All Hail the TukTuk!!

I know it isn't much, but it is the truth, those little buggers can get you through the worst Bangkok traffic in no time at all. In fact, if they weren't driven by some of the sleaziest folks on earth they would be perfect. On that note, Neal and I have traded in the melodious "You Want Maaaasssage"'s of Thailand for the high life of Nepal, and yet again I am floored. Even with the rain that is here, it appears to be the beginning of the rainy season, the place is amazing. We are researching how to best do some sweet ass trekking and rafting while here, and acclimating to the altitude having just come from the swamps of SE Asia. I haven't had time to relect on it all yet, but to say the least we have landed in a hotbed of freakdom, in fact, there is even a Freak St. here in town.

Some parting thoughts on Thailand:

For a country that size they have an inordinate amount of women born in the bodies of men...aka ladyboys and some of them could make the biggest fattest drag queen in the french quarter run screaming.

On the other side, they also have an inordinate amount of drop dead beautiful women (most of whom I think have been women all along).

If you want to buy anything, and sadly I do mean anything, Bangkok is the place. On a side note, if you ever need cheap knockoff sunglasses really really cheap, Bangkok is the fucking place!

I hit the noodle and rice wall finally. I knew it would come at some point, but the other day the wall came out of nowhere and bitchslapped me into yesterday. I just couldn't stand the thought of one more fried rice or noodle soup (Neal, of course, is nowhere near the wall) and we luckily found the elusive Mutaba shop that stuffs dough with tasty fillings, it may have saved my dear brothers life as I may have been forced to impale the closest person to me (him) with the next set of chopsticks placed in front of me...tragedy averted.

My brother looks like a phallus with his head shaved.

Finally...I am glad to be out of Bangkok. As much as I enjoyed it, can you imagine being a backpacker in Manhattan...just not right...Bangkok is better, but I am absolutely exhausted from dealing with the constant barrage of sensory input. On that note, I shall bid adeui, and mention that we had a small taste of what India will be like and it isn't pretty...I suspect Bangkok will look like cake compared to Dehli.

As a smart man once said, "Sometimes you ride the cat, and sometimes the donkey rides you!"

Time for more thoughts on the wierdness that is SE Asia....

Cambodia, land of the landmine, the Angkor morgolantastic temples, and naked kids...yes, that's right there are naked kids EVERYWHERE. Not too big a surprise I guess, but I can't begin to stress the sheer volume we are talking here, hundreds, no, thousands, fuck, hundreds of thousands of naked little buggers in the Siem Riep metro area alone...okay, nowe that we are through that onto more pressing issues like the fact that the guest house we stayed in here is the 1st, not 2...or 3...or 4, but first place to actually come in and make up our beds and give us clean towels daily since we left the states...Holy shiznit.
Went to the Landmine Museum today, an unsanctioned hut on a side road to Angkor that is home to Mr. Aki Ra, a 28 year old former mine layer for both the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese backed Government army, niether of his choosing. The museum is little more than a flimsy hut, but the power of the story he tells and the images inside are of insane proportions. There must be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000 mines in that hut alone, and the current number of unexploded mines left in Cambodia hovers around 6,000,000....fucking crazy. Anyway, after that uplifting experience we headed down the road to the river of shit (not it's real name, but I guess you all get the drift). There we hoped in a boat that made the boats in Malaysia look like Al Copelands Popeye I racing boat. It was all this thing could do to float...anyhow we headed down the river to the Lake of Shit (It's real name...I think) and checked out the floating village...of shit. Actually it was very cool and well worth the extra cash. Speaking of cash, this place is ridiculouso expensive compared to the rest of the continent, only American dollars in most places and it ain't cheap.
Tonight we head back to the corporate shill of a town, Bangkok for a few days of fun and heat before we head for the lofty picturesque riot ridden country of Nepal...all excitement and smiles folks...until then I'll try not to succumb to this little bug that's been givin me a runny shnoz.