ouch!

so, jetlag is brutal. i’ve always had hella issues w/ sleeping in general at home, but being over here on the new schedule is really tough. during the day i’m pretty exhausted so far and can barely keep my eyes open. last night after dinner, i decided to rest up a bit before going out… next thing i know, it’s the next morning.

i woke up this morning and my stomach was killing me. i didn’t eat anything *too* crazy last night, but i felt totally nauseous and ill. spent till 3pm feeling horrible in my room. ugh!

so i decided to leave bangkok early. i’m catching the night train tonight. i don’t know if it’s cause i’m so tired, or if it’s cause i’m still feeling queasy, but bangkok seems a bit much to me right now. my next stop is going to be Kho tao, a small island on the south east coast of thailand. i’ve been wavering back an forth whether i should try to get my scuba certification, and now i think i’m gonna go for it. kho tao has probably the best diving in all of thailand, so it should definitely be fun!

so, overall, my few days in bangkok were pretty cool. one of the things that struck me most about the city, is it’s blend of new high tech stuff, with all the old-school traditional ways. for instance, almost every street has millions of these food stalls. these are wooden little tables that have a bunch of random produce and slabs of meat and stuff, that the people cook up right there on the street. these stalls are filled w/ all sort of really weird bizarre looking foods, and are just thrown together on a wok. but these stalls often stand in front of jewelry stores, 7 elevens, and other totally modern places. speaking of 7 elevens, there are soo many of them! at least 4 times now i’ve seen a 7eleven across the street from another 7eleven. you’ll see monks wearing the traditional saffron robes and sandals, and then they get on a bus. you’ll see an elephant on the street in front of a club blaring the latest eminem single. such a weird mix.

the other striking thing about bkk is all the poverty. you see people laying in the streets everywhere while sleeping. a lot of the alleys are filled w/ run down houses and “restaurants”. stray dogs wander the streets looking for food.

oh, and another funny thing about it is how much of a backpacker mecca it is. anywhere you go you’ll see tons of young people speaking every single language in the book. everyone’s wearing backpacks, and there are internet cafes all over the place.

anyways, that’s pretty much it for today. i need to get outta here to catch a train!

-vlad