You've already seen the young man above in a post from a month ago when he was hunting along the drainage canal next to my hotel with his friends (if you didn't, it's here). I didn't include this image then because it didn't seem to fit, but it's a good example of a pose many younger Thai strike when having a picture taken. I've seen it far more often being used by males than females, but my guess (based only on my own observations) is that Thai girls are more reserved and "proper" overall, by virtue of their culture. Boys tend to be more rambunctious and prone to bravado worldwide, I think. I've heard several explanations for this, but I lean towards what I've been told by Thai friends: it's a way of saying law (handsome) or suay (beautiful) if used by a female. I suppose it could also be explained as a way of saying "I'm so cute" or "Aren't I picture-perfect?" when they quarter-frame their face with thumb and forefinger. It's invariably accompanied by a wide grin, and I find it delightful.
The thunderheads tower below us, piled like whipped cream above layers of low clouds over the deep blue ocean. Above them peeks the faint, waning three-quarter moon; now somewhat lost in the sky as it sets this morning. We flew out of Taipei a while ago and are now 36,000 feet over the South China Sea. Soon we’ll be passing almost directly over Da Nang, Vietnam and Laos, then at last over the fertile green expanses of Thailand, perhaps skimming across a few hundred miles over the top edge of Cambodia.I can follow our flight in real time across the 8” screen on the back of the headrest in front of me; the little plane icon moving across the satellite map, leaving a yellow marking trail behind it. I can see the nose of the icon pointing directly at Da Nang, and I’m glad I’m in a passenger plane in 2009 instead of a US Army jet 40 years ago, when we would be on a very different visit.It’s like a surreal dream now that in my lifetime the lush countryside I see stretched out along the water’s edge on the approaching horizon was once a land nearly bombed back into the Stone Age, possibly by some of the very farang on the plane with me today, snoring contentedly beside their Asian wives. All may be forgiven several miles below us today, but it’s certainly not forgotten; certainly not by those who witnessed it as one of the tens of thousands of innocent victims who were themselves guilty of nothing more than the same nationalistic love of country we ourselves wave the flag for in the USA today.A Vietnamese friend’s face goes sober when he thinks of his homeland in those days. He spoke once in a somber tone of visiting an old friend in the hospital – a civilian friend he’d shared a meal with only days before – now missing a foot because of a land mine; his life changed forever in an instant. My friend still tears up when he speaks of that day, and many others. All of life may be suffering, as many Buddhists believe, but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing - on a variety of levels.We skim over Vietnam in a matter of minutes, crossing the Eastern Laotian border on a direct path to take us high over Pakse, near the Western border before we enter Thai air space.
A wide river, muddy with reddish-brown earth snakes its way South below before disappearing beneath a layer of heavy low cloud cover, and we begin to bump and jostle around as we enter another far higher one, nearly obscuring the lower layer.Making a turn slightly North I can see on the screen we’re now going to fly North of Pakse – and Cambodian airspace – on our way to Bangkok. It’s now 10:00am, leaving us with an hour until we’ll hopefully be setting down safely onto runway 19 at Suvarnabhumi International, making the slow roll to the gate and on to the next new adventure.
While I'd like to tell you that all is sweetness and light in the Land of Smiles, it isn't. Just as in many, many other cities around the world you're likely to run into the homeless, the destitute and other examples of society's debris - camping out in doorways, under a tree in a park, beneath a bridge or under an overpass. Today's photo is merely a reminder that but for the grace of whatever power you choose to believe in, this could be any of us in far less time than we'd care to learn. While there are con artists all over the world - as well as drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally ill - there are also the innocently unfortunate. This couple was sleeping less than a block from a 4,000 baht per night hotel where people were undoubtedly having a fine lunch before maybe going up to snooze by the rooftop pool.Your unsolicited advice today is just this: be grateful for your life! You may bitch and moan about any number of things today, but you're probably not going to sleep on the sidewalk tonight.
Street musicians are usually pleasant surprises while walking along the side of the street. You're just as likely to hear the Eagles' "Hotel California" as you are a Thai number in the city, but many times I hear something new - and I like that. There's also a variety of sidewalk entertainment that's less pleasant: the mobile singers. Sometimes sitting in one spot, sometimes being accompanied by someone holding their small but powerful amplifier they sing Thai songs. That in and of itself would be fine, but it's often at a decibel level higher than the traffic noise, and a good ten times as shrill. Unlike the khim player or the hotel singer who played "Imagine" for me, many of these singers seem to be blind. I'd say a good third of the musicians I've seen on the sidewalks on streets or in BTS areas appear to be blind. Just my own casual observations with nothing to back that up, though. Both of today's players were blind.The guitarist at the top was sitting along an elevated walkway attached to the Victory Monument BTS station one morning, and played rather well. The man playing the flute below was just along the street, and although he used an amp it wasn't set to a painful level.
Don Muang Airport (lit runways upper left) from the Asia Airport Hotel
Yesterday was the 4th of July - a day of picnics, over-indulgence and fireworks in the USA. The flashes in the sky reminded me of sitting in my room near the old Don Muang airport in Bangkok one night a few years ago. It had been a humid afternoon and evening - perfect for staying inside the mall attached to the Asia Airport Hotel and watching the rain farther away over the high rises of downtown in the distance.I was already packed; that had been taken care of before I left my room in Silom hours before. Now all I had to do was relax and sleep before rising to catch a cab to the airport sometime shortly before dawn.The sky overhead had been decorated with towering thunder clouds most of the afternoon, becoming a solid mass by dinnertime. Now near 9:00 the first flash of lightning lit the sky nearby, followed closely by a sharp crack of thunder I could feel in my fingertips as they touched the large window overlooking the wide area below, stretching off past the tollway. The traffic to and from "downtown" continued unabated, and I sat at the window and watched the light show for an hour or so before turning in for the night.
Because of some personal business I may not be able to post for the next handful of days. You should be seeing regular posting by Tuesday, July 6th - and if time and internet connectivity cooperate I'll try before that.The previous post (The Roadside Barber 2) was the 100th entry since I started this on March 22.To date there have been 286-some-odd images posted, counting the one above - and readers have been kind enough to swap 70 comments with me. So far there has only been one comment I've needed to reject as inappropriate.Thank you to all of you who stop in to read my stuff. As I was just commenting recently the pleasure of this for me is twofold: I get to share these pictures, memories and thoughts with people and I get to be reminded of my many times in the Land of Smiles. Hopefully this will remain a win-win situation and you'll continue to check in regularly. There are still another 30,000+ images on my hard drive(s), so I expect we have a lot more to cover.Thanks again for riding along.
I found another image of the roadside barber shop from last week. It was taken a few nights before the images of the kid getting his hair clipped, and although the flash didn't work all that well I managed to salvage enough of the dark image to (hopefully) make it worth posting today.
The old saying goes that religion and politics are usually topics best avoided if you don’t want to start a debate, but restaurants and food recommendations can be dicey, too. There have been quite a number of places in Thailand where I’ve had delicious meals, but I’ve been taken there by Thai friends via taxi, bus or their own car – and can’t read the signs in Thai, anyway. Add to that the frequency of changes in ownership and titles and you’re better off putting on your asbestos suit and diving into one of the online forums to ask for a suggestion and directions.That said - there are places where the food, staff, pricing or location made them spots I’d gladly return to, so I’ll try to remember to mention some as we go along. Civil suggestions and comments are always welcome – and appreciated!One such place is the Chili Culture, at the “T” split on Sukhumvit Soi 11. Exiting the Nana BTS station and heading about 600 yards down Soi 11 (you’ll pass the Ambassador Hotel on your right) you’ll see Chaidee Mansion at what looks like the end of the street. When you get there you’ll only be able to go left or right. If you go right and down another 40 yards or so you see Soi 11 continue to your left, but if you go to the right about 40 yards or so you’ll see Soi 11 continue to your right , also (my guess is the streets were named by a committee)! When you get to that “T” intersection you’ll see Chili Culture just to the left of Chaidee Mansion.
I was there at about 2pm one afternoon so I have no idea how busy it is at lunchtime or dinnertime proper, but there’s plenty of seating in a cool, comfortable atmosphere and it was a welcome break for lunch before walking further along for a stroll along the canal for photos and an afternoon massage.
Not feeling all that adventurous I fell back on the basic dish of Pad Thai; bean sprouts, rice noodles, dried shrimp, chili pepper, tamarind, shallots, fish sauce and garlic – usually garnished with a wedge of lime, ground peanuts and sugar on the side. It came wrapped in a thin egg crepe, as some places serve it. There are many variations. It may have been the day, my mood and the restaurant that added to it, but it was wonderful.
Arriving before the entrée was the fruit shake I’d also ordered. The Thai pronounce “watermelon” as tangmo – but I’d translate tangmo as “divine”. A tall, blended glass of tangmo and ice is one of the best things I’ve ever sipped on, and with fresh tropical watermelon it’s ethereal. As an addendum (although we’ll cover this again later): the fruit in Thailand – as it often is in a tropical country – is much fuller in flavor than the picked-green-to-ship-well fruit available in non-tropical places. Be adventurous and try as much of it as you can there - it’s cheap and readily available on the street. To be cautious, wash it in potable water or peel it yourself – but don’t miss out.
Here's one more photo from the Om Yim post on Friday that I neglected to include (I told you I had too many) and since I'd already retouched and re-sized it there doesn't seem a good reason not to go ahead and use it.
My memory fails me for the name of the man on the left, but it's difficult to forget a smile like Note has, and this is him again on the right.
You've already seen the young man above in a post from a month ago when he was hunting along the drainage canal next to my hotel with his friends (if you didn't, it's here). I didn't include this image then because it didn't seem to fit, but it's a good example of a pose many younger Thai strike when having a picture taken. I've seen it far more often being used by males than females, but my guess (based only on my own observations) is that Thai girls are more reserved and "proper" overall, by virtue of their culture. Boys tend to be more rambunctious and prone to bravado worldwide, I think. 
