I got a bus back to bangkok from Attaya. The bus system is pretty amazing. there are greyhound-style city-run buses that go great distances for a dollar or two. Its funny how going to a different city, you meet a different kind of person. At the beach it was more touristy and parties, at attaya it was more conservative people. maybe im pointing out the obvious.
Its monday afternoon. I've been in bangkok since saturday. I'm waiting for my flight home, which I'll go to the airport on Wednesday night around midnight. I'm in the 'sukhovit' area and ive finally found a good internet cafe. I saw a movie yesterday, "The Core". Its very very good. It seems each area of science gets its promotional movie, and this is for geophysics. I went to probably the newest theater in bangkok, its on the top floor of the huge MBK shopping center. the sound was the best - better than any system ive heard. a movie costs only 100 baht ($2.40). The theater was empty when I walked in 10 minutes early. People seemed to swarm in a few minutes before the start time. One of the pre-movie clips was a tribue to the king where the whole theater has to stand and watch photos float by of the king doing various "everyman" deeds set to some sort of classical thai music. its comforting to hear 2.5 hours of english speech in an american accent. im in a strange hotel called "The Atlanta". Its cheap and has a nice pool and a 50s-style lobby thats kind of funky. its also got lots of really right-wing messages thats annoying. the front of the hotel says "No Sex Tourists" and the coasters in the restaruant say "we dont cater to scumbags, low-lifes, " etc etc. Its revolting but its half as much as the next place and nobody has a pool like that. Its surviving off of the fact that its mentioned prominently in the lonely planet.
funny money prices. books for instance are the same price, maybe a little bit more than in the states. also, the book stores here suck. Electronic stuff (computer parts, D players etc) is also about the same price as the US. no real deals to be had not counting pirated software. hotels and food (the important stuff) is really cheap, although sooner or later you realize that all those 100 baht bills do add up.
The SARS thing is pretty scarry. The front page of the bangkok post today said a thai person flew from bangkok to china and died shortly after arrival.
From who.int: "International travellers should be aware of the main symptoms of SARS: high fever (> 38° Celsius, >100.4° Fahrenheit), dry cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties. Persons who experience these symptoms and who have been in an affected area ((See archives of Affected Areas) are advised to see a doctor." I've had a cough just before i left portland and its been with me the whole trip. I dont have a fever and I've been going 4 hours or so without coughing so I dont think its SARS.
Instead of going home, I'd sure like to visit my friend Seth in Paris and then visit my sister in greece. Although I dont think thats going to happen. lemme check travelocity. BKK to Rome 1 way $544. Dave J. says take a boat to greece from italy. Athens to PDX is $643. Plus European price level hotels and food. Say $100/day for 7 days in rome. $100 in transportation to athens (probably not enough). $100/day more for 5 days in athens. $2487. thats a whole-lotta-baht. not to mention a couple months worth of "cruise time" in good ol' PDX. The summer at home should be just around the corner.