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Curfew, day 1


LizardKing

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OK, things have been too heavy, so let me do a narrative to lighten it up.

 

Things did not start off well. I'm a news junkie, so I have been awake for the past 72 hours with little cat naps in-between. I took a sleeping pill last night at about 0300, but a customer with a problem called me at 0700. Couldn't go back to sleep. I tried to resist, but couldn't stay away from the news.

 

 

Did catch a few cat naps between looking at the 'net.

 

I talk to Mrs LK for the first of our usual three calls a day. I miss her dearly. I insisted that she & her mom (who lives alone) go live with her uncle in the backwoods of Nonthaburi last Thursday until this blows over. They live in a very yellow neighborhood near Klong Toey. I remember the Jakarta religious riots a few years back and was scared for them given the tension in Bangkok. I offered our condo, but mom thought it was "inappropriate" because we have have a roommate. Uncle was the compromise.

 

Obviously, I'm glad I did, given the rampage. Yes, it did not affect their neighborhood exactly, but some very nasty shit, including the attempted incineration of dozens of Channel 3 staff, was spitting distance away. They'll stay until Sunday likely.

 

I missed the opportunity last night to buy food. Well mostly. There is a "minimart" next to our condo that also sells tourist trinkets, luggage, and much other whatnot. But they were the only one's open, so I went there. Not much stock, but I manage to get 10 eggs, three cups of instant joak, a bottle of Sponsor and a custard bun cakelet. The lady asked if I was staying in the hotel across the street. I replied in Thai that I lived in the condo next door. She smiled and gave me a B10 discount on the B120 bill. Impressive. I've lived through a few hurricanes in the States and they'll gouge you til you bleed there, even tho' it is officially against the law. Nice to see Thailand is still Thailand even after this shocking mess.

 

We were electricity-less and roommate & I had decided to bail out to Pattaya where he has a friend with a couple of houses. Just before we were to leave, the power came back and we decided to stay. I was sadly out of cheap booze too, so I made do with one glass of hi-so Japanese whiskey while I sat on the balcony and contemplated the weirdness, hoping that no snipers were about (but not really concerned, ya know). I did manage to resist the idiotic urge to get out the mega-watt laser pointer and paint faraway buildings with it. Sometimes common sense does kick in.

 

I had not seen Bangkok so still since the last curfew in 1992. I really did not notice it then because I was with the (ex-)wife and our two very small children and they kept my attention. Now, alone, it was really odd. As if we were living in one of those post-apocalyptic movies like The Ωmega Man.

 

But I'm rambling. At about 1400 today, I wandered out, to get some food and hit the Villa. I thought The Sport Corner on soi 20 was a good bet as their food is American comfort food and quite yummy (try the grilled ham & swiss), but they were closed. What do do? The old standby Bourbon, I guess. And I can walk by a bar with some old gal pals in it where it may be fun to have a few drinks after I eat.

 

Wandering out and across the street, most everything is closed. The nearby hotels have tire-punchers in the driveway, having to move them if someone wants to enter. WTF? am I in the Mango, or the Baghdad Green Zone. Hmmm, maybe the Green Zone with less mortars & klaxons? That's the feel anyway. All that is open is places to fulfill immediate needs, like 7-11 and some food vendors. Pharmacies, massage shops, offices and specialty retail are all closed. But there are a couple of bloody Indian tailors open. You really gotta admire their chutzpa LOL!

 

I run into a couple of friends there, A & E. Great minds think alike and all that. We had a nice meal (shrimp po-boy for me) and a couple of Irish coffees to chase it. During the meal, CJ calls and says he's opening at 4pm til 8pm for a "siege party."

 

OK, why not?

 

But I had my idea of hanging out with old friends (that siege mentality of striving for normality...plus I'd love to screw either one of those gals again LOL) and left E & A to go to No Name Bar and I hit J/J's bar.

 

They weren't there and it was shite boring, so off to Villa.

 

Now despite what you may hear (CNN, you fucknuts, I'm looking at you!), there is no real panic buying and there was not one empty space on the Villa's shelves. Yes, the traffic was up, like a Saturday arvo vice a Thursday arvo. But that's it. I didn't even have to wait to get checked out.

 

I take a taxi home. No drama. He used the meter without being asked. The meter read B39 when I got home. I gave him a B50 note and told him "thank you." He proceeded to hand me change. I told him no and he as very happy. Once again, in the States that would have likely not happened in this situation. Nice.

 

So I dropped the groceries and aimed out towards Cowboy. It was 4pm and a steady stream of construction workers were coming back to their camp on one of the even numbered sois from Asoke. Oddly early for that. But other than that, traffic was pretty normal, a bit heavy even.

 

Walking down 23, the 7-11 there was open, but just the door; they still had the newsprint covering the windows and the ATM machine. No vehicular traffic to speak of tho'.

 

On Cowboy itself, all that was open was Old Dutch, Shadow, Dollhouse, Toy & NNB. Dollhouse was rocking, with almost a full house. Everywhere else was 3-4 customers. Including NNB.

 

But we made the best of it, ringing the bell while the gals fed us street food they had bought. Were all pleasantly drunk. Being all businessmen in attendance, a brain fart hit. Open at noon, close at 8pm tomorrow. CJ said OK, lets do food too. Buffalo wings were decided upon because we were discussing Stilton cheese and one usually has bleu cheese dressing with Buffalo wings (tho' I usually prefer Ranch, or even a mix of the two; ya, I'm weird). But they won't be Buffalo wings, since that's too messy.

 

Buffalo chicken fingers. But chicken's don't have fingers? OK, Buffalo chicken strips then! Yeah!

 

Some names were bandied about -- Fire Wings...Zen Chix...Central World Wings...but it was decided that it was too soon to make lite of the situ here. So just Buffalo chicken strips. At the siege party starting at noon on the 21st. Perfect.

 

8pm rolled around too fast. Girls were drunk and happy. So were we. I was horny too, but the girls at NNB are careful not to be home wreckers and refuse to go with me when I ask because they know I am happily married. Definitely for the best, but...shit!!!

 

 

The walk home was creepy. 8:15pm. Cowboy dark for the most part, 4am dark. Soi 23 was empty and dead. So was Sukhumvit. Creepy. And hence, we have come full circle -- creepy night one to creepy night two...

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