Sniffles

Yesterday I came down with a cold. To my credit, never even for a moment did I believe it was bird flu. No, the experience was way too familiar in its irritating minorness, sneezing, and runny nose. Mind you, I'm not terribly surprised. I tried very specifically to wear myself out in the days leading up to our 3:00am departure, so I would be able to sleep more on the 13-hour trans-Pacific flight than is my wont on airplanes, and thus avoid some of the fear I've developed, of late, associated with air travel. I was successful; that is, I slept through at least half of the journey, and then stayed awake many long hours until about 10:00pm Thailand time on our first night. I have found that staying awake until bed time local time is the way to do it. I believe that the thrill of being in a new place, discovering new sights, and eating new foods kept my adrenaline up and the cold at bay for the first couple days, and I initially blamed my soreish throat and sneezing on sleeping with a fan and a mosquito coil all night our second night in Petchaburi (another classic sign of a cold: denial). But as soon as we arrived in Ayutthaya and checked into our guest house--a beautifully restored teak house with polished floors, comfortable beds, soft pillows, fans, and clean bathrooms--my body decided I was safe and the cold hit for real. I took a long nap in the afternoon, slept several extra hours last night, and seem to be about done with it, and tonight we have yet another night in the gorgeous Baan Lotus Guest House.

I'd like to say something more about travel in places, such as here, where the options for transportation are numerous. We have yet to make a reservation for anything (although R&K did make us some for trains), and really haven't seen the need. For example, yesterday morning in Petchaburi, after our trek to 7-Eleven, we packed up our bags and left our guest house to head to the bus station. We stood for a total of 17 seconds on a street corner before a little taxi truck beep-beeped at us. We clambered in, he took us to the bus station, and we bought tickets for a high-speed first class air-conditioned bus bound for Bangkok--leaving in 10 minutes. Bottled water was even included in the price of the ticket. In Bangkok, we caught a regular car taxi to the northern train station--Bahn Sue Junction--where we bought tickets for Ayutthaya, for a train leaving in--yes--ten minutes. A nice police officer led us to the right train, a charming, clattery third class vehicle with polished golden-painted wooded seats (prettier to look at than sit on, but isn't that often the case) and double-hung windows, all wide-open (we closed ours partway once we took off and feared being blown out the window and down the tracks by the force of our passage). After an hour and a half we arrived in Ayutthaya, where we left the train, avoided the taxis, walked a half block to the river, down some stairs following someone else on our train, and directly onto a ferry that disgorged passengers as we arrived. From the other side of the river, we chose to walk the mile to our hotel carrying our heavy packs, which made us feel like we're legitimate back-packers. Really, so far we've had to create any difficulties we've encountered.

Tomorrow we head up to Chiang Mai with R&K. December 5th is the King's birthday and a huge national holiday, so we're very excited to be here for it. Preparations have been intense, with lots of lights draped from trees, and decorations around huge posters of the King and Queen.

Oh, and the weather has been hot and humid. It's amazing how much difference a fan makes.

Lastly: Foods we ate yesterday
Sticky rice in saran wrap, and what turned out to be pork in separate saran wrap, bought from a vendor with a basket on the train
Fried rice with beef
Green curry with beef. The curries all have these weird green beans, or pods, or something in them. They're about the size of blueberries and kind of bitter. I kind of like them.
Watermelon from the night market. Ian was impressed at how carefully the vendor cut it--without ever touching the flesh.
Chicken and coconut milk sour soup
Glass noodles with basil