ringing in the new year w/ 8 of my only, and therefore, dearest friends in Bangkok. The cast included 2 israelis, 1 belgian, 2 brits, 2 aussies (the only girls), 1 swede.

i maintained my perfect record in keeping the guy:girl ratio at new year's eve parties well under 2:1. sausage anyone?

on a related note, i'm never drinking again. half the night was spent talking to 4 thai girls. i can't remember a thing they said, not as a result of alcohol but because Max (brit) and i were trying to figure out if they were indeed women. all tests were inconclusive and so we never guessed their true sex.

Posted by thejerk at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

saw the strangest thing while our plane was taxiing after landing at Bangkok international airport:

frankly, i feel like a flying golfball is a bit of a hazard around an airplane's sensitive machinery, not to mention the security risk in having people mill about directly in the middle of a series of runways but hey, if the thai's are comfortable with it, so am i (for now).

Posted by thejerk at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

click here for pics

i (heart) mongolian girls!

the jerk

Posted by thejerk at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

the mood seems relatively light in Bangkok. pot-head backpackers and pot-bellied chunky foreign chicks stroll idly around khao san road w/o a care in the world. besides a few donation centers (some of dubious intent), there's little sign that any major tragedy happened recently. everyone appears good natured and ready to take in a ping pong ball show or two.

apparently, most of the people here haven't drowned in the recent tsunami but honestly, it's hard to tell sometimes as a few, mostly british travelers, appear braindead.

i'll spend a merry new year's eve here and hopefully move onto Cambodia tho the free wireless internet at this guesthouse does its best to keep me in Bangkok forever.

merry new year's, turkeys and a word of caution: avoid the above-the-groin mistletoe.

Posted by thejerk at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

i'm off to bangkok for another round of flying ping pong balls and other lascivious activities. frankly, it was a no brainer to change my course considering my other option was to get cholera or gangreen in indonesia. instead i prefer to get cholera and gangreen in thailand.

after vietnam, i suppose i'll wander over to cambodia and vietnam at which point you can hear all about my grueling time in 'nam. i love the smell of napalm in the early evening!

Posted by thejerk at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

so the earthquake hit yesterday but many many miles away from here. there's no need to worry, the yangs and myself are fine and the only looting going on here is from dennis' parents stealing my prescription medication. you can never trust the chinese... and the taiwanese are even worse!

the strange thing is, i was originally planning on being in sumatra for christmas but the draw of the yangs and a free stay at the hyatt on the papa yang's dime, lured me to delay my indonesia entrance. otherwise i'd be riding the killer tubes of the tsunami. instead, i have a pair of chinamen asleep before 5pm.

happy new years you sorry sacks of crap!

Posted by thejerk at 02:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

some semi-non-boring pictures from china. highlights include me being sick, the great wall, beijing and shaolin temple. enjoy you human piles of dung!

click here for China 2 pictures

Posted by thejerk at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

so i'm just lazing away in the southwest area of china called Dali. my guidebook warned that here, days turn into weeks and weeks to months and i believe it. the greatest attraction in this area is the guesthouse i'm staying at where they offer free internet and is so massive and maze-like you can easily get lost... but they had me at free internet. so i sit all day either on the internet or the rooftop and wait until my china visa expires on christmas day. then off to hong kong to see tim, the tayaganator, tayag, and the yang family. happy kwanzaa you fruitcakes!

Posted by thejerk at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

uploaded pictures taken in the south of china (about 3 months ago). i've defeated the communist "great firewall of china" to finally get my pictures to my website.

click for south china pics

Posted by thejerk at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

can you believe they allow this kinda behavior with an endangered animal!?! (only 1000 or so are believed to exist in the wild) but thank god for me... i got to molest a real live panda!

Posted by thejerk at 04:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

pizza hut is considered upscale dining here! meals at pizza hut cost nearly 10 times the average person's meal at some local establishment and the decor is remarkable. it's like comparing a fine dining establishment at home to say, mcdonalds. it's amazing that a place that serves such classy items as "twisty bread" and "onion rings" could possibly be considered fine dining.

(god, i gotta get out of this country!)

Posted by thejerk at 03:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)