10,000 Steps

​I look up and see schoolgirls - the same morning schoolgirls - and there’s the McDonald's. I’ve come full circle! I wonder if I’ve learned as much as they have. At least I can say I’ve experienced more. Or maybe not.

I’m en route to the Golden Mount, one of my intentions before I ended up at the Golden Palace where all the dead queen things were going on. I’m ready for the temple, though they say it’s 344 winding steps to the top to watch the sunset. It might be the end of me once I come down. I’ll probably call a cab, or rather a “Grab, Thailand’s version of  “Uber.”

Actually, I’m already dragging. It’s hard to admit I’m not the man I used to be. I say: “Why not an iced latte”? My 2nd time at McDonald's today, in Bangkok, no less, and it seems I’ve got the touchscreen ordering thing down pat. 

Of course there aren’t any tables available with so many relieved and giggling schoolgirls. I figure they must be the privileged ones to be able to hang out here. There are, however, plenty of empty chairs. I peruse then spot a likely subject. A preferred table at the edge, looking out onto the street scene. The young student, unto herself,  is a bit confused as I enter the scene. I figure its’s not so much the culture/language difference as the protocol. And maybe age. But Americans know how to effectively barge in, when warranted. I sit down and ponder whether she knows her grandfather, probably about my age. Or maybe her great-grandfather… I ponder what she’s thinking. But she seems unguarded now, without friends, unlike the other tables, but active online. I expect she’s ok.

—

But now I’m reflecting on deeper matters: my multi-sensual day, the wild-side that is Khaosan Road, and my friend, Sonia, currently a “witness” - actually a preventionist of violence -against Palestinian villagers at the hands of Israeli “settlers” (“terrorists”) in the West Bank. 

And the simmering war at the Thai/Cambodian border. They say it’s been long-simmering since French colonial times. Ah, the scars of colonization.

There’s so much life going on in the world. I’m not sure I quite know what to make of it.

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