SAMSEN ROAD, BANGKOK, THAILAND. SUNDAY APRIL 4 2010, 2345 HRS.

Sa wat dii kráp! Time to sit down now and write something about the past week's events. I just arrived from a relaxing Thai massage, after which I ate some Pad Thai in a nearby little outdoor restaurant and now I'm having a nice cold Singha beer at the hotel… life is good.

My first week has been great. Seriously, I can't find the right words to describe the mesmerizing feeling of entering a completely different world and culture. The atmosphere in the Bangkok area is at the same time both calm and hectic. There's life everywhere. The cats look kinda different compared to our European fellow felines, and it was interesting to notice that the stray cats at a certain Buddhist temple didn't even notice my presence, as if they were meditating along with the stray dogs, monks and the locals.

The people in Thailand are very warm, open, social and polite. People want to speak as much English as they can, and they are very happy to notice if a foreigner even tries to say something in Thai language (by the way, there's a lot of similarities with Mandarin Chinese, which means it's difficult as hell).

I decided already long before my journey that I'd eat red meat and chicken during my trip, and as a matter of fact I want to taste pretty much everything I can find. Reptiles, seafood, flesh, spicy food... you name it. I started with chicken because I didn't want to be rude to the local people who I was eating with, so now I'll just unleash my inner carnivora (felidae?)… Ahh, I can strongly recommend fried frogs, they are delicious!

Other than that, I've visited the biggest Buddha temple of Thailand, I've been at the heart of the 'red shirt' protest camp, as well as hanging out with Thai soldiers in front of goverment buildings. But I still haven't informed the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland of me traveling in Asia, which they strongly recommend, I hear. They also say that one should avoid goverment buildings and the protest areas.

On Tuesday it's time to go for the next destination: Cambodia. I'm now starting to get used to the sauna-like temperature here and tomorrow I'll get the last things I need to survive the long countryside bus rides and the jungle...

All in all, I just can't help putting the emphasis on the main thought I've had during these days: "Amazing. Just amazing." I simply love it here.