To take a break from the blog posts without completely abandoning this site for a while, new posts will appear in the form of photos I've taken while in Thailand, and around Asia; the strange, the humorous, the beautiful, the quirky, and the bizarre. My goal is to post two per week. I'll make notes with each of them, and I would appreciate feedback from you if any pique your interest. I hope you enjoy them! P.S. If a story strikes, I'll share it, too, of course.
This photo is from a sculpture park in northern Thailand near the city of Nong Khai on the Mekong River. The artist rendered fantastic figures from his imagination and dreams. I can't imagine what this one represents, but it no doubt keeps the psychologists busy.
Scenes that would be considered unusual in western countries are common enough that even we expats eventually barely give them a passing glance. This offering of food and drink, set on modern styrofoam trays, conveys the traditional intent of paying homage to spirits. Not a Buddhist tradition, it nonetheless is practiced widely by Thais, keeping alive the animist beliefs of their pre-Buddhist ancestors. This scene is near my school, and is refreshed on a regular basis, perhaps to please the spirit of a relative who died at the spot in a traffic accident.
It seems that a big chunk of conversation found in emails and on Facebook deal with the weather. Apparently, few of us are satisfied with the conditions in which we find ourselves. People from the American midwest let the rest of us know about how terrible the ice-covered roads and street-choking blizzards are, while Floridians, well, they have plenty to report about heat, freakish ice storms and hurricanes. Recently, I got an email message from a relative in the heartland that simply reported on the current temperature, which was -17 F (-27C), a record by the way. We love to report on how we endure weather extremes. So, I decided to report on the weather here: 97F (36C), but unfortunately not a record. In both places, people are complaining. We have something in common regardless of the weather: we all have it, and it usually isn't what we really want. From experience, I can predict that many of the same people who hate the winter will also write about how unbearable August is. And if it happens to hit a record 100 F (38 C) in so many consecutive days, even better: We'll have more to write about how terrible it is.
What is it about these extremes we love to hate? Or is it that we feel a bit of pride having endured them, and want to brag a little? I'm pretty sure that's what it is for me. What do you think? (Whew! I had to take four showers today just to cool off!)
