April 20, 2004

Okay now- it’s been 13 days since I arrived in Thailand on this, my eighth trip. I stayed at Nanatai Mansion for the first 6 days, and then Fon arrived. We lived at Mark’s condo on Suk Soi 26 for another 3 days, all the while house hunting. It al-ways seemed as though the best places were snatched away, for some reason. I think I know why, but I’ll get to that later.

We eventually ended up at Rompo Mansion, off Rama IV Rd, about a fifteen minute walk from Sacred Heart Convent School, where I’m employed (more on that later, too). We have a 50 square meter sit-and-sleep(bed –sit, to the Brits), with a small “L” off the entrance, in which we’ve setup a kitchen, of sorts. 12,800 THB/month, it comes with UBC cable, water at 16 THB/unit and electric at 4.5 THB/unit (KwH). Minor thieves, they are: electricity is billed by the Thai Generating Authority at only 1.8 THB/unit, so the cost of electricity is 2.5 times what the utility company actually charges. Refrigerator is extra, 600 THB/month and 600THB security. Se-curity deposit is 2 months rent, so move-in fees were 39,600 THB- just under USD $1000.

Mansion it ain’t, although it is decent. We are in room 630, a corner room, facing in the direction of the Chao Phrya River, Bangkok’s main waterway. Security is good, and downstairs there is a mini-mart, a Japanese restaurant, a good fitness center, a nice pool and a beauty salon/barber/who knows what else. Excellent security and taxis outside the gates every morning. We are ½ block away from Tesco-Lotus, a large, British Wal-Mart type place, and about one block from Carre-Four, the French equivalent of Tesco-Lotus.

We are also just a ten minute walk from the Khlong Toei market. Khlong is the Thai word for canal. At one time, Bangkok was occasionally called “the Venice of the East”. Not so, anymore, unfortunately. Most of the khlongs have been filled in and developed upon. Those that aren’t tend to reek of sewage and filth.

The market has all of the right components: huge variety, cheap prices, open seem-ingly all the time. The only real problem with this area is the high crime rate, one of the highest in Bangkok. It is, however, mostly Thai on Thai and centered in the more back areas of Khlong Toei. This is the district being targeted by the Prime Minister, Thaksin (Toxin) Shinawatra for his 2nd phase anti-drug campaign. Hard to understand, because the 1st campaign, last summer, for three months, in which 2000-3000 alleged dealers were executed outside of arrests and courtroom pro-ceedings, was declared victorious in December, along with the proclamation that Thailand was free of drugs. How did they return so quickly, I wonder? Also, Toxin has pledged that this new campaign will be tougher than the last.

Tougher than death??