turned to sleeping pills. alprazolam. lets hope i can get my internal clocks going without a new addiction. i seem to be drinking a lot of beer, too. soon i'll fit right in.

more good street eats in the last few days. most exciting for me is that traditional thai coffee can still be found. i remember it from my first visit here fifteen years ago, but it was hard to find ten years ago on my second visit. at any restaurant or guesthouse now a coffee is made from nescafe instant powder. which, though it ain't coffee, is not all bad. it is very bitter and dry.
but last night, lost on my way home, i noticed a woman selling "oleang" just around the corner. so this morning i sat at her plastic stool, in the alleyway, at the edge of her living room, with her two soi dog puppys playing behind me, and sipped a thick, rich, dark chocolate coffee. the thai coffee beans are ground and mixed with chicory, and other spices, and placed inside a large cheese-cloth sock and left to steep, or stew, in a tin pot of boiling water. the coffee is then poured through the sock over a cup with a little canned milk (common here) and also sweet and condensed milk. the end result looks, smells, and even tastes like a luscious, liquid form of dark chocolate. it has a salty, buttery after taste at the back of your tongue. its got some serious kick, too. standing in the alley later i wrote in my note book: "are you fucking kiddin' me! this is so good! and for 10 bhat! that nescafe crap i've been drinking at the guest house is 40 baht!" so many exclamation marks. i was a little excited.

i rode the metro across town, met a sweet thai girl who gave me her number (i didn't call), bought a stunningly beautiful mini pannetone (and i thought i had to go to italy for that), sat in a park with the morning paper, considered a job in bangkok (seriously, the bangkok post needs an editor for its art section, hmmm...), swung by an artist-run centre (sadly closed), had a beer and a nap. had grilled prawns (not great) and a yummy sticky bun filled with butter and sugar. bought some roasted chestnuts and headed back to the guest house.

think i will travel north tomorrow to sukathai for a bicycle ride through the ruined khmer city.