Bangkok

At a hostel on Rambuttri Road. I am trying to read while I wait for Jake to return from getting his 30-baht haircut, but I am feeling too expressive to intake someone else's words.

Bangkok continues to be the best place on Earth. I liked Korea while I was there - the food was fun and the country was surprisingly easy to navigate - but it doesn't hold a candle to Thailand. Here, all pleasures in excess (food drink, cheerfulness, heat). I am loving life, and especially the food.

Jake and my first meal was at Chote Chitr, where we overate the crispy noodles, green curry, and fried fish, then topped ourselves off with our favorite street dessert of heavily buttered bread and bananas (see last post in Thailand for reference to very same meal).

Yesterday we visited Thammasat, where, as I was munching on my gloriously-simple-but-all-time-favorite-Thammasat-meal of chicken, rice, and spices, I was accosted by Pam, the old exchange coordinator. She looks the same and said that after I left Thammasat started getting many students from UT, as many as 14 in one semester. When I studied abroad, I was the sole representative from the entire southern United States. (Perhaps I can attribute the rise in UT exchange students to the huge poster of Meris and Lily paying alms to the Thai monks in Ayutthaya hanging outside the UT BBA exchange office?)

Today we made a trip to the old tailor's, where Jake is getting three new shirts made. I didn't want to because of the hassle and the fact that my job does not requre collared button-ups, but sure enough, I found a navy blue I liked, and before I knew it I was coughing up the less than $30 for a custom-made shirt. It turned out to be no hassle at all, because the tailor keeps everyone's measurements and what they have bought in the past in a big scrapbook with little samples of cloth taped directly on to the pages. When he pulled out my file, there they were - the sheer white, bright blue, and light pink swatches of cloth my shirts were made of two years ago.

Then came the remeasuring. While my waist seems to have stayed put, my hips have expanded by a full five centimeters. The Thai/Indian man taking my measurements laughed and said, "You need to run!" Sigh, only in Thailand is that sort of comment endearing.

Got to go. My bowels have quickly returned to the state they were in when I left!