Coming from Toronto, you forget what an honest smile looks like. Now, when I go back to the big grey city, and actually see someone smile openly and without affectation and expectation, I think there is some hope there.
Now it's on to the first stop, the Land of Smiles: Thailand.
I hope the following note will encourage you to come back some day and see if I have herded some words into some thoughts. No doubt there will be a few stray ones and ones that ought to be culled. I'm on a learning curve about blogging, after all, as well as about travelling and living in East Asia, the subject of this blog.
First, I should be clear that East Asia to me includes China, as well as all the way east to Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and south to the tips of Thailand and Vietnam. Why bring this up? I will be travelling for six months starting in October 2008 through some of these countries. I hope -- okay, now you see I'm already thinking about failure to update this thing -- to tell some stories and show some photos of my travels. I want to update this daily. That way, I'm not reducing and distilling incidents into generalities, not to mention banalities. I like details. I just need to tell them well enough to deserve your attention since you've given your hard-earned time.
Second, I'll begin the stories before I set foot in Southeast Asia. For example, the visa chase is important because some countries are very restrictive if you want to stay within their borders for any time greater than 30 days and go in and out. There are forms, bank statements, criminal record clearances, personal statements and, last but hardly least, fees.
Note: I managed to delete my lead post a week after starting this thing. So I've appended original introduction to the top of post no. 2 (below). [Since doing this, I've rewritten the intro to make the thing more clear and attractive.] Thank Buddha for web publishing.
----------------------
No book deals in Bangkok
A trip today to a local book store that retails overstock turned up Lonely Planet guides to Southwest China and Taiwan, each for $15, half the cover price. Turns out it's cheaper to buy some Asian focused books here in Canada. Related examples: The Rough Guides to Thai and Vietnamese languages I bought at Asiabooks in Bangkok this spring were 295 baht each, about $9. In Canada, the cover price is $9.99. These two and another, Thailand Fever, are easily found for much less than at Asiabooks. (Thailand Fever, by the way, is a very informative book about Thai and Western culture. The authors set up lively clashes and then explain the thinking from both perspectives. Then they offer possible resolutions.)
