Off the Sidewalk, I'm a motorist!

So lastnight we met up with some colleagues from Canada at a local watering hole. They gave us the scoop on all sorts of stuff about Bangkok – where to live, where to shop, who to avoid, who to befriend, etc. All of this was done at “The Dubliner Pub” - an Irish pub. It was interesting walking into the place and ordering a pint – it felt like you were at some pub in Ireland or England, or at least a good pub in Canada. I mentioned to Jess that it was a nice “respite” from Bangkok, to which she agreed. I think places like that are going to become ever more important as the time wears on.

On the way to the pub we were walking down the “not really a sidewalk, but the closest Bangkok gets to one” and a motorcyclist came barreling straight at us and yelled something in Thai. I can only imagine that it was “Off the sidewalk! I'm a motorist!” Apparently pedestrians no longer have any rights here.

Speaking of traffic, Bangkok has lots of it. We have seen some pretty precarious situations on the road, motorcycles swerving in and out of cars stopped at stop lights, all sorts of vehicles traveling on the wrong side of the road, what look to be ridiculously unsafe loads on top of trucks and motorcycles (including people) and many more. I was thinking about getting a bicycle or a scooter but my sense of self-preservation kicked in and has made me think otherwise.

While at the pub, in the midst of conversation about our new city, our friends asked “Have you seen an elephant yet?” We replied no, as it was the most logical answer – this being a city of 14 million people (last time we checked elephants live in the forests of Northern Thailand and the plains of Africa, not in dense urban centres.) They mentioned that you see them all over the place, usually at night, around Bangkok. The funniest thing is, as they finished saying this they looked out the window to the street and said “I think that is an elephant right there!” We ran down to the street and sure enough, it was an elephant, dressed in what looked to be a cellophane tutu, and his handler, a mahout. Apparently for 40 Baht you can feed them sugar cane. (A little exploitive I feel.) You can only shake your head sometimes...

P.S.- It is currently 4:30am on Sunday August 3^rd. Still reeling from jet lag.

P.P.S.- A car just sped by the apartment blaring it's horn. I can only imagine that he was thinking “Everyone wake up! I am a motorist!” WTF...