Thailand Archives
January 30, 2004 - Friday
Hoofing it in Siam
Bangkok is very hot, and hazy. Luckily the hotel is pretty nice, unluckily it's quite a walk from the Sky Train station. I'm posting this from allegedly the only Apple store in the city. Nice little place, though, and funny...
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January 31, 2004 - Saturday
The Grand and Prominent Realm
If Hong Kong is New York then Bangkok is Los Angeles. Although that probably does disservice to all four cities, it has been on my mind since the cab ride from the airport, down a straight highway through endless mid-level...
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Muay Thai
No visit to Thailand is complete without taking in a bout of Muay Thai boxing. So although Mary was too busy at work, Dave and I indeed hiked over from the Sala Daeng SkyTrain station, to Lumphini Stadium on Friday...
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February 01, 2004 - Sunday
Hanging out in a train station
First day of February and I've been drenched in sweat nearly all of it. On my feet, the cheap band-aids on the blisters from my new sandals have melted into a sticky goo that, now mixed with blood, isn't helping...
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And through the woods
Perhaps in response to the tourist ghetto of Khao San, I went for a walk over to the river at dusk. I crossed the Phra Pin Klao Bridge but I actually wanted to be on the Rama 8 Bridge half...
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"The government murdered 2500 people last year, man"
Just chatted with a hippie-ish old guy while eating dinner in the restaurant of some random guest house and watching a movie with Danny Glover and Martin Short. The volume was too low and the subtitles in Thai, so I'm...
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February 04, 2004 - Wednesday
Dusk
It's not easy meeting people in Khao San Road/Banglamphu bars or restaurants, but I figured I owed it to myself one night. Not surprising for what I will continue to call a tourist ghetto, the booze joints are mainly full...
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Thailand embraces in its bosom all people of Thai blood
Thailand is extremely patriotic. There are more national flags hanging around just about everywhere than you'd see in nearly any country besides America. Maybe even America. Every day at 8AM and 6PM, in public spaces like Parks or the Library...
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February 06, 2004 - Friday
In the provinces
Thirty eight cents will buy you a ride on a cramped, hot train from Bangkok to Ayuthaya. Thrown in gratuis, an elderly Japanese man with a lazy eye will sit across from you and study his guidebook closely with one...
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February 08, 2004 - Sunday
Note from a moving train
Ayuthaya Pictures It's a lucky thing in Thailand the trains don't always run on time. If they did, this might be a sullen, sarcastic entry instead of the drowsily effusive one I hope it will be. I nearly missed the...
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North by Northwest
It's getting much harder to upload things. Internet joints here have shiny but very bad computers, sometimes without USB, always slow and running Windows ME (worst OS release ever, even worse by far than any other modern Windoze) and a...
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Chiang Mai baby
I was going to write a real panning of Chiang Mai but of course that's just because I was hungry and frustrated. It's dense with traffic, it has an ancient moat that's preserved for some reason in the center of...
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February 10, 2004 - Tuesday
Boldly Going
Chiang Mai is 700km north of Bangkok, about the distance from Cleveland to New York, though you'd hardly know it from my little map in the corner. So it's quite cool and pleasant at night and at least not humid...
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Intermission
An ode to New Jersey on Route 3...
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February 15, 2004 - Sunday
Thai Trek
Trek Photos I did disappear off the face of the earth, but only for a few days. After hours and hours of agonized, cramped riding in the back of a pickup truck, I got back to Eagle House 2 last...
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Grain Alcohol and Rainwater
I'm taking a light day after the trek, organizing photos and writing, first at a coffee shop, now at a deserted open-air bar. I had to walk around to find just what I was looking for, but here it is....
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April 04, 2004 - Sunday
I Said Hallelujah To The Sixteen Loyal Fans
Sorry about the leave of absence. I've been caught up in the magic of Laos but I'm still alive. Here are three postings in the order they would have been if I'd written them in a more timely manner. So...
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April 05, 2004 - Monday
First Time in an Embassy
At first the idea of a jaunt to Burma sounds like crazy fun. J. Peterman all the way. In fact it is a total farce and only just begun. I am thiiiiis close to burning down the Myanmar embassy. My...
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April 07, 2004 - Wednesday
Overlooking the precipice
Who am I kidding about the Burmese being slow typists -- there's no computer back there! Just a lot of stamps and papers, and now I have one. I first whiled away the hours until I pick up my visa,...
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Paul's Oriental Travelogue
Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto