Imagine crying a steady stream down the outside corner of your eye. Imagine crying in this manner from both of your eyes. Imagine not being able to breathe. Your air is coming in short, compressed gasps. And all of this from laughing so hard. That has described the past three days. I have laughed and loved a lot. So many of my friends are all together and we are having such adventures. And Thailand never fails to make us laugh. So I guess I should probably tell you about them.
Okay, I think last you heard I was leaving Uttaradit. I managed to get a motorbike taxi to pick me up at my apartment and take me to the bus station and it only took 30 minutes. If you don't know, this is good when she doesn't speak any English whatsoever. I have functional Thai down but the lady wanted directions. That is currently not part of my repertoire, but I guess it is next on the list. But she showed up and both of us were proud we made that happen. Really though, people should understand the importance of small words and yes or no questions. They are invaluable.
So I get to the bus station and I get a ticket for standing (so no more seats so I would have to stand, but I was not waiting half the morning at the bus station). A small woman though scooted over and gave me a sliver of her seat for the entire ride. So with my feet pressed to a ridge on the other side of the bus aisle and my my tiny sliver of seat I rode to Lampang. It was a little bumpy but overall okay. I get to Lampang and decide to walk around rather than take a suntow after "sitting" on the bus for three hours. So first I walk over to my friend Ocean's place, but unfortunately she was not there. So then I trekked over to the mall.
As I was walking to the mall, in an all too familiar route, I came up with the reason I like malls in Thailand. Air con, food, caffeine, bathroom and a pharmacy are a good things and that was why I went to the mall. I arrive, take care of business and then I head over to a farang cafe, that I have known and heard a lot about but never been to. It looks like a shack from the road but as you come it, you realize how beautiful and stable it is. Inside was air con and English television. I watched an episode of Top Gear about Chinese cars that was hilarious and had a conversation about it with the farang in the cafe. After lounging for two hours, nibbling food, drinking, reading, talking and watching English TV, I pack my things to head out. Then the farang that owns the cafe says, "What?! You aren't staying for trivia?" Imagine the slow head turn. TRIVIA. FARANG TRIVIA. Apparently every month a whole bunch of farang join in a large trivia game. You put in twenty baht and the winning team takes the pot.
So there was no question as to whether or not I was staying. Within the next hour a steady stream of farang came in, slowly filling all the chairs in the place. Last time I was in Lampang I meet a group of farang and they showed up at this event, so I had plenty of company. I made some new farang friends, strengthened my friendship with a few others and pleasantly ignored and was ignored by a distasteful farang that did not stay long. My close friend, running on Thai time showed up shortly before the trivia started and we formed our team. A Brit, a Canadian, me, a half American and half Thai man, and another guy from the U.K. were all part of my team. So many nationalities were represented in that room. The questions were vast and varied. When questions strongly leaned towards a certain country the rest of us loudly protested. It was friendly fun and rivalry. We did not win because our last round was terrible, but it as great fun anyway. We accidentally called a Brit an American and boooooy he threw a fit. Usually it is the Canadians that get upset but this sin was even worse. Not even the other Brits believed it, because his accent has faded so badly from being in Thailand so long.
Then that night many of us went over to one of the farang's places and hung out and had a big singing session. Try having a singing session with a guitar and a classic pianist. It is amusing. All good fun though. We went up to the roof and talked as we overlooked the city of Lampang. It was just really nice. So that was Monday.
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