Sawat dii khrap. The flight into Tashkent from Bishkek was relatively uneventful. The Uzbeks took me for a Turk because I speak Kyrgyz. No one ever thinks that I am American in Central Asia. I always seem to get Turkish or German. I somehow took the wrong train to another part of the airport. The immigration people had to call for a whole bus to usher me over to the international terminal. I had a six hour layover that didn't feel like six hours. I realized that my sense of time has been distorted by the perennial tea time of the Kyrgyz village. My patience and ability to simply mindlessly sit around have expanded to the point that six hours felt like three or maybe two. I even sat and drank tea and watched Animal Planet dubbed over with Russian about this obssessive-compulsive husband-wife who raise Bengal tigers in Missouri.
I spent most of this morning and afternoon after arriving in Thailand utterly speechless. My thoughts that the world has gone on without me: fashion, technology, civilization, has been true all along. I didn't even know how to relate to people in Bangkok to get directions around for the first part of the day. Transitioning from a Kyrgyz village with about two or three-thousand people (if even that) to Bangkok has required me to return to a hardened self. I had to remember to look ahead and not make eye contact or gawk at the newest trends on sixteen year olds. People in Thailand are so rad. Everyone is smiling and laughing. I have been sweating all day and walking around in the sun. I found an excellent used book store near my hotel where I picked up a Lonely Planet guide to Bangkok for two bucks. Seeing the Americans here has been freaky. I have kept my mouth quiet to avoid having to talk to Americans. Most of the Americans that I have seen are of the type where the couple wears the same khakis, obnoxiously white tennis shoes, and fill their Hawaiian t-shirts like brautwurst in an expanding pig's intestine. Sweaty, pompous, loud, ugly Americans. I had one of the best plates of food in my entire life at a local cafe for a dollar (40 bhat) this morning. I made my way to the Golden Mount which provides a spectacular view of the city via bus. I made an offering of incenses and a lotus flower to the Buddhas and sat in meditation for some time, unfolding and releasing some of the stresses and delusions of the past few months. I am planning to meet up with a Thai Buddhist monk either tomorrow or the next day for some meditation guidance. They are free and offered throughout the city almost everyday. Buddhism compliments and enhances my yoga practice.
The immensity of the city remains unfathomable to me. I am sitting in an internet cafe with nearly a hundred people who are screaming in Thai about some psychotic, everyone-has-a-submachine-gun up computer game that they are all hooked on. The anonymity is familiar and comforting. Almost every place I have walked around today has provided something related to Buddhism, health, including massage (the real ones, not prostitutes), various apothecaries, Hindu temples, and everything else that makes life worth living. The enormity of the temples and their austerity causes me to stand in awe. Again, I found myself frequently breathless and confused at how a place like this could really exist.
I saw McDonalds and one of the metro stations unloaded me into a department store. I literally felt like a martian. I don't even understand these places anymore. A Starbuck's presence in the center of the city pained me. I will probably go out and see a show or have a drink tonight. I have my appointment tomorrow with the doctor. I plan to just keep writing on this one blog. Internet is cheap here. I will try to write again tomorrow after my appointment. -MJ
