The Magic Table

Above, a beautiful Bangkok sunset. Yo yo yo. Lemme give a shout out to Kacey and Josh. Keep on keepin' it real.

Please check out the new blog link I have over there on your right. It's for Patrick's new blog, The Magic Table. He came up with this title from the charming bar here on soi 7. Ask Pat about the reason the bar is called Magic Table. Don't expect it to be a wordy blog like mine. He's a man of few words.

A few months ago I was at Central department store waiting for a taxi. My favorite are the pink ones and the orange ones. These taxis tend to be newer and smell better. My least favorite are the blue and reds, driven by shady guys. Second least favorite are the green and yellows. Green and yellows tend to have one foot in the grave, or one tire in the junkyard. So after a couple taxis shook their heads when I asked them to go to Sukhumvit Soi 3 ("no no too much traffic") since, you know, taxi drivers hate to DRIVE, a green and yellow pulled up. It was scraping the road with body parts that were hanging on by a thread of metal. And of course, this guy will take me to my apartment. I got in and in typical fashion, this guy's taxi is a total junker but he had a DVD player! And he was watching it! I thought Americans were the worst with having priorities out of whack. Then I was further surprised to see that the concert blaring on the DVD player was some Christian pop group. I don't know who it was, but some Australian guy started a sermon after the songs. He was kind of funny, talking about how it would be hard if Jesus was your brother. He would beat you at everything and always be right. When he waterskis, he doesn't even need skis. Heee haa!

Anyway, I thought that was funny. Especially since taxis here are one of the most obvious means of showing your devout Buddhist faith. On the head liners of most taxis are white fingerpaintings, a few swirls and dots made by a monk who blesses your taxi (at least that what I've gathered). There are also amulets and flower garlands hanging from the rearview mirrors. These are all some sort of way to bless your taxi, yourself, I don't know something like that. And here's this guy showing a Christian concert literally in place of the Buddhist stuff. I had to hand it to him since he was certainly going against the grain.


Here are a few kids from playgroup. Will, the other boy, and Clementine, the one giving a hug, have since moved back to the US and we already miss them. Ava is the other girl in the picture and will be here another year like us. Sawyer has done so well after having his cast on and off so quickly. He's bounding around and the only remnants of his little injury come in the form of stair-phobia. He's really afraid of going down even the tiniest steps. He also tries to scoot off our couch on his belly and gets stuck. He's so scared of plopping his dangling feet onto the floor. However, Saywer is in no pain and has been quite a sweetie. Hugs and kisses are flowing like water and he's handing out freebie smiles and belly laughs all the time.

The weather here has been stiflingly hot. Upper nineties, I think, but honestly we never check the weather because throughout the year it's either warm or hot, kind of humid or "I can't breathe" humid. We have had some beautiful skies, blue with fluffy white clouds. One big difference between here and the DC area is that a hot, humid day here can still be gorgeous whereas in DC it almost always means a very hazy day.


One last note: I went to Siam Niramit. It's a place with little mock villages from around Thailand and has a huge show that showcases Thailand's history, religion, and culture. Check this place out on their website. It has the highest stage in the world and the show was top-notch, not the low-budget appearances-only style that the rest of Thailand has made an artform. This was actually a professional show with great sound, lighting, performers...during one act a river appeard on stage. A RIVER! And then people rowed boats on the river! Oh yeah, and there were more half-naked Thai men dancing around the stage than I've ever wanted to see, but it was surprisingly pleasing! Wowies.
www.siamniramit.com