has an end. But not every movie should be made into a triology. Thoughts on the Matrix and the rest of the day's adventures.

The day started off quite unassuming. I was planning to take it easy, b/c my feet and hip joints still hurt from yesterday's hiking around Bangkok. I had breakfast at the Suk 11 again and then spent about 2 hours sewing my "not in public pants" to make them if not stylish, at least no longer trashy. I kind of think this was a waste of time as today there were actual draw-string pants available on the street AND I dont think my stiches are going to last for long. Oh well.

Then I proceeded to take care of some boring errands like getting my film developed and changing dollars into lots of bahts. I feel like such a big spender dropping C notes all the time. But a 100B bill is only $2.50. So because I just got some more cash and because its there and its addicting I did some more souvenir shopping. Bargaining left and right for tshirts and little elephants, drinking more orange juice... which I am now pretty sure is not orange orange juice. I think its one of those other small orange fruits... maybe tangerine or clementine? Anyway, I have got to find a way to send this stuff home or else my bag will become intolerably heavy.

Eventually I realized that I had to stop buying things... atleast for today and get to Siam Square to buy a train ticket for tomorrow's night train to Chang Mai. I headed towards Siam on the Skytrain. First I started walking in wrong direction (of course), but after consulting my map, I got myself turned around. I even ran into another wat... Wat Patum Wanaram. I was the only farang there, so I felt like I was intruding. I wai'd a few monks and they didnt seem to mind. Then on my way to the Square I ate on Soi Cowboy. Its a country western strip right in the middle of Bangkok. Strange. Anyway, I had shrimp and rice.. not very country western, I know. I said "not spicy", but I wanted to call the fire department, because I was on FIRE!! I would hate to see what its like for regular spicy food! EEK! So then I found the Thai Overlanders travel agents and now I have what is hopefully a comfortable lower level bunk for tomorrow's train.

Well then I wandered around Siam Square for a while, b/c the person at Suk 11 said tailoring was cheaper there than in the Sukhumvit area. I didnt really see anything I liked so I ended up buying some crab claw on a stick, and some coconut pancake thingies and going to the theatre to see the Matrix. I was confused when buying my ticket b/c you have to pick your assigned seat! It was in English with Thai subtitles. I was not really impressed. It was visually stunning, of course, but it seemed to lack the depth of the original. And well.. I am still wondering just what the hell the architect said? My favorite part was before the movie everyone had to stand up for the national anthem and a tribute to the King!

So then I headed back from Siam Square (which is mostly just a lot of Western-style shops) to Sukhumvit. On the Skytrain I talked to this guy named Mitchell who has been living in Bangkok for a year and a half while he engineers non-contact credit cards. So then back at Sukhumvit I took a walk around (again) before headed back to my hostel. Sukhumvit has lots of tailor's (custom tailoring is a big thing in all of Bangkok) and ran across Manhattan's. I went inside b/c this random woman who started talking to me at Siam Square for like 15 minutes mentioned that they were the best. Even though she started the conversation with the typical.."where you from" "where you going" routine, I don't think she was a tout, b/c she recommended 2 different Tailor shops w/o any way for her to get a commission from them. So I am hoping she was just a friendly Thai.

I guess we will see tomorrow if she was right about Manhattan's b/c I just left there after spending about 2 hours, drinking their Coke (thought Coke and Pepsi taste different here) and more money than I have spent on everything else in Bangkok so far. US$375! I have ordered 1- 3 piece suit and 6 custom shirts. OMG 6? What was I thinking? Well atleast the sleeves will come to where they belong w/o feeling like my shoulders are going to bust out, but for all that I had better not buy any more shirts in America for the next decade. This is way too much to be carrying around so they are shipping it all home. Heads up Dad!

Well now that my day has kind of come full circle.. from sewing to paying other people to sew for me, its time to get some sleep. I dont know how much of that I will be able to do on the train tomorrow.

As we speak I am "trying" to scan 2 of my photos so check the previous story again for some links.