a massage a day keeps the chiropractor away

everything is in bangkok. we flew in at midnight from tokyo and headed to our hotel. the night was just starting, as we passed street vendors food carts: mobile kitchens. it's a cart with a gas powered frying pan, and a table full of spices and raw foods. we went out for a snack and ordered som tam (green papaya salad) and some barbecued meats. the food is unbelievably good, everywhere. i've never eaten so much and paid so little (about $2 for a meal). since we don't look local, we would have to specify that we liked the food spicy. and this still wouldn't do the trick, so we would have to tell them how many peppers we wanted: 3, 4, 5... depending on how much we wanted to sweat.

you can shop for almost anything in the city at a great price. they have a lot of gorgeous fabric, but they also sell cheap electronics. and anything you want in knock-off brands, clothing and accessories. i went to a huge weekend market and got lost in the aisles. it felt like walking through a small city with no street signs, and it just kept repeating itself.

my lower back has been in pain for the past few years, but especially the past few months. and for about $7 you can get a traditional thai massage for an hour. they stretch your arms, legs, and crack your back, aside from hitting all the pressure points in your entire body. every massage was a little different, and they all make you feel like you're floating for the next several hours.

communicating with most people was difficult, since my thai vocabulary is limited to the names of only a few entrees. but we met some locals that speak good english, and they were extremely helpful in showing us around.