Oh, Christmas Tree

For the record, Nuch and I did put up a Christmas Tree.

It took exactly 59 seconds, as we simply took it out of the black plastic bag it was stored in, plopped it on a counter, and fluffed it a bit.

The real question is - how long will it stay there. The last time we put it up, it stayed on Nuch's coffee table in her living room for an entire year.

Tsunami Anniversary

I came across this video on YouTube that shows a couple different videos of the Boxing Day Tsunami 5 years ago.

Lesson learned: When the water on along the shore is sucked out to sea, don't stand there and take pictures - run.

'Tis The Season

... to get married.

It seems most weddings in Thailand take place in the winter time - in other words, the last two weeks of December and the first two weeks of January.

Although the auspicious day on which to have a Thai wedding is usually decided by a monk with a 6th sense, a significant proportion of weddings seem to fall in the winter weeks. This was the case for myself, my friend, Carl, and most recently, my friend, Marc.

Here are some pics.

Where's The Chicken?

The other day I ordered some wings while spending the afternoon on Kao San Rd.

This is what was on the menu - with a picture, mind you, so there was no confusion as to what a "deep fried chicken wing" is.

This is what I got...

but it turns out that they were really good.

Thais always say that meat tastes better closer to the bone, which explains why they would wrap the bone with a thin sheet of meat and then deep fry it to lock in the flavor.

Mass Hysteria

Nuch and I had just finished lunch at a traditional Thai restaurant and were walking to our car, when I saw a unique bird cage in the parking lot.

Unlike most bird cages, this one had a 2 foot iguana living in it.


I was reminded of Bill Murray's line in Ghostbusters when he's explaining the disaster of biblical proportions that is about to befall New York City.

"dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!"

Baby birds, as well.

Big Time

You know you have made the "Big Time" when your office (or factory, in my case) finally gives you your own personalized parking spot.

Bangkok's Handy Man

This gives a new meaning to the word Pick-Up Truck. Also, add it to the list of strange things seen on the streets of Bangkok.

On the tailgate is written "rab fak joob", which means something like "I accept/provide kisses". Nuch translated it as a Handy Man - as in James Taylor's song, Handy Man.

Hey girls, gather round
Listen to what I'm putting down
Whoo baby, I'm your handyman

I'm not the kind to use a pencil or rule
I'm handy with love and I'm no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

December 5th And Aunt Chalin

This is a little late already.

December 5th is always a big day for Nuch and her family. First, December 5th father's day in Thailand, which is set on the King's birthday (The Queen's birthday i s mother's day). So, you have all the festivities associated with that - fireworks, parades, concerts, speeches... that go on for the entire week. Second, it is, also, her uncle's birthday (he was born the same day and year as the King). So, last Saturday Nuch and I went to his house to pay him a visit and give him his annual birthday gift - a towel. Towels or fabric are the traditional gift to family members on special occasions.

For my wedding Nuch and I bought a "special cloth" for everyone that attended the morning ceremony. At the time, I thought it was a hand-woven quilt, made from traditional Thai silk and decorated with ornate patterns that represent the ties that bind us to our relatives, ancestors, and some day to our children. Nope... it's just a bath towel that you could get at any Wal-Mart, and after 82 years Nuch's uncle must have a Wal-Mart SuperStore-sized rack of them, but, I digress.

I didn't get any pictures of Nuch's uncle, but I did get some pictures of Nuch's Aunt Chalin, who lives in the same compound. She's in her late 80's and is struggling along, but always in good spirits. When we arrived at her room, Nuch's other cousins were also there. We had not seen them for a while, so we had a mini- family reunion. Which is a little odd because everyone lives within a couple hundred yards of each other.

Anyway... here we are in Nuch's aunt's room. Everyone is wearing pink to celebrate the King's birthday. His color used to be yellow, so I'm not sure why it changed.

Here Aunt Chalin getting pretty for her guests. She's got diabetes, heart disease, and is mostly blind, but is always cheery when we stop by.

Elephantiasis

Good news, I don't have Elephantiasis - otherwise known as Elaphantitis.

This is a test required by the Thai government in order for me to renew my work permit.

I also don't have Syphilis, Leprosy, or Alcoholism

Lucky Dragon Straws

I was in a photo shop the other day and saw these dragons on top of one of the shelves.

These are pretty standard for small Chinese-Thai businesses. The Dragons symbolize success, good fortune, wealth and power. The owners will often dress the mini-shrine up with flowers, as well as food and drink to appease the dragons.

In this case, I thought it was exceptionally considerate of the owners to place two straws in the cups to make it easier for the dragons to drink.

They got my business, so they must be doing something right.

Balloon Boy Comes To Thailand

The roads of Bangkok are filled with strange sights.

100,000 Of Fishes

This past weekend, I was, once again, dragged to a temple to make merit. I think this makes it 3 times in the last 4 weekends.

As usual, I put on my pouty face and went along with it. What I didn't know at the time was that this particular temple was along the Chao Phraya River, and the monks and merit-makers have been feeding the fish there for generations. As the head monk told me, there are "100,000 of fishes".

I think he may have under-estimated a bit- and these weren't little guppies. The average size must have been 12 to 18 inches long.

Here is Nuch feeding fish in an attempt to absolve herself after committing the mortal sin of making me get off my ass on a Saturday morning.

Like ice cream and balloons to a child, feeding fish somehow cheers me up - even when I would rather be making proper use of my Saturday by becoming one with my sofa.


Later, she bought me a second loaf of bread to feed the fish, and I forgave her.

Running the Gauntlet

December 1st marks the beginning of the holiday gauntlet I must run every year.

The 1st is Nuch's birthday, the 5th is Father's Day (important for merit-making), the 24th is our wedding anniversary, the 25th is Christmas, and to finish it all off, there is New Year's, which is like the Thai Christmas, when it comes to gift giving.

Belated Turkey Day

Nothing like a little home cooking.

For Thanksgivig a buddy of mine organized an outing to the Great American Rib Company. Not bad, but nothing compared to Uncle Doug's ribs.


Here we are before the feast.

Here's the other end of the table after the feast.

Bangkok's Industrial Road Bridge

Here are some pictures I found on the web of the bridges I cross on the way home from work.

They are actually 3 bridges, crossing the river in different places, but all in one place where an oxbow is trying to form.

The view from atop the bridge is incredible. I'm always tempted to pull over and take a look.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane...

It's Tim Tebow!!!

This is not Thailand related, but I did spend the early hours of Sunday morning listening to Tim Tebow play his last home game.

By the way, I never have understood the advantage of the Jump Pass, aside from cool photo ops that make Tebow look like he is flying.

Cleanliness Is Next To Buddhaness

The other day, Nuch and I joined her brother and his girlfriend to make merit at their local temple. This time it was to remember her father who passed away a year ago.

Here's Nuch's brother and the head monk.



Nuch and her brother's girlfriend donating gift baskets to the temple monks.

Apparently, there's at least one thing that Buddhism and Christianity have in common, as these monks and, I imagine, most others must be sparkling clean with all the soap, towels, and toilet paper they receive on a daily basis.

Karma Works In Mysterious Ways

Last Sunday, I was in between business trips and had just 24 hours in Bangkok before I was on the road again. I had planned to veg out and catch up on some serious couch time, as well as watch replays of Gator games via the Internet.

Wishful thinking...

Somehow, I was cajoled into going with Nuch on some errands, which should have taken little more than an hour - a small sacrifice, I though, as a dutiful husband. Little did I know that she had planned a side trip to a Chinese temple, so we could get our Karma Credits in order before the new year. Usually, I'm a pretty good sport about these kind of things and will tag along for the cultural experience, but when I only had one day of "me" time, I did what any other grown man would do - I went along and pouted the entire time.

I also took some pictures. This is the main temple where you can see the golden idols in the background and monks praying along either side.

This part was interesting. For some reason, we had to buy lucky oil and pour it into the special basin to ensure that the magic candle would burn forever. You can see the lady's arm pouring it in the middle of the picture.

It may look like a magic candle, but it's really a magic piggy bank. As the oil is poured in, it overflows, goes down the plastic tube, and into the metal bin, where it is recycled and sold again. Why didn't I think of that.

The candles aren't much different, as the melted wax is collected, re-molded, and re-sold.

Needless to say, I was a poor sport and brewed internally at this colossal waste of time. Which begs the question, was my negative Karmic energy to blame for the Nuch getting her car booted for parking illegally, while we were at the temple?

I say illegally, but we parked in front of a parking meter sign, but there was no one there to take our money. When the policeman came to unboot Nuch's car, we asked him about the sign. As he took our money, he told us, "there's a No Parking sing behind the tree, and someone needs to take that sign down."