TRAVEL: SOUTHEAST ASIA 23 - BANGKOK THE FOURTH

27/02/03: Bus to Bangkok and book into Chart on the Khao San Road. Tea at Gullivers, Dong Dea Moon for a few drinks.

28/02/03: Bump into L on the way to Wally’s. Develop more photographs, dinner at Chart, drinks at Banana Leaf, Dong Dea Moon and then back to the Banana Leaf.

01/03/03: Wally’s for breakfast. Taxi to weekend market, Namaste for an Indian, Chart to watch Catch Me if You Can; Banana Leaf.

02/03/03: Walk to Palace. Check emails, Gullivers for dinner, Hole in the Wall for drinks.

03/03/03: Go to Siam Square and MBK Center (sic). Wally’s for dinner, play cards at Chart – early night.

04/03/03: Wally’s for breakfast, minibus to airport – leave for New Zealand.

We've decided to break with tradition and book into Chart, a hostel that S stayed in during his brief sojourn on the Khao San Road, and one he speaks of highly. It’s not too dissimilar to the Khao San Palace, which you can throw stones at from across the road, except Chart has its own dining area, which the Palace never did.

We have four days and five nights to kill in Bangkok, which is more than we need. One of us floats idea of going someplace else for a couple of nights – Kanchanaburi, say – but it's hard to muster the enthusiasm. The storms that punctuated our first two months in South East Asia are long gone and it’s very hot, which makes us lazy. At least there are less mosquitoes about.

I’ve been looking forward to New Zealand, and still am, but not like I was. I've grown accustomed to my environment, and the idea of starting over in a different climate is not as appealing as it was three months ago. Off to Gulliver’s, and then Dong Dea Moon. Gulliver’s isn’t as nice as I remember it, but the air conditioning is welcome and the food remains consistent in what’s otherwise an entirely inconsistent state of affairs. Every visit here has revealed a slight change, the destruction of The Hendrix being the most pronounced. Even Dong Dea Moon appears vulnerable. It’s quieter tonight and the lively bartender, capable of removing bottle tops with violent efficiency, is conspicuous by his absence.

The next day we bump into L on the Khao San Road. She went south after we parted company and she'll be flying back to the States in a few days' time. We don’t make any arrangements to meet up for a drink but we do exchange email addresses, and she tells us to look her up should we ever find ourselves in New York. (It will be another five years before we do, by which time we’ll have adjudged the invitation to have expired.)

After tending to business, we take a taxi to a market recommended by F. He bought a fake Bathing Ape polo shirt there, and I figure I might be able to find something similar to replace the items in my wardrobe that are falling apart. No counterfeit Bathing Ape, but I do come away with two Playboy branded polo shirts that will do the job. My desert boots have just about had it too, so I'm going to replace them with a pair of Cuban heels, like the Thai policemen wear, which will cost less than the equivalent of a tenner from a shoe shop down the road.

In the coming days we will revisit Siam Square and the Royal Palace, walk around Suphachalasai Stadium, continue to eat at Wally’s, try out a disappointing Indian restaurant off the Khao San Road, and find a new place to drink called the Banana Leaf. There will be an evening that finishes at the Hole in the Wall, but we give up on Dong Dea Moon when our second night there turns out much like the first. We are marking time. I’m not certain that I want to leave Asia, but I am restless all the same. The weather is just too stifling, not variable enough. What I really want is hard rain. That’s not going to happen – I’d have to wait around for another three months to see any of that. Something's got to give, so it's probably just as well we're leaving.