There is one thing that I want to point out about Thailand. Its 7-11s. You can't throw a rock in any direction without hitting one. As an example, Walking Street is about a half mile long, and it has three of them. These things are every where. Its amazing, really, if you compare to the US. I'm from California, we have 7-11s there. They have them in Virginia and Florida, but not in Tennessee or Kentucky. And I guess I got used to not seeing them. But they have them in Korea and Thailand. (And there must be millions of them in Thailand.) I don't think that I will ever understand.
Another interesting thing there is that most people at least speak a little bit of English. Enough to get basic meanings across. But, there is a catch. (Of course, isn't there always.) Not that they won't speak it (unlike Koreans) they will speak as well as they can, and actually like to get the chance to practice. (They are just that friendly.) Its in the pronunciation. Ok, let me show you. Here are some words and I want you to say them to yourself. (And actually listen to what you say.)
KFC (Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken. They have those too.)
7-11 (Think of the sign.)
Botany
Geoff
Rat
Ok. I bet that you said them just as they are written. After all, that's the way its supposed to be. But if you did that to a Thai, they won't have a clue about what you're saying. Here's how they would say the same things. (In same order. By syllable. Don't know how to spell that one.)
K-epp-C
7 (That's it. They only see the # on the sign.)
Bow-ta-nay
Gepf
Lot (That's right. No R or A.)
That last one was the name of a friend of mine there. I was shown it written down, because the place was extremely loud, and when I said it the way we would, I was ignored. Then I heard another Thai call that person and say "Lot" getting a response. Sometimes it was funny, others frustrating. The first night I went out, when it was time to go home, I tried to tell a taxi where to go. So I said "Botany." The driver got this confused look, so I tried again. No luck. I went and asked one of the QT's bar girls, Nong, to tell the taxi driver where I wanted to go. She comes out and says "Bow-ta-nay." And the driver smiles and says, "OK. Bow-ta-nay." And I'm left thinking that that is just what I said.
While I didn't really do the tourist thing, there was one site one the way to work I couldn't help but see. On the side of a mountain (well, they call it a mountain, I'ld say it was only about 1500 feet high.) is a huge golden, female Buddha. Its not a statue, its like an outline drawing, on the side of the mountain. It is very impressive. I also had a day off where I went to a place called One Million Years Stone Park and Crocodile Farm. This place has petrified trees, (Didn't know they had those in Thailand.) natural rock formations, a kind of zoo and of course, crocodiles. Lots and lots of them. They even have a show. Those guys were nuts. Sticking their heads into croc mouths and stuff like that. No thank you! Not for me. You could also go and feed some crocs at one of the pools. At another spot they had these huge catfish. Their heads were easily 10 inches across, and the bodies around 3-4 feet long. (Just a guess there, the water was really murky. But they were huge.) And I only did a little bit of shopping.
When you're sitting at these open air bars, there are people going around and trying to get you to buy stuff from them. Most of the times I would just tell them (In Thai) "Meow, kop." (Pronounce as spelled.) It means No, but politely. And most of them would take it at that. Some were more persistant, and I would have to get borderline rude. (And we all know how much I like to do that.) But this one guy that was selling bracelets actually got me to buy something. He came up and I said no. I guess that as soon as I opened my mouth, he picked up that I was American. (There's mostly Europeans and very few Americans.) So he pesists and shows me one that says USA. And again I tell him no. So, he flips through his little book of bracelets and points to a yellow and black one saying Fuck Bin Laden. I laughed and just had to buy it.
The only other thing that I really wanted to do while I was there in Thailand was get a few more tattoos from Mong. I knew what the one I wanted on my back would have in it, but not how it would actually look. The picture just refused to form in my head. I wanted a dragon around a cross. But the rest was fuzzy until I was going through one of Mong's books and saw a picture of an green oriental dragon wrapped around a dagger. It was perfect, everthing just clicked. I asked Mong to change the dagger to a cross, and the style of the cross. Changed the color of the dragon from green to a deep blue and presto. Here's the finished product:
I'm very happy with the result. But, I will never get another tat on my back. That was painful. Especially over the areas where the bone is close to the skin.
The other one I got, is similar to the one above in that it has a blue oriental dragon and a yin-yang symbol. But that's all. I didn't do any alterations to it, i liked it just the way it was. Originally it was going to go on the opposite shoulder blade. But that wasn't going to happen now. So, I decided to put it on the outside of my left calf. I figured that there was plenty of meat there so there shouldn't be any more pain than what I had on my shoulders. Wrong, I forgot about right above the shin bone. Oh well. Here's that one.
All of my tattos (yeah, all 4.) have one thing in common. They all have a yin-yang in them. The first two were just different stylized yin-yangs. (#1 was horse heads, #2 two tigers and tribal around it.) And 3 out of the 4 were done by Mong. As a matter of fact , just before we went back to Thailand for this trip, Mong was about to retire, but he came out to do work on us. He made so much money off of us that he's now opening up another shop for his daughter. (From what I've seen of her work, she's pretty good too.) He was busy with us every day from about 1 PM till midnight (Sometimes much later) for a little over 3 weeks. He loves it when we come to town. He was telling us about two weeks earlier, a whole shipload of Marines and Navy were in town for a week. Out of about 2000 guys, he only did two tattoos. He called them a bunch of pussies. By comparison he did 20 guys tattoos from us. (And that's just who I can think of off of the top of my head.) And almost everyone of us went back multiple times. Simply put, he made a killing.
Well, I think that that is enough for one day. I'll probably be talking about this for the next few days at least. So, please be patient. Oh, and I'm down to the three week mark untill I leave Korea. In a way, I don't want to leave. (After all, who is going to keep Biz out of trouble. I think a month is about all he can manage on his own, and he came close as it is.) But I am ready to go home and see my kids. So, until tomorrow.
I'll see ya'll later. Oh, and I want to leave you with a picture of some bar girls.
Ain't they cute!!!!
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