i took otto to the hospital today and paid the 4600 baht to get his blood tested for AIDS and STDs, along with mine. just a wee bit paranoid after reading in the paper that 1 in 60 thai people has AIDS. (....p.s. in case i forget to write it, the next day we were both found completely clean :) ).

unfortunately we had to go back to white sand beach two more times today, running errands for ot's boss lamom. at one point we borrowed a friend's truck to go pick up cases of alcohol, and otto realized the horn did not work too late- he hit a little doggie at the side of the road. i freaked out on him, thinking he had killed it, but it turned out to be ok, just a bump on the head. thai people look at animals as meat or labor, not as pets, so he didn't quite understand my sympathy for the dog.

another night at jah bar, which is the only thing to do here now as the old nature bar is closed and the new one doesn't open for a week. i spent most of the night staring adoringly at ot from across the room.

i woke up this morning and ran for the beach, where i swam for about two hours. i bought otto a camera to take pictures of us and a notebook and pen so he can write down his good ideas from now on instead of letting them float past in a stony haze. he took me to the new night market on sai khaew to buy some snacks (boiled peanuts, khao lam, quail eggs, rambutans). ko chang is picking up quickly in that area- it's already far too developed for my tastes, and the travellers on that beach tend to be the rich package tourists or the boring american kids with their parents. we stopped and had some isaan food (typically gristly with an occasional surprise bone chard) with our friend pan and his girlfriend.

later headed to ban bao (fishing village) for a big party which ended up being very small, but on the water with a nice thai family and some little hippie tots wearing viking helmets that a farang girl brought along to play music. we ate free seafood and ot played his jambe arrogantly with a couple of shy thai kids and an apparently mute japanese hippie boy, and all was well.

i saw a great film today... it was made by a thai director, in bangkok, but it was mostly in japanese with japanese characters. it had good timing in my life, as i can relate these days to the awkwardness that communicating with the japanese constantly presents. anyway, beautiful film, 'last life in the universe', go see it.

later my scruffy thai friend tom and i took the chao phraya express boat to have great thai food at a set of street stalls. i only wish i could tell you the names of the dishes, i have no idea. one of them was super salty egg yolks cooked with fresh chopped vegetables. it was so delicious. i almost have orgasms eating some thai food.

later we went to a thai place on pra athit road and listened to acoustic guitar. thai people love their popular music, and quite often the whole room starts singing along. they really are happy fun people. tom and i had good conversation- his looks are a bad representation of his personality, he really is a smart, motivated, cool thai guy (filmmaker).

however i told tom that i value honesty above everything, so his response was that he honestly would like to have sex with me. ugh.

taka had to work today so i was on my own. i woke up late, hitting myself, and jumped immediately on a subway to shinjuku. my guidebook said shinjuku is the one place in tokyo not to miss. i was totally not impressed by it. half of the area is skyscrapers, the other half was nondescript shops piled six to eight floors on top of each other and accessible only by elevator (like in office buildings). tons and tons of people. i really can't say i saw a single thing of interest. i did stop in a cafe to have a 1000 yen sandwich and 400 yen drink- scandalous. maybe the area is better at night though, supposedly there are lots of clubs.

i booked it out of shinjuku and headed for the yoyogi station with the intention of seeing yoyogi park. this used to be famous for it's "culture parade" on weekends, where all the trendy kids would go and strut around in their costumes. unfortunately it is not at the yoyogi stop (?), and i couldn't find it... since i was so near i decided to head to shibuya again. it's the one area of tokyo i've seen that has any sort of energy to me. i sat and watched cute people while i sipped a milk tea and listened to a big painted van full of old men who looked like communists protesting some mystery political issue. i noticed the streets are clean, everyone puts trash in it's designated place. everyone waits for the light to change to green before they cross the street, even if no traffic is coming. the "punks" are fairly refined and tame... what this place needs is a touch of rebellion. or maybe i just haven't found it yet.

i decided to pay taka a visit since he was right nearby. he was all spiffed up in his uniform and gave me a free beer. he told me how to get to a gaijin (foreigner) cafe called 'las chicas', so i left him with two super skinny model girls hanging over his counter and went to drink there. it had great music and the staff was friendly but it was expensive so i couldn't stay long. i did notice they were hiring though.

i wanted to go to roppongi (big nightlife area) tonight but it was too early so i headed to ikebukuro to check email (a frustrating experience since i spend half my time trying to turn the kanji text back into english after i inevitably hit the wrong key). i ran back to my hotel, took a hot bath, and accidentally fell asleep in front of a documentary on afghanistan. woke up too late to go out. the trains stop at 12a here so you have to go out around 8p. everyone is drunk by 9 or 10 and back on the train home by midnight- quite strange. anyway i missed out.

the convenience stores here have a whole range of delicious cheap prepackaged food. i bought a bowl of noodles with fresh vegetables, ginger, chopped meat and egg for about $2. delicious. i ate it with a jug of iced coffee in front of cute japanimation in my room.

afterwards taka met me at my hotel to give me the grand tour. taka remains shyly beautiful but after i spent a couple of hours going around tokyo with him i realized he is fairly common, as everyone is impossibly gorgeous here. and it really is true, there is a higher percentage of kids here with incredible style. we navigated the subways (which are very easy to use though you have to travel long distances to get anywhere), in a whirlwind day of neighborhood hopping. we did so many things that it will be hard to recap but i will try to keep it short. he took me to harajuku first, where he works in a cafe inside a huge artspace. very refined and expensive- taka fits right in. the area was a bit like paris; lots of art, ritzy salons, cobbled alleyways with boutiques and cafes. beautiful girls in high heels, tight pants, and long flowing hair. they wear tons of makeup and perfume and carry a lot of accessories, & they all look like models. most of the guys in this area seemed gay, but not overtly.

next was shibuya which was my favorite. it is the trendiest area in tokyo for the younger crowd. i was a little disappointed to find that there is not a whole lot of pop culture immediately evident, and most of the people looked pretty normal. but i got the impression that you just had too look a little deeper and longer and everything is there. the one obvious trend i noticed was (the 'ganguro' look) girls with deep tans, white eyeliner, and bleached, feathered farah fawcett hair. and of course spiked heels. it's sexy but it is one image that goes over better with americans than japanese girls. i did see a few super goth chicks, and another trend is big loose socks, almost like legwarmers, which many girls were wearing (they look pretty stupid). everyone seems to have a hat. i was further disappointed to see that the shops were normal shops, not stuffed with ultra modern manga paraphernelia and such like i thought they'd be. saves me money though.

asakusa was next. it retains the flavor of old japan with lots of long dark cobbled alleys filled with shops, people dressed in kimonos for the summer festival, and an old, dark buddhist temple. there is huge fire pit with some sort of incense that they believe heals if you stand in the direction of the smoke. also there is a shrine at which you throw money and recite prayers. overall the japanese don't seem especially devout though. it's more of a tourist attraction.

my feet were killing me and i was drenched with sweat so we headed back to ikebukuro (a very comfortable student area which reminds me somewhat of amsterdam with all the kids on bikes and the sex tourist alleys). i took a hot bath and met up with taka again to go to a club underneath his gallery. we got a discount on the entrance fee, only having to pay 1000 instead of 2500 yen. the drinks were about 700 yen each though (about $6), and very small with not much alcohol in them. the club was alright. one thing i noticed is that yes, the japanese kids have style (way more than plain old i do), but it's almost to the point where it is uniform; ie. they aren't so individualistic about it. the girls are gorgeous but they all look the same. the boys have a little more individuality but they seemed to lack personality. nobody let loose. the music was slow house (which i didn't know existed) and the people were, well pretty boring actually. in comparison to thailand, tokyo is lacking the crazy, sexy undercurrent that is everywhere in bangkok. tokyoites seem polite, aloof, and safe. in comparison to NY (to which it is otherwise similar), it is lacking the diversity, energy, and straightforwardness. it is a "cute" place though, and everything is new to me.

later taka and i headed again to ikebukuro to go to an izakaya (japanese pub). it was exactly like every japanese restaurant i have ever been to before, with the sunken floor under the booth. we asked for large beers and they brought us pitchers(!) but they were relatively cheap. we ordered a bunch of great weird food. taka's friendly boss (also named taka) showed up for two pitchers and some stuttered english and then paid the entire bill and left.

i decided not to grill taka on his preferences concerning me at this point. if he likes me he will eventually show it. or if he doesn't have enough guts to then he isn't my type anyway. it's nice hanging out with him as a pal. we hugged each other on a street surrounded by noisy pachinko (game) parlors and strip club touts and headed home around 3am.

after quadruple sentimental goodbyes again from ot, some distracted grunts of acknowledgement from 'x', and a quick nod in the direction of khao san, i repeated all over again the process of leaving.

egypt air is fairly basic. i was not previously informed of my layover in manila on the way but as i could sleep on the plane in the interim it was ok. the snacks on egypt air are surprisingly yummy. turkey and tuna sandwiches and fruit. my steward (an egyptian man) noticed i was sitting alone and invited me up front to a better seat. little did i know that he would sit in front of me and stare directly at me the entire first leg of the flight. he even followed me to the bathroom to interview me. arrrgh. luckily in manila (which was gorgeous flying over) i realized i was in someone else's seat so i got to move back to my own, next to a very cute japanese guy who slept elegantly the entire way.

at customs i had to stand in line behind another egyptian man who absolutely reeked of body odor. i was choking and nauseous by the time i got through to the arrivals hall. i got a glimpse of a group of cute chinese students in uniform though, all with names like ying and xiu.

narita is a cinch. i heard horror stories about navigating it when no one speaks english but they were all exaggerated. it's a very user friendly place, and they even have an english information counter. i bought my 3300 yen ticket to tokyo and hopped aboard the train with no problems.

my first impression of japan is that it is a stern, sterile, hyper-organized place. all the men on the train had tiny laptops and were bent over them typing with furious scowls. nobody smiled or looked at each other. i put on my walkman and looked out the window at the beautiful landscaped vistas. another thing i noticed is that a lot of women here still wear pantyhose and pumps, which i have not seen since the 80s. and everyone has the exact same phone. they ring with tinny recorded music instead of normal ringtones.

after a transfer to another train, some regrets as to the amount of shit i managed to pack in my as a result horrifically heavy bags, and a frantic 20 minutes running around in the heat of ikebukuro unable to locate my hotel with the directions from the surly information booth staff, i finally just grabbed a 660 yen taxi which took me a block.

my hotel is great. i have slippers, a yukata, automated everything including a toilet which washes my bum after i do my thing, a deep bathtub, porn on tv (which i did not sample as you have to pay), a refrigerator, and best of all, a lovely queen size bed with a down cover. sigh.... oh yeah, and beer vending machines in the hallway. :)

i managed to find a subway shop for dinner. very american.

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