Friday August 13, 2004
Today I have a class, Society and Economy at 12.30, so there’s not much to do before then. I ate some of the pineapple and bananas we bought at the market for breakfast, my usual morning snack. Went to class and it was pretty good. It seems fairly easy and the teacher is good at thoroughly explaining things. After class me and a couple of people at down in the cafeteria and we went to the office to get some books copied. After that I went out on my own to the library and check some mail and such. Then walked around outside a bit, and after sweating so much I decided to go back to my apt. Met up with Jason there and we just vegged out for a few hours. A lot of people were going out for this one guys 21st birthday, but I declined. This girl down the hall had just bought a small guitar so we went to the roof of the building to play a bit. I showed her what I knew, but my style is really not technical and I don’t know the name of any chords. We played for about a half hour then she went back down and I decided to say on the roof. It was about 9pm by then and you could see the whole skyline of Bangkok. The building is about 8 stories high, and it is pretty peaceful and calm up there. So that’s my new relaxation spot. Back in Richmond everytime I wanted to get away I would go up to the top of the VCU parking garage and just watch everything from up there. But here in Bangkok it is hard to find a spot where there is an open space, with no people, and no motor noises. So this was it and I laid out on the picnic table up there and just stared up at the stars, or what little I could see of them. I have noticed every time I looked up in Bangkok I have never seen the moon, not even once. And still I laid there wondering if some clouds were covering it or it was a new moon, but I have never see it. I fell a sleep a bit on the table with my guitar on my stomach, very blissful. I opened my eyes again and decided that I should go back because I didn’t know how long I had been up there for. Got back to my room and read some more. I had finished Walden, and am halfway though The Prophet now, and also almost done with the energy book. I also have reading to do for my classes but I don’t have the books yet, but its not a problem. Stayed up until about 1am and then drifted off to sleep.

Saturday August 14, 2004
Woke up at 8 with nothing really to do, so I went back to sleep. Woke up again to the phone ringing at about 10.30, it was for Jason of course because no one has been able to call me yet. I read a bit more and then decided to go get on the internet downstairs and sent out some emails. Someone has been interested in buying my beetle, so I hope that it can work out. When I was leaving I peaked in and saw a few friends in the restaurant, so I sat and they told me about all the crazy stuff that they did last night. They ate dinner at a pretty expensive restaurant on the river, and then went to “Club Hip-hop” and said that they had a good time, drinking and dancing on the tables and such. Brandon told me that in the bathrooms there they had a guy put a hot towel on your neck, and also rub and crack your neck all while you are standing at the urinal. Interesting, they said it was a bit awkward. A couple of the guys were headed out to PATA Department store to get some groceries so I decided to go along with them. I went up to my room to see if Jason wanted to go with us, but he was asleep on the bed. I yelled “Jason” and he woke up quickly, then I laughed and told him we were going if he wanted to come. But I know he takes about a half hour to get ready before we go anywhere so he said he would meet us there, in the supermarket section. We traveled there and got our food stuffs and whatnots, I waited around for Jason but never saw him. The other guys wanted to go to McDonalds, so I followed them into that gross place but didn’t get anything. We then took a taxi back because we had many bags of things, and I got back to the apt with no sign of Jason. Me and Brandon made plans to go see a movie later and get some food at the “Central” department stores. I just chilled in my room and Jason showed up a half hour later with some more food, some good rations. I bought a bunch of nuts and raisons and dried fruit to make a trail mix, good stuff. We just kicked back in our room for a few hours and I caught up on readings. Then at about 6pm I went up to Brandons room to see if he wanted to go. Jason wasn’t feeling up to it was just Brandon and me. We took the bus for 5B for probably 10 minutes till we got to the right area, we just followed all the masses of people and saw where they were headed. We walked around the Mall and found an Italian restaurant, which was not so Italian, and sat down to eat. I ordered regular spaghetti, and Brandon got a Hawaiian pizza. The servings were small and bland, and didn’t fill me up so I had, had to, get a slice of apple pie, which was also not so good. We went to the theater in the mall to get the tickets to see Collateral, we paid 120B, about $3. I got some popcorn and bottled water for a total of 50B. Our theory of “Thai Time” was reinforced, I’ll explain. You see all of us international students agree that the Thai people run on a relaxed version of standard time. Everything starts and people arrive later than the scheduled time. The movie ticket said 8:45pm, so we tried to get in at 8:35, as in the U.S. you show up a couple of minutes before that time because the movie theoretically starts at that time. Well apparently not here, the theater wasn’t ready until 8:45, where we finally sat down as the only people in the theater, then waited 10 mins until the commercials started playing, then finally the previews. This took about 30 more minutes, and also the National anthem is played before every movie. We were watching previews when all of the sudden music started playing and people started standing up, so I just followed along and there was a 3 minute film and anthem about the Thai king, this was a worthy tribute and a good experience. The move finally started, by the end I was waiting for it to be done. I thought it was good, but just another flick, nothing new. We walked out of the theater and everything in the mall was closed up and it was pretty dark. We had a hard time figuring our way out, because the main entrance was already closed and locked. A guard had to show us the way out through a parking garage and out the back. We finally escaped and walked to see if the busses were still running. We decided to take a Tuk-Tuk back, for 30B. These are always fun to ride in, because its like a go cart and these guys always drive like they are in a race, swerving in and out and cutting people off. We got there quick though, and all in one piece. I said goodnight to Brandon and then went back to my room. Told Jason about the movie and did some more reading. There was a note from the girl down the hall that a bunch of people were going to meet at Thammasat at 11 to go to the “Weekend Market”, supposedly a big marked about a half hour away. I set my alarm and went to sleep.

Sunday August 15, 2004
Woke up before my alarm and just stared and took a while to gain consciousness. I had a few weird dreams that night and also a hard time sleeping. One dream that I can remember is that I had come back from Bangkok to Richmond. I was walking around the streets and I found Meaghan walking with her new friends, she wad dressed differently, like popular or Britney Spears like. She was also smoking and she ran away from her friends to see me. But it was weird then and we were mad at each other and we both had changed. We were both distant but finally we broke down and just laid on the grass together, I was holding her in my arms and we were sleeping. Next thing I remember I woke up hugging my pillow thinking it was Meaghan, I wanted to go back to sleep and dream I was holding her, but I couldn’t do it. That was a bit depressing cause I do miss her and it reminded me of being home. Also had another dream where we were, well I don’t remember but Rob was a pilot and we flew out of our house because the area was flooding for some reason. So I got ready and headed out to meet people at Thammast for the Weekend Market. I got there and Thai Time was again at work. I met some people that were going, but we didn’t leave until about 11:40. There was about 20 of us cramming into 2 vans that could sit 8 people, but it worked out ok and the trip was about 20 minutes. When we got there I saw the masses of people and the large tents and vendors all sprawled out through this area. They dropped us off and the Lady that was in charge said to meet at this one spot at 5pm. Ok, so was about noon time and we had five hours to walk through this market, that was just too much for me since I rarely enjoy shopping and there was stampeding people everywhere. I sucked it up and followed a few people until I was eventually by myself wandering through the endless valleys of people selling you things you didn’t know you needed. I will admit there were some cool shops with original handiwork, but most were just masses of manufactured chopsticks or purses. There was also a whole pet section, where I was a bit heart broken to see these baby animals being sold like meat. There were a lot of different types of species if you would like to know I shall list the types of animals that I can remember seeing: dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, snakes, rodents, lizards, fish, arachnids, scorpions…and several sub species of those animals. I petted the furry things for awhile then moved on to other sections, I walked around and bought a few items but nothing big, but all of the 5 hours I walked constantly without ever seeing the same vendor twice. That was how big this thing was. I eventually realized that I had no clue where I was so at around 4pm I decided to find the meeting point, and it took all of the whole hour to find it. I got there and waited a while for more people in my group to show up. Then once we were all gathered we took a taxi to this big department store where we would all be eating. We had one huge table with all of us sitting, so it was like we took over the restaurant. The place was called MK, and was an upscale place too. The bill was to be paid by the school, so no worries about ordering too much. The school ordered the classic Thai meal there, which consisted of a bunch of meats thrown in a pot cooking right on our table, so it was a kind of stew, with a lot of seafood. So I just ate some noodles that were served separately and had a lot of green tea. We all finished and took awhile to gather together, and then took the brand new subway to a station where the vans were meeting us. The Bangkok subway had just opened a month earlier so none of the Thai students knew exactly how to use it. But we got it figured out and got to the right station alright. We got into the vans and rode back to Thammasat. By this time it was about 9pm, so I walked to the ferry and got back to my apt on time. When I arrived at the building and went up to the room, I found that the door was locked and Jason had gone out with the key. See we only have one key for the room, and when either one of us goes out we leave the key at the front desk, so who ever returns first can pick up the key. Well not this time, Jason had forgot to leave it at the desk, but they had an extra key and I got in Ok. So now I have to find out where Jason went, it is Sunday night and he usually doesn’t stay out too late. I waited a while before I started calling around for him, but then he came back at around 11pm. It turned out that Moo called looking for me to do something with, but since I wasn’t there Jason went instead. They had lunch, then went to a play at the school (which apparently was all in Thai and about protection and some gang people), Jason said the play was pretty funny even though he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Then he ate dinner with her and got back, so it turned out he had a good time which I was glad to hear. I was really tired from the long day out in the heat walking for miles so I showered and went to bed.

Monday August 16, 2004
Woke up at about 8:30am because I had class at 9:30 with Jason. The class was Buddhist Institutions and it was the first class because it was cancelled last week. We arrived a bit late and had to sit in the back, there were already a lot of people there and the teacher didn’t expect that many to be signed up. Well we got the overview and talked about some topics, and had a break in between. This class is only one day a week, but three hours long. The professor is American, but has been living in Bangkok for 12 years. He is a practicing Buddhist and knows quite a bit about the subject, the class is going to be specializing in Thai Buddhism (there are different sects just like Christianity), and this type of Buddhism I am unfamiliar with, so it should be a good course. We got done then I went to pick up some books that I had requested to be copied for my society and economy course, two books for a total of 460B. I then went with a few people to eat lunch at the cafeteria. I got the vegetarian food, which is always fantastic, and also a Boba fruit Shake. I was thrilled to find out that the cafeteria sells them, just like T T lounge in Richmond, and they are only 10B here, so that is amazing. The lady knows me know because I have stopped there frequently, so far my favorite flavor is blueberry, but they have quite a variety. My next class started three hours later so I went to the library a bit, then went to the international office to talk to the people there. Moo was there and I talked to her a bit, and she had given me a flash card with basic Thai words that I would need for ordering in a restaurant, and the written Thai words so I could show it to people also. It said that I was a vegetarian, and also a Vegan, or “ken-jae”. I know quite a bit now and am starting to feel comfortable conversing the standard good day and thank you and how much and all that. I am still learning the numbers, but it comes quick when you are living in the place where you actually use the language every day. So I got some tutoring with her, and then headed to my civilization class. This class is going to be a hard one, because of the unfamiliar names and places, just the phonetics will be hard to remember. This class was only a hour and half, all of constant note taking. But not bad to learn some new things about the country you are living in. So after that I just headed back, by then it was 5pm. I saw this street restaurant that looked fairly appetizing, all they made wad Pad Thai. Oh by the way I always thought that Pad means peanut, but now I know it means fried. So just remember that. Well I told him I didn’t want any meat in Thai, just tofu and the basics. It was pretty good stuff, but not a large enough portion to fill me up. It cost 45B, which for street food is expensive. I headed back to my apt and saw that some black clouds were rolling in. Just a quick rain storm, as usual for the rainy season. I arrived back at my apt. a little moist but refreshed, and while I was waiting for Jason to get back I played the guitar for a bit. Then Jason arrived and we decided to go get some food at a restaurant we have never been before. I got Brandon to come along and we walked until we saw some place that looked decent. There was no one inside and the staff was all over us. They waited over the tables until we decided, while one of the guys seemed to be in charge, telling the waitresses what to do. He was pointing at the menu trying to get us to order things that were more expensive. I ordered pineapple fried rice. Sounded good and it came inside a hollowed pineapple, which was cool too, but it had chunks of meat in it, not a lot so I just sucked it up and took the pieces out which were easy to decipher. The guy made Brandon eat the “right” way, he took his plate and put the rice in the bowl and then put the vegetables and meat in with the rice. But that was weird because it just grabbed the plate and did it for him, and also he yelled at Jason for putting soy sauce on the rice, because apparently that is only a Chinese tradition, not a Thai one. Once they were out, the rice was pretty good. It had pineapple and peanuts in the rice, which was quite delightful. I also ordered some hot jasmine tea, all this cost me about 110B, this was fairly expensive and I don’t think I will go back to this restaurant to eat any time soon. Well anyway me and Jason decided to go to Pata to get a new battery charger for his rechargeable batteries. We got everything taken care of and took a taxi back. Then just stayed in for the rest of the night, typing and reading.

Tuesday August 17, 2004
Not much today. I have a class at 12:30, Art and archaeology. This class was pretty large, compared to the rest of my classes, and it was three hours long. The teacher is pretty good, she told us that we will be learning art history, thai history, archaeology, and thai architecture. We will also be having two field trips to go see some old temples and ruins, so I am looking foreword to that. After I got out of class, I ate some food in the cafeteria, and of course got a boba shake. Then I walked around with Jason to Cosaun Rd because he wanted to get something. So we walked around a bit and I tried looking for this Vegetarian restaurant that I ate at before, The Cozy House, but I couldn’t find it amongst the masses of buildings and vendors. So we continued to walk and decided to stop at a different place that had some vegetarian food, we had eaten there before and the prices are really cheap. I got sweet and sour vegetables with noodles, it was almost like a soup, all for 35B. Jason took a taxi back to the apt and I decided to walk a bit more, and walk back to the apt. I do a lot of walking, as you may have noticed. But I like it better than taking taxi’s all over the place. So I get back to my apt alright, but really sweaty, it was really humid and sunny. Then I get all cleaned up and decide to type a little, and read some of my Economy and Society text book, which is pretty good stuff. Talking about the makings of society and the history of economy and what systems people employed to fulfill their needs. I at first though it was Thai economy and society, but it is really global economy and society, so it is not too difficult. Well anyway, it was about 8pm and we got a call, usually no one calls me so I figure it was for Jason. It turned out to be a girl I had met the day before, just for a few minutes at lunch and she had asked where I was living, so I guess she got the phone number and decided to give me a call. So that’s a little weird, but Thai people are extremely friendly like that, but still I was suspicious. Her name was Fone, it means rain in Thai. She asked if I wanted to come over to her apartment with her friend to watch a movie, so I really had no good excuse at hand and agreed. Jason didn’t want to come and thought I was crazy for going, but I am up for any experience, but know my limits and when to get out of a situation. So she and her friend met me at front of my building and we took a taxi to her apt building, only like 5 minutes away. We got there and it was awkward at first, but they were normal kids like me and we got along good. They made fun of me for just coming over when I didn’t know any of them that well, but I argued that they called me so they couldn’t call expecting me to say no. But it turned out that they did expect me to say no, but whatever. So she pulled out her guitar and they sang a few songs, oh another thing about Asian countries, karaoke is really big and they are used to just singing for fun and memorizing words to famous songs, so they expected me to know a lot of songs and I didn’t. They laughed because they know more American lyrics than I do, and I’m American. But they turned out to be good kids, not party animals like half the people I meet here, and they just like hanging out in small groups. I got to know them pretty well, her friend’s name was Gift. She is Thai also, but has a British accent because she studied there for 2 years, its just weird to hear a Asian person speaking good English but in a British accent. We watched Euro-Trip, which was a good laugh. So it turned out to be a good idea, because I met some people that I’m not afraid to hang out with, they are going to tutor me in Thai. We talked about Buddhism and what I knew, and about vegetarianism and whatnot. I got back around 2am, so Jason thought I was dead. Well that’s about it, I went to sleep…out.

Wednesday August 18, 2004
Not much happened today, just a regular schedule of classes. I woke up and finished The Prophet, I underlined a bunch of good quotes and it is an amazing book to read. After that I went to go eat some fruit at the cafeteria on Thammasat, then I had class at 12:30, Society and Economy. After that I ate lunch and talked to some people, then I went to the library for a bit and got on the internet. Then I headed back to my apt. It was raining, as the usual afternoon rain shower had come in. Sometimes it is a constant downpour for a half an hour, but it is usually just a little rain for 10 minutes, then light sprinkles for a little bit afterwards. But when there are downpours the streets get flooded quick, kind of like Richmond. When a huge portion of the land is covered with cement and paved over, then the water is not absorbed easily into the earth. So many streets fill up quickly and it is hard to maneuver around these swimming pools. The cars and mortocycles go slightly slower, but you sill have to watch yourself because they create giant waves of slimy street water, which can also soak you. Some people have mentioned that the rain irritates their skin or eyes, because of the pollution, but I don’t feel anything abnormal. It is good when it comes along because it cools down the air a bit and it is easier to tolerate. Well I got back mildy wet and changed. Then talked to Jason about what we could do, so I suggested going to a vegetarian restaurant that I had been to before. So we just took it easy in our room for a bit. Then we I got a call from Fone, seeing what we were up to. I said we might go out to eat and anyone could join us if they wanted to. But by then it had started raining again, pretty hard, so we decided that we were just going to eat at the bottom of our apt building. So Fone was getting a cold and she didn’t come, it was just me and Jason. We walked down to eat and we were surprised by Moo and Joe (Joe works at the international office), who had come by to see us. They came bringing gifts, some Thai music CD’s and some Thai desserts. So that was awfully nice of them to come over in the rain. We sat down and ate together, I had the usual of Pad Thai with Tofu. We were down there for about an hour, then went said goodnight and thanked them for coming over. The desserts they gave us were pretty good also. One was gelled coconut pressed and grilled between pieces of palm tree leaves. You open the leaves and pull out the coconut filling, not bad. The other was more of a candy, they were little shapes of fruits and vegetables that were gelled over and shiny looking. They turned out to be made of a bean related curd mixed with sugar cane, they were pasty and interesting, but good to have one or two. After we said good night we went up to the room to finish a few things and then went to sleep.

Thursday August 19, 2004
I had Thai Civilization at 12:30 and then Thai Boxing at 2pm. The Thai Boxing class sounds like it is going to be awesome. It is actually a class, where you get graded and tested. The first class we had was just in a classroom, to get us informed as to what we had signed up for. The teacher is great and I am surprised that he would be teaching at a university. He had been light weight champion in Thailand several times and had gone to the Olympics a couple of times also. His brother is also one of the best Muay Thai Boxers in the country and even won a Gold medal in Atlanta in the last games. They were both trained by their father who was also a great boxer. So this guy knows his stuff, but he doesn’t know a lot of English, so there is a translator there also. He went over the course and what we would be learning. He said at the end of the course we will go see a real match at one of the biggest stadiums in Thailand, the teacher has free entrances there because he was once champion. He said that there are only three places where you can see real Thai Boxing in Thailand, the kind with the gambling and hardcore fighters. So we have to learn the techniques and scoring before he takes us, but I am looking forward to it. We watched a video, and it showed some techniques and it looks like it will be a challenging course. After we got out of that I was walking out and back to my apt when I met Fone and Gift on campus. We made plans to go out to a Vegetarian place that served Thai and Indian dishes. So I got back and told Jason to come, but he wanted to say and read and take notes for his Thai history class. I met up with Anna and Dane from my building and they came with me. Anna is also a vegetarian; she is from northern California, U.C. Santa Cruise. Dane is from the Chicago area, and kind of a 90210 Beverley Hills type of guy, takes a half hour to do his hair, but he’s a decent guy once you get to know him. So we met up with Fone and Gift at the pier because we were going to take a boat to the restaurant. It costs 10B to get on the faster boats that go down the river, as opposed to the ferries with just go across the river to the other side. We stayed on for about 8 minutes and got off and walked a couple of streets to the restaurant. It was called Healthy Food, vegetarian restaurant. So that’s cool. We were the only ones in there and the way you order food was interesting too. They had pictures of the dishes and the names on two large pillars centered in the restaurant. So you go look at the pictures and point at the one that looks the most appetizing to you…ha I’d never thought I would be ordering my food off a pillar in a restaurant. But it was a more informal / cafeteria style restaurant so it some how worked. I got something that was imitation squid, which I didn’t know when I ordered it. There was long tentacle like protein strips in with rice and vegetables. It wasn’t bad at all, but a little chewy. We also got some tea that was excellent. After that we all got a taxi back to our Apt building and we had a jam session. Dane had a harmonica and Fone also plays the guitar, Gift can sing, and Jason had bought a wooden flute at the market that is like a recorder. So we were all trying to sound good, but it didn’t work out so much, but it was fun. So we then decided to go out and play some pool, down by Cosaun road. We went into this place called Shamrock’s, a bar/restaurant. They had a live band playing, a Thai band covering American rock songs, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink 182, and Offspring. It was funny to hear, but it was pretty good stuff. The pool table had a lot of people in line so we went somewhere else after hearing a couple of songs. The girls knew a small place where there would be little people, so we headed there. We eventually found a good place, and got to play a few games of pool. We decided to leave at around 12:30, and got a cab back to drop off Gift and Fone and then we took it back to our place. I got in and Jason was on the phone with his family, and told me that I had miss a call from my mom. Ah, the first time she gets through and I wasn’t there! Well it sounds like I have a package on the way. I got cleaned up and went to sleep.

Friday August 20, 2004
I woke up at about 9am, Jason was still sleeping. I got up and had to write an answer to a question, about a page in length, for Society and Economy. I finished and Jason was still sleeping, he had class at 11:30 and he usually leaves at about 1030, but it was already 10 something and he was still sleeping. So I debated weather I should wake him up or not, but I decided not to because he’s can handle his own. So I just typed a bit more in my journal and herd him slowly waking up at around 1030, and then herd him say “ah shoot”. I guess he realized he was a little behind. I also have been thinking about his passport, his expires the 26th of this month and he has to get his visa renewed before that time or they will fine him or kick him out of the country, but he needs to learn to take care of his own situation, it’s a tough lesson but someone’s got to teach him. He’s 22, and this is the first time he has lived on his own away from his parents. I’ve gotten the impression he is not used to too much responsibility beyond school work and his own interests. He leaves our stuff everywhere and dishes on the floor because it is easier for him to get things if they are down lower, I don’t mind it but we only have one fork and one spoon, and we agreed to clean them after any use…but I don’t yell at him, I just don’t tell him when he’s gonna get deported…so it seems fair enough. Well anyway he took a taxi to school because it was quicker, and I had class at 12:30 so I left around 11:45. I got to Thammasat and waited for the class before me to get out, as they usually run late and our class starts late. After class I ate some vegetarian food and then talked a bit, about any plans for tonight. I went to go get the Thai language book copied that Brandon lent me, because I am not taking the class but I still want to learn it. Then I went to the library to check email and send some out. Then I walked back to my apt. My new thing everyday is stopping and picking up some fried bananas at this lady right next to my apartment. She knows me now, and there is always a guy there too, they don’t speak English well, but it works out. I say good day to them and then “Glouy”, which means banana and I get a bag of the small fried ones, fresh, for 10 B. It’s a good amount of them too. But today after she handed me the bag and I handed her the money, she held up one and said “Ba-nan-A?”..i didn’t know what she meant but she kept repeating it. Then I figured out she was asking if that is what you call it in English…so I said “ohh, banana, Ka, ka”.. ka means yes. The they laughed and I went on my merry way back to my apartment. I think I’m addicted to these, they are really good and sometimes I put peanut butter on them, but Jason seems to think that is repulsive. They are really greasy though, but everything here is fried or grilled so I guess there is no other option. I have had some grilled bananas too, with a sweet coconut marinade; these are good too, but not as good as the fried and battered ones, I think there is a little coconut shredded on them too with some sesame seeds. Mmmmm’. Well I just read a bit and waited for a call from anyone to see if they wanted to do anything. I took a little nap, for about an hour. Then decided to call Fone to see if she was done working, but no answer. So I called Gift and she answered and said that she was just around Thammasat looking at the shops, so we decided that we were hungry, and I told here just to wait there a bit and I would gather Jason and Brandon to come along. So we left and headed to Thammasat, took the ferry and by this time it was about 7:45, and we met her at the pier by the university. We walked to a restaurant down the street. It had a tea house atmosphere, relaxed feeling. It did in fact have a wide selection of tea, which was good and also some vegetarian dishes. The restaurant was not that big, probably only 6 tables or so, but it had a tree in the middle with stones around it, so when you had to walk by you ducked under the tree. The whole restaurant was enclosed though, and air conditioned. We got our food and the meal was good, and not too expensive. I think my drink and noodle dish cost me 80B. After there we decided to go back to meet up with Fone at her apartment, the same building where Gift lives. We listened to music and played some of our own. We had gotten word of a “party” that this guy Nathan was having for his new apartment at Three J court. About a block away from where we were. Basically most of the international students would be there, so we were going to check it out. Jason and I don’t really go to these things because it is nothing special, just people getting drunk and screaming obscenities. We decided to head over there at about 11pm, and we walked through some weird areas to get there, the back alleys. The girls explained that they were massage parlors, the ones with a “happy ending” is what they called it. Ha, so it was funny to walk by and see all the taxi’s waiting out front and all the scandalous activity that goes on there. We got to the apartment and the security guy knew about the party and greeted us and escorted us to the elevator. That’s another difference here about how people act, I guess they all like to party, but they didn’t care about all these people in the apartment building drinking and being loud, in fact it is almost like they encourage it. When we got upstairs we said hello to a bunch of people and I talked to Nate, he is in 3 of my classes and a funny guy, but he likes to have a good time also. He told me that when he asked the management of the building if he could have a party they got excicted and gave him a few cases of beer. That was nice of them. Well there was probally 30 people or so in this upstairs lounge area, where his room was next to. I made my rounds and talked to the people I knew and refused drinks every 2 minutes or so. Jason didn’t enjoy the scene so he just left and I didn’t get to talk to him about where he was going or anything. By then it was about midnight. I found Fone and Gift again and we decided that the party was a bit boring so we decided to just go to Cosaun rd, actually I found out it is spelled Khaosaun. We walked around and saw all the night life, there were a lot of people out, locals playing guitar on the street and may people selling various items. We went into a couple of places but all of them were crowded, so we got fed up and just went back to Fone’s apartment. Then she called one of her European friends, who was having a little get together, not a party. Ha, I guess that is one difference between Americans and Europeans, they just get together and relax and have a few beers. Unlike American college students who get drunk and wasted, these guys are used to the accessibility of alcohol and don’t look at it as a big thing. So we headed over there and it was a nice place. They were on the 16th floor, and had an amazing view of the city. They had a huge bay window in each of the two rooms. They got hooked up because one of the guys from Holland gave a soccer jersey to one of the managers, and they somehow got one of the nicest rooms in the whole building. So, again, that is how they do it here. Me and Brandon were the only Americans there, but we got along alright. They asked us why all the Americans always hang out together, but we countered that all the Europeans hang out together. So they agreed, but there were no hard feelings. Some dutch, germans, sweedish, finnish, and the like were lounging around. All the girls looked the same, blonde hair, tall, and …Europeanesk beauty, but lacking something. A few of the girls came and talked to me and Brandon, and most of them are from the business program at Thammast, not the Thai studies, so we never really had seen them before. We mingled a bit with other guys, and met two Espens…which means Bear in Finish. One of the guys actually lives in our building, Ruen Indra, on the Third floor. He’s one of the less arrogant and rowdy Europeans. People slowly trickled out and we and three other guys were left, it was about 4am. We got in with Heiner, the guy who lived in the place. He is in Brandon’s Thai language class, so they had known each other before. But I just had met him and he’s an interesting fellow. We agreed to hang out again, and Fone and Gift said that since he had a kitchen we could have a traditional Thai dinner party. I want to learn how to make some Thai vegetarian food, or even the Pad Thai with tofu. Well we said goodnight and left and headed back to Ruen Indra, with Gift and Fone. We went to Dane’s room and just listened to music and looked at his digital pictures of everything he had done here. Gift left at like 5:30 because she had to get a bus down to her parents in southern Thailand at 8am, but the bus ride would be something like 11 hours, so she planned on sleeping then. I went outside and watched the sun rise and admired the scenery from the balcony, and heard the roosters right next to our building crowing. A perfect morning in Bangkok. I headed down to my room at around 6am, and was surprised to find Jason still awake, typing on his computer. He had been awake the whole time. When he left the first party, he walked a bit and then took a taxi to Khaosaun Rd. to check out the scene there and got a watercolor character of himself, which we agreed we had to get one later of us together. So we eventually went to sleep and closed the curtains to keep the approaching sunshine out of our cave, in which I proceeded to hibernate for the next week.

Saturday August 21, 2004
I woke up on and off during the next few hours, but eventually got up around 12:30. Fone called and asked if we wanted to go to Nuan Luan, a night bazaar tonight. I said alrighty then. I had to go pick up a book that I was getting copied at Thammasat, so I left to go there at around 3pm. I walked to campus, picked up the book and got a boba shake, then walked to the market to pick up some bread and bananas for the upcoming week. I got back at around 4:30 and asked if Brandon wanted to go with us to the market. He said “cool, whatever”, because we were all still sleep deprived that nothing much mattered. I went and took a bit of a nap until we were going out. We talked to Fone and decided to meet at around 7 by the Chang pier, next to the Grand Palace. We got there and met up with Fone, Gok-kai, and Vesa, her boyfriend from Finland. This guy is pretty Finnish looking, long blond hair with big hands and big feet, and tall too. He spoke good English and was pretty funny throughout the night. We sat down at an outside restaurant and I got the usual, Pad Thai with Tofu. After we ate we headed to Thammasat where we were going to me Heiner, and his Brother Espen, they were going to go with us to the night bazaar. On the way I stopped at a Thai bookstore and got a children’s Thai alphabet book, to trace and color and learn the Thai letters. When we were leaving the bookstore it started to rain, and it advanced to a down pour. We ran through the rain to meet the guys at the “canteen”, and we waited there until it slowed down to a drissle. Then we set off to the Nuan Laum market. We took taxis and it was about a 20 minute drive. We got there and decided to get something to eat first, so we went to “Safari Steakhouse”, my first choice as you may have guessed. I just got a fruit salad and some fried cashews, while others were ordering crocodile steaks. After that we split up and walked around for only about 30 minutes because by then it was about to close. They shut down at midnight, so we met up…and everyone except me, Brandon, Jason, and Fone were left. So we took a taxi to her apartment and watched a depressing movie, Thirteen. Well after it was over we looked at Fone and she was asleep, so we snuck out at about 3am and she didn’t even wake up. We got back to our apt, and I went to sleep. The next thing I know the phone is ringing and it was about 7am Sunday morning. It was Fone and she had just woken up and realized we were not there, so I laughed at her and we had a 4 minute talk about something …but we were both half asleep so I said I would talk to her later and then I went back to sleep.

Sunday August 22, 2004
“Ring, Ring, Ring”…eh someone is calling me again. Jeez… I pick up the phone and to my amazement it was Meaghan! So we had a long talk about what’s been interesting in our lives and what’s not so interesting. The pone line cut out a few times, because for some reason my line here wont let you have a continuous conversation for more than 20 or 30 minutes. Well it reached a point where I had to leave the room and call her from the international phone booth down the street. By that time it was about 11:30 and we had to say our usual torturous goodbyes, with our hearts not knowing which way is home. I left the phone booth not knowing what to feel, but I remembered that Moo was going to meet me and take me to a Blind children’s school. So I returned to Bangkok, as my head had been elsewhere. I got changed and met her at the bottom of my apartment. We took a taxi to the School, where I we could be volunteers and help out with anything during the day. When I arrived I was glad to be in a place that needed me, the blind children have enough charisma and love to make me smile a lifetime. I met a few kids and we had to organize them into groups of six. They were going to have a “field day” type thing, where they had to play games and such. I watched them play a relay game, as they had to pass a coke can after running around these two poles with ribbon tied between them, so they could feel their way along the ribbon. The fastest team would advance to the next round. As I was watching these games, someone came up to me with a blind girl on his arm, she looked about my age. He said she wanted to meet me, so I didn’t hesitate. He pulled her towards me and I held her hand as she introduced herself, and she spoke great English. She had been going to a college in England, and studying English for a year. So we talked about England and what she likes about it and if she had visited America. She seemed to enjoy talking with me and hearing why I was in Thailand and I certainly enjoyed her beautiful energy and holding her hand as we talked. After about 10 minutes her friend came back and they had to go so I said I was glad to have met her. After they left I went and found Moo, and we helped pass out snack to the kids. It was any one of the various kinds of chips, or nuts in a bag, and a small cup with orange liquid in it. After they ate, they held the trash in the air and we had to get it from them. Then after we didn’t have anything to do, we went out to get some lunch at a small side of the road place, and we both had Khao Rik Pad Puk, rice with fried vegetables. When we got back we saw they were all just hanging out and listening to music. I went over to another group of boys that were playing some guitars. All the kids here were in grades K-9. They were playing the guitar and singing pretty well, and I suppose they love to listen and play music. After a while they gathered in the cafeteria and listen to someone talk and they handed out little desserts to all the kids. Me and Moo went to another area to listen to one of the counselors, who is also slightly blind, play the piano for a bit. She was great, and she played some traditional Thai music. I was really tired by then, and I was drifting in and out of sleep. So Moo asked if I wanted to go, and I reluctantly said OK. So we said goodbye and got in a taxi back to my apartment. I thanked Moo for taking me to a great experience, and I went back to my place and took a nap for an hour, until 6pm. Then me and Jason went out to get some food, we took a taxi to Khaosaun Rd, where there is this good vegetarian restaurant, called Health for You, or something like that. I got this Tofu and vegetables sandwich, with also a peanut sauce on it…it was good but not that filling. So I had to get the amazing black sticky rice with coconut, banana and mango in a bowl with coconut milk. The sticky rice was warm, so it had the same effect as a warm brownie and cold ice cream. Ahh…I could go for some more right now actually. Well we finished that and walked over to Khaosaun Rd. because the place is close to, but not on the road. We looked around and bought a few items here and there and then got a taxi back. I read a little for my Buddhist institutions class, then hit the sack.

Monday August 24, 2004
I woke up at around 8am and had remembered through the night Jason had been typing and he actually went up the roof to type, and I heard him come back in at around 5 in the morning. So we both have Buddhist institutions at 9:30 and I debated waking him up. But I figured if he wanted to go he could get himself up, so I let him sleep. I got ready and it was about 8:40 and he hadn’t budged. So I left him and went to Thammast. I got some fruit and juice there and then made it up to class. At the halfway point in our class we took a 15 minute break, and I noticed Jason had come in when I got back from the break. I laughed at him and he was a little bitter, but nothing serious, he just said for me to wake him up next time if I don’t know what he’s doing. So after class I went and ate some lunch and waited for my next class to start at 15:30 (they use military time here so get used to it, I did). I went to the library for a bit, sent out some emails and read a little. I also had to write a few post cards. So I burned time until class started and then went to Thai civilization. After that class, I went down to the “canteen” and ate some really spicy vegetarian food, and had 2 bottles of water to wash it all down. I met Moo there and told here that me and Brandon planed on going back to the Night Bazaar because he wants to get things for his family. Brandon has decided to go back home and not stay the rest of the semester. He said that if he does a semester in Bangkok, then he has to do one more at his home institution. Otherwise he could just do one more at home and not another one, so he decided that it would be best if he goes back. So he leaves on Wednesday, and wants to get all the souvenirs before he goes back. He said he would also sell his cell phone to me for a 1,000B, which is good and I will probably buy it because it cost him about 2000B to get it all set up. So moo agreed to meet us at around 8pm to go to the market. I came back to the room and Jason wanted to go to the supermarket to get some food, so we walked to PATA and got what we needed. We took a taxi back and by then it was about 7:30. I cleaned the sweat off me and met with Moo and Brandon downstairs. We went to the market, Brandon went off on his own and me and Moo went to get some dinner. The only vegetarian stuff we could find was Pad Thai, and I was fine with it because it is one of my favorite dishes to eat here. So we ate and listen to the live band that was playing. After that we walked around and she got a call from her friend that co-owned a pet shop next to the market. So we walked over there and she had a few small and fluffy puppies to play with. They were miniature dogs, with very long hair so it almost seemed they were a moving shag carpet. When one laid down you couldn’t see its face or decipher its legs, it was just this mat of fur. We stayed for about 10 minutes then walked and looked at the shops for a bit until we found the spot were we were going to meet Brandon. After he showed up, we went back the apartment, but dropped Moo off first. By then it was about 10:30 and I got to my room, read some and typed some then went to bed at around 1am.

Tuesday August 24, 2004
I woke up at about 9am, and just putzed around, ate some peanut butter and jelly and some cereal, fruit loops, with a new kind of soy milk. It’s called Nature UP!, doesn’t sound delicious. Actually this kind is a lot better than the first one I got, which was sugar free and just not that tasty. This kind is made from soy, grain, and corn milk and it has some vitamins and calcium added, and it is also sweetened. So it’s pretty good, but it is really too sweet to have with fruit loops. So I read a bit and then headed to class an hour early, so I could talk to the international office. I went there and tried to pay for the trip this weekend that would be going to the floating market and to some caves. The guy I needed to see wasn’t there, so I had to come back later. I went to the canteen and met up with some people in my next class, and after a bit we went up there and low and behold my only class, Art and Archaeology, was cancelled. So I really had nothing to do, I went back down to the canteen, because I figured I might as well get some real lunch at the Vegetarian place, so I did and sat with some people. After that I went back to the international office to pay for the trip and the guy was finally there, so I got my ticket for this weekend. I also had seen a note up in the office that I thought may be for me. It reads: “To Michael, I sent you an email last week. Did you get it? Anyway, I wish to see you sometime, if you’re free. Call me O.K.!!! Fon Punyarat 01-3072926.” So I figured someone might be wanting to meet me, or it could be another Michael. So I decided to take the note with me this time, because I had seen it for the past week hanging up on the board. I grabbed it and went out, I had to drop off some paper for ISEP that had my classes on it so that the coordinator here could sign off on it. I found her office and greeted her and she told me to come back tomorrow because she had to verify the classes. So after that I went to the library a bit to check email and read some. Then I left and headed back to my apt. Brandon would be leaving tomarrow to go back home, so I wanted to see if he was going to hang out and do something before he left. I got back and he wasn’t in his room. So I called Fone to talk to her, the Fon that I had met before not the one from the note, and she wanted to say bye to Brandon too. So I waited to hear from him. I rested a bit, then Fone called me back and said that she talked to Brandon and he was coming back to the apt at around 8pm, so it was about 7 then and me and Jason were hungry. So we decided to go to a restaurant near Thammasat that Jason had been to before, and we took a taxi there. As we were walking to the restaurant Jason stopped at this street vendor that was selling delicious little insects, yes, bugs. He had crispy little critters, meal worms, beetles, cockroaches, and large grasshoppers. Jason got a bag of grasshoppers and the guy sprinkled some seasoning on them and sprayed them with soy sauce, so they looked pretty gross. We continued to this empty restaurant, that had a small stage set up for live music and the lighting was dim also. We sat down at these shakey tables and chairs and Jason tried the Grasshoppers, and said they actually were not bad, just crunchy but pretty good. I looked at the menu to keep from looking at the bag of insects on the table and noticed lack of vegetarian dishes. So I had the usual Khao Pad Puk, any place can make if even if it’s not on the menu. They put a candle on the table to increase the romantic feeling and then a guy and girl went on stage to start playing some music. It was weird because me and Jason were the only ones there, and it was like they were playing just for us. The guy was playing the piano and the girl was singing, it was pretty good but awkward because they were like 20 feet away from us. So after ever song she would say that her English wasn’t that good but asked if we like the song. We said yeah and smiled and waited for our food to come. When I got my plate I noticed that the rice with vegetables was molded in the shape of a heart, so that was also romantic. So we finished and all the while maybe one or two people came in to eat and they continued playing music. The meal was too expensive and not good enough for that price, my dish and a bottle of water were 90B, so I don’t think I’ll go back to that place again. We walked down the street and surprisingly saw two people from the international program, so we said hi and then two other people came walking from the other direction that I knew, one of them was Moo with her buddy Brenden, so it was weird to run into all these people just on the street. We talked for a bit, then me and Jason headed back to meet up with Brandon to see what he was up to. I got to the apt and went to his room and talked to him and bought his cell phone for a 1000B, and he was packing up to leave at 4am on Weds. Fone said she was going to stop by in a bit so I waited down in my room and decided to call the Fon from the Note that I found in the International office. I called not knowing if it was the Fon I knew or not because it was a different number. So some one answered and I said hello and introduced myself and why I was calling. It turned out that she was looking for her buddy named Michael also, but with a different last name. So I was a bit embarrassed and it was a little awkward but she asked if I wanted to meet anyway and I say what they hey, and decided to meet her for lunch at 11am at the international office. She asked if she could bring some of her friends so I said I didn’t care, and so…yeah im going to meet some random girl tomorrow, but I think it will be ok. I then called the other Fone to see where she was and it turned out that she was in the building at someone else’s room. So I she came down to my room and we went up to see Brandon. We talked for a bit and Brandon decided he wanted to go to Khaosaun one last time before he left. Fone had to go back and do some work, so just me and Brandon went, by this time it was about 10:45pm. We walked around and he got some fake Adidas that looked pretty good. For some reason all the shops had to close at 11pm, and the police was there to enforce it, so you couldn’t buy anything off the street past that time. I later found out it was just a temporary ordinance because they were on an electricity shortage or something, I’m not too sure. So I was a bit hungry because that plate of rice I ate with Jason didn’t really fill me up, I stopped by my regular place, 247 Thai, which is right off Khaosaun and they have cheap vegetarian food. I got Pad Thai and Brandon walked around until I finished. After that I walked outside to meet up with Brandon and ran into Dave, Mia, and another Michael that all live at Ruen Indra. So we talked and when we me up with Brandon we all took a taxi back. I said farewell to Brandon and wished him a good trip and a good life. That’s the last I saw of him, and so I went to my room and read some economics and then went to sleep at around 1am.

Wednesday August 25, 2004
So I wake up at about 9:30 and stare for a bit. Jason got up, got ready for class, then headed out at around 10:30. I had to meet the other Fon at 11, so I got ready too and left to go to Thammasat. I took the ferry as usual and was feeling a bit nervous, and wondering what I had gotten myself into. So I go to the international office to see if I can find her, but no luck. So I go upstairs to pick up my form from the ISEP coordinator, then head back down to the International Office, and as I was about to open the door a girl comes out and says “Are you Michael”, yes indeed, that’s me. So I meet her and she said she has some friends I can meet too. So we go around the corner and there are about 15 of her friends waiting there, like it was a surprise party or something. This was a bit overwhelming, I only expected 2 or 3 of her friends to come, but I went down the line and introduced myself while they told me each of their names, which I cant remember but 2 of them. So after that about half of them had to go to class, and just wanted to meet me, and the other half came with us to get lunch by the Prachan Pier, right outside Thammasat. We got to this nice little restaurant, and I think there were about 8 of us. I told them I was vegetarian, and I got the usual “Ohhhhh”, and they talked amongst themselves in Thai for a bit. They helped me find something to order and we just talked about the usual…where I was from, what was I studying back home, do I like it here, and all that stuff. I asked them the same vague questions and it seemed to be going well. It was weird, like I was some celebrity because I was the only white guy, surrounded by 7 Thai girls, and ..yeah so it was a bit weird, but I got over it. So we talked a bit, and Fon was nice and easy to talk to, and also her friend Bo, the only two names I can remember. So we left there about 12, I had class at 12:30, so we departed and I said we could hang out again anytime, if they wanted to do something. I walked over to the canteen because I still had about 20 minutes till class started, and I met up with some people I knew and talked a bit. Then headed up to the class, Society and Economy, and waited for the class before me to get out, because they are always behind schedule and our class usually doesn’t start until 12:40-45. Well we had class, and I learned more about “society and economy” and then I went down with Josie and Anna to get some lunch. I wasn’t too hungry, but I always take advantage of the cheap food there while I can, because once I go back to my apt from school it is hard to find a cheap decent meal within walking distance. So we ate and talked for about an hour, and I walked to the library and did the internet thing, and then went upstairs to meet Fone, for she said she wanted to tutor me in Thai at 4pm. So I waited and called her cell and no answer, so I walked to the soccer field where they were having a game and watched about 15 minutes of it. Then called her again, no answer so I headed back to my apt. Once I got there I got a call from her saying she left her cell phone at home and couldn’t meet me because she wasn’t feeling too well. So that’s cool, not a problem. I got word that some people were meeting down stairs to eat some dinner at 8pm, but I didn’t really know. Moo called me and said she would be coming over, so me and Jason said we would eat with her. When she got here, Fone called and said she was coming over to meet some people to eat in the restaurant underneath our building, so we went downstairs and meet with Fone, but me, Jason and Moo went to a Vegetarian restaurant, The Cozy house of course. We ate there and I had sticky rice for dessert again, and felt a little sick for eating so much throughout the day, but I couldn’t resist the sticky rice. After we were done we went back to Ruen Indra and Moo went home. I had been doing some water color painting of a lotus throughout the day, and I finished that tonight, and then read for a bit and went to bed around 1am again.