One Sandal

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=97qw432f.64n9mr7f&x=1&y=5bfde9

-A jackfruit tree in the midst of a Wat in Ayuttaya.
-Part of the treking crowd, out at a bar nowhere near where we wanted the tuk-tuk driver to take us. (Five Star Guest House is the best.)
-Centerleft, I can ride a motorbike, it ain't that hard, dude.
-Buddha, I can't really sit like you.

I did a 3 hour whirlwind tour of the ancient city of Sukhothai by single-gear push-bike, then zipped back to New Sukhothai on a very rickety songthaew, and was able to make the 13:20 bus here to Ayutthaya (about 4 1/2 hours). The bus for whatever reason, dropped me off at the side of the Superhighway, rather than at the bus station, where I was left the choice of (a) a 5 km walk to town (in which direction, I had no idea) or (b) a ride on the back of a motorbike from the one company on the side of the road. They only charged me 50 baht (about US$1.25), but riding the back of a motorbike with my backpack full of gear was far from comforting. Buy hey, the guy did make me wear a helmet.

I get to Tony's Guest House, and who is sitting there, but Guy, the English bloke featured in the cramped tuk-tuk photo from Chiang Mai. So we had a good chat, and caught up, and plan to rent motor bikes today to see the local ruins. It is really, really, hot and muggy today here, and the idea of using a push-bike over a 12 sq. km. park sounds very unappealing to me.

Still no photos today, this might be the slowest intertnet cafe this side of Katmandu.

I learned about the earthquake the same way the rest of you did - from CNN. So I didn't feel it, but I was quite far inland and north of the epicenter. It's really awful that Indonesia is suffering these back to back disasters. I've met a few people who've backpacked through there, and they say the poverty can be quite severe (along with overcrowding and pollution) before all of this.

One last crazy night with the Austrians, the Japanese guy and the Canadian girl in Chiang Mai. Let's just say that while it is possible to put 7 people on a tuk-tuk (plus driver), I wouldn't recommend it. However, what I can say about Chiang Mai is that it is possible to get very good, very cheap, pad thai ($.50 with chicken!) at 3 in the morning if you find the right tuk-tuk driver. (I can even say it in Thai, pad thai kai!)

I survived the 7 hour bus ride here to New Sukhotai (on about 4 1/2 hours sleep). I was having too much fun in Chiang Mai, and it was actually a little sad to be leaving my group of friends that I made there. Unfortunately, it will probably be a long time before I make it back here to SE Asia (if at all), so if I want to see any of these sights in my lifetime (and I do), I can't dilly-dally too much.

I've been doing a lot of observing of late on the pros and cons of travelling alone versus with a partner, versus with 3+ people. Some of the advantages are obvious: for example, when you are alone you never have to compromise on decisions about food, destinations, etc. When you have a companion, you are less likely to be lonely, but also more likely to get into petty cat fights. On the other hand, you are also somewhat less likely to meet new people as well. But the one thing I've discovered on this trip is that it's hard to keep a good pace up on your own without getting rather lonely. It's amazingly easy to meet other travellers wherever you go, but sometimes the same conversation about (a) where you are from, (b) the details and duration of your trip leave one rather unsatisfied. It's typically easy to get past that on the road when you meet a new person, but it usually takes a couple of days, or even a few hours. And that's what's annoying about uprooting yourself yet again. I guess that's where I am right now, Sufferin' Sukhotai.

Old Sukhotai is about 12 km away, so the plan is to get up early, see the sights in the ayem, then jump back on the bus for another 5 hour trip to Ayuttaya. I'll also probably spend a night there, see the sights, then back to Bangkok for a flight to Cambodia on Friday or Saturday. And yes, I am taking my malaria medication. However, I think that I might be getting a cold, which would not make me happy.

And thanks for the concern, Sarah and Steph.

Trekking surely was good fun. It wasn't amazing as far as the sights go, I must say, but it was a good chance to meet a group of fellow travellers, sleep in a wooden shack and bathe using a hose. The group has 2 Englishmen (brothers, actually), a pair of quite jovial Austrians (Severen & Andy), 3 Aussie chycks, a Japanese guy (finally, someone to talk about baseball with!), a Canadian demolition technician (Brenna), and an Ecuadorian (Rene) along with his German wife, Anna, and our guide, Dom. We hiked through some ethnic (Karen and Hmong) villages, stood under a waterfall, rode elephants, and lazily drifted down a river on bamboo rafts. Oh yeah, and sang a bunch of silly songs, and drank more than a reasonable amount of Chang beer and SanSom rum. There will be some photos shortly.

And then last night somehow the Austrians, Nori (the Japanese guy) and I ended up at the InterBar here in Chiang Mai listening to Thai guys cover classic rock songs with a pair of 20 year-old Japanese girls who had on the exact same outfit.

Tomorrow I leave for Sukhotai, on my way back to Bangkok.

Trekking through the Thai countryside was nice, but I've never been so excited to see my own uncomfotable guest house before. I'm back, and the natives are far from restless. I have no idea where I'll be tomorrow, and that's the thing that will get my out of bed in the morning.

Happy Easter.

I never imagined that learning to make Red Curry Snakehead could somehow evolve into an experience like this, but life is full of strange surprises.

Photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?showSlide=true&Uc=97qw432f.7ge51zgj&Uy=rmvh4r&Upost_signin=BrowsePhotos.jsp%3FshowSlide%3Dtrue&Ux=0 or click on the posting title.

I enrolled in a course in Thai cooking for yesterday here in Chaing Mai. (More on the details of that a little later.) One of my instructors was a quite sly, amusing Thai woman who goes by the rather appropriate moniker, Boom. After a jam packed day of cooking and eating, a pair of French-Canadian girls in the class decided that they needed to come out for a couple of drinks with Boom, and as these things go, it ended up being a field trip for most of the class. We all went home for a spell, then met back up at the Thai cookery school at the Wok Restaurant here in charming Chiang Mai. It ended up quite a crew, Natalie and Sandra, the aforementioned French Canadians, Guy the Englishman, and a Dutch fellow named Constance were all from that day's class. Boom also invited out a couple from Vermont (Bob and Jamie) as well as James (English), all of whom had recently completed the multi-day course offered by the school. I brought along David (yet another Englishman) whom I'd met the day prior hanging out on a park bench next to the moat that surrounds the Old City.

Our first destination was a rather tiny Thai restaurant that was a bit off the tourist path (it was mostly Thai families eating dinner, and we were the only farang there). A bit of food and a few dozen Singha beers, and Boom told us we needed to leave because of all the evil glares we were getting for our boombastic, boorish Western behavior. We then sauntered over to a more farang-friendly drinking establishment, where we were visited by the squid cart guy. Street vendor food is an art form here in Thailand, and this particular local delicacy is no exception. This vendor operates off a bicycle, to which there is an attached rack (about 4 foot tall) with hanging bags of dried squid. There is also a table surface on this contraption, which has a small stove of hot coals, and a pressing tool that sort of resembles a vice grip. The customer picks out a type of squid, and the vendor pulls it out of the bad and puts it in a rack, and the squid is then toasted over the coals. After that, the roasted squid is then run through the press, and ends up looking a little bit like a potato chip (crisp). It's served with a sweet dipping sauce. Hopefully the photos on this link (that's Boom's demonstration of the squid toasting) will help make clear what I'm talking about.

But the story doesn't end there, no actually far from it. Boom wanted to go dancing, and as both our teacher and band leader, none of us were destined to disagree. All 10 of us jumped into a songthaew (a small pickup truck that has benches in the bed along the sides of the truck, and a hard plastic cover over the benches) to head off to a destination of Boom's choosing. (Songthaews are the least expensive and most convenient way to get around Chiang Mai, and much of Thailand). We end up at some nighclub outside the city center, in which we were not only the only farang on arrival, but also horribly underdressed. No matter, we made it in and that's where the story really gets going.

I know that many of my blog readers have been to a nightclub or two, but for those that haven't, and increasingly common thing in the US is for bars and clubs to have an attendant in the restrooms who provide soap, towels, and usually have an assortment of grooming products, chewing gum, cigarettes, etc. available at you disposal. It is customary to tip these attendants, particularly when you take something from them beyond a hand towel. Evidently, this night club here in Chiang Mai has a simiar policy, except that while you are standing there at the urinal doing your business, the guy walks up an begins giving you a (rather vigorous) neck and shoulder massage. It's really quite startling if you aren't expecting it. Anyway, once you go to the sink and wash your hands and such, the guy picks you up and cracks you back and neck for you (it's actually several guys). All right there, everytime you go to the toilet. I gave the guy 10 Baht (about a quarter), seemed like the decent thing to do.

Bob and Jamie fell out a little early, which is too bad because they missed quite an entertaining little show. On arrival, the soundtrack of the club was mostly Western dance tunes of the typical cheesy sort. But when band came on, well, that was an experience. When I saw them warming up, it was a drummer, keyboardist, two guitar players and a bass guitar player. Seemed prettty standard, really. Until the music started, when 5 guys and a girl came out playing a pop music song, and dancing like the Backstreet Boys, all in elaborate costume (American Ghetto Fabulous-style). Each song had a new assortment of performers, dancing and singing to a variety of Western and Thai pop songs, all in elaborate dress with coreographed dancing. Of course, this is Thailand, and no evening seems to be complete without an appearance of a transvestite, and this night was no exception. Of course, this one was wearing a black leather thong, who proceeded to berate and humiliate some English guy who happened to be sitting right next to the stage. I don't know what the performer was saying, but I have to imagine by his tone, and the laughter of many of the Thais in attendance, that it wasn't very nice, and if his few words of English in the tirade were of any clue, the words were rather profane as well. Quite a bit of good fun at someone else's expense, however.

Our party has whittled down to just a few of the fellows and Boom, when her sister came to pick her up on her motorbike (Boom wisely decided to get rid of it earlier in the evening.) The picture of the two girls sitting down is Boom and Ann, her sister. But the evening continued on, as Dave, Guy, Constance and I crowded into the back of a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled motorbike, which is the second cheapest - and most convenient - way to get around Chiang Mai). The photo of the four guys cramped in a small compartment is from that particular journey. We were going to go to a van bar, which is a VW bus that has been converted into a bar and sits on a street corner while the bartender/driver sits inside and serves drinks, but thought the better of it, and went to the mini-mart, bought a few drinks, and climbed atop Chiang Mai's 700+ year old city walls to enjoy our nightcap. Jolly good fun.

Of course, that made Day 2 of Cookery School a tad on the rough side, but Boom was there to suffer in misery with me, so it wasn't all bad. For more on that, check out: http://www.thaicookeryschool.com/ I learned the menus from Days 3 & 4, so if anything looks tasty, let me know, I'm eager to try out my new skills when I get back to the States! http://www.thaicookeryschool.com/courses_offered.html

I leave tomorrow for a 3 day trek in the Thailand hinterland, so I won't be posting before Sunday. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

I've had quite a few people ask my about prostitution here in Thailand, and as it's an unavoidable part of travelling here, I decided I would explain it here on the blog. For anyone out there with extremely conservative sexual values, I would not encourage you to read this posting. It's nothing more explicit than a junior high school health textbook, and one could really get all this info from "Lonely Planet: Thailand," but it's more fun for me to tell you about it.

It's important to note that Thai women are absolutely beautiful. I don't care if you've never been attracted to an Asian woman in your life - it's impossible not to note that the women in this nation are stunning. I cannot be more emphatic on this point. (Interestingly, the men are quite "pretty" as well, but more on that later.)

Also, it's important to note that prostitution is not legal here, but you'd never know that by visiting.

Basically, the skin trade works in three ways. First, there are bars in which anywhere from 2-30 "waitresses" hang out in the bar, waiting for farangs (Westerners) to come in. When a Westerner arrives, all of some of them will sit down and have chat with you (typically in rather broken English). After a few minutes of chatting, you are asked to buy them a drink. You are free to decline, but obviously your "waitress" won't stay around for long if you don't buy her a drink (in fact, not buying her a drink is the most polite way to be left alone). It is perfectly acceptable to sit at one of these bars and drink with your pal or alone, but as I've noted, the girls will ignore you. Essentially, a bloke can hang out at the bar, and have a (usually, although not invariably, pretty) girl chat and flirt with him for as long as he likes, provided he continues to purchase (overly expensive) cocktails for her. Of course, none of the prices are posted, so you have to be a little careful as a person's bar tab can quickly get out of control. When you leave the bar, the bartender (who is typically a little like a "house mother") will bluntly quote you a price to take any of the girls away from the bar with you. Typical price is about 1,000 baht, about US$25 (but remember that a meal from a street vendor typically costs about 20 baht, or $.50). However, it is perfectly acceptable to leave the bar at that time without purchasing any services from the ladies with which you have been chatting and buying drinks. That 1,000 baht is merely the "house fee", a person must then negotiate with the waitress about any other charges for services. Truth is, you can just drop the thousand baht, and take her to another bar if you and she agree. The rest of the typical transaction does not require description.

Then, there are go-go bars. They are very similar to Gentlemen's Clubs in the West, except the dancers also practice prostitution.

Finally, Thailand has several "red light" districts, which contain rows and rows of "massage parlors." Allow me to mention that Thailand is full of (no quotation marks) massage parlors, where one can get a very relaxing, very cheap head, foot, oil or Thai massage. Massage is a very integral part of Thai culture, and it's typically quite innocent. It's pretty easy to tell the difference between a Thai massage parlor and a "massage parlor" - a giveaway is the guy in front showing a photo array of women without clothes on. Much like Amsterdam's Red Light District, for whatever reason these areas of the country are very popular tourist destinations, and most of the visitors only come as observers. Unlike Amsterdam, these streets are dirty, cluttered, full of harassing pimps, and not particularly nice to visit. Oh, and again unlike Amsterdam, there aren't any red lights there.

Also, for every service offered above, there is a male homosexual equivilant. Phuket's Patong Beach and Bangkok's Patpong District, for example, each have a small street where boys, rather than girls, will ask you "yew wahn mahsaaage?" as you walk past. And there are also plenty of transvestite "waitresses" as well, although for whatever reason they seem to frequent the non-gay bars. Which can be a bit confusing, as the Thai people must have less sexual dimorphism than any other race on the planet. Everyone seems short, thin, hairless, to have very slight and narrow shoulders, high cheekbones and pleasant smiles. (The giveaway is usually the hands/knuckles, voice or adam's apple.) Again, for whatever reason, this seems to make Thai boys almost as popular with gay farangs as Thai girls are with straight ones. It's a quite common sight in all of tourist Thailand to see a 40+ year old Westerner and a Thai yonger person walking hand in hand, and it actually really annoys quite a few Westerners and Thais alike. However, to be fair, in addition to being lovely, Thai women age remarkably gracefully, so sometimes the age disparity might seem more than it is. And, again, you'll also see the gay equivilant. For a lot of these girls, however, what they really just want is to party a lot, and will happily convert from prostitute to girlfriend if their client/boyfriend agrees to pick up the tab and cart them around Thailand for the duration of the trip. As a result, you even see Thai girls attached to backpackers, which is an interesting sight indeed.

And as a reminder - this is a "family friendly" blog, so any further questions/comments about prostitution I'd prefer to be sent directly to my email @ jsmyczek@yahoo.com

At first, washing my clothes when I took a shower wasn't that big of a deal, but I've gotten a little lazy about it the last few days (or is it weeks?) and my apparel is getting a tad on the filthy side. The worst thing is that everything I have is raunchy, so I can't even send my laundry off, as I have nothing to wear. Fortunately, I've made it to Chang Mai, which has one of the best open-air markets in the region where I can buy some clean undies, a t-shirt and some shorts for dirt cheap. Problem is, it's at night so I need to go one more day with dirty, smelly clothes. The worst part is getting out of the shower and realizing I have to put on clothes that are completely foul. Ah, life out of a backpack.

I think I'm going to do a 3-day trek that leaves on Friday that heads North towards the Myanma border and visits a few of the local tribal villages. But I also want to get a cooking class in here in CM. I'm hoping to find out today that I can make it all happen and still say "on schedule."

My overnight train attendant from Bangkok was a transvestite named Lei. She was a nice attendant, but shamefully flirty with the backpacker boys. I'm not really surprised, as Thailand is a country that had a very famous, very dominant Thai boxing champion that liked to wear women's clothes and make-up into the boxing ring. (I'm not making this up, her name was Nong Toom/Prinaya Kiatbusaba (a la Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali)). Prinaya was forced into "retitirement" after having surgery to make her anatomically a woman, as Thai boxing rules didn't allow women to fight men.

Imperial Palace/Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok is a treat. Getting around Bangkok, however, is an interesting experience. In one day, I took (1) a "regular" non-air con bus, (2) a river ferry, (3) a monorail, (4) an air-con "deluxe" bus, and (5) a canal boat. This is all public transportation, to say nothing of tuk-tuks or taxis.

Ever since I took dive lessons, I keep giving the "OK" hand sign to everyone. Inititally, my instinct underwater was to give my instructor the thumbs up sign, but in diving that means that you want to ascend (often to the surface). Anyway, A-OK for now. o'''

They say that one night in Bangkok makes the world your oyster. We shall see, as I'm in the backpacker-infested den of Khao San Road (if you've seen "The Beach" it's the place in the beginning of the movie where a sweaty Leonardo DiCaprio first hears about this mythical place for which the film is named.)

My last night in Ko Pangan was interesting, ended up chatting with an Irish couple on the beach until about half-six, which left me just enough time to pack, get a shower, and get my 730 ayem taxi to the ferry pier. I guess I wasted the money on a bungalow that I didn't even use the bed in, but so it goes. Today, between the ferry and the bus, I've seen Dragonheart, School of Rock, Spider-Man 2, and (the real treat) the Princess Diary 2: A Royal Engagement. The really sad thing is that on my last flight to Europe the featured film was Princess Diary 1, so I've now seen them both. Who else out there can say that?

I imagine at some point I should sleep, but I'll get there. Have I mentioned recently how good the food is here? It's really amazing. I think my body won't know what to do when I'm not eating rice at every meal.

My room is a little dumpy, but that's what happems when you show up at 8 pm on a Saturday night in Bangkok. But it will do for an evening, I can always shuffle to another place tomorrow. Some Swedish guy and I will head out for street vendor food shortly, and maybe even a couple of Tiger beers. It's pretty darn hot here.

Jerry's a good guy, a great instructor, and a fun fellow with whom to knock back a few cold ones. If anyone out there is thinking about diving in Thailand, do it now in Phuket while the rest of the ignorant masses are keeping away. Check out his photos for an idea of what the diving is like around here. http://www.btdiving.com/pixdive.html

I'm now off the East Coast of Thailand on Koh Pha-ngan, at a beach known as Hat Rin. Every 28 days this place has a huge party on the evening of the full moon. Evidently 10,000 plus farangs flooding the beach once a month wasn't enough of a big deal, so now they have half moon parties as well, where only a few thousand white tourists drink and dance the night away on the sands of Hat Rin until the wee hours of the morning. Actually, yesterday was a nice combination because it was Saint Padraig's Day as well as the Half Moon Party, and of course Hat Rin has an Irish bar, which was full of well, mostly Irish people, many of whom had been drinking since about noon. The bizarre thing is that while it was an Irish bar, it followed the Thai custom of leaving your shoes at the door. Which became a problem when the drunken Micks dropped their pints in a million pieces on the floor. Anyway, when I left the Irish bar to head to the Half Moon Party I couldn't find my Tevas. I later learned that sandal theft is quite common here. After spending the rest of the night (morning, really) wandering around barefoot, I bought a pair of flip flops this morning (OK, actually it was this afternoon) only to discover my Tevas sitting outside the Irish pub a short time later. Had a nice chat at Mr. Chicken with a Swedish bloke until quite early, who seemed amazed that an American could be at all informed about the world. It's actually a bit strange how few Americans I've met thus far.

For whatever reasons, all the bar/restaurants here play movies all day. I just watched 1/2 of "Diary of a Mad Black Woman"while eating Pad Thai for breakfast. It had some funny moments, but the movie cannot quite decide whether it wants to be a comedy of a really, really cheesy Hallmark movie.

Thaland, for whatever reason, loves Bon Jovi. And I still hear ''Assereje" almost every night.

I've got a pretty good bit from Phuket from my last night there, but I'm going to save it for when I'm able to upload the photos.

I'm having a lot of fun, if a little pain, learning to dive. Any other divers out there? Anyone have any favourite locations? Good stories? I'm diving off Ko Phi Phi tomorrow. Anyone want to dive in the future, whether you've tried it or not?

The most interesting thing about living out of your backpack, is you are never quite sure how long you'll be where.

I was in Phuket, all set to pick up all my gear and head west to Ko Tao to find a dive class. However, my friend Steph P. in D.C. has a friend here in Phuket, with whom I had dinner (and met his girlfriend and their 1 year old). Turns out that Rowan works in the dive industry, and his girlfriend Sabine used to, and they had just returned from a trip to Ko Tao where she had done some diving. The conditions were horrible. Anyway, next thing I know I'm enrolled in a course here in Phuket instead, and learning to breathe underwater. So far I've only done the classroom and pool dives, but this morning I get to actually jump in the sea.

As for Phuket, you can really barely tell that the tsunami came through here at all. There is construction projects going on, but that's the case all over Thailand (hence the phrase "developing country.") But it's pretty weird to see the resorts depicted in all those horrific images from 26 December, but without locals to explain it to me, I'd have no idea which ones were which. On the other hand, you see why so many people were swept away - the beaches are beautiful here. But the industry is in bad shape, because tourists are afraid to come here, which is absurd. On the other hand, nothing is crowded and bargains abound.

Here is where I'm staying. http://www.littlemermaidphuket.net/

But the food. Let me start with the admission that I loved Thai food before I got here. Especially Thai Green Curry Chicken. I love it so much that I've made a rule that I am only allowed to eat it every other day. But that fine, because the rest of the food is amazing as well. Last night was a Green Curry night, and I swear to you that if Moses had come down from Mt. Sinai with a bowl of food, that would have been it. And yes, it is much better here than in the States. And, needless to say, much cheaper.

And Thai massages are $5/hour, and really, really relaxing.

I still have a few more days in my dive class, and then I'm either going to check out Ko Phangan on the East Coast, or I'll simply head to Bangkok. I need to decide soon whether I want to go to Laos, because I need to get some of my visas in Bangkok (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam all require them). I'm about 50/50 on going to Laos - I hear it's fun, but you certainly cannot rush it.

Anyway, props to Steph P. I need to get some breakfast before class.

The Imperial Palace Grounds in Japan

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=97qw432f.5yex84tv&x=1&y=vpmi44

Singapore - Modern Architechture

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=97qw432f.8um3zwxf&x=1&y=sfr7ho

Melaka and Kuala Lumpur

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=97qw432f.8hnkhpmb&x=1&y=-lxdtb0

Cameron Highlands

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=97qw432f.1wff7vjn&x=1&y=-ok80v2

Lengkawi and Penang

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=97qw432f.bgvwqeb7&x=1&y=-mxn8ol

Lengkawi was a pretty relaxing place. I took a boat tour of the surrounding islands. One of them has a freshwater lake right inside the island, just a few hundred meters from the sea. The island also has monkeys all over it, which have obviously been fed by a few ignorant tourists as they are awfully attentive anytime they see you going through your bag. After a very relaxing swim in the lake, we watched an an eagle feeding (the Lengkawi eagle is actually how the island gets its name) and then I saw some sort of giant lizard saunter along a beach on another small island. Met up with a South African bloke that I met on a boat tour in Lengkawi, and he and I both took the ferry here to Georgetown on Palau Penang.

I had my first local bus ride since beginning the trip today. I took a local bus out to see the third-largest reclining Buddha in the world. Needless to say, the busses here are not built for a man of my height. The length of my femur makes sitting on such a bus absurdly uncomfortable. But the temple was nice, as was the Burmese temple across the street, and I spend the rest of the afternoon strolling through the Penang botanical gardens - which weren't that nice, being it's the end of the dry season here. The afternoon was followed by a nap (undoubdetly my favorite indulgence here on the road) and a trip here to the internet cafe.

I went back and forth whether to take the bus to Phuket or fly, but in the end frugality trimphed over comfort, and tomorrow I have a 5 ayem bus to Thailand's largest island. It's supposed to be an air-con bus, so I should be able to catch a few zzz's on it, and to fly I had to change planes in KL, plus deal with relatively expensive taxi fares to and from the airports...add that to the fact that the bus picks me up at my guest house for only 45 RM (about 12 bucks) for a 10 hour bus ride, compared to $75 plus taxis to fly, seemed like an easy decision.

I'm looking forward to Thailand. Every traveller I've encountered raves about the beaches there, and rumor has it the nightlife is rather lively as well. The bus ride may be a little grueling, but I should get into Phuket Town early enough to find out which beaches still have guesthouses that are in operating condition (I hear it's most of them, but I don't want to have a tuk-tuk driver drop me off at a hotel that it currently in the Adaman Sea). Malaysia has been a lot of fun, and it's been especially interesting travelling in a "Muslim country", but I'm looking forward to learning how to scuba dive, outrageously tasty Thai cuisine, and full moon parties on sandy white beaches. So long, Malaysia, it's been good to know you.

The plan at this minute is to get the 9 ayem ferry to Penang tomorrow (Thursday), then fly to Phuket on Saturday. Of course, this depends on getting up on time today and whether my contact in Phuket works out. I hear that you can barely tell the tsumani hit Phuket right now, and I have even heard that they are trying to get tourists back to Ko Phi Phi - even a few bars are back open. Details on that to follow...

Centerleft, a "motorbike" here is operated with both feet, and the (non-clutch) gear shifter is on the right hand. I'm not sure what you would call that in the States. Legend has that it is operated that way so that the driver can still carry an unmbrella. Which is funny until the first time you actually see it.

Beatiful day today on the beach and on the boat, funny monkey photos to follow.

Last night was really fun. I ended up out with an English girl (Victoria) and a Spaniard (Jose). We had dinner and drinks at this Indian restaturant/disco in Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. Our server was an honest-to-pete eunuch. I guess they are quite common in India, there is a whole eunuch community. But I didn't know that they exported them. (S)he was a good server, though, and the Indian beer was cheap. Which of course, led to far too many of them, and Victoria talking the DJ into playing "Hey Ya" so that I could dance before the end of the night. The funniest thing about the trio last night is that Victoria is an accountant, Jose is a consultant, and I'm a lawyer: we had to be one of the most overeducated backpacker cliques ever.

I barely made my 8 ayem bus to Kuala Lumpur, but I got down to the bus depot in just the nick of time. I slept most of the 4 hour ride to KL, then I had to get on a train to get to the airport, and then I boarded a ($25) flight to Langkawi. It's an island on the far north of the Straits of Melaka, and it's basically like the Malaysian Outer Banks, but with better scenery and snorkling. So far all I've really done is check into my room and watch the sun set on the beach, but it's quite beautiful here - and very tranquil.

But the Cameron Highlands were really relaxing, and it was sad to leave. One one of my hikes I went through an Orang Asli (native tribe) village. They all live in wooden shacks on stilts on a hillside. They were really nice as I hiked right through their village, and the little ones were very eager to try out their English on me. Of course, then I got lost in the Malysian bush for a couple of hours, but I emerged no worse for the wear.

Not sure what I'll do tomorrow, maybe rent a motorbike, maybe take a tour of the island, maybe go snorkel, maybe just lie on the beach.

For some reason Bob Marley is really popular in this country, and especially in this town.

I also need to eat dinner, and this town (which, oddly enough, I don't even know the name of) actually has a few more choices than Indian/Chinese/Malay, so I may do one of those "real" backacker no-nos and eat Western food. I'm hungry!

They are also known as squat toilets. Basically, it is a porcelin hole in the ground with a couple of footrests next to it, I assume to make sure you line up your aim right. When finished, there is a bucket in the corner with a cup in it that you use to "flush." In Malaysia and Thailand there are sometimes Western toilets along with Asian toilets (especially in places frequented by tourists), but once I get to Cambodia and Vietnam, I'm told that squatters are the standard. And they don't really use toilet paper. In many places there is a hose (I'm not making this up) next to the toilet that you turn on to cleanse yourself. I hear in Laos it's rarely even a hose, just another bucket of water. Anyway, now I see why it is rude in this part of the world to use your left hand for anything involving food. In case you were curious...

It's in the high 60s right now, and you can't imagine how nice it is to be sitting outside and (a) not sweating, (b) hearing only crickets chirping, and (c) enjoying a 560 ml beer that won't be warm when I finish it. This place is absolutely beautiful, nustled in a valley in the Malaysian mountains full of tea plantations and cabbage patches. The bus ride up hear was breathtaking, both for the scenery and the bus drivers fearless attack of the on the rather sharp switchbacks on the two-lane road. "In verdant pastures He gives me repose, beside restful waters He leads me." The psalmists could have been talking about this place.

It's too hot, and my hostel was too gross. (Nothing quite like waking up trying to decide if your itches are from mosquitoes or bed bugs.) I went to see the Petronas Towers today, and after that I'd had enough of KL. I'm off to the Cameron Highlands for a couple of days of hiking and relaxing - and cooler temps. I actually found a flight to Palau Langkawi (the long awaited beach) from KL on Tuesday for less than 20 bucks, so I will need to backtrack this way again. Anyone know what the FAA says about Air Asia (Naveen, you are the Asian airline expert)?

I know I haven't posted any photos lately, but they are mostly pretty boring, honestly. Once I get some fun ones I'll spend the time to post a batch.

Kuala Lumpur is a pretty crazy place. Traffic flows without virtually any order, and motorbikes seem to have a totally different set of driving rules than cars. Crossing the street is an adventure every time. It's hot, and a little dirty (but not any dirtier than Hough, or Anacostia or the South Bronx), and the hostel I'm in is a total dump ("Let's Go Southeast Asia" sux, I've decided). Bargains are much easier to come by outside the big city, I reckon. I was a little overwhelmed when I first arrived this morning, but I spent most of the afternoon wandering around the city's main park (which is really, really nice) and I feel a little more at peace this afternoon.

While Malaysia is officially a Muslim country, the Muslims make up only 50-60 percent of the population. In addition, it's never been a militant strain of Islam here (as a matter of fact, before "globalization," the girls here didn't wear headscarves - isn't it strange how an increase in information can lead a culture to a more conservative path?) So, Centerleft, beer is easy to come by although not as cheap as in Thailand (a can of cheap (Chinese, Thai or Balinese) beer is about US$1 here; European imports about 50-100% more).

One interesting element of the culture is how much religion is integral to all of the groups. The Hindu shrines, the Buddhist temples, and the mosques are all really integrated - both architectually and socially - into the fabric of the community. Even the handful of Christian churches. For the ethnicities of Malaysia, it seems that religion and culture are very intertwined.

I plan to spend the weekend here in the capital, and I think I'm going to head up into the mountains (Cameron Highlands) for a day or two before I finally make it to the beach. It's just too darn hot not to be near a body of water I can swim in.

I think I want a motorcycle.

What a really cool meal I just had.

The restaurant is a tiny, open air place with some seating inside and a few tables on the street, without a wall separating them (sort of like Pizza Boli in Adams Morgan, for the DCers out there). Inside are maybe 8 stainless steal tables, all of which have a cauldron of some sort sunken in the center of the table, which lie atop a gas burner. Inside each pot/bowl, is a tasty mix of peanut, chili and sugar. On one wall of the restaurant is a open-air cooler, sort of like where 7-11 keeps their microwave sandwiches. It's full of seafood and other assorted items on skewers (including small eggs, tofu, broccoli raab). You get a stainless steel tray, and fill it up with whatever items you are interested in eating. While waiting for your first round to items to cook, you are given cubes of white bread and cucumber pieces. You pay by the skewer, and sit at your table and cook the items until they are done to your liking. Absolutely delicious. The best part - including the 2 beers I had (which were about 60% of the bill) the entire thing cost me less than $4.

I was up late last night on the terrace at my hotel in Melaka having a couple of beers with this fellow from New Zealand. Rather than buy several beers (which would get warm very fast), every 20 oz. of Tiger beer we would wander across the street to the 24 hour market/food hawker/social meeting place to pick up a couple of cold ones (and on a few occasions, some Malaysian chicken wings). Anyway, on our last sojourn to the marketplace, John (the Kiwi) started up a chat with a few of the locals (who were hanging out at 3 in the morning, why?). John took Indonesian in university, which is basically the same tongue as Malay, but they were sort of going back and forth into English and Malay. Then they ask me.

"Where are you from?"

"Saya Amerika," I reply in my best Malay.

"What part?"

"I live in Washington, D.C."

"You work for the government?"

"Yes, actually, I do."

"So you like Bush?"

"Of coure not!"

[Uproriously laughter by Malaysian gentlemen.]

"That's good," said one of the fellows. "I used to like Bush, but not anymore!"

Anyone want a postcard from me? Send me your address to jsmyczek@yahoo.com - I've probably lost it!

I'm off to Melacca in the morning, let's hope Malaysia lets me in. It's supposed to rain a lot today, so I might have a more interesting dispatch later. Then again, I may just go sightseeing in the thunderstorm.

Have any of you ever been stuck in a foreign country with change to spare that you cannot change at the currency window, and end up wandering through the duty free trying to spend every last penny, yen, etc.? Every time this happens to me I feel like the old Wheel of Fortune. For those of you that don't remember, after winning a round on WOF, Pat Sayjak guided you through a room of goodies (e.g., furniture, household items) that you had to buy with your winnings. But you had to spend as much as you could. Invariably, somebody would have to buy a $300 ceramic dalmation. Similarly, I have a pair of "souvenier" chopstiks that I bought on the way out of Narita. What am I going to do with them?

Last night, I didn't get in until 2 am Singapore time. Seemed dumb to get a hotel for only a couple of hours, plus the only way to get into town was a S$30 cab ride, so I just hung out at the airpot until 6 when the train started running. I will never get over this jet lag. Tomorrow, Malaysia!