Day Three. Wheeee!

[triedunture]

5778 / 50000 words. 12% done!

They caught the first tuk tuk that would stop for them and off they went like a chariot in the gladiators' arena. Jane clutched at the seat cushion beneath her legs, shrieking with delight. Leon clamped a hand above his head, on the edge of the warm tin roof of thetuk tuk , and stuck his head out like a happy Labrador puppy. The rush of weirdly scented air, the clouds of pollution, the stomach-turning smells of different foods being cooked in the food stalls, they all made him mad with longing.

How was it possible to long for a place you were actually at? Leon wasn't sure, but it was how he always felt in a new, strange land. That was why he loved to travel so. It moved him in a way that home, that Sydney, never could. The colors, the shouts of roundly accented Thai with its soft vowels and trills, the permeating scent of another country: Leon wanted to absorb it through his skin, drink it in through his pores, and have it tingle all the way through his blood vessels to the tips of his fingers.

This was how you made art, he thought. He was sure of it. This was the thing that gave you art. Please god, he prayed, let this place give me art.

"Drinks! Where can we get drinks!?" Jane was leaning forward, shouting into the driver's ear as he guided the tuk tuk down the street, careening between cars and motor scooters.

"You want beer?" the driver asked in return, his voice raised over the wind. "What kind of drink you want?"

"Anything! Any drink. Can we get one?" Jane pleaded.

"Madam, this is Bangkok. Now, you are here, yes? You can get whatever you need."