Katrina anniversary upcoming

I just finished The Great Deluge during the trip to Thailand and can’t recommend it highly enough, especially as the date of August 29th approaches. Lots of folks are trying to not let people forget that it’s still not over including Bill Moyers. While pundits continue to punt this political football around, Douglas [...]

The long ride home

Getting ready for the 20-hour ride home–energized the iPod, throwing on the loose clothing, getting the QuietComforts ready…settling in.  EVA’s movies actually aren’t so bad…

Don’t forget next time…

Some of the things I need to remember next time visiting Thailand (it seems so obvious now):

Bring more long pants–that’s what everyone wears
More collared shirts
Those Lonely Planet guides you bought!
An address book
An International Driving Permit (if you’re feeling lucky!)
Pepto-Bismol/Tums

Fortunately, most of this stuff was already here, so no worries.  I’m glad for some things I [...]

The Queen’s Birthday

It was hard to imagine–the whole country stopped to be addressed by HRH Queen Sirikit on Sunday for her birthday.
She was loving of her people, speaking across the spectrum of Thais.  She took up the issue of flooding in the Northeast by scolding the greedy timber industry which has created the situation of mudslides; she [...]

Winding down

After a whiz-bang tour of northern Thailand, courtesy of my wife’s cousin, we’ve got a week left here in Bangkok.  Man we saw it all, but one of my new favorite towns in Chiang Rai, a close cousin of Chiang Mai, where we spent the night.  Quiet and calm, it still has some “city-life” events, [...]