Quick Post

July 14th, 5:31pm - Khao San Road, Thailand

This is going to be a fast post, because I leave for Krabi and the southern islands in about 30 minutes. I just spent the last 2 hours loading up the rest of my current pictures for the blog, and when I get out of my bus 14 hours from now I'll add some captions and such and post the whole thing.

For my last couple of days in Bangkok I've hung out, eaten a lot of food, practiced juggling, and slowed down from the hecticness of Cambodia and of Khao San itself. I spent an hour or two talking to a Danish woman a few days ago, and we both agreed that Khao San Road (the tourist section) is a pretty awful place to be in a lot of ways. Its a touristy mess, devoid of much real culture, and basically a place for young people to get drunk and ripped off. I liked it a lot at first for its energy, the services (internet cafes, travel agencies, hotels, English speakers) and because there were plenty of people to meet. But now the sheen has worn off and it seems like a place that could be found anywhere in the world, devoid of much culture, filled with young people really concerned about their appearence and with sleazy girls and merchants. I'm ready to go.

On the bright side, wandering among the used bookstores here I managed to find a Terry Pratchett book I hadn't read before (a mean feat, considering i've liked him for a long time), so now I have something to do on the bus ride down. I also got my phone to work internationally, which means if I fall off a cliff somewhere I can still call home and give a play-by-play to my parents :). And last night with Tim and his cousins I tried Snooker, which is like an English version of pool, but with much more difficulty and fun.

Ok, onward to the south! Tropical islands here I come!

Hope everyone is doing well, thanks so much for reading this and for those who post comments. It helps me keep going :).

Zach