i.love.vacation.

this post could alternatively be titled:
1. i.love.the.warm.;
2. adam lives in the pool; or
3. it was all good until the spider showed up.

for the record:  i love the Andaman sea. I am pretty sure i could just be a sea gypsy, floating to my heart's content and living off coconuts and fish i caught with a spear.

As many of you know, on xmas day we left seattle for a stint in thailand. teh trip was well needed because we discovered around thanksgiving that i was going to be laid off from Liberty.  the hunt for a new gig is in progress. So, off to se asia we went and we were lucky to have the gracious hospitality of a friend from law school, abe. he did his best to keep adam from being molested by lady boys and me from getting run over by vehicles in the street.

"Jesus rays on A Buddhist temple?" queried Adam.

Bangkok is a large bustling city that only partially ever feels like southeast Asia to me....it just lacks the grit of Manila and has instead way too many old white men accompanied by too young Thai women. Clearly, white exploitation of former colonies is still alive and kicking. Never-the-less, i love Thai architecture and its Buddhist sentimentality. outside every building is a household shrine to which offerings of fanta, juice, and sweet pastries are in a never ending supply. Seems the universe has a sweet tooth. The other thing that always strikes me is the combination of old and new, ornate and modern, a juxtaposition without moderation or middle ground.




Bang Pa-In Summer Palace

Ayyuthaya

We traveled around quite a bit this trip. After visiting Ayyuthaya and the Summer Palace, we went down south to Phuket for New Years.

Truthfully, we were staying in Patong, which i will never do again. it was too touristy for my tastes, but did make for memorable new years eve--thousands of people on the beach, lighting off lanterns, sending their hopes skyward for the new year.

We set off ours and i was surprised to find that my hopes didn't rest on a new job or the dog not acting like an idiot--i'm going to not tell you my wish, but you should know that my lantern floated highest in the sky as it went off into the distance.

My heart felt full and calm. We headed the next day off to the north--out 60 km north of Chaing Mai to somewhere up a tree. Seriously.
More pictures of that and a top ten list in the next post :)