Highlander... [Entry #5 June 21, 2011]

[Above: My beautiful room at Monaco, was a really nice hotel except no pool.]

Entry #5 June 21, 2011:

        I moved to a new hotel room yesterday, the difference between a 40 dollar a night room and an 18 dollar a night room is palpable. My first impression of the economy rooms here at the Unico Express was that this is the type of room someone might have died in. Not to say that this room holds any vestigial presence or anything like that, and I also don’t mean this seems like the type of place someone would be murdered in, rather more like an overdose or perhaps a heart attack. Although the room is not exactly exciting, it is cheap, and that is kind of what I expected, the nearest approximation is something akin to an expressway motel. The worst part of this hotel however is that it is located on a one way street, at the furthest end going the wrong direction, there is a major thoroughfare heading south right outside the hotel. This may not seem like a problem, however due to immense amounts of traffic, I cant easily get a ride down to the nearest train station nor can I easily get a ride back to my hotel. The walk really isn't bad though only about 5 minutes, and I feel as though I am actually acclimating already to the heat. I have been weaning myself off of air-conditioning and it seems to be working, I am sweating less now with longer walks, and the heat doesn’t bother me too much. I have however considered that this hotel room being a bit depressing will force me to want to get out and do more things within the city itself, which is great except everything costs money, and unfortunately I did not come with a small fortune to spend, I am pacing myself well thus far, but it is far too easy to spend money here within Bangkok. It is a city just like every other where nearly every person on the street is trying to make money. 

        An interesting thought peaked my interest the other day, that I am a highlander. No I do not mean that I am immortal or am walking around with a black trench coat, ponytail and sweet katana hidden on my person, rather that every time I see another foreigner it is readily apparent. We all kind to stand out in the crowd, and every time I think to myself this is the type of feeling Duncan would have when walking around in a sea of people and being acutely aware of someone like himself. The other thing I noticed about foreigners at least within Bangkok is that NONE of them smile. It has become a bit of a personal joke to me as I pay close attention to the people I see filling the streets daily, I think the only time I have seen a foreigner smile is when they were playing grab ass with their girlfriend or their escort. The Thai people I have encountered tend not to smile a lot either, for the land of smiles I seem to be missing out on quite a few, there are some genuine moments of happiness where I see a Thai couple walking hand in hand and are satisfied, but everybody seems so caught up in shopping/commercialization storm that is occurring it is interesting and a bit discouraging too. Why exactly I am staying in Bangkok for 2 more weeks is a curiosity. I suppose it is to test myself as I am not yet sure if I can maintain spending small amounts of money, also the fact I booked a room for that long before knowing what I was getting perhaps was a mistake.