Red Bull and cigarettes. Beer too.

My tolerance for alcohol has gone up again. This doesn't mean I can drink more; I just don't get red in the face and pass out, as easily. The alcohol tolerance started out because I was with Manu and Carlos who, like all Spanish, know how to party. After they left Kathmandu I took a bit of a break. Then I landed in Bangkok.

From the airport I shared a taxi with three others - an Israeli guy, German girl, and a Belgian girl. I'm horrible with Israeli names so I don't remember the guy's name and he ended up staying at some other guest house. Andrea (German) and I hung out together quite a bit. She reminds me of one one of my most favorite peeps, Kirsten J. Fisher. Since Oktoberfest is starting up we decided to have a few drinks on Kho San. I used to do little but a little wouldn't do it so a little got more and more.

We started out slow sharing a large beer (650ml) over some spring rolls and papaya salad. The order of events after that are blurry because of the events of last night. Before I get to that, I remember walking up and down Kho San quite a few times and exploring some of the side streets. We stopped off in at least two more places and ended the night at a bar on the east end of Kho San with live acoustic music. The three guys playing and singing were quite talented and had the whole place singing along. We got back to the guest house after one and I fell asleep with the iPod on shuffle. I now know it has at least nine straight hours of battery life when fully charged.

The morning after wasn't too bad. Since we stuck to beer I didn't have a hang over. Andrea and I spent most of the day figuring out our travel arrangments. Andrea doesn't have a lot of time in Thailand so she had to take a train leaving last night.

I don't usually drink alone but I was bored and went back to the same bar. The music last night wasn't as good as the previuos night. I think the transgender waitress was hitting on me, especially since I told her Andrea already left and wasn't my girlfriend. It was buy two beers get the third for free but I don't think I got that deal. Grrr.

I walked back to the guesthouse and ran into Ann (Belgian) who was lost and stumbling about. She had had quite a bit to drink and couldn't find the guesthouse. We were standing two buildings away from it.

I guided back, bought her a water, then walked her up to her room. We had a bit of a discussion about which floor she was on. The drunk girl was wrong. I told her to drink water before she passed out. She didn't listen. An hour or so later I went to make sure her door was locked. It wasn't and the water was unopened. I locked and shut before going back out.

When I first put Ann in bed I walked out to the all night internet shop to email pictures to a woman I sat next to on the flight from Delhi. On my way there I was asked if I wanted to buy a rain coat. Interesting question, but I had to answer no. The two who solicited me were a brother and sister from Israel Ohad and Noa. They are a friendly pair so I felt obligated to help them sell the rain coat. This was to be the beginning of a long night.

Shortly after I sat down we were joined by two guys from Switzerland, Julien and Xavier. Ohad went to get his guitar and we made up the raincoat song:

Cheap cheap don't you want a rain coat
Green green beautiful rain coat

I pulled myself away from the group for fifteen minutes to email the pictures and when I got back Han, a Korean guy, joined the group followed by a Canadian girl and her Finnish boyfriend. Julien ran off and brought back beers for everyone and Noa suggested we had enough of a global representation to start a new U.N. We got kicked out of our spot some time around one or two in the morning. That's when I checked up on Ann and decided I smelled really bad and needed a shower.

The party moved around the corner and more people came and went. Somebody bought a bottle of whisky and we were all sipping from it. Songs were sung in various languages including Hebrew, Arabic, and Korean. All the while we were smoking like chimneys. At three thirty I opened my eyes and found everyone straing at me. Noa told me I fell asleep. That and Juliens downward turn towards sloppy drunk made everyone decide it was time for bed.

Bangkok isn't as bad as I thought it would be.