Thailand Day T+1

"Eat everything you want now, because you will lose weight", advised Som, Dr Chettawut's friendly assistant. She said it with a smile and maybe a few my friends had called her earlier so that she would give me weight gain advice. She proceeded to explain that due to the bowel cleansing process and the liquid diet (which does not mean beer) that I would have to go on, I would lose weight over the next week. If that meant that I could binge over the next day, then that was fine by me.


The whole consultation with Dr Chettawut went smoothly and he had a manner of speaking which put me at ease. Admittedly, having to take off all my clothes and lie naked on raised bed while a nurse measured various parts of my anatomy was a little unsettling. I'd be surprised (with a raised eyebrow) if anyone found it otherwise. Unfortunately, my surgery has been put off until Monday (I know who to blame for that ) but it does mean that I get to have nice full dinner tonight and I don't have to start the bowel cleansing diet till tomorrow.

Staying very close next to the Seacon Square shopping centre, I decided to take a little walk. Three hours later, I walked out with a grin bigger than the Cheshire cat. If Thailand had as many flies as Australia, I'm sure I would have eaten a few since my mouth was that wide open. It's only natural that I should want to walk along each floor before proceeding to the next one. As I walked along the ground floor, I wondered how far it could go since just when I thought it would have to end, another section opened up. Then, when I really felt it could go no further, I saw an entrance to Seacon IT which was yet another entire section dedicated to IT related products.. My jaw dropped as I wondered through.


Feeling sure there was an aladdins cave of goodies that I had totally missed on the ground floor, I headed up to the first. Here the story repeated itself and this time there was a whole area for fashion. What the heck were the other several shops outside this section??? I sneaked a look at the prices and I'm sure people were staring at me coz of my stupid smile, nothing at all with the fact that I'm trans.... My only disappointment was stumbling across oh so many wonderful shoes and noticing that they only go up to size 40 and I need to squeeze into a 41. There are several ladies back home who will laugh at this and to you I just say, "phtbtbt"..


On the third floor there was an entire section dedicated for small markets. It was as though they had reclaimed this land from these stall holders and then had shifted them up here... It was about this time that my brain exploded and I decided it was time for lunch. There were many restaurants in the complex, but I had seen a sign for the food court and decided to head there. Along the way I got an overhead view of a car expo on the ground floor with two dozen cars, a dozen bikes and several other stalls selling various paraphernalia. 

Nearing the food court, I heard some cheering and wandered on to see the Thailand Cheerleading World Championship Team performing. I would have taken a picture of them performing but I was too wow'ed by the grace and flexibility of the girls. As I watched them perform, any doubts I might have had about my surgery vanished. Guys backflipped on stage and threw girls into the air as they twisted and flipped. Strong handsome guys on the bottoms of towers held up the girls stretching their legs gracefully. I am not graceful, flexible or able to do a back flip, but I know where I would rather be on that team if I had to choose.


My tummy rumbled and I realised it was time to take Ms. Som's advice. I walked around the food court and realised I would be in trouble because I couldn't read the menu's on most of the stalls. I came across a stall where a lady was cooking in a wok and I saw she made Pad Thai with Shrimp. It sounded like a decent first meal and I stood in line for a while before realising I was about to embarrass myself and I hurried to the front of the food court where I purchased a card that all the vendors used instead of cash. Hurrying back to the lady I ordered with much finger pointing and paid. At the drink stand I perused what was there and noticed the orange juice dispenser and, next to it, some other fruit like drink but much darker and redder in colour. An "ah ha" moment struck me, it would have to be papaya! After a little more finger pointing I had a plastic cup of it in my hands. I readied myself to savour this sweet nectar then frowned in disappointment when I realised the dark colour was caused by some sort of artificial orange flavouring. Oh well, you win some you lose some and it was still a drink. 


Finding myself a table, I proceeded to devour the plate of pad thai. Delicious. Normally, I would have been satisfied but I remembered Ms Som's words and after a quick tour, I went back to the same lady and pointed at a dish containing deep fried oysters in rice flour. I have a strange feeling my card didn't have quite enough credit even though the lady smiled and said "ok" and kept the card. I had been a pig and I had ordered two dishes and a drink which was double what I would normally eat. It had cost me and I had used up all the credit on the card, all 100 baht. All 100 baht, equivalent to about three dollars and thirty cents... If you weren't being a pig, you could feed yourself for the equivalent of two dollars. How could I be unhappy with that??