Thailand 1

When I got into Bangkok I was tired and cranky. I got off the plane (very small seats - the asian discount airline, but happily I was able to get a little sleep. Worrying that they had a sign by check in that said "we no longer allow guns aboard the airplane, with pictures of the guns they don't allow) and foolishly booked the first ride into Bangkok (4 times as expensive as my ride back from the hotel to the airport, and I gave that guy a tip!). Almost changed money there as well, but it was such a huge rip off I just couldn't accept it. Thankfully I still had a few baht from last time I was in Thailand. Got in to the hotel and felt tired, and pissed about the rip offs. Drank a few beers and watched soccer on TV which helped me relax a great deal. Had a good nights sleep. The room was ok - smelled a little of stale cigarette smoke, but basically clean and comfortable. Had a microwave and big fridge. I enjoyed the pool on the roof with a nice view of the neighborhood. It was very nice to have a bit more summer. I spent plenty of time up there, dipping in the pool and reading Fever Pitch. The location was excellent - 10 minute walk to the Taiwan consulate, and a free tuktuk type thing to the local MRT. Plus, it was located in a residential area away from all the sleaze and nearby lots of food stands and interesting places to walk. I was happy with it.

pingxi train

I have a wierd thing about round windows and passageways. This made me fantasize about getting one of these cars and turning it into a diner, something Taiwan needs. Maybe....

my weekend

I had a very nice weekend, taking a trip up to Pingxi and the small towns on the train line nearby. We got off the train at a stop that had nothing but a little house with a very loud chicken clucking away. The weather was perfect- sunny with a little breeze and not too hot. I've spent too long in the city, and the air up there was sweet and clean. We walked by the railroad tracks, ignoring the signs saying not to walk there. We walked through a tunnel, but everywhere we walked had plenty of space to move over if a train showed up. Eventually we could hear a waterfall, which was probably beautiful, but some jerk owned the only land where you could see it. Apparently, he had been charging 100 nt., which really is too much to see a waterfall on public land, and the government told him so. Now there was a battle between this guy and the government. The upshot being, he chained off the space and no one could see the damn thing. Oh well. We kept walking and eventually came to a little town called shi fen. It had a few touristy things, but hadn't been too built up yet, which was kind of nice. We had an unimpressive but overpriced lunch. The most expensive thing was young bamboo shoots. They were different from bamboo I've had before, and interesting, but I wish I could have had a better cook cooking it. We walked around a little bit, then got back on the train to see the next little town. This one was really small, and it only took a few minutes to see everything. We waited a long time to get an ice cream wrap (taro ice cream wrapped in a spring roll wrapper with cilantro and ground peanut brittle) but it wasn't exceptional. Near the train station I could smell jasmine flowers, which was nice. Unfortunately, while waiting for the train, some guy spilled his milky soda down in my shoe, which sucked. I unintentionally said "THANKS!" really loudly after he did it. He was polite about it and obviously felt bad, so I tried to tell him it was fine, no problem, just a little bit, but I wasn't too happy to have a wet, sticky spot on my foot for the rest of the day. We finally got to the last town in the area, another tiny little place. There was a nice, old japanese wooden house that had served as quarters for people overseeing the mining in the area, but they wanted too much money to see a small house so we skipped it. Another long wait in line and we got two fried chicken rolls which were excellent (I will try to get a blog about them on my new food blog soon). A nap on the way home on the train, and all in all a nice day trip.

Now, I'm hustling to take care of annoying bureaucratic issues, including my visa which is about to expire. Looks like I'll be in Bangkok on Friday trying to take care of it. I wish I had a little time to be a tourist there, but to save money it will be all business. Maybe I can drink beer and watch Muay Thai on Friday night. It was nice to pull in some cash at my temp job, but it reminded me that teaching is just a way to make money and not something I'm in love with at this point. A few possibilities have shown up, but nothing definite yet. I'll keep hammering away.

sick and typhoon

This past weekend was the moon festival here, which traditionally means bbq's, pomelos, and moon cakes. And this time I actually partook of all three. We went to a bbq at RC's home, where I ate some cake, a piece of pomelo (I did wear the pomelo peel on my head at a certain point), and some bbq. Also drank some beer with RC's dad. Which wasn't really very bright. Since I was feeling sick. My fever got worse afterwards and I spent a long night sleeping fitfully and sweating. Spent all day yesterday taking it easy, skipping out the martial arts thing I was going to go see with Dan. Clearly I made the right choice since I felt better today. And that was good because this evening I worked 3 hours substituting at a school in Tucheng. I haven't taught it over a year, so I was a little nervous. It went Ok, I guess, though the school was very poorly run. No manager at the school, unclear lesson plans, teacher's assistants who don't do anything or actually even stay in the classroom. Kinda crazy, makes me appreciate Kojen or even the YMCA. I'm just a sub, so it doesn't really matter too much. Just a little annoying. A few moments of fun, but not as much fun as I would like to have with my work. Whatever. It's a paycheck. I enjoyed the cheap Paht Thai and Spicy sour kong xin cai I got from my local thai place afterwards. I'm looking forward to seeing Edward Yang's Yi Yi (A One and a Two) that I have waiting for me. Tonight might just involve watching TV show episodes (the last few Mad Men) that I haven't seen yet. And hopefully lots of sleep. It's very typhoon-y at the moment, which makes me sleepy. Not looking forward to the rainy-ness of winter here. I hope I can swing some kind of tropical vacation to take a break.

today

I just watched Roman Polanski, Wanted and Desired and enjoyed it. Such an interesting life that guy has had and survived. You wouldn't want to get in a fist-fight with a guy that tough. It's really hard to believe that the US would want him back to rehash this case which can only look bad for the American legal system. If he just stayed in France that would be better for them - I wonder if this wasn't orchestrated by Polanski's lawyers to force the USA to accept defeat on this case. The movie also reminded me how much I enjoy his movies. It's interesting to see John Huston in Chinatown because Polanski is a director more like Huston's generation of Hollywood directors- interested and good at so many things. I'm going to have to watch some of those old films again.

Other than that, things continue on. My sickness has settled in to stay for a while in my sinuses, which is nice. I may be able to get some short term (maybe just a week) substitute work starting next week - have to go talk to the boss today, which is less fun with a cold. It was nice to see Lyon on Wednesday and eat HK style fried noodles. Walked around Zhongxiao Fuxing and I bought some Wen Shan Bao Zhong tea which is fun to drink. The weather is fairly cool today, so maybe I won't be soaked with sweat all day. I dare to dream. I've been listening to Grizzly Bear for the last couple of days - some of it I like but I guess I don't love it.