why is my sleeping bag a ghetto muppet?

second trip= Ayuthaya, and Lopburi, northern thailand.

to begin with, there is nothing like a thai train to make you feel like an individual. if ever you have the chance, be sure to take third class. though it is a far cry away from any civilized mode of transportation, you will find people from all walks of life there, from old women, to students, to food vendors, to crying babies ( theyre everywhere huh?) , to pickpockets, as a friend of mine discovered. i went with thomas, a missouri native, and my closest friend in thailand. as well as our two friends from the same building 4 floors below us, julia and brenda from california.

4 hours by train straight north, into agricultural land where the green is almost too much to handle. we get off the train and head straight to a ferry, where we get on and cross the river and get into ayuthaya proper. the city is not much, and many downtown cities here are, but according to lonely planet the city wakes up at night, and the dogs come out to play. after eating too much and drinking far too much, we decide to find the night market which had closed hours before, and found nothing but street dogs which slowly but surely started to circle us and begin a festival of growling and barking. the eerie noise of a howl was more than enough to tempt me to leave, however a few of my comrads felt the liquid courage to play with the mildly crazed animals, making for a disturbingly boring yet scarily exciting night. next morning visiting the different Wat's (temple ruins), and the plethora of buddhas that are scattered seemingly all over thailand, and all of southeast asia. finally, monkey city, lop buri, where the little guy are on the tele wires above, the parked cars below, and everywhere inbetween, including traffic. after a few hours of playing with the street monkies, we retreated into the wat known for keeping a good hundred of them full time. this is the place where 5 monkies on each person isnt any new occurance, and enough of their grimy little paws in your hair and all your possessions gets a bit old after maybe 40 minuets, but the moment you leave the ornate gates of the wat you find an irresistable urge to go running back in to throw around your little friends. HEY update, im in the thammasat cafeteria, and i just saw a kid walk by with a beaver mountain shirt. after stopping him i figured out he was an exchange student at utah state, and has an affinity for skiing at the bev. jesus its a small world. anyways, long train ride home, and back into the comforting wasted streets of bangkok.

thailand in a nutshell

tee hee, my apartment is the twin building on the right

first month in a nutshell due to my blogging ignorance-

flew for 36 hours too long. arrived. slept. got lost. slept. ate street food. chucked. slept. keep on keeping this on for a few weeks, until i moved into the rattanakosin condominium, 34th floor, with a thai roommate. things were lookin pretty bright. its harder to notice the stray dogs, trash, spit, cockroaches, rats, derelict buildings, poverty, disformed beggers, and repugnant pond-scum in the first few weeks, but slowly it creeps in like adema on the steps of everst's 3rd summit. needless to say at this point, you gotta love it. To feel and smell the real feelings and smells of 7 million people crammed into a concrete labryinth. Eventually you come to love the constant action of every intertwined person youve never seen, and will never see again. hell, you'll love the pad thai lady down the street, the dog with the floppy left ear which looks an inch from death, the one-eyed security guard ( whith whom ive now formed a one way relationship in my mind, i am positive he is a reincarnated buddha) and the ants which, regardless to the exponential bounds of human engineering, have found their way to the 34th floor of a vertical, cinderblock beartrap. i love just about everything here. in time im sure ill come to change this mindframe. but until that time i think for sanities sake i need to stay optimistic.

Ko Samet- white beaches which feel like flour. white people all over, farangs as the thais call us, also meaning guava in thai. dont get the meaning there, maybe cuz were both white on the inside? i always felt like i was more red on the inside. people are suprisingly fit here. the nightlife is too much to describe. thais work damn hard, and they play damn harder. i have made some good friends here, whom i followed to Ko Samet. i dont know their independent reasons for coming here , so i will only assume their discomfort with the feeling of their previous homes. a large majority of the entertainment on Samet is provided by firedancers, which light a staff with dual toarches, one on each end, which is covered in petrol. fire dancers are some of the most talented people ive met, and with enough artistic flash to make any dali painting look about as interesting as the wal-mart greeter. for all i know they are paid in whisky and coke, and from what ive seen, i think it might be just that. after a few days of too much sun and seawater which is almost uncomfortably warm, you feel blissfully relaxed and salty. bangkok seemed home from the moment i bought bedsheets, and after 2 days on samet the 6 hour bus ride back 'home' was a bit of a relief.

thammasat campus is a bit of a change. college is college however, and classes remain the same as i have experienced at home. professors who like to hear themselves talk, with a few inspiring people thrown in the mix for some fun. im taking thai and rural development, thai language, cross cultural communication, and philosophy of religion. all of which are more or less fine, with the exception of rural development, and the unwavering desire by the end of each class to join the military, or defenestrate myself and pray for a broken bone and a speedy getaway from a boredom which could never be reckoned with. the college hangout is the seemingly makeshift outdoor cafeteria called the 'canteen', from which you can choose from any ridiciulously sugary drink (in thai sweettooth fashion), or any curry or rice dish which will be unexpectedly spicy regardless of its phet level. its always humid there, like all of thailand, and it always smells of sweet rice and cleaner. good energy there, and always a group of exchange students to eat with, or thai students to stare at you strangly and laugh, though never maliciously. there is a feeling at thammasat, though i cant quite pin it down yet.
the language is coming to me quickly, but it is getting harder and harder, due to the fact that virtually every word has only 4 or 5 letters, and the only difference between many of them is one letter, or if theyre exactly the same, they have different rising or falling tones. for example the word maa, can mean dog, horse, grass, come, and a few others, depending on the tonality that you use. it can get a little depressing. speaking of depressing, it makes the language harder, because of the difference of words if you say them with a decending or ascending tone, so if you are sick or sad, theres a good chance noone will understand you.