cats and dogs

I'm back in ayutheya! the plan was to get on the 7.50 bus, get here by 1pm, then take the bus to Supanburi and connect to kanchanaburi. But then i woke up late and got on the 8.50 bus instead, which was damn slow n there was a traffic jam halfway which meant i would miss the bus to kanchanaburi... But i did manage, by today, to experience all the different kinds of transport: foot, bicycle, ordinary bus, 2nd class bus, first class bus(more ex but with drinks, lunch n suited up bus lady), and motorbike =) Meet a Japanese lady on the bus. I offered her a sweet. She's 30+, busy working woman, and traveling in Thailand for a week alone. Been to south America, Europe, china among others.. I wonder if I can be like that next time...
 
I am staying in a very nice place. It almost makes me want to stay 2 nights instead of one. Facilities not half as good as the ones before but it's cheap, actually has single rooms, is run by an ang moh english teacher and has very friendly, overly friendly staff. I wanted to go out to walk but was waylaid by the woman. Checked in, she gave me a map n explained every site to me even though i tried to tell her i'd already been here, gave me a drink (water w thai herds, available free 24h there) and thai version of popcorn (lao horng n w a lot of honey), made in sit in what passes as the garden (very hot, come sit in the garden!), gave me a fan and offered to let me follow her to the night market for dinner... The house boy or student or whoever was looking at me very sympathetically.. The house (its more a house than the manufactured guesthouses everyone stays at) has lots of cats and dogs! The dogs are either disabled, diseased or just look mangled. I think they are strays they took in. One beautiful white cat and another yellow one. 4 2-month old yellow kittens still shaky on their legs and looking very wary of the dogs. Super cute. Spent an hour just playing with them. Oh and the toilet here is the first one so far with toilet paper.
 
I'm getting better at this I think.. Have hardly touched the book i brought to read, much less the notes (what was i thinking?!).
 
Have yet to meet another singaporean since I parted ways with JL. No malaysians either. Lots of Japanese, as you might have guessed. A thai guy at sukhothai looked at me, very puzzled, and asked, "why you don't speak thai?".
 
And am i weird if I feel superbly flattered when someone says I am 'eccentric' for travelling alone even though it might not neccessarily have been meant as a compliment? =)
 
On the songthraew to Sukhothai bus terminal I tried to open my bottle of water and somehow managed to slash it all over me. The ang moh kid sitting opposite me was very amused. I guess the fact that i was wearing what K1 calls my 'splat' shirt didn't help. That said i think its wonderful how the germans (so far its been just germans) bring their young kids out here to backpack.
 
So. That's it. Nothing much happening today.