Chillin' (Far) East Side

Wat Phra Kaew - temple in Bangkok

Greetings from Thailand!
10/11/2005 8:31 AM

Sawasdee, everybody!!!

Well first of all, I have a news flash: I BOUGHT A SKIRT! Oh yes. You read that correctly. And not only did I buy a skirt, but there's PINK in it. What has come over me, you ask? Uh, probably the 35 degree temperatures and humidity that have left me in a constant state of SWEAT.

It's been a pretty gruelling 3 days here in Bangkok. I calculated that I spent 31 hours straight, getting from Toronto to Bangkok with little or no sleep. Hong Kong was great, even if it was only for 4 hours. The tourist videos all show that Jackie Chan runs around in the city in a white tracksuit, but I never saw him.

Spent Day 1 in Bangkok walking around, going to various temples. Day 2 we daytripped out to Kanchanaburi, site of the Bridge on the River Kwai. We went to the WWII museum there where - I kid you not, I wrote this down - one of the displays (discussing the POWs the Japanese used to build the bridge) = "the bodies of prisoners of war lay higgledy-piggledy beneath the bridge."

The food is great and incredibly cheap (no cilantro so far) but the drinks - I think they inject them with some sort of sugar substance so sweet it's like diabetes in a glass.

Oh and I've been bitten 3 times so far.

Hope to email at least one more time before I head to cooler climes....

Taking a Beating in Chiang Mai
10/15/2005 6:12 AM

OK... I’ve been sitting in this Internet café for about 1/2 hour now and my legs have been bitten NINE times! NINE times... and now you wonder why I avoid sugar so much, it's because I already have it pulsing in my blood so much that these suckers need to bite me NINE times???

Well the grand Amazing Race adventures continue for me! Experienced some crazy flash flooding in Bangkok - had to wade through knee-deep waters because the sidewalks were all flooded. Missed a train to Ayuthaya (they cancelled all the trains!!!) so had to find last-minute transportation. And then our train to the airport was delayed by 40 minutes and had to RUN to our plane with minutes to spare.

Tonight's our last night in Chiang Mai before we head to Phuket. Yesterday was absolutely gruelling: we booked a tour that was supposed to include a "30-minute walk." What it was was a jungle trek up and down steep hills - one young couple from Poland actually dropped out midway because they couldn't take it. By the time we reached the top, we were all panting & dying of exhaustion. Then we went on an elephant trek. We went to a waterfall where they said, "Watch out - a guy slipped and fell last year and he broke all his bones." Imagine how good it made me feel to watch all my tourmates start slipping & landing on their butts. And then I fell in the mud & had to venture into the water to get washed off. After that was the bamboo raft ride through snake-infested waters... a lovely cruise until I noticed the elephant dung sitting at the water's edge!

So needless to say today I needed to rest - I got a Thai massage! Very violent! Oh I should also mention I got my hair chopped off. I look like Peter Pan now.

Well if you'll excuse me, I seem to be swelling up! Tonight heading back to the Night Market to buy more souvenirs!

Still no cilantro. I'm amazed. But... lots of older white men with younger Thai girls... hmmm...

Tokyo!

(top-bottom) Wat Chan Wattanaram - ancient capital of Ayuthaya; Hong Kong - view from the Peak; A bra shop in Bangkok

10/21/2005 8:00 PM

Hey by the time you guys read this, I'll already be back.

So as I left you last, I was still in Chiang Mai. Went to an Indian restaurant called Talk of the Town = 3 white guys in there, so we figured it was good enough for tourists. We were served by a woman named "Mama”. Imagine our delight, then, to watch scantily clad girls come down one by one from upstairs to go out. A-ha! So THAT'S why it's called Talk of the Town!

From there we went to Phuket, were I got another 6 bug bites and a giant lump on my forehead. Turns out it was just another bite, albeit one that became a giant softball on my head. Had a nice boat trip out to Ko Phi Phi islands (from "The Beach") and of course, got a massive sunburn on my legs. Ow!

I'm in Tokyo right now... flight leaves this evening so today we go to futuristic area called Odaiba. I been talking rike this for past three days. It's a fun. I find I understand rots of Japanese. I take da train. Train confusing, but train fun.

OK back to normal. I love Japan because they wrap their cookies individually, then put them in a box which gets wrapped in foil, then sealed with a special sticker, then is put in a bag, which then gets sealed with another special sticker. Yesterday I got a HOT tin of café latte from a vending machine. I love all the buttons on their toilets. And you can cross the street diagonally.

So anyway I've got a 12-hour flight ahead of me. It's been fun, folks!

Photographs by Anonymous