Ayutthaya.

Hello everyone,

Thought I'd drop in a quick message to everyone to say we've all been
doing fairly okay out here; currently in Ayutthaya (which is 200 km
away from Bangkok, chitti vadina), waiting for the nightly train to
Chiang Mai (which is in the north).

Have had a fairly hectic trip so far; and frankly, everyone's feeling
a bit Wat-ed out, if you will. (Wat = Buddhist temple/monastery in
Thai). Phuket was interesting for its activities, went bungy jumping
and snorkelling in the Andaman Sea.

The general consensus is that there exactly two types of people in the
world, those who have (successfully) bungy-jumped, and those who
haven't, with the unstated thesis that non-bungy-jumpers are, quite
naturally, infinitely less worthy and deserve to be treated with
contempt.

Three of us have developed fever as well in quick succession, me
included; considering the complete lack of lose motions, I blame it
more on the physical exertion than on the food, which has been great
without exception everywhere. The pleasures of staying in Singapore
for so long, it seems; unlike 2000, this time I actually found
Bangkok's street-vendor-fare palatable, in parts, even delicious. I
am, however, taking Crocin at regular intervals of eight hours a
piece; as things are currently, the fever seems to be subsiding.

We currently plan to skip Chiang Mai's wats and the night market and
head up to the Chinese border instead to get a taste of Thai-Yunnan
hospitality. And oh, Thai trains, in a word, suck; they present a
certain meter-gauge simplitude compared to the broad-gauge
magnificience of the Indian railways.

Seriously though, beginning to love Thailand; nice people, everyone
smiles, is infinitely polite, and unnervingly charming, including the
guy who just ripped you off.