http://fueledbywanderlust.blogspot.com/

The Ping Pong show at the Patpong road

Just came back from a short but refreshing trip to Bangkok.
We did not plan much for our trip for I wanted some surprise element to be there.
The second reason for not planning is that we (soumya,simpu and me) were preoccupied with our passions(computer games, music and surfing) till last moment.

Well..when we arrived at suvarnabhumi airport, only thing we knew was that we have to reach HQ Hostel which is in silom road. Had no idea how to reach there. We took a bus from airport which left us at soi 6. The place where we had decided to lodge is at 5 minutes walking distance from soi 6 bus stop.

silom is one of the most cosmopolitan streets of BKK and famous for its nightlife.Also famous for the patpong night market/shows.

On the very first day of our trip, we decided to explore the night market and ofcourse the shows!

At around 11 pm, when we entered the patpong street, a dalaal asked us if we would like to watch lady shows. When i asked what he meant by lady shows; he explained : banana show, ping pong show, f****** show and blahs. I knew what probably gonna happen in banana show but had no idea about the ping pong show. Duhh..what they gonna do with a ping pong ball??

Somehow he managed to evoke curiosity in us but we didnt wanted to take any risk. We wanted to have a feel of the market and take the entry ticket only after being preity sure that its safe to enter.

After spending another 5-10 minutes on the crowdy street; we were appraoched by another dalaal who offered us to enter free of cost and pay only if we like it. The only condition was that we will have to take a drink worth 100 baht. We decided to go for it!

It was dark inside. A waiter showed us our table with the torch light. We ordered for whisky and took a look around. The show began and the curiosity was shadowed by the setback. It was not at all appealing. We finished our drink in 5 minutes and decided to leave; but here comes the twist in the tale.

A waitress came to our table with a bill of 3900 baht!! It was not even a bill. Simply on a piece of paper she had written :

Watching show : 1000 Baht X 3 = 3000
Drinks : 300 Baht X 3 = 900

Total : 3900 Baht!

Thank you!

That was funny. I argued with her and she shouted at me. I said 300 and she replied 3900 baht. Although we could not communicate effectively because of communication gap, we negotiated for 10 long minutes. Soumya reminded me not to take any panga from localites..but well it would have been a foolish idea to shed 3900 baht for nothing at all!

The waitress asked us to move to the reception and talk with receptionist for the actual rate of drinks and the show. At reception,we were asked how much we can give. Ahh.. we were waiting for this question!
We gave 100 baht each and ran away.
The show disappointed us but the ping pong experience was worth 100 baht!

10 things to do before I die.

Here it goes....

1. French Polynesia
2. Inspire
3. Lead a mysterious life
4. Direct a Movie
5. Be on TV
6. Spend a week without making any 'to do' list.
7. Sky Dive
8. Get married and have kids.
9. Amazon Rainforest Safari tour with Mummy,Papa,Bhaiya and Didi
10. Upload a list of my unfinished works and things that i wanted to, but could never start.


Thanks to movie Dasvidaniyan for reminding me to make a list of 10 things to do before i am old/bored/dead. It was in my 'To Do' list since a long time.

Save Me , Someone!

Every 5 minutes I am getting an Ad on my reliance handset and it is deadly irritating. I don't remember what i subscribed to and dont know how to stop receiving unwanted short messages.
Is there anyway to tag a SMS as spam? If not, here lies an opportunity for telecom service providers!

A Wednesday

Things to Remember :

1. Each one of us have the capability to make a difference. Be the change you want to see in the world.
2. You, me or someone living next door; anyone can be the next victim of terrorism.
Don't wait for it to happen. Be proactive.
3. " Koi m*d*r*h*d ek button daba ke yeh decide nahin karega ki mujhe kab marna hai"

Rock On!!

Wow! what a wonderfully carved movie!There are 3 things which separates 'Rock On!!' from other bollywood flix :
1. Perfect Editing by Deepa Bhatia
2. Onscreen performance of Farhan Akhtar & Arjun Rampal
3. Storyline!

Movie reminded me of times when I tried to 'Rock on'....:)
Once we had a band called VAAMPANTHI (V All Are Meniscure Precursors of Ataraxis And a Team of Hurbly-burly IITians) with me as a lyricist and Bhoju and Aashish as lead singers. We never needed any drummer or guitarist;sound editing softwares were enough for setting background scores..:D. We jammed together to come up with masterpiece like iit ki dhadkan, sf ke din and song of us.... :).
VAAMPANTHI became more than a band when vIx,Dheeru, KT, He-Man, Calee joined us. We had a group tshirt.. black tee with vaampanthi logo in saffron.Events like VOW(vaampanthi of the week) united us like never before but then we could not devote time and VAAMPANTHI died its natural death.
Calee is now working in Barclays;Aashish,Bhoju and KT in JLLM;He-Man in TVS,vIx in L&T, myself in Danieli and Dheeru is a wannabe IAS.
Don't know if we ever meet again, will we be comfortable in humming few lines of song of us ?

PS : If you need any of the 6 songs of our first and only album, drop me a mail : saurav.arya@gmail.com

No Man's Land : Christiania

Christiania is altogether a different place!
A small world having its own definition of progress, prosperity & happiness. A balanced economy of around 850 residents, most of them perform arts of one kind or the other for their living.
When I went there, I found colors all around. Memories of those graffitis on wooden wall, wooden houses for skateboarding and christianians selling colorful souvenirs, are there to remain with me forever.

Christianians have succeeded in not letting their habitat be affected by external forces. You will experience the difference between Copenhagen (infact the rest of world) & christiania as soon as you enter this freetown of 34 acres.


Recently (Sadly), there has been increasing protest and conflicts in an around christiania.
Don't know what's the fate of this 'no man's land' but i hope it remains as it is and i get a chance to take my kids to this freetown.
I wish christianians all the best, in the struggle to retain their culture & prosper in their own choosen way!
Amen.