Songkran Festival

Imagine a nation at civil war. The bloodiest battle imaginable, with every man, woman, and child engaged in combat. Now, within your mental picture, replace the bullets with water and welcome to the Songkran Festival.

Celebrating Thailand's New Year, the country-wide water fight is derived from the practice of sprinkling others with the fragrant water used to bless buddha statues. Given that it's the hottest part of the year, what I can imagine started out as delicate flicking has now degenerated into the rabid desire to absolutely soak any person or inanimate object that crosses your path. And it's a blast.

On the first day of the three day festival, we loaded up the back of Step Ahead's pickup. Pastor Dton was behind the wheel and several young, local children that Step Ahead works with were overjoyed to ride in the back along with two garbage cans full of water. Well water and a healthy dose of food coloring. We were dishing out orange, but we had more than enough purple, red, green, and blue thrown back in our direction. There's also the widespread practice of 'chalking' people, which is based off the Buddhist monk's use of chalk. I would end the day painted in the stuff, as the Thais will run up to you and either assault you with makeshift-chalk in the form of baby powder or outright plaster you in dyed paint-chalk mixture.

So it was without delay that we took off, the smiling kids, Bailey, Kendra, Gai, and I all stationed in the back ready to rock. Our plan was to head into town and drive down the strip of buildings that constitute Bang Niang and Khao Lak. You would see a smiling group of people waiting along the roadside up ahead, armed with some buckets, chalk, a hose, and a small arsenal of squirt guns. Pastor Dton slows the truck and it is on. Both sides battle, each trying to leave the other more saturated then themselves, and after a short altercation we drive on to the next ambush. The process of forcefully exchanging water then repeats itself with just as much exuberance.

That's when we felt it. What did you feel, you ask? The joy of communal festivity? The cross-cultural unity and companionship of the holiday?

No. Ice water. Lots and lots of ice water.

The most dastardly had laced their water with icy coldness and it was like bringing a gun to a knife fight. I soon realized that, exposed as I was in the bed of the pickup truck, there was nowhere to run and left it up to fate as I engaged in a wet version of Russian roulette. On our pass through Khao Lak, much louder screams than normal led me to turn in Kendra's direction to see a young man, smiling maniacally, pouring a massive bucket of ice water down on top of her. I immediately knocked the bucket away with a quick jab and we pulled away at the same moment, but I flashed the guy a quick smile so he'd know it was alright.

For me, at least.

After our pass through town we headed out to Bangsak beach, where a big festival was brewing with lots of food carts and many people camping out in the grass or playing out in the surf. We hopped out of the truck, rung out our soaked clothing, and snatched up some delicious, very inexpensive treats for lunch. We then went down to the beach to play in the ocean.

As mid-afternoon hit we loaded up in the truck to make our way back. Riding in the bed of the truck, cheerful cries and laughter all around you, looking at the forest of beautiful palm trees and feeling the warm sun and cool breeze fight over which can make you more comfortable, you realize that home can be anywhere and you finally feel ice-water-to-the-crotch! Oh! Oh no! How could they simultaneously hit my inner thighs and down my back?! Ah man, that's cold. 

Spring Cleaning and Spider Combat

Sad to see Craig and Ranae leave after an exceptionally enjoyable two-weeks, we returned to southern Thailand and set about our prior activities of teaching and special projects. I also drove into Phuket to pick up a new volunteer, Bailey. Kendra thought from reading Bailey's emails that they would get along quite well, and her thoughts would seem prophetic as they hit it off instantly.  It was an enjoyable week for me and a long week for Kendra, as she balanced a children's summer camp on top of teaching her course while also formulating and polishing Step Ahead's annual report. She definitely earned a relaxing Saturday, and Sunday found us driving about 30 minutes outside of town to go to Church.

Churches in the area are definitely things to be treasured. Amidst the sea of Buddhism, we really find a sense of family at the church services we attend and this experience epitomized that. We were at the church of Pastor Dton, a young man who we've had lots of interaction with at the center. Dton would lead the worship and sermon for the day within the small church building.

Overhead fans did their best to fight off the heat and humidity as Dton took care of the spiritual side of things. I augmented listening to Gai's translations of the sermon with reading through Mark and what was actually quite a long service seemed to pass by quickly. At one point, Bailey, Kendra, and I each got up to introduce ourselves to the congregation of about 12 people, and we were greeted quite warmly with smiles all around. The tiny size of the church only put more emphasis on the importance of the work we're doing supporting Christian networks here in Khao Lak.

With the final prayers, announcements, and offering concluded, we set about getting things ready for what would be a delicious lunch. Served in the standard 'family-style', we each received a portion of white rice and added different entrees to our plates from the large communal dishes. A spicy beef dish and tofu vegetable mix were my favorite, while Kendra's fish allergy once again left her playing it beautiful. I mean, safe.

For a special post-lunch desert, our hosts brought out a fruit tray and you should have seen us with that mango. It was fantastic. Spectacular. It was everything every mango dreams it could be and more.
Craig and Ranae were astounded by the quality of the mango during our trip here (and we were happy to oblige them with fresh cut mango and mango roties each day), and I think Craig would have literally passed out from sheer joy if he had been there to sample these ones.

Stuffed to the brim with mango, we helped clean up and then cleaned up even further. One of the reasons for our visit to the church was to 'clean house,' cleaning up the grounds around the building and cluttered rooms inside. I was mostly tasked with raking leaves and debris from the area behind and alongside the church, while Kendra and Bailey did their best assist things indoors and collect trash with me outside. Kendra would have involuntary reflexes fighting imaginary insects for days due to the mental trauma inflicted upon her by the legion of ants and other bugs that we faced during the onslaught.

At one point, I was inside helping move a heavier object when all of a sudden we collectively noticed a large (about 6 inch wide) spider on the wall. I couldn't tell if the massive specimen was safely inside the jars or behind them. Turns out he was behind them.

The girls screamed, but I remained cool, and immediately engaged in intimidating tactics. My prepared routine of flexing in various poses had little effect, however, so I determined that it would have to come to blows. At the behest of my wife, I engaged the beast in combat. What was his crime? Existing near Kendra, apparently, but she gets surprisingly upset when I refuse to kill things for her so I guess it's part of being a husband.

In keeping with the theme of monstrous beasts, let's now discuss tokay geckos. Here in southern Thailand, the geckos running around on the wall are only outnumbered by taxi drivers at the Phuket airport. They are, to my continued delight, running constantly about and feeding on the bugs that I've come to despise so dearly. I was in the main room of the building, ironically looking at a gecko on the wall, when one of the women called me to help remove a gecko from the kitchen area. I found this to be a strange request, as the slim little 4-6in guys are everywhere and run in and out of doors at their leisure. Then I looked under the desk where they were pointing.

A tail and monstrous gecko foot greeted my gaze, with the tail being itself the size of what I was expecting to see. A fairly large Tokay Gecko was hiding back there, and I tell you he was 10 feet long if he was a foot. [actually he was about 15in]. But that's huge by gecko standards, and tokays have a reputation for being 'the bulldog of geckos' (which I know doesn't sound impressive, it's like being 'the lion of penguin species'), biting with little cause for it and holding on tenaciously. After trying in vain to get a good photo, I kept patting his tail until he took the hint and bolted outside.

These were the highlights of a very rewarding day working at the church doing some very authentic work for Christianity here in Thailand. We got back to the center sweaty, exhausted (at least Kendra was, I was of course fine), and seeing ants everywhere. It was a great day, and we had an enjoyable, well-earned rest that evening.

Singapore Sling

We flew to Singapore early Saturday morning. The taxi driver that picked us up pointed out everything he thought may be of interest to us, and then some. My dad bet us that we couldn't find any trash on the streets, which I took as a personal challenge. The roadways were beautiful, shaded by twisty trees and lined with miles of potted flowers which acted as a median.

We reached the YWCA, which was to be our home for the next few days. As in Bangkok, the rooms had twin beds which we smushed together, but since they were on rollers, our attempts were rather unsuccessful. We headed out to lunch in the basement of the nearby mall, which took some searching. I think it was Japanese food, but it's hard to draw the line sometimes. We spotted a van that goes to China Town for free, so we hopped on and visited the heavily populated area known for its markets. Chinese are Singapore's largest "minority", making up over 70% of the population.

We were getting warm and tired, so we waited for a long time where we were dropped off by the van for it to come again. We gave up and walked for some ways to a taxi stand. Even here, we couldn't get anyone to agree to take us back. They wouldn't answer questions. They'd just shake their heads, roll up their windows, and drive away, with you still hanging onto the car. We found out later that they can be fined for picking up people within the city center.

Singapore is known as The Fine City. It's appropriate, because it is, to date, the finest city I've ever seen. It's clean, orderly, technologically updated, and bustling with energy and innovation. Its law enforcement is also very harsh on violators of their many, MANY regulations. Drug traffickers are punished by death. Urinating - $500. Spitting or Smoking (in an unauthorized area) - $1000. No Durian (smelly fruit), no unusual sex acts (?), no flammable goods, no eating or drinking on the subway, and if you're caught with gum (illegal), fork over $1200. My mom brought gum in and chewed it in her room, hiding it well in the trash. With the money they make from these fines, Singapore has built its city on a gold standard - even the sidewalks shine. I didn't see a slum anywhere.

We finally took the subway home after being very frustrated as to whether the ticket machines would give change, and not knowing how to get out again. That night, mom stayed in, and Derek, Dad and I went exploring.

We walked downtown and into the Fullerton Hotel. Strings played in the background and carp swam in the fountains. We walked along the little canals and saw a unique sculpture of boys jumping into the water, some on the edge, some in the air, some with their clothes half off. We wandered finally into the Merlion area. Now, Singapore created a half-lion, half fish creature for publicity reasons in 1966 and it stands at the entrance of Marina Bay, spewing water from its mouth.

That evening, we happened to walk by a group doing a program for Earth Hour, where the blue building in the picture counted down to a one-hour block of time where people from around the world turned off their lights to save energy. Many lights went out, and for that hour, people at the demonstration ate and sang in the dark. We found food finally in a nearby mall, where we had pizza.

The next day, in an effort to preserve funds in such an expensive city, we took off to the Botanical Gardens, where we could wander around for free. We loved the pond, with turtles and swans everywhere. We were impressed by a certain tree that grows backwards (branches drop and grow into the ground).

We went next into the jungle area, and were so overwhelmed with the heat and humidity that we escaped for a park bench where we could finally breathe. We found the ginger garden with a nice waterfall and watched some other tourists feed the catfish bread.

We stumbled upon the National Orchid Garden, which did have an  admission fee. Mom stayed behind in the air conditioning, and I was a bit jealous of her as we got on further. I've never seen so many types of orchids in my life! All brilliant, with unique markings. You could grow anything here!

The yellow orchids in this picture were used at our wedding, mostly in the centerpieces. They grow like weeds here. We found a special place where they display hybrid species - you can see our favorites on our Shutterfly site.

That evening, we took the subway to Clarke Quay for dinner at Tapas Tree, a Spanish-inspired restaurant where you enjoy small portions, like appetizers. Mom picked it - three cheers! We wandered down the pier and found The Clinic, a new-age concept for a bar of which we all approved. It is set up like a doctor's office, with drinks in IV bags and take your shots in plastic syringes and test tubes. You sit in wheelchairs while you drink. At $50USD a pop, we didn't sit down. We also enjoyed watching a man selling Turkish ice cream. He worked the ice cream with something that looked like a crow bar, to keep it from sticking to the sides (dry ice), and wore a funny hat. He could take your ice cream away from you by keeping it stuck to the bar and would ring bells with the backside of it before handing it out. He loved his job.

We took off for the famous Raffles, Singapore's most well known hotel that was built in 1887. The Long Bar is where the Singapore Sling was invented, and we found it had been moved since my dad had last visited. We were sent to the second floor when they learned we were not staying with them, which was fine, since the second floor seems better anyway. We split two Singapore Slings among the four of us (courtesy of Craig - thanks, Dad!) because they are famous and high in demand - economic term for EXPENSIVE. One Sling costs $25 SIN ($18USD). They were very pink and very good. A band played while we sipped, and I got up and danced. Amazingly, they all followed me, but my dad was mortified that he had to get up, and when I ran to get the camera, they all sat down.

The next day was pretty tame - we took the subway all the way around, to the very edges of the country. All we saw were very orderly apartment buildings. We got off at Little India (Indians make up 14% of the minority population) but were only there a minute. I realized all the restaurants were southern Indian food, which I don't care much for. My Hindi was useless too - they only spoke Tamil. We rode the subway to the mall and had lunch at McDonalds/Subway. That night, we wandered down Orchard Road, the "Rodeo Drive" of Singapore. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, with blueberry cheesecake for dessert. Derek and I dropped our heads at the prospect of walking away from so much development, so much sugar, such a clean city. But, we're trading them in for lower prices, friendly people, and work that will actually bring Thailand closer to Singapore's developed position.

The morning my parents left, we wandered out for "donuts", cream-filled sugared bread and an attempt to use the internet without paying, which was useless. We took a cab to the airport and dad took pictures out the front window the whole way; my mom sighed louder with each shot taken. I had a hard time letting them go - it's a unique thing indeed to get to know your parents when you're older, and to have so much time to yourself...no work, no activities, no television. Just you and them, traveling together. I wouldn't trade that time for anything in the world. We miss them very much, but consider ourselves very blessed to have had them here for a time. We miss both our families very much, but are enjoying life in Khao Lak, sure as ever that God has a plan for us here.

Mango Fever - Vacation in Khao Lak

" Taxi?! "

"You already asked me! Like 5 minutes ago."

Things were getting out of hand. An early-morning departure from Bangkok had us waiting for a late-morning pick-up in Phuket and I was slowly losing control.

" You want taxi?! "

Their name is taxi driver and their number is legion. Surrounded by a throng of smoking Thai taxi drivers and smoking European tourists, Kendra and I searched diligently for our pickup. Thai sunlight apparently missed the memo on having a 'hottest part of the day' and just goes for broke throughout daylight, so we looked out into the crowded parking lot from the shade of the Arrivals area. Tragically, Pastor Dton had been there for 40 minutes before we spotted him and gained salvation from what is now, along with Houston, TX, one of my least favorite places in the world.

Pastor Dton very kindly drove us back the 60miles to Khao Lak, whisking us away from the Bangkok portion of our trip and delivering us to tropical paradise. The familiar sights and smells of Khao Lak now had the added complement of Craig and Ranae, but we would wait to enjoy the combination until after resting at the center.

Wanting ice cream from a road-side vendor, Craig and Ranae stopped for a cone. Mistake #1 - never eat ice cream or any other frozen food from a vendor in any country that is not developed. Bad things happen. Dad's mint chocolate chip tasted like Vick's VapoRub and toothpaste and cough syrup. Not the right flavor of mint. Mistake #2 - if you pay for something, no matter how much it was, it is a sunk cost. You've already lost the money. If it sucks, it makes no difference if you finish it or not. Cut your losses and get away with your health. Mistake #3 - don't listen to your daughter (who has had her fair share of food-borne illness) and finish the cone anyway. Who cares that you can hardly stomach the flavor? You paid almost $2 for it. Even animals know that if something tastes bad, it's probably poisonous.

Now, Craig has been all over the world and should not have made even one of the above mistakes, but he made all three, and in the middle of the night, groaning and shaking, we rushed him to the hospital, which was a sickening 20 minutes from our house. My mom was unaffected, thank God, but my dad had to stay overnight for IV fluids (he also wasn't drinking enough, and he knew it) and food poisoning. Now, he ate all the same things we did, except that disgusting cone, so you do the math. Fortunately, the unbearable pain subsided after an hour or two and his hospital stay was rather pleasant, and certainly inexpensive. He was back to his old self the next day, when we took them to see the preschool where we work after flying around looking for an ATM that worked to pay for his treatment.

Now in Khao Lak we have certainly been living the life of a missionary. Pulling the skin off of the chicken within our 90cent rice bowl was par for the course around 6pm before Craig and Ranae came. But, with their arrival, we were now able to enjoy a more indulgent side of Khao Lak.

This began at Chong Fah, a boutique mini-resort right on the beach. 2-for-1 cocktails at sunset were the occasion, and Craig was certainly up to the task of capturing the moment on digital film. For more photos, you can of course check out our photo site at kendraderek.shutterfly.com .

Our awesome vacation companions

Don't let the fact that I look like I'm 12 fool you- I'm actually much older

Fortunately, without haze on the horizon, the sun would make it all the way to the water

One of many very cool artistic shots by Craig

Several of the very friendly staff at the beautiful Chong Fah resort have learned English at Step Ahead. Kim first turned us on to the place and we couldn't recommend it more highly. The owner is also quite nice and has done a wonderful job rebuilding after the tsunami.

The next morning, Kendra would take Craig and Ranae on a short scooter trip to the nearby market. Lots of meat and produce are on offer, with exotic fruits and pig faces making for some interesting memories.

For the rest of the day, we would retire to Bangsak beach (which we've posted pictures of before) to take in the sun and powder-soft sand. Relaxing on the beach was just what the doctor ordered for us, and during lunch we were blessed with the company of two puppies.

Testing the waters

Atlas of Anatomy on the tropical beach? Hello 'Perfection,' my name's Derek Weyhrauch

One of the rare moments during the trip when Craig actually rested

One of our pensive lunch-time puppy companions

Dinner would find us at the nearby national park, where a short hike would show Craig and Ranae the towering trees, curious plants, and small lizards of the jungle (giant spiders were absent, but the threat of their attack was imminent). We then had dinner in the jungle restaurant while the sun went for a swim on the horizon. 

The remainder of our time in Khao Lak would quite wonderfully prove to be much the same. Dinner on the beach (pineapple fried rice served in the hollowed-out pineapple is so choice), a seashell scavenger hunt at a northern section of Bangsak beach, and another round of cocktails at Chong Fah (Ranae's mango daquiri owned my standard daiquiri, but mine was delicious nonetheless). Khao Lak's finest fresh mangoes proved to be a huge hit, and quite a few would be sacrificed. The same look of pure bliss that I saw on Jordan's face years before as he ate a gourmet cheeseburger at a restaurant in Lahaina, Maui was evident on Craig's with each bite into a mango roti. 

Finally, I remember joking during the trip that, given the frequency with which Craig snapped photos, we'd end of with a flip book of the trip. Well that's almost literally the case, so I'd again invite you to check out shutterfly. I will, however, leave you with one of the best shots of the trip- Craig's tequila sunrise at Chong Fah. I believe it's been appropriately re-named, "Tequila Sunset."

Cabbages & Condoms

This is no clever title...it's the name of a restaurant in Bangkok where we dined during our trip. A little background....

From their website: Our restaurant was conceptualized in part to promote better understanding and acceptance of family planning and to generate income to support various development activities of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA). Their motto is "our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy." That's excellent. I was just going to say, waiter, I'm concerned about just that!


The gent that started this restaurant wanted to make condoms as easily accessible as cabbages (which are VERY accessible). Instead of mints, they give each person a condom! They have lights and decorations and costumes all created from condoms. It's a very fun, lighthearted environment that has actually done a lot of good for Bangkok. 


Naturally, as Christians, we believe that sex shouldn't occur until marriage, so we're not supporting their cause as one of sinful indulgence. Rather, this restaurant's goal is to teach the community about safe sex practices so that diseases won't spread as quickly and so adults would have less children (the founder was concerned about the prevalence of AIDS and overpopulation problems). Especially with a sex trade as well "developed" as Bangkok's, this restaurant's plight is light in deep darkness. But, on a lighter note...

We thought it was a riot! What an entertaining restaurant! Right up there with Casa Bonita...(that's for you, Colorado!)

Venice of the East

The last day in Bangkok, we took a tour of the Chaopraya River. A private boat owner took us around for over an hour to see the canals. We had met the gentleman a few days before and agreed on a fair price. We stopped at a floating market but asked him to shove off immediately when we realized that all the boaters were simply docked, cooking in their boats, waiting for you to walk by to eat...and it was too early for that. Floating markets are unique here...Bangkok was once known as the Venice of the East, because people would sell their goods in their boats, floating up and down the river and coming up to your boat. We did have one woman come up to our boat to do just this, but we couldn't settle on a price and didn't want anything she had anyway, but it was cool to barter with someone on another boat in the middle of the river.

The boat driver stopped at a stand alongside the river. He didn't pull up to the bank - instead, he waited for the women to send a bucket out to him on a string by pulley, filled with bread. We put 10 bhat in the bucket (about 30 cents) and threw chunks in the water. Catfish came out of the woodwork. There were so many, some of them were actually not in the water at all, flopping on top of the many fish below them. They had huge, gaping mouths. I figure, if I could eat fish, and if I were desperate enough to eat one from this filthy river, I'd come here and take one of these catfish, because these bottom-feeders are stuffed each day with primo bread. This river is best measured alongside the Hudson for cleanliness - actually, the Hudson might be cleaner (never thought I'd say that). We did see boys swimming in this water and another woman doing her dishes in it, ...someone, gag me to DEATH, was brushing their teeth in it. Shoot me in the face. I can't even deal with it.

It was actually quite fun; the juxtaposition of dumpy houses that must flood every time a boat drives by too quickly, and the gaudy, super elaborate temples in between, certainly made it an interesting journey. Sometimes we'd pass other boats that would kick up waves, and the water would splash us over the side - my mom stuck her face in my dad's shirt, thinking she could get some sort of disease from the water...she probably was afraid of contracting some water-borne disease. But, hey, let's ask the man who brushes his teeth in it each day!

We took a cab to the Weekend Market, where our hearts were broken in pieces at the sight of the sales of animals. It wasn't a row of pet stores. Sting rays in bags of water, overheated albino frogs, baby squirrels in tiny cages, water-deprived kittens...in bags as far as the eye could see (see below). There were signs on the aquatic tanks that you couldn't take pictures - probably because they had gotten the fish illegally. Same with the baby owls. We found solace in a very western food court where we collapsed from the heat. Pineapple fried rice was the pick of the day, and we wandered around to find cheap, over-sized bottles of water to keep us alive until we could reach air conditioning.

Dinner that night was at Kim and John's house. We waited for John to pick us up at the BCGH. I wasn't as tired as everyone else and spent a lot of time in their gift shop, where they sold goods made by all kinds of Christian organizations - leper colonies, children's shelters, women rescued from the sex trade, etc. I found little hand-sewn elephant ornaments to send to everyone that is financially supporting us...they'll be mailed when we get back. John brought us to their home, which is beautifully decorated. We had a lovely dinner and enjoyed cakes and chocolate chip cookies for dessert (manna from heaven!).

We headed to the night market afterwards, where I accidentally got a woman to drop her prices unbelievably low on a silk dress that I wasn't actually interested in (I'm not cruel...she just wouldn't take no for an answer. Afterward, I felt bad about it, but I really wouldn't have worn it). We didn't stay long, with an early flight the next day. Headed back to Khao Lak, to share our home with my parents. Mangos, beaches, air conditioning, here we come!

Culture Shock

This entry is more meant to be entertaining than a serious reproach to life in Thailand so I'm not being entirely serious. 


But really I am. 

We've been in Thailand for two months, and as I reflect on our time here I come again and again to a sort of 'best of times, worst of times' revelation. Only, the worst of times really aren't that bad.

Back in the States, Kendra would save us some money by giving me haircuts. We do the same here, only instead of sitting in the comfort of our apartment bathroom, we're... outside. To paint a depiction of what it's like being outside, imagine the surface of the sun. Then, to incorporate the humidity, imagine being underwater. Basically, being outside during the daytime is like being in superheated water. I recently joked to my family that, given the humidity, Kendra or I will jump in the shower to dry off, and that's only something of an over exaggeration.

So to sum up the haircut experience- Kendra is a saint. Our hair trimmer, previously quite tame while using the American 110V electricity, has now hulked-out into practically a weed whacker while running on Thailand's 220. Haircuts for me become counter-productive as the trimmings simply fall off my head and immediately stick to the overly sweaty body below. It's more like a hair re-location than a cut, and I come out of it looking like a heat-exhausted Robin Williams.

Yet, despite these difficulties, we endure. But living in another country has additional challenges. Take driving. 

I pray daily for the pedestrians who will be anywhere near the car I'm driving when I return to the States. I've now totally adjusted to driving a manual with my left hand, sitting in what used to be shotgun, while driving in the opposite direction. For anyone curious, driving in Thailand is like a video game that becomes more complex for each 20 seconds of driving. 

Let me explain- for the first twenty seconds, you drive along smoothly paved roads with no traffic and not a care in the world. Enter scooters. If the Buddhist belief that spirits are reincarnated is true, then the WWII Japanese Kamikaze pilots are now existing in the bodies of every scooter driver in Khao Lak. I've never seen such disregard for one's own life as I have with each scooter that pulls in front of me without looking going half the speed I am while carrying two toddlers. It can be infuriating. Then, 40 seconds in, we have the next level- cars traveling in the opposite direction pull into your lane to pass the slower car in theirs and always justify doing so because, "Hey, that oncoming pickup can just pull over into the shoulder. I'm not gonna waste 5 seconds of my life waiting for a safe moment to pass. That's ridiculous." And it's made even more ridiculous by how blindly it's done ("Blind curve ahead? Dip in the road hiding possible oncoming traffic? No problem!). Then the small army of tourists in the city, each suffering from the Western delusion that 'pedestrians have the right of way' always engage you in a game of high-stakes frogger. I never thought I'd say this but I really miss traffic cops. 

This pretty much sums it up. 

But you can always get a fitful night's sleep in tropical paradise, right? Maybe. If you're immune to noise. 

The local roosters here have collectively thrown circadian rhythms out-the-window and jointly decided only to crow under two conditions: 1) when it's dark out, or 2) when it's light out. Subsequently, the dogs decided to bark only when there's a noise of any volume level within a five-mile radius of their position, especially if it's a rooster crowing or another dog barking at a rooster crowing. Then the laxative you took because the last 5 days have been rather uneventful decides that it will actually work after all. At 2am. Then at 3am. And then at 5am. Sleep indeed.

While we're on the topic of food, and we nearly were, let's discuss it's entry. Thai food is excellent and I've greatly enjoyed the culinary moments of our life here, but if you can't handle spice watch out. As far as Kendra's concerned, some of the dishes she's been served may have looked like food but actually consisted of pure fire. Traversing a menu for her is like walking through a minefield only there's a mine every square foot. It's been actually quite humorous at times, as she quickly learned the phrase, 'mai ped', meaning, 'not spicy.' The dish is then made 'not spicy', but it's not spicy to a Thai, meaning, it's still really, really spicy. So it escalates. She learns 'mai sai prick', essentially, 'absolutely no spice', and come serving time there are 5 red peppers in her meal. You can't escape it, you can only take Tums. 

And that's the thing of it- regardless of any differences in cultural mentality, you ultimately have to embrace the Thai perspective of 'sabai sabai', which essentially means a combination of 'relax' and 'oh well.' It's too hot to care and there's too much good food yet to be eaten to be bothered by anything in Thailand.