Dear Friends and Family,

Well, nothing about obtaining entry into Korea had so far been easy – so visiting the Korean Embassy utterly fulfilled my expectations: it was located in a district that wasn’t on my map of Bangkok and after over an hour of purposeful yet futile striding through the ever-heating mid-afternoon, I ultimately found that the directions that I had been given were accurate but far from complete. When I arrived at the embassy, no doubt bright red and sweaty, my paperwork was efficiently processed but there was a problem – I hadn’t brought enough money to cover the charge for the Visa. I had called to inquire how much to bring but couldn’t reach anyone in the know – and my best guess was 200 THB short (~$5) short. I inquired if I could pay the remainder when I picked the Visa up. No. Did they accept credit cards? Nope. Instead, the lady gave me a big smile and informed me that there was an International ATM at the department store a good half mile away. My entire body drooped at this news as the Visa desk closed in 10 minutes. But the lady kindly offered to wait until I returned so I alternately ran or swiftly walked through the humidity, over uneven brick sidewalks, through the mid-afternoon sunshine, breathing hot dust while noticing little beyond my quest for $5. I extracted the cash and hot-footed (pun intended) it to the embassy picturing the German movie Run Lola Run (I could’ve been Lola except she’s way cooler than I) – my hair flying, sweat running. Anyway, I made it to the embassy, where I conspicuously walked across the long lobby, handed the lady my money, received the promise of a Visa on the morrow, and was directed to the ladies room. In the mirror of the ladies room, I discovered gray/black streaks all over my chest from my “silver” necklace and concluded that this was not my best moment. But I had made it and secured the promise of a Visa for the morrow, which was good because time was tight and I had my eye on a flight that departed on Wednesday.

Other Korea preparations included jettisoning luggage weight. A standard problem with flying Asian airlines is that they weigh both your check in and your carryon luggage – and they charge you a lot of your excesses. I’m simply too fond of books to be a light-weight packer; however, the airline had informed me that each kilo would cost me 500 THB (~$15). Oh dear. At SeaTac, I had re-arrange my suitcases on the sidewalk to barely meet the Northwest Airlines requirements before checking my luggage. What hope, really what hope, did I have of being reasonable on an Asian airline? Frankly? No hope. Nonetheless, I decided that I would trim as much as possible and expect to pay extra. And I managed to part with a respectable amount: I sold a few books and parted with liquids and clothing – mostly casual Thai travel clothing and an Isaac Mizrahi sweater that I wore only once for a quick trip downstairs at W House, where I was informed by a very funny British boy that I looked like an escapee from Sesame Street. The boys were quite vigilant during the CELTA and you may congratulate any of them (if you ever meet one) - they never failed to notice nor discuss if something had gone wrong with my outfit or if I managed to get sunburned. [roll eyes] I always find it amusing when men say that only women gossip.

Also, I made a final run to Gourmet Market and picked up Thai key Thai ingredients that I could carry and that I conjectured could not be reproduced in my Korean-kitchen-to-be: red and green curry pastes, shrimp paste, tamarind sauce. Every purchase was carefully assessed on the criteria of necessity, quality, and weight. I also called the Bai Pai cooking school – my late-June cooking class and requested the delivery of a small pestle and mortar. When it was delivered the next day, I laughingly explained to my friend Noi at the front desk of W House that the beautiful, heavy, spice-grinding pestle and mortars were half the reason that I had decided to come to Bangkok. She and I joked about this – every request I made could be tied to the pestle and mortar. “Noi, could I get my room key?” “Oh, you want to visit your pestle?”

Evening came along with a plate of noodles and some “lemon water” at my favorite restaurant (me sadly musing “This is the last Pad Thai I’m going to have in Bangkok!” – but it wasn’t!). And long after bedtime, I was organizing, packing and writing. My list of things to do was very long.

Affectionately,

Laura


PS: This advertisement can be found while riding the MRT subway – it made me laugh every time I rode the Bangkok MRT! It is for True Online – a communications company that offers wireless Internet, of course. Isn’t the ad weird? Oh, no Thai would find it odd and it probably works for this reason. But for us Seattleites… ah, well, the Space Needle is ok. But the WaMu Building image is not normally considered famous or recognizable enough to be international advertising quality – and when did it acquire that fascinating spike on its top??? And checkout the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate bridge, the Empire State Building… and does anyone know what that building to the right of the WaMu building is? I could swear I’ve seen it somewhere… is it Chinese???? Interesting. V. interesting.