Category: Thai Society/Culture

We Against the World

I have a master’s class to teach this morning, then our whole family + nanny are off to Bangkok. We have an appointment tomorrow morning at the embassy’s ACS building to report Mina’s birth abroad and apply for a passport. The problem? There are 100,000 demonstrators trying to get noticed at high profile venues such as, say, in the front of the US embassy. So I’m in my crowd-dodging mode and have hardened my forearms just in case.
I would have waited for the demonstrators to go home, but last year it took them months just to give up their hold on the airport, and we really need this passport now.

Doctor Fish Foot Spa

In the true spirit of Christmas, we visited the biggest shopping mall in this part of Thailand, Central Plaza Khon Kaen, that just opened a few weeks ago. We were mostly there to buy Max a new booster seat for the car so Mina could inherit his old one, but we stumbled across a very recently opened foot spa featuring 15 minute doctor fish treatments for 99 baht. We’ve seen doctor fish spas on TV for the past ten years or so, and we always wanted to try them out… I mean, a stupid fish willing to gnaw on my stinky dogs? I had to try that!
The verdict: It’s kinda freaky at first. The fish are actually eating you, so it takes some getting used to, but it was worth it. Your skin comes out feeling very smooth.


Note: Max was totally freaked out and wouldn’t touch the water, even though he usually likes fish and aquariums.

Royalty Visiteth

The crown princess is coming to Rajabhat Mahasarakham University for some kind of contest to be held at our new indoor event hall. This means I saw the first helicopter since the last time a member of the royal family came (last year, when another princess landed on our track to be taken by motorcade to preside over the graduation festivities for the sports college next door, where I exercise every day). Our building’s parking lot has been declared the space for motorbikes, so there are probably a thousand parked out there so far.
In an hour or so when I leave for my workout, I hope I can get my car out. I parked it under some trees far away, but even those spaces might fill up.

Burning bloodsuckers at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

These vids were taken at the teacher’s accommodations we rented (House 109) at Khao Yai National Park from November 9 to 11, 2009. It rained every day, which brings the leeches out in great numbers. I had a few actually on my feet during different times, but none were on long enough to feast on my ambrosial blood. Too bad.

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Part 1 is very blurry and hard to see, but contains brutal leech burning imagery as an added bonus:

Thai language note: These leeches, on land, are called “taak.” Ones in the water are “prin” (pronounced like pudding in Japanese without the hard “r”) The hand-sized ones in the water are called “prin quai” (buffalo leeches).

Gut Rumblings

I had the gnarliest gas at the gym today, but I made it seem like it was this old guy that everybody hates by following him around from machine to machine.
Karma may be a bitch, but I’m pretty sure God thought it was pretty amusing and should kick me down bonus juju points for it or something.
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On less shocking notes, the new term has started at our uni, the weather has suddenly turned cool (21ºC/69.8ºF), Max has become a screamer unsuitable for taking shopping, and we didn’t partake in any Loy Krathong festivities this year because Nam is full of baby and I hate people.

Fortuitous Testudines

On my way home from the gym about an hour ago, I spotted a familiar silhouette on the side of the road… I saw it after my headlights had passed over, but some primal part of my brain recognized the dark shape and screamed POSSIBLE FOOD SOURCE. I stopped and backed up a bit, and got out of the car.
The rear running lights on my car shine through 38 year old lenses, so they aren’t that bright. But they were bright enough to show that I had found a pretty big turtle with pretty yellow stripes running up and down his legs and neck; his shell was about 9 inches long and he weighed around four pounds. When I picked him up, he tried to pee on me but my daddy reflexes are too well-tuned to get caught with such clumsy reptilian attempts (in contrast, Max has successfully barfed, peed, and crapped on me all in one day).
I decided to take him home instead of leaving him to get run over so far from a water source. I wondered how he had gotten there… Was he an escaped pet? On a walkabout? Or was he the ghost of my dead pink chicken, Pinky, come to say goodbye to daddy once again? (I miss that chicken, godammit!)
I put him on the hood of the Kuj (and he of course peed all over it), then drove home. I showed him to Max, who was kind of impressed, and Nam said I should let it go in the pond in front of our house. So we walked it down to the water’s edge, mumbled some quasi-religious well wishes common to those who don’t really care about religion but sometimes like to acknowledge there are greater forces than ourselves out there somewhere, and I tossed it into the water.
Then I washed off my hood with a half-empty bottle of water from my gym bag.
If that turtle makes it through the winter, avoids being eaten by the workers who net fish in our pond, and doesn’t get run over anytime soon, I’ll be really happy.