I don't really know what's going on in Bangkok these days as I've barely left my little street. Come to think of it, I haven't left my little street except for a couple of walks. The Bangkok Post online has headlines like "BANGKOK A WAR ZONE" and "Bangkok Burning" (Paul: "I'm pretty sure you can get a cream for bang cock burning..." ) but here all is quiet. All is VERY quiet, because school, which was scheduled to start on Monday, has been delayed until at least next week. The dialogue between the government and the red shirts at the moment boils down to this: "Sure, we can talk, but only after you leave the protests." "You leave first." "No, YOU leave." "No, you!"

Meanwhile I've realized there's absolutely no reason for me to stick around. I mean, I have friends whom I don't see and a church which I don't go to, and that's about it. Just to cap everything off, I emailed Simon tonight to say I'd like to see him before I go and he said he's already gone, he's in the States now, so I really feel like there's nothing left here for me. I leave on Thursday but I'm mostly packed already. It does feel good to be taking some action. At least I feel like I'm getting somewhere, though it may only be sideways.

As to where I'm going: I promised Ben I'd visit him in Suratthani before I left, so I will be doing that until Tuesday and then flying to Vietnam on Wednesday to stay with Az. Hopefully from there I can finally get that elusive Korean visa. We'll see. If nothing else, I think it'll actually cost me less to do all this travelling than it would to stay here.