Monday, September 05, 2005 :: Chris
Bangkok Shock
Back in Bangkok after a month in the UK. Despite Bangkok being my adopted home for the last six months, I've felt pretty peculiar the last few days, overwhelmed all over again by the sheer foreign-ness of the Thai capital that I'd become wholly comfortable with before I left for England. Catapulted back into my old stamping grounds in London, Bath and Plymouth, I was revisiting places I knew extremely well - coming back here, I suddenly feel like I'm stepping off the plane for the first time. Even though I have an apartment and girlfriend here, for Christ's sake.

What's even more peculiar is that I have that new-boy-traveller reticience to speak to anyone - I seem to have temporarily lost all my self confidence to speak what little Thai I know, incomprehensibly mumbling "thankyou" and not making eye contact. This doesn't help anyone - despite being appallingly lazy at learning foreign languages, the one thing I have learned while travelling is that looking someone full on and giving a big smile works wonders in virtually every situation. The whole "language only speaks 20% of what you mean" schtick.

No doubt in a few days I'll get my lingo mojo back and feel fully at home again - but it's an unsettling feeling to get this sudden sense of everyday vertigo, when the familiar starts feeling faintly odd. Though the body's here, the brain hasn't caught up, and as I get older, I find it more and more difficult to adjust to my surroundings rapidly changing like this. It's a small reminder that, despite the fact live like this, humans weren't designed to do so - we've evolved our capabilities but not our brains and bodies to keep up. Clearly a signal to spend a comfortingly long time in the pub.

More on Bangkok:
Spike | Google | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Wikipedia [permalink] | [0 comments]

Khao Lak: BBC adds to Thailand's woes

about MyThai
A journal about living and travelling in Thailand by Chris Mitchell, a British travel writer based in Bangkok, Thailand.

email Chris
more about Chris

Keep up to date with MyThai