Day 4: Too Fast To Sleep

After waiting out the morning rain I took the river ferry directly across Chao Phraya River from Tha Ding Daeng Rd. to Chinatown.

Looking northwest into Chinatown

I had worn my new shoes without socks yesterday and they had given my heel some small blisters, so Aaron lent me an old pair of sandals of his for the day. They were slightly too loose, but I wore them anyways. I mention this because when I tried to step off the ferry into Chinatown, the sandal on my left foot came flying off, landing in the water between the boat and the dock. Thus commenced a squadron of dock workers searching for my sandal with fishing nets while I stood aside awkwardly with one shoe on. A woman working at one of the shops felt so bad for me that she brought me a new pair of flip flops. I thanked her in Thai profusely, but later realized I was just saying "hello, hello" over and over again. My missing sandal was soon afterward returned to me. I hate sandals.

Chinatown is just as magical as the most magical portions of Tha Din Daeng Rd. The streets are so full of vendors and their overflowing inventory that walking down the sidewalk is like walking through a tunnel made of stuff.

I tried to take the bus, but couldn't figure out where the bus stop was, or if you even need to be at a bus stop to wave down the bus, and took a tuk tuk instead to Too Fast To Sleep, a cafe near the intersection of Rama IV and Phaya Thai.

I came here to reenergize myself from the walking and sightseeing I had done the past two days, and to make some more progress on the online courses I had been taking. When you're traveling, especially long-term, it isn't necessary to go "touristing" every single day. Some days all you want to do is stay inside and watch Netflix or read a book, and that's okay. All the vibrant tourist activities you "should" be doing will still be there when you're ready to go do them, and a day or two break will give you the pause you need to approach those activities with renewed vigor.

Too Fast To Sleep is, I presume, a succinct description of what it is like to attend university. It's open 24 hours, 365 days a year and is like a private library for students where the admission price is a coffee (or anything else on their extensive menu, everything costs a flat 80฿). It's a great environment for working -- especially as a non-student because it doesn't start to get busy until 6. From the second floor library I was able to watch an ambulance with sirens on become stuck in traffic for 5 minutes.

On the way back to the BTS station I turned right too soon and had to make my way through Patpong Night Market, located in one of Bangkok's red light districts. That was... interesting.