And The Legs Too!

New beginnings all round. It's been a while, but I've finally taken up exercising. Our elliptical broke down a couple of months ago and the store that sold us the exercise machine was located in CentralWorld (which as you may know was torched by protesters in the May riots in Bangkok). I had for some time wanting to explore my direct neighborhood in Bangkok, but never found the time/incentive to do so. Part of it was guilt, because I had no job and Nancy was on my case about it, part of it just simple timing. But now I thought, I could hit two birds with one stone (hitting being somewhat less extreme than killing). I could walk outside for half an hour to an hour, kickstarting my metabolism right after breakfast, while exploring soi's (Thai streets) parallel to ours. We live somewhat in the middle of the Sukhumvit area, so I decided to start exploring the streets from 23 down to 1 first and then from 39 upwards (the idea that I know 23-39 like the back of my hand).

So while Simon may be stuck in a fairy tale city, I felt no such restrictions. I pulled on my yellow sneakers and just started walking after swallowing the last of my Vegemite toast and green tea. Today I explored the University District. Soi 19 has a quaint Thai university with waterways, pagodas and parks. It was a little touch and go whether I'd find my way out of the campus again as Bangkok has the annoying trait that anyone can build anything on their property even if it means blocking through-traffic. So there are hundreds of streets that simply run into a dead end, making it impossible to go from A to B other than by a handful of routes. Double backing is typical if you don't plan your journey beforehand with a map. Even then the map said I could turn onto another street, while in reality I ran into a closed gate.

It was fun though, weaving around street stalls serving hot foods from the grill, swimming up against a tide of hundreds of uniformed students and passing innovatory named massage parlors like Peep Inn and VIP Teen Love (massages by the Thai iCarly?) Once I crossed the khlong (canal behind our house) and returned home I was properly creatively rejuvenated and ready to write some Simon. Getting out of the house does that. Experiencing life away from the digital reality is much more rewarding and get my Muses all riled up. And it makes sense. Where else can you find better descriptions for smells, sights, sounds and feelings than int he real world? And it makes no difference really that I'm in Bangkok writing about a boy in Germany who will travel to Latin America with fantastical friends fighting supernatural villains. All writing in my experience has autobiographical elements in it.

So today when I revise the passage of Simon, Alix, Maya, Karl and Sesame traipsing through the forest fairy tale city of FabelInsel, he might just have to wade through clouds of street cooking, tides of fairy tale creatures and places like 'The Three Pigs Construction Co.' and 'Sleeping Beauty Inn'. Waittaminute...I already did that :)