Cheap Trick

One of the most popular rock bands on the planet in the late 1970s and early 80s was Cheap Trick. From Japan to the Americas, they had millions of devoted fans. Visually, they were a puzzling blend of peculiar (wacky lead guitarist Rick Nielsen and burly drummer Bun E. Carlos) and pretty (long-haired lead singer Robin Zander and his bassist Tom Petersson). But musically, they were a powerhouse, combining Beatles-inspired pop songs with a harder rock edge. I was a big Cheap Trick fan in those days, owning all the albums and of course several t-shirts that I bought at their concerts. During the early days of their career, with albums like In Color, Heaven Tonight, and of course the phenomenal live album At Budokan, Cheap Trick were one of the very best bands in the business.

But don’t go thinking that Cheap Trick sold their amplifiers and curtailed their career all those years ago. No way, kiddies! Cheap Trick never stopped touring, and they continued to record albums, some of them very impressive ones. In fact, the last few years have seen them make a resurgence of sorts. Rockford, an album they released in 2006, ranks as one of their very best ever. This is classic Cheap Trick; melodic rockers and power pop ballads, songs that stick in your brain and leave you smiling. Guitarist Rick Neilsen is still a loveable maniac, and lead vocalist Robin Zander sounds as strong and assured as he did 30 years ago. Listen to him belt out the lyrics to “If It Takes a Lifetime” and “Every Night and Every Day” and you will be a believer all over again. The rhythm section of the band also remains the same: drummer Bun E. Carlos and bassist Thom Petersson still supplying the dependable backbone of the band’s distinctive sound. The more I play this album, the more I’m convinced it’s a classic. Not a weak song to be found. 

The followup album to Rockford, 2009’s The Latest, is also very good, chock full of tasty tunes and wicked guitar licks. An inspired cover of Slade’s “When the Lights Go Out,” along with majestic originals such as “Miss Tomorrow” and “Everybody Knows” are just a few of the highlights. It’s very reassuring to hear these “old geezers” still making music that sounds as fresh and invigorating as their early albums. With albums as sumptuous as Rockford and The Latest, Cheap Trick have proven to their detractors that they are not a “cheap” novelty band geared to youngsters, that hit their peak decades ago.. You can call them survivors, but this is a group of very talented and creative musicians who are making some of the best music of their career. 

 

Money Exchange

Last week I received an e-mail from my friend Htein Linn in Nyaungshwe, Myanmar. I hear from him fairly often — usually asking how I’m doing or supplying news of his own — but this time his note had a different tone. Htein Linn runs Golden Bowl Travel Services in Nyaungshwe, and from his little storefront on the main road he offers ticketing and guide services, boat trips on Inle Lake, and treks to nearby villages. He also sells secondhand books in his shop. He’s a very enterprising fellow, even finding time to start an organic farming project near his home village in nearby Maing Thauk.

In his e-mail, Htein Linn explained that two tourists from Israel had recently visited him in Nyaungshwe. They were planning on continuing their trip with a visit to Bagan, but realized they didn’t have enough money. Unfortunately, this is a very common problem for tourists visiting Myanmar. Because it’s nearly impossible to use credit cards within the country (outside of a handful of large hotels in Mandalay and Yangon), and there are no ATMs, tourists must bring enough cash to last them the entire time they are in the country. Compounding that problem, if the bank notes you want to use (or exchange for kyat, the local currency) are in less than immaculate condition, they will be refused. That US one-hundred dollar bill with the small red stamp on the back? It’s of no use to you in Myanmar. That twenty dollar bill with the slightly crimped corner? Nobody will take it. Another problem is the current exchange rate. For the past year it’s been steadily falling. Anyone thinking that they will still get 1,200 or even 1,000 kyat to the dollar, as was the case as recently as two years ago, will now be shocked to find that the rate is now closer to 700 kyat … and still falling. All of this makes trip budgeting damn difficult.

So these two tourists found themselves in a predicament. They wanted to see more of the country, but there was no way, even by adhering to a strict budget, that they could do all they wanted. But then Htein Linn came to the rescue. Hearing their plight, he offered to lend them some money. Against their protests, he told them to take the money and once they got to Bangkok and had access to funds again, they could drop by my bookshop and give the money to me. Htein Linn knows that I am planning to visit Nyaungshwe again in November and can bring the money to him then.

Such a generous act is not out of character for Htein Linn, but nonetheless, it surprised me. I know he’s not a rich man, so any cash that he was able to lend these people had probably been saved over an extended period of time. In any case, he would definitely need this money back. But would he get it? In his note to me, he called the two tourists “very nice people.” Obviously he thought enough of this couple to trust them to pay him back, but when I read about what he had done, I inwardly grimaced, fearing he had been duped. I’ve never had very good luck “lending” money to people, no matter which country I’ve lived in. In most cases, I never see the money again. But this past Sunday evening, the couple came to my bookshop, introduced themselves, and gave me the money. They profusely offered thanks to Htein Linn for helping to make their trip more enjoyable, not just by lending the money, but by showing them more of Nyaungshwe and the Inle Lake area. “He’s a very nice man,” the woman said, practically glowing with gratitude. I agreed with her, telling her a few memorable Htein Linn stories of my own.

One of the interesting places that I discovered thanks to Htein Linn was the primary school at Tat Ein, a village near Nyaungshwe. I posted some stories and photos about the school (and the colorful anniversary ceremony I attended) about two months ago, but thinking about Htein Linn and Nyaungshwe reminded me that I still have a bunch of photos from the school that I never posted. The students there, including young novice monks from a nearby monastery, are always a delight. Just thinking about their enthusiastic reaction when I bring them prints of these photos the next time I visit makes ME smile too!

Kompong Pluk

One refreshing option for tourists that have developed severe cases of “Temple Fatigue” — brought on from trying to see and photograph too many Angkor temple ruins in the span of a day or two — is to take a boat ride on the nearby Tonle Sap Lake. For many years, Chong Kneas was the favored spot for lake tours, but that village started to get way too touristy, and as crowded as Angkor Wat on some days, so other parts of the lake have become alternate tour destinations. One of those places is Kompong Pluk, a picturesque cluster of small villages located on the floodplain of the Tonle Sap, about 16 kilometers south of Siem Reap. The homes in Kompong Pluk are built on stilts — some wooden and some concrete — and instead of motorcycles and trucks parked outside you’ll find boats and canoes. As you would expect from such a water-based community, most of the villagers’ income comes from fishing.

I visited Kompong Pluk again this month with my friends Rong, Chiet, and the four Try brothers. We bought packages of chicken and rice at the market in Roulous on the way and ate those for lunch later on the lake. Some of the boat ride is spent on canals and tributaries that wind through mangrove forests. Once you are on the big lake — and it is so big it would qualify as a “Great Lake” back in the US —the boat usually stops for a break and passengers are allowed to swim if they want. Our boat driver toldus that sometimes he gets younger foreign tourists who want to swim au natural. But this guy admitted that he got flustered when naked foreign women asked him to take their photo! Oh well, just part of a hard day’s work!

 

 

Memories of R.E.M.

I first heard the news in an e-mail from a friend in Florida yesterday: after 31 years together, R.E.M. had broken up. Damn, that’s sad news, and it certainly signifies the end of an era, at least for people like me who followed the band throughout their entire career. R.E.M. was a great band, one of my favorites of all time, but if they felt they had nothing left in the tank after all these years, all you can say is; “Thanks for all the great music, guys!”

But 31 years? That’s mind boggling. All I can do is shake my head and wonder where all these years have gone. In my mind R.E.M. still represents the “new” breed of rock bands, not the rock dinosaurs from the 60s and 70s that I grew up with. I remember hearing a very catchy, propulsive guitar-driven song played at the 688 Club in Atlanta one night back in 1981. After hearing it for the second time that night, I asked the guy standing next to me: “Who is this?” The answer: “R.E.M.” The song in question was “Radio Free Europe,” a single the band had recently released on Johnny Hibbert’s locally produced Hib-Tone Records. I found a copy at Mark Methe’s Wuxtry Records in Decatur that weekend and played it to death when I got back to Orlando. “Radio Free Europe” was a fantastic song, and the flip side of the single, “Sitting Still,” was nearly as good. Like many music fans, my appetite now whet, I wanted to hear more.

That wish soon came true. In seemingly no time at all, R.E.M. was the hottest band in the region, thanks to touring, airplay, and word of mouth. Remember kids, this was well before the Internet. Tweeting was something only birds did. The band signed to IRS Records and released the enticing Chronic Town, an excellent 5-song EP in 1982. They followed that with their first album, the classic Murmur in 1983. I was such a fan of that album and so inspired by the spirit of the music that when I opened my own record store in Orlando in October 1983 I called it: Murmur Records. Another Athens band, Love Tractor (R.E.M.’s drummer Bill Berry had once been a member), performed a concert in our back room the following month. An Orlando band named themselves Stumble after one of the tracks on Chronic Town. Another local band took the name 7,000 Gifts, after yet another R.E.M. song. Like the band, we were on a roll. R.E.M. was our good luck charm.

Earlier that same year, just before they released Murmur, R.E.M. came to Orlando for a show at a local disco that held a weekly “New Wave” night called “Spit.” As expected, the band put on an electric show and took the time to talk to some of us fans afterwards. Guitarist Peter Buck was especially personable and full of tales. The next year, after Murmur had turned our heads around, I saw R.E.M. again in concert, this time at a free Spring Break show in Daytona Beach, opening for the English Beat. Thanks to the efforts of a mutual friend, I was able to coerce Michael Stipe, the band’s shy singer, into doing an interview at a bar after the show. I realized later that doing interviews wasn’t something that he was very comfortable doing, so I was grateful that he took the time to talk with me that day.

R.E.M. kept up their hot streak of consistently great albums the rest of the decade with Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Life’s Rich Pageant, and Document. In the eyes of their fans, this was a band that could do no wrong. But then they switched labels in 1988, signing for big bucks with Warner Brothers and released the uneven Green album. It sold well, but many longtime fans like me were very disappointed. To the delight of many pessimists, however, the band bounced back with two of their most popular albums, Out of Time and Automatic for the People, punctuated by great songs such as “Drive”, “Everybody Hurts”, “Man on the Moon”, “Nightswimming”, Losing My Religion”, “Near Wild Heaven” and “Shiny Happy People.” Their music took on a harder edge with the next album, 1994’s disappointing Monster. By that time, the band seemed to have lost the magical spark that had separated them from other bands of the era. Nevertheless, I kept buying each and every album when they were released. Every three or four years R.E.M. would record a new album; some good to great songs, some lackluster stuff, but just nothing nearly as amazing as those 80s albums. Their two most recent albums, Accelerate and this year’s Collapse Into Now, were especially strong collections, refreshing bursts of energy after a few too many lethargic albums the previous decade.

No matter which albums are your favorites by R.E.M. — and mine are still those early masterpieces on IRS — you can safely say that R.E.M. stuck true to their ideals (musically, socially, and politically) and always treated their fans like gold. To say that they will be missed is an understatement, but at least they went out on their own terms; no messy breakup with nasty accusations or bitter fighting, just a group of musicians who realized the time was right to call it a night.

In the last couple of years, the band has released 25th Anniversary editions of Murmur and Reckoning. Both are now available as 2-CD sets; the original album plus an extra CD with live concert material. In the case of Murmur, the album was completely remastered. Such sonic improvement is usually considered a good thing, but fans of the original “murky” sounding Murmur were more than a bit distressed to hear that their beloved album was being tinkered with. And so, I put off buying it for the longest time, until I finally took the plunge when I found a copy in the sale bin of a B2S branch in Bangkok earlier this year. I was relieved to find that the remastered version was not as dramatically different sounding as I had been led to believe. Then again, I’m no audiophile. If everything was still in mono I wouldn’t be distressed. The bottom line is the quality of the songs and the depth of the music, and that hasn’t changed a bit. It’s still a classic. As is Reckoning. That was an awesome one-two punch that the band never really topped, although they came close with Fables and Life’s Rich Pageant, both of which are also now available as deluxe 25th Anniversary editions. There have been a lot of articles in the media this past month about the anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind album and the impact that it had on so many music fans. But for me, Nirvana never really mattered that much, or at least they never had the impact on my life the way that R.E.M. did. That’s not to dismiss the influence that Nirvana and their album had on many people — every generation has its touchstones — but for me, R.E.M. was the band that truly changed things.

The Jayhawks and Rainy Day Music

With all the rain we’ve been getting in Bangkok lately, I decided it would be apt to put Rainy Day Music by the Jayhawks on my MP4 player. The Jayhawks have made plenty of wonderful albums over the years, but Rainy Day Music is perhaps my favorite of them all. Although earlier albums such as Tomorrow the Green Grass and Hollywood Town Hall are considered by most critics — and more than a few fans — as the best ones the Jayhawks ever made, my personal favorites are the ones that the band made after Mark Olson left the band, such as Rainy Day Music, Smile, and Sound of Lies. Most diehard Jayhawks fans would scoff at such a musically sacrilegious statement, but while I like the early albums very much, I find that there’s just something more magical about the post-Olson albums with Gary Louris handling the lead vocals.

After Olson left the Jayhawks, the pressure was on Louris and the rest of the band to prove to skeptics that they could still make good music, and I think they more than delivered. Some listeners, especially the roots music purists, say the post-Olson albums are “too pop” or stray too far from the so-called “alt-country” of the early Jayhawks albums, but I think that’s elitist nitpicking. Any “change” in the band’s sound — and it’s really a subtle one — is simply the band adapting to Olson’s departure and also part of its inevitable metamorphosis. To my ears, it all sounds pretty damn wonderful. The Jayhawks always excelled at making melodic, country-tinged rock music that soothed the soul, and they only refined that ability with these albums.

And that takes us to the present. After a 16 year wait, the original band with Olson and Louris is back together again, and a new Jayhawks album, Mockingbird Time, was released earlier this month. I haven’t heard it yet, but you can rest assured I will be ordering it soon, since I doubt it’s something I’m going to find on local shelves. Surprisingly though, I found a copy of The Jayhawks very first album, often dubbed “The Bunkhouse Album,” at a branch of B2S here in Bangkok earlier this year. This is a wonderful album, positively oozing with country-rock flavorings, very reminiscent of the Flying Burrito Brothers, which of course was the band that the legendary Gram Parsons made some of his finest music with. Anyway, I’m sometimes pleasantly surprised with what I find on the shelves at B2S (although you have to have lots of patience and look everywhere; the way they organize their titles is horribly haphazard), particularly during the sales that they have two or three times each year. During these periodic sales, some very interesting catalog titles, and even a few recent releases (finally found the latest John Mellancamp, for example), make their Bangkok appearance for the first time. So, maybe there’s still a chance the new Jayhawks album will turn up here, but I don’t feel like waiting.

Cambodian Signs

Here are just a few weird and wonderful signs I saw while I was in Cambodia earlier this month. As usual, I saw the best stuff when I didn’t have my camera with me, but these signs were fun too.

 

 

Siem Reap

I spent four days in Siem Reap, Cambodia earlier this month. I ran the Lazy Mango Bookshop there from 2002-2004. Even though I’m based in Bangkok now, I to go back and visit friends in Siem Reap once or twice each year. I have fond memories of those days and the many wonderful Cambodians that I met. So Peng Thai and Chamrong both worked at my bookshop. Chiet and the Try brothers — Hoich, Hach, Channo, and Bo —- were all “street kids”, stopping by during the shop to chat (this did wonders for my Khmer language development), run errands for me, or help me dust the terminally dusty bookshelves (our front “gate” was always open — no AC, just ceiling fans — so the Siem Reap dust was a regular visitor). They were your typical irrepressible, happy-go-lucky kids, but not attending school at the time I met them. We soon fixed that problem.

 

It’s been satisfying to see them all “grow up” over the past decade. Rong is now a supervisor at the Siem Reap airport and belatedly taking a course to get his high school diploma. Thai is working as a licensed Angkor tour guide. He and his wife are expecting their second child early next year. Chiet didn’t get far in school but took a vocational training course and is now working as a welder. The oldest Try brother, Hoich, is now 22 and still hasn’t finished high school. He’s frustrated and wants to get a job and make some money. Thai is helping me find a vocational school or course where he can study motorcycle repair. Hach turns 20 soon and is happily going to high school and also studying English and various computer programs. I have a feeling that Channo will also go the way of Hoich and not finish school, but the youngest, Bo, who is 16, once again finished first in his class on the last round of exams. He tells me that he wants to be a doctor. Go for it kid! One notable absence from our old gang is Sophea, who used to run a shop in the town’s old market. She had the audacity to go and get married and then move to the USA about a year ago. The kids really miss her and are always asking me for updates on what she’s doing. One of these days we hope she’ll come back and visit us.

 

Siem Reap has changed dramatically since I lived there nearly a decade ago. It was never a particularly picturesque town, but it did have its pleasant side. Sadly, those last vestiges of charm are fading away with the increase in vehicle traffic and building construction. I’m not pleased with a lot of the growth I see. Along Highway 6, the road to the airport, there is such a glut of cookie-cutter hotels that many of them stand vacant or construction has halted. And yet, still more are being built. Must be high hopes for an increase of Chinese tour groups on the horizon.

 

I didn’t even go to Angkor this time. Other than taking a trip on the lake to Kampong Pluk (photos coming soon) I didn’t really go anywhere. Most of my time was spent meeting friends for meals, almost all of which were at the Hawaii Restaurant near Wat Bo Road. I’ve always liked the food there — from tasty pizzas and other western dishes to very good Khmer food — but for the Try brothers the real draw is their pool table. Game after game after game. And the family that runs the restaurant is always polite and friendly, offering typically charming Cambodian hospitality. Reason enough to go back!

Garland Jeffreys

Here is yet another important recording artist who, despite making consistently good to great albums since the early 1970s, is virtually unknown to the masses. Yes, Garland Jeffreys is another one of those artists who remain puzzlingly “under the radar”, even after many years of recording magnificent music and garnering favorable reviews from critics.

During his long career, Garland Jeffreys has followed an intriguing variety of musical paths, veering from rock to reggae and from to blues and soul, distinguished by penetrating lyrics and tunes that are buttered with a slight coating of pop. Jeffreys is of mixed racial heritage and his music is also a smorgasbord of styles. Garland Jeffreys has been called an old school rocker, a musical mongrel, and an urban poet; all of which are apt descriptions of this dedicated and important musician. Toss in elements of Lou Reed, Curtis Mayfield, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, and even a dash of Phil Ochs, and that will give you a general idea of what he sounds like. But then again, nobody really sounds like Garland Jeffreys.

Jeffreys first came to the music world’s attention in 1973 with the provocative single “Wild in the Streets.” The music was catchy but the lyrics were what really struck most listeners:

In the heat of the summer
Better call up the plumber
and turn on the street pump
to cool me off

With your newspaper writers
and your big crime fighters

You still need a drug store
to cure my cough

Running wild in the streets …

 

Oddly, that song was not included on Garland Jeffreys, his debut album for Atlantic that was released the same year. “Wild in the Streets” never made it onto a Garland Jeffreys album until a version appeared on his debut for A&M in 1977, the excellent Ghost Writer, still considered by many to be his seminal album. Jeffreys followed that with two more solid albums before signing with Epic and releasing another incredible collection, Escape Artist, in 1981. That album featured powerful songs such as “True Confessions,” “Mystery Kids,” “Modern Lovers,” and “Christine,” along with a spirited cover of “96 Tears.” It featured a stellar cast of supporting musicians, including Adrian Belew, David Johansen, Lou Reed, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Big Youth, Nona Hendryx, Roy Bittan, Michael and Randy Brecker, and G.E. Smith. The 2007 CD reissue also includes seven bonus tracks, some of which were first heard on the bonus 45 record that come with the LP version of the album. Another album for Epic and he jumped labels again, releasing a couple of more fine albums for RCA that never set the charts on fire.

Fans that have waited over a decade for new music from Garland Jeffreys were rewarded recently. The newest Garland Jeffreys, The King of In Between, was released just a few months ago on his own label, Luna Park Records. No more having to appease record company executives and marketing departments, this time he’s doing it all his way. Predictably, the results are most impressive. Tunes such as “I’m Alive,” “Coney Island Winter,” and “The Beautiful Truth” highlight Jeffreys’ talent for penning memorable songs, punctuated by socially conscious lyrics that are both eloquent and poetic. And his shimmering, captivating voice still sounds strong and assured at age 68. The only misstep, to my ears, is the mediocre “Rock and Roll Music.” But with an album this strong, I’ll forgive Garland for that one little blip. I’m just glad that this man is still making vital music.

http://garlandjeffreys.com/

Summer Reading

Well, I guess it’s still technically summer here in Thailand, but it’s not like we experience anything remotely like the changing of seasons over here. It’s either hot and muggy, or damp and rainy. Sure, there is the annual “cold season,” a period that might last a total of two or three weeks, during which time you might — just maybe — consider throwing on a jacket. But other than that brief and subtle dip, temperatures don’t vary a great deal. Inspired by the seasonal theme, here are some of the books that have comprised my summer reading for the past month or so.

Theodore Rosengarten – All God’s Dangers: the Life of Nate Shaw

This is categorized as a biography, but it’s not the usual kind. Nate Shaw was a poor black sharecropper who lived in Alabama from the late 1800s until the early 1970s. He couldn’t read or write, but he was an exceptionally bright and thoughtful man. Shaw dictated his life story to Rosengarten when he was in his 80s, showing a remarkable recollection for events and insight into other people’s behavior. This won a National Book Award, and deservedly so. This is powerful, moving, and often humorous account of life in Black America in the early 1900s. Nate Shaw is an inspiration.

Tim Parks – An Italian Education

Parks’ memoir of his time living in Italy — as an Englishman married to an Italian woman and raising children in a different culture — is both funny and fascinating. It’s also extremely well written, giving the reader an insightful, amusing perspective of a foreigner living in Italian society.

Eudora Welty – The Optimist’s Daughter

Welty is a famous short story writer, but she also wrote excellent novels. This is one that shines and shows her talent for prose and vivid characterization.

Donald E. Westlake – Brothers Keeper

Not one of his famous Dortmunder novels, but nearly as funny. Westlake was one of a kind in the crime fiction world and his light-hearted comic capers were always a delight. It takes quite an imagination to think up wacky plots like this, but thankfully Westlake was always up to the task.

The Rolling Stone Interviews

This is a collection of interviews from several decades of the famous magazine. I tend to lose interest when they interview movie stars and other celebrities, but the music and political pieces are mostly great.

Robert Ludlum – The Road to Gandolfo

This is perhaps Ludlum’s funniest and most absurd book. It focuses on his usual tales of espionage, but this time to the Vatican and beyond. A fun read.

Rex Stout – Not Quite Dead Enough

Although written in the 1940s, this Nero Wolfe mystery still holds up well, not nearly as dated as you would assume. As always, Wolfe’s sidekick, Archie Goodwin, supplies plenty of irreverence and laughs. And he always gets the girl.

Tim Weiner – Legacy of Ashes

Most people are now aware of the devious plots, assassinations, torture, and other mayhem concocted by the CIA over the decades, but after reading this book, you are left shocked at how inept and incompetent the organization was. Weiner concentrates on the bad stuff and there is a lot of it here. Very creepy and disturbing.

Bruce Chatwin – The Songlines

It took me long enough to read this acclaimed book, but it was worth the wait. Although often categorized as a travel book, it’s much, much more than that, explaining the crucial “Songlines” of the Aborigines in Australia, the aspects of culture, and man’s yearning for travel. Great writing that is highlighted by accounts of the very colorful characters that Chatwin meets during his time in Australia.

Keith Richards – Life

The hype is all true; this is a most entertaining read. The drug stuff still disturbs me, but Keith’s colorful account of his long rock ‘n roll life makes for a thrilling and informative read. But the dearth of details —except for a few disparaging remarks — about Rolling Stones’ bassist Bill Wyman makes you wonder: what’s that all about? Wyman was a quiet band member, but in this book is virtually invisible.

Don Winslow – Satori

I never read the Trevanian espionage classic, Shibumi, that this book is a prequel to, but I certainly want to do so now. Winslow does a commendable job with fleshing out the characters and keeps the reader enthralled from start to finish. Lots of blood, lust, double-crossing deals, mystery, and adventure.

S.J. Rozan – Reflecting the Sky

This is one of Rozan’s excellent Lydia Chin and Bill Smith mysteries. It starts off in New York City and then quickly and chaotically unfolds in Hong Kong. Another solid addition to Rozan’s delightful and underrated series.

Transport Tango

On Thursday morning I woke up to the sound of rain in Siem Reap, Cambodia. After showering and packing my bags one last time, I waded through mud puddles and took a motorcycle taxi to the Hawaii Restaurant on Wat Bo Road to meet the Try Brothers for breakfast. After a leisurely meal, a few games of pool (I lost every time!), doling out money (mainly their school and travel expenses for the next six months), and gulping down several glasses of iced coffee, it was time for me to leave for the airport. It was starting to rain again, so I opted for a tuk-tuk to take me. From Siem Reap to Bangkok I obviously took the plane, Bangkok Air of course, since they still — even after all these years — hold the monopoly on that route. Yep, if you want to fly from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, you have your choice of three airlines, but to get to Siem Reap, Bangkok Air remains the sole aviation option. Does anyone else think that smells a bit peculiar?

Once the plane landed in Bangkok, I grabbed my bag and pondered how to get home: the Airport rail link or a taxi? After experimenting with this slightly confusing new rail system (you have your choice of “express” line or “city” line; the express is quicker in theory, but it doesn’t depart as often as the city line, so it can end up taking you longer), I found out that if I exited at the Ramkamhaeng station, I could walk home in about 15 minutes. But alas, it was raining again, so I opted for a taxi. Luckily, afternoon traffic was light and I arrived home in about 30 minutes. Back at my apartment, I unpacked and then debated on going back to the hospital for further treatment on my ailing leg or to take advantage of the CD sale at Central’s B2S shop. I was now able to stand for longer periods of time without excruciating pain radiating down my left leg (it had gotten so bad the week before that I made two visits to the hospital), so I decided “to hell with the doctor,” and headed for Central. I took a motorcycle taxi to the BTS Ekkamai station and then boarded the packed Skytrain to the Chitlom station. I had originally thought of going to the B2S at Central Chitlom, where I had bought some stuff the previous week, but instead I made a left and walked to the neighboring B2S at Central World, a store whose sale stock I had yet to peruse. Happily, I found some good stuff there on sale for 25% off. I reluctantly whittled my choices down to seven CDs, paid for them, and then hobbled outside and snaked my way through the congested lanes of traffic and across the street to the Pratunam boat pier. From there I took a water taxi to the Thonglor pier, and then walked the rest of the way home, stopping at Foodland to stock up on beer and carrots, the diet of champions. Once I got home, the rain was starting to fall once again. I realized that the only forms of transport I had not taken were the subway, a city bus, and a horse cart. Have to plan my routes better next time.

On the subject of Bangkok’s BTS rail system, commonly known as the Skytrain, I recently vowed to stop taking it during morning and afternoon rush hours, and pretty soon I may stop using it altogether. To put it bluntly; it’s just too damn packed for comfort. During those peak “rush” hours, commuters must often wait for two, three, or even four trains to arrive until there is room enough to board. Adding to the misery, the trains seem to be taking longer to arrive. Lately, even at non-peak times, the Skytrain is full to overflowing. It’s become beyond ridiculous. What is causing this overcrowding? One theory: since they extended the Skytrain’s routes across the river, and more recently east to Soi Baring, there appears to be a shortage of trains, and the ones that are in use are arriving at longer intervals. You would think that someone would have thought to order more trains to accommodate the extra influx of passengers on the new routes, but obviously that didn’t happen. Whatever the case, it’s become very annoying having to wait and wait and then hope there will be room enough to push and jostle your way into the carriage. About a month ago, I just said “Fuck it” and started taking motorcycle taxis all the way from home to work, or to other places. It’s much faster, not much more expensive, and less stressful, although the downside is that you smell like the underside of a bus when you arrive at your destination.