Where have you been?

Just to let you all know I arrived to southern California safe and sound yesterday afternoon. As expected it is sunny and warm, around 18 to 20C. Not much time to post, however, as I am going out running in the sun shine!

We took a side trip from Bangkok to visit the old Thai capital Ayutthaya which is about 1.5 hours north. The Burmese army sacked Ayutthaya in 1767 so only broken remains of the original city remain. This is a bit misleading as Ayutthaya is still a vibrant city, there are just remains of the old city scattered about as well. Our tour guide wasn't the greatest and didn't take us to all the hot spots but it was an enjoyable break from Bangkok and very interesting to see how grand Siam of old must have been. The Burmese were complete in their razing of the city as there are few if any monk statues with their heads intact and all of the building suffer from severe structural damage.

The photos show one of the many temples of the old capital as well as a close up of the Garuda bird statue. Infomation on the Garuda, which is the national image of Thailand, can be found here.

After spending a week in Bangkok I realized that it is simply too big of a city and I did not enjoy it (much) anymore. There are still amazing clubs and night spots, and the wats and some of the government building are beautiful; it just lost its sheen. Traffic, pollution, people everywhere, its simply overwhelming and too much for me.

Koh Samui, on the other hand, is a beautiful and quite island. The beaches an clean and there are not too many tourist around. Well, not too many if you stay around Lami beach, Chawang is pretty busy.

Above is a photo of a mural in Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha), Bangkok. The inside of the temple is covered in murals that tell various religious and historic stories and is simply amazing. The Buddah it self is about 45 feet tall and 140 feet long. The bottom of his feet, about 30 feet tall, are covered in Mother-of-Perl images of the many Thai gods and images. The second photo shows one of these images. The elephant is about 7 or 8 inches high.

I read quite often and frequently I will come across a passage that is very touching or has some relevance to my life. Recently I finished "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain (Virago, Longdon 1986 - Oringally published in 1933) which is her account of World War I and the effect it had upon her life. There were a few sections of text that struck me and I will post them here to share with you. The first concerns her first experience with American troops and I hope it is a warming, contrast to what I have posted previously...

"Only a day or two afterwards I was leaving quarters to go back to my ward, when I had to wait to let a large contingent of troops march past me along the main road that ran through our camp. They were swinging rapidly towards Camiers, and though the sight of soldiers marching was now too familiar to arouse curiosity, an unusual quality of bold vigour in their swift stride caused me to stare at them with puzzled interest.

They looked larger than ordinary mem; their tall, straight figures were in vivid contrast to the under-sized armies of pale recruits to which we had grown accustomed. At first I thought their spruce, clean uniforms were those of officers, yet obviously they could not be officers, for there were too many of them; they seemed, as it were, Tommies in heaven. Had yet another regiment been conjured out of our depleted Dominions? I woundered, watching them move with such rhythm, such dignity, such serene consciousness of selfrespect. But I knew the colonial troops so well, and these were different; they were assured where the Australians were aggressive, self-possessed where the New Zealanders where turbulent.

Then I heard and excited exclamation from a group of Sisters behind me.

"Look! Look! Here are the Americans!"

I pressed forward with the others to watch the United States physically entering the War, so god-like, so magnificient, so splendidly unimpaired in comparison with the tired, nerve-racked men of the British Army. So these were our delivers at last, marching up the road to Camiers in the spring sunshine! There seemed to be hundreds of them, and in the fearless swagger of their proud strength they looked a formidable balwark against the peril looming from Amiens.

Somehow the necessity of packing up in a hurry, the ignominious flight to the coast so long imagined seemed to move further away. An uncontrollable emotion seized me - as such emotions often seized us in those days of insufficient sleep; my eyeballs pricked, my throat ached, and a mist swam over the confident Americans going to the front. The coming of relief made me realize all at once how long and how intolerable had been the tension, and with the knowledge that we were not, after all, defeated, I found myself beginning to cry."

P420-421

Back from Thailand I am rested and at peace again. Thailand is a wonderful place and once again I have had a marvelous vacation. England is cold and a bit rainy but I am happy to be back with my girlfriend and my friends. Only two more weeks to go and I will be back in the California sunshine. But that will only be a brief respite as I will be moving to Poland in January, not Febuary. Hello Cold, here I come!

At a party I had this past weekend I was unlucky enough to meet the epitome of why everyone hates Americans. His name is Chris and he is in the Air Force. Intelligence according to what he said but I'll get to that. He came to the party at the invitation of my girlfriend's cousin. She was slightly interested in him so why not invite him and get to know him a bit better.

Once he arrived he began to tell my girlfriend how beautiful she was and how he has girlfriends all over the place. I managed to avoid him for quite some time (I knew what he was going to be like after my girlfriend came up to me pissed off). He must have been able to sense my disgust because once he did manage to corner me he was very hostile. He made the typical "You enjoy the freedom I provide" statements and then went on to explain how intelligent he was. He is, he claims, in Intelligence and currently working on his masters. When it was clear my lack of awe irritated him, I went on to explain that I had a PhD in chemistry and worked at the University of Cambridge. Not only was he unimpressed but he actually expressed doubt at my claims and went on to summarize my story in the following manner:

"So you are lying about working for the University and you are lying about having a PhD in chemistry. Does it make you feel good to tell such outrageous lies?"

I told him I could care less what he believed and walked away. Later, after the cousin was passed out upstairs, my girlfriend told me it was time for him to go so I passed along the message. He was (yet again) offended that someone he provided freedom for would dare kick him out and went on another tirade. I was eventually able to get him to the door when he made the proclamation that I had better not say anything behind his back because he was "going to kill me". Once again I told him I was unimpressed and that all he would get from me was apathy and that if he would "just leave that everything would be great". After a few more "going to kill you"s he finally left.

You have got to love it: when we send troops to fight in foreign countries they kill people. When we send troops to friendly countries they threaten to kill people. I guess I have had my allotment of "Shock and Awe"!

Go America!

I have finally sold my Triumph and was able to get what I wanted out of it. Perhaps I could have got more as the first guy who came out to look at it bought it. It was a super bike and I enjoyed touring England, Wales, and Scotland on it and I would reccomend a Triumph to whoever is looking. Personally I would like a Speed Triple at some point...

Unfortunately the bike has not been too luck for the guy that bought it. As he rode off from my house it started to rain quite heavily. The rain lasted about 45 minutes, the duration of his ride home. Then, the following moringing, as he was sitting at an intersection on his way into town, a car hit him and knocked him off the bike. He is okay but the bike took damage. I have ask that he send photos but I am not sure how happy he is about the entire thing so I might not get one. Bummer.

Humm, don't know much about this. Some sort of Buddist site near the lake. We stopped and the Thai girls we were with did a little prayer. It was very beautiful though, the statue, and was clearly important to them.

Here is a view of the jungle around Chaing Mai. We stopped a lake directly behind the camera for lunch one day. I can't remember what the area was called but if I think about it I will ask Ryan and post it later...

Here is a view of one of the many shopping districts in Bangkok. Also in view are two of the most common forms of transportation in the city: the moped and tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuks are pretty much three wheeled taxis while mopeds are mopeds. If you are up for a bit of excitment get a moped taxi from one end of the city to the other. Lane splitting ("making progress" in the UK) at it finest! And yes, they have 7-11 in Thailand too!