The Ringing Of The Bells

*

Entirely by accident, he rounded a backstreet corner and there was the hotel he used to stay in; way back in the 1970s when Chiang Mai was a picturesque town in the northern provinces of Thailand, nestled at the foot of the mountains. Now the ringing of the rickshaw bells, the most ubiquitous sound the town had to offer, had been replaced by the sound of traffic, the tooting of horns, the roar of cheap tuk tuk engines; and most of all, here in the imperilled past, the troubled present, the swamp of dislocation, the sound of regret at wasted lives and wasted days. If only it was possible to grow younger by the day. Here they kept their peace. The THC bar had no THC. The place was full of ghosts.

Well no it wasn't, it was full of 20-something backpackers doing exactly what their predecessors had done 10/20/30 years ago, sitting around, checking each other out, flirting subliminally; here in the dark, here in the nightfall, here in the mystery that passeth all understanding. Except in those days the place was wreathed in marijuana smoke and cool dudes rolled up joints which were masterworks in their own right; and the staff plied varying grades of excellent dope; kiddy puff long vanished. Hey, hey, you want something. You want something meant shit these days. It meant do you want a bar girl. Oh, for Christ sake; the girls spilled out of the bars and their dark eyes watched your every move; and the cheaper ones hung in the darker corners of the street, all the better for you not to see the ravages of time and men, where you go? she asked in her sing song voice; as if she cared for anything but where goes your money.

It was all about sanity. So he showed up and listened to their crap; and Hans said he had only ten real friends in the whole 200 or so he knew in the fellowship in Chiang Mai; and nodded in full acknowledgement when he said: Americans are natural born bullshitters. While the most out of it person in the room waved in full acknowledgement. I see you. He saw Avatar four times: twice in 3D, twice in IMAX, and they said the same thing: I see you. So fantasy mixed with fact but there wasn't enough fantasy in the world to turn those bar girls into objects of desire: not for him, not without alcohol under his belt, not without a drastic lust realignment. So the music thumped to deafening levels, Radio Birdman, the punk band that had left him deaf for days way back then, way back when, would almost have been proud; while here in the north, far from Bangkok, far from the bristling sophistication and astonishing beauties, things moved fast; but time warped. It was easy to see you were in the provinces.

While the boys pumped out You Drive Me Crazy and "apple bottom jeans, no no no no"; and everybody saw, on the dance floor, the girls dancing with each other; the farangs, pissed, amiable, happy, happy, drowning in the crowd, saw out and through, made grim faced gestures, while middle aged men, already the desperation of alcohol and addiction settled in their heart, clung to their girlfriends as if they were sinking, or desperate to prove to themselves they were having a good time, and while they danced their grim pale faces hung in the disco dark like malformed balloons, and he could see into the heart and soul of every walking skeleton he passed; could imagine those terrible nights, bones humping flesh. And so it was that he rounded the corner; a completely random corner in what had seemed like the backstreets of bum f... nowhere; and there was that hotel he had never thought he would see again, the tiny web of streets. It had been renamed, The People's Place, oh yeh sure, but otherwise remained almost entirely unchanged; a little pocket with its pink orange walls and faded lobby, the balconies now overlooking a developing city, not the picturesque backwater it had once been.

It was there that he had known both the greatest euphoria and the most intense isolation; away from everybody he knew, nothing to stop him, certainly not money, where the bellboy had come for a shower and virtually propositioned him; he made no move; where the spiraling city and spiraling thoughts had seemed like this destiny was made of grander stuff, as if it all meant something, as if there was a higher duty; and there never was. He just grew old. And now, retirement village, the place was full of old westerners eking out their pensions; living in luxury amongst the musical sounds; spreading their western dosh; boring each other with their stories of a life that once was. It wasn't very authentic. Western coffee. Western accommodation. But the world had changed and merged; and nothing was authentic anymore, not in a world of the internet and instantly spreading fashions, not in a place of sound bites and calculated cool. He hadn't meant it to be this way. And so, even here in the drowning traffic and the pollution which hid the nearby mountains from sight, he could hear the ringing of the rickshaw bells, that high, hallucinatory sound, clinging to the walls of the old city, echoing in the medieval streets, swamping the sounds of modernity; blocking out the present with all the charm and pathos and lost purpose of a bygone era.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8590362.stm

Israeli tanks are reported to have advanced into the Gaza Strip following clashes with Palestinians in which two Israeli soldiers died.

Witnesses in Gaza said tanks and bulldozers were moving towards the southern town of Khan Younis.

They also said there had been firing from the Israeli navy along the Gaza coastline.

It is the first time Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza since Israel's 22-day offensive there more than a year ago.

Reports say at least two Palestinians have also been killed.

Israel says the fighting started when its troops crossed into Gaza after spotting militants planting explosives along the border.

Reports from inside Gaza say the militants then tried to capture an Israeli soldier.

The BBC's Jon Donnison, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, says many inside Gaza will now expect retaliation from Israel to be stepped up following the deaths of the soldiers.

The army said an officer and a conscript died when gunmen fired on a military patrol inside the Gaza Stip. Two soldiers were injured and two Palestinian fighters killed in the clash, it said.

The two soldiers killed were named by Israel's Haaretz newspaper as Eliraz Peretz, 31, and 21-year-old Ilan Sebiatkovsky.

Army spokeswoman Avital Leibovich described their deaths as "tragic" and "painful".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7078055.ece

Ayad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister, won most seats in Iraq’s parliamentary elections to securea narrow victory last night over Nouri al-Maliki, the country’s current leader, who immediately contested the results.

Nearly three weeks after Iraqis went to the polls for their second election since the US-led invasion, Mr Allawi’s secularist Iraqiya group had 91 seats, with Mr al-Maliki’s State of Law Bloc a close second with 89.

Both main parties will now have to woo Kurdish and Shia Muslim groups to form a working coalition government in the 325-seat assembly. Mr Allawi said that he would “work with all sides to form the next government,” not ruling out any coalition, even with Mr al-Maliki. In pouring rain in Baghdad, his supporters took to the streets, firing guns in the air in celebration.

Mr al-Maliki responded angrily to the result, which was widely seen as a damaging blow to his credibility and leadership. “Of course we don’t accept this result because it is preliminary,” he said,

Although the ballot was strongly endorsed last night by the United Nations, Mr al-Maliki alleged fraud and insisted that Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) should listen to demands for a manual recount of votes.

Mr Allawi’s victory gives him the first opportunity to form a government, although the kingmaker may yet be the Iraqi National Alliance, a Shia group with close ties to Iran. It was in third place with 70 seats. The INA, which includes the anti-

American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, is negotiating a merger with Mr al-Maliki’s State of Law, which would create the biggest parliamentary bloc.

Any attempt to sideline Mr Allawi could lead to resentment among Sunnis, shunted to the political wilderness when the majority Shias rose to power after the US-led invasion of 2003.

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs40/f/2009/011/9/6/Matte_Painting___Sci_Fi_KL_2_by_Cok3ster.jpg