Friday, April 10, 2015

VISITING MOM NOT SO EASY

A JOURNEY OF 8510 MILES BEGINS WITH A 3 A.M. TAXI RIDE.


Traveling from my home in Bangkok to my mother's home in Kearney Nebraska is extremely daunting, but for me it is always the first leg that stresses me the most. April 7th at 3 A.M. a taxi driver arrives in front of my home. He's wired from a long night of some kind of chemical blend of energy drinks, cigarettes, and youth. Its the rare time of day when there is NO traffic in the city and so he revels in the freedom of revving his modified Toyota and racing us to the airport in just under 30 minutes, a journey I had estimated would take closer to an hour. He helped me out with my bags and raced off and I stepped into the cavernous Suvarnabhumi International Airport. At this time of the evening the attendants and ground workers outnumber the passengers and in fact, I was the only one there when I found the Delta counters. I chatted with them asking if I was the only one flying today, which at 3:30 in the morning is not funny. 

So with check in completed, my bag checked, and a realization that basically the next 24 hours of my life will be spent in a state of half-conscious confinement, I found a kind of comfortably numb, zombie like energy, that moves me from security to passport check to duty free to lounge to gate to seat and to infinity and beyond.

My first flight was Bangkok to Tokyo: 5 hours 25 minutes. A pretty nice little warm up. Next flight, after a 2 hour layover, was Tokyo to Minneapolis: 10 hours 40 minutes. I had 1 hour to switch planes for the final leg from Minneapolis to Omaha: 1 hour and 40 minutes. All total just under 18 hours of flight time and about 6 hours of airport time for THE LOST DAY.



Monday, April 6, 2015

THAI FOOD is an ATTITUDE


THAI FOOD is an attitude

It's hotter than FIRE in Bangkok (95% yesterday) and when I duck into a local street food joint to grab some food the food is even hotter. Anytime I travel away from Thailand it only takes a few days for me to begin missing Thai food. I know every country in the world has Thai food now, but come on, I'm yet to taste any of it that maintains that ATTITUDE. 
It's fun to watch Thai folks eat, no matter how spicy or seasoned the food looks when it arrives at the table, their first question is and I am translating into English, "Spices please." And out comes a basket full of sweet, spicy, sour, salty or surprise enhancements. They add sauces and spices to everything and even to every bite if need be. They are patient, not gobbling down their food for it's sustenance, but rather delighting in the plethora of flavors swirled upon their spoons. 
The photos are my lunch, spicy noodle soup with pork and  an egg, and my dinner Sum Tum (papaya salad) and nom toke (onions pork chives).  



Friday, April 3, 2015

CHANGE OF FOCUS

                          Kaew and I work on her scene while Pookie prepares behind us. 

So many years ago I began this blog with the idea of writing about the unusual life I decided on by leaving the United States for a life in Thailand. Many years have passed and all the crazy things about Thailand and it's amazing culture have sort of become everyday to me. I notice my early blogs are really about this country, it's people and culture and that has fallen off to a point where my blog kind of dried up.

I think in general blogs have been hit hard by the Facebook timelines and LINE timeline kind of stuff and perhaps as I have been focused on promoting my comics and film team on FB and Instagram and thus my blog has fallen into attic dust and cobwebs.

So a change of FOCUS is absolutely required. I still will write, on occasion, about the unique life I lead here as an expat; however, I intend to focus more on the creative projects I'm involved in, my teaching/students, my interests, and whatever the hell else pops into my head IT'S MY BLOG so eclectic should be expected.