Big City Malays

The Malays I've observed seem to have a vague sense of depression and unease. I wonder if there's a word for that.... Am I playing with words? Yes Siam

Ready for a nap on this rainy day in the big city (seriously) of Hatyai in southern Thailand. I'm in a downtown hotel so I went big, and got a $14 dollar room, woohoo! Smooth sailing on the night boat, we arrived at 4:30 am into Surathani and walked a few blocks to where you can catch the van south to Malaysia. My friend Adam wanted to break up the trip by stopping here in Hatyai, which was a 5 hour ride in a 15 seater van. Not bad for most of it, but at one point I was scrunched in next to a Rashid-like Thai kid talking loud on his cell phone while the music in the van continued to play the very annoying Thai power-ballad shtick that can fucking get to you after 5 hours and not enough sleep. I started singing along at one point 'Please turn the fucking music off' to whatever tune was playing... just needed to vent a little frustration, and miracle of miracles, the music went off about ten minutes later. Oy....

Big rain down here, lots of flooding in sight from the window of the van, still monsoon season here. Hey there's a yankee cap walking by in this mall where they have an internet cafe. My favorite sight so far was a 6 foot statue of Ronald McDonals outside of the restaurant, his hands clasped in prayer pose, which is how the Thais show respect. Uh, yeah, OK. Hard to get 'respect' and 'McDonalds' in the same sentence, but I guess they tried. Can you say 'cognitive dissonance'.

Gonna go to a travel agent in a couple of hours to book the rest of the trip into Malaysia tomorrow. It's 5 or so hours away, so it shouldn't be a big deal. Looking forward to Georgetown on Panang Island. But at the moment I'm more looking forward to a nap. and off I go...