My First Blog Entry

So this is blog, a new form of writing - audienceless or not? There's plenty of potential to totally forget the reader and blog as if it was a personal and private diary. This could be dangerous.

So instead I think I'll imagine a blogette/blogate and write to them (this bit is experimental).

So blog entry #1 (this punctuation betrays the influence Singlish is having on me, pls excuse me). I'm in the cheapest internet cafe in the country, I've been hunting it out for a week. It's near a very nice coffee shop where you can get ginger tea - great caramel coloured gloop; teeth tingling sweet, it makes your whole digestion system stand to attention. This is also very cheap, so you can spend an afternoon surfing and tea drinking for 3 pounds (god damn it, keep looking for the pounds sign but it's no where to be found, the dollar has won out on this keyboard).

This particular venue looks out across crazy state land which has tropical forna all over it as well as signs saying "enter at own risk", not sure whether the risk is of being shot or bitten by beasties. Chances of being caught seem slim, all the controlling of the population seems to be done by threat. There is litter here, there is jay walking and I've seen an unflushed loo. I've not seen any policemen since we left the airport.

Here's some photomagraphs - to show what I didn't think was here, quite beautiful and intricate old buildings. A lot of this City is "you could be anywhere mall", plastic grimness - cold and chilling. You have to weigh up the need to be cooled down body temperature wise against surviving another part of your soul shrivelling up. But away from this, right next door to it in some places, is another experience which I find far more peaceful. Five feet alley ways under shabby shop houses, food, cloth, warm things, cold things, jasmine, fruit, smells that make you gag then ones that make you swoon. Active sales people try and get you to buy stuff off them, wizened people sit behind little stalls making something stinky to eat and you have to constantly watch where you put your feet so you don't fall off into a create of duran fruit, pile of dried shrimp, table of people eating noodles or a deep and dangerous storm drain. This all has to be negotiated in flip flops.

Frog porridge and dried lizard
One of the key things to do in a new country is find all the things that are eaten that you think are totally weird and unpalletable. This could take you a long time round here as there's quite a lot. Breathing through the mouth became necessary whilst negotiating the Chinese wholesale market, I wonder if it's possible to get a nose for it or whether my Anglo-saxon tuned smelling preferences are as permanent as my pastiness.

So far I've been particular cautious in my eating, have bought random street food but it's all been quite easily distinguishable. Plan to work up to the frog porridge, it's like a rice thing with frog meat in it. Don't like frogs so this could be my revenge.