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Bangkok, Thailand
13° 45' N 100° 31' E
Nov 15, 2005 13:23
Distance 510km

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Other entries in Bangkok

Ngai and Gueila

Text written in: English

I went to the Indian Embassy this morning to see about getting a VISA.  I thought I must be the first in line, as I was the only one there at 8:30 am.  After waiting for about 20 minutes, the guard told me there was an Indian holiday today, so VISA services were non-operational.  'I came all the way back from a tropical island for this?!,' I thought.......

After sleeping from 9am until 11am, I had lunch and then caught a canal ferry to the Thai Airways headquarters so I could move my flight to Chennai back another day.  That strangely familiar "warm" smell, the smell of an outhouse or a bathroom stall at the Indy 500, greeted me as I stepped onto the canal ferry platform.  I use the word "platform" because the whole operation loosely resembled a subway/train system, but the "platform" was actually a poorly constructed dock floating on a narrow river of sewage.  When the boat came, I jumped on with the other passengers and grabbed whatever I could grab (the boat doesn't really stop) to keep from falling off.  As soon as I got on and in, I saw that both sides of the boat had a tarp that was attached to pullies which were evenly spaced along the sides.  I had no idea what these were for.  I was too tall to stand under the boat's canopy, and there were too many people for me to sit down, so I stuck my head out of the side of the boat.  Everyone started staring at me at this point.  About five minutes later I realized why.  We passed another boat, which was heading in the opposite direction down the narrow canal.  Everyone started pulling their respective tarp pullies.  Not knowing what was going on, I kept my head out the side of the boat, even though the tarp had been pulled up around my neck.  The passing boat hit our boat's wake and shot a canon of rancid canal water directly at my head.  Down went the tarp.  The entire boat laughed. 

 

 

After washing my face and changing my ticket at Thai Airways, I took the canal ferry back in the direction of my hostel (this time I was one with the tarp: I never let go of my pulley).  I decided to get off at a random stop and explore the city.  I found myself in the seediest neighborhood I've been to yet.  This was the Bangkok brothel district for sure.  It was about 6pm, so I went into what looked like a food court to get some food.  Every single table was occupied by one or two big, old white dudes and an equal number of little, scantily dressed Thai girls.  While I was eating, I noticed a pair of little kids going from table to table selling stuff (a common sight, even in the sleaziest neighborhoods of Bangkok).  When they came to my table, I decided start up a conversation.  Their names were Ngai and Guiela, brother and sister.  Ngai sells sticks of gum and does magic tricks, and Guiela sells flowers.  Ngai, the only one who spoke English, said that he was in 6th grade and his sister was in 4th, but when I quizzed him about what school they went to and what their favorite subjects were, he hesitated and looked nervous.  He told me that he and Gueila came to Bangkok from the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with their mother after their father died.  Ngai pointed at a neon-lit building in the distance and said that his mother "worked over there."  I assumed that the building was one of the many brothel/bars that seemed to be the only kind of establishment in the area aside from the food court.  Ngai's favorite magic trick is the same as mine.  It involves making a handkerchief disappear through the use of a fake thumb.  I watched his performance and then we talked about the best way to fool the audience.  When our conversation ended, as always in these situations, I told both of them to be careful and study hard, but I felt a pang of guilt and sadness as I slipped them each some money.  A few minutes later I saw them walking down a side alley with a bag full of pineapple slices.  As I stood up to leave, I took one last look at the haggard group of men and prostitutes that surrounded me and felt very little assurance that Ngai and Gueila were safe in this environment forever.