I was told a long time ago that part of the reason Thailand is called “The Land of Smiles” is not because so many people smile so much of the time, but because Thais have over 1,000 different identified smiles, each for a different situation. After almost a decade living here, I reckon I can [...]
Sometimes I amaze even myself. OK, I know that’s a very ego-centric statement, but once I explain more I think you’ll understand I’m actually being self-derogatory as well as a little smug.
First I need to give you the background …
I’m a magpie, not just because I support Newcastle United FC, but because I collect, hoard, store, refuse to seperate from, items and information I collect. Just ask my Mum – she’s desperate for me to ship my library of books from her garage to here in Thailand. It literally fills half of her garage and is becoming the bane of her life. I’m no different when it comes to digital data.
This morning, rummaging around in my hard drive array for something, I gave up “browsing” for it as I’d completely forgotten where I’d put it, and did a “search” instead. Amongst the literary archaeological treasures it unearthed was a folder full of the “lost wisdom of the ages” a.k.a. articles I’d written (almost a decade ago) about Thailand during my first months here …
CHIANG MAI, 7 Nov 2008 – Twice a year, Thailand manages to amaze me. It’s the same event every year and that it still manages to grab my attention, in my tenth year of living here, is testimony to how dramatic it is.
Those events are what I call the “winter switch” nights. Let me explain …
After trying for a quiet February, and failing, the hope of a short break in March was high on the agenda. Seems eBay anticipated that too, because what they’ve thrown at us this month has certainly made that dream fade away into nothingness … in the nicest possible way. First the UK threw a Free [...]
Having got the Christmas & January Sales silly seasons out of the way, I was looking forward to a nice quiet February where I could dedicate some serious development time to my existing ecommerce website, plus start the build on the new site for the wargames models business, them WHAM! eBay turned the world upside [...]
(CHIANGMAI 15 Oct 2007) Edward joined us yesterday at 7:45pm in the form of 3.5 Kgs of puzzled and inquisitive, thoughtful newness. Son Number 1 for my new family, and I am overjoyed. Tan is doing well though it was a long labour and she delivered naturally. The doctors say Tan will likely need 3-4 [...]
We were rummaging in one of our favourite “pikey” type craft shops this week, and at the same time the staff were clearing our a storeroom off the main sales floor…… Lo, and behold, they shoved a big box of Christmas decorations out of the way and onto the sales floor, still marked up with [...]
CHIANGMAI, Thailand – 25 September 2005
Have you ever taken part in a conversation that draws its focus from the truly important minutia of daily living? If not, then some would say you are not yet qualified to enter the ranks of the higher expatriates.
Such actions and decisions become the behavioural guiding light of certain expatriate classes, the ones who having discovered your new desire to reside in The Rose will gravely warn you that, If you have not heard a good rumour by ten in the morning, invent one…
