Back in the BKK

I'm in Bangkok now. I came here partly because it's much cheaper to fly from Bangkok to Kathmandu than from any other hub in SE Asia. So I traveled by bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh and then onto Bangkok.

The other reason I came to Bangkok is because I wanted to visit Bangkok! I wanted to experience a couple days of craziness on Khao San Road before disappearing into the mountains in Nepal.

At night I like to sit at one of the sidewalk bars on Khao San Road and watch the freak show. It so happens that the guys who work at the bar where I was hanging out are all from Nepal. I showed them the tattoo I got in Pokhara last year and told them I was going back this week. They love me.

One night while I was sitting there a barhopping expedition formed. It was probably the most demographically diverse group ever assembled, given the size. The roster:

* our leader, a gay Thai guy who works as a tout for one of the bars
* his sister, who recently returned to Bangkok after working as a prostitute in Amsterdam for seven years
* a black Australian tattoo artist who works on Khao San Road
* a Filipino ladyboy with original equipment below the belt but expensive additions up top
* a German girl who took turns hitting on both the tattoo artist and the ladyboy
* me: heterosexual, white American man. How boring.

Where else in the world could this group of people come together for a social outing?!