~Masala Update~

Our little boy is growing, in more ways than one. In a physical sense he is growing larger, to the point where we looked at him and said "Yeah, time to control your food." We never used to because he was changing from a kitten, and we're new cat owners who don't really know much. But now that he's an adult, we have purchased his #1 enemy - a measuring cup. He's surprisingly kind of okay with it, the only change is that he gets really excited when it's meal time.

He's also growing braver, little by little. I mean he's still a big coward, but before he was a giant coward. One day a fly came in from the balcony, and he was terrified. He ran and hid under the sofa, and let out sad meows until I drove away the scary monster. But now a few months later, the same thing happened. In the interim he seems to have grown a (small) spine, and decided instead to swat at the little bugger. He drove it back outside, and seemingly happy with his hunting skills, had a bounce to his step for the rest of the day.

~End of Masala Update~

For other news, the Thai semester is over, and it's summer break. The only downside is that it isn't for anyone else. Friends are at international schools (which have a weird hybrid of an April break for Thai new year and shorter "western" summer break), and Ella is at a university (and is working summer semester). I've had a few weeks at home figuring out how much I can pet Masala before we both get tired of it, but eventually I decided I need a change of pace. So for the first time in a while, I decided to take a solo trip. But I also wanted to be back in Bangkok for weekend shenanigans, so I didn't go too far. I thought I'd go to some area of Thailand that people don't often go to, and settled on hopping between three different places up near the Laos border. I knew nothing about this area before coming, just that there was a small airport and the flight was $25. But I found that it has a lot of history and not many (but some) interesting things to see.

~Nan~

Nan is where the aforementioned airport is. It's a town of about 20,000 people sandwiched between a mountain range to the west and the Laos border to the east. What I learned while I was here is that Nan started as its own kingdom around 1280. It was conquered by the Lanna Kingdom (Chiang Mai) about 200 years later. After that the Burmese invaded, and Nan was actually abandoned. In 1780 the Siamese drove the Burmese out, and Nan was a vassal kingdom of Siam. Then around 1930, it became incorporated into modern Thailand when its final king died. At the Nan National Museum, which used to be the palace, I got to see the last king (well, his urn). They also have a royal relic called the Black Ivory, and it is said that he who holds the black ivory will rule Nan. Unfortunately it is behind glass, but I assume that if I Oceans 11ed it out of there the kingdom would return with me as its ruler.

Other than that there's not too much to do in Nan? They're known for their paper lanterns, far too fragile to throw in a backpack. I got to see a lot of temples, and I gotta say, digging their temples. I know I'm pretty pessimistic about Thai temples but theirs each have something a little special about them. Wat Phumin has art on the walls that is 500 years old, Wat Ming Muang has an all white exterior that is pretty impressive, and Wat Sri Pan Ton has a facade covered in gold. I also hiked up to Wat Phra That Khao Noi for a great view of the city. Also they seemingly grow a lot of coffee and fruit here, and aren't shy to mix them together. Weird choice, but I guess I don't hate Apple Americanos.

The Nan Noble House

Wat Sri Pan Ton

Wat Phra That Khao Noi

Wat Ming Muang

~Phrae~

But after a day and a half in Nan, it's on to Phrae. Just about two hours away, it was also an independent kingdom. In fact, Phrae and Nan were buddies. As the legend goes, the kings both agreed on a meeting to decide the borders of their territory. Nan arrived on a buffalo, and Phrae arrived on a horse, which remain the symbols of each city today. Phrae has virtually the same story to Nan, only being older by about 50 years. After that, conquered by Lanna, Burma, abandoned, vassal, and then part of Siam. Phrae became part of Siam about 30 years earlier though. They had something called the Ngiao Rebellion, where during their vassal kingdom status, the locals had an uprising and tried to kick out the Bangkok administrators. Didn't work out well for them, and their last king died in exile in Luang Prabang, Laos. (Luang Prabang is amazing btw, and my favorite place in Laos. It's unknown exactly where the King of Phrae is buried.)

Now a town of about 15,000, I like Phrae a little more than Nan. It's more walkable, with narrow streets and restaurants that are very approachable from the road. Nan seems designed for cars first and people second, which makes it feel less inviting. I started off in Phrae by visiting The Free Thai Museum, which talks about the Thai guerilla fighters in WWII. When Japan invaded, Thailand didn't stand much of a chance, and was forced into declaring war on the allies. Not everyone agreed to capitulate though, and Phrae decided to fight back. It sort of worked out? Japan still controlled Thailand, but they had to commit a lot more soldiers to deal with the insurgency.

Phrae's big claim to fame though, is their teak wood. A lot of buildings here are made of it, and they like to paint them, a little unusual for Thailand. They have a kind of "southern US plantation" feel to them. Even the Pizza Company (a chain like Pizza Hut) got in on it, and hilariously enough has one of the prettiest buildings in town. There were some others though, like the Khum Vongbori House, or Khum Chao Luang, where Rama IX once stayed at. They even have a Wat made out of teak wood, which I've never seen anything like before. The guesthouse I stayed at was like that too. Lovely old lady's house, it was basically like staying on a farm - with roosters to wake you up and no AC. I didn't mind, though I needed to escape to coffee shops during the hottest part of the day. But aside from pretty buildings and some temples, that's about it for Phrae. Onto the next and final destination, Lampang.

 

Wat Chom Sawan

Khum Vongburi House

Wat Phong Sunan

My guesthouse

Pretty sparse, but enough for me

The very beautiful Pizza Company

~Lampang~

A city of about 60,000, stopping in Lampang felt sort of like being back in a city. They even have a McDonald's, so like, they're pretty fancy. Lampang is usually just a train stop on the way to Chiang Mai. It's rare people visit, but the train is partly why I'm here - I'm taking the overnight train back to Bangkok, and I love sleeping on trains. Something about the movement puts me to sleep instantly. Plus you save on a hotel, and the train stations are usually conveniently in the center of town.

History wise, Lampang's is similar to Phrae and Nan but shorter. Being only about 60km from Chiang Mai, they were always part of the Lanna Kingdom - then Burmese, then Lanna again, then Siam. A fellow from Lampang actually ended Burmese rule in the region by assassinating the leader, so there's that I suppose. Also, funny story - Lampang was one of the major bases of Japan during WWII, and the Americans sent out bombers to destroy it. Except they accidentally flew to the nearby and similarly named town of Lampun, said "Whelp, no Japanese here", and went home. Which, despite not being Thai themselves, is just so on brand for Thailand.

But despite being much larger than the previous two destinations, I found that Lampang had less to do. A few people recommended I visit a cave with ancient writing on the wall, which does seem kind of interesting, but it's also like 50km away from the city. Those writings would really have to be something, and with only a day and a half here, I thought I should pass. Lampang is well known for their ceramics, so I took a tour of the Dhanabadee ceramic factory that was somewhat interesting. They of course sell things too, for surprisingly cheap - like, most statues and things were around 100b (~$3). Not that I'm a "ceramic guy", I'm more of a "nothing guy". But it seems like this stuff could easily be sold in the US for 10, 20 times that price.

I also went to a museum called Ban Pong Nak, which is in an old teak house, very similar to in Phrae. What I didn't know is that it was on an active army base. When I got to the gate these armed soldiers came out of the guard house, and there was a quarter second of "Oh boy did I mess up?" But no, typical of Thailand, they were all smiles and let me onto the base. The guy working in the house was named Q, who couldn't be nicer, and spoke excellent English as well. He gave me a private tour, and told me about how Thai royalty has stayed the night there as well. He clearly knew a lot, telling me about why this thing and that thing were important. Then he would just take it off the wall and hand it to me to take a cool photo. I'm not used to history museums being a "hands on" experience, so this was pretty memorable for sure.

The next day, I was sort of at a loss what to do in Lampang. The hostel didn't have any recommendations, and my Googling came up pretty empty. Other than ceramics, I heard Lampang is famous for still using horse-drawn carts downtown, so I wanted to see myself a horsie. As I was bouncing around between temples (Wat Chiang Rai and Wat Si Rongmuang were worth a look), I finally saw one. I got so excited, I asked if I could ride one. They said yes, for 300b (~$10), and it would take an hour. I didn't want to ride an hour, so I asked if I could ride for 15 minutes. They agreed to that for 200b. That was good enough for me, got to see my horsie. Ding ding!

 

I really had nothing else to do in Lampang, so I just spent the afternoon at the mall to avoid the heat. In the evening I went out to the night market, and I saw nearby there was a temple called Wat Phra Kaew. That got my attention, as it is the same name of The Grand Palace's temple in Bangkok. Turns out the Emerald Buddha, a very important (maybe the most important) relic of Thailand used to be here as well. I decided to do some research, and it turns out that statue has moved around a lot. And accidentally, I've been to every place it resided except one - where it was discovered.

1) Wat Phra Kaew - Chiang Rai, Thailand ❌
2) Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao - Lampang, Thailand ✅
3) Wat Chedi Luang - Chiang Mai, Thailand ✅
4) Wat Xieng Thong - Luang Prabang, Laos ✅
5) Haw Phra Kaew - Vientiane, Laos ✅
6) Wat Arun - Bangkok, Thailand ✅
7) Wat Phra Kaew - Bangkok, Thailand ✅

Wat Chiang Rai

 Wat Si Rongmuang 

Seems I need to go back to Chiang Rai to finish chasing that statue. But that's for another time, because my time bouncing around the rural north had come to an end. After a local market I had one more stop - if you're familiar with the story "Anna and the King / The King and I", this is where her son lived, as he started a lumber industry here in Thailand. Okay. Neat. But it was off to the train station for my overnight back to Bangkok. After arriving, I stayed in the station for an hour or so to meet Ella. We topped off everything with a day trip to Bang Pa In, a palace north of Bangkok. Maybe this wasn't my most exciting trip ever - it was a lot of chilling, slow walking, temples, and copious amounts of coffee. But I think that's pretty much the typical Thai experience. 

~~Masala Update~~

Should this be a regular thing now? Masala is roughly 10 months old now. I say "roughly" because we don't actually know, the shelter's best guess was that he was born around March/April. Thus we have decided that his birthday shall be April 1st, because he is a silly boy. We plan to give him his very own fish on that day, and apparently this is now what passes for excitement in our lives.

It seems we're always learning new things about him. He is still obsessed with bread, but beef is probably his new favorite thing. Beef isn't so common in Thailand, but recently I bought some to make chili. I browned it beforehand, so I made sure to save him a piece. He went ballistic. I have never seen him eat anything that fast. Actually the next day I was chopping up the beef I had frozen, and a small piece shot off the counter. Strangely enough, it landed on my foot. He saw it and made a dash for me, while I raised up my foot to keep him from eating raw meat. He stood on his hind legs to try and get high enough, and here I am dancing around the kitchen on one foot while he's trying to streeeeetch a little further and get that yummy snack. But I snatched it with my other hand, and then wanted to grab a tissue to wash off the meat juice. But he could still smell it, so he chased me all the way to the bathroom, desperately trying to lick my foot the whole way. So yeah. Dude likes beef, probably more than fish. I even gave him some roe from my sushi, and he didn't eat more than a bite or two. Maybe for his birthday I should give him a plain hamburger instead.

But aside from food, his behavior is coming along. He's quite polite about never using claws on people, even when playing. We're working on getting him better with play biting, and using his words instead -  thankfully that happens rarely now. His morning routine is really cute. He knows what time our alarm is set for, and I've caught him just waiting patiently near the bed. When the alarm finally does go off, he instantly jumps in bed with lots of "meow meow meow!" so we can get his cuddles. Also we've discovered that he likes to play tag. He'll just randomly sneak up on you, tap your ankle, and run away. You can do the same to him, though he has a funny way of coming after you - he'll go into stealth mode, stalk around corners, and sneak around until he's finally within striking distance. But instead of immediately tagging you back, he stops, and looks at your face as to say "You have lost, pathetic human. Beg for your life." THEN he taps your ankle and runs away again, and the game continues as long as you have patience, or he floofs on the floor.

 ~~End of Masala Update~~

Now to switch gears, Thailand still hums along, we even had an election a few days ago. I love how Thailand does their elections, because it's pretty much the same way they do their night markets - set up some tents, have some snacks, boom. Done. Seems that the Bhumjaithai party got the majority of votes, which is considered conservative. But for my American folks, conservative here does not mean Republican, GOP kind of conservative. Bhumjaithai supports more traditional values like the monarchy and family, and to that end they favor strong social welfare and public spending programs. Funny how, when there are 20+ parties, you get Coke Freestyle flavor combinations people in the USA didn't know existed. Which, by the way, how's it going over there guys? The latest season of "Trump 2" is pretty bonkers. I try to stay up on things because it's important, but the more I stay up on things the more glad I am that I don't live there anymore. Actually the other day I was teaching more Year 12 students about logical fallacies, and one that came up was the Straw Man fallacy. When I was planning my lesson, I realized that I am overwhelmed with examples from American politics, that I had to keep switching my brain to other topics. Seems everyone is just out to paint the other side in the most unflattering way possible, and that's just sad. Not that groups such as ICE needs any help to be painted in an unflattering light, but it seems any sort of nuance or empathy has just been smashed into pieces. It's a sad situation, and all I can do is sit here and hope the country finds its footing, and things change to being a more understanding and kind society.

But if you're interested in a move to Thailand, there is no shortage of positive things to keep you busy. Every weekend we're usually up to something, in large part because of Ella's efforts. She always has something in mind, especially on Saturdays. Be it some sort of floating market, park, or other interesting place, she's the go to person for knowing whats up in Bangkok. For example, we went to a concert celebrating a night market's 15 year anniversary. In typical Thai fashion, if there is a way to have fun with something, they'll find it. They had gogo dancers, a marching band, vintage cars, and a firework show that rivaled the city's New Year's celebration. It was a fun time, but I think I am too old for concerts, or more accurately, I don't think concerts have ever really been my thing. They are too loud, and this is not an old man thing, even when I was in my 20s I thought they were way too loud. I want to hear the music, but I also don't want it to be painful? Anyway, there were some good bands, even some that I recognize with my rudimentary knowledge of Thai music. But regardless of the concert, the real draw is to hang out at a good market, with good friends, and have a good time. Speaking of friends, we were lucky to have quite a few visitors for the holidays. I think we're up to 4 or 5 visitors now? Some were friends, some were friends of friends, and even parents of friends. The parents were just as awesome and he is, they even went out drinks and karaoke.

For other adventures, I just put "museum" into Google Maps, and oh boy there are a lot of places I had never heard of before. Some were a bit so-so, or one room kind of places, but actually some were really interesting. For example, The Thai National Bank Museum isn't something that is probably on most people's radar, but it was interesting seeing the old notes and printing machines. Plus they have, I think, the most beautiful library in the city overlooking the river. Nearby, there is also the Bang Lamphu Museum - oddly enough, it's where those printing machines used to be. After it was turned into a district office, and now it's kind of a hybrid museum exploring money and the local district. There's also the Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall, which we have been to before, many years ago. But they have another section, maybe new, that explores Thai life - complete with a "It's a Small World" style boat ride, which is just so Thailand. We also went to the Royal Thai Air Force Museum, which I had been to once, even before I met Ella. It has a lot of older planes, with the newest probably being an F-16. But it's still interesting, and I like that they let you climb in some of them. Oh and to round out the list, we went to DiB Bangkok. An odd place full of experimental, contemporary type art. They had an exhibit where you were invited to hit a wall with a metal baseball bat. Yes really. I assumed the wall was stone.

It was not!

Turns out it was hollow metal, which you can imagine creates quite a sound. Anyway, I feel I've talked a lot and even left a few places out. But I think I'll end with some photos, plus a video of me hitting the wall and being quite shocked at the ruckus.

Thai Railway Museum

Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall

DiB Contemporary Art Museum

Chulalongkorn Natural History Museum

Thai National Bank Library

Thai Air Force Museum. Smooth flying!

Bang Lamphu Museum

 

I'm sure you only clicked because you want to hear about Masala. I asked him if he wanted to be at the start of the blog, and he said "meeeeow", so let's not waste your time.

Masala is doing well. Actually it's kind of amazing how much his personality has changed since we first got him. He used to be extremely shy. At the pet shelter, he was often hiding somewhere, and when we brought him home, it took about 2 weeks for us to see him regularly. That's definitely not an issue any longer. He is comfortable in his domain, usually never leaving our side when we're home. When we go to sleep, he usually finds one of us to lean against. He's actually quite polite, all things considered. While sometimes he will get up during the night to use the toilet or eat (don't we all), he usually stays quiet. He's got a good sense of when our phone alarm is about to go off, and will usually sit patiently for it to wake us up first. Then he'll rub his face on you and demand pets. Otherwise, "petting time" is whenever one of us gets home. He will usually walk up to us, and just plop on the floor at our feet. Or just randomly, he'll come over and rub his head against you. He's very much a head/face/neck kind of guy. He's sort of okay with his back being rubbed, but he will remind you with a meow that is not his preferred spot. The belly, like on most cats, is a no-go. However, recently I've learned that if you start at the neck and slowly work your way down, you can get to the belly without him noticing - perhaps the result of the "one orange brain cell". Oh, and if you try to pet him during non-petting time, he will likely just walk away, or you will be on the receiving end of a no-claw slap. Not petting time is usually "leave me alone" time, or "play" time, and play time is all about chasing things. A ball is fine, but he's recently taken to the "jingly things on a stick" line of toys. He loves it when he can chase them around for a while, but then they suddenly stop moving. He goes into "hunting mode" by walking a half circle around it, arching his back, and gradually sneaking up to pounce.

Something I really appreciate about him is that he is pretty chill with being picked up. I know most cats don't like that, but he doesn't seem to mind that much. He usually folds himself into a C-shape with his arms and legs out, and you can just hold him with one arm underneath while petting him the other. One day I carried him around for about 30 minutes showing him random apartment things. He especially liked the freezer, reaching out to touch the bag of frozen veggies, then looking at his paw. And speaking of food, out of curiosity we give him a little bite of people food sometimes. We had to learn a lot about what cats can and cannot eat, and they're honestly pretty much okay with everything. Most of the off-limits things like chocolate and caffeine are pretty well known, but for us the big sticking point is no garlic/onions. Turns out that's in just about everything, so he doesn't get to try things as often as he'd like. As far as his preferences, he will kind of nibble at veggies, but overall, not a big fan. He will sniff fruit, but I've never seen him eat any. He'll lap up a bit of milk, but usually just once or twice. Of course he loves fish, but oddly enough he's not too keen on chicken - he'll eat it, but only after a lot of sniffing/contemplation. The big winner though, is bread. He LOVES bread, of any form. Even plain white rice he is ALL about. I don't know what his deal is, but apparently the fastest way to his heart is carbs. If I ever gave him a breaded fish stick, he would probably explode with happiness. Overall, he's just food curious. Whatever you're eating he also wants to sniff and/or try, and he'll leave you alone after he had a chance to sample it. For example, one day I was drinking plain soda water, which he was very curious about. I put some in a little dish for him, and he was jumping around it, dipping his paw in it, and just being very confused by this bouncy water. Cute~ 

As far as Thailand travels, we've done a bit here and there. For example, it was Constitution Day, and a Rama IX Park had a big night market with live music, food, etc.. Actually the music was really good, kind of big band jazz sort of thing. It was better than most music I've heard at bars where you have to pay a cover charge to get in, and just goes to show Thailand is amazing at A) being artsy, and B) finding an excuse to throw a party. Ella and I ate and walked around for a few hours, just taking in the vibe and consuming a weeks worth of calories. While we were walking, I was thinking - why don't more places do this? There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of outdoor markets in Bangkok alone, many being a normal part of the community. You can get food and drink there for cheaper than a restaurant, because it's just a dude in a tent. For a special occasion like this you had plenty of vendors, selling stuff at pretty steep discounts. I feel in the US these kind of festivals sell things for more money than in a shop, which just seems weird to me.

In further flung travels, our Bangkok family took a day to trip to the beach. Bang Saen Beach is the closest beach to Bangkok, and is alright, but has a ways to go to match the beaches an hour or so further south in Jomtien and beyond - and those don't hold a candle to some of the islands. It's more of a "let's hang out near the ocean and enjoy the vibe" sort of place than an actual swimming destination. Though some people were swimming, we dipped our feet, had some food, had some drinks, and just chatted. We took the train to get there, which has a stop just outside our building. Overall it was about 2 hours, but whew the train ticket was expensive - at 20 baht ($0.60) a person, we'll need to save that for a special occasion.

In other news, I have a new job. But this was after ~2 months of "not working", which was surprisingly much more busy than actually working. It seemed that every day there was something to do with the apartment, errands for Ella and I, or the cat. Actually one day we went to take him to the vet, and he was not so happy about going in the carrier. It was a soft carrier with a mesh netting, and after we finally got him in... he just clawed the heck out of it and slipped out. So, very fortunate he didn't decide to display that superpower when he was on the street or something. Now we have upgraded to a proper hard plastic and metal carrier, so if he breaks out of that one, there is nothing us or even Superman can do to stop him. We eventually did get him to the vet, a process he was very not pleased with. He's actually fine with the vet, but wow he hates car rides. He just lets out constant sad meows the whole time. Thankfully he's all caught up on his shots now, so this is the last time he will need to go there unless for something unfortunate.

Oh wait, I was talking about work. The position with Ella's school didn't materialize, as it unfortunately would start after my visa expired. Instead an agency that I worked with 10ish years ago in Thailand had an opening, so I'm back with them. I'm back to teaching in a pretty low overhead sort of role, not unlike some of my first teaching gigs. Overall it's quite a whiplash from my previous gig of, you know, trying to set up and run an entire school. I'm divided between two different schools doing Computer Science and English. It's very low stress, so I'm not complaining, because this is the kind of Thai life that I remember. Now with a proper residency visa secured, I'm breathing easy in terms of my status. Just in terms of perspective, I went from accepting the job to having a visa in about 2 weeks. Portugal was... 8 months? And we still couldn't get it all done. So. Maybe they should rethink that process if they want people to come.

I'll end with something a bit less serious. An old coworker of mine messaged me out of the blue one day, and asked if I wanted to come with him to a Dragon Ball exhibition - because the tickets are buy one get one, and his girlfriend is like, "No way". While I certainly was a fan as a teenager, I've been out of the Dragon Ball scene for 20+ years. But even though I knew nothing about the new series, the exhibit was actually really interesting. Mostly just a lot of statues you could pose next to, they had a few AR activities like doing a Kamehameha to collect the Dragon balls - and if you got all of them, you could get a free poster. The whole thing is completely silly, and something that would only work in Thailand.

 

I write this blog with a devilish plan - Ella and I have a kitten now. If you want to hear about him and see cute kitty pictures, I am holding your attention span hostage until the end.

 

So, let's begin with travel stuff! Life is pretty good here in BKK. Ella and I went to the National Museum and Siam Museum. I had only been to the National Museum once before, actually just the 2nd day I arrived in Bangkok. It's been remodeled, which is good I think, because I remember it being more like a bunch of warehouses stuck together than a museum. But I still feel it's organized a bit haphazardly, with about a dozen buildings displaying random things with little context. There is some cool stuff, but I feel that the real "national treasures" are in temples or in the ancient capitals. If you're a history buff, it's probably worth it, but also I feel it's a bit expensive (250b) for what it is.

 

The Siam Museum is more interesting I feel, and only 100b (~$3). It's in a beautiful old house, and their main exhibit tries to answer the question "What is Thai-ness?" I love the whimsy, for lack of a better word, they put into this place. They have a model of a school classroom you can poke around in, learn how to make Kha Phrao Moo, or play dress up. And what other museum can you display an old CD-ROM, and say it is used by ancient Thai people as a tail light for elephants? Or have a "wai-ing" Ronald McDonald statue next to a gogo dancer? At the time, they also had an exhibit on childhood toys like Jenga, origami, and even a Famicom. So you can bet I played some Mega Man. Really cool place that is definitely worth your time, and just goes to show how creative Thai people can be.

 

But in other BKK news, some BFFs arrived from Shanghai recently. They went off to India and the UK for a while, before making the big move here, along with their cats. It's great to see them of course, but also just by being here they make this place feel more and more like home. So we've been spending almost every weekend with them, getting them settled, talking about life here, and showing them around some of our haunts. One place we wound up that I didn't expect to go was Lumphini Park. If you've never been, it's downtown in the Silom area, and was the very first place I ever visited in Bangkok, over a decade ago. My hostel was about 5 minutes away from here, and at the time, the entire park was occupied by protesters. These "Yellow Shirts" were Royalists and not fans of the then-current PM, Yingluck Shinawatra. I visited to see what was going on, and they couldn't have been nicer - my first meal in Bangkok was free food and a concert. Not having a single dog in this fight, they won me over pretty quickly. Not two months later, there was a coup, and the new government gave everyone a day off work and threw a party. So yeah, they certainly know how to charm a fellow. Fun times in Lumphini.

Nowadays, it's a far cry from that. It's just a large city park, to escape the hustle and bustle. But actually Lumphini has a bad reputation with the locals, as the ponds and waterways are filled with monitor lizards. They are seen as very bad luck in Thailand, and even their name is perhaps the strongest curse word in the language. To help out with this, years ago the government said they will remove them from the park. There are so many, so even at the time I was living here, I said "Pfft, yeah right." And it turns out that was impossible after all, because they've just given up and embraced them. There are cute monitor lizard signs and statues around, I guess realizing that even if Thais don't like them, tourists really do. I admit they're pretty cool, because they're huge, and fairly harmless unless you're a fish or something. 

That same day we needed to pick up a gift for another friend that was visiting, so we went over to the Jim Thompson Shop nearby. And I need to stop for another story, because if you don't know about Jim Thompson, he's pretty interesting - he worked as a spy for the CIA (then called the OSS) during WWII, loved Thailand, settled here, and revived the Thai silk industry to become the famous institution it is today. He became extremely wealthy, and built a really nice house downtown using traditional architecture with lots of other flair, and now it's a popular museum. At the height of his career, he went on a holiday in Malaysia, whereupon he disappeared without a trace. So there are conspiracy theories abound about what happened to him, but still to do this day, nobody knows. Regardless, his business lives on, with a very fancy showroom, full of very fancy things I could not even imagine buying even if I were very wealthy. We bought a tie, and it is certainly the most I ever have spent or will spend on a tie. But we also got to attend a very fancy dinner, eating things that I would not normally eat myself, such as crab or Cantonese style pig skin. Tasty enough, but I feel I don't have the palate to truly enjoy such things - and I shudder at the thought of how much it probably cost.

But I suppose the real travel story of note is that I popped over to Malaysia for a weekend. Unfortunately I had run out of time to get my visa processed, so I needed to do a visa run. And I might as well take the chance to visit some friends! More Shanghai folk made the move there, and it was lovely to see them again. They were also kind enough to put me up for the night, so I also got to meet their cats (I'm detecting a pattern, here). I only had about 24 hours in Malaysia, but I did walk around downtown Kuala Lumpur to take in some sights. I have been to KL before, so there was nothing that was a must see for me. I did see the Petronas Towers, which I maintain are some of the coolest looking buildings in the world, although you need to go at night to really appreciate them. I also went to Merdeka 118, the 3rd tallest building in the world (after the Burj Khalifa and the Shanghai Tower). It is pretty much finished, but still under construction - but knowing that Malaysian people are, in my experience, the nicest people I've ever met, I thought I'd try asking to see if I could go inside. Yup! The security guard said I could check it out if I promise not to leave the lobby. To be honest, the lobby isn't too notable, but it was still really cool of them to let me in. The outside's pretty though, and well worth the photo. Other than that, I only had about 3 hours to explore, so I just took in some sights, bought some souvenirs, and ate at Uncle Roger's Restaurant - after seeing his Youtube videos for so long, it was nice to see what he considers good fried rice. And yeah, gotta be honest - pretty solid fried rice, 8/10. Although I still think the lady near the canal at Wat Saket makes the best fried rice in the world.

That's about it for travel, so shifting gears to work - Ella's job is going great, so no news there. Mine though... haha. Last time I mentioned I was the Principal of a school, well, no longer. It's a long story that maybe I should not air out in public, so apologies if I'm a bit cagey. But in short, I felt that I had a different vision for how a school should be run. After saying "Well, you'll have to fire me if you want to do that, because I refuse" on a pretty regular basis, they decided to consider that offer. I wasn't fired, in fact, they asked me to stay on as a teacher. But they went ahead and had someone else do the thing I refused to do so that I wouldn't be attached to it. However it involved treating someone unfairly, and I thought there's no reason why they wouldn't do that to me in the future. Plus it burned some bridges, so maybe best to make my exit. Not one day after, I went to Ella's school to inquire about positions, and it seems there will be something opening in two months. So I guess I have two months to have some "me time", which has involved figuring out my visa situation, but also throwing myself into studying Thai. In the future I'll probably write more about it, but it's pretty rewarding to walk around and finally read signs I've passed by a thousands times without giving a second thought.

And now what everyone is really here for, the cat. If you know anything about Ella, she's been dying to get a cat forever, but we just wanted to be settled somewhere before that happened. Well, settled we are, so we decided to go for it. We went to a shelter called PAWS Bangkok, run by this very lovely person who really dedicates herself into taking care of stray cats around the city. Our little guy was found along with his sister in a car park at only a few months old. Both of them were really shy in the shelter, maybe feeling intimidated by all the other cats there. So they stuck together like glue, however, his sister was adopted about a month ago. Ever since, he's been especially shy and lonely. When we visited, he was hiding as far away from everyone as possible in this donut-shaped tunnel thing. But when we opened it, he instantly went to cuddle with Ella and became a purr factory. We decided to adopt him then, but I went back the next day to grab him after we did some shopping. He was actually due to have his next rabies shot, so straight from the shelter I took him to the vet. I also thought that it's probably best that it's me, so he can vow revenge on only me and not Ella. Overall he did very well, though he very much does not like cars. At red lights he's fine, but when the car is moving, he meows up a storm. But now on solid ground in the apartment he's cool. For now he likes hiding, as expected for such a big change. He will come out, insist on cuddles, and then go disappear somewhere else for a few hours. Actually he is very much a cuddly guy, if you scratch around his face he just melts into a puddle. I know orange cats have a reputation for being dumb, but at least for now he certainly is not. He figured out where his food and litter box were immediately, and has been cautiously exploring the apartment. Anyway, meet Masala. I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of him.