so soon!

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Hello again,
I know it's only been a short time since i sent out my last email,
but, i think i could already write a novel as everyday it seems
like there's so much cool stuff to write about. I think i last
wrote when i was in Bangkok after about 2 days.
I left Bangkok saturday (i'm a day ahead of you canadians, so
factor that in) because it was getting to be a bit much. There's
amazing amounts of cool stuff to see there, and i only saw a small
amount of it, but i was really feeling the need to get to somewhere
a bit quieter. Bangkok was loud, and busy, and hot, oh, and great,
but loud. I'll be back there again, so i can see a few other things
when i return in a couple months. So, up to Phitsnanulok.
Took a 5 hour bus ride straight up north, about half way between
bangkok and the northern border. Good bus ride. Not very many
people on it. A little thai kid liked my discman and pushing it's
buttons. I took a picture of him and showed him the playback of it,
and he liked that even more. He was good company for a bit, but he
was loud, like a little kid, and enjoyed bouncing on all the seats
and generally annoying the few other bus passengers. He taught me
the thai word for 'egg', cuz that's all he was saying when he
dropped his hard boiled egg on the floor, and stepped on it, and
then hid part of it in the ashtray in front of my seat.
I got into Phitsanulok at about 6:30, it was dark, and i arrived at
a different' terminal than i thought so following the map in my
lonely planet book i was heading off to nowhere. Some older thai
offered to help, but didn't know the place i wanted to go to, but
gave me a ride on his scooter to a more expensive place. that was a
good time. So, the hotel was too expensive, so i caught a samloor
(spelling's wrong, but it's a little pick-up truck thing with two
front to back facing bench seats) to the correct place. Very basic.
Only 100 baht ($3.33) night. I'm still blown away by how cheap it
all is. The best part was the little squat toilets that don't
flush, you just pour water in it to 'manually' flush it i guess. No
seat's on these things, so you just hover. The nice thing about
this little town is that it's on a river that is lind with markets,
clothing and food. So, dinner was at a little restaurant
overlooking the river. Stir fried shrimp in thai chilli sauce. It
was pretty great. It was red brown with red and green chillis in,
and whole shripm, heads, tails and swimmerettes. It looked unfit
for any mere mortal. Luckily i am no mere mortal. So i ate it and
was dizzy within five minutes from endorphins because my mouth was
burning. I didn't finish it as i was afraid of what it would do to
me, being new to thailand, and it being so hot, and me having only
a little squat toilet. Dessert was two pepto bismol.
Next day i took a bus to Sukkothai where there's an old city with
many old ruins of Wat's. Big crumbling buddha's and temples all
over an area of about 8km. I rented a bike for the day as it was a
lot of ground to cover, and bikes are just cool. I don't really
know how to explain the wat's, other than that they're temples that
at one time had lots of gold and designs covering them where monks
would hang out to worship buddha. Being that Buddha is a big deal
to southeast asia and beyond, even poor areas would have grounds
with big temples, big buddhas covered in gold, and many different
structures (chedis, pagodas). That night upon return to
Phitsanoluk, i showered all the slime off me after a hot humid day
of bike riding, and went back down to the market, this time for
stir fried chilli fish. Good times again. Next day was a walking
tour of the town, and just seeing the town, it's wats, and then
just relaxing by the river for a bit in the shade. Hung out with an
israeli guy, chatted for a while, and turned out he was staying at
the same place as me. We had some dinner, and it rained. That was
pretty good, it cooled everything down a bit. It's not too hot out,
and it was nicer than bangkok as it was more north, but you still
sweat a lot and are just always warm. The rain was a nice little
relief.
So, so far i'm very much enjoying myself. Thai people seem quite
nice, unless you're in bangkok where some crafty guys walk around
trying to scam the tourists, but other than that, very nice. People
stare at me a bit, or just look for a while. Is it cuz i'm white?
cuz i have a ring through my lip? I don't know. maybe i'm just
handsome. Ya, we'll stick with that. And, i can't get over how
cheap everything is. Dinner has cost me 100 baht the past two
nights, and that's with a 1 liter beer. Just over 3 canadian
dollars. Everything is accessible and i have the freedom to go and
see things and never have to think that i shouldn't go into a place
because i can't afford it. I'm being careful with my money, but
it's just nice that accomodation costs $3.50 to $5, and dinner
costs just over $3. everything is interesting. Markets all over,
streetside food stalls (saw stir fried grasshopppers and
cockroaches the other night, didn't have the cajones to try).
Anywho, that's it for now,
next chapter, Mae Sot, the edgy thai/myanmar border town!
bye for now
mark

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