Christmas Day and Chemical Snow

Inconveniently this Christmas I caught some sort of stomach flu. It’s a might frustrating illness to have when most of the festivities center around food and drinking. Regardless I did manage to make it to our office party. It was a pretty stunning Christmas with a huge package from home which I shared with our krew...thank you my dear family - it made the day!
Christmas Music...
A Christmas tree!
Snow? Yes, in the package I received 'Chemical Snow'. It is an instant powder that, when water is added, forms in to a solid crystal powder mass that almost exactly looks like real snow. It only feels as cold as the water you use, but it does last for months, and it can be rehydrated depending on your festive needs.

This and the above photo were the result of intuitive knowledge of what one can do with snow - a small human form from chemical snow with chili for eyes. Merry Christmas Thailand.

Christmas Eve: Thailand

Yes, we were at 7-11. It is a pretty happening place.

Fighting fireants with fire

With out the rain to keep the population at bay, ants have become a regular annoyance, to the degree that they have taken up residence inside one of the monitors. That was relatively fine until they started laying eggs. And peeing on the circuit boards. That would then produce small shocks felt by those using the computer - clearly the ants had to go.

The hair-dryer didn't work, so smoke from fire was the next best option. The broom was also a duel use: cleaning up ashes and encouraging ants to flee with eggs.

I was also told in either in Cambodia or Laos (I'm leaning towards Cambodia…), that people there make a mighty fine ant egg salad. Apparently it tastes like limes.

KW and his Cat

Christmas Landscapes

Stop, Drop ... and Rolling home

I suppose this warrants some explanation. People burn a lot of trash here, so we didn't think the smoke drifting in our office windows. However, while biking home, we came up the crest of the hill from our office, and found it to be engulfed in an abnormal amount of flame.

For all intents and purposes though, this was technically a controlled burn. Apparently fire is a great way of clearing brush...

Happy Birthday RC

"We have hearts too..."

Long Live the King

I've been a little delayed in my posts as I've been tied down with traveling to Bangkok for some Visa work. Here are a few images I shot during celebration of the King's birthday this month.




Traditional Mon danceing.





The King is an eclipseingly significant public and political figure for Thailand's population. He’s also the longest ruling monarch of any country (correct me if I'm wrong...).

Oddly....not to undersell the holiday, or the amount of festivity actually exhibited, but the entire night's events seemed a little underwhelming compared to the sweeping multi-day bonanza undertaken by other cities throughout Thailand. It might just happen to be that since we're so far out on the edge, people don't get quite as built up...that, or the real die hard fans had already gone to bed.

Drinks and Nationalism

The Last Word

Those Lazy Sundays....

The Garden of AS

2:57 am

One Way Ticket: Goodbye KT

Things to be Thankfull for on the Border

When you have Thanksgiving dinner, birds die.
--

We mentioned Thanksgiving in passing because we all wished we could be at home. There is no turkey here, or cranberry sauce, no pumpkin pie or giant parade, and not a sign of paper hand-turkeys, buckles or feathers.

But our colleagues were intrigued. 'Why? What is this holiday? It is not religious?' For the first time, perhaps ever, I had to explain what exactly Thanksgiving was. There a lot of back story for such a simple day... these questions leaving me struggling to reconcile theft with giving and genocide with thanks.

Being away from home on this holiday stripped away all those familiar things - no question of commercialism, or animal rights, or which relatives to invite so we can have a peaceful dinner where we all get along, or "will this person actually pass the potatoes when I ask?"

Here, this year, we got to have our holiday thrown back at us. It took only a few short discussions before everyone was de facto invited, and serious thought was being put to what would most closely approximate Thanksgiving diner.

And amazingly, in less then a day, from only wishful musings, sprung two ducks, killed, plucked, and chopped in to pieces for a duck curry; pumpkin curry; papaya salad; one or two local Mon dishes; an apple pie; some other type of cake/pie; and the crowning achievement: a chicken, stuff with carrots, spring onions, spices - baked in a tiny oven - and served on a garnished bed of salad, tomatoes, and a gravy-esque sauce (the chef crediting an instructional YouTube video).

When you're this far from home, some bonus has to be given for a holiday so close to what you've wanted. We didn't think it was possible, and for that reason its one of the best Thanksgiving's I've had - not of course in anyway that would surmount the days when one does have family and familiar things - but at its heart, as a time when people are lucky to have each others company, regardless of their differences.


Some photos of the dinner: **all these ones in color are by Aumeon**

The fullest of full moons...

A full moon festival unlike any I've seen yet: It began with an early morning festival after a day at the temple. A giant bamboo boat that was filled with offerings and alter launched into the lake, and the release of hundreds of paper lanterns - ranging from the size of your head to a VW van. After the monk's dispersed lots of Mon covers of the Beatles & the Ramones were played - a pleasant change from the ever popular Nickleback and Limp Bizkit ...

Full moon festivals occur...yep...every full moon. These are your basic day for making merit, where most of a town will visit the temple where they are led in prayer by the head monk or abbot, and then later return with large quantities of food, sugar, coffee, soda, etc. since the monks cannot cook for themselves.

TNSTAAFL