I went back to the "Union of Myanmar" embassy, waited in line, and picked up my passport with my visa attached, no problemo. Then I bought a one-way ticket to Yangon or Rangoon or whatever they're calling the capital these days for $90. I couldn't get a flight until Tuesday, so I still have some time to kill. Since I like to read about where I am, I picked up George Orwell's "Burmese Days" and "Welcome to Burma and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience."

It's a shame I'm leaving Thailand since I haven't seen much of it, and the people are so friendly. Plus, after more than a month here, I finally figured out how to say "hello." That may sound silly, but the jaded island Thais never said "hello" in Thai. They don't say it on Khao San Road either (except for the sawa-di-kaaaaa, fresh or-ange juuuuuice girls). Around town they do. The problem is that when I try to look up Thai worlds in my phrase book it is useless, since words are spelled differently form how Thais say them. I guess that's the problem with languages that have their own alphabet. Compounding the problem is the fact that it's a tonal language, so a word can have up to five meanings, depending on which tone you use. Yeah, I don't understand either. Burmese is a tonal language too. Doh!