Winter Holiday 2: Thailand Travel Buddies

Leaving Osaka on the morning of Christmas Eve with a brief layover in 香港 (Hong Kong) that, unfortunately, did not allow enough time to see any of the city, I arrived in Bangkok around 18h00 local time. A man working with the taxi service that took me from the airport to the hostel greeted me with a question that rather startled me,
"So, you speak Mandarin?"
"No, actually, I'm coming from Japan."
"Oh, so, you speak Mandarin?"

I mention this because generally people don't assume that a white boy with Scottish/Irish heritage would speak Chinese on first impression. When I was in Europe I understood and embraced the moments when my tan led people to believe I was from Spain or Italy, but, so far, such mistakes have generally been confined to countries with Romance Languages. There was one odd moment when I stopped for lunch in a Chinese place in Greensburg, Indiana (first time stopping in that town), and the waitress greeted me in Chinese and began a conversation as if I ought to have understood her. I wanted to understand, and I appreciated not being spoken to in English, but, nevertheless, I couldn't communicate as she wished. Anyway, this Chinese aside is important. The fact that Thailand greeted me asking about my knowledge of the Chinese language is also important. It'll figure in to the story of my travels later.

For now, let's talk Thailand!
A typical street in Bangkok. If you look closely you'll see an image of the king on the overpass. Last year he celebrated his 80'th birthday, and he is also currently the longest ruling monarch in the world. He has no real political power, but, having witnessed nearly 20 attempted coups against those who actually do hold political power, he has come to be an image of calm and constancy. People love the king.

Enough with royalty, let's meet the travel companions! These are a couple of fairly hep cats, so I've decided to grant them official blog nicknames. Who knows, someday they may show up here again.
German Speaker: constantly sarcastic but very dry and deadpan. It takes a bit of practice to begin to learn how to read her true wishes and intentions and even then you'll often find yourself surprised to hear, "oh, that was a joke". As a matter of coincidences, she sat next to me on the flight into Japan from Chicago in July and she went to the same high school as my last flatmate at uni.

(on a side note, in case you haven't noticed already, I've decided to employ more international English - "flatmate at uni" = "roommate at college")
The fellow relaxing on the chair is someone I'll be calling Infectious Laughter. Always ready for an obscure literary reference, elephant ride or Jerry Lewis impersonation but never too far removed from the bounce and glitter of pop culture on Thai music television programming. I could probably also label him "excitable boy" given his zealous glee about anything and everything coming along on the trip: "Oh, elephants! Oh, the ocean! Oh, a 711!"
Christmas Eve: I arrive (the travel buddies booked their flights a couple weeks before me and were on a slightly different schedule).
Christmas Day: we set out for the island of Koh Chang, boarding a bus at 8h45 that was supposed to leave at 8h00. Before exiting Bangkok, the bus parks at a petrol station and someone tells us to get off because it's too heavy. A trip that should have taken 5-6 hours took an entire day. Happy Christmas! Hope you like public transportation!