Third.

The crisis continued to add to the country’s difficulties as it strained to cope with widespread death, destruction and displacement from.

Workers have been dousing reactors and spent-fuel pools at the plant with water to prevent full meltdowns while they frantically try to restore power and restart the cooling systems, but the resulting floods of dangerously contaminated water have complicated their efforts. On Thursday workers prepared more tanks for transferring the water from turbine buildings at Reactors 1, 2 and 3 in a quest to keep the radioactive water from flooding into the ocean.

Title No 2.

I got of the bus in Xiaguang, which is a very very small city in the middle of nowhere, China. I was greeted by a bunch of taxi drivers wanting to give me a ride to Dali, where I was headed. The were very aggressive, particularly one, who had a lump on his face. He was pulling on my arm, insisting I go with him, because he was offering the cheapest price anyone would offer. I told them, a group of eight, that I would walk, and they all laughed. Finally one man offered me a low price and I got on his motorbike. I delivered a mocking Goodbye to the man with the lump, and could see by his expression that I had offended him - and the others laughed as I sped away.


Later we were all having a conversation with another, Chinese, guest at the hostel. I was stumbling over some Mandarin word when I uttered a harsh "T", which produced a spec of spittle that flew from my mouth and landed on the pretty woman's face. The man I had previously insulted handed her a tissue and complimented the natural flow of my Chinese. Everyone laughed at his sarcasm, and at me for having too much drool, and at the woman because I just spit in her face. The man and I shared a glance. I had the feeling that even though both of us had lost -- somehow he and I were now even.

"Get the fuck away from me, you shit-for-brains retards!"

They all laughed.

Finally I found a woman sitting in her taxi who didn't find my Chinese amusing and was willing to use her meter. She revved her engine and started off. One of the men from the crowd said,

"Bye in Hell, you stupid motherfuckers!"

A Title for One Post.

Upon return to Bangkok, I ran into Michel, the 67 year old Swiss hedonist I had met over a month earlier.

"I need to see a doctor," I told him.

"You need to see some girlss!" he said.

We went to Pattaya, renowned for its sleaziness. By the time I got there, I was in severe pain all over my body. Michel took me to the hospital, where I learned my fever had reached 104 degrees (Fahrenheit). I saw a doctor, who pumped me full of good drugs. I lay on the bed in the ER with a huge smile on my face induced by what must have been some opiate. The fever broke and sweat drenched my clothing. My face turned red hot as the skin expelled the heat from within. Then I argued with the business woman about insurance for two hours.

We finished our beers and went off, along the whore-lined pathway, all the way to the walking street, which looked like Las Vegas without the casinos. Just huge strip joints and seafood restaurants for a stretch of about a mile. And there was a really good Thai Elvis impersonator.