Diamond City Hotel Bangkok

So after barely making it out of SD in time (huge rainstorm the day I'm leaving even though it only rains once a year), including layovers in LA, and a 14 hr flight to Taipei, Taiwan enroute to Thailand (where I got my first asian meal of the trip-they must have been going for some kind of hybrid cuisine-chicken and rice, potato salad, and cheesecake), and about 24 total hours of travel, I finally made it to ...

... end of the shitshow.

The business end of the shitshow is that teaching students who have been taught not to think is an uphill battle. As a friend I've recently made says, "If you keep them mindlessly devotional, you keep them easy to govern. Look at the French. All well-educated, value critical thought, and bloody IMPOSSIBLE to govern," (and yes, he's English). For another opinion, see Wikipedia's thoughts on education in Thailand: "Students ...

... women. I put that in quotes because every time that she would speak I sense a hint of a foreign accent. It was so slight that only a linguist could note, but it was there. She seamlessly uncomfortably sat in the middle of two men with extreme opposite personalities and looks. Her hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun that rode above her head like a wisp atop a ice cream cone. all throughout the entire meeting utterance like contentment and ...

... there's no code of behaviour, you can do,be anyone you want and no one bats and eyelid.

After finding O'Reilly's pub just around the corner of our hostel, we knew we must see if bulmers was available, and believe it or not, it was! suddenly we became very happy irish people and our game began to spread!!

We visited the Palace here, which is certainly a sight to behold. The intricate design and unbeliveable carvings and painting here are certainly ...

... the Tourist Information Centre where our day was planned out and a tuk-tuk carted us out and about for the afternoon (4 hours with the tuk-tuk for $1.50…bargain!).

First stop - the sleeping Buddha – one of the biggest Buddas in the world – where Erica released some finches so that Buddha would provide us with good luck for the trip (something we could do with a little of considering what happened in India). Next ...

... gear) and drove round the island, got burnt to a crisp, and watched the Wimbledon final (poor Roddick). We had one night out with some English folk we met at our bugalows which was again, messy. Samsung had well and truly defeated me.

After staying a few nights, the time had come to head over to Koh Phangang for the main event: the Full Moon Party. I had already seen a friend from my course in Bangkok, so checked in wth him when we got there, and ...

... meme que ce foutu accent francais. Nous visitons le grand marche de Bangkok le lendemain, toujours avec des guides volontaires puis nous preparons notre itineraire de voyage a travers la Thailande.

Nous quittons Bangkok et ses effluves incessantes pour Katchanaburi, localite au nord-ouest de Bangkok. Nous trouvons un charmant endroit ou rester, un hostel sur pilotis sur la riviere Kwai. Il y avait meme un billard! Le lendemain, c ...

... his help to be confused, time to use my ancient and noble womanly knowledge to woo a class B (13 – 17 years old) *****. Bangkok was more expensive this time, it was more surprising, it got up later than I had become accustomed to, and it seemed more foreign. T hose of you that think Thailand is SE Asia are wrong. This is the back-door, the lubricant, the soft landing, the safety blanket.

But I will be back here one day. It's an intoxicating juxtaposition to be in.