Travelling Hopefully - Gecko and Dead Fish Edition

The rest of the day was spent “at leisure” as guided tours are wont to say when they are sick of pandering to the whiny, petulant foreigners infesting their country.  It turned out that my newfound sightseeing companion had a very different idea of what “at leisure” meant to me.  She planned to do an evening bicycle tour of Bangkok.  Would I like to join her?  I gently indicated that I would rather perform open heart surgery on myself.  For me “at leisure” meant lounging around drinking coffee and writing increasingly puerile blog entries.  I’d also booked a massage for later in the day.

We had plans to visit markets of the water and train variety the next day so we parted ways until the morning.  I said a quick prayer for her safety (she was holding our tickets) and wandered off to amuse myself.  Amusing myself consisted of drinking coffee and smoking insect repellent flavoured cigarettes.  That last wasn’t some exotic smoking option favoured by the locals but was rather due to the fact that I’m coating myself in so much insect repellent that not only are the mosquitoes avoiding me but the humans are keeping a respectful distance as well.

After my massage I went to a canalside restaurant for dinner.  A dark cloud arose on my approach as thousands of mosquitoes and the occasional wading bird sought sanctuary elsewhere.  With the immediate area cleansed of life I had no hesitation in picking an outside table where I could enjoy the not quite as stifling as the daytime air and watch the dead fish floating down the canal.  Quite a lot of dead fish incidentally, that repellent is powerful stuff.

I had just finished my meal when I became aware that I was being watched.  After gazing around panic stricken I looked down to the table and locked eyes with a small gecko.  We stared at each other for a couple of minutes until it mustered up the courage to broach the repellent zone.  Then it darted forward, seized a couple of grains of leftover rice and made off with them in triumph.  It paused long enough for me to take a photo, naturally I had left both my phone and my camera behind.