Frequently Overheard in Thailand...

I've been living in Thailand for 10 months now, and I've started to notice some words and phrases that I find myself saying fairly frequently.  Certain aspects of Thai life that you would think by now I would be used to, but they still seem to phase me and cause some sort of reaction.  Here's a list of phrases frequently overheard in Thailand...

• "It's hot." - I know back home in the States there has been a bit of a heat wave going on, but Thailand is permanently part of a heat wave. It is hot here. every. single. day. If you look at the weather for my town it looks the same if it's March, July, or December.  Hot. Muggy. Potentially a thunderstorm or two. By now I should probably be used to the heat - but I still find myself saying this at least once a day - maybe when I'm hoofing it up the 4 flights of stairs to my office, or a short walk to get lunch, or if I attempt to sit in my room without the AC on. I just can't seem to accept the heat here. 
• "I'm full." - Since Thailand is all about food, I'm usually starving before every meal, and then 10 minutes into it I'm so full I immediately lapse into a food coma. It's probably a combination of a lot of rice + hot weather + MSG and other random ingredients.  Either way, it's amazing how fast I can go from famished to stuffed. 
• "I almost just died."- It's not that I partake in particularly risky behavior over here in SE Asia so much as it is that walking around town I happen upon many potential threats - a pack of angry street dogs, a motorbike driving on the sidewalk, a frying pan spitting hot oil, a large pipe sticking out of the ground, an active power line swinging 5 feet off the ground, etc. A simple minivan trip to Bangkok can sometimes feel like the end of the world is near while the driver goes 150 km/hour around curves and rushes past trucks full of some variety of livestock. I'm pretty sure that Nell and I say this to each other at least once a week, but hey - so far so good!
• "I have no idea what he/she just said." - I've really enjoyed the smile and nod approach to the confusion that happens daily in my life when people yell things out to me in Thai or try to have a full conversation.  Sure, my Thai has improved a lot in 10 months, and I tend to understand a lot more than I can say - but a lot of the time I have no idea what someone is trying to tell me as I pick up only 3 or 4 words from every sentence.  I just smile and nod or say "khob khun ka" (thank you) and I'm on my way.  I can't even imagine what it will be like to re-enter a society where I understand everyone and they understand me... I guess I might have to start watching what I say! 

And now for some random pictures to add a little flair to this post!

Love Thailand's flowers.

Chillin' with a baby Leopard

My new fave from Pad Thai Lady: Pad Thai Gai Mee Krob (crispy noodles)

The Dog Days Are Over

I've always had a fear of dogs.  It's not that I don't like them.  It's just that they make me nervous and I always think they are going to attack me.  Thailand has done absolutely nothing to assuage this lifelong fear.  The streets of Thailand, and Suphanburi especially, are teeming with stray dogs, and while occasionally a cute one will come along, for the most part they appear to carry a wide variety of diseases and they are not so nice.

Which brings me to this story... Nell and I stuck around Suphanburi this weekend to get some things done and take a break from our whirlwind travels. On Sunday we decided to head to the Suphan train station to attempt to buy tickets to Chiang Mai for New Year's break (sold out! Fail).  The train station isn't an active stop from what I can tell, but they do sell tickets, so we hopped on a songtow and after asking a few people for directions, we turned down a moped ride and took off by foot down a rather deserted road.  We were walking along train tracks so we knew we were headed the right way.  Initially there were other people along the way, however, we soon found ourselves on the road by ourselves in between two rice paddies - with the train station in sight in the distance.  As we were walking along we noticed an abandoned shack with a makeshift metal fence, and then before we could react we saw three very large, very angry dogs sprint through the fence and run right up to us.  I'm pretty sure my heart immediately stopped beating.  It was a total face off as they stood at our feet and barked viciously.  As Nell and I freaked out, I had visions of our flesh being torn to shreds and I considered giving in and letting them eat me, but we decided to stay very still and assess the best way to go (not to the left or right since that would be into the rice paddies).  As we considered backtracking we looked back only to see 5 more dogs sprint up the road towards us and join in the chorus of barking (possibly rabid) dogs at our feet.  Being surrounded by 8 barking dogs is literally my nightmare.  My heart was pounding, I started praying, my voice was shaking, and Nell and I both thought we were going to die on a dirt road and never be discovered.  Nell said she decided she would take the first bite since she was able to get rabies shots before she left the States, but I don't think it would have mattered, once they bit one of us they probably would have eaten us both!

I'm not sure what the best strategy is in this situation, but the one that worked for us was to stay very still for a few minutes, show the dogs that you're not going to hurt them, and then walk backwards away from them before turning and then speed-walking away.  Needless to say, once we escaped and made it to the train station, we did not take the dirt road back! We cut across the train tracks and walked alongside the highway back into town.  All of the farangs here seem to have different solutions for dealing with the dogs - I have 2 friends that have already been bit - one that required the 6 rabies shots and the other just left a big bruise - and I think we have all decided that the days of dog as man's best friend are on hold while we're living here.  I might try to go get some fire poppers to scare the dogs should this situation ever occur again, hopefully not!

The Dog Days Are Over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU