bangkok_blatherings Ouroboros i just paid 50 cents for the most delicious and spicy dish of fish over rice that i have ever eaten. i wandered in off the street and pointed at a colorful dish in a glass case, and bam, my mouth is saturated with spice. my heart is still racing. bangkok smells like guatemala with indian incense. i am on kho san road, the major tourist/backpacker haven- i found a room at 3am with the help of a nice new zealand couple- and have been wandering the streets since 8am. thai signs, english signs, israeli signs. cheap clothes on the street. food stalls everywhere. motorcycles, mopeds, tuktuks, buses, taxis. smog. farang men and women and couples everywhere, women with tanktops and black purses, men in sandals- everyone looking hip- the only farang to smile at me was a beautiful man with tats up and down his arms and a confident stride through the sidewalk hawkers. i am so excited to be here- there is so much to do, and yet, here i am, 945 am sitting in an internet cafe, getting lost, getting oriented, getting acclimated. i have no idea what will happen today. 061011 ... emmi that's a crazy road isn't it. you should go up to chiang mai... it's gorgeous... and the night market has clothes for a third of the price!! god i wish i was there now too! 061012 ... Ouroboros And I wandered the streets and stopped at a smoothie stand, sweating and hot, and ordered and sipped coconut/condensed milk/ice and happily watched and looked- and read Rilke and just as I was going to ask the farang next to me about the shorts he was examining, he asked me the time and we chatted and walked around and shared stories and he gave me his maps. It was my first day, it was his last after a year of travelling. 061012 ... Ouroboros Last night after saying goobye to Aimone ("Why did I have to meet you on my last night?") i walked back towards Khao San Rd and just barely walked past a woman and her baby on a blanket on the street between a parked van and a curb. She was looking at no one holding her child. I took two steps back and gently placed my left-over pat tai on the curb by her. I was afraid that I had offended her- but she paused and then gave me a deep, serious wai- so solomn and real. I didn't know what to do (do i wai in return) so i left. But her gesture is still with me as it haunted me on my walk back to my room amid the neon and vendors and beer and braids and music 061012 ... Ouroboros overnight bus from surat thani got in at 5am. disoriented i wandered to the hostel R had recommended. i just responded to an email from my 10 year old brother, who writes like a college student. I had a dream last night that my father didnt tell me that he and his girlfriend had 2 children- one had FAS, the other was chinese. I am reading leaves_of_grass and a Jung book on the archetyes. I think i need to sleep. I just ate pumkin and egg curry. There are a surprising number of farangs typing away at 725am. I am still unsure of why I am in this country. 061024 ... Questions questions. Are you there on a lark, Ouroboros? How long shalt thou remaineth afar? How do the Thai write "caution: wet floor" (if is it Anglicizable)? 061024 ... Ouroboros on a lark, no, i came on a large plane i am here in thailand for three months maybe after i take some thai lessons will i be able to say wet floor properly 061025 ... native_persimmon deciding in the next couple days whether to go to Northern Thailand for 4 months. . .happy you're there? 061025 ... Ouroboros well i havent made it to the north yet- ill be there in a couple days- so can let you know- but i am damn happy i am here in this beautiful vibrant country 061026 ... Ouroboros chinatown was fantastic- i let myself wander and get lost in the streets and alleys of markets- store after store of beans mushrooms raw-fish ducks rice noodles vegetables; beas on strands sparkly and colorful, reams of fabric, stacked stationary and pens; wrist bands, socks, umbrellas; candles, incense, floating crown-shaped candle-holders for the upcoming festival; spring rolls, friend banannas, fresh coconut juice, pink stamped chinese pastries, noodles, curry; fresh sliced mango, pinapple, papaya, watermelon, banana, durian....... 061026 ... Ouroboros chinatown was fantastic- i let myself wander and get lost in the streets and alleys of markets- store after store of beans mushrooms raw-fish ducks rice noodles vegetables; beas on strands sparkly and colorful, reams of fabric, stacked stationary and pens; wrist bands, socks, umbrellas; candles, incense, floating crown-shaped candle-holders for the upcoming festival; spring rolls, friend banannas, fresh coconut juice, pink stamped chinese pastries, noodles, curry; fresh sliced mango, pinapple, papaya, watermelon, banana, durian....... 061026 ... Ouroboros chinatown was fantastic- i let myself wander and get lost in the streets and alleys of markets- store after store of beans mushrooms raw-fish ducks rice noodles vegetables; beas on strands sparkly and colorful, reams of fabric, stacked stationary and pens; wrist bands, socks, umbrellas; candles, incense, floating crown-shaped candle-holders for the upcoming festival; spring rolls, friend banannas, fresh coconut juice, pink stamped chinese pastries, noodles, curry; fresh sliced mango, pinapple, papaya, watermelon, banana, durian....... 061026 ... Ouroboros get me outa here! 061221 ... Ouroboros (so i am getting myself outa here asap) 061221 ... nom back to turtle island? 061221 ... ever dumbening have fun with the hippies (and dig my appropriate captcha ... ypph ... hippie) on the beach. don't forget to eventually join us in the unreal world again. 061221 ... Ouroboros no turtles- down to the international rainbow gathering, then psytrance gathering over new years, then back to the hippie-fest, then back up to bangkok to see t (old blatherskite) and meet possible-alcoholic/love interest/burner/world traveller at the airport. weeee. now im just awaiting for the bus to take me outa babylon. 061223 ... jane have always wanted to go to thailand but ended up going to singapore & malaysia instead. 061224 ... native_persimmon in under 2 weeks, I'll be on my way 070102 ... . love you long time 070104 ... Ouroboros (shhhh- im back here again- 530am bus arrival- no rooms open- just internet and restaurants- and, don't tell anyone, but in these first few moments, it's good to be back) 070104 ... Ouroboros last time for now- leaving tomorrow evening on a big jet plane bound for lost_angeles 070116 ... . don't forget to tell laynee the ladyboy that i stil love her long time. thanks. 070117 ... Ouroboros I had forgotten about all the mangy dogs lying around. 080129 ... kanop In Pattanak 12 slum under the Suan Dang bridge, Som let me borrow her motorcycle helmet when she was at school and P'Brio taught me how many jiggers of oyster sauce and naam blaah it takes to fry rice. Som would go to bed first, then P'Brio up against the wall and later I would crawl under the fraying mosquito net and into the space between them. I bagged bunches of basil before bed, and sold Nescafé on cold mornings after setting out rice for the young monks that meandered through the canopied alleys, gently awakening the shantytown by chanting into the gray light of dusk. 080831 what's it to you? who go blather from