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hypocrites come in all flavors. i especially like religious fanatics that go to the far reaches of the earth, just to spread their capitalistic endeavors in the guise of fanaticisms about god and love.
it's almost like 'yo, this place that is the end of the world to you guys [in your starchy white shirts and blue-black ties you bastards in slacks and male mary-janes shit for brains only speaking english because you give a flying shit about actually learning a second language coulda given me the money so i could develop my own work instead of wasting it so you can get your pasty girlfriend an ethnic trinket muthafuckas] is just the beginning for the inhabitants there...so doi?'
but yes. i digress. hypocrites. sometimes they come at you all sneaky-like. as if a ninja in plain sight. and that happened to me today, and i was flustered for only a moment:
i was on my way back to my heez from the airport today. usually, when you go anywhere from the don muang international airport, you have to pay a pre-fare payment of 50 baht ($1.25), of which i usually can bypass with a little finesse.
the trick is that when you are leaving the airport alone or with a friend with little to no baggage, you can pick up a taxi from the departures level, that happens to be dropping a person or persons off, thus bypassing the taxi-chartering cost. and in this manner, i was thusly off towards home.
mr. taxi man chopped it up a bit about the state of some of the taxis; the age and make of the older models versus the newer sleeker ones with the bio-diesel options (of which he had). he barked furiously over the need for the comfort of the rider and then the driver; a/c being his top priority. then he scolded the other (50 baht charger) taxi drivers for wasting time, space, gas, and the money of riders by merely existing.
we went on to talk about the weather, the nature of the modern thai person in the face of foreign infrastructure and influences, of which i was fairly impressed due to the fact that he seemed like a thinker, but perhaps not outside the pattering-on taxi-man drivel sort of vein. i remember feeling a little impressed and also, he didn't ask me once about my non-clearly-speaking thai language skills, which was refreshing. go him!, i thought to myself.
when we neared to the saphan kwai area we came to a stilted brake-rev-scoot-brake-rev pattern due to the engaging traffic. he peered over to the curbside pathways across the street and commented on how the buddhist amulets were placed on the ground. this disturbed him greatly because images of the buddha and revered monks should not rest on the ground.
he reprimanded the sellers of the amulets enraged and on the cusp of releasing a thread of curses, but as a civil man, remained collected and respectful. it was an odd mix of intense respect for the ideology that is buddhism, and the sordid regard that these vendors attributed to their wares. i almost felt a sort of vibrant respect for the man; working hard and high morals makes the best shoot-the-shitters-in-a-taxi-cab people.
when we pulled up to where i requested to be dropped off, i slipped him the fare. the next thing that happened momentarily struck me befounded and aloof. and it was something that i myself was not entirely prepared to hear. he leans over in a now-that-we're-friends way, and he asks me for the 50 extra baht taxi-charter fare on top of the cab ride fare, as if it were not going against everything that he seemed to be preaching. i mean, are you crazy guy? you gotta be fuckin' kidding me, fo' reals!
needless to say, i was dumbfounded and oddly enough, calmly amused.
beaming from the inside out, i gave him the money, because hey, even the strongest of us need to make that cheddar. i felt sorry for him, and knew that dude most likely really feel the way he did about things, and was more angry at myself for not realizing that he was entirely human altogether.
ah, the folly of idle chat. i gotta start filming this stuff. it's gold i tell you, gold!
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