i'm not sure of when i first became aware of this communicative trait in certain types of individuals, but have you ever been in the midst of some sort of discussion with a group of people, and then you realize that everyone there is just trying to outdo one another? no one ever seems to ask any questions, but instead it's just boastful statement after statement that is unsuccessfully disguised as some sort of senseless story. the thing is, most people who do this are oblivious and don't even know that they talk in this manner, and they just go on and on about themselves as if the sound of their voice is like music to everyone's ears.

people just don't seem to listen to one another sometimes. so many people just want to be heard, but they don't want to engage in a symbiotic conversation. and while i enjoy listening to people and learning about their stories, at the same time, being surrounded by people like this is too much work, and quite pointless after a while.

i took this photo today while on the bus.

now this is what i call V.I.P. seating.

"The trouble lay with him, not the novel."

for esmé---with love and squalor in nine stories by j.d. salinger. page 104.

sometimes, i just really don't understand some people's behavior. it's all so mind-boggling.

it's saturday night.

i don't mind staying in alone because i'm used to it, but it would nice to at least have some company or veg out at someone's place. no complaints from me though, i'm more than happy to stay in most of the times---i just wish i had people to stay in with every now and then.

so on thanksgiving, a good friend said she'd join me for dinner. this was her first time celebrating the holiday because she's not american, and even though we ended up at a sort of random buffet, the food that was there was still pretty good and it was nice and low-key as well. she had a great time and we both left nice and full, so we decided to walk back to my place. that was a good hour's walk through central bangkok, and it was good to just talk the whole way back.

here are some photos she took with her iphone during dinner. unfortunately, she doesn't want to send me any of the photos with her in it and these are all i have to remember to night by.

i took this with my friend's camera today.

i sometimes can't seem to take clear photos with this camera and so i don't use it too often. but the weather today was perfect yet again, and i decided to bring it out for a change.

ahhh, bangkok.

while i still enjoy living here in thailand, i think the holidays have sort of got me feeling all sentimental.

i did some research and there are some thanksgiving restaurant happenings going on in bangkok, but i'm still on the fence about where to go. the best option seems to be a buffet at this nice hotel, but i'm not a big buffet guy and plus i'd be alone. then i'd have to carry my shit every time i'd get up for a new plate of food on top of feeling like i have to eat as much as i can to get my money's worth, and then i'd most likely start to do some emotional eating.

it would be nice to have some close american friends here in thailand but i'll figure it out. being alone on the holidays is not a big deal because i could always just call my family and friends to bother them that way. to anyone who is traveling or returning back to your home towns for the holidays, i can't even imagine how chaotic some of airports might be. but safe travels and i hope you have a great holiday with your loved ones.

all this holiday nostalgia had me looking through my old photos just now and i found the following that were taken a few days before i left NYC one and a half years ago---it's hard to believe that i've been away from the city, my friends and life for this long. sometimes i question what i've got to show for the past 18 months, but that's a whole other monster. anyway, these photos were taken after i got off of my shift at the east village restaurant i used to work at. my friends picked me up and we goofed around out front while eating some cookies before we went off to dance.

so while i miss new york, i'm still liking bangkok and am content being here at this very moment of my life. i think after i get some turkey on thursday and wake up on friday morning, everything will return to its normal, tropical self.

happy thanksgiving, america!

food is my friend.

christmas came early in bangkok!

i went to a convenience store today in a busy area and it was stocked with shelves and shelves of good-quality and brand-named water. for the first time, this year i'm going to add "drinking water available for purchasing" to my list of thanksgiving stuff.

speaking of thanksgiving, i'm still not sure what to do since i don't really have any options haha. at times like these, i really miss being back in nyc. i miss cooking for people and inviting my friends over. i miss vegging out and talking while getting wasted in the comforts of home. i miss all the interaction that goes on and trying to remember all of it the next morning.

also, the weather is nothing short of perfect today. the rainy season is over and thailand is headed into its winter but trust me, it's still hot and tropical as hell. thank god the humidity is gone and the skies have been cloudless everyday.

sadly though, my good friend is moving to another country and is having his farewell party tonight. my life in bangkok would've been completely different had i not met him through my old boss in korea, so tonight is going to be extra special.

it's ridiculous that bottled-water is still pretty much impossible to find here in central bangkok.

while some convenience stores have begun selling them again, their tiny selection usually flies off the shelves in no time and is either composed off all these random companies that i'm sceptical about drinking, or extremely overpriced bottles of evian. even when i had a late lunch today in a building that's filled with somewhat modern establishments, i was surprised to find that the restaurant i was eating at had no bottled-watter to sell its customers.

i'm still grateful that the floodwaters never hit my area of bangkok, but also can't wait until things return to normal.

cycles. waves.

ups. and downs.

sadness. misery.

it's taken me close to two hours to write 1 paragraph of this short story i'm working on. sometimes i feel like my brain and concentration are floating above me somewhere, and i have to constantly grab for them in order to focus and think clearly.

i was looking at the calendar just now and i can't believe that thanksgiving is already next week---yikes. i have no friends here in bangkok that are american or who celebrate the holiday, so i need to start figuring out how i'm going to get my hands on some turkey this year.

happy monday.

i still haven't been able to purchase a new camera since it was STOLEN a few months ago.

but here are some un-uploaded photos i took here in bangkok with my former camera.

last night, i dreamt that i was hysterically sobbing inside someone's bathroom, and i could physically feel its aftereffects when i woke up soon after.

so odd...

what is the world coming to...

at times like these, i really miss gulping down some good old nyc tap water.

thailand's worst floods in over half a century have been going on for months now, and it's completely frustrating that government and media outlets have been broadcasting inconsistent news from the very start. even though i live in the central part of bangkok, it still feels quite challenging to gather credible facts about what exactly is going on.

everything here still feels unstable. water and basic necessities are STILL IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND at shops, and walking into some convenience stores and supermarkets with shelves that have been apocalyptically empty for weeks has become the norm. the good news is that if you go to a restaurant or other establishments, they will most likely have bottled water to sell. however if you want some to drink at home, you're pretty much fucked. i myself have still been rationing the water i've had at my house for the past week or so, and am hoping it will last me until the stores are selling it again.

just when i thought the number wouldn't increase, as of now, over 500 people have died from this natural disaster. trying to comprehend the considerable amount of lives lost is really saddening, and i can't believe that the death toll is continuing to rise.

every time it's reported that the floodwaters might reach the inner parts of bangkok, the government and media always reassure residents not to worry. then there's always these pinnacle points when the news will say that the worst the city should embrace for will be on X day, and then after X day passes by without anything happening, one just assumes everything is going to be fine. then the media will again start reporting that actually the worst is yet to come on X day, and then that day too will pass without anything happening. everything has just turned into this cycle of panic and reassurance, and then more panic and reassurance.

the latest i've heard was from students i sometimes tutor. i know how kids just sometimes love to make everything so melodramatic, so it's difficult to tell when i should or shouldn't believe them. however, after hearing all this news from the students first, i began to hear about it from other adults as well. the latest i've been hearing is that all the flooding that's happened up until now was only THE FIRST WAVE that came from the northern regions of thailand. the looming and unavoidable SECOND WAVE is supposedly all the flooded water that's been building up in the flooded suburbs and areas outlying bangkok, and this blackened and stagnant water has become filthy, and is teeming with human waste and diseases. this dirty water is supposedly continuing to rise in the flooded regions, and it's inevitable that all the strongholds will give way, allowing the water to make its way to the central parts of the capital city. i've been told this second wave is going to be way worse than the first because of all the possible health effects, and it's supposedly guaranteed to affect almost all of bangkok.

some media outlets are also reporting that the flooding should last for weeks more. i've been trying to keep up with all the reported news stories and it seems that certain areas are still continuing to be declared to dangerous to inhabit and residents have been ordered to evacuate. i'm happy to report though that right now, the central and inner part of the city are still completely dry, and that's where i live.

without the government and media outlets providing factual news, i don't know what to think or believe at this point. i just hope thailand is able to recover as fast as possible from all this devastation.

the weather is continuing on its perfect streak and it is such a beautiful sunday afternoon right now here in bangkok.

i really feel like i should go outside to sweat out last night's toxins a bit since it's so nice out, but i can't get myself to leave my place.

it's been some time since i had such a relaxing lazy-sunday.

"I'd like to direct your attention
To something that needs directing to..."

where life begins by madonna.

so apt, yet to the point!

"No matter how far you run. Distance might not solve anything."

kafka on the shore by haruki murakami. page 4.

the weather in bangkok is absolutely perfect again today---what a beautiful friday afternoon.

i hope everyone has a great day as well.

sometimes, i feel like the only thing i do all day is just sweat.

what's going on in the world?

on certain days, i might have to ride a motorcycle-taxi, aka motosai (previously blogged about HERE and HERE), up to seven different times to simply get around to where i need to go.

before moving to bangkok, i had never really ridden on a motorcycle before so living here and incorporating them into my daily life has completely changed my views on them. i like relying on motosais in thailand because they're fast, affordable and efficient---especially since the traffic here can be an absolute nightmare. on the downside though, riding them within the bustling city can be pretty dangerous here in bangkok and a friend of mine told me about someone she knew who died in an accident while taking one.

there's something about riding a motorcycle that can make any day better and i love the feeling of being on one when the weather is nice out. i've come to the conclusion that when i can afford it, i really want to buy some sort of motorcycle or scooter when i eventually return to nyc. i'll probably get a grandma-friendly version and use it more for practical reasons than for racing teenagers.

it's also sad though that riding on motosais is literally the only type of physical contact i have whatsoever anymore.

anyway, here's some pics i recently took with my friend's camera on a gorgeous day.

contrary to what people have thought, the weather in bangkok for the past two weeks or so has been nothing short of amazing.

it's actually notably been very beautiful out almost everyday and within the past couples of weeks, i can only remember two very brief rainstorms that moved on as quickly as they came. this recent bout of humid-free weather makes me think of a beautiful spring day in nyc and it feels great to walk around under the sun.

thankfully, the worst of thailand's flooding seems to have passed and the waters that came from the north of the country will slowly start to recede now. while the floodwaters never reached the area of bangkok i reside in---nor any other central parts of the city---the outer suburbs have been heavily affected. also, close to 400 people died from the floods by drowning or electrocution, which is just devastating.

i really hope the country is able to heal and move forward.

ps- bottled water and other basic necessities are still impossible to find in city stores and supermarkets.

"It's better not to go deciding too many things now. People go through changes like you'd never believe."

dance dance dance by haruki murakami. page 366.

"Nothin' to do
No where to go, oh,
I wanna be sedated."

i wanna be sedated by the ramones.

i can't wait until life returns back to normal here in bangkok.

more and more people i know have decided to evacuate bangkok and even flee thailand.

as for me, i'm perpetually broke so leaving for my non-existent escape-destination is not happening---i will be staying put in the city.

today alone, i was told such a range of stories from different people about what is to be expected from the floods, and a lot of it to me just sounds like frenzied hearsay: "when the water hits the inner areas of bangkok, the city's plumbing is going to give way and the floodwaters are going to be filled with human waste and diseases" OR "the second wave of flooding will hit this weekend, but the unreported third and fourth waves will be coming soon after" OR "one of the dams in the northern region of the flooded areas has gave way, and the floodwaters are approaching more violently because of it" OR "the floodwaters are going to be swarming with crocodiles that will eat people."

it's easy to be swept up in all the inevitable hysteria that is affixed to any situation when residents are forced to wait for an impending natural disaster to reach them. however, i refuse to believe anything unless i've learned about it from a credible source or seen it with my own eyes.

the one thing that actually does scare me however is the fact that drinking-water and basic food supplies are still impossible to find here. every convenience store and supermarket i went to today is still in dire lack of supplies. even though i walk into them hoping to find shelves re-stocked with basic necessities, all of the stores in central bangkok just seem to get emptier and emptier with each day.

i also just read an article in the Wall Street Journal (link HERE) recognizing this issue, and the newspaper stated that bangkok should not expect to see shipments of drinking-water and basic food supplies until the middle of next week... i really hope that it's much sooner than that because i already know of people who are out of drinking-water.

the flooding in thailand seems to be only getting worse.

drinking-water and other basic necessities are pretty much still impossible to find in stores that are located in the center (main parts) of bangkok. the message that thailand's ministry of education has obscurely-communicated by shutting down ALL schools until november 7 (a far-away THIRTEEN DAYS FROM NOW), is extremely worrisome. the government has declared tomorrow and the day after---thursday and friday---national holidays in order for people to evacuate or flee. thailand's death toll from the floods is also rising and currently stands at 373 lives.

the thai media is reporting that while the first wave of floods has hit the capital city, a second wave is to come again this weekend. however, the flooding-situation seems to have been going on for some time now with a lot of contradictory reporting, so it's difficult to say whats's going to happen at this point. since the flooding became a credible threat to bangkok, the media and government have been assuring residents that everything will be fine, but in actuality things seemed to just have continued to get worse. i think in situations like these, it's easy to jump to conclusions and be melodramatic---which i always try to avoid---so i'm trying to stay grounded and calm until i know there's a credible threat to my area. but all i know is that with each passing day, the water seems to be reaching closer and closer into the center of the city, which is where i live, and i'm starting to hear of more people that are deciding to flee the city and the country.

the flooding is on everyone's mind and while it's impossible to not be affected by it, life for the most part is still moving on. while some places have closed, most stores, restaurants and other establishments i've passed by in the unaffected parts of the city have all remained open but with a wall of sandbags protecting them. the mood of the un-hit parts of bangkok is still relatively calm as well. however, if you go into stores and supermarkets, the air is filled with this nervous energy as people uneasily scramble to stock up on whatever they can. i was in a supermarket earlier today trying to buy some lunch, and immediately left because i could feel myself getting anxious and tense just from being in there and surrounded by the frenzy.

thankfully though, i was able to score some bottled water earlier in the week. on monday, i accompanied this korean mom to her son's parent-teacher conferences at an international school in order to translate for her. the school was on the outskirts of bangkok and one hour away from where i live. while there, we randomly stopped at this nearby, small mom-and-pop convenience store to purchase some cool drinks, and lo' and behold, the store actually had some drinking-water available. there wasn't much remaining, but i was able to score two 12-packs of small bottles of good quality bottled water. i have to note that they were good quality because even though there's a large selection of bottled water that's sold here in thailand, sometimes i'll study the labels and be reluctant to allow it to enter my body. nevertheless, i was so excited to have scored some water that afternoon---and then my paranoia kicked in. when we left the mom-and-pop store, the owner put each of the two packs inside individual, clear plastic bags. since i already sometimes get puzzling looks when riding the city buses due to the fact that foreigners rarely take them, i didn't want to attract any more attention to myself with my priceless bounties. so when we rode a taxi back to the korean mom's building, i asked her to spare two non-clear plastic bags. she asked me why, and i told her that i needed them in order to cover up the water for my 30-minute bus-ride home (i'm from nyc and i always just have this gut instinct to protect my shit). i'm happy to say that i made it back to my place with no issues that evening, and i now have enough water to last me about a week (if i ration it and drink it sparingly).

i google-mapped bangkok's flooding situation, and the images below are how the city is standing as of this very moment. bangkok is nearly surrounded by water on all sides. i'm so grateful that where i live is still unaffected, and hope that it will stay this way. but it's really upsetting to see all the effected areas while imagining the 2.5 million lives that have been altered or destroyed from this natural disaster since it began.

please send your well-wishes and positive thoughts to thailand, and keep the country and its residents in your prayers.

as of now, 356 people have perished due to the catastrophic floods that are inundating thailand.

the floods hit the northern region of the country the worst and while bangkok was mostly unaffected until recently, the water has slowly been moving towards the capital city. i live in the downtown area of bangkok and haven't seen any flooding around here so far. however, i went to the outskirts of the city this past week to run an errand during the daytime and encountered areas that were already flooded. while there, i also saw that some of bangkok's elevated highways in that area only have a few available lanes that cars can pass through because as a last resort, massive amounts of people have been parking their cars on the outermost lanes in order to protect them from the rising waters.

in addition, trying to purchase drinking-water in bangkok has been IMPOSSIBLE for the past week because every store has sold out. i'm not sure when or how stores will be selling drinking-water again, but i only have about five bottles left in my fridge so i'm trying to ration as much as possible. the store shelves that are usually stocked with canned-goods and instant-food have also been wiped clean throughout the city, and whether you're going to a local convenience store or expensive supermarket, encountering sections of empty shelves is quite common.

i've been trying to keep as updated as i can on the flooding situation and what the impact on bangkok will be, but it's been difficult to know for sure because all the media outlets seems to be reporting different information. for the most part, life in bangkok has remained pretty normal. some exits of certain subway stops have been closed but apart from that, i haven't seen anything out of the ordinary when it comes to the city's public transportation. all the stores, restaurants and other establishments i've come across have all remained open as well, so it's easy to feel unaffected by everything at times.

the only thing i've really seen that's out of the ordinary from where i am is that my building and soi (thai word for side-street) lost its electricity about an hour ago, but thankfully it came back on. i've been living at my place since march and this is the first time i've ever experienced a power-outage here, so it's slightly nerve-wracking. but so far everything else has luckily been alright, and i really hope it stays this way.

i went to a g-shock event this past friday night. the whole night was pretty unexpected because i originally was planning to only have dinner with a friend since i had to get up early on saturday morning. our night just somehow snowballed---in a good way---and we ended up at this g-shock party that was sort of far (for bangkok's standards) from the main area of the city.

the space was large and everyone was having a great time inside and i had a lot of fun. the stage was pretty trippy as well---here are a few photos i was able to take while inebriated.

i don't know when this happened, but i think something about my aura has assimilated with thai culture. recently, some thai people have mistaken me for thai and assumed i spoke the language. i don't think of it in any particular way, but i guess it sort of makes me chuckle because it never used to happen and then it's just been consistent since it began. i think if i plan to stay here for a substantial amount of time, i should probably at least attempt to learn the language and not be such an idiot about it.

i'm a daily bus rider and i know how to get around to wherever i need to go by public transportation. i personally don't enjoy riding taxis every time i need to go somewhere because it's not practical and i've just had too many issues with cabs here---i don't want that to become a part of my daily norm. i grew up walking and riding the bus, trains, and subways anyway and actually prefer public transportation if i'm traveling alone. relying on bangkok's public transportation system is fun and i don't mind it because i usually don't want to deal with people. i just want to stare out a window instead.

riding the bus in bangkok is especially interesting because there are such a variety of different buses and the vehicles that comprise them. there's the pretty nice city bus that is the cleanest and has tv's inside, or the ฿6.5 one that is super old and has to have all the windows drawn up because there's no air conditioning. some of these really old-seeming buses are huge as well, so it's sometimes nice to ride one when it's empty on a cool night. i was on one the other evening and sitting in a single seater positioned next to the right side of the bus. this was near the door, and when i saw a grandpa get on, i offered him my seat. i was quite sweaty at that moment because it was humid and rainy in addition to the fact that the bus had no damn a.c. and couldn't roll its windows up because of the rain. when he sat down, the grandpa started talking to me in thai and i wanted to tell him i couldn't speak thai, but he kept going on and i wasn't able to find the right moment to interrupt him. instead, i just smiled, laughed and nodded my head along with him. and at one point the woman sitting in the seat in front turned around to look at the old man and smile at him. i sure wish i knew what the hell he was saying. i finally told him i wasn't able to understand him and then the grandpa smiled and said "thank you" while pointing to his seat.

the buses in bangkok also have this thing where even though the route-number might be the same, that doesn't mean the buses will go in the exact same way. there's four different versions of bus #11 that i've been on, and while the majority of their routes go along the same path, they all have different end-points. another factor that differentiates these buses is that even though they share the same bus-number, some of the buses might be the ฿6.5 bus or the nicer one with the tv's for ฿20. that's how i learned that the bus fare doesn't really depend on the distance you're going, but rather what type of bus you're on. i'm sort of proud to say that i learned all this through the old-fashioned way of trial-and-error. whenever i asked anyone i know about how to ride the buses in bangkok, they never know since none of my friends ever take the bus.

sometimes when i'm on the bus though, people will look at me with a "HUH?" look because i'm a foreigner and not many ride the buses. and it's especially annoying at times because i'll be standing at the bus stop waiting, and taxi after taxi will pull up to me thinking that i'm in need of one. i understand that they're just doing their job, but it's like dude, come on---i'm standing at a bus stop! if i needed a taxi i'd get one and not just stand there like an idiot.

the last thing i want to note is that 95% of the time, the buses don't come to a complete stop when you're boarding or getting off, so be ready to hop on or jump off as it's moving.

here are some random bus-related photos i took while in bangkok before my camera got stolen.

trying to always go down the mature route when it comes to life-decisions is really hard.

loneliness can sometimes make you do crazy things.

dear bangkok,

i <3 you.

best,
thwany

most of thailand is flooded and sadly---as of now---over 280 people around the country have perished because of it.

the current situation is the worst flooding the country has seen in half a century, but luckily so far, bangkok is one of the few areas that have been pretty unaffected. however, the floodwaters from the northern area of the country are supposed to hit bangkok within a day or two, and some people are starting to freak out, especially the students i tutor. yesterday, every kid i tutored mentioned the impending floods that are supposedly going to overtake bangkok, and listening to all their somewhat exaggerated versions really made me wonder if i should be worried as well. i've been keeping current with the news about all of the country's historic flooding, but it all seemed so distant so imagining that it might reach bangkok didn't cross my mind.

i really hope the flooding doesn't reach the area of bangkok i live in, but just in case it does, i've stocked up on a few days worth of water and light food, thrown away my trash, and i guess that's really all i can do. i also hope the rest of the country is able to recover from this tragic natural disaster.

one thing i miss the most about nyc is its food. i'm not a big fancy eater, so it's all the everyday dishes that i'm hankering for. if i could fed-ex some food overnight to bangkok, i'd go for:

• a mutligrain bagel with sun-dried-tomato-cream-cheese from murray's bagels.
• pork buns from momofuku.
• chicken over rice with extra, extra white sauce.
• chinese takeout of fried chicken wings w/ vegetable fried rice, and extra packets of duck sauce, please.
• a hotdog from the street with mustard and onions.
• a gyro with fries.
• a baoguette sandwich with extra cilantro from baoguette.
• a jamaican beef patty.

i've come to learn that loneliness is usually a state of mind, but then that can also be a load of bullshit as well.

if you spend most of your time alone with no one to talk to, that will naturally lead to thinking constantly and sometimes obsessively about stuff, and that is what i think leads to my actual loneliness. you can try and keep busy, but whether you're bored or busy, there's still no one but your own thoughts to engage with. i spend most of my time alone and find myself feeling pretty lonesome. then i think about how i would really like to experience being in a serious relationship with someone i genuinely like, but i've felt lonely like this before even when i was in a relationship, so i think it's just me. and so now i'm really adamant on figuring out how to fix this.

"You get your hair cut: you shave every morning. You aren’t a poet anymore, or a revolutionary or a rock star. You don’t pass out drunk in phone booths or blast the Doors at four in the morning. Instead, you buy life insurance from your friend’s company, drink in hotel bars, and keep your dental bills for medical deductions. That’s normal at twenty-eight.”

new york mining disaster by haruki murakami in the january 11, 1999 issue of the new yorker.

i'm house-sitting.

"The striking feature was his style in the discussion of hot topics with a lot of big egos. His style was to step back and listen. There were some important people who looked pretty bored; he was not, he was following. He carefully listened."

the bridge: the life and rise of barack obama by david remnick. page 306.

i just want to vanish.

frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration. frustration.

contagion started playing this past weekend in bangkok's lido theatre.

this theater is a bit more low-key compared to all the large mega-plexes that are located in every mall of bangkok, and plays movies that generally have more layers and dimension. i enjoy going to lido because it has more personality, and is usually less crowded than other bangkok theaters as well.

as for the movie itself, it was nothing short of awesome. i thought it was very well made, and the storyline is plausible and terrifyingly realistic. after watching contagion, i instantly thought of my best friend in nyc, junho, who is an ER doctor, and how grateful i am to have him as a best friend haha.

it's been awhile since i watched a movie in the theatres that i really enjoyed---i definitely recommend checking out contagion. also, it was such a trip to walk out of the theatre and into the masses at bangkok's bustling area of siam after watching the movie alone.

it's such a beautiful sunday here in bangkok.

so much can happen during a walk home.

i don't know how some guys nowadays still go about their lives without carrying any sort of bag to hold all their shit.

it's been a while since i've been out of my house without a backpack, so i decided to leave it in tonight. but i look like a complete idiot with so much shit tucked into my pockets and i think wearing a bag might look less stupid.

these are some of the photos i took with my friend's camera during our trip to angkor. the four of us purchased $8 bus tickets and departed at 5:30 in the morning from bangkok to the cambodian border. after getting our visas and crossing into cambodia, we then paid $30 altogether for a two-hour taxi ride from the border to angkor. after checking into our hotel at around noon, we decided to take it easy on our first day and just relaxed while exploring siem-reap. on our second morning, that's when we headed for all of the temples and ruins with a hired guide, and pretty much explored throughout the whole day. all i have to say is FUCKING WOW---the temples and ruins were humbling, surreal, spectacular, and a million other adjectives all at once.

unfortunately, my friend's camera ran out of batteries towards the end of the second day of the trip, and that's where most of the photos end. i'm bummed that i have no photos to remember our third and fourth days of angkor, but i guess those will have to just live in our memories.

anyway, here are some random facts that i learned during the trip:

-cambodia uses the american dollar as its currency.
-siem-reap has two gay bars. the more popular one is named linga, and my 3 straight friends happily agreed that we should all check it out together.
-siem-reap's oldest hotel and most expensive hotel is raffles, and my friends and i decided to splurge and stay there on our last night. on a side note, jackie onassis had a lifelong dream of visiting angkor, and did so in the 1960's. she stayed at raffles while in town, and the hotel has a few photos of her visit on their celebrity wall.
-many of the natives who live in siem-reap speak at least a little bit of english. even the children who aggressively try and sell you souvenirs on the street have honed their english skills. when one little girl persistently followed and borderline-harassed me to buy her goods, i politely smiled and responded with "no, i'm okay, thank you." haha then she quickly snapped back by saying, "it might be okay for you but NOT OKAY FOR ME!"
-angkor has the world's largest roundabout.
-i thought that visiting all the temples and ruins might be like checking out the grand canyon, aka every designated stop looks the fucking same, but i was so mistaken. every temple and site of ruins had its own amazing and distinct personality, and learning about each of their stories from our guide was so fun.
-the bayon temple has hundreds of faces carved into its stone, and so no matter where in the temple you're at, you are being watched by one of the faces.
-thankfully, the time we visited angkor wasn't the busy season, so until we climbed up a mountain to reach a temple where we could watch the sunset on the evening of our first day of exploring, we didn't really encounter any crowds or hordes of tourists.

this is not even the tip of the iceberg of what i learned and encountered on this life-changing trip. for anyone who is thinking about taking a holiday to southeast asia, i definitely recommend checking out angkor. pictures and words can not do this place justice---you've got to go and experience everything for yourself.

and btw, i finally got a new backpack.