Bangkok and The Overstay, or "why did you make me tell you how ugly your ears are?"

thai fellows without shirt one early morning at the overstay

 

I came to Bangkok with no money in my pockets. A quick search for a cheap hostel at Hostelworld led me to The Overstay. The Overstay is an old whorehouse, where you can get a bunk bed in a dorm for 50 Baht/Night (1,67USD). If you don’t mind some cockroaches crawling in your room, if you don’t mind cats and if you are not dependent on service, but instead fancy art and want to meet and exchange ideas with some interesting people, The Overstay is without doubt the place to stay in Bangkok. If you are interested in the underground scene of Bangkok, the owner of The Overstay, Yuval will let you in about it too.

I ended up staying at the Overstay for one week. One intense week. My room was just over the sound system, and Overstay never gets quiet, so instead of sleeping I ended up sitting reading my book or something companying Ball, a Thai artist working on his art while also doing the nigh shift at Overstay. 

third floor out of six

One day this Australian moved into our room. And this Australian fellow could not stop picking on us. He desperately wanted to elicit a reaction, and in order to pursue; he did not hesitate to attack all of our week spots in a way that will leave you more or less hurt, no escape. Funny that he asked me if he reminded me of someone. His behavior did indeed resemble a few persons I have earlier met.

The Australian fellow -Do I remind you of someone?

Me -Yes. You remind me of this malicious guy that used to hang out in my childhood area when I was about 11-12 years old. And this guy, he always teased the other kids, he said the meanest things to harm, and in fact, he probably found a strange satisfaction in doing it. So one day, he went too far and I found no other way but to use his own weapon against him. So, I was twelve years old, he was at least one year older then me. I looked at him, and I looked at his prominent ears. I took a deep breath, and then I told him how ugly his ears where. Still today I remember the impact my words had on him, and it makes me feel very bad.

We left Overstay with a strange feeling of relief.