Isn't it Ironic

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Back again today with another entry from Kanchanaburi.

re: today's title. Yesterday I mentioned the noise that the long tail boats make when they cruise by our floating accomodation on the river. Well, I forgot to mention these karaoke rafts that also happen by from time to time. They're these big party barges that can't travel under their own power, but are pulled by other boats. Okay, so that was a bit of a redundant sentence. Anyway, the ironic thing is that the Japanese are back on the River Kwai. They were the WWII occupiers and they built the nearby bridge and railroad. Now they're back with karaoke (which I'm assuming originated in Japan) and the Thai students here especially love it. We're not exactly loving it when they float by with some off-key crooner at the mic, but it's part of the experience.

Yesterday after our posting I dropped into one of the many 'boy haircut' places on our street. Without knowing too many words in English other than 'short' and 'same same' the woman there did a pretty good job. Good enough that I also went for the straight-razor shave of my face (a first for me) and neck. It was damn good value at 90 Bhat or about 2.50 US.

Speaking of value, I came to the internet place tonight with Sherry's little notebook because she had written down some items of interest that we found while poking around a value-store on the north island of New Zealand. This was a few weeks ago and we were desparately seeking guidebooks for China and Thailand. The bookstore in our town was closed (Sunday). We had a rental car and we drove about a 1/2 hour to the next town and found the bookstores there to also be closed. Then we stopped in at 'The Warehouse'.

This place is kind of like a Sam's Club and kinda like a Target. They pretty much have everything, often in extra large servings/portions, like gallon sized shampoo and conditioner (not for us thanks, that'd pretty much break Sherry's back). Well, The Warehouse also has a small book section. We scored seriously cheap copies (did I already tell this part of the story?) of the Rough Guide to Thailand and the Rough Guide to China. They were 20 NZD each, roughly 16 bucks each. Great value considering that both books were priced at over 25 USD each on their covers. These were new books too..

...so, we were happy about the books, but having a good 5 hours of driving ahead of us the next day, and being throughly tired of the _one_ _single_ _radio station_ that was available in the area (sorry, but I can only take so much Maroon 5), we figured that we'd finger through the discount cd bins.

Well my friends, we hit the jackpot. Since we're traveling on the cheap, we weren't going to be spending no 5 bucks on a cd. No sirree, 2 NZ dollars or less was basically our price range. Oh, and yes, our 2nd criteria was _volume_ of music. By volume I don't mean decibels, I mean minutes of listening pleasure (at least in theory).

So, here's a short list of some of the CDs that we saw, but did not purchase:

• Duelling Banjos and other blue grass standards
  
• French Pop Hits - blech!
  
• Atomic Kitten - they look pretty good, but have you _heard_ them?
  
• NSync's "Home for Christmas"
  
• Trance Chrismas - for some reason I can't see Santa as a raver
  
• Relax with Cracking Fire - this is just the repeating sound of a crackling fire for 60 minutes. JUST what I need to keep me alert on a long road trip. Oh, and yes, the cd cover had a special note that said 'Not Subliminal'
  
• Jack Johnson and His Orchestra - I bet a few people confuse this guy for Jack Johnson?
  
• Papa New Guinea, 20 Great Favorites - I swear to you, I am NOT making this up.
  

So, after a few minutes of deliberation we purchased the following 2 cds. I can't remember exactly what we paid, and actually without them in hand even the names might not be 'spot on'. But we're talking less than 1.60 USD each so bear with me.

• Brit Pop Hits - This one sounded good. I mean, something like 18 songs by bands like Blur, Oasis, etc. This was a pretty solid selection, or at least we thought. It _did_ turn out to be entertaining, but mainly because these songs were _not_ performed by the original artists. In fact, after giving it a listen, we realized that the performers were not even credited, only the song writers. So what we had were a bunch of studio musicians trying to sound like the Gallhager brothers and the chick singer from Elastica.
  
• 2002 Skating Hits - This was a _double_ cd, so it pretty much ended up in our shopping basket on the volume-of-songs criteria. Well, this one pretty much stunk. This compilation was heavy, and I mean heavy, on cheesy electronic dance numbers, with a few 'rough' cuts in there (for the guys I guess??) It was like what you'd expect to hear in an aerobics class (don't ask me how I know that). The other funny thing about it was the speciality of it. I mean, how many roller bladers (after all, this is what they meant by 'skating') out there are in the market for a cd of songs to 'skate along to'?
  

In the end, the cds entertained us for a day, and for the price, what more can you ask?

Also, I did pick up a pretty darn cheap book too in the bargain rack at The Warehouse. It was 1.47 NZD and it's authored by one of the guys that used to be on the TV show 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'. This guy, the author, attended at least 1 movie every day for a year and then wrote a book about it. It's a pretty ok ead, especially when you're traveling and I recommend it. The movie aspect of the book gives you a little taste of home, and another main focus of the book is describing all of these far-off places that he visits to see movies there. Great stuff for any 'traveler'. ; )

We'll check in with you next from China. It seems that there are little bugs here nipping at our feet (shoeless is the culture here in most homes and many businesses), so, we're going to move on to dinner.

-Cory (with the moral support of Sherry)

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Comments

[Mummy]

Love you
Great job Cory, you should be an author of a hilarious travel guide... Glad you are taking good care of my daughter, I am amazed at the sites the two of you have seen.. Look forward to your trip to China... Love the two of you bunches.. Send lots of pictures...