journal June 6, 2002. My first Muay Thai match at Ratchadamneon Stadium. As you may have guessed from the picture, I got the cheap seats. It cost me 400 baht plus a few hundred baht more for a Coke and some snacks. The crowd wasn't that into it either, they seemed more interested in the World Cup highlights being shown on a huge projection screen to the left of the ring. I even caught some of the trainers sneaking a peek at it.

The fights weren't quiet as exciting as I expected, but 3 of the 8 fights I saw ended in someone getting carried off on a stretcher. That's my 400 baht's worth, right there. I don't know what I was expecting though. I had read and heard so much about those underground fights between champions of rival villiages, I suppose I thought I might see something more spectacular.

As everyone filed out after the match, I promised myself that I would put a little more dedication into my own training. But seeing as I am making this stupid site instead of doing push ups or running laps, I'm guessing that promise won't hold.

I was around Siam Square, so I popped into a restaurant to grab a bite.

This is Jun. She's from around here. She came up to me while I was staring out the window of the restaurant and asked if I was Japanese (in Japanese). We got to talking and she offered to take me around that night. After dinner, she took me to some night market that's open until 6am around Rachada Road. I can't quite remember what the area was called (even though she told me about a thousand times).

The place was bustling, even at 3:30 in the morning. Jun told me that people like to come here after work to eat and shop. The place was full of gorgeous young women, transvestites and stylish guys. Everyone looked like they were under 30, and what's more, no one hassled me because I had Jun at my side. So this is the real Bangkok. I loved it.

At about 4, we were getting hungry, so we stopped off to eat something at a little food stand. Fried fish drenched in chili sauce, veggies and congee. I almost gagged after tasting the fish and spent the rest of the time poking at the veggies. I don't know how, but Jun polished off half a pound of roasted chestnuts after the meal. All the while teasing me for not being able to handle the chili sauce.

We did a bit of shopping along the street. And by that I mean I spent an hour and a half being dragged up and down the street, watching Jun try on clothes and pick out cutesy knick-knacks. I swear, you women are all the same.

June 7, 2002. I woke up at about 2pm today because of last night's adventure, and just sorta bummed about until evening when I bumped into my Kim (whom I met back in Krabi) on Khao San Road. What were the chances of that happenning? Anyway, she was with a couple of friends and she invited me along to Gulliver's Travellers, a bar at the end of the street. That's me with Olly.

L to R: Me, Ash from Vancouver, Kim from London and Olly from Manchester.

Olly was a little quick on the trigger with this shot. I didn't even get my peace sign up beside me head yet.

journal June 8, 2002. My friend Robin (from Toronto) was just in Bangkok a few days ago, but I didn't know, otherwise we could have met up. Anyway, he told me about a huge weekend market he went to. I made the decision to check it out, since it was mentioned in the Lonely Planet and also because it beat the hell out of what I already had planned, which was nothing.

I took a taxi to Siam Square, a trip that normally takes 10 minutes took 35 because of some traffic problem. After getting to Siam Square, I had to take the Sky Train to Mo Chit station, where the market was. It was totally insane there. Like Don Q's in Tokyo, but covering 20 city blocks. I got lost 3 minutes in, I couldn't even find the way I came.

I ended up buying two shirts for my sister and some photo albums for Fran. I'll tell you one thing, you haven't experienced "crowded" until you've been to Asia. First Tokyo, now this and next HK and China. I'm going to have a hard time adjusting back to the Canadian streets.

I got lost wandering around Siam Square after leaving the market. You know, now that I think of it, I spent more than 6 hours completely lost today. Anyway, some how I walked onto some campus of a university (I don't know which one) and couldn't find my way out. It was 40 degrees, every exit was sealed and no one spoke English. Where's Jun when you need her?

I'm getting a little depressed at the thought of leaving in a few days. This is such a wonderful country, I've been here for over three weeks, but it's not nearly enough time. Now that I have a local to guide me around, I'm sure that there's an entire universe of things to do in Bangkok. Unfortunately, my ticket to HK is non-refundable and non-changeable. *sigh*

June 9,2002. There are still two places that I haven't been to in Bangkok that I wanted to see, just for the sake of avoiding people saying, "How could you go to Bangkok and not see that?" One is the Palace, which charged too much for the entrance fee and the other is Wat Po. Wat Po is one of the oldest and largest temples in the city. It was nice and more importantly, it was cheap to get in.

Wat Po is also home to a reknowned massage school. I forget what it's called, but apparently they can perform miracles. I was tempted to try it, but thinking back to Ko Tao, I quickly decided against it.

Below are just some photos I took while walking around. There's not much to do here if you're not Buddhist.

Tuk tuks scanning for prospective customers at the entrance. You really gotta keep your guard up with these tuk tuk drivers. They will try all sorts of things to scam you. I was walking to a main street after leaving Wat Po (spent all of 15 minutes in there), and a tuk tuk pulled over, right in front of me. The driver got out and ran toward me.

driver: "Hey, you go to Wat Po? Wat Po closed today. I take you on tour."

me (unable to pass up the opportunity): "Oh really? Why is it closed?"

driver: "Buddhist holiday today."

me: "If it's a Buddhist holiday, wouldn't they want to open the temple?"

driver: "Huh? No."

me: "You're sure it's closed?"

driver: "Yes! Yes! Come with me."

At that point, I reached into my pocket and handed him my entrance ticket to Wat Po. The expression on his face was priceless. I love messing with people - especially when they deserve it.

They have a separate entrance for foreigners at Wat Po. I don't know why, but if you want to find out, you have to get past these dudes first. I don't know if you can see it, but the guard who's inside to little house thing is holding an automatic rifle. This is a frikkin tourist area, why would you need that here?

In any case, the guy in the front didn't like me taking his picture very much, so he told me to go away. I took one more shot (which came out blurry, dammit) and got the hell out of there.

One thing that I like about Asia is that the authority figures actually command respect. You don't hear any one making cracks about Thai cops or soldiers and you never see anyone arguing with one. One theory is that they beat you senseless with whatever's at hand if you protest.

Sounds about right to me.

journal

June 10, 2002. Mmmm. Mango shake in a bag. This is the epitome of street food. I'm leaving in a few hours for HK, so I'm trying to stuff myself with as much of this as possible before I go.

This guy is making a super oily omlette to go with my rice. It only costs 10 baht, which converts to about 40 cents Canadian. So what are the elements of great street food? It has to be cheap, unhealthy, and taste like heaven. You die happy if you eat too much of this stuff, but is that really so bad? journal