who knew cockroaches could fly?

and some people can't count to three...

i think i was about five years old when my aunt susan first asked me to give her a massage and boy did she made sure to coach me well! and now i'm taking a thai massage course here in chiang mai at the minute to, eh, further my education. there were only two of us started the course on monday and aree is a fantastic teacher. so happy days. and i think if you give a thai massage properly it should be almost as relaxing for the masseuse.

my classmate left today for a few days away so i had to practice on aree and aparently i ain't bad at all. which is great, i'm no perfectionist but i don't much like to take on something unless i think i'll be reasonably good at it - maybe a new career move when i get home if the property market stays on trend?

it's about the only thing keeping me here, i gotta say. chiang mai is pretty and all that but it's almost all couples, everywhere. this whole guesthouse is full of couples (and a couple of pure weirdos..) and worse still, most of them are mainland european so they don't even speak english, which means i can't shoe in on a conversation even if i wanted to. ever thought you'd hear an irish person give out about people not speaking english..?
and the ones who aren't in a couple? well they're mostly the kind of gentleman who thinks he can buy his company, and there are plenty of women in this city who think they have a price. eugh, the conversations i've overheard... they've ranged from banal smalltalk all the way up to vaguely interested smalltalk. over breakfast, over dinner, over coffee. maybe it's easier to make a fool of yourself where no one but your whore knows your name.
sorry to be so judgemental but it's difficult to get away from here and it's starting to get under my skin!

but i have met some nice folks, a couple of indian guys and their nepalese friend who seem to be the only other *appraochable* singletons in town and in a few days i'll be in tourist-couple status too so i guess i'll just keep practicing my massage til then.

and yes, cockroaches can fly as i discovered coming back tonight through the market!
hey, i come from the land where the only real threat or hindrance is the self same water of life that cures all that ails, it's all new to me!

[edit] so just as i posted this blog and logged off the computer, i met a fantastic couple who'd been in chiang mai almost as long as me and was sorry to hear they were leaving the next day. and then i met some more excellent people, one or two solo travellers included! so i was wrong, shame on me!