Hogs for the Gods: Appeasing Thai Spirits

January 10th, 2006 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Every home and business in Thailand is inhabited by spirits—both good and evil—and the Thais believe these beings must be acknowledged and appeased, whether that means providing a “spirit house” in which to live on the corner of their land, a high shelf inside the house for dead ancestors, or a special offering on a table in front of your storefront. In the latter case, a succulent pig’s head, white rice, pack of smokes, bottle of whiskey, and some sweets and incense seems to do the trick.
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Thai Tigers and the Tourism Trail

January 7th, 2006 | By Joshua | 3 Comments »

“The floating market, palm sugar refinery, World War II Museum, Death Railway, Bridge on the River Kwai, and Tiger Temple.” Thus reads the catalog of destinations on the rapid-fire, Bangkok-based day trip which we choose from a glossy activity binder in our hotel lobby. The 12-hour excursion which ensues (half of which is spent shuffling from site to site in an air-conditioned minivan) is a memorable ride on the wide lanes of checklist tourism.
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High-Country Hanukah and a Very Buddha New Year

January 2nd, 2006 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Wat Prathat pokes majestically through the forest on a hill high above Chiang Mai. According to legend, it was built over 700 years ago on the spot where a white elephant bearing relics of the Lord Buddha laid down to die. The relics are housed in a giant gold pagoda, and Thais from all over the country come to acknowledge this, offering incense and lotus buds, bowing, and lighting candles. The candles take on special significance on this Friday afternoon, as the sun is about to set: not only is it Shabbat, when Jews around the world light candles to begin their day of rest, but it is Hanukah also, the annual festival of lights, and yellow candles flicker and melt all around us.
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“Keep stirring! Keep smiling!” Thai Cooking Class in Chiang Mai

December 31st, 2005 | By Joshua | 4 Comments »

No visit to Chiang Mai would be complete without at least one day of Thai cooking class. There are 12 formal schools throughout the city and dozens more casual opportunities to get yer lemongrass on. The day that our elephant trek is rained out, Bermom and I sign up for a six-hour, seven-dish day with the Master Chef school.
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Quickly-Slowly in Northern Thailand

December 29th, 2005 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Thailand’s northern capital, Chiang Mai, is a city of either 200,000 or one million, depending on who you ask and who you include in the count. Of no small importance are the tens of thousands of tourists (both foreign and Thai) who consider Chiang Mai a must-stop on any visit to the country, plus the large numbers of Western expatriates who have made this their home. The expats are invariably married to Thais and most are proprietors of restaurants and bars, ensuring that no Western creature comfort is left unmet (for me, this means my first bagel and cream cheese in nearly eight months).
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Lingam of Life: Bangkok, Buddha, and the Ber-Mom

December 25th, 2005 | By Joshua | 7 Comments »

Bursting from our Banglampoo bubble, we finally escape this faux-Bangkok barrio which has confined us for more than a week. We’ve been saving the site-seeing for our visitors and so, with my jet-lagged but intrepid mother in tow (along with my with-us-in-spirit-mother-in-law whose absence is sad but, we reluctantly accept, in some strange way, it is meant to be), we board a long boat on the Chao Phraya River, and motor down to temple town.
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Eva: The Airline that Stole Christmas

December 23rd, 2005 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

“Sit! Down!”

Those were the compassionate words of the Eva Air employee to my soft spoken mother-in-law in the San Francisco International Airport the other day. Her offense: arriving at the departure gate nine minutes late, after her weather-delayed flight from Denver caused her to miss her connection to Taipei and Bangkok. Actually, the doors of the plane were still open, but her ticket had already been given away.
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Puppets, Klongs, and Missing Moms

December 21st, 2005 | By Joshua | No Comments »

From the Gulf of Thailand, we come raging back into the urban landscape with all kinds of missions at hand, chief of which is to work, write, work. My deadline is looming, so I take advantage of a funky nighborhood WiFi hangout called the “Wearever Laundromat & Lounge,” which doubles as a grungy art gallery and meeting place for hungover puppeteers. I’m also working through this calm-before-the-storm of a double-mom visit to Thailand.
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Ko Chang Chillin’: Time well spent

December 17th, 2005 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

On our first night in Bailan Bay, Tay and I are taken in by a group of souls with whom our friendship immediately transcends the shallow and obvious bond of backpackers. It happens like this: as we enter Ms. Naughty’s almost-empty restaurant, sitting cross-legged on the wood planks — under the stars, over the tide — greetings are shouted from a pair of men in the corner and, after friendly pleasantries are thrown across the low tables, one of them walks over, squats beside us and, in a calm, quiet voice, invites us to join them so we don’t have to shout. We do.
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The Writer’s Life and a Singha Sunset

December 15th, 2005 | By Joshua | No Comments »

We find our quiet spot, an unassuming curve of coastline called Bailan Bay, on southwest Ko Chang, “Elephant Island.” Bailan is somewhere between the Lonely Beach party scene (“Free Red Bull and Vodka from 10 – 11 p.m.!”) and the fishing village of Bang Bao. In Bailan, there are five or six “resorts” to choose from, each a copycat cluster of jungle-rustic thatch bungalows for $4 to 8 a night, depending on private bath and proximity to the surf. Most are already taken, but we find a shabby hut at Wangsida’s, whose best attribute is its nearness to a tranquilo beach bar, where I spend most of the week.
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