Issue ten!!!!!!!!! Lesssssgooooooo COYG COYJOAJ

Straight Outta Bangkok↗

I left Bangkok…

My tourist visa-free entry was about to reach its 60 day limit and so I am in the middle of attempting a so-called ‘visa-run’.

It’s a bit of a risky manoeuvre as I have heard a few people haven’t been let back in after it but I am hoping because I left around a week before my 60 days and I’m going to stay out for about a week, I should be ok… We’ll find out!

As this next week is my birthday week I wanted to be somewhere kinda cool and unique. Bangkok is swell but honestly I feel like I’ve kinda done it, I think rural Thailand is far better. I’ve really tried with BKK but the mall hopping and awful traffic just isn’t for me.

I am going to be flying back into Bangkok (hopefully!) but will then pivot either up towards Chiang Mai or down towards Surat Thani, I haven’t quite decided yet but I have a week or so before I need to work it out. (this is all contingent on whether or not I get let back into Thailand…)

For my last proper stint in Bangkok I’ve been going ham in the Muay Thai gym, rinsing the food courts and exploring different areas.

I found this awesome little cafe called ‘Prof’ which is all Shiba-Inu themed and has two of them running around the cafe, it was actually so cute. Only prob is it was like one hour away from my place so not entirely worth it but was cool to visit.

I’ve realised I haven’t actually said where I am now lol

China! More specifically, Guangzhou for a few days and then onwards to Changsha (a little further north) and then Kunming (to the west, Yunnan province).

China, at least for me, has a reaaaally specific smell to it. I think it’s a combination of noodle broth, durian and other things. It smells both pretty grim and weirdly wholesome at the same time.

They say your nose remembers stronger than your eyes and that seems true in this case. One whiff of ‘China’ when I got into GZ and everything felt familiar.

My Mandarin knowledge has become sabotaged by my Thai and I have found myself speaking thainese to most people at the moment, getting very strange looks.

The first thing I noticed coming back to China (apart from the smell) was just how ‘social’ it is. It may just be because there are obviously tons of people that live here but everyone is always out and about, whatever the weather.

Talking about weather, Guangzhou had a pretty heavy storm that pretty much peaked on my flight, with one of the bumpiest jets I have ever been on, gnarrrrly.

I’ve had to spend a decent amount of time dodging huge amounts of rain that just drop seemingly out of nowhere.

Having been in Thailand to have the contrast to see China again in a new light, I would say China certainly seems like the wild-west. People do pretty much anything and they do it loudly.

Yet, it’s freeing, you could genuinely do the most outlandish thing and wouldn’t get many if any looks. It’s taken me a second to get used to the huge yuckles and spits that fire out of shops onto the pavement, it genuinely feels like running the gauntlet when walking around, dodging the delivery ‘drivers’ and the spits.

In terms of what I’ve been up to out here…

Lots and lots of walking, luckin coffees (so missed in Bangkok!) and all sorts of temples and monuments.

What I find reaaaaally cool about China is you can be walking in a seemingly middle-of-nowhere part of the city and then you turn a corner to see a massive pagoda and the accompanying temple. There are just so many places, I was thinking if something like this was in London it would be one of the main attractions but I only found this one by complete accident.

I also went to see another supplier for parom in the outskirts of the city. A huge, 6-floor factory (although they seemed to have an entire floor dedicated to toilets…). I’ve given them all of my specs for a sample (which is going to cost between $50-100 for the singular hat :O) so very interested to see how it turns out and then I can finally get the ball rolling properly.

Bangkok, and Thailand in general, is good for textiles but the majority of the companies source their stuff from China anyway so cutting the fluff out of the chain should save some money and complexity.

My only gripe with China is the complicated relationship with the internet but, in all honesty, it’s helped me so much. Blocking the vast majority of American operated software has allowed me to finally get ahold of my youtube addiction and now I spend the evenings reading!!

Talking of reading, I have finished two whole books this week:

• Dark Matter - Michelle Paver (was okkkk but felt quite rushed at the end and wasn’t as scary as her Thin Air book I thought)

• The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus (technically not a book but oh well)

I am currently reading:

• Does God Play Dice? - Ian Stewart

• The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

• La Peste (yea in frenchhhh) - Albert Camus

• Letters from a Stoic - Seneca (more of an ongoing thing when I feel like I need advice)

I’ve got my birthday coming up very soon indeed here in China so want to try and do something cool for it (stay tuned for next newsletter yo).

I was going to do this whole China leg in one go on JOAJ but I ended up writing the start in Bangkok so kinda just wanted to get it out and will do the rest of China in the next one.

Hope y’all well! Happy August yoyo

Until next time…

Thought↗

forget space tourism, I want proper underground tourism first. I’m convinced there is another civilisation below us. If this ever becomes confirmed pls remember I said this so I can be famous.

Album of the Week↗

Dig Your Own Hole - The Chemical Brothers (1997)↗

I had completely forgotten about this album until a track from it came up on a Spotify radio. Holy shmoley, it’s so good!

I used to listen to this back to back to back in school holidays while working at this wonderful company called Cornflower. So maybe the album isn’t actually as good as I think it is but I can’t detach my own nostalgia from memories and opinions.

Twooo standout tracks:

end of Electrobank is so good, turn it uuuuuuuuuuup

The final track - The Private Psychedelic Reel is soooooooooo good imo. Not sure why but it just really transports you. Highly recommend to listen to this album with some good headphones or a swell speaker and turn it up!!!!!!!!

As always:

joaj.net for better formatting and extras

…and…

@nutbrowngram on insta for stuff in the meantime (although I can’t get Instagram working out here oof)

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