It really does sound as though every sinle word is followed by a kup. The "r" is silent, so it sounds like kup and for ladies it is Kaa. After you say pretty much anything in Thai you need to say this word. You see little children being constantly coached by their parents. "Come on.... krup... krup.... say it... krup.
My landlady is a lovely lady but she runs a childcare centre in one of the buildings in the compound, and from about 7am each day, as children arrive you can ear a whiney voice trying to teach the children to krup or kaa correctly.
I feel as though I am starting to settle in. I have worked out where the laundry mat is, where the nearest decent Massaman curry is and where to get drinking water. I bought a mattress for about $50 (new and double size). I braved a public bus to get to the nearest department store to get a pair of runners and I have found a place that does a fantastic thai massage. I mean theres a thai massage place evey fifty metres, but this place seems to be the place to go. Thais seem to frequent it, so thats usually a good sign with anyting here. Anything with an abundance of whiteys is proabably not as good as it could be and is probably costing too much.
In an effort to keep my fitness up, I have started running. I leave at about 6.30am and run along the almost overflowing river, past the main public bus stop in this area and then do a few laps of the park. The park sounds lovely doesn't it? Well, it's not so lovely. There are stacks of homeless people who leave rubbish everywhere and urinate on all of the not so abundant trees. It is pobably better described as a homeless persons paddock, but it is something to run around without the threat of being run over by some crazy tuc tuc.
I am living in the banglampu area which is in the older part of the city and houses the notorious Khao San rd. I am far enough away from said backpacker and feral depot that I don't have to contest with too much crap, but I am close enough that I have all the necessay mod cons and access to the necessary travel resources for work.
I share a house with three others. we have a good set up with bike storage underneath and a small office. The four of us will not see each other often as we are all tour leaders for either Grasshopper or Intrepid Travel.
It has dawned on me tonight that when you don't chat to a lot of people around you and when you don't understand what everyone is saying, you miss out on things. It turns out there is a big festival on tonight. I don't really mind that I've missed it as I have to be up at 5am to collect my customers from the airport. The unfortunate part is that my street leads towards the river and so there is a permanant traffic jam outside my front door with some bastard traffic policeman who is way too whistle happy!!! If I were in Australia I would go and tell him to give it a rest, but alas, if I tried, he would probably lock me up.
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