Boredom Achieved

I reconfirmed my flight a little while ago and only have 36 hours until I leave for India.

It's taken a while, but I have sort of achieved my goal of absolute boredom. I thought about going to Pattaya, a beach 2 hours from Bangkok, but I figured that relaxing in a dirty city would be more relaxing taking the bus to a dirty beach (been there before, not a fan). Instead of getting up and going, I've been reading more of "Midnight's Children" laying on my bed.

I moved across the city to another hotel yesterday and that was a good choice. I was starting to find the traveler world a bit suffocating. My new hotel is cheaper, cleaner, and includes breakfast! I think I'm gonna go see a movie tonight. I'm sure it will be action/adventure, as that seems to be all that ever plays here (saw Van Hellsing last time I was here a year ago). It should be fun.

I forgot to mention a Viennese businessman (last name was Gander, like the place in Newfoundland he said) who I was chatting with pool side the other day. We chatted a lot about India, where he also does business, and about what Thailand used to be like 15 years ago. A more interesting subject than eather of these was his business. He imports wood and other things from Asia in order to make oriental gardens in Europe. He was telling me about designing golf courses and about people who would just come to visit his house in Vienna, point around his gardens and say "I want 10 of those and 20 of those", as if money weren't a concern. Of all his products, however, the most popular one and the hardest to keep in stock are his palm trees.

Palm trees normally can only stand around 10 days of very cold weather before they die. This makes incorporating them into European gardens nearly impossible. Gander's business gets around this by growing palms in mountains in Austrailia for the Australian winter and then flying them to a northern climate like Newfoundland where they grow for the northern winter. After 7 years of going back and forth, these trees can then stand the two or three months of sustained winter in Europe. He told me I could get my own winterized palm for only 15,000 dollars US.