(spoiler free)

Dun-dun-dun-da, duhhhh! Dun-da-da-dah, dah. Dun-dun-da dah, daaah! Oh yeah, Star Wars!

Because of rampant piracy, movies tend to come out a few days earlier in Asia. Which means I got to see Star Wars a bit before everyone else, and play my Star Wars hipster card. Please. I knew all about Finn and Rey before it was cool. Which overall, it was pretty good! I mean, it's not Episodes IV, V, and VI. But still, an enjoyable movie that I will probably go see again before it leaves theaters. Certainly not quite the disappointment Episode I was. Although honestly, they could make Hello Kitty Star Wars and I'd go to see that opening night.


So in keeping with the spirit of Star Wars, they opened the Star Wars Experience on Siam Square. Basically it's not much except a giant TIE Fighter, and a big promo for the movie. There's a few models and mock-ups, some merch, and excuses to show the trailer. And of course massively overpriced popcorn. But still, it was kind of nice to see a 1/1 scale Jabba the Hutt. As nice as that can be.

Baska waki too-len mai ley! Hoo hoo hoo hoo...

Okay adventure time! As always, not too much as of late. The standard going out on the weekend, getting a beer, that sort of thing. Lately there's been some karaoke, which is always fun. Especially at the Japanese district, who are just incredibly polite, stand-up people. I was thinking though, how similar Japanese and Taiwanese are. Which is great. But as I complained in Taiwan, they are incredibly nice, and kind, but it's really hard to make friends with them. Perhaps I'm being too judgmental. But you can have a great night with someone, and then they just sort of disappear without exchanging contact information. Like at karaoke, I sat next to this super cool guy. New to the city, very friendly. Then I turn around, just to have him wave goodbye while not breaking his stride to the door. Hmpf. Ah well then!

Someone from back in the US told me they have little perspective on how much things cost there. And it really depends on what you want. If you want western stuff, pretty much the same as in the US. But, keeping in mind the average salary is probably half or less than half of a US salary. At present, $1 is about 35 Thai Baht. So, here's some prices for stuff:

Bottle of Water - 7 B
Can of cola - 10 B
Bag of chips - 10 B
Bread (half loaf) - 15 B
Eggs (dozen) - 35 B
Milk (liter) - 40 B
Beer - 35 B
Beer (bar) - 60 B
Simple cocktail - 80 B
Subway Ride - 20-45 B
Cheap Meal - 30 B
Average Restaurant - 50 B
Fancy Meal - 100 B
Western Fast Food Meal - 120-170B
Average Western Meal - 250 B
Hostel - 150-200 B

Of course, the sky can be the limit. In general I spend about 2000-2500 B a week, which includes going out for 1 or 2 decent meals and drinks on Saturday. Rent is about 4500 B a month, not including utilities. Although I'm sure some people would think I live like a pauper (What?! There isn't a subway station outside your front door?! You don't have a maid?!), it's quite comfortable for me. The real advantage is being an AirAsia hub. You can get pretty much everywhere in SE Asia for 2000 B. Can't beat that.

Now, for adventures! We recently made the trek out to Samut Prakan. Samut Prakan is an area south of Bangkok, near the Gulf of Thailand. No beaches (that I know of), it's pretty much just a suburb, albeit one I have never been to. It has two things of note: one spot is the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm. I have heard nothing but horror stories about this place. In Asia, animal rights are like "Animal huh?" So, lots of cramped dirty cages, and you can buy chickens to throw at the crocodiles. Part of me has some sick curiosity to go see it. Maybe one day I will take the moral hit and do it. But that was not our destination today. We went to see the Ancient City, which is an odd sort of place. Some, I would assume eccentric, Thai guy decided he wanted to build a scale model of Thailand. So he did. And then made tiny replicas of the famous landmarks around Thailand. So he did. And then wanted to charge foreigners extra. So he did.

Argh, dual pricing again. If anyone has an answer for that that doesn't boil down to "racism", I'd like to hear it. Anyway, I'm at least immune to that now that I have a work permit. At 300 B it's not exactly cheap, but sort of a once-in-a-lifetime sort of deal. It's a massive place, and we spent quite a few hours there with our friend, Niece. We rode bikes and took in the (tiny) sights. I especially liked the market with homemade Thai whiskey. At 50 B a bottle, it's a steal and made the day oh so enjoyable. Overall though, nice place. It definitely has a lot to see and do, although it is kind of far to get out to. There's not much on the internet about it, I suppose because it's a whole day affair. I think this could be a pretty major tourist attraction if it was closer to the city. It's remarkably well done overall, and lets you "experience" all the sights of Thailand from the comfort of a golf cart, if you so choose.

As to be expected, Christmas is not a thing here, outside of a cash grab from expats. It always seems to surprise people when I say I don't get time off for it. I mean, in the US do you get time off for Songkran? Chinese New Year? When 99.9% of the people are Buddhist, it doesn't really have the appeal. That being said, I am a total liar and this year, I do have time off. As are the perks (perhaps the only perk) of working at a Catholic school, we get a little over a week off. Which means, I'm off to sunny, beautiful, China!

Maybe you've seen the recent news reports of Beijing being covered in smog, but I'm not going anywhere near there. In fact, the place I'm going is much closer to Thailand than it is Beijing. I'm visiting Yunan Province, not far from the border of Laos / Myanmar. Definitely off the tourist path, normally I don't think it would be somewhere people would go unless they're in the area. I'm going because that's where Ella is from, so I get a chance to see her hometown. A "small city", Qujing has roughly 2 million people. If you put that in the US, it would be the 5th largest city after Houston. In China, it's medium sized. When I lived in Hangzhou, just the district I was in was 1.1 million. The district I could bike across. So, I'm interested in how Qujing "feels", because it's so far away from Hangzhou (2000 km) and Beijing (2500 km) it may as well be another country. It will also really be a test of my Chinese ability, as her family speaks no English and I'm not expecting anyone in the city to. But on the plus side, I get to eat all the boazi I want.

Delicious, delicious boazi.