Thai food coming back at you

The professor coming along on this magical trip to Thailand, Bob Drexler, informed us all that at some point early in the trip, we would all get sick. Not from any nasty Asian virus, but rather from the food, in that the bacteria and such within our new diet would be different than the critters in our normal American eats. This was nothing to be worried about as the effects were temporary, but for a day or so each and everyone of us would become violently ill.

Guess what happened yesterday.

When I woke up, I noticed that I had a massive stomach ache. I figure it was from the duck nodle soup I had eaten the previous evening and that after a while it would go away. At breakfast, to stay on the safe side, I decided to eat some banannas and yogurt, something which shouldn't cause to much trouble for my stomach. However, towards the end of this deliciously simple meal, things began to get a little rumbly down south. I made a break for the bathroom where some emergency poo-ing took place. Feeling better, at least relatively, I finished my breakfast and got ready to do some exploring of the city before class. However, gringo, myself, and a good friend of ours only made it about two blocks out before I again had to make a break for the bathroom. Again with the poo-ing. By about this time, the song tau (which is essentially a pickup truck with benchs in the back) had come to pick us up for school. At this point I wasn't feeling so hot, but I didn't want to miss the first day of class. So I got on and we headed off to the University. The biggest lesson from yesterday was that (upset Asian stomach) + (bumpy Song Tau ride) = launching all the contents of your stomach, including duck and bananna, on to the street. Four times.

It was gringo's hope that I might have caused an accident by causing the vehicles behind us to swerve, but he had no such luck.

In case you were wondering, I am feeling much better today, if not a little empty in the stomach...

The Quest Is Defined

gringo up and left for Asia. Go figure. Here, he's called farang, essentially the Thai version of gringo. I think there are jokes to be made centering on this, but really, that's not the purpose of this blog.

The purpose is, as the title suggests, to find us some Panda-Gator. Now on the surface, indeed, this Panda-Gator notion is a joke, a strange and inspiring mix breed of Asia's ever-loved Panda and its ever-feared Alligator. This creature was thought up and illustrated by this blog's co-author, TinMan AKA Spatsy. He'll be coming at you soon enough, I would suppose.

So, you may ask, "How are you two ever going to find a creature you know in your hearts you made up? Do you really expect your fictitious creature to be roaming the wild lands of Thailand? You do realize that Pandas are from China, right?"

The truthful answer to all of these questions is, we don't care. Panda-Gator is a mythical beast, and we understand that. It represents the mysticism, the wonder that enchants a land we have yet to explore. The odds of us stumbling across the Panda-Gator (especially in this, its mating season) are slim to none, but the odds of us coming across another, equally wondrous (but tangible) are extraordinarily high. That is our mission and the adventure has just begun.

P.S. Future posts will be less douchey.