Don't I Need a Dryer for This?

Guess not. My poor shirt. 

Baby-tee 2k9, in yo face. No seriously, a nine month old could now wear this comfortably.

Shades of Green

Went on a motorbike outing in hopes of photographing some of the beautiful areas we have driven past recently. Ended up taking a new route, and this is what turned up. It was beautiful and fantastic. I have a whole different world just an afternoon motorbike ride away. Love it.

And then there was the ultra-Thai, what is going on, stuff I had to photograph. We decided to head towards a sign for the firefly chalet, not really knowing what all that entailed. After about 45 minutes of beautiful driving on backroads through the mountains, accompanied by consistently inconsistent arrows letting us know somewhere ahead it did in fact exist, we reached our destination. It was closed. We're kind of guessing it is busy in the tourist season, and people come out here for a getaway from Bangkok. Who knows, really, though. It was so far out and felt unnatural, but it was pretty. What's with the naked babies with trumpets statues? We'll have to check it out in full when it's open. Farther down the trek, we saw a lot of signs for "Amy Country Home". Things like this amuse us greatly. It was also fenced in and completely closed. Sad panda. I was looking forward to chatting it up with this Amy character and getting the scoop. Next time..

There must be hundreds of more efficient ways to rebuild a road, but this is how they were doing it. We watched for about 10 minutes. It was really loud listening to them pounding a column into the ground. We saw no movement.

Confusing Sign-age (sp?!)

Since it's Thailand, and you never know, at first I assumed they literally wanted you to trek through the jungle, field, or whatever may be directly to the left or right to get to where you're going. Hey, it could happen. I have since realized they place signs hundreds of meters in front of the destination in order to give fair warning (as opposed to the US, where we see a left arrow, we turn left immediately). For us, it is consistently entertaining to see them, and they are all like this. I will definitely continue to update as I take more pics. There is ample opportunity.

We would sit here looking at the sign and trying to determine exactly how to find the zoo...

Ah hah, there's the turn. I mean, it's so obvious. Why didn't we realize?!

They also don't usually put kilometer indicators on their signs, which we are used to seeing. Without them, I automatically assume it's less than a kilometer (silly me). From here to the zoo it's at least another 5 kilometers. On our way to the firefly chalet, we took a left at the first sign thinking we'd arrive in less than 5 minutes. An hour later, we were so there. Pretty typical.

Why So Small?!

This past week, we've noticed they tend to keep birds in spaces much much too small for them. 

Example 1:

We were stopped on the side of the road taking pictures, sort of waiting for someone to come out of the house and question us. Of course, they did. As a result, this is all I was able to take, but I think you get the point. I've since learned they keep them like this because they are fighters. Cock fighting is legal here if you have the right papers here from what I'm told. Not exactly sure what all that entails.

Example 2:

The manager of my apartment complex recently bought this bird. It is strange to see it in such a tiny cage. This week, they have started building a cage for it in the car port (which, I also find strange). As you can see from the top photo, it is quite a bit bigger than the current one, but it still seems much too small.

Embracing It

I have a friend coming into town this weekend, and I sent her a message explaining how to get here. I read it to myself afterwards, and found it humorous. It is definitely telling of where I live and how I have embraced the mentality. Just thought I'd share (bad grammar, irrelevant info and all)...

upon arrival:

okay, first thing. if you can avoid checking a bag and only bring carryon absolutely do it. i have everything you'd need here (i think) sans a razor. but otherwise we'll mostly be in hotels anyways. it will save you a lot of time in the end, esp since your trip is so short. actually, a back pack will do. less is more. i know it might be hard, but go for it. it will pay off.  

when you arrive, on the ground floor there is a front desk where they speak english and can help you get on a bus. apparantly it is not advertised insanely well, as they want the farangs to use other options that cost more money. tell them you want to go to si racha, make sure they know that. you can get on a bus to pattaya, but make sure they know you want to get off at SI RACHA ROBINSON. they will know what this is.  

online it says it's 112 baht. online means nothing. but you should absolutely not pay more than 200 baht. tell them you know it's 112, and hassle. they always try and charge you more up front. if you know what it should be, usually you pay what it should be. from online it also says the bus leaves at 5. who knows. but you should be able to catch it. it should take something like an hour and 45 minutes, but who knows, really. it's always different. and i think there is a shuttle that will take you the 500 m from the airport to the actual station, free.  

i'll be waiting at robinson. you'll see me when you get off the bus. i can't wait to see you!  

my number is 0844357213 (with country code, which you shouldn't need, it's +66844357213). call me if you have any trouble. someone will be kind and let you bum a phone.  

i have tutoring tomorrow from 7-8 (9-10 your time). other than that i should be free and will leave my skype up

WTF, Thailand. No Seriously, What The Efffff?

Umm, I'm pretty sure I can't give you any information that could make this any better or worse. All I know is it stopped me in my tracks.

Dad, I'm Wearing My Mask

Just wanted to make sure you saw I was being smart. But, I can't wear it too very long, because I can't breath...