this is the response to your email that tunred in to a decent summary of whats going on with me so I thought I would post it...

yea all is well here in BKK,
I have been in orientation for 3 days now roughly 9-5 and seeing the city at night.
I'm a long way from that european electronica bar and finally have the cahnce to sit down for a bit. My project still has a great deal of development to go through but right now I'm having a great time enjoying BKK and just relaxing in a way. I met an incredible monk(Krish) my first day who kidnapped(completely voluntarily) me for 5-6 hours to practice various mediation techniques and discuss buddist philosophy. VERY interesting. Im not willing to call myself a buddist (yet) but he definitely introduced me to some facinating ideas and recommended I consider the monkhood... to that I answered the only words I could muster 'thanks'.

The second night in BKK we went to a restaurant literally ON the Chao Phraya river that runs through the city and had a delicious meal of thai food/beer/iced coffee/and other delicious treats. As the tide came in the water began to seep in through the floor boards of the board walk almost to say"ok you've had enough fun, time to go"

I will post more on my week in Samui once I finally get on my computer and can post the photos because they really tell the story of that experience for me. It was fun, though not what I expected from a southern thai tropical island.

I am very excited abt traveling south to phang nga for this internship(though we will be in BKK for at least another week or so). I've received various reports of the relatively tame nightlife in the area(partially due to everything being wiped out more than a year ago). After Samui and all the crazy/seedy/revolting "nightlife" there I think a nice deserted beach is exactly what I'm looking for.

anyhow I will post again very soon -
NICK

Quoting politte@fas.harvard.edu:
>>> Hi!> It looks like you're pretty far from the Indonesia quake, right?> Love,> Paul>>>

May 7th, 2006

Picture borrowed from the wonderful/talented/generous
Emily Cohn - photo of Maho Bay, US Virgin Islands
(unlawful copying for your own profit without her consent is totally not cool)

Hello all,

If you've reached this blog you know me or know of me. Thanks for visiting!

I dont pretend to know a lot about these blog things mainly because I think too many people waste too much time on them. For my purposes, namely journal entries, I think these things are perfect.

I've never been a big journal-taker which I regret because I think they are very valuable after a trip. So this is my first attempt.

My current itinerary for this summer is as follows:

Leaving from RDU Airport --> May 18th (after sunset)

Arrive in Bangkok --> May 19th

Arrive in Koh Samui --> May 22nd

Scuba Certification --> May 23rd-May 27th

Return to Bangkok --> May 28th

Orientation in Bangkok--> May 29th

~3 months in Paradise

Leave Bangkok for Cambodia --> ~August 10th

Leave Cambodia for Vietnam --> ~August 15th

Saigon(Ho Chi Minh) to Hanoi --> ~August 15th to August 22nd

Leave Hanoi for RDU --> August 22nd

Arrive RDU --> August 23rd

SOOOOO... thats the plan.

I'm trying to stay as flexible as possible, however.

Keep checking back around these dates and I should have some more detailed info up...

I'll probably post in a few big blocks.

Best wishes,
NICK

ps. Please leave comments if you have a questions in the future about something I say or don't mention because I don't always know what to include or exclude(or what is interesting to you or will bore you to death).