every street, incense, arts, massage parlors, clothing, bags, and more, and it is tempting to go berzerk and spend spend spend! We have shopped a little bit but now that our departure dates are closing in we'll probably be hitting the shops for some last minute souvenirs.
Last night we were taken out to eat with Gift, the sister of my good friend Gale from school. She took us to a trendy trasitional Thai restaurant in the business district and treated us to some amazing food. Nick already mentioned what we ate so I won't write about it, but I will say it was a meal we will never forget. Gift was a wonderfful host and hopefully I will see her again before I fly out. I told her that when she visits Indiana I will take her to eat traditional Hoosier food, which i guess is a steak or a cheeseburger or green bean casserole. She drove us around and we sent to a night-time market and even passed through the area of the city where the protestors had been holed-up for so long. We saw the giant shopping center that had been burnt down. It was so strange to be in the exact place where dozens of people had been killed only three weeks before, and to see nothing but business-as-usual traffic and realize that life goes on here. Gift, however, along with many other Thais, believe that what happened here divided the country and there could be more protests in the future once the water has settled from this last bout. We're safe though.
So in an hour I give Nick a big hug and put him on the cab that will take him to the train that will carry him up north. It has been an amazing adventure with him. We have so many stories. So many that weren't put into words on this blog, but ones we will always have. I will miss the guy.
Until next time.
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