These are some random pics of my life here lately. I keep the phone handy so I can snap pics, nothin' gets by me. I go into Bangkok sometimes, occasionally to Pattaya, mostly walk around Chonburi where I live and work. Most of these pics made me smile when I took them.
Here's some that were taken in and around Food Land one Saturday morning, one of my favorite places to eat breakfast. It's a small supermarket with about everything I'd need. I was impressed it has high-end scotch and cognac. It's a Bangkok Food Land. You can see some funny and odd things there.
 |
| Let's leave my love things out of this. I think it's chair scoots. |
 |
| I don't know where they come up with these names. That's what I'd be called if I were a punk rocker or a porn star. |
 |
| I include this pic because of the orange items on the shelf to the upper left, and the shelves below. It's the saffron robes the monks wear, and other Buddhist gear. I think it is very odd that two stalls down was where the doggy treats were stocked. |
 |
| ...Finger....Lickin'.....Good....that is what that says, right? |
This well-known American restaurant was outside. I'd like to direct your attention to the motto which we, as Americans, know so well: "It's Finger Lickin' Good!"--except here it is cropped rather...artfully. It's clear to me what it says, because I know what's up. But if you were a Thai, you would consider it the height of bad manners to be licking the grease off your own fingers, and the Colonel sure wouldn't want you, being Thai, to know what his motto has been all these years (if he can help it). Somebody was really on the ball here in making this appeal to Thai markets while keeping as much of the original as possible. If I use my imagination, I suppose it could be read as, "Fine Like Gold".
Another fine restaurant outside. I know it's supposed to say "Kakashi", but it sorta looks like it spells something else to me. I'm sorry Kakashi, but once you see it, you'll never un-see it. Now you have to burn each and every one of those signs.
 |
| It's amazing how much they can fit on one of these little scooters. |
 |
| You generally see a motorbike like this fixed up having the kitchen as a sidecar affair. I thought this was interesting because he has everything he needs to make a tasty bowl of soup right there on the back of his bike. |
 |
| One of the motorcycle taxi guys. I use these guys a lot. 20 to 50 baht and they'll take you about anywhere in town you want to go. Some of my students will end up like this guy if they don't start studying! |
 |
| My left foot after an acupuncturist got done with it. |
 |
| The Thai music teachers sitting around in the music room during an impromptu jam session. |
 |
| Get down. |
A remarkable thing happened this past weekend. I got my first visitor after living at my apartment for almost 6 months. There's an old Thai guy, maybe mid-'70's [edit: 84!], who I see most days taking a very slow stroll up my soi. Slow due to his having had a stroke at some point. He can't speak a word of English, and my Thai is completely dysfunctional, but we say a few words to each other and have sort of become buddies. Anyway, the apartment housekeeper comes and rousts me out of my apartment and motions for me to come downstairs. I thought I was late on my rent payment or something. Here's the old guy, and he has brought along his grand-daughter who studied in Iowa, USA and speaks pretty good English. He just wants to say hello, ask what I'm doing here, how long I've been here, etc. It was really something. It's a big incentive to start learning more Thai quick. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. I will probably enlist the aid of a Thai teacher here and have them write a note to him from me, telling him how much I enjoyed his visit.
 |
| I didn't duck enough and about knocked myself out going through this bathroom doorway, I kid you not. Do I look pissed off? I sure was when I took this pic. |
I heard some noise one Saturday morning and went outside to investigate. They were cutting down all the trees in the lot across the street, and turning them all into lumber. Also bull-dozing some decrepit buildings and removing junk cars, in preparation for some construction I guess.
 |
| This guy obviously thinks he has what it takes to be a movie star. |
 |
| They were sawing up these old trees for lumber, most of it. She's watching him ham it up for the camera and it's cracking her up. |
 |
| Of course the mangy bastards and bitches who used to live in that field now just lay around by the side of the road waiting for me to come by. This isn't even half of them. Look, they're as far as the eye can see on up the road there, and there's a dozen more behind me. For god's sake, the racket they make during the night! They're sleeping so they can get busy some more tonight. If you look closely, you can see a white pile of bones to the right there along the fence line. People come by and throw food along the side of the road for them. How the hell did I manage to find an apartment here? |
 |
| Don't know what kind of wood, dense and hard whatever it was. Probably gonna make some nice furniture. |
 |
| One of my pet peeves at the school where I work: women in the men's room. What really irks me is that these Thai teachers don't want me to be using their restroom even as they pee in mine. |
 |
| Some of the Filipino teachers I work with. Looks like they're a little behind in grading workbooks. |
 |
| Lovely sunset at Bang Saen Beach. It's a popular getaway with Thais, only about an hour and a half from Bangkok. I wouldn't want to swim there though. |
 |
| A wonderful family style meal amongst Thai friends during a visit to Bangkok. My number one reason for learning Thai: how to order food properly and effectively. |
I went with my buddy Vijo to the Chatuchak Weekend Market one weekend because he wanted to see the animals. This market is so huge. Just the section where all the animals are sold was huge, it's like a small zoo. All during the walkaround of the animal section we snacked on yummy food. I won't bore you with pics of all of it, but I had to include this paella which was about 1 meter in diameter.
 |
A beautiful paella cooked by some European guy in a Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee
getup at the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Man, this place is huge.
|
 |
| Sweating like crazy at the Chatuchak Weekend Market. We took a few hours to go check out the animals. You can buy about anything here. They told me that, up until recently, you could buy a leopard here if you wanted one. I didn't see any leopards, but I did see some bat-eared foxes. That can't be legal. |
OK, had to clean out my camera folder and get rid of some of these pics. Hope you like some of them.
