"Mai Pen Lai": Its all good in the hood

Sawadee Khrap my Reno droogs! I write you this time with a head muddled by our dear friend Johnnie Walker. For whatever reason Thai people seem to love Scotch whiskey. I can't say I share the same affinity, but it gets the job done in a pinch. I seem to be in a lot of pinches lately. Alas! Anyway it has been a zany weekend saturated with adventure...and cunning.. and swashbuckling...and...touring. Right. On to the content.

On Thursday night me and some of my recent USAC cronies decided it was time to go a clubbin', and I don't mean in the baby seal sense. We piled into two taxis and after about twenty minutes of pointing to a tiny map that the Lonely Planet(c) corporation promised would guide us to the hippest joint in town, we were off. The taxis sailed across the Bangkok highways, ignoring all American road laws. Lane markers, speed limits, one way signs, all merely gentle suggestions. Driving in Bangkok is a bumper to bumper free-for-all really makes even San Francisco seem more synchronized than a Swiss watch...from hell!

After realizing that the first club we arrived at was deserted, we decided to move on to another. A savvy Thai associate at the University had advised us to venture to a place called RCA, a district known for its night clubs, specifically to the club Route 66. After intense deliberation it was on!

Having become bored with the illusion of safety in the standard taxi cabs, it was time for a spicier mode of transportation. Featured to the right is the "tuk-tuk". This transportation option is known for its even stronger avoidance of standard road decorum, its high frequency of rollover, and the financial hustle the tuk-tuk operators inflict upon their foreign naive prey.

The ride was intense. With five full sized adults in the back seat, the tuk-tuk raced up back alleys, performed wheelies, and threatened to rollover; all this in the pouring rain.

We arrived at the new club and were happy to find that this time there were actual humans inhabiting it. In fact it sounded like a lot of fun. The music was throbbing through the walls and was palpable from up the street.

Route 66, the club we ended up in met and exceeded expectations. It was loaded with happy Thais and there was even a band. I wormed my way into the front center spot of the stage to see what this Thai mystery band might sound like.

It turns out that it sounded like Radiohead meets modern alt rock fusion. The band, Modern Dog, kicked modern ass. The music was awesome. This band was very popular and it seemed that everyone in the crowd knew every word to every song. Using this, the lead singer would pull fans on stage and let them sing a line or two while he pranced about. Truly a wonderful experience. I can't remember having more fun at a concert.

The next day a group of us returned to Bangkok to see a couple major tourist destinations: Wat Pho, which houses "the reclining Buddha", and Grand Palace, which houses a plethora of shiny things. I forgot my camera, so if you really must see these world famous things, look em' up. They really do look like that. Wat Pho is damn big. Damn. Grand Palace is grand. What else do you want from me?!

The next day we had a field trip with our Thai Civilization class to the Erawan Museum. This was a pretty standard fare Thai style temple-museum-gift shop, except for the fact that the temple was housed inside a giant three headed elephants stomach. Seriously, look at this SOB. Bad ass right?

The bottom floor was a boring museum with chinese vases, the middle floor contained beautiful winding dragon skinned starcases which led to the top floor. The top was within the stomach of the elephant and represented Heaven. This was not difficult to determine as it was extremely stunningly beautiful. The walls were blue and gold, and ancient Buddha statues were everywhere. No picture could do this place justice. Plus, it was inside of an elephants digestive system.

The next destination was the "Ancient City". Don't let the name fool you. Ancient city is neither ancient nor a city. It is a sort of thai theme park. The city is a park, in the shape of Thailand, with famous runins and structures recreated for the viewing pleasure of the tourists.

This sounds like it would make for a compromised experience...you might ask "Why not just go to the real thing?" Because we didn't thats why. But, the recreations were so realistic that it truly left some of us wondering...what is real?

This golden statue is apparently a transvestite. Isn't that wild?

The next night as I was walking around looking for a good time and I hear "hey you" call to me from the darkness.

I look to my right, towards the call and I see this motley crew. I say to myself "these guys look legit" and sit down to chat. Of course none of us can speak eachothers language but that doesn't stop them from offering me some of their dirt cheap whiskey they are drinking from a broken plastic cup with ants floating around the top. Do I drink it? Of course!

I ended up sitting for hours, drinking and learning the numbers 0-1000 in thai, because thats just what Thailand is like.