At 11 I walked to the BTS station, rode the skytrain to the Asok station and transferred to the MTS and rode to the Hua Lumphong station. From there I walked into Chinatown, looking for the Monk's Bowl Village. I was in the wrong area and walked around for over an hour, before I got my hair cut. The barber was Chinese and didn't understand English, so I looked at his poster showing men's hair styles, all longer than I wanted. I finally pointed to the King's portrait to show the type of cut I wanted. He used the electric cutter, then the scissors and comb to get my hair short enough. I had not cut my hair in about 2 months and really needed it cut. Cost was 50B plus a 10B tip.
As I was leaving the barbershop I asked the barber if he knew where the Monk's Bowl Village was. He didn't understand, but a customer, an older Chinese man, motioned with his arm down the street and a left turn. I had no indication of how far to go, but in the next block I found the street sign I had looked for, Ban Bat. I walked down a few hundred feet and was asked by a taxi driver 'Monk's Bowl?'. I nodded yes and he motioned to the right where I could see an open air shop, with glass display cases. Two men said 'Sawadee Krab' and motioned me to the cases which had a lot of bowls, most painted black, some with gold design painted along the top edge. There were some smaller versions and one large one wrapped in a colorful cloth cover and strap. I looked at all of the bowls and tapped one after the man demonstrated it, to hear the tone. I asked about cost. One man said 1000B, and 1400B for the covered bowl. I had about 1200B left, so I showed them my charge cards and one of them said 'ATM'. He led me on a 5 minute walk to a bank ATM down the block and around the corner. I was hoping they had some way of charging the purchase. I tried my debit card and found the fee was 150B for any amount I wanted up to 2000B. Since my bank might have another fee and an exchange fee, I decided the cost was too much. I told the man, and he motioned to the bank door. I asked the teller if they could give me money on my charge card. She asked if I had a PIN and I said 'Only for the debit card', so she shook her head no and said 'ATM', then 'Bangkok Bank'. The Bangkok Bank w
as next door. I knew they wouldn't be able to charge the purchase to my Visa, so I checked their ATM and found the fees to be the same as the first ATM. I told the man it was too much and we walked back. I put all my money on the top of the case and asked if that would be enough for the covered bowl, which the other man had already put in a plastic bag. The 2 men looked at each other, said something in Thai, then gave me back 82B and said 'Tuk-tuk'. So I got the bowl for 1140B, and I took photos of the cases and 2 workers pounding on bowls.The walk back to the MTS was all the way through Chinatown and took about half an hour. I walked part of the way in the street because the sidewalk in some stretches is clogged with vendor carts and shoppers. Some of the clerks and others recognized the bowl and smiled. One older Chinese man spoke enough English to ask what I was going to do with it. 'Souvenir', I told him. He asked if I was Buddhist and said some Thais use it to for offerings to monks. About 3, I called Bill to confirm that I was on my way to the apartment and we didn't need to go to IT City.
I walked to Bill's from the Ekkamai station and bought 2 packs of instant noodles at the stand in the parking lot, for 12B. Since I shouldn't need enough Baht to pay $10 for a cash advance, I decided to exchange some of my remaining $114. I checked the camcorder and tripod so I would be ready when I arrived at the restaurant.
Bill and I left about 4:40 and caught a songthaew to the BTS station. I borrowed 100B from Bill to add value to my BTS card just because it is easier than buying a ticket for each ride. I got off at Phrom Phong, as Bill suggested, and went out of the gate to the stores on the walkway. There were 3 currency exchange booths. I changed a $20 to Baht, getting 648.8B, a rate of 32.44B to the dollar. Traveler's checks get a better rate, 33.02B per dollar.
I decided to go onto the sidewalk to find a food cart with something to eat, since I hadn't had anything today except my morning OJ. There were lots of carts, most of them showing meats, with relatively few vegetables in sight. I found one cart on a side street sidewalk, just before the Asok station, with tables and chairs, and an English menu. I ordered the only thing I knew was mostly vegetables, Dom Sam (green papaya salad) and sticky rice. The salad had the usual vegetables, with peanuts a few tiny shrimp in it. It was very good. Cost of both dishes was 45B. Walking further I stopped to look at the bootleg DVD movies on a sidewalk table. They were each 100B, so I got 'Julie and Julia', for Trish, as a souvenir of Bangkok.
I climbed the steps up to the BTS walkway over the street, to cross over the intersection to the MTS station, stopping only long enough to drop a baht coin in the cup of a little girl asleep face down on a landing. There are a lot of beggars in Bangkok, mostly on or near the BTS stations, but I've just passed all the others. Many are crippled and some young women have babies. It is hard to just pass any of them. Couldn't just pass the little girl. One baht is little more than a gesture, but maybe it will help.
My MTS card was low, so I added 100B to it, resulting in a 96B card. I must have been 4B short on my previous trip. There are no add value machines in the station. The agents are in a booth and can add value only outside the gates.
I rode to the Silom station, then used Bill's map to climb the steps to the walkway over the street, then down to the sidewalk by McDonald's and onto the Pan Pacific Hotel. I started the video outside to show the street and the hotel entrance, then rode the elevator to the 23rd floor, arriving about 6:30. The MaitreD led me toward the dining room, but I told her I wanted to see my friend play, so she led me to a table in front of their set. No other customers were in the area. I nodded to them as they were performing and started video recording with the camcorder on the table, propped up with my coin holder. That didn't work well, so I soon pulled out the tripod. I recorded all of their songs, and between sets, got the tripod adjusted to make panning from one to the other performer relatively smooth. I changed batteries before I needed to change the memory stick.
The piano player, Jimmy Cicero, is personable and talked to me briefly on the breaks, mentioning he was from Hayward and hadn't been back there for 8 years. Bill and Chang sat with me most of their break time. We talked about their work and my travels, and I showed Chang the 2 photos of Bill's sister. Their contract is not being extended, so it is completed at the end of December. Bill may travel to India then. Chang may go to London to a language school. She knows a lot about Chiang Mai because she stayed there growing up as her family had a home there. She also stayed on Ko Pha-Ngan, so knows about snorkeling around there, in the Gulf of Thailand.
A group of 3 men sat and applauded the music for a few songs during the last set. At 10 the music finished and I thanked them. Jimmy Cicero said goodbye and Chang said she hoped I would visit Thailand again.
Bill and I stopped at Tops Produce Store. I bought 2 Australian Murcott Oranges, for 40B, and 2 cans of tea, 32B, and 2 bags of soup, 40B, for a total of 112B. We rode back on the MTS and BTS, then a songthaew. I gave the DVD movie to Bill to copy and filled my liter bottle with purified water, for 1B.
Today, I paid out 1671B, about $50. I have left about 250B, but probably need only enough for the ride to the airport.
