J: Today we show my parents the video we shot in Thailand. I’ve sort of held off watching it all - knowing that this day would come. My Dad will remember being there and my Mom will cry and call us brave. Then off to the awesome Glenn’s Diner for steaks and 6oz shrimp.
Someday soon me hopes to get a new machine so I can start posting the GOOD video from the trip here.
J: What a night. Wandered and found a bar in the back of an alley on the backside of a backstreet south of where all the crackers hang out. WOW. 100% (save us) Thai 20-30 year olds. Only three things on the menu. Whiskey, Heineken and Singha. Had the best time. Sat and just listened to the sounds of maybe our first REAL Thailand experience. All the same safety and such that we see everywhere. Amazing. Can’t tell you the name because there was no sign. No pics because a flash would have disturbed the groove. Can’t tell you how to get there because we were lost the whole way there.
Speaking of lost - I almost lost my wedding ring. Washed my hands and since there is no paper towel I tried to shake them dry. The ring FLEW off into the night. Instantly a waiter was with me on my hands and knees searching the darkness. Thank you kid. Thank you.
Time to pass out.
J: Another open letter to the vendors of Thailand.
Stop jumping on my ass the second I stop in front of your booth. I know you are trying to screw me on the price and thats something I can live with. Don’t make the transaction a pain as well. This whole trip, I recall Mr. Moore as James Bond pushing that Wooden Elephant selling Thai kid out of the boat and wish I could do the same. And to the ladies with the frogs. Here’s a trick. If the woman standing in front of you selling the same frog couldn’t make a sale - what makes you think you can 10 seconds later? Also if you want to us to believe you are from a tribe in the mountains - hide your cellphone and don’t wear a shirt for “Power Diesel 150 Super Additive.” There is just so much “show” going on that you push me away. It makes me love the Chang Mai Sunday market even more.
Enough
M: John and I haven’t really drank much here in Thailand. I think it’s a mixture of being wiped out at the end of the day (and full) and not wanting to hurt ourselves in anyway for the next day. Each day is important to us here, and I don’t think either one of us wants to jeopardize that.
But I decided that last night we were going out! Time to meet some people and sit in a bar and hang out. After a harrowing trip to the Sunday market (which was a thousand times better than the night market, but extremely crowded, Hixx doesn’t like crowds) we headed to the Chiang Mai Saloon #2 and sat down for some drinks. John immediately started talking to an Englishman, Dave. Dave has been here for a few months, has a thai lady friend he comes to visit with when he’s not working, and was totally hilarious.
Dave was also a bit of a drinker.
So we chatted with Dave, drank some drinks, laughed, met his Thai girlfriend who eventually warmed up to us, and proceeded to get our party on.
After awhile a couple of other young english guys came in and I got into a heated discussion with them about America, it happens, mostly when they tell me they hate America….lovely. I happen to be a pretty patriotic person and can get emotional about this. It ended with hugs, but it was nice to go back and hang with Dave and Dion.
By the end of the night I couldn’t understand a word Dave was saying his accent was so thick. But we had a grand ole time.
A little hungover for the elephants this morning, but that my friends, is its own separate story.
Just added a new photo gallery of our President’s recent stop in Thailand.
M: Well, it’s been a week now and we’ve been rinsing our clothes every chance we get, but they haven’t had a good washing yet. It’s pretty hot here. We’ve been walking up and down big rainforest hills with backpacks on. One sweats when one moves here.
It was time for us to do our laundry.
Lonely Beach is tiny, like I said. Most rooms here cost less than 15$ a night. It’s filled with young, beautiful Swedes who got lucky in the genetic pool. Every restaurant is really a bar that just happens to serve a ham and cheese baguette and some very plain Thai food. People come here to meet beautiful Swedes and sleep in creepy cabanas with no windows.
They don’t come here to have their laundry done by a fancy Thai laundry-doer.
So…today was laundry day.
We don’t have a stopper in the treehouse sink, so John came up with the idea to fill up a plastic bag with hot water from the shower and shake it all about. He stood in the shower naked shaking up our dirty clothes (really quite a sight), then rinsing them and I blistered up my fingers wringing them out. Wringing out is a much harder job than you might expect.
We set out our clothes all along the treehouse and waited for them to dry. We realized however that we had washed every article of clothing that we had. There was nothing left to wear but our baby soups. Good thing we’re at a beach.
J: There is a cute little mixed breed bitch at the hotel. But enough about my wife. OK really there is. A sweet 30# little black dog who follows me around. She doesn’t seem to want anything from me - but there she is. When try and give her a treat - I say “SIT” just like I do to Remo. The weird part is that this Thai dog gives me the exact same look as the Thai people. “I don’t understand you - but you’re handsome so I’ll smile and nod.” Maybe if I give it some money…..
Its amazing this world of ours. I’m sitting in the middle of a hugely buddist country at a laptop in a hotel waiting for videos to upload. THere is a stack of mags on the table. Mostly in Thai. Then I hit the only English one. THE WATCHTOWER! You have a pretty tough route as a Jehovah’s witness if you are assigned to Bangkok.
