Where In The World Is Evan?

It’s amazing how much a shower, a few hours sleep and a change of clothes can transform your view of the world. As I walked out of my hostel into the fetid air of Bangkok the horrors of the preceding day seemed a distant memory.

Before I could sit down with some breakfast and a Chang beer and make plans for the two days I had in Bangkok I needed to change some money. After having paid a small fortune for significantly overstaying my Laos visa I had a grand total of 200,000 kip (about US$20) in my wallet. Once again, however, I was to be fucked over by Lonely Planet. Nowhere in their guide book to Lao does it mention that kip cannot be changed outside of the country. Hardly a small omission when apparently this has always been the case. Realising that the only remaining money I had left was useless, I went to an ATM to withdraw some Thai baht, but this was not to be my week.

In the last year I’ve travelled through seven countries and used eight currencies but never had I been in the situation of the day before—being caught without friend or money—yet here I was facing it all over again. My withdrawal was declined.

With the near worthless change that I had left from paying for my room I bought 15 minutes on a computer in an internet café to check my bank balance. Sure enough I was almost completely maxed out on my credit card. With less than two days remaining till my flight home there wasn’t time to get money transferred in so I was stuck with what I had left. Returning to the ATM I withdrew my last $10 and sat down to plan a budget.

Gone were my food poisoning induced fantasies of getting a two hour massage and eating my fill of crab and lobster at one of the countless seafood restaurants that make Bangkok such a gourmet’s delight. Instead, with the money I needed to put aside for transport to the airport I had just enough to buy cheap street food. With my stomach still tied in knots, however, the mere sight of fried food stalls made me feel sick.

Then came the thought of what exactly I could do in this city with no money. Getting any form of transport was out of question so that limited me to anything within a two hour radius—I certainly wasn’t going to be walking more than that in 30 plus heat without breakfast.

I considered my predicament while idly wandering the streets, in the hope of getting lost. In my experience getting lost is both a great way to experience a city as well as a great way to kill spare time. Seeing a second-hand book shop ahead I ducked inside to peruse the shelf. It had been over a year since I’d seen a real English language bookshop, so the novelty value was quite high.

Feeling quite introspective about the last few weeks I was delighted to discover that they had a copy of Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of An English Opium Eater. Seeing a solution to my boredom I bought it, along with Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, and returned to my hostel room to read.

I spent the most of the following day reading in the interestingly landscaped grounds of the Bangkok zoo. When my flight time came near I returned to the hostel, grabbed my bag, and prepared for the two hour walk to the station, so I could get a train to the airport.

After an uneventful check in I sat on the plane and counted how much baht I had left. Perhaps is says something about my personality, or simply the way I spend my money, but it didn’t really surprise me that after more than 13 months on the road, having spent over AU$24,000, I would be returning home with 30 cents in my pocket.