After 27 hrs of flying to the opposite side of the world and 14,000 km (better start thinking metric) in the air, I landed in Bangkok. This blog is a conglomeration of a few observations and events over the past week.

THINGS DONE ON A MOTORBIKE

Waiting to cross the street provides a lot of time to observe your surroundings as it typically takes a very long time to spot the gap in traffic just big enough to sprint across oncoming lanes, stop on the center stripes, only to repeat the same process over. Motorbikes are remarkable machines that are underestimated in western cultures. They are a staple of transportation here and have incredible maneuverability. I never understood what could be accomplished with a motorbike!!! I nearly clapped my hands in amazement for a guy who managed to balance a large basket of goods behind him with one hand keeping the other on the handlebars. After another mile of walking I realized that he barely earns amateur driving status. It’s the guy carrying the 20ft bamboo ladder while gracefully maneuvering Bangkok traffic that is impressive. Most people think a family of four needs an SUV to get around town … not in Bangkok. A motorbike works just fine. Now granted this is not a common site and typically involves the person riding behind the driver to carry the infant while the small child sits in front of the driver holding on the handlebars, but a feat none the less. A family of 3 is a pretty common site for motorbikes along with dogs, groceries, packages, etc. Not many things are too big to carry on a motorbike. As a pedestrian, you must always be on the lookout for motorbikes. I’ve already lost count of the near misses. You can’t just look at the normal flow of traffic…they come from all directions, even sidewalks, and market stalls.

Motorbikes win my vote for best overall form of transportation!

HORNBILLS, MONKEYS, ELEPHANTS IN KHOA YAI

Allison can attest that its crucial for everyone’s health and wellbeing to leave Bangkok occasionally. Its nice to breath clean air, see a blue sky, hear the sounds of birds, see grass, as these are not common in the busy city. We took advantage of a 3 day weekend by heading a few hours east by train to possibly one of the most beautifully rugged national parks in this part of the world. Khoa Yai national park is considered home for wild elephants, tigers, snow leopards, monkeys, hornbills, barking deer, and so much more. The park stretches to the boarder of Cambodia and consists of mountains, rainforest, and lots of waterfalls. For roughly $10 we stayed at a gorgeous lodge just outside of the boundaries of the park. The grounds of the lodge were covered with manicured gardens, ponds, and an amazing pool complete with its own waterfall.
Day 1 consisted mostly of lounging around the pool sleeping on handmade lounge chairs that would make any carpenter proud. The local eateries proved to be a good choice. It was refreshing sitting on a rudimentary teak deck, listening to birds, staring off into the mountains carpeted with rainforest as we ate fresh thai cooking. Now this is the Thailand I envisioned. We decided to take one of the evening tours offered by our lodge in effort to get a feel for the area and also to see if we wanted to do a full day tour in the park the following day. The evening tour took us a buhdist monk cave that had a few bats and stations for the monks to meditate. The highlight was watching millions of bats stream out of another cave on the mountainside. It was impressive, however, its very similar to watching the bats fly out from under the Congress St. bridge in Austin. We chatted with Tommy, our guide, and he agreed that Allison and I were capable of touring the park on our own. As soon as we got back to the lodge that night we walked down the street and rented a motorbike!

Day 2 was a bit more eventful. I was a tad nervous at first driving the motorbike having precious cargo on the back (Allison). We were given multiple warnings by people for various things… ie: they drive on the left in Thailand, no gas stations in the park, super steep switchbacks going up the mountain, elephants tjhat can charge out of the forest at you as you go past, slippery wet steep hills on a motorbike if it rains, leech socks, extremely difficult trails to follow … nothing to worry about….right? By 6:30 we were on our way with a full tank of gas. The switchbacks were very steep but it was no problem. Allison and I had big smiles plastered on our faces just from riding through this amazing landscape. We almost immediately saw a monkey on the side of the road carrying a baby. Soon after we spotted a Great Hornbill roosted up in a tree. This is supposedly THE biggest bird in existance. It has a bright yellow beak as well as a yellow streak on the underside of their wings. While hiking out to a watchtower we spotted a deer….then we heard barking..??? Never would have guessed there could be such a thing as a barking dear. Its true…they do exist. A couple of local school teachers out shooting photos offered to show us a cool trail where we might spot some more monkeys. It was a neat little hike that made us realize we needed leech socks!!! A quick trip to the visitors center and we are wearing our leech socks and new full brim safari hats! The next stop was Hew Suwat waterfall, which was made famous in the movie “The Beach”. This was a bit too touristy for us. The easy access meant lots of people so we decided to explore a trail that is supposedly closed to the public. The word “trail” in Khoa Yai merely means you are following animal trails that wander aimlessly through the rainforest. Some are marked sporadically with a dot of paint on a tree so the park can advertise they have “trails”. Needless to say it’s easy to get lost. After climbing and clawing our way up and down through the thick rainforest it was obvious by the huge footprints that we were on an elephant trail. These creatures must be super agile to navigate through that terrain!! We found a much more secluded waterfall called Hew Sai. In attempt to find a 3rd waterfall we realized how easy it is to get lost. At each split we would mark the intersection with an arrow of leaves or bamboo to mark where we have been. Some of the elephant tracks were so fresh that we fully expected to climb over a rock and be staring down a set of huge white tusks! Even though we eventually found the right trail, we decided to head back to leave some time for other areas of the park. It was starting to get late in the afternoon and gas to get home quickly became a concern. Using good judgment we opted to skip one of the big waterfalls since it was another 30km up the mountain. Instead we motored up to the summit of the tallest peak. En route we discovered a huge group of monkeys hanging out in trees near the road. We just sat there and watched them play in the trees! One in particular just sat in the tree scratching his back and staring at us as if to say “are you done looking at me?” The view from the summit was blocked by thick fog rolling in. We coasted mostly down from the summit to conserve fuel and stopped off for dinner near the visitors center. The sky was getting dark in areas and it started to rain just a bit. At this point our concern shifted from lack of fuel to lets make it down the steep switchbacks without wrecking the bike in the rain. It started raining harder on our way out of the park. Miraculously about 1 km before the steepest sections, the rain let up and the roads here were still dry. We cruised on down safely and rolled back into town just as the gas needle dipped beyond the red at 120 km. We celebrated with ice cream and beer! What a day!!!

Day 3 was another day of rest and relaxation. Allison and I got up for a nice refreshing run, which was followed by a dip in the pool. We treated ourselves to a 1 hour full body massage which was amazing and only cost about $8!!! It was my first of many real massages. That girl pushed, pulled, beat, and climbed all over me. In the end I felt like I was floating through clouds. If all of you can help me convince Allison that she should become a professional massage therapist … that would be GREAT! More good food and a few hours at the pool summed up the rest of the day. Back to Bangkok…..

Tonight we get on a bus headed for Koh Chang Island for a 4 day retreat. I will make sure Allison writes a lengthy blog about beach bungalows, white sand, hammocks, and clear blue water upon our return!

This blog was made possible thanks to the persuasiveness (aka…”threats”) from Laura. Thank you for the hmm.. cough.. choke.. cough… MOTIVATION to write! ☺

Until next time – Cheers!

I had every intention of calling in sick on Wednesday, but due to circumstances out of my control, I couldn’t do it in any sort of good conscience. So at 7:30 then next morning I had to leave Gabe to fend for himself, spending his first hours in Thailand prowling around the not-so-farang-friendly neighborhood of Bangsue. Luckily he is more than capable of getting around in foreign places and by the time I’d gotten home, he’d turned dollars into baht, eaten the first of many street treats, established a sense of direction AND found the way back to our place for a nap. We took a riverboat and ate a delicious Thai dinner, followed by several hours of aimless wandering which resulted in some Thai kids letting Gabe try out their bicycles under the Rama IV bridge. He makes friends fast no matter where he is!

The next few days were spent with me working and Gabe exploring Bangkok during the day, then exploring food stalls and parks together at night. He was already itching to get out of Bangkok by Friday (and I’ve been desperate for it for a few weeks), so we decided to take a train to Khao Yai National Park until Monday (when I would finally get my sick day!)

After work on Friday I had to go get a ‘medical check’ for my work permit, which involved walking into a clinic, letting a doctor take my blood pressure, paying 50 baht and walking out with the ‘official’ paper that declared me healthy. I’m sure that this 10 minute process would have cost me several hundred dollars at home…

Our plan was to catch a 7:15 train out of Bangkok, arriving in Pak Chong around 10:00. By the time we had dealt with the medical checking,bag-packing and dinner-purchasing, we were cutting it close on time. We managed to make it to the train station at 7:07and immediately starting searching for a ticket window. We walked several minutes past rows of food vendors and benches, finally finding what we needed. When I asked the man for tickets to Pak Chong, he informed me that we needed to go 100m to the ‘next station.’ Apparently Bangsue has two parts to its station; it was 7:12 at this point and we were definitely more than 3 minutes away from where we needed to be!

Naturally, the train was pulling away as we got to the correct ticket window, so we found a bench, ate the bag of sausages that we’d been carrying around and weighed our options. The train schedule was all in Thai so there was no way of finding out if there was another train that night, and even if there was I wasn’t too sure that the guesthouse would be willing to pick us up so late. We decided that we’d take the first train out on Saturday morning, at 6 a.m. With our decision made, we hauled our bags right back to where we’d started…

After a stop at 7-eleven, we got home and drank a beer (well, I drank a beer…Gabe made it through a sip or two) before falling asleep. The alarm went off a few short hours later, so we grabbed our bags again and cleverly took a taxi to the station. As Gabe said, it was perhaps the best-spent dollar ever! Ticket-buying went smoothly and we were soon on a ’special express’ train to Pak Chong, enjoying snacks, beverages and beautiful scenery for the next three hours.

Arriving in Pak Chong was like arriving into another world! We stepped out of the tiny station onto a tiny road with tiny restaurants, a tiny number of vehicles and a sense of summer laziness in the air. Gabe immediately said that he finally felt as though he was in Thailand, and I agreed! I hadn’t left Bangkok in four weeks and had almost forgotten how absolutely in love I was with it before getting into the city!

I called the Garden Lodge Guesthouse from a payphone and a songtaew showed up within 15 minutes to take us there. We were both grinning ear to ear and only smiled more once we arrived. They greeted us with a little glass of juice and showed us to our room, a very basic but perfectly comfortable room right next to the beautiful garden. They showed us the pool, which was a gorgeous waterfall-adorned oasis, surrounded by ferns and flowers and trees other decorative Asian touches. We looked at each other, hardly believing that this was going to cost $10 per night!

We weren’t sure whether to sign up for the full-day tour with the lodge, as we are definitely not tour people, but Khao Yai is a mammoth of a national park, covering four provinces and serving as the habitat of many wild elephants and tigers. There was also the issue of getting to the park, as the lodge was located a good 30km away from the entrance. We decided to do the half-day tour that afternoon to get a feel for how things are run, so we signed up, decided against the lodge restaurant full of 150baht western entrees and headed down the road in search of Thai food.

There was no shortage of places to eat and our choice proved a great one! It was just a small teak-floored deck of a place with a thatch roof overhead, serving only 4 or 5 menu items, as any good Thai place does. The woman running the place was super friendly and thrilled to have us. We ordered noodle soup, pepsi and, at her recommendation, some dumpling-type things, all for about $3! We sat there for a long time, soaking in the sunlight, cool breeze, green surroundings, blue sky and lack of motorized sound. Afterwards we relaxed at the pool, enjoying those same things, for a few hours before the tour.

The tour was pretty lacking. We were taken along with about 10 other people to a Buddhist monk cave and then to watch millions of bats stream out of a mountain at dusk. It was all cool, but definitely not worth 500 baht apiece. The last thing that either of us like to do is be bussed around! Plus, we’re jaded when it comes to bat-watching! We were able to use the opportunity to make friends with Tommy, our guide. He was a shaky, eccentric guy who has been living in Thailand for many years (previously in Missouri) and has been smoking faaarrrr too much pot during that period. However, he was extremely friendly, knows the area inside and out, and was happy to give us tons of advice on how to spend the next day.

We decided to rent a motorbike and strike out alone the next day. As soon as the tour was over, we headed down the road to a restaurant/massage parlor/guesthouse/motorbike rental place and got ahold of a nice little blue bike. I signed a paper, they copied my info, we talked with a Dutch expat who advised me to get a Thai license so that I could start getting Thai prices, and then off we went! The motorbike was not an automatic push-button like mine, so it wasn’t immediately smooth sailing. Gabe was the designated driver, and I could tell that he wasn’t totally comfortable with it yet. We decided to put gas in it and have him go drive it around a bit to get a feel for the gears and for driving on the left side!

The gas station was a process as neither of us had been to one before. They have gas attendants and I thought that he asked me how much gas to put in it. I did some rough math in my head and said ’sahm,’ three litres. Apparently he’d been asking me how much baht to put in, so he assumed that I meant to say 30 baht and did so. I realized my mistake (we all know how far $1 of gas goes!) and we had some more put in, but our math was still off as the gas gauge was barely over the ‘e.’ We thought that maybe it was broken and, as we weren’t getting far with communication, decided to go.

The lady who rented to bike to us had warned that the only station with the proper gas was right there, next to our lodge; there was nothing in or around the park. After another wonderful meal at the steep sum of 100 baht, Gabe took the bike out for a bit as he was definitely not feeling confident about driving it around a mountainous national park with me on the back. He also faced the laughter of the gas attendants by returning and ensuring that the tank was completely filled, then showed back up at our place with a big smile, feeling much better about the bike. We spent the evening over a few beers and lots of politic/environmental talk with Marcus and Jemma, a really cool Australian couple who were staying in the room next door. They had booked the tour for the next day but were unsure about it and kicking themselves when they heard that we were going it alone. We decided to meet up the next evening and decide who had made the better choice!

We set out at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, armed with several maps, a note written in Thai from Tommy, who told us to show it around at the visitor center so that we could hook up with a friend of his, who had the park memorized and would take us trekking all day for a small fee. The ride to the park took about 30 minutes and was wonderful - gorgeous morning, green mountains, flowers, slow-moving life all around…in other words, we were faaarrr from Bangkok. We paid the ridiculous 400baht foreigner fees to get in (only 40 for Thais) and started up the windy mountain roads, which were a bit wet from overnight rain.

I think we were both a bit nervous about the wet roads, but we took it slow and all was well. We stopped at the first overlook to marvel at the unending stretch of misty mountains, and were well rewarded by a Great Hornbill in the tree above us! This bird was MASSIVE and so neat to see - thrilled at already finding exotic animals, we continued on. There was a stop for a viewing tower, so we parked then hiked a long trail towards it. On the way a deer bounded past us, barking like a dog! Apparently this is a ‘barking deer’ and it was the strangest thing ever…it didn’t process correctly in my head! We got to the tower where Gabe spotted an otter down below and we checked out all sorts of crazy birds flying by. There was an elephant salt lick but alas, no elephants at that point.

We had been the only people there, but two women with super nice cameras, decked out in safari gear showed up and set out on the same trail that we were going to explore. One of them asked if we were going to hike the whole trail and we said no, we just wanted to see what was in the trees. She offered to show us the trail if we wanted, that it wasn’t too difficult. We said sure, and followed her. They were sisters, from some European place, who have been living near Khao Yai for 18 years, running a school. They got us through the confusing part of the trail and then parted ways with us as they needed to go do some butterfly photography in the grasslands. We thanked them, thought about how crappy a tour would  have been, and set off down the trail. We saw plenty of monkeys in the trees and some incredible plant life - the trees were unbelievably big and many unlike anything that I’ve seen before. We emerged from the trail about an hour later, realizing that we’d have to walk up the road (ie up the mountain) a good 3km back to our bike. About 10 minutes into our walk, the women drove by but turned when they saw us and gave us a lift. It was a great start to the day!

After that we headed to the visitors center to get another map, check out our options and buy some leech socks (I think I picked at least 20 off of my legs during that hour hike!). We asked a park ranger about a hike that we wanted to do, as many of the trails are impossible without a guide. He said that it was closed, not to go there. So we altered our plans then grabbed some lunch (even the national park has food stalls with 30baht meals) before jumping back onto the bike.

We soon arrived at Haew Suwat, which is the famous waterfall from “The Beach.” It was gorgeous and so neat to see in person, although everyone else in the park was enjoying it as well, especially since it’s the only one you can swim at. We saw that there were two more waterfalls nearby and decided to try to find them. We set off on a trail that we knew was one of the ‘don’t do without a guide’ trails, bypassing the ‘activity prohibited’ sign at the trailhead. It was definitely a challenge! This trail was basically an elephant trail, created by all of the bamboo and trees that had been flattened by these huge animals. Their footprints were all over, which blew us away considering that we were on the side of slope that we could hardly walk on! Part of me wanted to see an elephant show up, but the sensible part of me remembered the warnings about tempermental elephants and their dislike for intruders near their babies. If one were to show up, we wouldn’t exactly have anywhere to go!Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was thinking about the 8 or 9 wild tigers that live in the park as well…

After lots of hiking, pushing through thick tropical plants, and leaving markers so that we could make it out before dark, we heard the telltale signs of a waterfall and headed that way. Eventually we came to some falls that were just a beautiful as the first ones, but which were completely uninhabited and had been for some time! It was a great discovery, and absolutely worth the sweaty, muddy, probably-hazardous hike that we’d done to get to them!

We weren’t able to find the third falls, eventually giving up as we didn’t want to push our luck too far. There was another huge waterfall in the south of the park that we wanted to go see (there are many, many waterfalls there), but we looked at the map and realized that we’d never make it the 50km roundtrip and still be able to get home on the amount of gasoline that we had left. We settled for a viewpoint that was only 10km away instead, and took off. On the way we stopped and saw tons of monkeys running around in the road, jumping from tree to tree and giving us ‘what are you staring at?’ looks. They are so fascinating to watch!

Our little motorbike made it’s way up the steep climb to the viewpoint, weaving it’s way around potholes that seemed to multiply the further up we got. It was about 4:30 at this point and the day was turning chilly as huge clouds of mist rolled in. By the time we got to the viewpoint, the mist had overtaken everything. We hiked to the big rock that was overhanging what I believe to be an incredible, wide-ranging view and saw…white. It was pretty surreal, really, but I would love to have seen whatever there is to see!

We headed back down the mountain, both feeling a bit uneasy about the way the needle on our gas gauge was sagging. We ate once more at the food stalls and decided we should probably head out. It started to rain a bit as soon as we got going, and our nervousness about the gas situation turned into nervousness about the slick, windy mountain roads. Good fortune struck us once again, and as soon as we got to the steepest of the hills, the road became instantly dry, allowing us to outpace the raincloud and make it out of the park in one piece!

The needle was on E and we’d both been silently wondering who should be the one to get off and walk, but somehow we made it back to the guesthouse! Thoroughly exhausted and completely content with how our day had gone, we returned the bike, took much-needed (hot!) showers and then enjoyed post-adventure beers before crawling into bed.

The next morning began with a run (where I got to breathe air, not exhaust fumes and look at mountains, not city streets) then a MASSAGE. We went to the place that we’d rented the bike from and each got an hour long body massage…for $8! I’m not sure why I hadn’t yet had a massage in Thailand, but now that I’ve done it, I am hooked! Naturally, it’s done in this little open-air bamboo room with a stone floor, comfy cushions, curtains blowing in the flower-scented breeze…oh it was wonderful! Afterwards they served us some lemongrass tea then Gabe and I floated down the street for another noodle-soup and pepsi breakfast!

We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing at the pool, then got a ride to the train station around 3. We ate (yes, another) wonderful meal for (again) 30 baht and then boarded our train. It was third class, which means open windows, wooden seats and incessant sales pitches from food/drink vendors who walk up and down the aisles. The wooden seats lost their novelty by the end of four hours, but overall I prefer third class! I’d much rather have a fresh breeze and unobstructed view of the countryside, plus there is always a bag of fresh fruit or a beer whenever you need it! Besides, the trip cost around $2!

I think we both cringed a bit at being back in the city, but luckily it’s only for a short time. We have a national holiday this Thursday/Friday, which means no school! Tonight we are catching a midnight bus with a couple of my friends to Koh Chang, a fairly undeveloped island where we will be staying in a beach hut until Sunday, enjoying plenty of beach time and more jungle exploration.

I cannot wait for all of the adventures that Gabe and I will have, and I think that we are off to an impressive start! As Gabe put it, not only are we good travelers, but we also seem to be pretty darn good at life!

First of all, Thai time. In Thailand, meeting times, starting times, ending times, departure times, arrival times and deadlines are all merely suggestions. Thai people simply are not in a rush to get anywhere or to do anything, and it carries over into most aspects of life here.

I’ve talked before about how students often show up 10-15 minutes late as though it’s nothing - they know that they are “supposed” to be on time, but it’s just not something that gets enforced or really even noticed. Thai people have the ability to walk incredibly slow - I mean to the point where it seems like special effort! They’ll take these tiny shuffle-steps, stopping here and there to look at whatever is being sold next to them, seemingly with no awareness of anything going on around them. Things that might seem incredibly rude in the west - such as blocking an entire walkway to inspect some pineapples, parking a motorbike right in the center of the sidewalk or simply riding your motorbike through a crowded bus stop - are commonplace and don’t get a second thought. Personal space has an entirely different meaning here!

Despite slow walkers, abrupt stops in the middle of sidewalks, jammed paths and, of course, traffic that never lets up (commute time in Bangkok is typically 2-3 hours by car/bus), you never see an aggravated Thai. There is no sense of impatience, road rage is unheard of and irritations are brushed off. I think that a lot of it boils down to Thai time - if you’ve got all day, what is there to get all worked up about?

I’m sure that there are many factors causing this attitude, many of which are related to Buddhism and its lack of the “get ahead” mentality.  However, I think that the hot, humid climate, the sheer number of people, the belief that everything should be “sanuk” (fun) and the monsoons play a huge part as well. I mean, when the afternoon storms hit, everyone simply stops and takes cover where they are, until it’s over. Appointments and meetings be damned, they will wait until the rains stop!

Although there are certainly times when all I want is a place to open when it says it will open (for example, when I haul my massive bag of laundry to the end of the road only to find the door locked), or for there to be just a little bit of logic to the way the sidewalk traffic moves, overall I would have to say that it’s all very refreshing! You have to make an effort to adopt their attitude and simply slow down…once you do, there is no stress, irritation or frustration. As the Thais say, “mai pen rai”… it’s no worry.

I also want to comment a bit on Thai-size. Generally speaking, Thai people are small - they’re short, they’re skinny and their biggest shoe size won’t fit my big toe. There are some exceptions, however, which I notice largely due to working at a school.

I don’t think that I’ve ever seen an older person over the height of ’short,’ but I’ve got a good number of tall, lanky 17-20 year olds in my classes. Interestingly, I recently read the reason behind this: milk was not commonly consumed in Thailand until about 15 years ago, which is when it started being given to babies. Thus, we are now seeing the first generation of milk-grown Thais… Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have milk-grown feet yet so I’m still out of luck when it comes to shoes!

Another thing that I have noticed in Thailand is that while you almost never see an overweight Thai adult, there are some pretty big kids running around. I’ve got an overweight kid or two in a few classes, but the biggest problem is definitely among the younger children, the 5-10 year old age range. This has an explanation as well: fast food, internet and television. This is a country that has only had these things introduced in the relatively recent past, but the effects are being seen quickly.

KFC, McDonalds and Dairy Queen are all huge here. Tesco is essentially WalMart, encouraging shoppers to “buy more, save more!” and society in general is modernizing pretty rapidly. Considering that  pretty much every student I have lists their hobbies as “video game, internet, shopping,” it’s easy to see that Thailand is facing more and more of the consequences of westernization and consumerism every day.

A lot of these things are pretty specific to Bangkok, as it is a huge city with rampant consumerism. The villages are much different, the lifestyles much more traditional and much more appealing to me! Eventually I’ll be in Laos, where there is one ATM in the entire country. For now, however, I’ll stick with my observations of of city life!

My dad had asked about the gas prices, which I think is worth mentioning here. Gas is just as expensive, if not more, here as it is in the states. It’s running around 40 baht/litre right now, which is just over $4 per gallon. Most people do not drive, and although the roads are choked with traffic at all hours of the day, it is 85% taxis and buses. There is a large upperclass population, as there is in any big city, but I can’t imagine how anyone on a typical Thai salary would ever dream of having a car!

The gasoline for taxis has always been subsidized, but that will come to a stop at the end of the year, as the government has decided that it’s financially unsustainable and that subsidized prices will not get people to change their habits. Bus, boat and taxi fares were all increased last week by a few baht each and I’m sure that they’ll be raised again before too long.

The Thai’s are hardest hit by food prices, as food takes up the majority of family budgets. School lunches were only 15 baht and standard street meals 20 baht until a few weeks before I arrived; they are now 20 and 25 baht, respectively, due to rice prices. It’s nothing to me, but it makes a  big difference to someone who makes $200 a month! I don’t think that this country could ever go hungry, but they are feeling the pain as much as anyone else in the world!

As “bad” as things are with the American economy right now, it’s good to put it into perspective. $4 gas is bad, but imagine if that $4 was your daily income (minimum wage here)… there’s a big difference between having to sacrifice a vacation to make ends meet and having to find a way to buy enough food for the week! Not too many places in the world have it particularly easy right now, but we’ve got to keep in mind how good our ‘bad’ is..

There is a giant cloud outside that looks like it may spawn 10 or 12 tornadoes (see photos), so I decided to spend some time commenting on a few random topics instead of heading out for dinner.

First of all, spicy food. It’s no secret that Thai food is HOT. Aside from rice and possibly fish sauce, chiles are the most commonly found ingredient in pretty much any sort of food. Even the fresh fruit vendors package up your pineapple or guava or papaya or bananas with a bag of sugar mixed with crushed chiles – there is no escaping it!

No escaping it, unless you happen to be foreign. If you are foreign, Thai people will be terrified to serve you spicy food, issuing warning upon warning if something that you order has any sort of flavor to it. They will then go prepare it without said flavor, pleasing many westerners out there but certainly not pleasing me!

There is quite a bit of Thai food that is prepared relatively spice free, as the consumer is expected to add their own mix of spices from the standard selection on the table: sugar, crushed red pepper, fish sauce and chopped chiles. However, there are also many foods that are hot to begin with, such as any sort of curry and, my favorite, Pad Kaprow Gai (chicken stir-fried with fresh basil and many chopped chiles).

Any time that I tried to order such a dish, the cook would suddenly look very nervous, saying “hot!” or simply “phet,” which is the Thai word for spicy. I would nod, encourage them, try to convince them that it’s okay, I really CAN handle it! They would reluctantly give in and then examine me as I ate, curious as to whether my head would explode.

I probably received the most warnings at school. Around Teacher Appreciation Day, there was free lunch for all of the teachers, delicious self-serve things in pots, prepared by fellow teachers. I went downstairs and was excited to see a giant pot full of hot red curry, one of my favorites! I started to ladle it onto my plate of rice, only to be interrupted by another teacher jumping in to save the day! “Oh no, spicy! You don’t want! Bamboo soup there!” she excitedly informed me, pointing to a boring-looking pot of broth. I smiled and shook my head, pointing at the curry saying “good!” She looked concerned, but let me be.

During the course of eating that wonderful curry, I had THREE different teachers pass by and tell me “Spicy! You don’t like, bamboo soup!” Keep in mind that I was already halfway through my meal and was well-aware of its temperature…I had to wonder if the bamboo soup was included strictly because of the farang teachers!

Anyways, I took that experience as my cue to learn a VERY important phrase: Di-chan chaep phet!” which means “I like spicy food.” It has been magic, and although most Thais will give me a doubtful, worried look when I say that, at least they cook my food correctly and let me eat in peace!

The issues at school are no more – I’ve established myself as a chile-eating farang who can actually handle it! The food stands that I frequent know what I like and start to make my plate before I can even say anything, giving me a knowing smile and saying “Ajarn, phet!” The lady who grills Thai sausage down on the street below my room now knows to add the bag of chiles when she packages my meal, the pad thai girls no longer leave out the spice and the fruit guy knows that I want the condiments with my fruit. All in all, I feel pretty proud of myself - it’s not every day that Thais will put chiles into a blonde girl’s food!

While I’m on the topic of food (one of my favorites), I’ll go ahead and mention a few more incredible recent discoveries! First and foremost, the icecream that is sold on the street. Most Thais are lactose-intolerent and the icecream is (hand)made with coconut milk in lieu of cream. There is usually some sort of nut mixed in, pistachios or cashews, then it is scooped not into a cone or into a bowl, but into a hotdog bun (which is first filled with chopped fresh coconut)! A bit of sweetened condensed milk is poured on top and then, for 10 baht, you have an amazing, not-too-heavy icecream sandwich to enjoy!

A lighter but equally delicious dessert involves a bowl full of crushed ice, chopped fruit, coconut milk and sugar syrup. I’m in love with this concoction, though there are a few strange things that Thais use as toppings for both this and for icecream… corn and kidney beans! Yes, both of these things are used as a dessert ingredient, specifically for iced desserts. I’ve yet to try either one, but the day will come…I’ll make sure to report on it when it does!

Next there is the fresh-squeezed juice. On every corner you can find a vendor squeezing oranges, pineapples and whatever else they happen to have straight into plastic bottles, which are then capped and sold for a mere 10 baht apiece. Refreshing!

I can’t forget the Khao Tom Gloo-ay, which are pieces of banana hidden in a big ball of sticky rice then wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled. There is a woman who sells these right at the gate to our school for 5 baht apiece…every day I would want to try one, but could never wait that long to eat breakfast. I finally held off a few days ago and bought a couple of freshly grilled treats for my morning meal – I am now forever changed! Those things are like crack, I can’t imagine NOT having them for breakfast now!

There is another specialty downstairs that I’m trying not to make a habit of consuming – fresh donuts! Basically there’s a woman with a big wok full of oil, throwing in balls of sugary dough then scooping them right out and into a pile next to the wok. You walk up, fill up a plastic bag with however many you want and grab a plastic bag of chilled milk. You then dip the doughnuts into the milk and try to savor it before the heart attack hits! (You can also stop at the man next to her and pick up a few small skewers of grilled chicken, just in case you need some protein with that sugar)

Despite this wonderland of food, I’ve managed to actually drop a few pounds. As I’ve said before, it’s coming largely from lifestyle – if I want to take the subway or a boat, I walk for 20 minutes. If I want room furnishings or groceries, I walk there then carry things back. If I want to mail something, I walk to the post office. I walk home from work everyday, I walk 10 minutes to do my laundry and, of course, I walk any time that I want to eat something. I have no fridge or kitchen or hot water, so there is always a journey involved.

On top of these things, I’m no longer sitting at a computer all day, I NEVER sit in a car, I’m able to run more than my injuries had allowed over the past two years and, very importantly, my beer consumption has DROPPED. Austin is full of delicious microbrews and relaxed patios that persuade you to just “have one more,” whereas Thailand is full of not-so-tasty Asian beer and crazy karaoke bars. I think it’s for the better!

Enough of my mindless rambling, I’m now starving and am going to go brave the storm – I’m sure that whatever I find will be well worth it!

First and foremost, Gabe returned to civilization and after two days of failed attempts (bad internet connections, “international” phone cards that aren’t international on top of a 14 hour time difference) we managed to get ahold of each other and talk. It was so good to hear from him, know that he made it safely out of the Grand Canyon and realize that he’ll be here in just a little over a week!

Secondly, after my little rant about the terrible running here, I decided to cross a street that I don’t normally cross and discovered that my short path actually extends for quite a long way! I’ve had 60-90 minute runs for the past few days, in a much nicer and less congested area and feel so much more balanced! Aron also told me that he knows a way to get to the parks on foot, but that it’s impossible to explain…he’s going to walk it with me one day this week so that I can run it. These sound like such small things, but to me, running conditions play a MAJOR part in the way that I feel about a place.

Due to running a new route, I discovered an actual sit-down restaurant with an actual indoor dining area and an actual patio with actual greenery and actual menus! You’d be amazed at how hard that is to find in our neighborhood…I love the eating options here, but every once in awhile it’s nice to have a place to go and sit down at. Raina and I took a walk there the other evening and it was wonderful - delicious food (still extremely inexpensive), really friendly waitstaff, and an atmosphere that almost made it possible to ignore the incessant traffice roaring by.

The entire past week was test week, which essentially means that I did not have to do anything. I have several tests on Monday as well, so the past week was just spent reviewing, something that actually gets these kids to be quiet! Monday is also payday which I am anxiously awaiting - it’s been two months since I’ve had any income and I’m getting a bit tired of it! We get paid in cash - I’m making about $1000/month and I’ve spent roughly $300 (this includes setting up a room and several trips!!) since I got to Bangkok a month ago. At this rate, I shouldn’t need to go to an ATM again until at least Christmas!

Last night was pretty low-key and I was planning to just hang around here, as we have several friends coming into town tonight and I don’t need two nights out. I went to a payphone down the road around 9 to give Gabe a call, and as I was walking back I passed some of the street vendors next to our place, all sitting at their little plastic table as they do at all hours of the day.

One of the women waved me over saying “come sit, come sit!” I grinned and walked over, one of the women gave up her seat, insisted I sit and then went to find another stool. The woman who had called to me spoke very good english and handed me a glass of whisky and soda water, asking “Thai whiskey okay? You have!” I couldn’t turn down such an offer, of course, so I accepted and we did introductions.

Mao (which coincidentally means “drunk” in Thai) was the english-speaker, and she works in a hotel nearby, which explains the language skill. She introduced me to Goy, a little man with a huge, permanent grin who apparently owns the mechanic shop we were sitting in front of. She listed off the names of the four others, but I honestly couldn’t repeat any of them.

Mao told me that she works very early during the week,  going to work at 4:30, but that on weekends she always comes to this corner to visit her friends and have a drink. She made me promise that we would stop and have a drink on weekends whenever we could, and that if “you need any help, I help you. The Thais, they think you tourist so they not always tell truth to you.” I practiced some of my Thai on them, making sure to tell the tea lady that her tea is “A-rroi mak-mak!” (delicious) - they loved it and one way or another, I was able to spend an hour “conversing” with a group of people who can’t even say hello.

This morning when I went out to run around six, the tea lady and two other women were still out there. She yelled “Hello! A-is-on!” and raised her beer bottle to me. Yes, at six a.m. I laughed and pointed at the rising sun, she just shrugged and laughed then took a drink from the bottle.

I will certainly be back to visit with them, and things like this are starting to change my opinion of Bangsue. The longer we’re here, the more smiles and waves there are - people are getting used to us and realizing that we’re not obnoxious tourists flashing our money around and knocking stuff over. You have to remember that this is a pretty low-income, low-educated area and it’s always tough to be different in such a place. These are people who are making about $200 a month and who will most likely never even leave Bangkok, much less Thailand.

When I put it in perspective and then think back to the all-too common view in America that “if you don’t speak English, don’t come here,” it’s absolutely amazing how much these people work with us. I’m in Thailand, working in a Thai school, barely qualified, making seven times what a Thai teacher makes and I hardly speak a word of the language - somehow, people remain extremely friendly and helpful.

At home, so many people are so vehemently opposed to the Mexicans (or whoever else) who show up wanting to work, yet don’t have a good grasp on English.  They’re wanting to work jobs that most of us would refuse and they’re told to “go back to where you came from!” I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to live and work here for awhile, as it is opening my eyes so much more than a vacation ever could!

I spent last Wednesday and Thursday at “camp,” just outside of Lopburi, yet another former capital of Thailand. We had the option of joining 400 students for the two hour bus ride or pitching in for gas and riding up in Aron’s car. Naturally the gas money was well worth arriving with our sanity in tact, so all five of us crammed in early Wednesday morning and enjoyed a quiet car ride to Lopburi. We stopped along the way for some coffee at a place specializing in beans from the northern hill tribes. For the most part, coffee in Thailand is of the instant, pre-creamed and pre-sweetened variety, a horrendous product created by NesCafe. The coffee that I received at the road stop was a pleasantly shocking surprise – dark, rich espresso served in an American-sized coffee cup! It was delicious, and I think that my heart rate stayed noticeably elevated well into the next day! Yet another reason to look forward to northern Thailand…

We got to camp around 10 and checked into our rooms at an on-site guesthouse (another thing that we easily agreed to pay for!). I opened the door and was greeted by things that have only existed in dreams lately: a bathroom with a sink, hot water, a refrigerator, a tv AND a bed that didn’t feel like a tabletop! I wanted to just shower and go to bed right then, but camp obligations and the coffee prevented it. We actually didn’t have many obligations; we hung around for a bit as things got going, meaning that all the kids had to sit in lines and sing stupid camp songs (like ‘if you’re happy and you know it” in Thai, 20 times), play stupid games and do other annoying orientation-esque activities. It went on and on, but luckily lunch wasn’t too far off.

The meals at camp were FANTASTIC. As much fun as I’m having eating in Bangkok, the freshness level of food made out in the country was incredibly nice. I got to try quite a few new things, and learned HOW to eat certain dishes the correct Thai way. After that we took off to sightsee a bit, coming back in time for dinner. That night there were “campfire” presentations, though there was not actually a fire. All of the groups had put together small shows and acts during the day, and spent all evening presenting them. As a department, we also had to do a short presentation, so we took the opportunity to have 400 Thai kids making animal noises and acting like pigs/dogs/frogs/elephants. It was fun (due in no small part to the flask of scotch that Joe and I shared beforehand), and so strange to hear how differently Thais interpret animal sounds!

I enjoyed an unnecessarily long shower, savoring every drop of hot water that came out of the faucet! I then had the best night sleep I’ve had since arriving in Thailand – Thais like hard beds, and mine in particular is full of coconut skin. No springs…just coconut skin. I would do anything to find an eggcrate pad, as I am not sleeping well at all in Bangkok, but I’ve had no luck yet. I can only find high-end tempur-pedic type things that I can’t justify purchasing for 3 months of use. Anyways, I couldn’t believe that I only had to shell out $7 for a night in a bed like that…it’s the small things!

The next day we ate breakfast, killed some time, ate lunch and then headed out. Our job (which was basically just showing our faces on occasion) was over! We stopped at the monkey temple on the way home, which you may have already seen on my Flickr site. It was so neat – there are hundreds of monkeys in Lopburi, and you can pay a dollar to go inside one of the ruins areas where they all congregate. They will take your things from you, so it’s wise to leave your bag behind. They were fascinatingly human-like! One of them snuck up behind me and jumped onto my leg, grabbing hold of it. I kicked him off, as the last thing I wanted was a monkey bite, and I swear that he laughed at me, quickly raised his eyebrows twice in an “I’m gonna get you” sort of way and did it again! It turns out this is the way they get people to drop things – I can only imagine the collection of stuff they’ve got hidden inside those ruins!

That part was neat, but the most fascinating thing is that the monkeys aren’t held captive in there or anything. They run all over the town, so you see monkeys on top of buildings, running on telephone wires, sneaking up behind unsuspecting food vendors. There was a lot more to see in Lopburi in terms of ruins, and luckily I discovered that it’s a 2 hour, 15 baht train ride away. I will return soon!

On Friday there were very few students who showed up, so it was a pretty relaxed day. That evening I went and enjoyed a really long run in a nearby park. It is so frustrating as there are three beautiful parks full of trees, paths and other runners less than two miles from here, but there is no way to get to them on foot. My only option (aside from running on a freeway or across a railroad bridge) is to take the subway, which just isn’t practical on any sort of regular basis. As it is, I’ve been stuck running here, which I really dislike. I spend the first ten minutes on my road, which is packed with traffic and food vendors and people waiting at bus stops (even at 5 am), then get onto a path that runs next to a canal on the next road.

The path is nice to have, as it’s too small for food vendors to set up on, but it still passes a lot of cross streets that have motorcycles flying off of them and goes through the middle of more than a few bus stops. I run until I hit a highway and can go no further, which gives me about 45 minutes roundtrip. If you know me, I consider that a warmup. Plus I spend that entire 45 minutes dodging vehicles, potholes, people and stares. However, it’s what I’ve got, so I use it (though my running has been far less than consistent since I arrived in Bangsue). It is just maddening to know that such a great park area is SO close!

Okay, back on topic. I had a great run, with other runners, and luckily recognized the King’s Anthem when it came on over the park’s loudspeakers. This anthem is played before movies, sporting events and at other random times in public areas. When it comes on, EVERYONE must stop moving, be quiet and wait until it is over. Not doing so is considered disrespecting the King, an offense that can actually land you in Thai prison! I’m sure that one of these days I’m going to zone out as I usually do when running and just keep right on going through the song!

Saturday was very refreshing! I had an early run then decided to go explore by myself for the day. It’s been wonderful having a group of friends here, but it’s also nice to go out alone and not be part of a big “pack” of foreigners. I discovered that the river is only a 20 minute walk from here, so I boarded a riverboat for the first time. These function just like a bus, but there’s no traffic, the breeze is cool and the scenery is great! For the first time I really felt as though Bangkok is a nice place to be! There’s a whole other type of life that goes on along the river, and the number of incredibly ornate wats (temples) is pretty mind-blowing. The boat cost a flat 15 baht fare and stops at every pier, you just get off when it’s your stop.

I rode to the end, about a 45 minute trip, then got off and boarded the skytrain, another ingenious form of transportation. The skytrain is basically an above-ground subway that runs way above the roads. I took this to a random stop, getting off at the Silom area and then did some exploring for a few hours. Two South African guys said hello to me at a crosswalk and when I said hello back, they grinned and said how nice it was to find someone who speaks some English! They were looking for a big day market in the area and I was just wandering, so I walked with them for awhile. I told them about Chatuchak and they seemed really excited and planned to go the next day. They asked where I was from and when I said Texas, they couldn’t believe it due to my lack of an accent. One of them said there’s no WAY I could be from “cowboy land” and then did his best impression of Texan-talk…he was better at it than I am! We came to Lumphini Park and I parted ways with them, but it was nice to have company for a bit!

Lumphini park is also huge and beautiful, full of trees and fountains and benches and playgrounds and outdoor gyms and big lizards that run around. I strolled around, sat on a bench and people-watched, just enjoyed the afternoon. I finally decided that I needed a drink (it was scorchingly hot!) and began the long search for the gate that I had come in through. As I was walking an elderly-ish Thai man, who looked like a park maintenance worker, came up beside me and said “Good afternoon!” That’s an odd phrase to hear from any Thai, as even the people with good English aren’t usually good enough to know alternative phrases for “hello.”

What I have noticed is that if a Thai person cannot speak English, they will avoid interacting with you/serving you unless they have to. If they can speak English, they’ll want to talk all day long! This guy knew his stuff, and asked if it was my first time in Thailand, if I liked it, how long I was staying, if I enjoyed teaching. He asked if I was from England and I said no, America. He then asked “Whereabouts in America?” which was so strange to hear out of a Thai person’s mouth, so I answered “Texas.” He goes “oh, Austin Texas?” He then told me how excited he is that we will have a new president soon, and that he “wishes for Obama, much better for your economy, much better for whole world!” I soon had to part ways with him as well, but thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. It’s really nice to go out alone sometimes!

I found some great street food then headed back to Bangsue by way of the subway, marveling at the wonders of public transportation. I was exhausted, but went out that night with Raina, who had attempted to go to a tiger temple that day but gotten on the wrong bus and ended up at the border of Cambodia. Needless to say, she did not see tigers and after 8 hours on a bus, she needed a drink! We met up with our friend Tim and some Thai girls that he has befriended, which was a whole new experience! These girls are extremely well-off and are of the ‘socialite’ variety, but they were really cool and all speak perfect English. They took us to some private party at a hotel, and I was blown away at how much cheaper things are and how quickly you get served when you’re hanging out with Thais! We got home extremely late and I (finally) had a good night sleep on my coconut-stuffed bed!

On a final, super-exciting note…Gabe gets here two weeks from tomorrow! I can’t believe the time is finally going to arrive…

I’ve gone from sitting in classrooms to being in front of a classroom, from feeling generally competent to feeling unsure as to how to order dinner, and from noticing “outsiders” to being the one who doesn’t belong. It’s good to put yourself on the other side of things sometimes, and I’m certainly getting my fair share of it in Bangkok!

I’m closing in on the end of the first month in Bangkok – yet again, how time flies! Teaching has definitely gotten easier (well, less stressful), though I can’t say that I’ll ever hit a point of actually liking it. There are things I like about it, but overall I’m pretty sure that this is not my calling in life… Next week is the first round of tests, so we’ll see if I’ve managed to teach anything to anyone!

Time has flown as it always does when you get into a daily routine, but it’s also passed by so quickly due to a lot of breaks in the routine! Last Thursday was Teacher Appreciation Day, which meant that all classes were cancelled (and about half the students didn’t show up the day before because they were busy with preparations). This special day consisted of sitting up on a stage with the Thai teachers in front of a couple thousand students (all of them quieter than I’d ever imagined possible!) and listening to extremely lengthy speeches in Thai by people that I assume are important. Then we sat some more as each student came to the stage with an elaborate flower arrangement they’d made, kneeled down in front of us, handed it over and we passed it down the row of teachers to another student at the end who set it in front of the stage. Since I don’t understand Thai, I have no idea what was really going on, but I do know that these kids could all be millionaire florists in the states – the creations were incredible! Thais are definitely talented when it comes to precision and beauty. Anyways, it was a strange affair, but it got me out of teaching and lunch was also provided at no cost!

Last Friday I headed to Khao San Road for the first time, which is the notorious “backpacker ghetto” in Bangkok. This means that it’s all foreigners, lots of bars, clubs, cheap accommodation and pad thai street vendors. I was excited to finally see a good portion of our training group again, as all of us that are living in Bangkok were planning to meet up there. I’m learning the ins and outs of transportation, and the most important thing is to INSIST that taxi drivers use the meter. I hate to admit it, but being white makes you an instant scam target, and everyone will try! The taxi driver tried to get us to agree to a 200 baht fare (only $6, but still…) but we refused to get in unless he used the meter. He finally agreed and the fare came out to 68 baht – these tricks are important! Another very important taxi trick is to listen to how Thai people say place names. If I tell a driver that I need to go to Bangsue, they will look at me like I’m from Mars. If I say “Bongsoooo,” off we go. Tonal languages are not easy to pick up!

Anyhow, as soon as we got to Khao San I felt like I’d arrived on another planet – I saw more white people in 30 seconds than I’d seen in the past three weeks combined! It was strange though, it felt more uncomfortable than anything. I’ve been living in a Thai neighborhood where no one is catering to me; if anything, people in Bangsue are more than helpful and friendly, but they aren’t quite sure why I’m there and it makes no difference to them whether I am or not. Arriving in such a tourist area, I couldn’t help but notice the hoards of loud, drunk, obnoxious backpacker types trampling all over the place. They’re all thrilled to be “experiencing Thailand” when in reality they’re doing exactly what they’d be doing at home, talking only to fellow foreigners, getting angry when a Thai person can’t understand what they’re ordering and getting even angrier when the bathroom/table/drink is not clean/spacious/cheap. They take pictures of the 8 year olds trying to sell flowers on the street and then laugh and wave the kid off afterwards. I’m generalizing of course, but this was the overall feel of things.

It was more than apparent on the face of every single Thai person working there that they are NOT impressed and consider westerners to be a necessary evil. This is exactly where the “ugly farang” stereotype gets started and is exactly why Thais aren’t particularly thrilled to see the white people walking into their shop or up to their foodcart. I’ve definitely gotten the impression that I’ve got to earn my respect, and I can now see why that is. In any case, I was more uncomfortable being white and blonde on that heavily touristed strip than I’ve ever felt walking around Bangsue! I did not want to be labeled.

Okay, moving on. I did manage to have fun with friends despite my tendency to think too much, and it was a very, very late night. The next morning I headed to Chatuchak Weekend Market, which is one subway stop away from here and is one of the largest markets in the world, with over 15,000 vendors! It covers 35 acres and literally has anything you could ever imagine…everything from clothing to furniture to pet squirrels to komodo dragons to electronics to imported and handmade EVERYTHING. Want to try drinking snake blood? This is the place. It was hot, crowded, maze-like and incredible! I managed to stick it out for 6 hours on Saturday (with the help of bags of fresh pineapple, guava and handmade coconut “icecream”) and bought plenty of things for myself (despite my intention to buy gifts). It was frustrating, as there are so many hundreds of things I would LOVE to have for a house but of course, cannot buy here. Things you could find in a specialty import store at home, but at a tenth of the cost (plus, you can buy it from the person who made it). As a rule, I hate to shop, but Chatuchak made me love it!

It wore me out, and I was asleep by 8:30 that night. On Sunday, Raina and I headed back for round two, managing to spend more money and eat more coconut icecream. The great part is that by “spending a lot of money,” I mean that I spent maybe $20 in both days combined. This includes several items of clothing, a new handmade bag from India, food, drinks, perfume (I needed it!), incense (my room needed it!) and some jewelry. Everything is bargainable, and the more Thai you use, the cheaper it gets. Flexible pricing seems to be the key to making shopping an enjoyable experience for me – it’s like a game! I’m planning to go explore the riverboat system tomorrow and see other areas of Bangkok, but I have a feeling that I’ll end up back at Chatuchak at some point. I do have to buy gifts, after all!

I’ll have to get back to this later and touch on my camp experience (ie two days as a ‘token white person’) and the monkey temple! For now, I need to go pay the tea lady a visit…

Will return with stories and (hopefully) awesome monkey (the students and the animal) photos in two days!

Each day, news headlines from home look more and more ridiculous and absurd. This morning, for example, I opened my laptop, went to yahoo.com to check my email and was immediately faced with the all-important question “SHOULD YOU FEAR TOMATOES??”

The answer in the article was, naturally, that YES I should fear tomatoes! I should be more worried about tomatoes than anything else, at least until the next catastrophe! I was then conveniently presented with another slew of articles on which tomatoes are dangerous (all of them), why I should stop buying tomatoes (it could kill me!) and what it will do to the farmers once I stop buying them (total industry collapse!). They proved it to me with a headline about a man who DIED from eating salmonella-tainted pico de gallo! Never mind that, in the last sentence, the writer mentioned that the man “also” had cancer, a disease that was found to be the actual cause of death.

These articles led me to more articles about more dangerous foods, other industries that are in TOTAL CRISES, and how I really shouldn’t ever trust anything that I put into my mouth. I SHOULD, however, support the FDA getting a few extra million dollars for new “safety” programs that will save America from the brink of nutritional destruction!

Anyways, the tomato question caused me to immediately burst out laughing as I thought about the utterly “unsanitary” food storage, preparation and serving techniques here in Thailand. No one is fearing food here, they are just enjoying it. There are no regulations or rules or ominous headlines (and I do read the Bangkok Post) – if there were, people would go right on eating.

I can (and will) go on about the topic in much more depth, but I really had to comment on the tomatoes! There is so much more material wealth and comfort in the U.S than there is here - remember, entire families live in the same type of room that I’m living in, and it’s pretty standard. That fact is amazing to me, but what’s more amazing is how many more smiles I see here…