Checkered Lounge Pants

Counting down my last week in my winter home. It never felt like having a winter home until this trip. Life is so easy here and I find its sad that com-padres back home never get the experience but... its not for everyone. I don't consider riding a couch at home any different than couching it abroad. What a waste of airfare. LOLL. You do not sit languishing here. This is not for the faint of heart. Three years here brings me so much closer to the culture but no where nearer understanding the traditions. I spent many many hours talking with my roommate and exploring her thoughts and her values and I cherish every moment but I have so much to learn. Some days the differences are unfathomable but for the few gains of understanding I have garnered. I am grateful...when others here condemn religion and culture and traditions but are still failing to manage the spicey salads.. Kind heart Thais are tempered with feisty passionate politics, dominant monarchies, soulful religion and over ...

When I am in Thailand I try having a "Thai" massage two or three times weekly. There are many different types of massages. A "Thai" massage is akin todeep pressure  therapeutic  massages in the western world. It involves a form of acupressure application combined with stretching. Here in the Land of Smiles it is commonly called "nuad phaen (thai)" and refers to the traditional - almost ancient - method of massage. One remains fully clothed - no "Happy Endings" here! Normally it lasts for about two hours, and for a "potpooey farange" like me it sometimes hurts like hell. Because my regular masseuse understands my weakness as well as the areas of ache in my body that require the most work, she is able to practice her profession with what the Thais call "loving kindness". It hurts, but not  too  much. My first masseuse  when I came to Thailand was about five and a half feet tall and built like a fireplug. She, like most Thais,...

A low budget satirical Internet show called 'News in Depth' that takes a look at politics in Thailand is helping to lighten the mood in the country. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers in a country not known for satire. Meanwhile, anti-government protesters are still camped out in the capital Bangkok, trying to force the government to step down. Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Bangkok. New show pokes fun at Thai politics - Asia-pacific - Al Jazeera English

Thailand's opposition has lost a legal bid to nullify a controversial election, in a boost to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's crisis-hit administration. The kingdom's Constitutional Court on Wednesday declined to consider the Democrat Party's petition to annul the February 2 vote and disband Shinawatra's party, citing insufficient grounds. "This case is over," the head of the opposition's legal team, Wiratana Kalayasiri, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. "But if the government does anything wrong again, we will make another complaint." Shinawatra had called the election in an attempt to assuage opposition demonstrators, who have staged more than three months of mass street protests seeking her resignation. The Democrats boycotted the vote, saying it would not end a political crisis stretching back to a military coup in 2006 that ousted Shinawatra's elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, as premier. Voting was also cancelled in s...