On the road again

Ok, that's a weak title. Maybe Back in Blog? After 36 hours of travel I'm too beat to be creative. The key is that I'm traveling again.

I arrived in Bangkok early this morning after another grueling trans-continental, trans-Pacific journey. The visit home was great. The timing maybe wasn't the best, since I arrived home as everyone else was leaving for the holidays (should I take the hint?) but it was great to visit and recharge a little. I was feeling pretty beatup and mentally rundown in Cambodia. Now I'm really excited for the second half of the trip.

I am rarely able to sleep on buses or planes, mostly because I get anxious when traveling to a new place, and also because I'm like a little kid when I travel -- I'm afraid I'm going to miss something. But I think because I was traveling to a familiar city and hostel I was able to relax more. So I don't feel like a complete zombie. It will take a few days for my body to adjust, since the time difference is 12 hours. I'm literally on the other side of the world!

One of the reasons to travel in Thailand is to try the food. But because I felt so bad when I was here before I didn't try much of the local cuisine. When my back is bothering me my whole abdomen hurts. Eating spicy Thai food with an upset stomach is not wise.

Today for lunch I bought food from street vendors. There are guys who sit on the sidewalk with stacks of styrofoam containers with different types of rice and noodle dishes. They pop them open one at a time until you see something you like. The funny thing is, at home I would never think of buying a foam container of food from a stranger on the street. But that's what the locals do. I grabbed a couple pork skewers from another vendor. Total bill: 35 baht, or about a buck. And Bangkok is considered expensive by Southeast Asia standards.