City of YUM

When my flight landed in the capital city of Bangkok, and I cleared customs and rendezvoused with my high school BFF/tour guide/interpreter/and shopping enabler---let’s call her “C”---the very first thing we did was eat. And eating would be a reoccurring theme throughout our trip.

No. We did NOT

Bangkok is a city of over 8 million people, and stretches across 600+square miles and I’m pretty sure there are at least three food opportunities---restaurants, food carts, street vendors---for every person. Fruit vendors, noodle vendors, chicken, pancakes, “vintage” ice cream---meaning not that the ice cream is old, just that the popsicle/ice-cream molds are---whatever you might want, it’s on offer in Bangkok. Including American favorites Starbucks, Subway and McDonalds.

In Thailand, things are cheap. And delicious. And before you know it, you are turning up your nose at a reasonably priced hotel breakfast and saying with a snort, “Pfft! I can get that on the street for 20 Baht!” Which, as of the time of my visit, was about .58 cents, American. You read that right, less than 60 cents. For breakfast. In Thailand. From a street vendor.

In fact, things are so cheap in Thailand, I could make a convincing argument that you could afford to fly to Thailand to have lunch and have someone there do your laundry --- 45 Baht/ $1.30 for 12 items, 1.5 KG “with dry”---take time to see a few dozen temples and still come out money ahead. The only reason I don’t sell my washer and dryer and just have my laundry done in Thailand is the jet leg. Turns out it’s a real thing---not just an excuse to nap in the afternoons, as I had previously thought.

In case you are thinking right now, on the phone booking your flights and packing your dirty socks, let me give you a quick list of ‘Things You Must Eat In Thailand’:

Breakfast

Lunch by the Pool

Som tum

Too Stinky to eat

Mangos. Mangos with sticky rice and sweetened coconut milk---from a street vendor. Do not question me on this, just do it. You will thank me for it.

You should also eat shredded, pounded, green papaya salad, “som tum.” “Som” means sour and “tum”  means ‘they kind of smoosh it up so the flavors of the lime and chilies mingle’. It is so yummy they should call it “some yum”. Eat around the tomatoes if you’re worried about food borne illnesses, and you’ll be fine. We tried to not eat anything that hadn’t been peeled or cooked and that strategy worked out well for us.

Land of Smiles: The Journey

Orchids by the fist full

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away---let’s call it High School—my best friend traveled to an alien place---let’s call it Thailand---and sent home tales of a beautiful place and people. And at that time, we swore we would travel there, together, and have many adventures.

Fast forward a handful of decades and an email landed in my in-box that read: “Have work trip to Thailand in April. Vacay time after---you in?” Oh, I was SO “in” and that’s the story of how I came to spend a couple of weeks in The Land of Smiles.

Flights to Thailand are surprisingly cheap, and, unlike most US carriers, I got free checked bags—2—free carry on, free inflight movies, a pillow, a blanket, excellent service, regular meal service WITH REAL SILVERWARE, lots of leg room and---I hope you’re sitting down for this part---all in economy class. Which is a good thing as your time in the air can range in the 15+ hour category. And there’s the small matter of crossing the international dateline so it’s difficult to know how long you’ve been in the air.

 The level of service you receive becomes less a perk and more of a necessity. My flight left at 1:30 a.m. on a Wednesday morning---which is an ungodly hour to have a friend drop you at the airport, but a great hour to fly as I was tired enough that earplugs and a sleep mask were enough to keep me sleeping until they started serving breakfast over Tokyo.

Hello Kitty O'clock

We landed at Taipei at 6:00 a.m. local time on Thursday---but if I’ve done my math correctly it was only 2 p.m. Wednesday. But lucky for me Taipei airport seems to be the home of Hello Kitty so I was able to check the Hello Kitty clocks to confirm.

I also made two new Thai friends at the airport in a beautiful example of East Meets West Cooperation. We worked together to decipher our next departure gate---it was too early yet to have our gate posted. I, as a brash Westerner, wasn’t shy about asking the staff for help. They, speaking both Thai and English, could overhear other Thais who were familiar with the workings of that particular airport and updated me with the next newest location of our gate: downstairs in the secret waiting room.

We also found a lovely indoor orchid garden and spent our layover in the time honored tradition of taking way too many selfies.

Yes. After 13 hours in the air that is exactly what my hair looked like.

 It’s officially spring---in every way. Not only have we experienced the equinox, seen the sun—briefly, but it was THERE—started our lawn mowers, noted the return of the robins and wondered if we should hang our hummingbird feeders and documented the various blooms and buds in our gardens, but ----sorry for the run-on sentence but I’m pretty excited about the ULTIMATE sign of spring---but I saw my first dandelion this weekend! 

And right after I saw My First Dandelion, I saw my second. And my third.

Yup. It’s spring.

And I have a confession to make. For all my big talk about growing grass and starting lawnmowers I have yet to get mine to fire up. Last fall I gave my machine a week’s stay at a fancy lawnmower spa---or a tune-up, whatever--- and when it when it returned to me I very carefully parked it in the garage and ignored---as one does--- it until the sun came out. One weak cough when I turned the key was the only response I got. Alas, it seems my lawnmower requires either a jump or perhaps a new battery. Coaxing didn’t seem to work. 

Abby and Annie

So, rain or shine, mow or no mow, my grass will keep growing and the dandelions will keep blooming. I remind myself that dandelions are good for the bees and if I miss the brief window of opportunity to mow my grass between showers, no problem. I have plenty of neighbors that have cows and tractors and will probably be happy to “hay” my front yard come June.I used the time I would have spent mowing my grass to work on cleaning up my flowerbeds. Removing the dead stalks that they elk didn’t eat made my gardens look much better, even if the “lawn” surrounding them were a bit “native” and “enthusiastic."

Looky There

Did You See it?

On Monday the sun made its glorious debut---and by “debut” I mean that it came out from behind the clouds long enough that I could get my shoes on before the sky succumbed to gray again. Ah, but Monday! Monday was a day chocked full of sunshine. Everywhere I went the birds were singing, the lawnmowers were humming and people were smiling.

Another good reason to put off mowing....

I know all this because on Monday, instead of staying home and playing outside like any reasonable person would, I chose to use THE ONE SUNNY DAY this week to go “Out Town” and take care of chores. SIGH. It was a nice day for a drive, at least.

This time of year it’s such a struggle, trying to find sufficient time to get the grass mowed. The grass is happily celebrating the snow’s retreat and is growing double time, rain or shine. But on those days when the rain takes a break and the sun shows its face, I don’t think there is anything better than mowing the grass, picking up sticks from the lawn---wait---first you should pick up the sticks, THEN you should mow the grass. On the page, as in real life, I tend to get a head of myself.

I know that there are some readers out there with perfect recall who are now scratching their heads and saying “Mowing the grass is the Best Thing Ever? I thought it was  ‘Is there anything better than cleaning up winter debris and then getting to set it on fire? Except maybe getting to poke the resulting fire with a stick?”’

True! I did say that. But like most of my opinions, I change my mind frequently, and right now I’m thinking it would be glorious to ride around on my lawnmower, taking occasional breaks to go poke at my winter debris--- properly permitted---with a stick.

Best. Thing. Ever.