In Thailand

I arrived last night about 11:30. I met a nice woman on the airplane who gave me some good tips on getting to my hotel from the airport. She was from Florida but here 96 year-old grandpa had colon cancer and she was coming back here to visit him.

She told me I should take a cab that had a meter to make sure I got a good deal. At the airport help desk,I asked them about cabs. They said it would be about 300 baht to take me to my hotel. That was good advice because when I walked outside, there were tons of cabs offering me rides. I wanted to seek one out rather than one seeking me because I figured the ones chasing me were not going to give me a good deal (I now don't think it makes much of a difference).

I took a cab that had a "Tax-Meter" sign on top. When I asked them about the meter, they said it was broken and I looked and in fact, the meter console looked like it had been ripped from the cab. I told them that I needed the meter and again he told me it was broken. I said that I needed to take a different cab and I started to leave. He offered me a price and so I got him to 300 baht which I thought was fair based on the airport advice.

We took off and he was in the front seat and his wife was driving. They were both eating dinner as we went. He asked me where I was from. "Canada", I which I learned from Nepal is a good thing to say if you don't want people grilling you about America. I was super-tired and just wanted to get to the hotel.

As we drove, he told me I had big muscles and then brought out a brochure that was clearly an advertisement for a place that had young women. I said, "very pretty" and left it at that. Then his wife said something and he stopped offering. They were a funny couple.

Then, they had to pull over to the side of the road. I was a little nervous about it because I didn't know what was going on. He looked out the window at the rear wheel. So did I because I wanted to make sure this was legit. It was. The tire was completely flat. So, we got out of the car and I helped them change the tire. The funny part was that while we waited, another metered taxi came up behind to see if I would jump ship.

Finally, we made it there. Jim left me a note as to which room he was in so I went up and we talked for a bit before I dropped dead from fatigue.

This morning, I ate a nice breakfast with Jim and we chatted about Thailand. As we sat there, he pointed out to me that 80% of the men in the restaurant with us were "sex tourists", guys who were here to get laid.

We are talking about going for a little bike tour, taking some cooking classes, and doing some shopping.

By the way, my phone works here. I had cingular set me up with a long distance plan. Unfortunately, it's ridiculously expensive so it's for emergencies only, but I'll text you back if you text me.

I'll probably get a SIM card change today and then I'll have a new number which I'll post.