Category: Our Wedding in Thailand

Numbers

Some numbers may be just the thing to get my company-controlled brain really working again after two full weeks of respite.
– Rating of the wedding on scale of 1 to 10: 9.7
– Rating of the trip on scale of 1 to 10: 9.5
– Total number of digital photos taken by myself and my brother: Approx. 2500 (8 GB worth)
– Total number of film photos taken just at wedding: 17 rolls
– Total number of edited hours of wedding video taken by T: 3 hours
– Total number of edited hours of wedding video taken by hired videographer: Unknown
– Total number of dancers at our wedding ceremonies: 50? 100? (I have to watch the video)
– Total number of elephants at wedding: 2
– Total number of white suits I wore for the wedding: 2 (morning Thai-style suit/evening tux; both went well with white pimp boots I brought from Japan)
– Total number of monkeys that jumped on my back at the monkey temple: 1
– Total number of boss monkeys that bared their teeth at me and chased me into the ocean: 1
– Total number of beautiful ladyboys involved with our wedding (attending or working with vendors), not including dancers: At least 5
– Total number of times I knocked on my pal’s door (knowing he had a girl in the room), heard the soundtrack to Raiders of the Lost Ark playing at full volume, and was subsequently scarred for life with visions of him standing over the bed with a bullwhip in a Mola Ram pose: 1
– Kilograms of mangosteen consumed by my father over the course of a five days: 3.5
– Average number of fishballs in a standard bowl of noodles in Thailand: 4
– Total number of 600ml bottles of water I consumed over two weeks: A hundred?
– Total number of guards our driver bribed in order to enter beach compound where the King of Siam’s doctor lives in Hua Hin: 1
– Total number of bags of fruit used to bribe said guard: 1
– Total number of average taxi drivers we had in Bangkok: 10
– Total number of good taxi drivers we had in Bangkok: 7
– Total number of bad taxi drivers we had in Bangkok: 3
– Total number of taxi drivers on speed who kept feeling my arm and telling me “I like man” in Bangkok: 1
– Total number of times I had to raise my voice at the Fortune hotel’s front desk to get stuff done: 1
– Total number of suits made in Bangkok: 1
– Total number of times said suit saved my ass when a job interview unexpectedly appeared at the end of the trip: 1
– Total number of girls who remember T’s name on Hua Hin’s bar strip: 20? 30?
– Total number of flowers bought off from cute/pitiful child hawkers during one long night of drinking: Two fistfulls
– Total number of Scandinavians currently vacationing in Hua Hin, Thailand: Approximately half the population of Stockholm
– Total number of times I felt embarrased to look Japanese because of rude/loud/retarded Japanese in the room: 5+
– Total number of times I have smiled at a cop on a street in Bangkok and he smiled back: 4
– Total number of times I have smiled at a cop on a street in Osaka and he smiled back: 0
– Total number of times I have smiled at a cop on a street in Los Angeles and he smiled back: Are you crazy?
– Total number of times (ever) I have seen people peeing on the street in Bangkok: 3
– Total number of times (ever) I have seen people peeing on the street in Los Angeles: 15
– Total number of times (ever) I have seen people peeing on the street in Osaka: The entire working adult male population, plus a few bums and even a prarie woman or two thrown in for variety.
-Total number of times my ass was saved by family/friends during wedding/entire trip: Countless. Seriously. Thank you all.

Last Minute

It’s funny how the day before you leave for an extended break, problems have an uncanny way of popping up all at once.
I am in evasion mode…. Just call me stealth ninja, baby.
I will be picking up a cell as soon as I hit Bangkok and will post the number here and over at the airset site. Nam already has one so we’ll send out that info at the same time.
Four hours before the end of work. Time to wrap things up.

Allergies?

Related to my previous post, I’d like to know if anyone has food allergies or food preferences (disclaimer: I am basically the living antithesis of vegan. My philosophy is, “God gave me canine teeth for a reason, and damned if I’ll let them go to waste.” I have nothing against vegans besides the armpit hair-brandishing female type, but it will be very hard for vegans to travel with me on this trip, because among other things, several suckling pigs and a Peking duck or two have my name on them.).
Dave is lactose intolerant, which sucks but is fairly easy to work around, I think.
Chris, a guy I’ve not yet had the pleasure of meeting, is apparently allergic to peanuts. This is a much more serious issue. When I told Nam about this she thought it was the funniest thing in the world – “how can someone be allergic to peanuts?,” and therein lies the problem as I see it. Because peanut allergies among Thais are virtually non-existent, there is no awareness. Hence, even asking for peanut-free food may not ensure safety.
Chris is apparently bringing some Epi-pens, which is about all that can be done treatment-wise (without going to the hospital). We will help him as best we can with the avoidance part. I found some allergy cards translated into Thai, but I’m having Nam check them right now because they look kinda ghetto. Will post the link later if they check out, or make some of our own.

Let’s eat!

The upcoming trip to Thailand will mark my longest stay there thus far; it will also mark my longest stay in Bangkok. I have a simple policy regarding food in Thailand: Street vendors and food stalls are king. For the most part, they specialize in a dish or two, and they usually do it well. At these places, I’ve had 25 Baht (70 cents) chicken-on-rice plates better than any restaurant equivalent in the states or Japan, ditto for 50 cent bowls of egg noodles and 40 cent plates of fresh stir fried veggies. Thailand is a chowhound’s dream, simply because of the quality and widespread abundance of street food. One added bonus to this experience is keeping a mental list of the best street vendors/locations for specific kinds of food. The closest possible comparison to the states I can think of is taco trucks in LA – people remember where to go for, say, the best carnitas tacos, and share that information by word of mouth. A certain taco truck will gain a rep and maybe a following over a period of weeks or months, and then suddenly disappear. And chowhounds driving by for a quick midnight carnitas injection will wonder if it’s just a day off, or if the owner got sent back to Mexico. And there will be much mourning; somewhere a cholo pours a can of warm Tecate on the curb. So it is also with food stands in Thailand.
However, I have been to some excellent restaurants in Thailand as well. There’s that outdoor place by the Chao Praya river in Bangkok that Nam’s sister takes us to each time we visit – we’ve already planned to hit that place up this time, as well. There was that awesome seafood restaurant Nam’s aunts took us to when we announced our engagement – T had a messy foodgasm when he ate 3 huge Giant River Prawns there. And there’s the rundown little Vietnamese cafe in Nam’s hometown where they make the best springrolls I’ve ever had (although the pack of rabid dogs that attacked me outside were kind of a bummer). You may notice a pattern here: Basically every kick-ass place restaurant I’ve been to in Thailand was introduced to me (usually by Nam’s family). Which I suppose is natural, seeing as how she’s my wife and all, but it brings me to the next point.
I OFFICIALLY DECLARE THIS UPCOMING TRIP (second only to our wedding, that is): CHOWHOUND’S DELIGHT AKA Finding the Best Eats in Thailand, Part I
I even have a plan.
I am researching other’s studies into this area before the trip. See here and here for an example of the kind of articles I dig, as well as the boards up at Chowhound and Fodor’s. Of course we will do extensive exploring by following our noses/instincts, as well.
So who’s with me on this?