This is my little blog on the web...just some updates too what is up out here in the 'orient'.

I'm in Koh Samui now, a little island in the Gulf of Thailand. I've been relaxing in a beach bungalow and playing around in the ocean. I had a close call yesterday on a Sea Doo (jetski)...I have been jetskiing a lot lately and I've been trying to get tricky and got thrown at high speed from the seat; when I came up I was struck in the head by the Sea Doo. My lights were out for about a second (I was hit hard), and I made it back to the the Sea Doo then back to shore. I'm hurting like hell, but OK. I got lucky, if it hit me any harder I may have been in big trouble. I got to travel around the coast a bit to check out a giant golden buddha on a beach cliff in Bophu bay before the accident which was stunning though.

The nightlife here in Koh Samui is pretty good due to its proximity to the Thailand Full Moon Party that is world famous. (It's coming up on the 16th)...I went to a beach rave the other night that was the "Black Moon Party", it was a beautiful setting, the music was excellent and the design was spectacular.

My Thai is improving at a fast rate. I am beyond survival Thai, and I am able to carry on simple conversations. My good friend Golf has been an excellent instructor. I have begun studying the Thai writing system as well. I am surprised, and somewhat disappointed with, the many ex-pats here in Thailand who can't speak any Thai. I am quite unimpressed with much of the ex-pat community in Thailand, their opinion of Thailand and the Thai people is very low in general. Many seem to be here simply to exploit the low cost of living and the often desperate financial condition of many of the people of the Kngdom of Thailand...to me this seems to be a kind of modern economic colonialism.

I'll be leaving Koh Samui to fly back to Pattaya on the 6th, then I'll be going back to Ayutthaya for a short time. (The former capital of Siam). Ayutthaya has the most stunning ruins and temples I have ever imagined. After that I'll be off to Bangkok for a while.
My tentative plan is to fly to Taiwan for a few days, then back down to Vietnam. After that I may travel by land to Cambodia and back to Thailand. Thailand-cambodian relations are still very rocky right now, and my plans may change depending on the political environment in the coming month.

Thailand finished its first month of a two month drug war...the stakes are high and for the drug dealers the streets are dangerous. police have blacklists and orders to shoot to kill. Last count they have executed over 1000 people on the spot in about 1 month. Two weeks before I arrived in Pattaya earlier this month there were two people executed in the street in front of the hotel that I stay at. It was masked men on motorbikes, but given the modus operandi, everyone (me included) believe it was the police who shot them. the police claim that almost all the deaths in their little drug war are by gangs, but everyone knows what is really going on.
They are trying not to scare off the farang (foreigners) who support the Thai tourist economy, so there is really no danger for us in this whole mess...

Well, I'm off for now. Take it easy!  ¶ 3/03/2003 11:44:00 PM