Bangkok pt. 1 - Day 10

Yesterday I walked past the Starbucks here in Khaosan Road and saw a sign that said they would give out free Americanos and Lattes between ten and noon, to anybody who would bring his own tumbler. And I thought, well, that's odd, why would a place as corporate as Starbucks give out free coffee? There must be something wrong, I thought, and went in to ask. The woman at the counter told me it was true, just like that, bring your own tumbler and you get a free coffee. So today I went back and waited forty minutes for my drink. Still, it was worth it, I think.

For lunch I had a spicy noodle soup with chicken. I thought a lot about what to do today, but I couldn't think of anything good. I did't feel like walking too much, but I couldn't decide on anything else either. So I went on reading in my book for the rest of lunch. For dessert I had a bag of M&M's and decided to take a little boat trip. There's a boat service on the Khlong Saen Saep, one of the remaining canals of the Chow Phraya River, which operates much like a bus company. I went from Phan Fa in Banglamphu to Phetburi in Sukhumvit. From there it's not far to the Esplenade Shopping Center.

Inside the Esplenade there's a million different shops selling various products ranging from clothes to cakes, from cellphones to accessoires. On the top floor they have an ice rink and a movie theatre, the basement acts as a huge food court. Now, the most important part is on the first floor, a skateshop called NY LA. They have another store in the Siam Center, but this one here hosts a skatepark in the back. It's not big, but it's a legit proper indoor facility that Seoul can only dream of.

One thing I checked out before I came here was skate spots in this area. I found two or three, but only one was really appealing to me. It has a perfect ground, a little box and a flat rail, basically enough to keep you going all day, but it's a bit too small for my taste, it doesn't give you much room to push around freely. So today after watching the kids in the park do tre-flips, backside smiths and kickflip nosemanuals, I decided to go out into the streets tonight. And let me tell you there's nothing quite like it.

It's so hard to describe the feeling of pushing through the streets of a foreign city, the feeling of rolling between pink cabs and tuktuk motorcycles on a road with four lanes each way. It's a fantastic rush and everyting seems to be good. You can almost feel the bearings running hot, your heart is pounding like crazy. The asphalt is so smooth that the wheels barely make a sound, and the brushing wind makes up for all the fumes that you're breathing in, breathing out. It's an excitement I find hard to compare to anything else in the world. It's a feeling that I learned to appreciate very much over the years. It makes me smile and gives me the peace of mind that I need.