surprise orchids

The house Smurray and I are subletting has a bunch of plants in the front porch area. We had no idea that most of the plants are orchids until they started blooming a week ago. Good thing we actually watered them and didn't kill any.

kitchen friends II

There've be quite a few toads in our kitchen recently. I almost stepped on this guy, but he jumped out of the way in the knick of time.

drug abuse resistance education... in thailand?

I saw 3 different people wearing D.A.R.E. shirts in 2 days in Chiang Mai, which I thought was kind of crazy and raises all sorts of questions in my mind. Is this some kind of trend? Or just a fluke? Are the shirts being manufactured in Thailand? Or did they just get the shirts from American relatives? Or did some elementary school in the States just donate a bunch? Do people like them because they like the word "dare"? Or do they know what D.A.R.E. is? Or are they wearing them ironically?

Kind of want to stop the next person I see wearing one and find out what the deal is. Maybe I'll do some qualitative in-depth interviews and put all that expensive grad schooling to work.

get me ben linus

Doesn't this look like the island from LOST? The rolling green mountains, the Dharma Initiative-esque VW van? If I start traveling through time and you don't hear from me for a while, please go find Ben Linus. Thanks.

kitchen friends

So our kitchen is sort of partially outside, which means all sorts of fun creatures come to visit (or decide to die on the floor). This little guy turns out to be a Tokay gecko. I found out later that they have a penchant for attacking people's faces... so in retrospect, it probably wasn't wise to get this close to him to take his picture. Anyway, he's been making quite a ruckus since he's looking for a mate. If you know anyone, let him know. His name is Mordechai and he's a good lookin' fella, don't you think?

sushi chips

I love how Lays potato chips seem to have a foothold in every country. My favorite flavor in India was "Magic Masala," both because of its awesome name and its taste. So far in Thailand, the clear favorite is "Nori Seaweed." SO ADDICTIVE! Now if I could only find some sort of ginger sour cream dip...

greener than green

I'm in a small town called Mae Sariang right now and it's pretty friggin' beautiful:

42

In total, it took me 42 hours to get to my destination in Thailand. 42, besides being the answer to life, the universe, and everything, is also a pretty pleasing number, divisible by 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, and 21. With a number so awesome, I basically had to do some sort of geometric visual thing with it. So this is my 42 hour trip visually represented in squares of color, with each square representing an hour.

In total, I spent 20 hours on planes (blue sky), 7 hours on a bus (green land), and 15 hours of layovers (gray airport/bus terminal).

layover delirium

My flight to Thailand had a 7+ hour layover in Taipei. In an attempt to not fall asleep and ruin my Zero Jetlag master plan, I kept myself entertained for a while by taking pictures in the airport. Most of them are crap. But here are three: