As promised...

Here are some Thailand pics. This is a very pared-down sampling -- for an overwhelmingly large album, visit my myspace page (also harbatkat)...

AYUTHAYA

The first photos are from Ayuthaya, which was Thailand's capital from 1350 to 1767. The name is Sanskrit for "unassailable" or "undefeatable." Four hundred temples were constructed throughout the city, but now it's a collection of ancient ruins. Many of the Buddha's were beheaded by looters for overseas antique collectors, and I was told after visiting there that there are signs instructing people not to have their picture taken standing behind the beheaded Buddhas. Apparently the city has had a problem with Western tourists pretending to be Buddha. It makes me sad that I didn't see these signs.

The first three pictures are of Wat Phra Mahathat, which was built in the 14th century. It's one of the most famous temples in the city. To the right is a Buddha head intertwined in tree roots.

The fourth photo is of Wat Ratburana, built in the 15th century for King Borom Rachathirat II's two brothers, who killed each other because they each wanted to assume the throne. I barely got any photos of Ratburana because I accidentally used up all my camera battery taking pictures of Giz before leaving. Ooops.

The last Ayuthaya picture is of the stall where I ate my first Thailand meal. It was at the Night Market, and I have no idea what it is. I only know that it was very, very spicy.




































BANGKOK
I spent about three days in Bangkok -- the longest I spent anywhere. The first photos are of the Grand Palace, which includes Wat Phra Kaew and houses the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is supposedly really famous, but it's so small that it's hard to see in the midst of all the decorations surrounding it. Anyway the Buddha has a different-colored robe for each season, and the king changes the robe himself.

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

In the same neighborhood as the Grand Palace is Wat Pho, which is famous for its giant reclining Buddha and its Thai massage school. I didn't get a Thai massage there, but I did see the reclining Buddha...

Giant reclining Buddha, Wat Pho


Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Across the river from the Grand Palace and Wat Pho is Wat Arun (above), which was the site of the royal palace after the capital moved from Ayuthaya and before the Grand Palace was built. Construction of this tower began in the early 19th century.
Wat Arun

The Amulet Market lines the streets near all these temples in Bangkok. Basically, a bunch of people lay down towels/blankets/whatever and sell random things, ranging from small handicrafts to batteries. It also seems to be a popular hangout for cats...

The Amulet Market, Bangkok

The Chatuchak Weekend Market is held in the northern part of the city every weekend. It's a claustrophobic collection of stalls selling clothes, food, bags, handicrafts and basically anything you can think of. It seems to draw a 50/50 mix of Thais and travelers.The Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

The Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

More photos, Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi is about two and a half hours west of Bangkok, and is the site where the Japanese imprisoned thousands of Australian and British POWs and forced them to build a railway to Myanmar. Conditions for the POWs were a lot like conditions for prisoners at the concentration camps, I think. They were crammed into closed freight wagons for four days and nights and didn't have enough room to lie down. They slept on lice-infected bamboo mats with blood-sucking insects, and their food rice infected with lime, kerosene, dirt and rat feces. When they got meat and fish it was filled with maggots -- prisoners skimmed the maggots off the top of the stew before serving.

Their chances of survival correlated directly with where they were placed. In the Tonchan Spring camp, 29 of 600 prisoners died. In the Songkurai camp, 1,200 of 1,600 died.

The Japanese wanted to construct this railroad in a year, even though architects told them it would be impossible with the 2,000 men they'd originally planned to use. So they installed 55 prisoner camps along the railway and put thousands of POWs to work.

Kanchanaburi is the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai, which had a book written and a movie made about it. The bridge was bombed by the Allied Forces in June 1945. Along the entire railway, about 15,000 POWs and 10,000 civilians died of sickness, malnutrition, exhaustion and mistreatment.

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is one of three on the Burmese-Siam Railway, and is the site of nearly 7,000 graves of POWs. Most are British, Australian and Dutch.


I passed the Bridge on the River Kwai but didn't get a picture. Then I was gonna go back later, but it's a little ways out of town and I didn't want to walk/ride there in the rain.

Anyway, Kanchanaburi is also the site of Wat Luang Ta Bua Yanna Sampanno, A.K.A. the Tiger Temple. It's about 25 miles out of town but still located in Kanchanaburi Province. The idea is that the entrance fee (300 baht, or about $9) goes toward building a big tiger reserve. So supposedly the tigers will be able to roam free once they raise enough money, but people have their suspicions. I've already said all I have to say about the controversy in a previous post, so I'll just post the photos below and let you decide for yourself.


This is the basic setup of the temple. The tigers spend about four hours a day in this area, on relatively long chains attached to the ground. Mostly, they sleep (or at least relax), but you can see the ones to the right are pacing a bit.


This guy was pretty chill. He spent most of his time sleeping and then was the last to go back to the reserve at the end of the day.

This is the baby. He liked playing with the monk and seemed to have a pretty good repor with some of the volunteers. But there were other volunteers I didn't trust...

Walking with the tiger (with cat-like speed, it seems)...

Playing with the monk...

It's a very weird place. At the end of the day they bring all the animals out together, and they run around and eat. They all live together and roam around like friends. It's all very odd...

And finally, you might remember the story about the cats hanging out at the bungalow. They were very cute...

More photos, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is Thailand's second-largest city and is known as the capital of the North. It's about 450 miles north of Bangkok, and is the place to go for anything outdoorsy. I did a one-day trek with hiking, whitewater rafting and bamboo rafting. Then I spent my next day there wandering around looking at temples. It's also the place where I got a traditional Thai massage -- at the Chiang Mai Women's Prison.

Riding on Hanoi the elephant. She's 10 years old and lives in the hills in Chiang Mai province, outside of the city. They seem to treat her OK. Elephants in Thailand have tough lives because at one point in history they were really useful to people, so people breeded them a lot. Then as automobiles became affordable the elephant as a tool became obsolete. So in some of the country, they've been reduced the beggars -- people ride around on elephants with blinking lights tied to their tails and charge tourists for feeding them bananas. It's all pretty sad. But in Lampang Province, which neighbors Chiang Mai, there's an elephant sanctuary where they have an elephant hospital and take really good care of the elephants.

The hike in Chiang Mai was more challenging than I'd anticipated given that half the participants were middle-aged. But seriously, they fell less than I did.

We hiked to this waterfall and they said we could swim if we wanted. Most of us didn't, but a 50-year-old Chinese man named Mr. Woo stripped down to his panties (yup, they were panties) and stood under it. I think I'm the only one who noticed when the panties nearly came off from the force of the waterfall. I was definitely the only one staring in awe.

We crossed this river in a weird cage thing that zipped across a rope. It was all very odd.

The North of Thailand is the home to six different hilltribes, which have their own languages and support themselves by selling simple handicrafts. I'm unclear about who buys their handicrafts since their villages are all so far out of the way from everything, but they seem to be happy enough.

Hilltribe, Chiang Mai province

Members of the hilltribe in front of their shops

The city of Chiang Mai is huge and very Westernized. It's supposedly also easier to get around than Bangkok because it's actually planned, but that didn't stop me from being perpetually lost.

Wat Chiang Mun, which is thought to be the oldest temple in the city. It has a stone slab engraved in 1581 and bears the earliest known reference to the city's 1296 founding. The guy who took my picture seemed to be the temple's keeper of sorts, just standing there and making sure visitors respected the Buddha and such. He liked me immediately when he saw me drop some money into the donation box, and I figured I'd capitalize by asking him to take my picture.

Inside Wat Chiang Mun

I'm not sure that Wat Phan Tao has any remarkable stories to its name, but it's kind of cool looking, I think.

Wat Phan Tao

Inside Wat Phan Tao

The Three Kings Monument commemorates the three most revered northern kings -- Ngam Meuang, Mengrai and Khun Ramkhamhaeng. You can see a guy kneeling in front of the monument -- locals often bring offerings here in hopes that the spirits of the kings will bring them good luck.

Wat Chedi Luang is a temple complex that is partially in ruins and partially still in use. It's also the site of a monk school, and they encourage English-speaking visitors to stop by and talk to the monks so they can practice their English.

Wat Chedi Luang

Talking to monks at Wat Chedi Luang. They're all from Laos and around 21 years old. The one on the left wants to go back to Laos and become a journalist who writes about Buddhism. The one on the right wants to return to Laos and teach English. The one taking the picture wanted to know if I lived near Las Vegas. When I finally understood what he was asking me and said, "Las Vegas? You're asking about Las Vegas?" they all repeated "Las Vegas" under their breath, seemingly committing it to memory for some big monk hurrah... or something.


Next to the Chiang Mai Women's Prison is a prison shop, where you can buy little crafts made by the prisoners or get a traditional Thai massage. All the money raised goes toward the prisoners after they get out. I got a massage, and the girl doing it seemed really nice. She was shy and was very flattered when I complimented her on the massage. The women doing the massages are due to be released within six months, according to Lonely Planet. I'm not sure what their crimes are, but I haven't heard much about violent female criminals in Northern Thailand...

The Chiang Mai Women's Prison (the massage shop is just down the road)

Last pictures: Ko Samet

I spent my last two days in Ko Samet, and did absolutely nothing. It's the northernmost island (only takes about four hours to get there from Bangkok, including the ferry ride), and is also a national park so there isn't as much development as in the rest of the islands. Dogs roam around everywhere, but they haven't gone wild so they're nothing like the packs of wild dogs in Kanchanaburi, where on multiple occasions I actually wondered if I was about to get mauled. But as long as no one does anything to curb the dog population, it won't be long until it gets really out of control.








So that's it. If you want more, you can check out the MySpace pics, but I'm assuming this is enough for just about anyone. Holy shit that took a long time...

Ko Samet

I'm not going to post much because the sun just came out and I'm at the beach. I just have a little time to kill before my new friend gets back fom the bank and we can walk back to the guesthouse.

Ko Samet is one of the less-developed islands in Thailand, but resorts still seem to be sprouting up around it. There's still just one dirt road (or, more accurately, one mud road filled with puddles spanning the width of it, since it rains every night) running the perimeter of the island, but my guess is it'll be paved within two years. Last night I stayed in a little bungalow with a fan, public bathroom way out of the way, mosquito net (complete with gaping holes throughout) over the bed, and the sound of Justin Timberlake, Shakira and bullfrogs outside throughout the night. All at the same time.

Tonight I'm springing for the more expensive bungalow down the beach, on the beach with more old people and fewer backpackers. British people seem to have the worst taste in music. (Sorry UK Paul, if you still read this thing)

Anyway I was talking to this girl Sabrina, who's from Ireland, and she helped me come up with a decent story idea about how tourism in Thailand has changed over the last five, 10, 20 years. I think it's actually an interesting story, especially when you consider that *everything* was in English up in Chiang Mai, which I guess I wasn't expecting -- at least to that extent. Everything is becoming Westernized, which I guess helps their economy some, but they continue to struggle and now a tourist can come here and successfully avoid all Thai culture -- even outside of Bangkok.

It's still there though, if you venture out and look.

I got the e-mail address of a British guy who came here five years ago and has seen a lot of these changes, so I can talk more to him if I decide to do the story.

Anyway my last day in Chiang Mai was cool... I chatted it up with a few monks at one of the temples. They sit outside and you're supposed to go up and talk to them so they can practice their English. All three were from Laos and wanted to return there after finishing... monk school? They all had one year left, and one was 21, so I'm assuming the others were as well.

So one wanted to be a journalist who writes about Buddhism (I guess they have those in Laos?), one wants to be an English teacher back in Laos, and the third wanted to know if I lived near Las Vegas.

The temples in Chiang Mai were pretty cool -- they date back pretty far but my notes are in my bag and I don't feel like getting them out -- plus I doubt that any of you care too much about the details of Chiang Mai temples or the archaeological findings up there.

OK, I'm headed to the beach now. I was going to go snorkeling but have since decided that I'm way too tired to do anything but lay out on the sand and eat whatever the people pass by with to sell. Can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow...

Chiang Mai

Holy crap I'm tired.

I was just on my way to the Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai, but then it started raining so I ducked into an Internet cafe instead to wait out the rain. It's since occurred to me that the rain may only get harder, in which case I probably should have just walked all the way to the Night Bazaar and ducked under the tents. Now I'll have to walk the rest of the way in the pouring rain.

Anyway after getting the overnight train from Bangkok up to Chiang Mai last night, today I rode an elephant, went hiking, went whitewater rafting and rode a bamboo raft. There are all kinds of treks like that you can do from Chiang Mai, so I decided to do that instead of just rock climbing. The elephant I rode was named Kanoi... or maybe it was Hanoi... I don't remember. Anyway she's 10 years old and much smaller than all the other elephants. I think the guy said elephants don't reach full-grown til they're 20, but that didn't seem right to me... maybe there was a miscommunication with the whole language thing.

So Kanoi/Hanoi seemed happy enough. She stopped a lot along the trail to eat bamboo and they seemed to treat her well enough. The Thai have a deep respect for elephants, but since automobiles became so mainstream they've had less use for the elephants, which means a lot of them don't live very good lives. There's an elephant hospital up here in Chiang Mai where they take really good care of them, but I won't have time to visit.

The hiking and whitewater rafting weren't exactly expert-level, but that's probably best since I was having some trouble with the easy hiking trail we took anyway (my gimp knee and ankle causes me to fall... a lot). The rafting guide sort of pissed me off because he kept implying that women were weaker and couldn't row as hard as men. I wanted to thwack him in the head with my oar ("Ooops! I'm just a helpless little girl! I just don't know what I'm doing!") but then I thought he might fall into the rocks and the three of us left in the raft would be left to our own devices. And the two others on the raft were men who seemed generally amused by Clueless Sexist Guide, so they might have taken his side.

I think the rain stopped. I wonder if that'll last. It's rainy season here -- especially in the north -- so downpours start and stop out of nowhere.

So tomorrow I'm going to wander around Chiang Mai to visit some temples, and then maybe get a Thai massage at the women's prison where they save all the money the prisoners make and then give it to them when they get out (don't worry -- they don't put you alone in a room with the violent criminals... I don't think).

Then I'm taking an overnight train back to Bangkok and a few different buses and a ferry to Ko Samet, which is my last stop here. I can't believe it's almost over...

OK, on to the Night Bazaar...

Kanchanaburi

OK I see that people are checking this thing... where are the comments?

I hit up the Tiger Temple today. I guess I was expecting to be disappointed but hoping to be surprised, if that makes sense. In the end, I was disappointed, which was really sad even though I was expecting it.

I'm pretty sure the tigers are drugged. The whole thing's become so commercialized that the volunteers lead people in and out of the tiger area in a constant stream. And if they treat the tigers anything like they treat the visitors (they pull you by the wrist from one tiger to the next), the tigers have to be annoyed at best, and really fucking pissed off and defeated at worst. They're chained. The tiger cub seems happy - he runs around and plays sporadically and seems to have a pretty good repor with the monk who was chillin' there today.

Some of the older tigers seem content enough, too. But one was pacing back and forth, clearly done with the whole thing, and they kept squirting him with this yellow liquid from a water bottle. I tried to ask them what they were squirting him with but they kept thinking I was saying I wanted my picture taken with him and wouldn't listen. A German guy on my bus there said he heard on a German news report that the yellow liquid was an all-natural thing to calm them down. He said it's very common and that people use it all the time and cats love it, but he didn't know the English word for it. He made me stop guessing after a while because, well, everything I was guessing was clearly wrong. Liquid catnip? Chamomile tea? Warm milk? (yes, I seriously guessed all these things)

The German guy said the news report interviewed a bunch of tiger experts and they all said they didn't understand how the monks kept these tigers so docile. I don't either. I thought maybe the tigers would be playing around and you'd just take a picture with whomever was resting when your turn came up, but they're all on short chains and perched sadly in their little spots.

The whole temple is a strange place. At feeding time they throw the food out and animals come out from all directions to eat. You have everything from deer to wild hogs to chickens to other birds to horses all running around in the same area. They kept the tiger out, chained down, while the other animals ran around and ate. His instincts are there even though he was brought up in captivity -- he got down low and stalked the animals that were close to him.

The cub, at least, seemed happy playing with the monk. I have some pictures of that (OK, I have 70 pictures of that), so I'll pick the best ones when I get home and post them. Another tiger seemed content enough, too. I walked alongside him and pet him for a while to see. (there's a very blurry picture of me walking with a grown tiger and a monk)

In the end, I kept trying to tell myself that these tigers are better off here than left at the hands of poachers. They have to spend four hours a day enduring obnoxious tourists (it was even worse today because it was raining and cats hate water, so if they were in their natural habitat, they'd seek shelter), but maybe it's better than the alternative. Maybe the monks are also figuring it's an ends-justify-the-means sort of thing (are monks ends-justify-the-means sort of guys), because once they raise enough money they can build a big new reserve for the tigers and the tigers can be happy. Maybe.

Anything the trek from downtown Kanchanburi to the Tiger Temple is about 25 miles. I took a guesthouse-sponsored tour vehicle, which ended up being a backless pickup truck with two rows of seats along the sides, facing each other. The other people on my tour were the German guy (who, incidentally, visited the temple four years ago and said it was a totally different experience back then); a couple with a Thai girl and a guy whose nationality I couldn't place; and two Australian men who I'm assuming were a couple based on their matching fisherman's hats, matching bags and shared giant pink umbrella with flowers. We all got very wet because it was pouring rain, but one of the Australians held the giant umbrella out in a well-meaning attempt to shield us from the muddy water spraying up from the back tires.

So when I got back from the temple I'd had 45 minutes to think about the tigers and I was pretty sad. But then I dropped my stuff in my bungalow and when I stepped back out onto the deck in front of my door there was a little brown and black cat sitting on the chair. So I told it to stay there, got my camera from inside and took a picture. Then I sat in the other chair to write in my journal and the cat jumped up in my lap. And then its friend, a little black cat with an injured tail, jumped up on my lap, too. The black cat soon relocated to the other chair, but the brown and black one stayed a while. And despite the tiger-sadness, I thought about the fact that I was sitting in Thailand with a cat in my lap and I'd just watched a baby tiger play with a monk -- and I realized that there was really nowhere in the world I'd rather be at that moment. Which is pretty cool.

So a quick outline of Kanchanaburi before I sign off...

This is the site of the bridge over the River Kwai and where about 7,000 POWs are buried after being killed while working on the railway during WWII. There's a relatively extensive museum here with a pertty balanced history of the war, so I checked that out and also walked through the cemetery with all the POW graves. They're mostly Brits and Aussies -- the few Americans who were killed were brought back to the U.S. for burial.

There's a lot more to see and do here but I'm not going to have time. I'll getting an early bus back to Bangkok tomorrow morning (I was gonna do the scenic train over the River Kwai but then decided there's no way I'll get to the station in time for the 7:15 a.m. departure), and I'll spend the day in Chinatown before getting an overnight train up to Chiang Mai where I'll hopefully do some rock climbing, go to a spa and do a night safari. Then I have an overnight train back to Bangkok and a day-long assortment of buses and ferries from Bangkok to Ko Samet. I was going to do Ko Chang (for the elephant trekking and scuba diving), but I realized last night that I won't have time.

Oh well...

Now I'm going to grab a quick drink at "No Name Bar," a backpacker hub with a sign outside that says "Get shitfaced on a shoestring."

Not sure when I'll be able to post again. I realized that beginning last night, I'd be spending the night in seven different beds/chairs/sleepers over eight days.

I might post from Bangkok tomorrow if I get tired of Chinatown...

Bangkok

Tonight's my last night in Bangkok. I'm getting up at the asscrack of dawn tomorrow to make my way to Konchanaburi for tiger-petting! I figured I'd spend the night there and then come back to Bangkok in the morning to spend some time in Chinatown before catching the overnight train up to Chiang Mai. I'm insanely tired, and I'm guessing this four-different-beds-in-four-nights thing isn't gonna help. I *so* wish I were Australian. The government there mandates that they get four weeks of vacation per year. Lucky bastards.

But I digress...

I spent my birthday yesterday visiting all the main sites in Bangkok. I took a ferry to the Grand Palace and then walked from there to Wat Pho. I also spent a lot of time wandering through the Amulet Market, which is a long line of street stalls selling random stuff, ranging from traditional medicines to little keychains to small-potato-looking fruits. The Grand Palace is massive. You wander through the whole thing and then take off your shoes to go inside the room with the Emerald Buddha -- and the Emerald Buddha is so small you can barely find it among the surrounding gold and jewels.

On the other end of the spectrum, the reclining Buddha in Wat Pho is so big it looks like it's going to explode out of its little holding space.

While I was in the downtown area (I'm sure that's not what they call it), I stumbled into this festival-type thing. I initially thought it was a market but then saw what looked like a date range on a sign outside, so I figured it must be a festival. I wandered through there for a while and tried to find vegetarian food. Turns out, the word "vegetable" is really difficult for non-English speakers to say (and thus, to understand), so I ended up trudging along to all the different stalls, pointing to "I only eat vegetarian food" in my Thai phrasebook. This prompted many polite "no's" and I eventually settled on a stall with some noodle-looking things on display and asked the lady for what the person before me had. It turned out to be a concoction of cabbage-like noodle-looking-things, tomato, cabbage, spices and shrimp. The lady mushed it all up in a big cauldron-looking thing and put it on a plate with something that looked like green branches on top.

When I got back to my guesthouse yesterday around 5 p.m. I figured I'd relax for a little while and then head out to get dinner and more blister pads from the Really Expensive Pharmacy For Foreigners. I half woke up a few hours later and decided I wasn't going anywhere. Apparently I'm getting very, very old.

This morning I went to the Chatuchek Weekend Market, which is this sprawling metropolis of stalls selling everything from shirts to incense to food to underwear. One stall sold both food *and* underwear. The vendors here are way less aggressive and pushy than the ones in Morocco and China, where they yell at you and try to pull you into their booths. I was a little surprised by the chill factor given how pushy the tuk-tuk drivers are.

Tuk-tuks are motorized three-wheelers with back seats. They're kind of like taxis but they're not metered so you negotiate a fare before getting on. The drivers are notorious rip-off artists and often take people to guesthouses, etc. that give them commissions. They also like to hang out by bus stops and try to get people to use them instead. One wanted me to get in his tuk-tuk for "10 baht anywhere," but I'm sure he would have tried to charge me more if I took him up on it.

I've actually sort of figured out the lay of the land here. I took the bus to the subway today to get to the weekend market, which is on the outskirts of town. That was easy enough because the fare-collecting girl on the bus was nice enough to tell me when we were at my stop. I thought I'd have a lot more trouble on the way back, because I didn't know the name of the bus stop and the fare-collecting-guy was considerably less friendly. But I totally surprised myself and got off at the exact right stop and even walked in the right direction to my guesthouse on the first try. Because I'm just that awesome.

So I guess that's all that's worth telling. Oooh except I forgot to tell you people about the best part of the flight here. The plane had individual TVs at each seat, and there were options for television shows, movies or video games (I played Super Mario Bros. till my thumbs blistered. The best part: The TV shows option had three categories -- Comedy, Hits,and Grey's Anatomy. That's right -- I had 10 episodes of Grey's Anatomy to keep me occupied. I love the Thai.

Tigers tomorrow. Maybe I'll update from Konchanaburi.

In Thailand

I'm finally in Thailand... I started in Ayuthaya, which was the capital of Thailand until sometime in the 1700s, I think. I made the decision to start there because the Lonely Planet book I had told me there was a train that went directly from the airport. That seemed like the easiest option, rather than having to navigate through Bangkok after a 17-hour flight.

Had I looked at the book a little more closely, I would have learned that Bangkok recently built a new airport. With no train access.

It took me about two hours to get through customs and then navigate through the airport. Then I had to take a shuttle bus to the nearest bus station, a minibus all the way across Bangkok to the northeastern bus station, and a long-distance bus to Ayuthaya. All said, about a four-hour trek.

I met some nice Thai men on the buses, so each of them helped me find my way through the bus depots and onto the right bus. The first guy knew English pretty well, so that ended up being really easy. The second guy knew some English words but wasn't too sure how to string them together. We had an hour-and-a-half long conversation on the bus ride across Bangkok and I have absolutely no idea what we were talking about.

When I told him I was going to Ayuthaya, he said,
"Yes. Where are you going?"
I tried again, "Ayuthaya."
"I am," he said. "Where do you go?"
"Ayuthaya?" I asked, trying a different inflection.
"Yes," he said politely. "I am Thai. But where are you going?"

This is when I figured out the problem. Me saying "Ayuthaya" apparently sounds like "Are you Thai, ya?" It was like an unfunny version of Who's On First? I got out the tourbook and pointed at Ayuthaya, and he said, "Oh! Ayuthaya!" That's when I realized the Thai writing in parts of the tourbook was going to be an invaluable resource.

I lost the tourbook less than 24 hours later.

After a night and morning in Ayuthaya, I walked to the ferry to cross the river to the train station so I could get a train to Bangkok. The dock-like thing to wait for the ferry was scary because you had to cross this rickety wooden plank to get to it. Then you just sort of jump into the little boat as it floats in and out and I'm assuming I forgot the tourbook sometime during my fear-ridden state of falling into the water.

Anyway it worked out OK in the end -- there was an expensive-as-hell bookstore at the train station in Bangkok, and I was able to buy a new Lonely Planet book there for 975 baht. (about $30) For comparison's sake, that's more than the three-night stay at my guesthouse in Bangkok will be.

So the information desk people at the Bangkok train station were incredibly helpful (unlike the information people at the airport who are... not), and I easily found a bus to Banglamphu, where I met a nice Aussie who walked me from the bus stop to the guesthouse where he's staying. It overlooks the river and is supposed to be a relatively quiet neighborhood, but still close to everything in Banglamphu. He also pointed out some of the sites en route from the train station.

I just got back from a vegetarian restaurant hidden just off Khao San Road. I was just about to give up on finding it when it was suddenly right in front of me. That kind of thing's been happening a lot over the past day and a half, it seems. Either that or I'll unintentionally walk in a complete circle and have to start all over again.

Maps seem to be useless here. There are very few road signs; and when there are road signs, they rarely include the Roman spellings; and in the rare instances when they do include the Roman spellings, it's spelled so differently than what's on the map that sometimes you don't even know it's the same road.

It's a little better in Bangkok than Ayuthaya, at least. Although I'm sure I'll get completely lost tomorrow when I try to go to the Grand Palace.

Ayuthaya, incidentally, was interesting. It's full of ruins of ancient temples that you can walk through. For some of the temples, the ruins are so extensive that it looks a little bit like the remnants of a tiny village.

I got into Ayuthaya after dark, so after making my way to a guesthouse, I ventured out to the night market for dinner. It's completely not-touristy, so I realized quickly that ordering food was gonna be tough. I walked to the food stall with the most vegetables on display and I asked the lady if she knew any English. She gave me a menu with English on the back and I thought I'd hit the jackpot. I ordered glass noodles with vegetables and got glass noodles with calamari, shrimp, chicken and a bunch of other meat-type ingredients I didn't recognize. So much for vegetarianism here. On the plus side, a Very Nice Man brought me a glass of ice water just as my mouth was starting to feel like fire.

I wandered through ruins all morning today, and then headed to Bangkok and lost my tourbook. The minute I got into my room at the guesthouse in Bangkok I turned on the fan, stripped off all my clothes and lay spread eagle on the bed while the fan blew on me. It's SO HOT here. And humid. My skin is perpetually sticky from an amalgamation of sweat, mosquito repellent and sunscreen. It's damn sexy.

So I guess that's about it, so far. Tomorrow I'll spend my birthday at the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and a bunch of other famous Bangkok landmarks. Sunday I'll check out the Weekend Market and Monday it's off to the Konchabari Province to pet tigers. Then I'll hit up Chinatown back in Bangkok on Tuesday and get an overnight train up to Chiang Mai.

I'll post again at some point...

Leaving in a few hours

So I'll be leaving for Thailand in a few hours. My flight leaves JFK at 11:35 a.m. today (Wednesday), and I'll get into Bangkok 17½ hours later, hopefully not long after the Xanex has worn off.

I'm going straight from the train station to Ayuthaya, a province north of Bangkok that was the Siamese royal capital from 1350 to 1767. It has a bunch of ancient temple ruins, and a night bazaar that's supposed to be pretty cool.

Anyway the plan is to spend the first night in Ayuthaya, check out the night bazaar and some of the temples at night, then wander around and visit some temples during the day before catching a train down to Bangkok. So at least the first time I have to maneuver my way through Bangkok will be in the light.

I'll update this thing when I can. And I'll be back with all kinds of pictures. Of Tigers.

"In today's world, pants are worn fairly loose"

Taken directly from the AP, because A) I'm lazy and don't even feel like writing the stuff I *should* be writing, and B) I'm just not sure I can do any better...

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A man who allegedly tried to burglarize a home lost his clothes in a scuffle with the 69-year-old homeowner and then tried to streak away before he was arrested.
Wayne and Kathie Boniface returned home from dinner Thursday night at a neighbor's to find the man in their house. Wayne Boniface said the man made the mistake of grabbing his wife.
"As soon as he grabbed my wife, I had him in the kitchen wrestling him to the ground in a headlock and arm-lock,'' Boniface said.
First, Boniface said, he ripped the man's shirt off. Then, "his head was down over the railing, and in today's world, pants are worn fairly loose. I pulled his pants, and his pants and underpants and shoes came completely off. He was completely nude.''
When police asked Boniface if he could identify the suspect, he said: "Oh, yeah.
I believe he's the only guy running nude in Duluth.''
The 20-year-old man was apprehended about 20 minutes later. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree burglary. The man's name was not released.

In other news, I'll be en route to Thailand in less than 48 hours. Don't hate me because I'll be petting tigers and you won't...

What local law enforcement has cum to

A San Rafael, Calif. man is suing the police department there for his $10,000 porn collection, which they took during an investigation, according to the Associated Press.

Dennis Saunders, 59, was arrested in 2002 for taping a 45-year-old woman and 16-year-old girl in their bedrooms and bathrooms. He was sentenced to more than eight years in prison, but was released last month for good behavior.

Now he wants his 500 porn movies and 250 porn magazines back from the police. The police department is refusing to part with this evidence.

I'm sure it'll all work out in the end. He can always dust off the old video camera and make some homemade porn. There must be some new 16-year-old girls in his apartment building...

Ya come here often?

OK. So I recognize that it's incredibly difficult for guys to approach girls in public places and try to drum up conversation. But there are, at least, venues at which we're more likely to be receptive. A bar, for example. Or maybe a party. Or a coffee shop. Hell, at the tiger exhibit at the zoo. But not the beach. Not while I'm lying there in a bikini, feeling a little exposed anyway, and I can see your hard-on under your shorts.

Old Becky and I were at the shore today, being unusually unobnoxious for us. We were lying out reading, when all of a sudden something cast a shadow over my sun.

I looked up from my New York Times Magazine, and a guy smiled down at me and said, "Ya readin'?"

"Um... I was?" I said.

"Whaddaya got there? The New York Times Magazine?" he asked.

"Yup."

He smiled and leaned closer to me.

"I'm Steve," he said, extending his hand for me to reach up and shake.

Please keep in mind that I was not sitting in a chair or in any sort of position that would allow for this not to be an awkward position.

"Erica," I said, quickly shaking his hand before returning to my magazine.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

And I hate that question. Because I'm *from* L.A. I *live* in New Jersey. Which is probably what people mean most of the time they ask where you're from. But I'm conditioned to respond to that question with, "L.A.," which tends to cause confusion. So...

"L.A.," I said, and quickly realized that that was the wrong answer because it would bring the inevitable what-are-you-doing-here question and elongate this already unwelcome conversation. "But I live in Edison now."

"Ohhh!" he said, excited because he apparently decided this means we have a connection after all. "I used to live in New Brunswick!! One town over!!!"

"Actually it's two towns over," I said.

"Oh." A pause. "So do you come here often?"

"No," I said.

At that point Becky burst out laughing.

"Oh," he said. "I come here sometimes. So what kind of music do you like?"

I put an end to the atrocity right about then, telling him I liked all kinds of music but that I really didn't want to talk about my musical tastes. I ensured him it'd been great meeting him and all but I really did want to find out what was going to happen next in the magazine I was reading. He looked confused for a second and then walked away.

Now. Again, I respect that it's difficult to come up to a girl, and I recognize it's difficult to know what to say once you *do* come up to her. But I'm not sure what makes someone think that approaching a girl lying on the beach and reading, and asking her if she's reading is a good idea.

It baffles me. That's all.