"so we're so bad that no one has sucked as bad as us since 1897?"
"on ESPN they just said that the Rangers are one of the worst offensive teams in the league, and they just beat us by 27 runs. so actually, it's possible that no one has ever sucked as bad as us."
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
sanook, mai?
i am making mental lists of all the fabulous foods we are eating.
in two days...
sumtam (spicy papaya salad)
khao neow (sticky rice)
tom kha (lemongrass coconut soup)
pat prik khing (fried basil and pork)
tom yam khoong (lemongrass soup with shrimp)
fish ball soup with mint and pickled cabbage
coconut ricecakes
thai ice cream (made with coconut milk, peanuts, rice jelly)
some chicken parts grilled on a stick, mmm.
we have a day and a half left and i am determined to add on a few more delicious pounds.
i'd been dreaming about it all summer. we finally landed in Bangkok on friday night at what we thought was 11pm (it was actually 9pm and we continued to think we were 2 hours ahead of reality until 1pm the next day) and struggled around until i finally found my favorite guesthouse on soi rambutri. the main backpacker area is th kao sarn, but it is loud, obnoxious and overpriced. rambutri is a bit quieter but with all the pleasures of nearby markets and the chao praya river.
it is such a relief to be here and to be speaking thai without feeling like i've lost too many words. which is not to say that my thai is anything more than pidgin babytalk. but still, it's nice to be able to say WHERE IS THE BATHROOM? and to not have people cross their eyes at me because i have accidentally asked for a drunk elephant.
last night, we took a taxi up to duc's stepbrother's house in Pak Kret just north of Nonthaburi. this sleepy community has the look of a gated American suburb that someone dropped on a couple of palm trees and a rice paddy. along with a golf course and a starbucks. this isn't really how i envision my life to be if i stay in international development, but i wonder if i'd see things differently with a family and all that. though i was planning to chain the brats to the back of the house anyway, so who really cares if they can have a daily half-caf latte and a round of 9 holes. no reason to pay higher rent for that.
today we lazed back down the Chao Praya river to Baglamphu, the neighborhood where we're staying. the boat was a cheap 30 Baht for the both of us, and i was able to get a little video. it's hard to believe that this will be my last night in Asia after 10 weeks. it feels like longer but hardly long enough. a few of my friends are still in Banda. being there, it felt like time stood still and i knew i'd leave eventually but just couldn't entirely conceive of it. i wonder, in a year, if i'll find myself back over here somewhere filling out my thai or bahasa vocabulary or learning something entirely new like mandarin or hindi.
we'll be landing in DC sometime on Tuesday, August 14, so likely this will be the last post until then.
in two days...
sumtam (spicy papaya salad)
khao neow (sticky rice)
tom kha (lemongrass coconut soup)
pat prik khing (fried basil and pork)
tom yam khoong (lemongrass soup with shrimp)
fish ball soup with mint and pickled cabbage
coconut ricecakes
thai ice cream (made with coconut milk, peanuts, rice jelly)
some chicken parts grilled on a stick, mmm.
we have a day and a half left and i am determined to add on a few more delicious pounds.
i'd been dreaming about it all summer. we finally landed in Bangkok on friday night at what we thought was 11pm (it was actually 9pm and we continued to think we were 2 hours ahead of reality until 1pm the next day) and struggled around until i finally found my favorite guesthouse on soi rambutri. the main backpacker area is th kao sarn, but it is loud, obnoxious and overpriced. rambutri is a bit quieter but with all the pleasures of nearby markets and the chao praya river.
it is such a relief to be here and to be speaking thai without feeling like i've lost too many words. which is not to say that my thai is anything more than pidgin babytalk. but still, it's nice to be able to say WHERE IS THE BATHROOM? and to not have people cross their eyes at me because i have accidentally asked for a drunk elephant.
last night, we took a taxi up to duc's stepbrother's house in Pak Kret just north of Nonthaburi. this sleepy community has the look of a gated American suburb that someone dropped on a couple of palm trees and a rice paddy. along with a golf course and a starbucks. this isn't really how i envision my life to be if i stay in international development, but i wonder if i'd see things differently with a family and all that. though i was planning to chain the brats to the back of the house anyway, so who really cares if they can have a daily half-caf latte and a round of 9 holes. no reason to pay higher rent for that.
today we lazed back down the Chao Praya river to Baglamphu, the neighborhood where we're staying. the boat was a cheap 30 Baht for the both of us, and i was able to get a little video. it's hard to believe that this will be my last night in Asia after 10 weeks. it feels like longer but hardly long enough. a few of my friends are still in Banda. being there, it felt like time stood still and i knew i'd leave eventually but just couldn't entirely conceive of it. i wonder, in a year, if i'll find myself back over here somewhere filling out my thai or bahasa vocabulary or learning something entirely new like mandarin or hindi.
we'll be landing in DC sometime on Tuesday, August 14, so likely this will be the last post until then.
Friday, August 03, 2007
feel the dance beat, ya ya
duc and i met up in Kuala Lumpur this morning after we had both spent the night on benches in different airports of different cities. i think we both felt instant relief at the sight of one another because we realized that we had no plan b for one of us getting stuck somewhere and being really late. oops.
we're staying in Chinatown at a backpacker guesthouse, and it feels so good to be in the heart of everything. i think we're going to have dinner close to the towers tonight. you know, these towers. they were the tallest towers in the world before that dude in dubai decided to go crazy with his globe islands and super-sizing everything. this is a man for whom hedonism is a way of life. in KL, they are playing catch up by building the largest airport in the world. uh, what could possibly be good about the world's largest airport? the world's longest moving sidewalk? the worlds biggest parking garage?
on my last night in Aceh, my friends suprised me with these glorious pictures of all of us in black and white and color. they are beautiful and will make it onto the patchwork of my walls as soon as i get back to b-town. i mean, you know you're going to the other side of the earth and so you expect it to be something of an experience, but i really didn't expect to meet such kind and gorgeously witty souls. i really can't wait to see them again.
we're staying in Chinatown at a backpacker guesthouse, and it feels so good to be in the heart of everything. i think we're going to have dinner close to the towers tonight. you know, these towers. they were the tallest towers in the world before that dude in dubai decided to go crazy with his globe islands and super-sizing everything. this is a man for whom hedonism is a way of life. in KL, they are playing catch up by building the largest airport in the world. uh, what could possibly be good about the world's largest airport? the world's longest moving sidewalk? the worlds biggest parking garage?
on my last night in Aceh, my friends suprised me with these glorious pictures of all of us in black and white and color. they are beautiful and will make it onto the patchwork of my walls as soon as i get back to b-town. i mean, you know you're going to the other side of the earth and so you expect it to be something of an experience, but i really didn't expect to meet such kind and gorgeously witty souls. i really can't wait to see them again.
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