Fili’s world

“Larry: I know who you are. I love you. I love everything about you that hurts.”
(”Closer”)

It’s such a big title for such a small person. In heart, I’ve begun to take matters into the next stage, the good Israeli that I am, looking ahead. For some reason, the concept gave me the creeps, so it was either one of two ways - take in a big dive and go for it, or make it more familiar and comfortable. The first offers the fast lane, the second has the big “no risk, no risk” up on it, though whenever this is concerned there is always risk involved. Maybe not risk, more of a rush.

Well hidden, off Bangkok’s Chinatown, was this monumental building. Lots of gold, somewhat of an Indian structure, not something you’d expect in the middle of all this filth. What is this place? Lonely Planet, Lonely Planet, where’s the Lonely Planet? … I do hate this book, utterly. It’s got everything in it, I guess, but everytime I look up something and read about it manages to take out the excitement with semi-ironic seen-it-all-bother-only-if-you-must descriptions. Fuck Lonely Planet, let’s just go inside.

Taking off the shoes, putting on a bizarre piece of cloth on my head, I was directed to the 4th floor. The whole building was completely empty, aside from some guards. I went for the elevator, and that’s where I met him. Going up, I could see and sense the differences between us - he was a short, long-bearded big-hair glasses, hyperactive, noisy, outgoing guy and he seemed to really respect the fact I was in there with him. As it turned out, it’s one of the biggest Indian Sik temples in the world, and I was heading to the Big Book temple where people come to meditate. All he needed from me was just a sarcastic smile and silence to be really comfortable. “Prince, ah?”, a big title for such a small person, I could see Mother India playing her tricks on me while I was still in Thailand. It’s all part of her big master plan to get me there. 10 minutes later, without saying much, I had his whole family’s phone numbers and emails, a complete suggested northern-India route and a mouth full of sweet food their holyman hands out near the sacred book.

The next few hours with the Prince were hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing. As we went out of the temple, another Indian comes up to the Prince and starts talking Dunjab. The Prince looks excited, pointing at this guy and shouting “He’s my friend, my long lost childhood friend”. I couldn’t quite figure what was going on, but Prince was so happy that he started hugging and kissing the man and telling everyone how happy he is. I just waited on the side and tried to keep up. Minutes pasted, I was fascinated, but suddenly, the new guy started praying and Prince was trying to take me away. At first, I couldn’t understand the Prince’s explanations, but after he repeated it twice I gathered that the guy was just a fortune teller looking for quick bucks and that he pretended to be Prince’s long lost childhood friend. It took almost 15 minutes for Prince to realize the scam, though I think the fact that this guy asked for a 2000baht loan should have cut it earlier. I was on the floor, not being able to calm myself down for a while… And that was just the start with this Prince guy…

Yeah, I love this country.

The totally cute Thai girl in the “Israeli Connection” , that kept flirting and calling me Mr. Garfield, said the bus would leave at 19:00. But no, not in Thailand. 19:00 is only when they take you for yet another waiting point to spend the next two hour watching Blade again and spending more money. So off we go at 21:00 with the VIP bus, switching movies at the middle - exactly when you start enjoying them, and stopping for rest - just when you fall asleep. But, after all, we made it. I’m here, Vientiane something, Laos. Yeah, it looks like a 2nd hand Thailand… Yet, I’ll wait till what the cute Thai girl pronounced as “One-way” (”Oneway bus to Oneway”) but is actually VangViane something before I start judging countries.

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