Highlights so far: started a chaste relationship with a lovely woman from Surin named Oh. She moved me out of the farang Banglamphu backpackers ghetto and into a room next to hers at a non-farang hotel (she put in the good word for me with mgmt.) nearby where I have triple the space, my own bath (have already adjusted to the asian/french style toilet - which my ol’ buddy Carla Jones-Antonelli always claimed was better for your health anyway…), and the all important electrical outlet right in the room. Not to mention a cultural ambassador right next door.

I’ve been writing! Nothing stellar yet but bit by bit each day.

Trying to get an interview for the podcast with Gaa the lesbian pimp, whom I first met here 2 years ago, but she’s often off hiding with her new lovely or one or both of us are too drunk when we run into one another.

Got fooled by my first katoey (ladyboy) but it was nothing like what ‘Mick the Crazy Irishman’ had to go through in Trainspotting: the morning I met Oh, she had been up all night at this one bar on soi Rambuttri, and I was still in a period of only being able to sleep 4 hours at a time - which between the jetlag and apnia still sort of continues. There were all of these wasted french around, including this one complete psycho dude, who hit some x-boyfriend in the head with a bottle, so we quickly split to flirt and shoot pool at another place. With us came her fat friend Pai. A few hours later, when we were all buzzed and it was decided she’d move me into her hotel and Pai got up from her lounging on the sofa and was bitterly storming off because we were getting along so well, Oh gave chase and brought Pai back, who quickly hit me up for 100 baht cabfare. Later when I asked about seeing Pai again to get the money (though this is less than $3 and I essentially had kissed it off as I handed it over) Oh made the following confession.
“Pai owes me 200 baht also”

“Well that ain’t right darlin’. She said she ran a stall and she’d get me back. I will be leaving town eventually…”

“Whenever I ask her for this, she say she don’t have. What I can do?”

“Well we can be in her face until the money comes”

“This is usually way with ladyboy, they just drinking and eating ask for money money all the time”

“WTF! Pai is a ladyboy!”

“Yes, you not know this?”

“Your telling me that ugly fat chick is actually an ugly fat dude?”

Oh was laughing at me. “Yes you not could tell? You not know this?”

Rumor has it Vang Vieng is already past it’s prime, the bamboo bridge gone, the swell bamboo bungaloo’s gone and concrete highrises going up, the entire town overrun with Israeli’s. (Go ahead and think me an anti-semite by making this statement, then YOU come on over and deal with these people. I assure a very high percentage are obnoxious.) But I’m going anyway. I have to do a visa run, as my trip is 35 days and visa only good for 30. I get a fresh 30 upon return to Thailand (but you can only do this three times in a row, then must wait 6 months and pay more money).

I threw out the idea to Oh of going back to her home in Surin with me, as I’ve never been there, but she’s waiting around town to get her old job back at a guesthouse. So this most likely won’t happen.

Sunday night happened to be New Year and traditionally evey good buddhist buys these little flower boats and put’s them on the river with a candle inside and sends them off. The big river by the park was completely swamped with farang and Thai’s, but we found a quiet back canal where a family she knew ran a stall and put our flower boats in there. The tradition is to put finger nail clippings and bits of hair in the boat, as you are symbolicly letting go of last years bad karma. Everyone got a kick out of me trimming my goatee a bit and putting it in my flower boat. There were a bunch of adorable kids running around, excited about operating the hoist that put the boats in the foul smelling canal. The host guy kept switching out cassettes of this awesome scratchy Thai music. Oh and I prayed together and sent our ‘old bad’ away down the river.

My new favorite breakfast is a glass of cold black thai tea and an authentic bannana shake, which together come to about 80 cents US. I have yet to experience any intestinal discomfort, aside from some rumbling on the plane, but I have a bit of a sore throat this morning. It’s hilarious how Oh is always complaining about this being the cold season and she’s always in goose bumps, while I naturally haven’t stopped sweating since I got off the plane.

Click the Flickr badge on the right for a few photos.