Happy House Guesthouse, Bangkok (leaving)

In 1h will be picked up by a minibus and taken to the airport. Early tomorrow morning will be in India already.

Today learned to meditate at the Meditation Study and Retreat Center at Wat Mahadhat. In the first lesson practised walking slowly and sitting up straight and focusing on tiny annoyances e.g. itching. Didn't reach Nibbana yet. Will keep trying, maybe.

Yesterday posted 8kg of stuff to Europe (1762 THB = 55 USD, incl. the parcel and wrapping). The stuff that is scheduled to reach its destination in 2-3 months (as it goes overland) includes: 2 books, a pile of paper, 2 foot badminton shuttlecocks, K's old notebook, shells, seeds, 10 cheap pearls, 4 fridge magnets, 4 T-shirts, K's old broken shirt, a Vietnamese mother-of-pearl box, a PNG string bag, a Batak calendar, 2 paper lamps, 2 cute owl-shaped backpacks, 2 packs of tea, a toy elephant, a kangaroo-shaped pen, a hammock, a painting depicting Lao monks, a box of coconut candy, South-east Asian coins and paper notes, a toy dragon fly.
Getting rid of 8kg of stuff was liberating but we didn't stop there: taking advantage of Banglamphu's healthy used bookstore scene we managed to sell 8 of our books that have been piling up over the months (must have been at least 5kg). It was good to have some income (16 USD), something that we have not experienced during more than a year now. For more details about these books see here.

Two days ago visited the Golden Mountain which offered some overview of the city. Then met Sumpun for a few beers, and finally went to see the fireworks at Sanam Luang in honour of the Queen who celebrated her birthday.

There are many things that we failed to see in Bangkok (considering that we stayed here so long in total), e.g. the Anantasamakhom Throne Hall, the Bowl village, Royal Barges Museum, Dusit Zoo, National Theatre, and of course the Big Standing Buddha that every tuk-tuk driver (or his English-speaking pimp) that we have talked to (or, rather, who has talked to us) has recommended us (or, rather, urged us immediately) to see. We have always thought it to be some sort of scam and thus postponed our visit. So, maybe next time...