Boom Boom With Pii Noi

Hurray for weekends! They are so much fun in Thailand. They always involve drinking but Thais don't drink the way the British do and so beer is always a lot weaker. On Friday night I went out with Bradley who's from Canada. He was offered 'boom boom' from Pii Noi (Pii means elder brother and noi means small, in Thailand everyone uses a nickname as opposed to their full name) Pii Noi is tiny like his name suggests and he was offering the 'boom boom' at a price. Although Bradley is of the same sex persuasion he politely declined. I was given my Thai nickname by Ice. He chose Hansa, which means funny. I asked him if he meant funny as in ting tong (crazy funny) but he said no. Ice was given his nick name because his mum craved when she was pregnant with him.

On Saturday Romy and I went for Tarot card readings. I won't say much about it because you have to take these things with a pinch of salt but it was good fun. She told me only good things. It was a bit eerie but then you always read whatever you want into situations. Having said that Pink, the girl who took us and translated, also had hers done and was told she would meet a friend who she hasn't seen for a long time. Afterwards we went to get ice cream and Pink got some noodles from the market. Romy and I waited for her and when she came back she said she had just bumped into an old freind from elementary school who she hadn't seen for ten years.

I'm still in love with Thailand although now it's becoming more familiar to me. I'm starting to take things for granted and am not so shocked by the things I see. Last week I was at a party by a lake just outside of Lopburi. Pii M has the cutest dog ever, Mr. Bach. He was my best friend for the night. The next day I wanted to row the boat out to the island and climb the rocks but Pii M said it was hootchin with snales so I thought maybe not.

There are many perils in Thailand but I've been lucky so far. Not seen any massive soiders or pythons or cobras. I have seen a couple of huge centipedes (a bite from one of these fellas will leave you in hospital for a week). The monkeys are pretty darn dangerous but I've been avoiding them. The dogs can be scary and people have been attacked but my philosophy is not to fear them for they smell the fear. The Thai people tut at them to ward them off (they also do this in the classroom to get the kids to behave) so Romy and I have adopted this technique. But the best way to avoid the dogs we discovered by accident. We had a meal at a local restaurant and as we were leaving the band were playing I Will Survive so Romy and I danced the whole way out of the bar, the whole way down the street to Toby's, another bar. The dogs hated it so much that the next day when we walked past them they cowered. So we entertained our friends and the Thai people and feared the dogs in one foul swoop.

Our plans for the next few weeks are buy a motorbike, learn to ride it, go to Ayutthya, go to Bangkok to sort out work visas, take photographs, buy a guitar and have lots of fun. Of course, we work on Thai Time so who knows what will happen.