I suppose it's time to make some changes in this section. Having recently returned to the US after a rather unorthodox two year stay in Southeast Asia, I'm trying to re-adjust to being American and digging into the life I once had here. Not sure what's on the horizon, just taking it day by day and trying to make the best of it. Thanks for checking in on me.
I've never been much of one to comment on technology here on this blog, but necessity has become the mother of invention and in my case change. Years ago, I switched to the Mozilla based Firefox Web browser. It was a streamlined browser that did everything I wanted and nothing I didn't. As versions progressed, it slowly started becoming the behemoth that MS Internet Explorer had. Continually chewing through memory and system resources, it became a constant source of frustration. About a year ago, I was first introduced to Google's new browser "Chrome". I tried it, but was not yet willing to make the switch. Today, after Firefox ate up all my memory and locked up my machine for the third time, I had enough. I fired up Google Chrome and it was smooth sailing for the rest of the weekend. I imported my bookmarks and went right to work. Even the resource hungry Yahoo mail website didn't seem to phase it. The best part is that there is also a portable version that can be installed on a USB flash drive. I can take my browser, bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history with me anywhere in my pocket or on my keychain. Just plug it into the nearest USB port in an internet cafe and you have everything you need at your fingertips. It saves alot of time especially when these places charge by the minute to use a PC and internet connection. Look below for download links to try it for yourself. I don't make a penny on either one, and both are free to download. Enjoy!!
As I make my way around this city, I often forget how old it really is. Today I needed to run an errand across town and as always decided to go on foot. For a change today, I decided to take my camera and risk looking like one of the many tourists which annoy me so greatly. My trek took me through the old part of the city that is still surrounded by a moat and the remnants of the centuries old city walls and gates. I put another 10 kilometers on my feet today. I'm hoping for an easy night at work tonight. Enjoy the pics.
Today's writing comes with two little tidbits of advice. First of all, If you ever have to deal with the Royal Thai Police force, I strongly advise against it. Secondly, when you are helping your friend move furniture from his old house to his new house, make sure the neighbors know who you are and what you are doing. Failure to do so will inevitably invoke a visit from the fore mentioned Royal Thai Police force.
Here's the story. My German friend called me up and asked if I could help him move. I gladly obliged especially after the promise of a free meal. Along with one of my Thai friends, we managed to come up with a couple small trucks, and set out to do the deed on Sunday. Upon arrival, we started moving furniture out into the driveway in preparation for loading it into the trucks. No sooner than we finished moving everything out, I noticed a Thai policeman standing at the gate. In his left hand was a cell phone camera, and his right placed firmly on what I quickly identified as a Colt Python .357 Magnum. At that point I heard probably the only word of English he knew "STOP!". And it worked!
So, here we are:
An American who speaks English and limited Thai.
A German who speaks German, some English but better Thai than me
A Thai who speaks Thai and (somewhat correct) English.
A Thai Policeman who speaks Thai and knows how to say "STOP!"
Two nosy Thai neighbor ladies who are somehow related to the landlady
The Thai landlady (on the phone) who speaks NO English
The first thought that crossed my mind was one that I will spare you from reading. After about an hour or so of playing the language barrier game, it all boiled down to the rightful owner of a laundry rack. An agreement couldn't be made without the presence of the landlady and the laundry rack in question. Neither of which could be at the house at that particular moment. A future meeting time and date was set for the landlady to view said laundry rack and allow for the rest of the furniture to be removed. So, we then spent the next hour moving all the furniture BACK inside the house. It's all the fun of moving only you don't actually take anything anywhere.
Tomorrow will be round two, and hopefully this was my last encounter with the Thai Police. I will give the guy some credit though. He managed to take command of the situation and utilize all the different translation possibilities he could. By the end, I actually saw him crack a smile when a resolution was reached.
UPDATE: Moving day number two was not quite so eventful, but did get quite expensive for my friend. The deed is done, and the laundry rack has been lost. My friend still claims that it was his, but not worth arguing about anymore. At 7:00am he met the landlords at the house and they made a full list of what items were his and what items belonged to the property. Minus the laundry rack, he was pleased. The issue with the deposit however was not so simple. They refused to refund his 8,000 baht deposit despite the house being in immaculate condition. In addition, they demanded the payment of an additional 3,000 baht for "their" trouble, and failure to pay would result in another visit from the police. He paid the money, but while removing the rest of the furniture, the landlord laid claim to a couple more pieces of my friend's furniture. When we asked to look at the list that they had agreed to it suddenly turned up missing. At this point it was just time to cut our losses and walk away. What a nightmare. When dealing with the local law, it is always the foreigner who is in the wrong. Trying to prove otherwise is generally more expensive and time consuming than just paying the fee, fine, or whatever else they cook up.
It's kind of funny how a person can get used to the strangest things. I do alot of walking in this city which has been difficult to adapt to in itself. Many hours and kilometers on foot every day has probably saved my life in many ways and gives me a great deal of time to sort out the contents of my head. This morning I took my walk down to the market and truly had to stop and think about the trek that I make quite often here. Walking down to the main intersection is usually pretty uneventful, but getting across can be a chore. I did my usual casual bob and weave through eight lanes of traffic going every which way you can imagine. Taxis, tuk tuks, rickshaws, motorbikes, and buses all whizzing past me sometimes coming only inches from running over my toes, but it's the only way to get across. Even the wildlife gets in on the action. During any walk about town it's not uncommon to see wild dogs roaming the streets as well as cats and the occasional elephant. Lizards abound in this country and can be seen everywhere. My room is a regular haunt for the little yellow ones. I don't mind them, but there are the big green ones outside in the market that still creep me out a little. The biggest I've seen was about a foot long, and he just sat there on the table staring at me while I drank a cup of coffee. The guy who runs the little restaurant down the street went fishing yesterday by the river and came back with a cobra of all things. That certainly got my attention because I regularly stop for some shade under the same bridge he fishes off of.
After safely navigating the intersection and steering clear of a few dogs that were giving me the eye, the next major sight is the elementary school. Today all the boys were in the schoolyard. They all wear uniforms here, and you can tell about what grade they are in by the color and style of the uniform. They always see me coming and run up to the fence yelling "hello" in English and teasing me in Thai calling out "khwai khao" which means "white buffalo". I usually put my fingers up to my head like horns and they all laugh as I pass by.
Next up is the outdoor market which runs for miles along the sidewalks next to the river. There you can find just about anything you could possibly want or need. From a quick cheap meal to a new pair of socks, it's all there, and if you can speak a little Thai you can get most stuff for about half the sticker price.
Coming back meant running the traffic gauntlet again and a little time to relax before running my other errands before work, and it just hit me. I make this little trip a few times a week without even really thinking about how unusual it really is. It's definitely not where I pictured myself in the year 2010, but I'll take what I can get. Tonight I've been invited to dinner with one of my neighbors. I'm told that BBQ pork spare ribs are on the menu and done American style by a guy from Montana. It should be a rare treat, and I've been looking forward to it all day.
We are still months away from the "rainy season" here in this part of the world, but mother nature has decided to cut loose with the waterworks anyway. When it rains here it pours, and it's like standing in the shower with the water on full blast. On one hand, it can make things feel a little dismal, but on the other it has a way of knocking all the junk out of the air. When the weather is hot, it's tempting to just stand out in the rain for a few minutes, but I've been warned against it. It seems that the rain can be a little toxic as it picks up pollution from the sky on the way down. The one really nice side effect of the rain is that it works like a giant toilet flush on the city's open sewer system. Things tend to get a bit of a funky smell in the streets after a few weeks without rain. Between the trash in the gutters and the open sewers under the sidewalks, things can get to smelling pretty ripe. Nothing like the odor of "dead rat" on your way to breakfast to get your appetite going. For now, all the dead rats and other smelly stuff have been flushed out into the Mae Ping river and are on their way downstream to Bangkok and the gulf. Fishing anyone? I think about the funniest sight this week was a little Thai guy zipping past me in the rain on a motor scooter while carrying an open umbrella. I'll give him a "A" for effort, but I was waiting for a gust of wind to carry him off like Mary Poppins.
As the days run along here, I'm constantly reminded of how short life really is. Living here in Thailand has taught me many things. Some good and some bad. Learning the language has been a challenge, but has been very rewarding. Doing odd jobs around the city for a little food and money has gained me many friends and some that have become like brothers. I have been accepted into more homes and families than I could have possibly imagined. I won't make any bones about it. Life here is rough, and it just gets rougher as time goes on. On one hand, this place is like paradise. On the other, it's still a third world country. Poverty and hardship still reign supreme, but the people are absolutely amazing. Most would give you the shirt off their backs if they thought you needed it, and quite frankly a few have. Somebody is always giving me something when I'm down and out. No matter how big or small. Some days it may be just sharing a bag of "sticky rice" or a piece of fruit. The next day it might be a gift of a shirt that no longer fits and gets passed along to me. When I have a little, I share with those who have helped me and even a few strangers. It always comes back ten-fold. That is the Buddhist way. Christ taught the same thing and oddly enough I remember the scripture.
Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
The people here practice this philosophy to the tenth power and truly live by these principles. I feel truly blessed to be among such wonderful people despite the hardships I face.
That's all for now. I'm gonna catch a little sleep and start all over again in the morning.
As with just about any major event here, the locals use it just as another excuse to blow stuff up in the sky. The typical western New Year's eve is celebrated here much like it is in the U.S. People everywhere flock to the night clubs and private parties to have a good time and await the countdown to the new calender year. For the first time since the Loi Krathong festival, the police were out on the streets in full force after dark. Normally, most of them go home after dark on most nights. The television news greatly exaggerated last new year's traffic accident stats, but a quick check of a local independent newspaper had some slightly more accurate (but still alarming) statistics.
From the Chiang Mai Mail Newspaper:
“Chiang Mai hopes to see the number of road accident decrease from last year by 5%,” Last year, over the 7 dangerous days of the New Year holidays, December 29 to Janauary 4, Chiang Mai Province had 2,375 injuries with 339 accidents daily There were 33 fatalities and traffic accidents were the principal cause of death, with 82 percent dying as a consequence."
Yes folks, that is 339 accidents DAILY over a seven day stretch. That's over 2,300 traffic accidents in one week. Needless to say, I haven't been and won't be accepting any motorbike rides for a few days.
The night proved to be pretty mundane for me. I met with a friend for a quick game of pool before work, and made my way down the street to make my nightly chicken scratch. The countdown came and everyone went outside as the fireworks all over the city began to light up the sky. Once again, the floating hot air sky lanterns filled the sky by the thousands and the fireworks thundered overhead. Occasionally, the two would collide in a rather ironic twist of fate. The lanterns are seen as good luck and a way of sending your troubles to "float away" into the infinity of the night sky. Imagine being the poor little Thai guy who's lantern get's intercepted by a firework mortar. Bummer dude. CLICK HERE FOR A FEW FIREWORKS AND LANTERN PICS
I made my way home on foot, and did my best to sleep as the fireworks peppered the sky till nearly dawn. New years day, things were back to normal and an afternoon nap got me caught up on my sleep. I had the day and night off, but thankfully a couple of my neighbors were home also to help break the monotony of Thai television and "mullah".
Pretty soon, they will do it all over again for Chinese New Year in February, and then once more in April for Songkran (the Thai New Year).
That's all for now. I just keep pushing along here. My current immigration status is "questionable" at the moment, but I just continue to keep my head down and fly low till I can get it straightened out. I've still got a few options, but it's still just a daily question mark as to when I'll be able to move a little more freely again.
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