today i fell in love...

...this time, instead of a city, it was a dress.

in truth, i fell in love with this dress the very first time i came through Bangkok. it is in the Expensive Mall, on the third floor, it is black with a white pattern on it, it hangs to the floor, it has a peek-a-boo thing happening in the front, and it has pockets. POCKETS. it also costs about eighty-nine hundred Baht, which is why i did not purchase it in the first place.

clearly, i am back in Bangkok, and as i am in a holding pattern until Friday (even though it is not the high season, some of the things i am looking into doing are booked until Friday), i figured i'd kill some time today and go look at my dress (in the hopes it had gone on clearance in the last four weeks).

to make a long, boring story short, not only was my dress not on clearance, they also didn't have my size; however, the moment when i told the sales girl that the large was too big and she handed me the extra-small and told me to try it did provide some comedic relief to the tragedy of the cost and ill-fit.

i had actually started the afternoon at the Medium-priced Mall and bought a pair of orthopedic sandals (they're cute... really) so that my knees and feet will stop hurting. on my way to the Expensive Mall (for the dress viewing) i had lunch: an Auntie Anne's pretzel, street-fried chicken, and (when i arrived at Expensive Mall) pralines and cream ice cream.

after the dress viewing, i still had hours to kill before dinner, so i treated myself to a movie then left the mall to catch the 14Baht bus back to the Kao San area...

i waited for forty minutes and finally made the executive decision to catch a cab. the first two i stopped wouldn't even GO to Kao San, let alone offer me a reasonable price. the third one asked for 200 Baht. i laughed at him and waved him on. thinking a tuk tuk would be a more reasonable mode of transport, i started hailing them only to get a similar response to the taxis. after another 15 minutes of standing in the dust and smog of the traffic passing the mall, one tuk tuk driver stopped, offered me a reasonable fee right off the bat and i hopped in.

this tuk tuk driver was either the best or the worst tuk tuk driver i have ever encountered. he had a nervous tick that seemed aggravated by speed. in truth, the tick was pretty cool (the tuk tuk tick - as my friend Mike from NYC has deemed it). if you put him on a dance floor and played some James Brown, no doubt he'd fit right in. he was also determined to get me to Kao San as fast as possible and was undeterred by things like lights, oncoming traffic, speed bumps, and trucks. other than almost being dumped out twice and the torrential downpour that let loose on the way back, it was a very entertaining ride (and in truth, even the downpour was fun).

when i got back to my guesthouse, i ran into Mike (mentioned above). i had met him in the airport this morning after accidentally cutting him in line to get our passports checked. he also lives in Manhattan (the first Manhattanite i've met) on Broadway and West 4th. we both checked into the same place this morning, but his room wasn't ready and he had to run a time-sensitive errand, so i stored his bag for him for the day. after returning said bag to rightful owner, we ran out for some food at Mr. Yims on Rambutri (possibly the best street stall... ever), and then parted ways so for the evening with plans to get together tomorrow for lunch.

Bangkok is officially my second home. while at times it is loud and smelly, it is also familiar and friendly (and lets face it, New York isn't exactly a rose-scented oasis of peaceful bliss). in two weeks, i'll be flying through here for the last time. amazing how fast time flies. in the meantime...