From the sublime to the…

…ABSOLUTELY NOT RIDICULOUS!

I would never/could never say that Bangkok is ridiculous.

It’s just that a week after shivering in 4 layers of thermals in the Himalayas, here I am wilting in the crazy Bangkok heat. But absolutely not complaining!

I craved heat, and boy I have got it 🙂

My climbing trip to Nepal was absolutely fabulous, and well worth the cold and the shivering.

I’m clearly still a tad tired from Lobuche, though, because I’m definitely feeling the heat more than I usually do, and I keep nodding off to sleep at odd times.

But every day I’m getting stronger and less droopy, and I’m swimming every day. Yesterday evening I managed a slow 5km walk in my neighbourhood.

No running yet, mainly because it is INSANELY hot, and I’ll need to be out and about well before 5.00am, to escape the heat, and thus far I’ve just been too tired, to wake up before dawn.

But, as I said, I’m feeling better every day, so onwards and upwards.

We have pottered around this fab city, taking the ferry, the subway and – quick drumroll – the bus. Given the huge linguistic divide from which we suffer in Thailand – entirely our own fault, I hasten to add – we both felt insanely proud of ourselves for cracking the local bus system. To be fair, there’s an app, which helps a bit. (Actually it doesn’t really help that much, since it’s all in Thai 😛 )

We took the #6 bus yesterday to go veggie shopping, and the elderly lady who sold us our tickets, was clearly tickled pink by us. Through the impenetrable language barrier, she just kept smiling at us both, and when she’d finished selling us our tickets, she pointed at us both and gave a double thumbs up – roughly translated, I think she was saying that she was impressed by 2 oldies negotiating the bus system 😛 😛

Today we upped our game even further, taking the un-airconditioned, rather rackety-looking 111 bus, and yet again, we were treated with amazingly kind and smiling courtesy. I made a move to put my hat on, which the conductress obviously took to mean we were planning on getting off her bus too early, and a peremptory “No! No stop!” came ringing down the bus 🙂

Too sweet.

How the dear Thais must suffer from culture shock when they travel out of their country, and are not treated in such a kind, reciprocal manner.

Compared to our last visit here, in January, Bangkok seems empty. No hoards of tourists, no long queues for anything and everything, so that’s nice for us.

We’re just baffled by one thing – where are all the otherwise ubiquitous coconut sellers? One of the absolute joys of being here is the delicious Thai coconuts, but ne’er a coconut seller to be found.

Curioser and curioser.