so spending a full 5 days in bangkok is probably enough, here's what i've been thinking so far:
the markets are cool, nothing we havent' seen before, but cool and the fake stalls are everywhere and not nearly as scary/sketchy as in hong kong

food is cheap and delicious, so is the public transport, it also cheap and delicious.
100km train ride = 45 cents
long skytrain/subway ride = at most 75 cents, likely less
4 hour bus ride = $5
food, if it's over $4, it's too much imo.
delicious

riding an elephant is weird and, given the way they treat them, i don't recommend it. all this head wacking, not very nice. our elephant driver was nuts though.

ayutthaya is like the kyoto of thailand, it's way better than kyoto, really big and cool. we were going to rent bikes and ride around but got talked into a tuktuk because they're persistent and we're pushovers. anwyays, it was really worth it and i totally don't regret it.

the computers here are assslow, ya 3 S's worth of slowness. i think they're running on celeron 600s, with 256 ram at the most, opening sites is a chore

i got that cheap thai massage for 2 hours, and was treated to the nastiest ingrown hairs ever as a result, serves me for not cleaning my legs before or after...
i had to buy some cream and stuff... pfffffft
tho it felt really nice

in a few days we're going to our beach resort, should be great. you can look forward to seeing 3 pics on facebook within the next 3 years.

i'm hanging around the b.dot now it's been treating us well so far, eating a bunch of weird awesome food from the food courts at the shopping malls, tomorrow wel'l take on the food in the scary streets

got a $14 2 horu massage today
then whenw e left the building we saw an elephant across the street, eerie but cool that's my update today

this month the biggest shopping mall in japan opened, it's huge. it's nearish our house (under 30 mins if you hit the right trains)
i swear it's at least 1 km long if not more. its chock full of the usual suspects and a few surprises (giant cheapish sportstores).

the food courts were semi amazing as they had such crazy things as "american" japanese food and weird pizzas. so pete and i got a pizza each, my pizza was french fries and ham, pete's was a caesar salad pizza. it was crazy, but pretty tasty. pics later.

the biggest and best surprise of all though was the Village Vanguard burger shop.
the vanguard basically tastes like fuddruckers but with about 15 flavoured varieties to choose from, i got the Harvey Pekar burger, which was a slab of backbacon, jalapenos, cheese and deliciousness. i think they make possible the best or second best burger i have ever eaten. ever.

anways, we go to thailand soon, bought some gut rot medicine just in case, we got some stuff called seirogan. people always say it smells like tar, but i'll one up that and say it smells like, chinese pharmacy. i like the smell, so whatever.
in thailand we're going to bangkok and ko samet, 10 days total, should be enough to enjoy the ride. i'm going to eat myself a hole in my stomach through spicy foods, goal #1.

new skin hey?
i hate it, but i upgraded my blog software and everything is f'ed up
the backend looks great though, very easy to use :)

unfortunately everything i had before was rendered, garbage so we're gonna start anew

years ago i had this great idea that they should build consoles/computers into appliances. not actually useable appliances, but just appliance cases. it would give a sense of kitsch and it would be funny.

of course, my friends laughed me out of the room with their closed mindedness. well look at who was always right in the long run you jerks.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/09/nintoaster-mod-makes-nes-games-tastier-than-ever/

pete and i bought tickets to bangkok. we found a pretty cheap ticket on expedia for around 370 bones each (w/ taxes and surcharges) we're going for 10 days but we haven't really come up with a plan as to where we should go yet

trivium is back, but i don't think matt heafy is screaming anymore, rather he's showcasing his best hetfield impression again, with their overindulgent crapfest/showboating
no rhyme or rhythm, i'll have to see how the rest sounds, but so far, better than their last album, but still crap

i applied to siast in PA, i'm going to get killed

It's late, and it's hot here so i don't want to write too much yet, but here's my thoughts on hong kong, as suggestions for other visitors:

bbq (char-siu) is delicious, look for any restaurant that strings up dead, red, critters in the window. it's a sign of delight.

that worlds longest escalator that is advertised in everything like tourist books, lonely planet, magazines, wikitravel, is a load of crap. it's long, but it's not continuous, rather it's a series of escalators that go up like 1 klick... cool, but really? when you get to the top, there's nothing there cept an old man who i think was smoking weed and a long steep walk back down.

it rained a lot while i was there, bring lots of socks

there's is not as much english as i expected and so the english menus in restaurants are sorrowly lacking. if you liek something chinese, take the time to learn it's name in chinese... or write it down.

taxis aren't so bad, but the trains are better.

don't f around with getting train tickets every second, buy one of them metro passes (octopus card). if you don't use it up before your trip is done, go to 7-11 and finish it up, perfect!

there's 700000 shopping malls in hong kong, they all serve the same stuff... but they're neat to look at.

that temple waay off at Wong Tai Sin or Lok Fu, is gonna get you a lot of stares if you're not chinese, or if you're half chinese and you bring your non chinese girlfriend to the temple.
stares, of disgust!!!
it was cool though.....

mongkok will rock your socks... nice markets and stuff... careful about the looking at copy products. you go to some fairly frightning places.

tsim sha tsui wasn't everything i hoped it would be, although i did get pics on the avenue of the hollywood walk of fame of the stars.... yaaa.... i've now touched hands with cecilia cheung and andy lau.

i couldn't find dim sum for the life of me, until we went up to the peak... that's retarded, cos it was also really expensive.

the peak is nice, the tram'll change your life, it goes at like 70degree slopes, it's nuts.

go to stanley market, if not for the market, for the change of scenery. you take a bus to get there from like Hong Kong station or Central or one of them.... it's pretty sweet, beaches and stuff, looks nothing like the other side. and the market was fine.

the night market at jordan or yau ma tei, was frightening and sketchy... the food looked delish though.

if you're in mongkok and you come across some crazy chinese/thai fusion place, go there, it was awesome...

beef flank everything is great, also called beef brisket... get it in soup... not by itself tho haha.

xiao long bao is always good, in japan it's sho ron po, in canada it's "the dumplings with soup in the middle"... anywhich way you call it, it tastes great.

watch the buildings light up once and never again, it's very underwhelming.

the international ymca hotel in yau ma tei is reasonably priced, nice and walking distance to wherever you'd like to go.

the chung king mansions look hilarious and i don't think i can stay there.

take the ferry across to hong kong island... you can use the octopus card

I just returned from Hong Kong and learned, like i learned in singapore,taipei and hong kong. Get ready for this....

I look asian.

Because I look asian, I should be able to speak the language and so, everyone in every country speaks to me in whatever language it is.

So now that I can speak at least 7 phrases in japanese its time to move on to learning enough mandarin to also die in chinese countries.

Hong Kong is cool... i'll write more about it later when i get my pics sorted out.

i love bbq beef and beef flanks (briskets)