Laura and I went to Udon Thani in the North East for a four-day holiday. Luckily we met some gay boys at a bar called Drunk It, which of course we picked based entirely on its name. We showed up at the temple fair at 12:30 am and got to shimmy-it all night. The only thing in Thailand that goes to 5:00 am (if it doesn't involve old white men and Thai girls). There was lots of drinking and a heavy police presence, but all good fun.
Okay, I'll admit, Bangkok is smoggy and hazy. BUT, the smog ratings are often equivalent to Cambridge, ON. Not kidding.
Shot of the mosque: I wake up to the muezzin doing the call to prayer. Love it.
For New Year's, Laura and I were supposed to be in Ko Lanta, but we decided to fly back to Bangkok early for work etc. So we ended up on Kao San Road, an international mash atrocity, filled primarily with Europeans. But on new years some boys from the country had obviously come to the city to party, dancing mor lam style to Euro-trance in the street. Hilarious! Frightening!
The Restourant: a karaoke/gambling joint/ restaurant down my street. View from patio outside.
A tuk tuk.....a mini-truck....my main form of transport
See the mounds of sticky rice? I think sticky rice (cow niao in Thai) is one of the best things in the world. Here we are eating by the great Mekong river. Sticky rice was see as a nationalizing force, an unifying aspect of culture, and was banned in Cambodia.
Buddha park....the brain child of a recluse Laotian....
Laos is still a communist state, but is more appropriately known as post-communist. They are "liberalising" their economy, following the lead of Vietnam, ie. opening it up to the international market. Any dissenting voices against the government, however, are still strictly repressed.
Gathering and procession by the King's Palace.
After the ceremony, a huge Luk Thung / Mor Lam performance. 
This is what we call getting "dirt pitted"...cuz it's just a giant open field and all the boys want to be your boyfriend...but they are so passive that they won't do more than grab your hand or tell you they love you. 
After the show we watched a dude get a traditional Thai Buddhist tattoo. Painful.
Here's my street. We live at the end of a road, beside a transport canal. Our apartment is on the left.
Here's the ice factory. Ice boys are hot, because they lug giant bags of ice around the city.
This is the migrant workers housing. It is a big complex housing about 500 people in a tiny little space. The majority are from Burma, working both legally and illegally in the country, usually in construction, an extremely dangerous and unregulated industry; even the legal ones have hardly any rights, but it is better than living in the conflict zones in Burma, where the military attacks ethnic minority areas, raping and pillaging, forcing the people to be slave labourers.
Usually, I buy bananas for breakfast. The ladies at this stall are particularly unpleasant.
Laura buys bbq chicken, from one of about five different sellers. We call this dude Happy, cuz he's always smiling ('cept here).
This wall encloses what we call the vortex....There's something weird going on it there...I almost got hit by a sliding motorcycle on that corner...
Corner of street to work, other side of vortex. Except now we moved offices and are in a real business district... :( I guess DeeJay Domination is the best DJ in Asia.....
Laura and I went to the Surin Elephant Festival again. Not only did we get to see our friends from last year, I was greeted to the show with a "Niiiiicccoooo!!!!!" from an rice farmer on top of an elephant, as a group of about 20 onlookers stared in odd amusement. They insisted we get up bareback on the elephants and paraded us through backstage. It was the best thing ever.
The elephant trainers are rice farmers for the rest of the year. They walk around the festival and sell food to give to the elephants. This boy was awesome; his head scarf is Cambodian, they are decedents of the Cambodian Khmer empire.
They put seats on the elephants after the show and people pay for rides. The district is the poorest in the country... this guy was top notch. He played elephant soccer with his in a match. They only wear the wraps as costumes for the show.
You know you're in Thailand when five rice farmers want to be your boyfriend, take you on their elephant and cruise around for awhile...
This is really old now....but here are the only pics of me on my birthday (that I know of). I was in Sri Lanka for a "human rights defenders forum", where all the brave amazing souls that work at the grassroots (re: deal with murders, "disappearances," intimidation on a daily basis). They came to this conference on threat of their lives to learn about human rights. Since I had been working for Sri Lanka, I got to meet all the people I was assisting from my safe post in Bangkok. We are in the mountains in Kandy. Imagine, 30 Sri Lankans singing me happy b-day. It rocked.
