Almond Kiss

Miss Thailand's national costume for the 2016 pageant is supposed to be a famous Stupa, but to me, it looks more like a Hershey's Kiss.  

The fact that Stupa's are usually built to hold the bones of dead monks makes it even more odd.

Back To Work

After spending two years on earth, my angel has returned to the sky.  

Nuch finished two weeks of training and had her first flight on Sunday.  Although it was nice to have full control of the remote for a day, I already miss our "normal" couple life.  

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

to go to the bathroom...

What Jaws did to the ocean, snakes have done to Thai bathrooms.  

Every few months it seems someone in Thailand finds a snake in their toilet.  Usually, the snake is noticed in time and animal control is called to take it away.  Last week, however, the gentleman below didn't realize there was a cobra in his squatter until it chomped down on his privates.

An epic battle ensued - toilet snake vs trouser snake

The story spread rapidly throughout Thailand and social media responded...

Family Business

It turns out that we live in a village filled with little entrepreneurs.  

Most of our neighbors are part of a LINE group that shares news and events, but is mainly used to complain about other neighbors that don't clean up after taking their dog for a walk.

More recently, this social media group has been used to promote various food products that families are selling out of their homes.  The first one was fresh vegetable spring rolls with a sweet honey mustard sauce - probably the best item available, so far.  Whenever you want something, you just send a message and 10 minutes later, they're at your door.

Another lady sells mangoes with a sweet, spicy, and sour dip

Yet, another lady sells a Corn Milk drink?

here are some dried Durian chips

This family makes Japanese-style curry meals

Homemade sausage

Our next door neighbor makes freshly squeezed orange juice.

This lady makes mashed potatoes, which seems like an odd choice.  Perhaps, she was just showing off her dinner - and her Minnie Mouse dress

and finally, some grilled New Zealand muscles

Bangkok Sunday Holiday

Last weekend, Nuch and I had absolutely nothing to do, so we went downtown.  

It started with lunch and cocktails at Hemmingway's because I woke up at noon.

It was too hot to do anything and too early for dinner, so we took naps while getting foot massages

After resting up, we had dinner at the Old German Beerhouse for some beer, sausage, and bread

and then, we went home

The Golden Ratio

Kelly's Teriyaki Bar

One of my all-time favorites, and Nuch's newest favorite restaurant in Bangkok

I'm not sure what this utensil is called (a sporkabob???), but it's much better than skewering the inside of your mouth, and much cooler than using a regular fork, which probably works just as well.

Alternative Medicine

After one of my many recent hospital trips to have my wound dressed, I noticed that the front sidewalk is covered with an army of chickens.  Like most things in Thailand that make no sense, these chickens are here for a bit of extra luck - when you can't fully rely on modern medicine.  

This is how it works - if you have terminal cancer, you pray to the golden shrine promising that if you are cured, you will buy/ donate a statue of a chicken. Depending on how badly you don't want to die, you may mentally offer a larger chicken or several chickens.  The best part of this deal is that you only pay up if your wish comes true.  So, if you don't survive, you don't need to buy a chicken.

My wound was quite small, so I just promised to avoid KFC.

Pattaya Villa Getaway

My buddy John's birthday was last week, so he organized a BBQ getaway at some luxury villas in Pattaya.

We got two 4-bedroom villas each with private pools.  It's going to be hard to go back to a regular 1 bedroom hotel on my next vacation.

View from the rooftop

You can just make out my buddy, Stuart, and his son, Alex on the roof of the villa next door.

This is the balcony outside our bedroom

The villa was nice, but the food may have been better.

I started things off with a few racks of ribs, as appetizers.

Then, John grilled some imported wagyu steaks and burgers for the main courses

The following day, Mark and John made breakfast for everyone

and what fun would a luxury villa and gourmet food be without great people