This and that

Today I went and bought a train ticket to the Thailand-Malaysia border. The arab neighborhood near where I am staying made me miss the Middle East, so I thought I should travel through an area filled with "insurgents." The train line I will be traveling on was shut down for 10 days so the thai gov't could beef up security and make it safer. That being said, no tourists have died on this train ride. I will not be hanging out in the town Sungai Golok for more than the amount of time it takes me to walk to the border.

Anyway, I went to the train station via the BKK subway, first time I have been on the thing. Quite clean, and seemed nice enough. I should note that my cellphone worked while riding the thing. Now why the hell can a cellphone work on BANGKOK's subway but not on any freaking subway in the USA? What the hell is going wrong in the USA? And while we are on the subject, Thais use the same types of cellphones as us Americans. Yes, the developing world is as technology advanced (and in some cases more advanced) than the good ol' USA. Sad times. Americans, we need to get our shit together.

And that is one reason I like the Far East: every country is trying to keep up with its neighbors. The other day Singapore's former PM told citizens that they need to keep paying its gov't employees well to keep singapore on top, and that people can't slack off. I have read articles in the Bangkok Post saying how Thailand needs to form an economic plan to make sure its growth keeps in line with Malaysia, Singapore, et. al. In the US do our leaders ever tell us to work harder to stay on top? No. Do you ever read articles or op-eds in American papers saying, "US needs to keep pace with ____"? No, other than articles of fear about China and India's development. we've become complacent. We think we're #1 but we most definitely are not in many ways. Americans need to wake up to that fact. Alas, our southern neighbor is even more behind us and our northern neighbor is similar to us, so I suppose we are isolated from global reality.

That's my little rant. Those thoughts were going through my head as I was running around Bangkok today. Got price quotes for a one-way to Dhaka. Not as cheap as I was hoping. Oh well. The dollar is weaker than it has in a # of years (previously was 40 baht/dollar, now 34/dollar), so that is one factor.

Highlight of the day was going to a random food stall. Went up to woman, said hello (one of two words i know in thai, woo woo) and just indicated I wanted one. One of what? Uh, one of whatever noodle dish she made. I thought she just had one option, but apparently not. She pointed to some noodles and said in thai (i'm assuming), "This?" and I said, "Hai." Uh Sean, you're in Thailand, not Japan. Oh well. Just a dumb ass farang/gai-jin.

So I was expecting fried noodles. Instead I got chow fun in a sauce akin to hot and sour soup. It had some boc choy and carrots. Was actually quite good and filling, so I was content.

Also enjoyed my time on the Chao Phraya Express. Love riding along the river here. Great mix of modern buildings, temples, and old decrepit shacks.

Ended my "hopping" through Bangkok with a stop in Lumpini Park. The aforementioned Marie told me that at 6 PM, they played the national anthem in the Park and everything stopped. Well I naturally had to see it for myself. I arrived around 5:45 and right at the entrance of the park there was a bunch of people do aerobics to some cheesy dance music. I went further in, walking around the park, and came across 2 other groups. It was fun to watch. And when I mean aerobics, I mean the western kind; I am not talking about Tai Chi or anything like that.