September 10th 2009 'One Night in Bangkok...'

Our last night in Thailand feels more than surreal. Feels dreamlike, as if I constantly get the sense of deja vu. Our entire trip has been surreal. I've always held on to one of those corny Latin saying's from high school, the kind that stays with your memory no matter how hard life tries to erase it. :"post coitum omne animal tristis est". It speaks of the all too common experience all human encounter at almost every turning of the day. After an intense and eagerly anticipated moment, we often feel that we have missed something greater that remains just beyond our grasp. It just comes naturally from anticipation. Try as you might, getting an pre-image into your head of events to come leaves you breathless when it is all said and done. What could we possibly do in Bangkok tonight? I've fished for crocodiles with dead chickens, even sat on one. Pet tigers only inches from my face, protected only by a thin metal chain. Been picked up by elephants and ridden through the densest jungles on one of the behemoth's backs. I've been blessed by a Buddhist monk at a Wat that Siddhartha's very bones are said to be burried, the holiest of holy shrines for Buddhist world wide. I've watched monkeys swim, play basketball, ride bicycles, and sell me magical ointment... I even gazed into the eyes of one of their babies as it did back flips off my hand for food. I've strolled through jungles filled with bananas, Hibiscus,orchids, plumeria, Lotus, Heliconia, and Ixora. I've chased 1m long geckos from my Bungalow. Swam with sharks and Puffer fish. I've escaped death flying through the air ejected from the seat of my motorcycle. I've been to strip clubs where women washed each others feet in some bizarre sexual ritual that escapes my grasps. I've eaten squid, bugs, and fish meat straight from the bone..whole at times even. I've trekked through jungles that most foreigners never set foot on. I've danced around coral islands in crystal blue waters. Taken photos in front of trees older than Christ. Taken a bamboo ride down a swollen and much too dangerous river. Spoken with hill-tribe members that grow only enough food to live off. Seen waterfalls that overflowed with some mysterious and all too gracious effect. Caught spiders larger than my hands. Eaten mushrooms on a beach that belongs in some Leonarod Dicaprio movie set. Kayaked under massive sea cliffs that turned instantly from clear water, to exposed limestone, to lush jungle. I've watched strange and foreign birds glide majestically through the air. Played the drums with a Thai band. Sang at the top of my lungs with the Irish. Stayed in a hotel fit for a king. And experienced it all with a woman I'm certain I want to live the rest of my life with. As Bradley says 'what may be and must be, is.' this trip has been more than expectation could ever take for granted. What's left to do...the darkest sin that hell ever made. I suppose even the devil will be saved at last, so I take Occums razor by the blade and head for a ping-pong show, the one thing Bangkok has left to offer, and the last thing we'll see in Thailand...