eh, i rescind. its not bad, but its not what it could be. kind of lame in total. over it, excited to move on. har har.

edit: sorry this was so cryptic, really i was squeezing the last few minutes out of my internet cafe hour. the initial impression of the backpacker beat in bangkok sort of washed away and the view of what was left was not in any way really impressive. sort of busted nightlife, people encouraged to gravitate to a low denometer- but where we were-banglamphu/kho sahn road was fairly comfortable, massages were good and and no funny business, food was tasty. lots of the same cool t shirts, shops with bootlegged cd's and dvd's, ridiculous bric-a-brac, good used books, ubiquitous generic scarves and ethnic looking paraphenelia. plus, almost all the bars close at one. sort of a mix of the conceits of Haight-Ashbury and the secret soul of Niagra Falls.

love your symptoms wayfaring whitey

arrived in bangkok and the 'backpacker capitol' of Banglamphu. its like cleveland compared to hong kong where whitey was quite scarce on the street level. its candy land in many ways, and everything is hell of cool. the hostels all have these big open air patios with chill house music and candles and stone statuary, koi ponds, bamboo pillars. like a thousand zeitgeists and all whitey whitey, dready dread, a 22oz beer costs about $1.25 and some nice rooms at about $10. opt-out, drop-out paradise. proves that any misanthrope american living in his parents basement, stoning out with a chip on his shoulder really has nothing to complain about. everythingyouwantsville. but that is only a 12 hour diagnosis. not nearly as seedy-seeming as i had imagined, nor as 'heady'- several family vacations visible, and lots of single european/american/aussie girls. staying here for today at least before we head to cambodia. Alors, we are looking for a room with a view. a room of ones own, a couple dozen feet above the stampedia.

also, i'm looking for some feedback here, wondering if anybody has actually bothered to read this. half narcissism/half curiousity. forgive.
thinking maybe of opening our "plans" up a little choose-your-own-adventure style:

should dan and linz:
a) spend a few more days in bangkok before heading out to cambodia/vietnam/laos/greater thailand in order to gather some non-lonely planet derived ideas of where and what to do there. also dance frenetically and chill in plush lounges drinking cold light beer.
b) bus down to the islands and partake of the moon parties, seek inspiration and swim in tropical waters.
c)leave tomorrow on a train to sihanoukville
(and again)...and do all of the above when we come back? oh, we might actually go to angkor watt first as it is on the way.

vote up america!

hong kong heights

took an awesome extended car cruise with second degree friend. amazing time and amazing hospitality. saw a completely different side of the city than the vastly overcrowded and overstimulating side of things where we are staying, which is pretty much something like hyper-oakland. hit some deserted daytime hotspots-beaches, buddhist temple pavilion, bunker/bomb-shelter on a cliff, amazing night views from the peak, great french toast at a 24 hour diner, and an amazing plush apartment. the hang lasted until about 4am. we're now packing up at the hostel and on our way to the airport for bang kok. couldn't get to sleep last night till the morning came around.

king of kong/ same same but different

i smell like a horse blanket. the pictures are forthcoming, have taken some good ones but too lazy to do that right now. just got back from this sparsely populated, expatish island-Lamma island. it was cool- laid back and dominated by the hong kong powerplant. enormous spiders overhead in trees. we ate our first street food last night and are still standing so that is a good sign. hong kongers are decisively anti-vegetable but really make a point of using all of the animal, hence crispy fish skins, pig knuckle, pork ligament and a whole host of gristly undeterminables. the anomoly is how everyone is not morbidly obese what with the greasy.

the popular street treat is octopus tenticle skewers and bacon wrapped in bacon.


blazing hot and humid, spent a couple air-conditioned hours last night watching Dark Night, f*cking killing movie and with Hong Kong scenes. I felt like part of the action. lots of funny t-shirts and an undeniable suspicion that not everyone knows what their english t-shirt really means, something like the reciprical of late 90's whitey with his chinese character tatoos. we are staying in this notoriously hectic sector; once we hit the street we bob along head and shoulders above a massive crowd, and supposedly things only get crowded on the weekends. glad to be getting out tomorrow on that count. bangkok tomorrow. possible rendevouz with a BC grad and mutual friend-o-friend on the south side of hong kong island this evening.
i love and miss all my family and friends. i can't believe its only three days we're gone. lindsey just got out of the shower so i'm out.
if i knew how to say 'bye' or 'cheers' in cantonese i would do that here.
ciao

DISAPPEARING TIPS

Plan before you go

Do research from different internet cafes or libraries

Tell no-one your plans

Use pay-as-you-go phones

Apply for no memberships

Cash is king

If you believe you are compromised, you are


^from the BBC, ha