Don’t Go Number 2 in Bus Station Bathrooms

Seriously. Hold it back. Had a bit of a scare yesterday. I had to drop some brown little friends off in the bus station toilet, and didn’t mind having to squat over the hole in the ground to do it. I started to mind considerably, however, when I realized I had far less wiping material than I thought. Couldn’t stand up, couldn’t stay squatting forever. Then my legs started to shake from holding the position. Crap. Literally. I rummaged around in my bag until I found sufficient materials (goodbye guide book pages 1-4), but it was certainly unpleasant. At least there wasn’t any Senator Larry Craig action. It could have been worse, but probably best to avoid the situation all together.

Let’s see, last post I was in Chiang Mai. From there I hopped a bus to neighboring (and sort of rival) city Chiang Rai. Before taking off, I met this old Thai guy named Mr. Jamnien. He was also going to Chiang Rai and we got talking and he sat next to me on the bus. I brought out the iPod for the journey and this perked Mr. Jamnien’s interest. We rocked out to Dragonforce and Green Day the whole way to Chiang Rai - head-banging and air guitar to boot. What an awesome little old man.

Chiang Rai was holding their annual “Four Nation Friendship Festival” when we got there. Representatives from Laos, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, and China were all there for this big ceremony and parade, complete with plenty of fireworks, fire balloons, and crazy performances. It may just be because it’s festival season, but these dudes love their firecrackers like no other. They were shooting them off non-stop for 4 days. I even saw a 5 year old girl tossing M-80s into the street.I’m in a little town named Pai now – still Northern Thailand, which I can’t seem to leave. At this rate I’m going to need another full month just to check out the south. Good thing I’ve got plenty of time – yeah unemployment! More later.