In Bangkok for the third time. By midday at the latest, it’s pouring with rain every day. The rainy season arrives just in time for my departure from Thailand. The thunderstorms don’t bother me much. Humidity was higher before, temperatures anyway. And in the morning you can at least breathe for 3 hours halfway free of smog. I throw myself into the last few days.
The most important thing: visa for Vietnam. The embassy needs two days for this and wants a rather uncommunist 65 euros for the visa. That’s why I’ve already sent in my passport with an agency from Krabi, which really made my stomach churn. I don’t have a place of residence in Germany at the moment. If the passport gets lost, that means massive problems. But the passport is there, with a visa.
On with the Skytrain to Sukhumvit. My second Casio camera is lost in Australia after a proud three weeks. After some email correspondence, I drop by the Casio service centre. Without a warranty card, Mr Somyote Somagate repairs the camera for free – within 20 minutes. Germany used to be famous for that sort of thing.
I have the rest of the day free. Shopping in the Siam Centre. A true delight for designers. Every single shop is a work of design art. The prices are more than steep, far above European standards. No matter. After 10 months of searching, I finally find my new glasses. Exactly these. Unfortunately, it takes a month before I can pick them up again after Vietnam.
In the evenings, I do a lot of work. My hostel, Lub d’Bangkok, is like my work: all design. Exposed concrete, steel, glass, wood. Nothing was not designed. Even the network access: FTP doesn’t work, very annoying for the Wedesigner.
On the last day, I wander around the area around Siam, this time on the Thai side of the street. MBK is the largest department stores’ in Thailand. I go gaga over six floors and more than 15 kilometres of corridors, hundreds of shops, thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of customers. I can’t find what I’m looking for here.
I only find my laptop case in the Pantip Shopping Centre a little further north. I was expecting another mall. What I find is the largest pure-bred IT department stores’ in the world. On six floors and over 50,000 square metres, there’s everything I’ve ever heard of in the IT sector. And more. Pirated copies galore. The rest is like everywhere else in Thailand: just as expensive as at home.
It’s striking that nobody cares about intellectual property. Nevertheless, it seems that no stall really has pirated copies in stock. If a customer arrives, a call is made to the photocopier in the stash and a CD follows within minutes. Another funny thing is the density of monks. They are all real computer freaks. I’ve seen fewer monks in some temples than here in Pantip.
In the evening. One last time working in Thailand. Looking forward to Vietnam with great anticipation. I haven’t been kitesurfing for six weeks. My skin is drying out in the rain. But I’ve heard wind reports from travellers and read statistics and forecasts for Nui Me. Now I’m hooked.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.