Just posting this little factoid because I always seem to need it and always seem to forget it. Sure, a Google search is probably just as easy, but if I know it’s here, then I can probably find it in browser history or with fewer keystrokes.
This morning, my neighbor woke us with the news that all the dogs and cats in the neighborhood were poisoned last night. Her dog Sophie and her two cats Max and Lily (Lily missing, presumed dead), and our cat Saen. We found a plastic bag in the common lawn with remnants of chicken and rat poison.
Had to break the news to Becca. That was tough.
This is something like the seventh time in the nine years I’ve been living here that some scumbag has murdered all the neighborhood animals, the second time Becca has gone through it. Previous casualties include our dogs Cookie, Tiny (while I was away in NY), and little Duk-Dik.
Just gotta hope that there’s enough karma in the universe so that this crime doesn’t go unpunished.
One of Denny’s ex-employees Phat runs her family’s Phuket elephant trekking business up in the hills above Kalim beach. So, last Sunday, we bundled up the kids and took them out for a quick ride.
In the pictures, it appears that Benjamin was none too pleased with the whole thing. In fact, as he was riding, he was guarded and quiet, pulling in tight with Mommy. But once we finished and got all dismounted, he made a big deal about wanting to get back on. Guess he did have a good time.
We got to hand-feed them afterward – chunks of bananas – just like we usually do at the zoo. Becca was comfortable enough doing it, though she complained a bit about sliminess of the elephants’ runny noses. Benjamin was a little spooked at the sheer size of the beasts, so he largely hung back.
Thais believe that riding an elephant brings good luck. I’ll let you know.
Before the mayo, before the fresh-water packing, and before the can, there is tuna.
A day of fishing in the Andaman Sea waters around Phuket.
Had a chance to tour the nuclear powered, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan during its recent visit to Phuket.
Awesome.
Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. And for good reason: historically, the smiles were everywhere. The default face brought to nearly every encounter was a smile. That appearance of friendliness gave this country a feeling a welcoming warmth that hooked many of us foreigners, encouraging us to return time and again for vacations or to settle here.
Of course, it became clear over time that at least some of the time, and perhaps even most of the time, the smile is not genuine, Sometimes it hides mere neutrality and ennui, sometimes sadness and stress, sometimes anger and outright contempt. But, in general, a foreigner here could really bask in a general ambient feeling of warmth and pleasantness.
But lately, the smiles have been fewer.
Random interaction with strangers, walking in opposite direction on the sidewalk, exchanging looks with someone at the post office or at the phone company. While these situations do not usually warrant a smile back home in the USA, all these had typically been smile situations here in Thailand, especially if I offer the smile first. But not so much anymore. I get left hanging on the smile quite often these days. Paying the cashier at the market. Nope. Heck, I’m not even getting the perfunctory acknowledgment from workers like gas station attendants to whom I have just given a tip for service.
Where have all the smiles gone? Sigh…
