Daily Archives: February 7, 2006

About A Bike

“When is it gonna come?! I’ve been waiting breathing in pollution for like one hour already!!” I complained to myself one day while waiting for a bus.
I then saw one man with a mask on his face riding a bike right there in the middle of the street.
Everyone looked at him and got surprised because he seemed to be a hero among the big big mass of black fog, yes.. exhaust gas.

On my way home, I remember my days in Japan. I had to ride a bike to school everyday. At first, I wasn’t used to it and fell on to other people’s bikes a lot but after some time, it turned out to be nice. I love the feeling of wind blowing my hair and the smell of fresh air. Sometimes I met friends before reaching school, we rode and talked al-together, it was fun. But that was in Japan where pollution and dust almost non-exist and where bikes have their own way on the rim of the roads.

Next morning, I heard the news on TV, Taweeporn Tongkambai, a famous artist of ministry of education, just died because of riding a bike. His friends at work stated that he was the one to help the country reducing energy. He rode a bicycle to work and everywhere everyday.That morning, he was hit by the bus and was dragged further away for like 200 metres. He always told others about how good he felt riding a bike and how useful it would be for our country.

I then regreted why someone who try to do something good for others and society have to receive that.

Personally, I still think riding a bike here in Thailand and especially Bangkok is still a good idea. I know how people keep saying it’s completely ridiculous because of pollution thingy and there are no ways for bikes here. But what if Thai people reduce using cars and buses, use gas that’s good for environment and start using bicycles instead?! There won’t be much pollution, right? We can also lessen money spending on gases as well! And about the lanes, government should increase them there at the rims of the roads instead of spending the whole budget on project that will do no good for the environment like BANGKOK, CITY OF FASHION.

I don’t think this is dreamy and I truly believe it can happen if we give our beloved country some time and some full cooperation. I don’t expect it to take place today or tomorrow but I do expect all of us to start realizing before we have to lose somebody valuable from this for “nothing” again.

“A Whirlwind Visit…So Far…”

First of all, I think me and my girlfriends will be at Ad Makers tonight, or somewhere around the Langsuan area. So, if you see me in a brown shirt that says, “Shake your Buddha”, please say hello. 🙂

It’s been a whirlwind visit home so far, having landed here on Thursday. Indeed, this is the shortest visit home for me, but I’ve done quite a lot already in a few days, and eat even more so! My maid/nanny keeps bringing me things to eat. LOL.

Friday. Shopping That Ends All Shopping.

For bargain shoppers like myself, THE destination to be is Soi Lalaisap, literally means “melt your wealth street”. Soi Lalaisap situates in Bangkok’s financial district on Silom road. It’s an alley way next to the Bangkok Bank building. The street is NOT closed to traffic although it looks that way. Occasionally, some brave car will slowly ease through all the crowd storming the area during lunch hours.

Soi Lalaisap comes to life around 10:30 a.m. and is already filling up around 11. By 2 p.m. some smaller shops would already close down for the day.

It does get seriously packed down in Lalai Sap, folks. So be warned of that. Amazingly, I could count the amount of foreigners trekking through the area with my hands. Then again, this is not the area that sells touristy stuff, but everyday things.
From fruit stands, food stalls, to imported Hong Kong pantsuits to diamond jewelry. This place has it all. And for great bargaining prices.

This little road leads into an even more wider shopping areas called the Trinity buildings. From non-airconditioned stalls under a huge tent to the air-conditioned upstairs AND downstair shops of Trinity, this area in Bangkok is truly a shopper’s heaven. Especially if you know how to haggle.

Let’s put it this way. During the 3.5 hours we were out there, I spent more or less about $100 that day down in Lalai Sap. And here’s the list of my loot:

2 beautifully cut pantsuits imported from Hong Kong
1 knitted sweater
1 sun dress
1 pair of heeled sandals
3 very unique hair accessories — as in I haven’t seen these in the US
Lunch of rice and fried pork and a bottle of green tea

I could’ve done a lot more damaged if my mom went with me, by the way. Being just me and my girlfriends, we tend to go a little easier on the bargaining. My mom haggles like nobody else, I tell ya.

Our gang returned home to my house around 3 p.m. We took a breather, and off we went to Central Department Store for some more shopping. Hahah!

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