Story: Out of Hot Water

In October, Bangkok is warm and balmy without being wet. There are angry Buddhist statues dotted between street vendors' booths and lavish makeshift shrines are graced by earthly leavings such as a nearly full Fanta bottle. Skittish, darting geckos and surprisingly healthy stray cats haunt street corners.

Last night, we stayed in a hotel on Khaosan Road that cost us about 375 baht each. There were no blankets on the beds - only thin towels. This made us laugh. Travelers are everywhere, as well as signs written in English. Last night, after a dinner of Indian food, we ended our exploration early; 7 hours of travel from Osaka had worn me out.

After two dusty, phlegm-inducing rides today on tuk tuks between Chatuchak Market and Khaosan, we scoured the road for a new place to stay. Tonight, we will stay at a hotel just across the street. We find it much quieter than our room from last night, which was livened up with the shouts, honks and wild music from the street parties below. At this hotel there are blankets on the beds as well as a large mirror embedded into a beautiful example of flowery Thai woodcarving. The fan above the bed rotates in lazy circles, delivering just the right amount of ventilation, and the mattresses are extremely soft and spongy, almost like a Tempurpedic, but we dare not hope. The price is about 110 baht cheaper than the place we stayed in last night, coming at about 8 USD each.

There is no hot water. We learned this fact from another traveler who was discussing it earnestly with the hotel staff. We were told to go around the corner of the alley to test the faucet and gauge the temperature for ourselves before committing to the room we had, 30 seconds before, been certain we would take. We followed the staff member's pointed finger into a dark, snaking alley, illuminated at the end by the light from a raging open air street bar and, after a bit of searching, found the rusty faucet embedded in a concrete wall. We tested it and deemed it quite a refreshing wake up call. This made us laugh, too.

Tonight, I bought a gauzy navy, white, and burgundy strapless knee-length dress with a puckered bodice, shot through and through with glittering gold threads. This dress cost me around $7 USD, but in Bangkok, $169 USD could have gotten me a suit, 3 shirts, and a pair of pants. I’m still uncertain as to whether I did the right thing by ignoring these signs.

Tomorrow: to Krabi.