Showermaster

My computer says it's Friday (so that must be what time it is) night but it's almost noon on Saturday the 23rd here in Bangkok.

I’ve spent the night at Prasuri guest house. (190 Bhat for a non-AC single. That's less than 5 bucks). They put me on the very top so out my door is a patio where they dry the laundry. That’s where I hung out last night in the 85 degree sticky heat. Ahh the smells. There’s this funny smell of french fries in the air. But it's more like smelling the french fryer than the french fries.

tired traveler 13435 bytes

I wasn't here 2 minutes and I was given my first surprise Buddhism lesson by the shower. Buddhism is the state religion here and the shower's one of those hose dealies. The shower, and all the plumbing here, has in-line stopcocks to turn stuff on and off. Even the sink, which has a regular faucet with a superfluous knob. You have to reach under the sink and turn a grimy little piece of brass. So anyhow, I’d just got into my room and I’m playing with the shower and I reach over and turn it off. I hang it up and go back to lock my bags to the bedpost when I notice that the water hasn't stopped. It’s kind of in-between dripping and fwooshing and it's not slowing down and stopping. I grab the little lever and crank it back as far as it goes but it's already back as far as it goes. Well maybe it's just one of those things where it needs to be just one tighten tighter than tight. Still no signs of stoppage. I go back to my bags and continue zipping and locking and listening to the splashing water on the floor of the bathroom. I think: "Why isn't the shower turning off? Why isn't this thing cooperating? I’ve turned it to the "off" position and it is not "off". I go back in and try to turn it off more. Harder. I back it off and try again. Nothing. But I noticed that the rate of flow seemed to change. Hmm. I backed it off about an 1/8th of a turn and the water stopped. The solution to any problem is never in the extremes. Namaste, hose shower.

So I go over to Khosan road and I walk down to the place where I met Noah last time and where we met all those Thai girls. (just to get a beer and some noodles mind you, this time I’m going to try to quell any inferences vis-à-vis "that which goes unsaid") so I’m lookin over the place and I decide to take on one of those nice tables on the sidewalk and oh, there's a woman sitting by herself at the next table, oh it's chen. Oh my god. It’s the same girl that picked me up on the first night I was here last year. My jaw dropped and she looked over at me. I popped back behind a column and just stood there saying “ohmygod ohmygod”. I’m sure she'd recognize me. I didn't want to talk to her and so I went to the back and cancelled my order. As I lurked in the back I watched her turn around and look into the restaurant for me. I slipped out the side.

I’ll be in India tonight. Think I'll clip my fingernails.

Davep


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