when i'm feeling depressed . . .

i dont eat massive amounts of food like most people.
instead, i forget to eat and indulge in . . shopping.

a few things i'm going to miss about bangkok:

• 7 story shopping malls
• places where there are 4 malls literally next door to eachother
• 5% off everything just for being a "tourist"
• true cafe
• how kinokuniya wraps your books in plastic for you
• bus number 511

sometimes i ask myself: how can a place with so many beggars and almost no social welfare system have such beautiful shopping malls?

okay so. it's not sometimes. i ask myself that everyday. when i ride my bus from pinklao bridge through prathunam shopping center. turning left at where gaysorn and central world shopping malls are with their prada, versace, etc stores. going straight onto sukhumvit road, where some of the property costs more than homes in san francisco. and finally making it to where UNESCO is located, thonglor . . . aka: Beverly Hills of Bangkok.

on a different subject. since i've been feeling a little down in the dumps. i've been sitting on my ass watching dvds of tv shows. i'm done with greys anatomy and nip tuck. i've gone back to rewatching sex and the city . . for like the 8324 time. but hey. today was actually nice, which is why i was motivated enough to get off my ass and get out of this damn apartment.

i talked to some of my favorites and it made me happy. my mommy and daddy are funny. i had an interesting conversation with him about highly educated men and highly educated women. aparently, he believes that highly educated men dont have to be with highly educated women. in fact, he says they shouldn't. because if the woman is highly educated, they have a chance of falling below the women and highly educated men should never let that happen to them. it was funny.

i always thought my parents were relatively "modern" in thinking. and i think my dad is just upset with my brother and is pinpointing it to his girlfriend . . who has her BA in electrical engineering from ucla, her masters degree in electrical engineering from sdsu, and is currently in law school. i asked him about what he thought my prospects of getting married were. and it dawned on me. "hey daddy. no wonder you wanted me to go to sdsu and not berkeley. you just wanted to make sure i wouldn't intimidate the boys and i could get married huh??"

at that, my dad changed his mind and supported me on going to washington dc and new york this summer to go to my SEARAC conference AND check out colleges for grad school / law school.

so with that. here's to another night alone in my stupid apartment.

updates

i was having some trouble logging into my blog a few weeks ago and i just gave up. anyway.

utube was blocked in thailand. i was trying to look at danielle's election video and it wouldn't work. then i found out form diego that thailands government blocked.

yet another readon why a military junta ruling a country isn't a good idea.

on a different subject. songkran weekend. no school friday, monday, and tuesday. i'm heading back down to krabi. alone. umm. i think its time for me to go back to the states. i seem to have exhausted all my friends here in thailand because all they want to do is stay in bangkok.

on the subject of going back home. i'm still trying to fight the fight to take my exam early but it doesn't look like its gonna happen. its shit. yet another reason why i dont like the business program. or business people. they aren't nice to me the way they are to thai students. and they dont kiss my ass like they do the westerns. its bullshit because i pay a shit ton more tuition to come to thammasat. blah blah blah. bba sucks. especially when a final is set on 19 may while i would be done with school 4 may. a whole damn two weeks.

BUT on a brighter note. i like having connections with bus companies. yesterday i called my bus company to reserve a ticket for krabi and this was the conversation:

• me: hi, i'd like to reserve a ticket for krabi for tomorrow night
• him: sure, but the price is 550 not 350
• me: REALLY? why?
• him: well, it's songkran weekend so the price is higher.
  
• me: now i dont know. i come and get my tickets here all the time but thats almost twice the regular price.
• him: i'm sorry. all the companies are doing this . . but wait. what is your name??
• me: oh, well this is monica.
• him: (in thai) MONICA! why didn't you say something? of course. you get special price. we'll charge you the 350.
• me: GREAT!

so. i guess the universe is yet again balanced. cons of being asian but american in bba. pros of being asian but american in traveling. funny thing is that it usually doesn't work this way.

well. happy new years. the real new years!

Myanmar: India collides with Southeast Asia

The country formerly known as Burma was like nothing I’ve ever experience and yet freakishly similar to everything I’ve experienced here in Southeast Asia… all at once.

I’ve never been to a country in the tourist trail is so completely laid out. It wasn’t until I successfully bypassed a part of it, skipped having to buy a plane ticket, and went out on my own that I had fun.

I felt a bit like an anthropologists by noticing the physical differences between the different types of people in Myanmar.

Yangon to Bagan to Mandalay to Hsipaw to Inle Lake and back to Yagon.

It was good and worth it.