One of Paris’ dirty little secrets is that it rains here more than it does in London. But there’s always been that romantic notion that a rainy day in Paris beats most nice places everywhere else. Well, Paris is really putting that to the test. Continue reading “Weather You Like It Or Not”
The queue to get into Notre Dame on a Saturday afternoon:
While it is considered offseason, unlike in the States where there’s always sales (Macy’s is having a sale? What a shock!), stores in France can only have large sales twice a year. So you see signs that scream “SOLDES!” everywhere. The current sales go until early February so people come from all over Europe to take advantage. Me, with my single carryon bag? Out of luck!
jumpboobs.com
Again and again, I’ve seen this too much:
Dear Zeus,
I can call you Zeus, right? The Big Z? I’ve been to your temple so I feel we are close. I’m assuming my derogatory statements about Athens has awakened your ire. I know I’ve said the city is dirty. That’s it’s overrun with graffiti. That garbage bags are piled high around dumpsters that don’t seem to ever be emptied. I know I’ve said I’ve found the people to be unfriendly and unhelpful. That Greek men chain smoke and wear nothing but sweatpants. And that Greek women are miserable because they only have chain-smoking, sweatpants-wearing men from which to choose for a mate.
I guess you took offense. And I appreciate it, I really do. But come on, look at this place. This is not the Athens of your day. The center of democracy, drama, philosophy. You wouldn’t have stood for anyone tagging the Parthenon. You’d have found a way to allow people to throw toilet paper in the actual toilets instead of garbage cans. People with their hands out to the government? You’d have struck those hands with lightening. Or maybe had Hades do it. But from lonely tourist to Greek God, I apologize. Now let me the hell out of here.
Best,
Michael
Best. Sandwich. Ever.
Had a Pret a Manger Christmas Lunch sandwich in London about eight or nine years ago. They need to open one of these in LA.
Read Part 1 below first…
Now when Mr. Coke first parked his taxi, I kinda wanted to ask him if he was sure it was okay to park there. In a city where there are about a billion cars, when you park in an area where no other car is parked and an area designated for taxis and you then remove your taxi sign on the top of the cab, I’d wonder if it was okay. But I didn’t say anything because I thought he might misinterpret it as I was looking for Thai prostitutes or something. So it came as less a surprise to me than to him to find the car gone. Towed away. He kept saying, “police no good.”
We walked to the area where it was towed. Not too far away where some procession was going on…
The police took their sweet time finally removing the boot from the cab and Mr. Coke kept apologizing to me for the time it took. I felt bad that this was costing him money but this was his doing. He took me next to the Golden Mount and another small shrine in the city before taking me to a Thai seafood restaurant, where I treated for his drink and food, all considering he had a bad day. Me? I got to see a few places it would have taken me a long time to figure out how to find. For 400 bahts. Not a bad first day.
So here’s a few tips for the uninitiated in Bangkok culture. First, don’t wing it. Unlike most cities I’ve visited where I pick a point where there is something I want to see and take it from there, this is not a good idea in Bangkok. It’s not anything close to a walkable city. It is so huge and vast that what may seem close on a map is pretty far away. It’s hot and humid (and this is the “cool season”). Add to the fact that you never seem to know what street you are on (and neither does anyone else, it seems), plus it being nearly impossible to cross driveways, let alone streets, and you get a pedestrian free-for-all.
Second, if you are going to hire a taxi driver to be your all-day guide, it’s a good idea to make sure his English vocabulary consists more than “good,” “happy,” “massage,” and “toilet.”
Third, you will not get very far very quickly in a taxi on the streets of Bangkok with traffic jams and drivers that basically do whatever they want. Los Angeles, I have seen your future and your future is Bangkok.
And most important, make sure that when the taxi driver parks his taxi, he is fairly certain that it will still be there when you both get back. That’s right. Make sure it doesn’t get towed away. Which it did. Gone.
Let’s start at the beginning. Got to Bangkok between 1 and 2AM. Took a taxi to the hotel. This is what $60 a night in Bangkok gets you:
Yesterday as I was walking downtown WITHOUT my camera, I encountered the Sydney Zombie Walk. Apparently this is a thing in several cities around the world, especially Australia. What the purpose of the thing is, I’m not sure. But it was fun to see a bunch (and by bunch, I mean quite a lot of them) of walking dead, blood dripping, and definitely ugly zombies walking through the streets of Sydney.
No, water does not necessarily drain in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yes, the stars in the night sky are different than in the Northern Hemisphere. Pretty cool to view stars I’ve never seen before.
The Nomadic Writer 