I'm typing this from one of Bangkok's many Starbucks. That's right, I've finally bought myself the laptop I've been hankering after. I headed for the legendary Panthip Plaza to do some shopping. It's a geeks dream; a seven story mall selling computers, any kind of hardware you could want, and of course, pirated software, CDs, and DVDs. After verifying that the prices weren't tooexpensive (about $200 more that what I would have paid at home), I bought myself a Fujitsu Lifebook S. It's a bit bigger than the microscopic P model that Mike "Vagabonding" Pugh carries, but it has a usable screen. On subsequent trips to my new favorite place, I had the Thai keyboard replaced with an English one, picked up an anti-theft cable that plugs right into the case, and stocked up on software. Want Microsoft Office? $2.50. Every program that Adobe or Symantec has ever made? $2.50. Pro/Engineer or AutoCad? $2.50. Of course there's a chance they'll sell you blank or scratched disks, but you get what you pay for. There are even dodgy guys lurking about offering to sell me "sexy movies." It's funny when little old Thai ladies accidently look at a table of pirated hard-core porn, then just move on non-chalantly to the tables of pirated music. Even the monks were stocking up on software.

So I've been giving a lot of thought to where I will go next. I had to pay a 7% VAT on my laptop, which I can only get refunded to me if I fly out of the country. Flying to Vientiene, Laos doesn't make much sense to me, since I still want to visit Chang Mai some day. Plus, I don't think I'm up for Laos. I want to hit that country hard, like I did Myanmar. So I think I'll go to Cambodia for a month instead, and take it easy. Just spend a week in Siem Reap, Phenom Phen, and at the sea.

In the meantime I've been managing to keep myself busy, between shopping for computer stuff, clothes (everything I'm wearing, except my underwear, was purchased in Thailand), eating a mix of spicy Thai food and familiar Western food (Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts), and watching movies. So far I've seen the new X-Men and Matrix movies. I saw Matrix on opening day, and didn't get to the theater early enough. The only seat left was in the "VIP Theatre," which cost double the price ($5). This turned out to be a small theater with big fluffy reclining seats. It also seems to be a popular place for 50-year-old white guys to bring their 20-year-old Thai dates. The movie was difficult enough to follow, and the guy talking on his cell phone next to me didn't help. I was forced to shush him.

Scam Averted

During one of my trips to Panthip Plazza, I had a strange encounter, which I'm pretty sure was a scam. Going down an escalator, a guy started singing a song in English (weird), which got my attention. He asked where I was from, and when I said America, he got all excited. He asked me to come to the A&W with him (weird). I figured I'd go along to see what would happen. We sat down, but he didn't order anything (weird). In good English (weird, for a Thai), he said he had a neice in the US Navy at Camp Pendalton (weird). He also asked alot of stupid questions, like he was deliberatly playing dumb. Then his wife came in, who spoke perfect English, and seemed very intelligent. The whole conversation was very forced, since I just met them 5 minutes ago. Then the guy said his sister was going to the US, and they wanted me to come talk to her to "give her advice." I immediatly had a few problems with this:

• I don't know what kind of "advice" I would be able to give.
• Why doesn't he ask his neice, in the US Navy, for "advice."
• In order to speak such good English, they both must have talked to many Americans.
• Doesn't the sister have a say? Is she always standing by, waiting for advice?

There's nothing I would like more than to spend time with a Thai family, but given the weirdness, I made an excuse, and fled the scene. Thai scams aren't life-threatening, and don't involved violence, but are elaborate schemes to separate tourists from their money. I'm sure there was no sister. They just wanted to get me to an apartement, where perhaps a card game would be going on. They would invite me to play, then show me a secret way of winning all the time. Then I'd hear about the rich guy from Singapore, who's in town and plays cards. They'd draft me so they could try to scam him, but then I'd lose all my money in the "real" game. Or maybe they have some jewelry I can buy for cheap, and sell for a huge proffit at home, but it would turn out to be junk. There's a whole section in all the guidebooks devoted to this stuff. I don't want to be so paranoid that I have no contact with locals, but it's pretty easy to size people up. If they want me to go somewhere with them, or want someting from me, or are just being too friendly, it's probably a scam. And the chances of having contanct with the locals in a busy place like Bangkok are pretty low, unfortunatly.