Life, the Universe, and Lani

Should Thailand be like US?

The thing about anthropology, like economics, or any discipline for that matter, is it can be applied to anything. When I was searching for a college major, a family friend suggested I take an anthropology class, so I did. This coincided with a World Religion class I was also taking by an archaeologist turned community…

09/03

Gin Salat

been thinking about this lately. for more pics visit my fb album here.

03/03

Thailandcrazy

i’m a temple and a sorry looking soi dogmountain sea pollutiona smile within a smilean innocent school girl whorea missionary man and positiona hill tribe sellouta slow highmotorbike racingdiseased drugstoreon a superhighway ofEnglish speaking dreams i’m a short skirt sidesaddleand a playboy monka meditation retreatan old man expatand a young girl lostbetween passportsi’m a pick…

02/03

Living with the tiger

what’s living with the tiger?

24/02

I am man hear me roar

Recently a friend of mine gave me Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekend episode: Thai Wives. (Highly recommend: hilarious, disturbing, riveting) and Bangkok Podcast just released a Thai Online Dating episode. This neatly coincided with my brother sending me a link to an article titled: Where Have the Good Men Gone? Maybe this is just the month…

23/02

Laos visa run (in pictures!)

you’re hoping it will be like this. . . and this. . . but it’s a little like this. . . and this. . . and this.

17/02

The reversal

Often, frequently, usually, I hear from my foreign friends how difficult it is to find bras, clothes, shoes, etc, that fit them. They are too big and/or too tall. I also hear about how nobody in Thailand knows how to cut their curly, wavy, or funky hair. In mixed martial arts there is a move…

16/0227/02

Goin’ native

10/0203/09

Ode to influences

It seems appropriate to follow my first Wordless Wednesday post with the important influences of my life. I had originally shelved this post, thinking of archiving it in my scribbles folder but now I think the time is right to post it. Two of my fellow Thailand bloggers wrote about books that have influenced them…

09/0227/02

Mom and Dad

03/0202/02

Vegetarian (and Coffee Culture) Chiang Mai

While Chiang Mai’s first McDonalds drive thru has caused quite a moo, another benchmark of hip and modern is the city’s growing vegetarian and coffee shop options. Salad Concept: 4 out of 5 hi-so Thais agree the salads here are so big they could feed an army of rabbits. Luscious desserts and good coffee too.…

26/01

What getting sick means to me

I pride myself on being a healthy person. I mean I’m not like obsessed about it but I know what I need to do to take care of myself and I do it because it feels good. And because I want to live a long life. And life is awesome so why not extend that…

20/01

Vegetarian expats (or MC Hammer wants his pants back)

I don’t think epiphanies over vegetarian food can ever happen but! while I was in the mist of eating my veggie-mite lunch, I realized that expats don’t belong in their home country and that is why they are over here! Now I know what you are going to say, “Not much of a balanced meal…

12/01

Society pages

Is it better to be part of society or to carve out a piece from it? Is that the same thing then? My Canadian friend had the observation while she was at a farang restaurant that she could be doing this exact thing, eating out with her white friends, back at home. It was as…

05/0127/02

Dr doo doo (part 2)

On the last day of Thai 2 class we got caught up in the web of the fortune telling arts and how much the Thais enjoy this sticky world of possibilities. Given my background and the fact that I had seen psychics before I was leaned forward with eyes wide and lips parted.

30/1213/06

Dr look (mŏr doo) หมอดู

I’ve been looking for a psychic ever since I got back to Thailand. My interests in the psychic/metaphysical arts goes way back to childhood, waelaa chan pendèk. After my father’s death, this archaeologist in the making went digging for clues for who he was. And when I found his old books I scrutinized his collection.

23/12

@2010

I’ve been running around like a tuk tuk driver looking for farang customers with a few extra baht bills sleeping in their pockets. My other blog for the first time since I’ve started it has skipped a week of entry, and is looking like it’s gonna skip another week too. And my caloric intake is…

17/1227/02

How to tell if he’s a player

(rĕu pôo chaai mee lăai jai) The thing about Chiang Mai and Thailand in general is guys enjoy an elevated status. Machismo isn’t exactly the right word. Thailand is more subtle than that. The common term here is playboy, and the men here are truly boys at play. Thai boys grow up with attention and…

09/1227/04

“Looking Thai”

What I love about “looking Thai” in Thailand is I get treated like a Thai. Now this usually occurs when I don’t speak because my Thai language skillz are not that good. I was waiting for a shop vendor because I wanted to purchase the delightfully calorific banana bread and fruit drink but she was…

02/12

Help me

I was having a dream about a guy with nice abs when I was pulled out of sleep to the repeated cries of, “Help me.” A moment later I realized it was coming from outside, from the back of my apartment. Then I heard, “Why did you leave me? I hope you die. Die already.”…

25/1127/02

Learning Thai is making me a better English teacher

In my Thai 1 (or Book 1) class I was able to skate by on the Thai that I had acquired from my previous year. But when I started Thai 2 I knew on the first day I would not be able to do so. My classmates were stronger, further along and my teacher was…

18/11

Dust bunnies vs tile floors

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. ~ Zig Ziglar Upon moving to Thailand you will notice that the apartments are different. The bathrooms have no bathtubs! (It’s like the opposite of Des Moines Iowa where there were no showers.) In Tailandia here is…

11/1107/07

Working with zombie energy, not against it

After I returned from the Great Marathon Race to Laos, I noticed that I fell out of my routine. That is to say, I was starting to have one. I think expats can easily sink into the quagmire pit of: drinking Chang beer at the Freedom Bar all day, sleeping until high noon, and slinking…

06/1101/04

Vientiane visa run part 2 (when things go wrong)

UPDATE AS OF 2019, YOU NEED TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE THAI EMBASSY TO GET YOUR VISA BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS. I had to leave the country again to change my visa type. In fact anytime you need to change your visa (for example from tourist to non-immigrant) you have to leave…

28/1027/02

Thailand is a poem

It’s the sound of motorbike engines.Broken glass, barbed wire fences and roosterville roosterstinkling wind chimes and jackhammer constructionsIt’s the canvas where the straight line is free to roam.a whiff of colorful without being overwhelming or too powerfulthe smell of love, sex, tourists and something bad rotting in the heatIt’s resistance, resilience and relaxed.A tonal Technicolor…

21/1027/02

The left-handed motorbike

If you’ve ever tried brushing your teeth with your non-dominate hand then you understand how weird it feels. You end up moving your head side to side to compensate for the lack of control and strength you have for this fine-motor skill.

14/10

Misconceptions of expats

I think the biggest misconception of expats is that we are somehow escaping or delaying life. That real life only occurs when you are enjoying the pleasures of working 9-9, paying down that mortgage, birthing and raising children, sitting in traffic and shopping at your favorite retail store for rollback savings. Let me tell you…

07/10

Mistakes were made

Sigh. Thailand teaches me humility. It’s not that I have some inflated ego or anything; it’s just, well, if I thought I was patient and kind there’s a guy behind me who is more patient and kind. Thai people are amazing. How do they do it? I should do some investigative work and publish a…

30/09

Asian invasion

When I started Thai class (yeah, AGAIN) I was surprised by the men to women ratio (aka “too many dicks on the dance floor” syndrome – Flight of the Concords). And I was surprised by the other Asians learning Thai. The latter got me excited. This means that more and more Asians are not only…

23/0903/05

Why I expat

Perhaps it had to do with visiting Thailand at six years of age. Or maybe it was that German woman who visited us when I was a child. She cooked potato pancakes that were mighty good. I remember flipping through her English/German language book with delight. I thought flugnummer (flight number) was so much fun…

14/0923/12

💞 Me love you long time (Thai women vs White women)

Why do white guys like Asian women?

10/0901/04

Vientiane visa run from Chiang Mai

UPDATE AS OF 2019, YOU NEED TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE THAI EMBASSY TO GET YOUR VISA BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS. Less glamorous than heading to Kuala Lumpur, but what do you have more of: time or money? If your answer is time, keep reading…

02/0906/11

Who am i?

Being back in Thailand means a lot of things. It means I’m eating amazing food again and seeing my friends that I missed when I was in Ecuador, and now missing my friends who are in Ecuador. It means putting Spanish on the shelf and taking down pasa Thai, dusting it off and playing with…

26/0827/02

How to heal a broken heart (or my welcome back to Thailand)

First of all, be thankful you have a heart because your ex certainly hasn’t… Secondly, do something you’ll really regret like cut off all of your hair, beg him to have you back, or write on your FB wall: My ex’s new girlfriend reads my blog. Is that weird or what? Or on his wall:…

22/08

Thailand and back again

I went to Ecuador in search of a place where I could breathe and live. I thought Thailand was too fraught with the birth death birth cycle and I needed to escape. But the distance that had arrived from living on the other side of the world allowed me to see what I had left…