Lazy Days in Bangkok

Wednesday, June 17, 2009--Bangkok

After posting yesterday, I returned to my dental office for my appointment with the specialist to rebuild my partial plate. The plate itself is made of titanium and is strong. But after 35 years, the two teeth that are built into it have worn down. The dentist, as all are, was amazed at my plate which clips onto my existing teeth so well and which has two parts hinged together so that it will float and not cause so much friction against the gums when I chew. She took impressions of my bottom and top teeth (YUCK!), and that was it. I have an appointment with here again in two weeks to pick up the plate with the rebuilt teeth. The appointment last night for seeing her and having the impressions made cost only $23 U.S. My earlier appointment to have my teeth inspected and cleaned cost only $25 U.S. It's so nice to have good dental service for such low prices. By the way, my dental company now has offices in Japan, Taiwan, and Australia in addition to its offices around Thailand.

I stopped on the sidewalk and had a dish with sliced pork, sliced sausage, and rice for my dinner. As usual, it was good and cost only 85 cents U.S.

Today, my hotel had French toast for me for breakfast. The manager came to me and asked if I had seen what she had done for me. Then she made sure they took the toast to the back and heated it up, since she thought maybe it wasn't warm enough from the heated tray where they had it in the buffet. What service!! I hope they have it each morning while I am here.

Today I decided to go get a massage at the Center for the Blind. It is far across town. I had to walk down to the river and take a boat from there. Then I had to take a bus from the last boat stop. I'm not really sure if what I got should be called a massage or torture, though. It would be considered a GREAT Thai massage, I'm sure. There was so much pushing, and pulling of muscles and tendens with special attention paid to whichever ones caused me to moan in pain. And there was pushing and twisting of my legs in ways that legs were never intended to go. A guidebook I read compared Thai massage to yoga. In respect that it involves forcing the body in to shapes that are not easy or natural, they definitely are similar. The guy who gave me the massage kept asking, "OK?" But I wasn't the only person feeling the pain. The room had about 5 other people, and there were often moans and grunts that were audible. I can feel sore spots over my body today. I'll probably feel even more by tomorrow morning. Due to the distance, it took 5 1/2 hours to go there, get the massage, and return.

I have watched a made-for-TV film the past two afternoons dealing with Human Trafficking. It hasn't been easy to watch. But Bangkok is one of the places to see such a film, because Thailand has a known problem with the subject--especially with children sold into sexual slavery by their parents who are poor. I remember a vivid documentary that I watched once in Copenhagen that had been made by Swedish TV as an expose of the child sex problem related to tourists to Thailand. They had undercover shots of a Swedish man being caught having sex with a young boy. The film I watched this week followed two tracks--the Thailand story of child trafficking and the trafficking of young women from former USSR republics to the western world. How sad that young people can get trapped in such situations!

I passed a small restaurant today that had wonderful looking green curry on display in the window. I think I will go back there to look for dinner tonight. Tomorrow is my last day in Bangkok until after I visit Cambodia, and the Japanese film that won the Academy Award as best foreign language film will open here tomorrow. I think I will see it and go check out the contemporary furniture stores nearby to pass the day.