Keeping My Eyes Open

I saw some things today that I found very interesting.

First thing in the morning, and by this I mean around 11, I went out to 7/11 in order to top up my cell phone.  One thing I really enjoy about other countries... prepaid cell phones.  That's besides the point.  On the way home, I bought myself a nice fresh coconut for 20 baht, a whopping 62 cents.  It was delicious and I enjoyed the healthy and sweet snack.  This, too, is not the point.

As I was walking back, a motodop driver asked me if I needed a ride.  This would normally not be any sort of abnormal event.  In fact, being hailed by a moto and communicating the need for a ride and/or the possibility that you could get one from that person was an extremely common part of my life in Cambodia.  The men of the motodop business that lived near my old house were so valuable to me and took me all sorts of places.  In Thailand, they wear green vests to identify the fact that they are certified moto drivers and not just people driving motos.  This is very appreciated.  This person asked me if I needed a ride, and I said no, thank you, with a smile, and I watched her turn the moto around.  Her long hair was in a braid, and I was incredibly surprised, almost to the point of hiring her to take me the 200 meters to my destination.  Never in my life in Asia have I seen a driver who was also a female.  I fully acknowledge that this person could also have been a man with long hair, though that is something I see extremely infrequently, and the clothing beneath the vest led me to believe that the long hair belonged to a woman.

I'm sure I seem very surprised to you, and it is because I absolutely am.  It is incredibly uncommon to see a female in this industry, and I read it to be a boon to Thailand's infrastructure and success.  This city is very successful.  The way I see people buying and moving around shows me that Bangkok is going places.... quickly.

Along with this female motodop, I saw something a bit later.  I was riding around on the Skytrain scoping out some places to live and just getting a feel for it, and I ended up coming back to the end of the line around rush hour.  It was very busy, lots of people moving around, and I enjoyed watching the people move about.  I was walking back to where the car would pick me up and walked past a moto stand.  Again, not uncommon.  The men that used to drive me in Cambodia all stayed on the same corner waiting for fares.  Here, though, I saw considerably more organization.  One man was running the stand, and the various passengers were waiting in a queue to be picked up by the drivers that returned from their last fare.  I think I'll need to delve more deeply into this, because this infrastructure seems incredibly valuable to the success of the city and the health and wealth of the citizens.

Other notable mentions from the day...
I was on an English online chat to solve the problems of my cell phone and my apparent inability to make internet appear.  While it took about 40 minutes, the person on the other end was able to suggest two ways for me to maximize my money and internet use, which I have because I want to talk to Aaron on WhatsApp, as well as give me the codes necessary for me to enable internet on my phone.  I was incredibly impressed with it.  And she (or he) was so patient with the dumb falang.

I found my way to the Tesco Lotus Superstore on the On Nut station.  It is Thai Wal-Mart, and it was packed with shoppers and everyone, buying all sorts of things.  I looked at housewares, for my microwave, possibly a stove, oven, iron, etc, etc, etc, and was quite pleased with all the selections.  I saw a great number of falangs there as well, buying all manner of things.  It was a massive building.  Huge.  HUGE.  Big screen TVs, fish in buckets, aisles of shampoo and laundry detergent.

The one thing I noticed?  A great manner of consideration goes into purchases.  Every person I saw in the shampoo aisle was reading the back of the bottle, looking and sampling and smelling each thing. There seemed to be lots of thought being made before money was exchanged.  I appreciated this, especially since I was just taking pictures of things in order to compare their price to that of Ikea, which I plan to see on Saturday.  Ikea.  At a place called MEGA Bangna.

It's interesting, this city.