VIEW FROM A TALL BUILDING

I found the receptionist in a few hours. Before that few hours I wondered around, and the more I wondered around the more Bangkok became evening. The sunset behind a sad colour of smog; traffic increased and people increased.

I walked past some markets and past a restaurant and past a giant shopping centre. I walked past a kid, all alone, barefooted, a dirty pink dress on, a sad look on her face and a dirty paper cup in front of her with a few coins in it.

I looked around, then looked back at the girl. “What are you doing here?”

She looked up at me sadly and showed me the dirty cup.

“Mum? Parents?”

She kept staring at me.

I don’t want to admit this but I walked away. My excuse was that I was a damn stranger. My excuse was that I was drunk. My excuse was that I was on holiday. My excuse was that I’m a practical person, when I know practicality only comes out of the feeling of fear.

I quickly walked out of the bridge I was on. I passed a homeless man holding a similar dirty cup. I passed another homeless child, this time with a missing leg. And then another child. And then another.

I walked to somewhere busier, somewhere with people who were holding more shopping bags.

None of these places looked familiar - how far did I run to chase that guy? I pulled out my mobile phone but then realised I didn't have a mobile phone with me. I stopped in front of a McDonald's, wondering where the hell I was.

“There you are.”

I turned around. The receptionist had some sweat on her forehead but was smiling.

“I was waiting for you,” I said.

“Like shit you were.”

“Can’t believe you found me.”

She took my hand in hers. “I can’t believe I found you.”

“What happened to the guy we were chasing?”

She shrugged.

We found a tent in front of a shopping centre that looked like a lot of those carnival tents you see in American movies, the ones with the balloons taped to the walls and the people throwing darts at those balloons, trying to burst them. I paid the guy dealing the balloons some money and watched the receptionist throw darts at the balloons with surprising accuracy and anger. She hit all of them. The man smiled and gave her a giant teddy bear.

“I’m enjoying Bangkok,” she grinned. “Let’s go here again.”

“You looked like you were killing someone.”

We walked inside a million storey shopping centre and caught millions of escalators to reach the top floor. At the top floor was a food court: there were stalls that sold Chinese food, Thai food, Western food, desserts. We paid this lady at the counter what was equivalent to around four Australian dollars each to give us cards that enabled us to purchase full meals. I bought a plate of something spicy and waited for the receptionist to make her order. After she bought something not-so-spicy we walked to the outdoor area of the food court, the one overlooking the city. We found a spare table and sat down and ate, and after we ate we looked at the beautiful view outside.

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