Thailand

I mentioned spending a few years in Thailand when I was growing up. What I haven't mentioned is that my mom and younger sister are currently in the middle of a 5 year return trip. I had the chance to visit for three weeks last April and thought I would share some of the thoughts and experiences I had while I was there:

Some things can't be captured by pictures or words. The flicker and buzz when you flip on the fluorescent bulbs. The warble of an exotic bird. The thucas (lizards) named for the sound they make. A lai of Thai flowers filling the car with their sweet familiar fragrance. A sweet and lightly fizzy pink soda my sister picks out for me. The incomprehensible chatter my mom engages in effortlessly and my sister is learning more of each day. The transition from air conditioning to the warmth of the outdoors that gradually progresses to a draining heat whose effects you aren't fully aware of until you return to the cool air and are at once refreshed and tired.

One night, my sister and I stood out on the balcony in the warm night air, watching lightening flicker in the distance.

We went to an elephant show where flowers and elephant silhouettes were casually painted by them holding paint brushes with their trunks. The same pliable trunk would then wrap around the shoulders of eager picture takers after relieving them of their offerings of sugar cane and banana bunches.

I revved up a motorcycle and tooled around my childhood neighborhood, recognizing less than I thought I would.

We walked through the night bazaar where I found the sweetened condensed milk wraps I overindulged in when I was young and, while trying on sunglasses, noticed my face was still steadily manufacturing sweat to combat the oppressive heat.

In the interest of escaping the heat, we fled to Koh Chang, an island off the southern coast of the Thai mainland, a short ferry and a few hours bus ride from Bangkok. But more about that later...