Same Same

Actually, my time in Thailand has been anything but monotonous - I just thought it was a fitting title, seeing as that's probably the single most widely used English phrase by native Thai speakers. Seriously, they even make t-shirts that simply have the words "Same Same" on them, and I'm sure they sell like hotcakes. Don't even get me started on the gold mine of hilarious/witty t-shirts that this country is...the guys from www.randomshirts.com should take a trip down to Th Khao San in Bangkok on their expense accounts, and take notes.

* It wasn't my intention to endorse randomshirts.com, and I maintain that this blog exists for non-profit entertainment purposes only. However, if you knee-slappin handsome geniuses of t-shirt designers notice this blog and decide to cut me out a royalty cheque, you can find my address in your order database.

So I've done quite a bit since my last blog posting, with the most notable events being about a week split between visiting Chiang Mai, the second biggest city in Thailand, and Pai, a hippie backwater mountain village that is probably the 5,690th biggest city in Thailand. They were both pretty groovy in their own ways, but overall I preferred Pai, due to the "getting back to nature" appeal, as well as the bohemian live music scene. I actually just left there this morning, and spent almost an entire day buses, although it didn't really seem that long due to the "effectiveness" of the Thai-manufactured generic anti-nausea tablet that I took before I set off. FDAA approved? Somehow I doubt it. But I'm OK...at least for now.

Anyways, I'm now in a little town called Chiang Khong on the banks of the Mekong River, which at this point also forms the border of Thailand and Laos. If all goes to plan, I'll have crossed into Laos by tomorrow morning, and will be on my way to Luang Prabang on a riverboat. I've heard mixed reviews about this journey - some say that the scenery and general serenity is unbeatable, while others I've talked to have implied that it's the most boring, uncomfortable thing that they've ever experienced, and that I'd be better off to take an 8-hour minibus (I've been on enough of them to realize that the latter group must have really hated the boat ride).

OK, I know what you're thinking right now: it's been 2 weeks since Tom even made an effort of over analyzing an ideology, geographical location, or wholly irrelevant subject that he's come across. You are very correct, and I'm going to continue to abstain from this action for tonight, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've been giving my brain a bit of a break as of late, and therefore haven't engaged in a whole lot of mental tooth-picking to speak of. More importantly, however, this internet cafe is swarming with wholly harmless by extremely annoying bugs, both big and small, and I really can't stay still any longer.

So I'm not going to. I'm assuming Laos has the Internet by now, so you can expect another post in the next week or so. Hope all of you students out there are satisfied with your exam results, and have settled nicely into your mind-numbing summer employment. Same goes for all of the lifers that might be reading this blog. To all of my faithful readers that are retirees (undoubtedly the only ones that have time to actually get through one of my typical posts) : keep it real.

Cheers
Tom