Recent Days

The wireless internet at work died early last week. I haven't been very connected but that hasn't stopped me from doing stuff around the city. My buddy and former roommate Ryan arrived in Bangkok last Tuesday which is great. He's gonna be here for a few months traveling around but has set up base camp at the Villa Suanphlu. He started taking private Thai lessons which has really reenergized me into learning more. My girlfriend speaks better English than I do so when we speak Thai it's more of a novelty and I haven't made much progress recently. Now I'm slowly learning more and more vocab. My favorite new word is mang moom. It means spider and literally translates as "corner bug". Ryan's school where he learns is a pretty groovy bunch and last night they organized a bowling night for everyone. My bowling experience in America is pretty much limited to dilapidated candlepin lanes so it's always strange when the place is part bowling alley and part wild rave club. When I think of a night of bowling, black lights and booming bass are not what immediately jumps to mind. That said, it was very fun and I look forward to hanging out with that group again some day. Maybe even lessons of my own..? We'll see. For now I can get better acquainted with my Thai for Intermediate Readers book. I sure have enough down time at work with that wireless router still out.

Much love,
J

Happy New Year!

Well I'm back after a nice nine-day break. I decided to stay in the city for the holidays rather than leave for a beach or jungle but it turns out it was the city that left around me. New Year's (and really most holidays) are a big time to be together with family so a lot of Bangkok's citizens return home. This meant that all of my favorite food vendors were closed at one time or another leaving me to survive on large chain restaurants instead (pizza company). This also meant that my go-to internet cafe was closed which is why i've been incommunicado for the past week. I didn't do a whole lot with my days off. Spent most of them catching up on my reading and lounging by the pool. New Year's Eve was fun though. Andrew, Vanessa, Songtai, and myself were debating about whether to go to Siam Square countdown (the Times Square equivalent) or to the Suanlum Night Bazaar where I had gone a couple years before. Well the Siam idea was quashed as being way too crowded and the Bazaar was being bulldozed to make way for a new mall (bummer) so we decided to go to the little blues bar we love so much. It was really jumping. We could just barely fit in the door. We stayed there and did our own mini-countdown and then made our way to Khao San road where we played some pool and danced a bit. Songtai had to work the next day (1pm) so we didn't stay out too too late. The rest of my time was pretty low-key. My New Year's Res is pretty much just to take better care of myself so I've been going to the gym and I even bought another basketball. I went down to the courts last Tuesday to play in the weekly pick-up games. It's a lot of fun, but running around in the Bangkok air tires you out very quickly. Hope everyone had an awesome new year! Let's make it a good one!!

much love
J

ps. Happy 100th post! Here's to 100 more!